saltiest chip in the bag

Lex (she/her) | 27 | bi (4bi)🖤🖤 Current hell: IF (namely The Midnight Bay, Cantata, SHoH, and Sherlock Holmes: AAotH) 🖤🖤 I don't participate in fandom discourse or tag my posts properly lol {PMs are always open ^^}

[3racha-agustd]

RE2R × RE4R × RE9

It aged like an expensive whiskey. 🥃

[naturalecho]

❄️ DEMO OUT NOW - ITCH.IO | NEOCITIES ❄️

CURRENT CHAPTER: PROLOGUE + CH. 1

Dating’s hard. Especially in this climate.

You’ve tried it all—apps, setups, chance encounters—but nothing’s stuck. So what’s one more bad idea? In a moment of desperation (or brilliance), you say yes to reality TV.

Welcome to Warm Me Up, Snap Studio’s very first dating experiment.

You were expecting sunshine and swimsuits. Instead? You’re stranded in a luxury chalet with eleven strangers and one rule: pair up or freeze out. Fail to make a connection, and you’re headed straight to the Cold Zone.

Warm Me Up is an interactive fiction rated 18+ for explicit language, explicit sexual themes, alcohol use, and moral ambiguity.

❄️ FEATURES ❄️

Customize your MC. From appearance, personality, to motivations. You character is yours to make.

Rich relationship dynamics. With eleven other contestants and the cameras always rolling, things are bound to get messy. It's up to you whether you want to keep it platonic, find your person, or hook up in the pantry. Nobody's judging...except the audience.

Multiple endings. Your time in the mountains can leave quite an impression. How will your story end? ❄️ ROMANCE OPTIONS ❄️

Anjali Lal | She/Her, 25, Model/Skincare Entrepreneur

Polished, poised, and unapologetically high-maintenance, Anjali doesn’t suffer fools or wrinkles. Her sharp tongue and cold exterior might scare some off, but if you make her crack, she just might surprise you.

Dmitry Volkov | He/Him, 30, Private Wealth Manager

Outwardly, Dmitry comes off as too perfect. But he’s more than just good manners and a strong jawline. Quietly protective and endlessly thoughtful, he’ll always strive to put you first.

Jong-woo Kim | He/Him, 23, Fitness Influencer

Bubbly, bright, and built like a Greek statue, Jong-woo brings the sunshine wherever he goes. He’s a little awkward, endlessly enthusiastic, and surprisingly wise for someone who still calls his mom every day. Whether he’s working out or working the room, you can’t help but smile when he’s around.

Kailee Blake | She/Her, 26, Interior Designer

Kailee's all smiles and sweet touches, but it's clear she knows how to play the game. While her affection might feel genuine at times, her true motives stay tucked behind that charming facade. If you’re not careful, you’ll think she’s on your side right up until she twists the knife with a smile.

Kalea Mahelona | She/Her, 22, Student

Kalea is candy personified: sweet, soft, and easy to break if you’re not careful. She’s clumsy, shy, and easily flustered, but once she warms up to you, she’s all in.

Linden Craft | They/Them, 31, Café Owner

Grounded and honest, Linden is the breath of fresh air you didn’t know you needed. A little quiet and unreadable, they offer comfort by simply being. With their steady presence and emotional maturity, they make it easy to be exactly who you are.

Luca/Lucia Gigliotti | He/Him OR She/Her, 28, Luxury Art Curator

Cunning, cultured, seductive: Lu thrives on tension and desire. With them, love—if it exists at all—is a just game. Whether you join in is your choice. Either way, you’re in for one hell of a ride.

Makai Jones | He/Him, 27, High School History Teacher

Aloof, unreadable, and hard to impress, Makai keeps his guard sky-high. He’s cautious and most people don’t get past the walls he’s built. But if you do manage to earn his trust, you’ll find someone loyal, grounded, and quietly ride-or-die in a way that never asks for recognition.

Marcel Toussaint | They/He, 29, Mixologist

Flamboyant, passionate, and just a touch unhinged, Marcel refuses to be ignored. They flirt for sport and love watching people fall for them, whether or not they plan to catch them. But sometimes, even a wildcard wants something real…it just might take a while. A very long while.

Misty Delgado | She/Her, 26, Park Ranger

Misty is the epitome of cool and always in control. She takes life one day at a time and is definitely not one to rise to the drama. Sometimes, she’s so laid-back it makes you wonder if she’s here to make a real connection…or just enjoy the view.

Santiago/Santina Reyes | He/Him OR She/Her, 28, Tattoo Artist/Small Business Owner

Smooth, unflappable, and devastatingly charismatic, Santi is hard to resist. They’ve got a magnetic presence and always seem to know the perfect moment to tease, to comfort, or to challenge you. And their heart? It’s big. So big, you start to wonder if there might be room in there for you, too.

[fir-fireweed]

Finally had the opportunity to sit down and read this IF and I loved it! I love me a good dating sim, and the beginning of this is very promising. I also love the character customization in the beginning and the breadth of choices we get.

Highly recommended!

[midnight-bay-if]

Sorry just wanted to pop in and ask a question where is our scary home town supposed to be? Is it modeled after a specific town in the US or somewhere else? To me it is giving total Rhode Island vibes.....

This is actually an interesting question that I don't believe I've ever been asked before... The truth is, Albach Bay is loosely based on the economically bleak coastal town I grew up in (in England) while also being inspired by old-fashioned detective shows and games like Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. So, it's actually a strange amalgamation of places.

This was done entirely on purpose. I wanted Albach Bay to feel like somewhere you know, while simultaneously being nowhere you have been. It's a place you can't place. The cryptic answer is about all I can manage without spoilers. It's fair to say the town is a character all on its own, though.

[apt502-if]

The demo is finally here~ :> It was a labor of love and I'm so glad I can share it now. This episode is the final September episode and marks the end of the "setup" portion of the story. I hope everyone enjoys it :>

TOTAL WORDS: 375,864

Andi has returned and things are settling in MC's life. We're finally introduced to G and things only get more complicated for our beloved MC!

The episode is 73,000 words. I shaved a couple of thousand words so it can flow better.

I've changed a few minor details. Sam remains G's sibling no matter how hold they are. I just don't believe G would have kids right now so it felt off to me to make G a single parent at this point in their life and career.

I realized the stats for the jobs work much better if they're given their own status (ex. strict vs lenient for teachers, camera shy or not for news anchor, stuff like that!) The only problem is that I have yet to figure them out for all of them. The blanket job stats simply don't apply well to every job so I still need to work on that. For now they've remained the same until I can figure out how I'd like those to be measured across the jobs.

I did my best to fix the errors but this demo is huge! I am sure I'm going to need beta testers because there's so many variables and changes that I have to keep track of especially between job routes that it's not possible for me to not miss anything. I will figure that out soon :>

Thank you to people and other writers who messaged me and gave me tips, tricks and coding advice to make it easier for me. It helped a bunch :>

Play Apt. 502 here.

[fir-fireweed]

Tellusssss nooooo poor baby, that conversation clearly did NOT go how he wished. I am so glad you included him as a RO bc it's just prime angst/so tragic. The yearning is already top notch and we've barely started.

"They're still all yours." Are you kidding me?! 😭😭😭

I was pretty proud of that call back, gotta say. 😏

[silly-little-pal]

[fir-fireweed]

Cantata Chapter 4 is LIVE!

Chapter 4 is 55k words, bringing the total word count to 135k.

One more time for those in the back… your saves will not work! Even if the game allows you to upload your save, you will face game-breaking bugs, missed scenes, and incorrect variables and customization. It will break your story experience and my sanity if you come at me with a bug report because you didn’t start over. 🫵 Start over from the beginning!

Oh yeah, and Tellus is alive and Bayram is back!

Enjoy!

[fir-fireweed]

Three days till the Cantata update! 🥳

As I’ve said before, saves will not work in this update. You will need to replay from the beginning. But it’ll be worth it. Some new things added to earlier chapters:

Tellus has been added to the bonfire scene in Chapter 1. Also, you now have the chance to speak to everyone before the scene advances.

In Chapter 2, there’s a new scene that triggers for trans MCs, allowing you to choose whether or not you take tonics.

And of course, lots of exciting new content in Chapter 4:

Yes, Tellus is alive. Expect a tearful reunion, just not the good kind.

Big battles! Please read with caution if that makes you uncomfortable or squeamish. The fight scenes aren’t especially gory, but they are descriptive.

Q&A with Nik. Thank you all for the submissions!

Moments with all of the ROs. Some relationships progress faster than others.

Tough decisions—sometimes there’s simply no good option.

And the return of our wayward RO… Bayram!

[dervampireprince]

Steam, Itch.io and the banning of explicit and LGBT+ Content. What can we do?

[All images in this post have alt/id text if you need it or want to copy paste anything]

With no warning, Itch.io, a site where many host their indie games, comics, books and more, has started purging and shadowbanning explicit and LGBT+ works. Creators got no warning. And if they were still owed payouts from these works, Itch.io is saying they won't give them their money as they 'broke the rules'. Rules that were only just set in place, with no warning, and therefore no way for creators to try and draw out their money or delete these 'offending' works before they got banned under the new rules.

So Itch.io has been the most recent to fall to the demands of a group that's been contacting Visa and Mastercard and convincing them to threaten sites/businesses with 'stop selling what we consider to be explicit content on your sites of we'll stop allowing your site to have transactions with Visa and Mastercard'. Steam folded, and now Itchio has too. And a reminder earlier this year Gumroad also stopped allowing explicit content, further back than that Patreon banned some kinks and fetishes even if it's depicted in fiction not real life, and I don't have to explain to you guys the great Tumblr explicit content ban of 2018.

And as always remember this doesn't stop with sexually explicit work as LGBT+ stories and people are often labelled as explicit and already we're seeing works being taken off Itch.io that are about LGBT+ and especially trans stories. Other non-sexually explicit works I've seen already getting shadowbanned, delisted or deleted are SFW games featuring furries/anthros, SFW dress up games (because when you take the clothes the model is nude), and the aforementioned SFW games that include LGBT+ characters and stories.

I'm compiling here information I've seen around various social medias, mostly Bluesky, because I haven't seen all these things shared over here.

I don't personally have explicit content on itch, but I had been considering one day selling things on there and I do currently have explicit content on my Patreon, my main source of income, and am terrified that Patreon is going to fold next (if anyone knows alterative for hosting audio content behind a paid subscription service please let me know so I can start maybe making a back-up in case the worst happens). Because for me personally if Patreon goes next, it's not like I can go out and easily get another job. Not only because in general finding and getting a job is difficult enough, but I'm autistic and have chronic pain and have been constantly getting sick or new pains over the last few years and don't feel safe being trans in the UK right now and all of that combined rules me out of a lot of jobs and makes me feel unsafe to apply to any. I'm so grateful I've been able to make a community around my work, but if Patreon caves next and I just leave my SFW posts on Patreon... 10% of my Patreons are signed up to the SFW tier, 90% are signed up to the explicit tier... I know if Patreon caves I will go from someone living comfortably who's searching to move out of my parents so I can live in a safer environment to someone who can no longer even afford the rent I pay to my parents. I'll try and get an alterative found and set up in case that happens and I can only hope you guys will follow me to whatever other site I have to set up... but it feels unlikely that people will get a whole new account on a whole new payment provider just to support me on a website they might never have heard of...

But what can we do right now?

A petition you can sign (international but you do have to give your name, email, and postal/zip code):

Mastercard: Sex Work is Work. End Your Unjust Policy.

Mastercard's new policy unfairly targets the adult content industry, making sex workers more vulnerable, especially Black trans women. It mu

Get calling:

Mastercard (US): 1-800-627-8372

MasterCard (UK): 0800 964 767

Mastercard (International.): [phone]

Visa (US + Can): 1 800 847 2911 / 1-800-VISA-911

Visa (AUS): 1 800 125 440

Visa (UK) : 0800 891 725 or use their international call collect [phone]

Visa (International): (call collect - it costs them $): [phone]

PayPal (US): 1-888-221-1161

PayPal (UK): 0800 358 7911 from landline, [phone] mobile

PayPal (International): 1-402-935-2050

(numbers gathered from these posts X X X )

Don't know what to say on the phone? Here's a script written by timidtanuki:

Creators have had their work removed off Itch.io with no warning and since it's been removed for 'breaking the rules' (rules that were suddenly in place with no warning) they aren't entitled to get their payouts. Just like other sites such as Youtube and Twitch and Etsy, Itch.io hold onto money from their users in a wallet and then give them payouts. So there is money creators have made, are owed, that Itch.io is not giving to them.

People are recommending that if you still have works on Itch.io to turn down the revenue sharing to 0% so that Itch.io no longer takes a cut or your money if you no longer want to support Itchi.io finically but don't want to remove your works from their platform. X

Other Bluesky posts and calls to action I've seen:

radiantg.bsky.social is asking for anyone on Itch.io who got their game deindexed, removed , or payouts turned off to reach out to them (espeically if you make explicit and/or LGBT+ games) for a piece of journalism about what is happening.

sleepyhart.bsky.social is making a thread of all the games that Itch.io has censored/removed from their site search function. Obviously be aware this will include 18+ only games, games with sexual content and other dark or heavy themes.

thetransfemininereview.com wants you to reach out to them if you're a trans creator on Itch.io who is being affected by this so they can make an accurate report. they say 'authors' in their post and I'm unsure if they also want game devs to reach out.

dropdownbear.bsky.com wants you to reach out if you have purchased things on Itch.io that you can now no longer access because of this ban. they can include them in a report being filed with the Australian Consumer Commission as this may be a violation of Australian Consumer rights. If you are Australian you can no longer access things you purchased of Itch.io you can report directly with this guide.

It's a scary time for adult creators and sex workers. It's a scary time to be trans. Support creators. And if anyone knows of any alternate payment providers that allow explicit work, and/or alternate websites to Itch (and in case things get worse, also give me Patreon alternates please) where people can host, sell and/or offer paid subscriptions to writing, images, videos, audios, games and more please leave them in the replies. And please help share this post, the posts I'm linking too, and any other resources you can find.

[inthesensethat]

[hexthelex-deactivated20250420]

This is true btw

[letmeliedown]

the podcast If Books Could Kill has a really great episode on the original book and its legacy! just a bunch of misogynist evangelical bullshit really

[cherishedproperty]

I want to clarify something kind of important because this kinda used to be my field. The concept that people express and feel love in different ways, and that this might lead to misunderstandings, IS something with scientific merit. The idea that there are just five and we know what they are is NOT. The idea that people have a primary love language is NOT.

In science, we have a saying. All models are wrong, but some are useful. That’s how I see the love languages framework. It is inherently flawed, but some of its concepts are useful. Communicate with your partner what makes you feel loved and understand what makes them feel loved. Understand how your partner shows love. There is immense value in that. But don’t over-index on which one of the five you are. That part doesn’t matter.

[thesunflowersqueen]

#love languages#really reblogging for that last comment though#“all models are wrong but some are useful”#the concept is sound but the specifics are uhhhh not (via @mad-madam-m)

[godyoupeopleareannoying-deactiv]

i think twitter should be deleted actually.

[godyoupeopleareannoying-deactiv]

literally no matter how vile tumblr gets about bisexuals (esp bi women) it will never be as bad as twitter on a good day. christ all fucking mighty

[kassmonday]

Man Residue is what I call the lingering effects of traumatic experiences on my brain ✌️

[godyoupeopleareannoying-deactiv]

youre gonna hate this so much but thats actually literally what that woman said man residue was, she said that being with men is pretty much inherently traumatic and causes irreparable damage to a bi woman.

[bireaucracy-archived]

let me unpack every point about how fucking horrific that is lol:

“relationships with men damage you forever” and then saying it’s not about bi women being tainted or anything you’re just DamagedTM inherently by being with men

which apparently only applies to bi women and not like, lesbians who were in relationships with men or straight women

and also the implications for mlm aren’t great either

hell the fucking ghastly implications for like, bi wlw abuse victims, especially when you see that bi people and bi women in particular have the highest rate of domestic abuse of any sexuality, talk about further victim-blaming

just interacting with men and having a romantic relationship with them makes you inherently less able to love or treat people with respect

(legit look at op’s other comments)

this is some genuine radfem uh sorry Materialist Feminist TM dumbassery right here and once again it’s so telling that these people keep saying this shit about bi wlw in particular more than anybody else!!!!

yall really think lesbian separatism is new and good, that women are inherently more Pure and soft and kind and let’s be honest you’re all for gold star lesbians, buddies this isn’t the 80s anymore lol

calling bi women emotionally stunted and predatory…. groundbreaking lmao

when are people gonna stop going on bout how bi wlw center men and are tained by men and obsessed by men (or when you’re more honest about your transmisogyny bc v often you guys will then use that rhetoric to talk about trans women, saying bi women are tainted by penis), when will this end, maybe when you guys stop reading rich and wittig and dworkin and thinking that they’re cool and radical mayhaps

or maybe when you do get hurt by other women and suddenly realize that you’re not inherently ideologically pure and soft by virtue of being afab uh a Wombyn Woman

also hey once again jesus christ what the fuck are you guys saying to bi women who’ve been abused regardless of the gender of who abused them, how the fuck is saying “bi women are damaged goods and obsessive and inherently a little evil and obsessed” any kind of great

op is bi and clearly has issues but all her lesbian besties are crying lesbophobia and saying it’s evil and lesbophobic to “not let lesbians talk about their issues” like being able to call bi women tainted goods or predatory

funny earlier this month a major lesbian comedian said that bi people are all inherently predatory and dangerous but none of them said shit but g-d forbid a bi teen somewhere make a slightly oblivious comment either

in conclusion radical feminism (and its newly rebranded coat of Materialist Feminism TM) are absolute horror shows

[queen-mihai]

It's Juneteenth yall. And I'm not letting this day go unmarked.

Black people fight for everybody. We stand in solidarity with women, lgbt people, poor people all over the world of every skin color and background. Every religion and nationality.

Today, stand with us. Be with us. Tell a black person you love them. Hug a black person (with consent). Ask that hot black girl out today. Make a black person smile. Black lives matter to everybody and you matter to us.

Stand with us on Juneteenth like we stand with you all year round, and I hope a happy Pride month continues for all of us

💝

[fir-fireweed]

Ask, and ye shall receive…

Tellus (aka Coda) (he/him)

Tellus is your childhood friend, but he is no longer that sweet boy who once gazed at you so adoringly. He is bitter and angry, closed off from his fellow Resistenza members. Tellus is air-attuned, and his superior eyesight makes him an excellent marksman—the best sniper in the Resistenza.

He is 2 years older than you and quite tall, with medium-length, wavy brown hair and stormy grey eyes. The dusting of freckles are all that remain of his youthful face, now marred by a long scar he received in The Proelium. But that wound is minor compared to the loss of his song. Can you find healing together? Rekindle your friendship? Or perhaps, fan that flame into something more?

[huntydraws]

For whatever reason you’re in the closet, you deserve to enjoy pride! 

[apt502-if]

Demo Update (April, 24, 2025): Episode 2

Added: +150k (including code + duplicate job scenes with text variations)

TOTAL: 303,452 WORDS

Here is episode 2. The demo is over 300,000 words and since the last update I've learned the trick of separating files so there will likely be errors and maybe some inconsistencies/continuity errors. Please give me a heads up if you do find any error or typo. I will be looking for beta testers in the future. This is my first IF so I'm still learning as I go.

After fixing everything, I remain uncertain about the stats. A large part of me doesn't want visible stats at all since there's so many I can use, limiting myself to a couple is making it difficult to balance them. If anyone has any suggestions from other IFs or from experience, I'm happy to hear them.

In this episode:

See the aftermath of episode 1's cliffhanger.

Get a taste of what work is going to look like now that you're starting...and learn news of a possible promotion opportunity. The seeds of a rivalry are planted.

Meet two new people that may or may not become regular faces in your life.

Meet G (editor route)

Go to a club with your roommates to cheer up.

Play Apt. 502 here.

[apt502-if]

A while ago I switched from having the entire episodes in one file to using goto_scene to make it easier on me because of how big the episodes are. *goto_scene allows you to have parts of the story in separate files.

imagine me about to post the newest update when I realize I have my files mixed up and half of them are updated while the other half are old. 🙃 anyway I’ve had to use the better part of April fixing the entire demo.

but now I finished! I’m doing a few final playtests and the update will be out in a couple of days. Sorry :< It’s still April and I didn’t give a date so we can pretend it was always meant to come out at this time :P

[creepymutelilbugger]

everything else migjt suck but at least we have a perfectly shaped february to anticipate halfheartedly

[creepymutelilbugger]