September Round-Up '23

This month had a lot of big things going on: I finally got the huge surgery that I needed all that money for (I made my $5K goal the very first day of this month!!), got my updated Covid vaccine, dealt with terrible Plantar Fasciitis pain, and traveled to my hometown to see one of my closest friends get married, among many other things... it's been incredibly busy without much time to truly rest. I'm grateful for the moments of enjoyment and entertainment I had!

Because of all the busy-ness, it was slow going for personal projects, but I do have some exciting things to share!

Projects

Some big news about Beautiful Monsters: the store we were selling physical copies at - Geeky Teas & Games - has sold out of all their copies!! Each one came with a special monster based on the store's mascot (Hector the Octopus) as a little fun addition. Thank you to everyone who got a copy there!! If you'd like a physical copy of our game, we still have it for sale here!

All of these copies have gone to happy homes!!

The Bitsy collab Chris and I are making is on its way! I have my portions written and am slowly putting together the art, all while learning how to format things as I go. Chris just needs to write his portions and I'll put it together - I imagine it'll be done very soon!

A little WIP of the game!! It's currently called "Coffee Memories," but that's just a placeholder for now.

A new take on Note to Self, Chris' and my Drawlloween collab from 2019, is near completion!! Following a list of Halloween-ish prompts we came up with together, Chris wrote a short story and I illustrated it. We still love how it came out, so we're working on bringing it to fresh eyes in a slightly more interactve way! Look forward to that coming out this spooky season!

If you haven't read this story yet, it'll be a good way to see it for the first time!

I drew some cute seasonal art to mark the start of Autumn for our Maow House game design social media! The colors that Corvio has - the blue, purple, red, dark green, and orange - are all the "official Fall 2023" colors! I had fun designing a cute and cozy outfit riffing on the ones Chris and I wore to pick pumpkins together (where that photo originates from).

Can you spot the hidden Pumpkitty?

I put out a new Autumnal design in my shop based on a little sketch I doodled while I was out: Fall Foraging! I was inspired by an adorable mushroom prop in the window of a store, and I LOVE bats, so this little character design and concept came into being! You can click here to check it out in my shop on shirts, sweaters, stickers, and more!!

Games

From the company that gave us the excellent game ZeroRanger, Void Stranger is an incredibly unique, intriguing puzzle game that released at the beginning of this month. Even after many hours of play time and reaching an ending (???), it feels like we STILL haven't scratched the surface how many mysteries abound. It's awesome and I highly recommend checking it out for yourself!

Definitely a game worth going into blind!!!

All Our Asias, created almost entirely by Melos Han-Tani (known for being half of Analgesic Productions), is a creative, artful, passion-propelled experience. The story features a character called Yuito diving into the mind of his estranged father to see his memories before his father dies. The game is short, free, and absolutely worth tossing a few dollars at to get the in-depth behind the scenes documents that come with the itch "Fan Pack!"

My friend Spacey officially partnered with SAGE (that's Sonic Amateur Games Expo) to stream a showcase of its many game entries, one of which was Sondro Gomez. I only briefly watched her play before downloading it to try myself; charm and fun gameplay abound in its dense demo! You choose from three (technically four, as the last is a duo) different characters, each featuring a totally different play style. I'm definitely giving it a buy when it fully releases!

Continuing the trend of cool little indies, I played a game jam game called Feydome that was relaxing and atmospheric in all the ways I love! It's a fairy dress-up game where you fly around an abandoned world and collect clothing. Very cute, very quick to play - check it out!

This was my favorite outfit from the game!

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's first DLC - the Teal Mask - is short, sweet, and its new featured legendary Ogerpon totally captured my heart! I enjoyed exploring a small rural town in the midst of celebrating a Japanese-style Summer Festival, fit with masks and food stalls. I'm looking forward to seeing how they continue the story in the second part of the DLC!

Speaking of DLC... Sonic Frontiers released its final free DLC just a couple days ago, and boy am I glad it was free!! Despite being the DLC I was most excited to play this year, I was sincerely disappointed with how it turned out. It felt like all the worst parts of the main game were amplified and made the focus of the DLC, and the new characters you play as aren't fun whatsoever. Because the final trial was aggravating my wrist pain (and because it was very frustrating to play) I probably won't be finishing it... and I don't feel bad about that!

Anime

After years of loving Higurashi, I finally took a dive into its sister series Umineko no Naku Koro Ni ("When the Seagulls Cry") for a little bit of pre-spooky time fun. Though the anime is sometimes maybe unintentionally funny, the root of the mysteries and stories caught my attention enough to watch through the show's "end" and I enjoyed it. I appreciate that even though there are tons of characters, they're each distinctive enough to where you can keep track of them as the stories progress. I want to play the sound novels when I have the chance!

On a whim, Chris suggested Land of the Lustrous - which I'd always heard stellar things about from my friends - and we liked the first episode! The 3D animation looked much better than I anticipated, which made a lot of sense when I realized Orange was the studio behind it. I'm not far enough to get a handle on what I truly think of it just yet, but the first episode set my expectations pretty high!

As this anime season comes to a close, a show I've been keeping up with for awhile - Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts - also reached its conclusion. A sweet shoujo with a story about the power of showing kindness to people of all kinds at its core, I appreciated its message and the cute nonhuman characters throughout the show. I'm not usually one for romantic shows, but I liked how soft this one is (I just wish Sariphi wasn't so young in age... anime PLEASE)!

People say this is an anime version of Beauty and the Beast, and while it has much more nuance than that, I wouldn't disagree.

Assorted Media

At last, I watched the Barbie movie, and I fully appreciated how very female-powered its core was. Filled with silliness and a healhy dose of existentialism, this pink-colored spectacle was worth a watch!

My family's Barbies had a pair of those neon rollerskates when I was a kid!

I also finally got the opportunity to watch Across the Spider-verse, which was a visual treat from start to end! As someone who adored the first movie in the series (and media featuring Miles as Spider-Man in general), hearing stories of behind the scenes struggles dampened my initial feelings toward it, but the hard work, effort, and incredible skill of the movie's extensive team absolutely shine. The nuances in the story's characters and storytelling were a joy to see play out! I look forward to the final movie in the trilogy (hopefully in the future where hard working conditions isn't so forced on its team).

Every screengrab from this movie is soooo pretty...

And that's a wrap for September!

I'm very excited for October, which kicks off my absolute favorite time of year! I'll be watching a spooky movie or playing a scary game every day of the month, so stay tuned for a list of what I indulge in (plus my thoughts) at the end of next month!