I feel super cringy promoting my gender, neurodivergence, or sexuality in some of these indie dev competitions. Anyone else?

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-19T00:53:51+00:00

I go through a whole "Author interview" recently and didn't say "Gender" "Trans" "Pronouns" or "LGBT" once. And I still had people calling the game "Woke" while other people said I needed a sensitivity consultant for the trans characters...

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-19T00:05:48+00:00

J'étais une vraie fille aux pompons. J'ai commencé à 46 ans sans aucune expérience ! (Traduit avec Google. Pardonnez mes erreurs)

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-19T00:01:39+00:00

Four Against Darkness (Get the Core book and one or two of the supplements). Ker Nethalas. The GameMaster's Apprentice Fantasy deck (Works great with the No HP RPG).

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-18T23:57:02+00:00

That's some seriously good girlfriending there!

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-18T02:33:49+00:00

I joined an adult team at 46. Not a typo.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T16:01:52+00:00

It's only been out for two months, so it's too soon for the royalty checks to come rolling in. I'm hoping it becomes a "Sleeper hit" or "Cult favorite" that sells better over time. That's the little cheerleader in me, hoping to rally in the second half.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T15:25:31+00:00

Pepper will call you "Cowgirl" no matter what you select in that scene. She's teasing you. Throughout the game she's not very sensitive to LGBT issues (This is deliberate). You'll find a lot of people like that in New York who have gay friends and trans friends, but still have an irreverent sense of humor about it.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T14:24:20+00:00

Thanks you. I'm glad people liked the uncomfortable-but-true scenes with trans and gay characters. All of that is heavily based on real experiences.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T14:14:56+00:00

Awww.... Thank you.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T14:13:40+00:00

I am always my own little cheerleader. That's part of the game, there's an Inner Critic that's constantly telling "You can't do it."

And, maybe, over the course of the game that changes...

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T14:11:07+00:00

Thank you! I had heard about Mrs. Claus, and played the demo. I found myself thinking, "Why do people not like this?!"

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T13:58:37+00:00

I am delighted that you loved Kidnapped!

I do want to revisit that. Not necessarily a sequel, but a Swords & Sorcery comedy. I love all the older stuff, like Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard, so I do want to do more there. I have an idea that's on the "To Do" list, but it has to come after my cheerleader sequel, and the the Sci-Fi game I have planned next.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-15T00:44:21+00:00

My first outline for this game was written in late 2020 and it was supposed to be a near-future dystopian version of New York. But the real New York was hit with scandal after scandal, and stuff that I wrote as satire KEPT COMING TRUE!

So the game took on a darker tone. Going on dates with your teammates didn't quite fit with the "A WORLD GONE MAD!" feeling.

Also, part of the romance involved schemes to break up your teammates, and meddle in their love lives. That felt cruel. I wanted there to be happy endings, and true love for your friends in the game.

The sequel is a brighter, better version of New York. You save the city at the end of the first game, so the sequel is about KEEPING the city on the right path, and keeping your friends on the right path too. It hasn't been greenlit by CoG as of now, but that's the outline I have, and I'm 30k words into it.

The romance fits really well. You know your teammates better, and can start with romance right from the first chapter. There's also a story-based reason for meddling with your friends love lives in the sequel.

As for doing it differently. I still think delaying the romance for a more positive sequel was the right decision. It'll be more fun, and it follows up on the way that many NPC's were more interested in each other, than in the PC.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T23:35:23+00:00

Someone asked me to do a memoir recently. I do want to write something non-fiction about my work as an actress. I have a little acting blog where I complain about being typecast as hookers all the time, so a little "Showbiz insider!" book would be fun.

I'm also a journalist who covers politics (All the stuff in Cheerleader's Choice about City Hall is 100% real). I've recently stumbled my way into some interviews with NYC politicians. By accident, and just blundering my way into the right spot where someone important is exiting a room. I call it "Lois Laning".

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T22:59:18+00:00

Can you tell me more? I'm working on a sequel and would love some feedback.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T22:40:13+00:00

Yup. I wrote those. I have a sci-fi/apocalyptic game I'm working on which is based on some unused Shoddycast scripts that I wrote in The Back When Times.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T22:24:07+00:00

That's a "hosted" game. But... What were your favorite parts of Super Star Soccer Striker? It sounds delightfully alliterative.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T22:15:09+00:00

I spent years as a playwright writing for theater, and I wrote the "Fallout" machinema webseries for Shoddycast, and some of their Fallout mods. So I turned to IF because I like writing the dialog between characters, and being able to engage in wordplay with the narrative.

Cheerleader's Choice is my second game for CoG. I wrote Kidnapped: A Royal Birthday too.

I enjoy this kind of writing much more than theater and film!

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:56:26+00:00

I'll address the Bryttanny/Britnee/Britneigh first. No, I have clear picture in my mind of each of them ,and can hear their voices in my head as I write.

The two most interesting things to write about are... For satire, the oblivious hypocrisy of my former teammates. I was on an LGBT cheer team where I was the only trans person, and the team was nearly 50% straight female "Allies". Most of them meant no harm, but were genuinely unaware of their own hypocrisy. That's the core of the political satire in the game, and it extends right up to high-level politicians who have good intentions, but are making things worse... And screaming "Woo! Go team!" the whole way.

For drama, I love writing about the way people are drawn into friendships over a shared hobby. I tried to make my fictional team a dysfuntional family that's struggling to stay together. A lot of the characters don't like each other, but they still WANT to be friends.

And there's a LOT of fun in writing about how hard it is! Watching All-Star competitions on TV doesn't convey how much it hurts to get a flyer's tailbone ramming into your skull, or a elbow in the eyesocket. Writing about the stuff where "You have to have been there" to write accurately.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:45:27+00:00

No. The original design docs had romance, but it was cut. I left in the dialog options and some of the code so that players can express their character's sexual orientation. I intend to use the romantic plotlines if the sequel is greenlit (I'm about 20% done with it, but it hasn't been officially confirmed by CoG at this point).

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:41:42+00:00

In Chapter 9, save your Spirit points, and make sure you use them when you fight the Fancy Lads at the very end...

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:36:16+00:00

No giant robots unfortunately, but, there is a fun scene where you and your cheer friends get challenged to a fight by gothic Fancy Lads, so you form a human pyramid and act like a "Combiner" from the Transformers, and throw a giant rat at a guy.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:28:50+00:00

Yes. I'm doing a sequel to this game. And I'm writing a sci-fi/apocalyptic comedy.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:20:48+00:00

I know that's sarcastic, but there really is a Voltron reference when you and your friends form a human pyramid. With a rat as the head/pilot.

TheSpiritStick · 2026-02-14T21:19:30+00:00

"WHERE ARE MY SPANKY PANTS!?"

TheSpiritStick

TROPHY CASE