My Lair

Hello there! I am alive! Mostly! Hooooly mother of all Indies, people were not lying when they warned me that September is busy season for Tokyo games. I have run across three prefectures nearly every day the last two weeks for TGS and TGS prep, made two custom dresses and ran the biggest event of my life.

So lets get into the recap before I potato for the remainder of the month.

Video Game Prom!

Who on EARTH agreed to make two custom dresses in like one week?? I need to speak to their manager.

Yeah, that’s my fault. Also, fuck this fabric cause god damn it’s a BITCH to work with.

Anyway.

First thing’s first, me and my friend Lauren (check out their patreon here, they make the most adorable anxious boys in their novel Noah Arc) went to Nippori to hunt fabric for us both. As it was my first time in Nippori, I was basically a kid in a candy shop, grinning and bouncing around and generally just being super excited. I cannot express to you all how much I love fashion. Tokyo is a dream come true for me, the textures! The colors! The ACCESSORIES!! I just.. scream I love it, okay. Look at this. Tell me this isn’t cool as hell.

Why, yes. I will be going back for these, thank you.

So we were originally looking for some fabric to make a cape/cloak style shoulder covering for a dress they already owned. Some cool ideas of a gameboy color inspired cape were tossed around and I found some nice fabric for it. And then… and then we saw the devil. And by the devil, I mean this fabric. The iridescent sheen called to me, the rainbow coloring… metallic. Stretchy. Slippery. All the worst qualities in a fabric, especially when you’re in crunch mode.

Naturally we bought 7 meters of it.

IN MY DEFENSE!

jk I have none, I was just mesmerized. Also we found this other fabric and saw this miniature dress form and I just.. I caved, okay? How could I not make a dress like this??

Sooo yeah, I made two dresses in a week. And by made, I mean literally took measurements, created custom patterns, and made an absolute mess of my office. Really it was more like two days because I was working three other jobs and made most of Lauren’s dress day of. But you know what, they still slapped so I count it as a win.

I do believe the words “hot af” were uttered at least three times~

It was a lot of fun, regardless of the stress I felt making them! But, um… maybe next time I’ll not decide to attend and make dresses from scratch.

Tokyo Game Show

Ohhh BOY was this insane. I have been to exactly 1 game convention before and it was PAX in Seattle. Which, post-covid was… lame, alright? I’m gonna be real, it was lame and boring and parking was a nightmare and there were like no games and it just kind of sucked. Tokyo Game Show (according to my partner) was the equivalent of E3 back in 2012 when they went. Love it or hate it, it was so much bigger than PAX. The booths were all very cool, and I’m glad I got to see it on the business days, but I spent most of my time running a booth in the Selected Indies for a game called In Silico! (psst, wishlist here, it’s such a freaking cool game). It was a lot of fun watching everyone play it, seeing their reactions and taking feedback notes for the developer.

I learned a lot from the experience and hope to someday show a game of my own on the same floor! I definitely think the Selected Indies area of TGS was the coolest part of the entire convention.

Tokyo Game Bridge TGS Community Fest

Alright, first of all, this was the highlight of my month. Prom was great, Tokyo Game Show was a lot of fun, but this one event caps it all off for me. Why? Because it was mine! Well, not just mine. I worked hard with my fellow volunteers at Tokyo Game Bridge to make this event happen and it was a smashing success! We had over 150 people show, nearly 30 games presented, and everyone left with a smile on their face. It was the biggest event we ever ran, and I got to enjoy it with the knowledge that I helped make it happen.

York Game Lab showed off their Keigo card game!

Nano Park showed off Petal Runner, which my friend Lauren did the writing for!

My friend Andrea (silver978) showed off his new game The Fridge is (Not) Empty!

XR Tokyo, Jelly Jelly Games, Games Ground Berlin, ExPat Studios, so many people came and showed cool games. Truly an amazing event.

And me? I launched my business.

Patreon. Newgrounds. Mastodon. Bluesky. Substack (hi!). I’m kind of everywhere now, which is fitting since I was recently called a ‘sunshine virus’. Still don’t know how to take that, but given who said it I am reasonably certain it was a compliment. Anyway, I’ve got a ttrpg supplement going up every month, with Patrons at Archivist and Lore Hoard getting it a week before anyone else. Lore Hoarder’s also get access to sprite packs when I finish a game, as well as Hoard Drops!

You can find more information on my membership levels here!

Red Marshes went up for Patrons last Wednesday and will be up on Itch.io and DriveThruRPG on the last day of the month. Next month’s supplement will be a pallet cleanser with a cafe on the snout of a dragon. WIPs of that are already live for members, and will be fully released October 24th.

Coming down the pipeline is a collab with a friend whose 3D printing lock shaped boxes. We’re making a winter Polly Pocket inspired outfit together, with me designing the clothes and her making the accessories and hardware. I’m really excited about this one!

I’ve been commissioned to make a Halloween costume for a friend, which I’ll be starting on this weekend along with my own Sugar Plum jester costume.

I’ll be running an Inktober event for TGB on our discord, culminating in an in person art jam at the end of the month, along with our monthly social happening October 8th. If you’re into games, in Tokyo, or just want to add another discord server to your proverbial belt, you can find us here!

And last but not least…

THORGE

It’s just a little game jam style game I’ve been working on with my spouse, but damn I’m excited for it. It’ll be our first ever game, and I made all the art for it! We’ll be releasing it sometime in October, so look forward to it!

Subscribe now

Alright, I think that’s a wrap for September! Please excuse me while I go deflate like the very old bouncy castle I am. Till next time~

Ivalace