[kal-down]

Hi❤ I'm Kal (they/them) and I am an italian author very passionate about interactive fiction.

Primary WIPs

The King's Hound (18+) by @the-kingshound -> Demo updated on 7/01/2025.

The legendary tale of King Arthur Pendragon's spouse, known for the centuries to come as the King's Hound.

Currently available: Chapter 1 and first part of chapter 2

From the Ashes we Rise (18+) by @fromtheashesweriseif -> Rewrite

Play an irresistible, heartbreaker dragon shifter in an all gay Regency Era setting as they seek redemption for all the hurt they caused last Season.

Currently available: prologue

The Chosen One (16+) by @thechosenone-if -> Demo updated on 21/06/2022. On temporary hiatus

Play as the Chosen One, foretold by the Prophecy to lead the King's armies in the Last War. Follow your destiny. Or don't.

Currently available: chapter 1 and interlude 1

Secondary WIPs

A Father's Love (16+) -> unreleased

Play a vampire priest in the 17th century northern Italy and try to balance your duties and your thirst while staying hidden from the Inquisition.

Trailer available here

Finished Games

Cinderella - happily ever after -> released on Itch.io

Ten years ago, you married the prince. You did it to escape a life of servitude, but perhaps that is all you can ever expect.

Entry for the Anti-Romance Jam

[when-life-gives-you-lemons-if]

Submitted!

Hey… um… it's done.

I just submitted When Life Gives You Lemons to Hosted Games. Here are some FAQs:

1: When will the game come out? A: I don't know yet. Hosted Games will have someone read through the entire game, and they'll send me feedback on anything they want changed or removed. That process takes some time, so please hang in there. I'll share updates as soon as I know more.

2: How much will the game cost? A: I don't know. As the author, I don't decide the price. Hosted Games does, and we'll only find out once the game is released.

3: How many words is the game? A: Notepad says it's around 901,582 words (including code), but it could be a bit less. I was hoping to hit a million, but it is what it is.

4: How many chapters are there in total? A: 12 chapters.

5: Who are the ROs? A: There are 6 ROs in total: the teacher, the neighbor, the ex/childhood friend, the cop, the barista, and the boss/co-worker. All are gender-selectable.

6: So what now? A: I need to finalize The Wedding for release in June on Steam and Itch.io. After that, I'll focus on Patreon content, (I've been neglecting Patreon for a while. 😭) then on finishing A Taste of Heat (formerly Spices of the Heart).

Please consider buying the game when it comes out. As the author, I will mostly receive about 25% of the revenue, while Hosted Games takes 75%. It sucks, but that's how it works.

The public demo on COGDemos will be taken down on May 15.

This game started as side content for Patreon and officially went live in July 2022. It's crazy to think that four years later, it's become something people love, and hopefully it'll get released. Thank you again to everyone for the love and support. 💕

I can die now, and you'll have this to remember me.

[kal-down]

As some of you might know, I am studying to become a dietitian. I have a project to do, and since it involves indian food, I thought who better to ask than my dear followers. I figured it would be more accurate to ask directly to indian people rather than doing some vague google search.

This will take up a bit of your time, so I want to thank in advance everyone who will accept to do it. The only requirement I have is to do this specifically with only indian food in mind, as it is the focus of my project. It would be better if it was typical indian food, so I can see how your average eating day looks like, and explore the traditional recepies too.

Average eating day (indian food)

First of all, thank you so much for your time. The focus of this survey is to explore a typical day of eating, specifically indian food and

[kal-down]

Will the full game of the King's hound be free? I know there is only 2 chapters so far but it would be nice to know your plans for the future of the game <3

Yes, it will remain completely free! Perhaps I will make a patreon page for early access, but every chapter will always be available to the public for free and the completed game will remain free as well!

[kal-down]

I get what youre saying about mafia, but fiction is fiction, and sometimes tropes and settings are used just for simple enjoyment without caring about the real world implications.

Milions of people have died in wars, middle ages or not, yet each fantasy story has them, because its good to read about it - in fiction. Its fun and full of anticipation and building tenstion.

Mafia has become just that, a romantised version far from the original. As long as we keep in mind that its different, I don't see problem with enjoying stories like that, to certain extent.

Fiction may be fiction, but it has responsibilities too. In this case, how mafia has consistently being portrayed in media has heavily influenced how it is perceived. Wars have been and will be used as a narrative source of drama/tension, but people know wars are horrible and plenty of books/movies show how horrible wars are.

In the case of mafia, there is so much content romanticised and glorifying it while not nearly enough to show the reality of things. Also, war is universal. Mafia is more specific to a country, so having non Italian people writing about Italian mafia knowing nothing about it and making it seem so cool is... well.

Do I aknowledge how the idealised/romanticised portrayal of mafia in fiction is just a trope often used for enjoyment purposes? Yes. But it doesn't make it less problematic. And, aside of making my skin crawl, seeing mafia being romanticised as an italian feels vile. Don't get me started on the mafia romance stories.

[kal-down]

Brief vent, because I have to get this thing off my chest. As an italian, I hate when any form of media romanticizes mafia. Especially italian mafia.

I see people drooling over male LIs that are criminals, I see a crimial family being idealised because they are so protective and loving, the concept of honor and pride. And then I think about all the families, shops, lifes destroyed by mafia. About the terror that makes people keep their lips shut about the evil that corrupts our country. About the numerous attacks against the magistrates, judges, prosecutors when the State dared to bring mafia to trial.

Do you know what mafia is famous for in italy? Melting a child in acid. After two years of captivity. To send a message to all the ex mafia members who, like his father, started collaborating with the police.

Absolutely nothing is romantic about mafia.

[kal-down]

The Chosen One - status

I feel so bad for setting aside The Chosen One like I did... I regret deleting most of the asks and content I had on it. I obviously have them saved, but for anyone wanting to discover more about the game or simply browse the (very) old asks and progress, it's not possible anymore.

I debated whether to create another separate blog just for TCO. To keep things tidy and give it back the space, even if little, it deserved. To share some old snippets I had deleted, some scenarios with Rascia (who I still love dearly as a character).

Musings and regrets aside, I want to thank everyone who rated, played and enjoyed the game❤ It was my first ever IF and despite the current hiatus of the project, it was what brought me to the author that I am now.

You can play the first chapter HERE if you haven't already!

[eoieopda]

[ask game for writers]

as someone that writes, i know there are a lot of questions i wish people asked about my writing; and i know that this isn’t unique to me. so, to hopefully get these cute lil book club convos going, i created an ask game! category is ✨ bipoc authors ✨

angelou ⇢ which of your characters do you relate to the most?

butler ⇢ is there a character you wish you could develop further?

coates ⇢ how would you describe [character]?

diaz ⇢ what themes do you tend to use the most?

edugyan ⇢ which of your stories is the most personal to you?

gyasi ⇢ easiest & hardest stories to write?

ffitch ⇢ do you choose titles before or after writing?

hughes ⇢ how did you pick [story] title?

ishiguro ⇢ which story was the hardest to title?

jemisin ⇢ what is your favorite AU to write?

kim ⇢ what AUs do you want to try and/or write more of?

lalami ⇢ where do you draw inspiration from?

morrow ⇢ what song is the "soundtrack" to [story]?

ng ⇢ what time of day do you usually write the most?

orange ⇢ do you write more with pen/paper or laptop/mobile?

park ⇢ how do you combat writer's block?

quintero ⇢ do you write with music on or off?

reyes ⇢ what part of writing is your speciality?

sutanto ⇢ what part of writing have you improved in the most?

tahir ⇢ what part of writing do you want to get better at?

usami ⇢ do you have any pet peeves related to writing?

van allsburg ⇢ how many WIPS do you have?

walker ⇢ quote one of your favorite lines you've written.

xiu ⇢ what is the last story you read (on tumblr)?

yoon ⇢ what are some of your favorite stories (on tumblr)?

zevin ⇢ who are your tumblr writer crushes?

[manonamora-if]

Best pizza toppings?

Currently craving some sort of spicy honey type...

Fav ones in no particular order

Pineapple, Ham and a butload of spicy sauce (your choice)

Canned tuna and canned tangerine (the ratio is hard to get but it's crazy insane good). Also what I'd like to call the Surf of the Hawaiian Turf.

Pickled Cèpes (a mushroom)

Four season: artichoke, bell peppers, ham/prosciutto, olives, mushroom, basil (yes that is more than four seasons, blame climate change)

Just a good margherita

Cheese. A whole burrata on top of a tomato base. Or a bunch of different cheese (gorgonzola my beloved)

sorry @kal-down

[rabid-hex-wolf-deactivated20230]

it feels like society is becoming increasingly prudish? the way the naked body is sexualised now is bizarre and makes me feel uncomfortable.

[lapinlunaire-games]

Announcing the Anti-Romance Jam, an exploration of all the messy spaces and sensations that exist against and around romance! From May 14 - July 14, 2023, submissions will be open for creations centered on anti-romance: what it is, what it does to us, and how we do things to it.

For the purposes of this jam, we invite you to think of anti-romance as a spectrum and a series of questions:

Is anti-romance the opposite of romance, its absence, or something else entirely? Are these things mutually exclusive?

Can anti-romance coexist with romance? Must it? How?

If music be the food of love, what feeds (or devours) anti-love?

Who does anti-romance look like?

Is anti-romance a resistance, subversion, or reclamation? 

How does it do what it does?

What's 🎶 love 🎶 got to do — got to do with it?

Sign up on itch.io | Full list of rules under the cut; feel free to reach out with any questions!

The Anti-Romance Jam welcomes:

Solo- and team-created submissions

 All kinds of games, art, and other media are encouraged 

Including but not limited to: interactive & kinetic/dynamic fiction or poetry; visual novels; TTRPGs; academic essays; zines; scripts; fiction; visual art; etc.

NSFW content with appropriate content warnings included

Previously published work

Revisiting an old flame is encouraged, so long as there is something new (edits, expansions, etc.) involved

The Anti-Romance Jam DOES NOT welcome:

Spam entries - all submissions must be related to anti-romance in some way

Hateful content

The jam will open for submissions at midnight on 14 May 2023 and will close on 14 July 2023 (CST; please check above for your local timezone).

[manonamora-if]

HAHAHA! Even the pros of IF knew it. YOU ARE JUST A MEDIOCRE WRITER! You deserved more 1s actually.

Yup. My entry was deemed mediocre/middle of the pack. Some thing went right, some thing didn't. But the feedback I've gotten will help me get better and better :)

[kal-down]

Coming back from my slumber to see this. Anon. I'm gonna throw hands for Manon. (Btw TTT was so relaxing to play, I really liked it!)

Kindly stop being a dick to IF authors. We write and code and mantain blogs for free. We share out projects knowing we will get next to nothing back, save for the enjoyment of some readers. And that's fine, for most of us it's more than enough.

But, really, being rude and outright offensive on anon to authors is vile. Shame on you.

[kal-down]

Oof I missed so much! If anyone has a moment to spare, please share (through an ask or a comment) all the new amazing Arthurian IFs for my list <3

[kal-down]

Other chosen one protagonists: come from a poor background. Travel light. Sleep rough or pay for the less expensive inn in town.

Kal's Chosen One: is accustomed to linen and silk, sleeps in very rich tents provided by the Academy or in the best inn in town (it's all founded by the King anyway)

[kal-down]

I also realized something as I was thinking about TCO again. MC's reaction to magic is, for all intents and purposes, a disability - though a chronic condition that no one else has and that next to no one aknowledges despite it being very invalidating.

Rascia's colourblindness is a disability that is almost equally overlooked, since it only exists in Kaeh and it affects relatively few people.

All of this to say that MC and Rascia have many parallelisms as characters.

[kal-down]

Kal: "I've got my motivation back, it's time to continue The Chosen One"

Also Kal, while looking at the World doc of the second chapter: "... damn, I forgot how to write in italian."

[kal-down]

you're so cool and inspiring