Destiny-Smasher

Just wanted to direct anyone who follows me here to both of the visual novel demos I've released so far this year!

The first is the very substantial work in progress I've made on my original visual novel, DownRight Fierce.

DownRight Fierce is what happens when the slice-of-life shenanigans of games like Doki Doki Literature Club and Butterfly Soup meet the quirky power-infused world of Street Fighter and Rival Schools.

You'll make choices for protagonist Nishiko which impact their personal stats and relationships. Cumulative effects of your choices will alter scenes in small and large ways over time, and also affect Nishiko's performance in occasional turn-based battles.

You can download the demo and follow the project on its itchio page.

And the second is the short demo for an RPG fangame side project I've started work on called Project FightStar.

Project FightStar is just a for-fun thing I'm doing on the side with others as a way to motivate me to learn how to program turn-based RPG mechanics into renpy, the visual novel engine I use. I've learned a lot in a short time, and I'm excited to implement it into DownRight Fierce for the planned fight scenes.

But I'm honestly just having a lot of fun with this, too, in and of itself. The project plan is more modular, incorporating short stories with RPG fights, almost like an arcade style game.

You'll find download links on the project's twitter page as well as its tumblr account.

I've finally posted a public test build of my progress so far on my indie game! Please check it out and fill out the survey if you get that far!

https://destiny-smasher.itch.io/downright-fierce

I'm developing an original visual novel called DownRight Fierce, in case you didn't know! There is a fully playable private demo you can try right now, if you like, featuring a prologue and three chapters. It's still a work in progress. The backgrounds are all placeholders at the moment, the sprites and UI still need some touching up and modifications, the sound is basically non-existence (and what's there is basically just placeholdrs), but the sprites are still very functional, the writing and music is pretty much finalized.

If you do try it out, please let me know what you think so far!

PC: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lrgQnTg_jF72QYFTTIAfX-ae9Jcte6MW

Mac: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TNyCBcpqmgn4Z-8yOVsFc2AquzkTLjGC/

When I started writing What I Learned at SRU over a decade ago, I had no idea the trajectory it would set me off that would change my life. It's easy to say that not only is it to date the largest project I've ever worked on, but also the most influential in shaping me as a person.

And there's so, so much I would change and fix if I were to edit it. So much so that I'd just rewrite it as an original work of fiction, since that's basically what it really was, functionally speaking. I did start an original edit, with modified and new scenes and everything, in the form of What We Learned at Rokudai. And some day, I'd like to revisit that and create something more finalized with it. For now, I'm working on an original visual novel (DownRight Fierce) and hope to release a demo later this year to the public. I do bits of flash fanfic here and there on the side, as well, and I'm always open for commissions to write fanfic or, well, anything, really (about $10 per 1000 words on average).

I'm not active here much anymore but it is nice to have stuff here to look back on.

You can find me and keep more up to date with what I'm up to or working on at the following sites.

Destiny Smasher 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️(#BLM) (@D3stiny_Sm4sher) / Twitter

Destiny_Smasher | Archive of Our Own

Destiny-Smasher - itch.io

Team TurtleDucks is creating Flash-Fiction and Original Content! | Patreon

Thanks for the hundreds of people who read SRU, who commented, who supported me, and a very special thanks to Shamsa (whose financial support was so immense I wouldn't be where I am without her paying my bills for that last year and a half of the project) and Tina (who provided a lot of older sisterly love during the time this project was my main focus).

While I regret a lot of elements of the fic in its current 'fanfic' state (I especially would change many aspects regarding representation and incorporate more deliberate queer themes, like Kat and Jane being an endgame couple, for example), I think it still served its main purposes pretty well and I'm so glad people continue to discover it and enjoy it years later.

2020's been a very weird year so far, huh? And I suspect it will only get weirder and harder by the time it ends. Even those of us not dealing with personal losses will likely be dealing with financial hardships as the systems we are all stuck being cogs in strain under the circumstances, never built to protect us but to protect those we serve.

But, anyway, I figured I'd update anyone still watching this space with what I have been up to.

I managed to escape retail hell at last, moving from California to southern England to get married. I am now looking for freelance work to help contribute to our new life together.

I got into motion graphics, which I had to drop for a year or so, but am now ready to start getting back into.

I finished Season 1 of Arcadian Rhythms, my most elaborate fandom narrative project to date and likely the last big one I will ever work on.

I made a small and silly Game Boy game for my wife as a holiday present.

I gave the visual novel of All Wounds a substantial update, and have finally had to put that project to rest - tldr is it's simply too big and too ambitious for a single person to work on, and it's a drain on resources that, at this point, would be better spent on my own original projects. I'm still proud of what I managed to accomplish with All Wounds, both as a fanfic and as a visual novel, and how I was able to merge very personal and intimate ideas and themes with a sense of closure for the original game's story.

I have started work on an original novel about two lesbians who will fall in love by playing e-sports together, and I have begun working in earnest on my own original visual novel, using the old concept I had built with DownRight Fierce. If you wish to follow updates on that, or check out work in progress stuff from the past year or so on any of the things I've worked on, you can check out our Patreon over here.

If you wish to commission me for writing, editing, motion graphics, video stuff, you can always shoot me a DM on Twitter or send me an e-mail. ON average, I tend to charge $10 per 1,000 words, and I'll likely take on something as big or as small as you're interested in, provided I'm capable of working on it! The most common thing people have commissioned from me have been one-shots and short stories, but I've been commissioned for a multi-part fic, editorial, and writing for a visual novel prototype, as well - keep in mind that I am able to make those, so if you wanted to commission someone to write and/or code a VN, I could do that! Or a small Game Boy game like the one I posted above? Or maybe you'd like some motion graphics edited for a video? I am capable of working on a variety of things.

Twitter is the best place to be updated when I post things, and at some point soon I'll likely make an account strictly for updates on whatever I am working on. In the meantime, I barely use Tumblr these days but usually will post whatever I am working on over there, as well, so there is that.

Anyway, hope you're all staying safe and getting by during these crazy times.