Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
Not today Justin
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Andulka
ellievsbear
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
we're not kids anymore.
will byers stan first human second
tannertan36
i don't do bad sauce passes
tumblr dot com
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
dirt enthusiast
cherry valley forever
sheepfilms
Love Begins
★
Claire Keane
roma★
NASA
seen from France
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seen from United States
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seen from Russia
seen from France
seen from Philippines
seen from United States
seen from Germany
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@ian-lythe
The Pinned Post (Last updated March 24, 2026)
Hello everybody! My name's Ian, your local writer and law student from the Philippines! Below are some of my works and some fun links and I hope you enjoy!
I typically write and enjoy supherhero, horror and romcom stories.
In Progress
The Masked Defenders (Version 5.1)
TMD Cast List with Descriptions
On Hiatus
Dartun Station (Still in the planning stages with this one.)
Useful Links
Itch.io Page
Author Update!
Hello All! It's been a while since I've posted here. I really did want to release chapter six these past few months. But life has plans and as a law student, my academics are taking priority right now. I'm not going to go on another hiatus as long as the last one but I will be prioritising my final exams happening in June! I will go back to working on chapter 6 and a new project when time permits. Thank you all for being patient on this journey with me! -Kind Regards, Ian Lythe
Hello! I don't know if it's a bug or just the end of what's currently available, but I got this after meeting with Wes in the Cafe: Adrian and I leave through the Café's entrance. A few blocks away I overhear Adrian mutter to himself "[[One hell of a hat trick."|CP3]]"
The issue should be fixed now! the extra " symbol in the choice caused the issue.
Chapter 6 Progress Update (Apr 22)
Numbers:
Chapter Outline - FINISHED
First Draft Progress: 40% - (12 out of 30 Passages)
Editing Progress: 0% - (Write first, edit later)
Current Word Count 8.26k (+2.66k words)
Words:
Hello everyone from the summer heat frying and smoggy air of metro manila!
Balancing law school, life and writing is hard. When I'm done with reading a lot of shit for class, I barely have energy left to write (Who knew human energy is finite).
Given that my schedule is getting heavier again as deadlines and my other real life obligations loom. I plan to finish the first draft of the chapter at most by early May as opposed to the middle of April (which has long passed us). Expect a mid-late May release of the chapter. For those wondering about character portraits, I'm currently in talks with a friend over rates other commission related things.
See y'all and thank you for your support and patience <3
--Ian Lythe
P.S. I'll be joining a game jam just out of curiosity on itch.io, if I end up making anything I'll be sure to let you all know. :)
Chapter 6 Progress Update (Apr 10)
Numbers:
Chapter Outline - FINISHED
First Draft Progress: 30% - (9 out of 30 Passages)
Editing Progress: 0% - (Write first, edit later)
Current Word Count 5.6k.
Words:
Hello everyone!
The first few passages of the next chapter have been drafted. I've had some fun experimenting with different ways to make the text more interactive (groundbreaking for an IF work I know).
I've also tried to read back on my previous work and see what old Ian was thinking and feeling whilst writing the earlier chapters (which were written years ago) and trying to capute those aspects whilst imparting what older Ian has learnt so far.
The chapter's first draft will most likely be done by the mid-point of the month, provided my schedule permits. After that, I'll edit and debug the chapter and release it. Target release date is still TBA as the future holds surprises.
See y'all on the flipside!
--Ian Lythe
1 Song for 1 Character
With absolutely no context or deeper meaning,here are some songs I associate with the cast.
The Rookie (MC): Still-Feel by Half-Alive
Emerson: We Are Gonna Be Friends by The White Stripes
Villanueva: Like The Movies by Laufey
Callaghan: I Thought I Saw Your Face Today by She & Him
Wright: This Side of Paradise by Coyote Theory
Garcia: Your Stupid Face by Kaden Mackay
Voider: Hell's Comin' With Me by Poor Mans Poison
Eric: Wires Crossed by Dom Fera
Pierce: If You're The Coffee by The Arcadian Wild
Director Park: Hey Runner! by The Arcadian Wild
Chapter 6 Snippet
City lights pass by in a blur as the car barrels through the street. Director Park manouvers through the light traffic with a calm look on her face. My knuckles turn a paler shade as I tighten my grip on the car's grab handle. Why did I sit in the front?
"Director Park-" I manage as she takes a hard left turn, my soul following behind my body. My seatbelt digs into my chest as it holds me upright.
"Not now Torres." She weaves through two cargo trucks, blaring the horn at a van that tries to cut her off. The van beeps in response but Director Park keeps her eyes on the road. Someone in the back of the transport recites a prayer.
In the rearview mirror, the rest of the team is strapped into their seats and holding on for dear life. Save for $Matteo in the back, who actually seems to be enjoying the ride, everyone else is in various stages of holding onto any part of the car's interior that gives a semblance of stability. We make a nother hard turn to the right this time, and $Jay holds onto the car headrest behind $Jhim whilst $Liam and $Adrian grip their respective grab handles with both hands. We all shift in our seats as the car tilts dangerously to the side.
Shifting my attention to the side mirror, the small convoy of DPA transports behind us struggle to catch up to Director Park's pace. They are weaving into and out of the cars on the highway but aren't running at our breakneck speed.
Outside the windows the passing scenery shifts from the glassy office buildings on the outskirts of the city centre to the undeveloped plots of land, rife with grass and trees that we fly by. Thankfully there's not much traffic this late in the night on the way to the Cascadian City Port.
Director Park keeps a steady speed as we head straight onwards down the highway. At this rate she'll make a forty minute drive in less than ten. To think we were just at the headquarters twenty minutes ago.
Reblog if you will never. Ever. Use AI in your writing.
PORTRAIT POLL!
Hello everyone and happy April, I've got a question for you! 🫵
Should TMD get official character portraits of the cast? (ROs and select characters)
Yes!
No!
The rational is I do like the idea of having portraits but also I know some readers who prefer imagination to prevail. So yeah, crossroads moment. If yes, then I'll comission a friend of mine to do some portraits to bring more life to the cast hehe. If no, I'll likely double down on the 1800's style of character design in writing, ergo highly descriptive and visage focused.
Stay fresh and safe!
sometimes it's important to injure the character
How to Trick Yourself Into Writing Your Interactive Fiction
This is my best trick for getting yourself to sit down and write. It's how I wrote five million words of Jolly Good without getting paralysis.
There are three distinct types of writing days.
Type of Day the First:
Do the planning/sketching.
You say, "this is actually not really work at all." And it isn't, because you don't even have to be on your computer. You can be all cozy on your sofa or do it in a cafe. You write in your notebook, you doodle outlines, you make long lists of stuff you want in this section. It's not even writing, it's just fantasizing.
So you can totally get yourself to do that. It's actually a huge relief when it's one of those days.
Type of Day the Second:
You lay out the code skeleton and get the broad outline on the page.
You say, "this is actually not really work at all." It really isn't. You don't even have to write anything! You just do the outline of the code, but without any of the hard writing part.
You know, you do this:
And so on. You don't actually have to write the thing! You just put "xxxxx" which means "good writing goes here." Then you stick in the stat changes, if any, which is really not that hard.
It's all placeholders! Here, look, here's a real example from my game:
This is how I actually do it. I just put some easily searchable strings like xxxxqqqqq and just move on with the code.
It's not even writing, it's just doing a sketchy framework.
So you can totally get yourself to do that. It's actually a huge relief when it's one of those days.
Type of Day the Third:
Writing the Prose. Here, you just sit down and replace xxxxqqqq with good stuff. This is just pure creativity.
If it says the following:
xxxxAunt Matilda freaks out and breaks three vases.
You just get to sit and write a little mini story about that. You don't have to think "what shall I write." You *know that already* and you don't have to think, "what will the stat/larger game effects be" because you *know that already*. This is the actual fun part of writing, which is just riffing.
So you sit and you destroy as many xxxxqqqq's as you want to. You can hop all over the outline if you want to, to keep yourself amused. You can embellish, you can weave a fun little micro-story. This is actually the easiest part, because everything but the storywriting part of your brain is off.
It's just spinning a little story and making this little bit of prose as good as possible. It's an incredibly bite-sized and very possible-feeling task.
So you can totally get yourself to do that. It's actually a huge relief when it's one of those days.
This is what I do. I tend to do all of the Day 1s first, then all of the Day 2, and then all of the Day 3s (which take the longest), but you can totally just bop back and forth between them.
I am eager to hear how you get yourself in the writing chair. What's your technique?
Come visit me at The Noble Gases Club for more chit-chat about game design, as we approach the first anniversary of this festive place!
The Noble Gases, est. DCIVMCD
Chapter 6 Outlining Done! + Other things
The outlining on Chapter 6 is done and stands at 1.9k words of planning and author yapping.
Will start drafting the first pass of Chapter 6 and ideally be done within the month.
The actual update will most likely be done by Late-April depending on the complexity of the code to be tackled and editing.
Chapter 6 will be a Voider-centric chapter and delve more into the emotional and political intrigue aspects of the plot
Alsooo the anniversary of The Masked Defenders is coming up in May so stay tuned! I've got something planned as a little way of saying thank you for sticking around and enjoying this story with me.
the author’s barely disguised job they worked in their early 20s
Ah yes my internship at congress and degree in political science sure doesn't affect how I structure my writing and plot.
The Masked Defenders 5.1 Update
Hello all! Chapter 5.1 Update The chapter 5.1 update is now out after a bit of wrangling with my schedule. 1. The Wright and Garcia paths are complete, meaning all four RO paths are now ready to read. 2. I've also corrected several writing errors and coding glitches. Hope you enjoy and can't wait to show you what's in store for chapter 6!
Yours,
Ian Lythe
Tumblr Ban, the Philippines & Me
So funny story, due to the alleged proliferation of gambling scams on this website, our lovely government has decided to tag tumblr as a gambling website and ban it :) Fortunately I don't seem to be affected as it can vary on the internet service provider. To my fellow filipino tumblrists keep strong <3
OHHH I LOVE VOIDER!! I’m so excited to see how his romance will go! And thank you for answering my ask and being so kind, I love your game and I love the way you write Voider, it really caught my heart
I’m also a law student (but I’m in Brazil lol) and I was really excited when you said that the game was back, take all the time you need for the next update!!
Aww thank you for the wholesome words! And I'm glad a certain vigilante got your heart :D As a fellow law student yes, this degree is going to eat a lot of time but it's worth it! Again, thank you for the kind sentiments and Will be sure to update y'all when the rest of the story comes out :D
PROGRESS REPORT: CHAPTER 5
As of posting here is the progress of the following routes:
Wright: 100% Done
Garcia: 10% (Writing and Editing) The Eric route for this chapter, upon further review, will not be pushing through as it doesn't fit in with the narrative intent and subsequent plot. Rest assured the Rookie will spend time with him in future updates.
