Kat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kindness_says) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
yuletide2025-10-23 02:01 pm
kindness_says) wrote in yuletide2025-10-23 02:01 pm
Entry tags:
yuleswaps 2025 announcement <3
Hello! A few people have been wondering in the Yuletide Discord whether we would have swaps this year... tl;dr it was dicey, but YES!
You may thankmorbane (even more than usual ;)) for following up on everyone's behalf; Livi and I had been having an extremely slow/distracted convo about it since early September, but as always, knowing people are waiting on us motivated me LOL. But neither of us will be your primary mod this year! It will be the lovely Helen (patrokla), who started helping out last year. <3
Here is the lil statement I made in Discord, very slightly modified for DW:
So that's that!
Love/candy/books/drinks always,
Kat
P.S. For any newer Yuletiders who are interested (or just confused as to what Yuleswaps is), here is last year's sign-ups post, which links to our FAQ, etc. This year's sign-ups post will come soon, if all goes to plan!
You may thank
morbane (even more than usual ;)) for following up on everyone's behalf; Livi and I had been having an extremely slow/distracted convo about it since early September, but as always, knowing people are waiting on us motivated me LOL. But neither of us will be your primary mod this year! It will be the lovely Helen (patrokla), who started helping out last year. <3Here is the lil statement I made in Discord, very slightly modified for DW:
Hi everyone! Official announcement (and thank you, Morbane, for playing go-between while we worked things out behind the scenes :)) -- yuleswaps WILL go forward this year, we hope, and we're sorry for the delay!
Indeed I (Kat/Kindness on AO3/
If anybody else was interested in running swaps, Morbane absolutely was speaking for me that we're not offended, and please feel free toDM mecomment or email (yuleswaps at gmail) if you're interested in helping out. ESPECIALLY if you are at all code-savvy/great at answering emails efficiently/bursting with ideas for future improvement. <3
You might hear from me again, or you might not! I will def be helping on the backend, for at least this year/as long as I can, and we really appreciate your patience if we're a little slow or clunky this year as we try to sustain/transition. I also apologize to anyone who didn't get fully covered after January (haven't done 2024 cleanup yet... will try if there's time)!
I have LOVED running swaps, well mostly I have anyway ;) for the past 15 (!!) years. Back in the day I did not read coal but was always charmed when friends occasionally sent me screenshots of anons thrilled about swaps, and I similarly really enjoyed skimming like...1-2 years' worth of this discord not long after Morbane emailed me (was very tempted to answer some super old questions but refrained lol). Your enthusiasm has absolutely been the thing to make all the time and headaches worth it.
<3 <3 <3
So that's that!
Love/candy/books/drinks always,
Kat
P.S. For any newer Yuletiders who are interested (or just confused as to what Yuleswaps is), here is last year's sign-ups post, which links to our FAQ, etc. This year's sign-ups post will come soon, if all goes to plan!
Entry tags:
Interactive Fiction (IF) For Yuletide 2025
Are you interested in text adventures, CYOA, Twine games, or other sorts of interactive fiction? Do you want to let your writer know you'd be happy to receive something along those lines? Are you looking for someone to write IF for? This post is for you.
(I copied and pasted this directly from last year which was also copy pasted from previous years. Let me know via comment or discord ping if any of the links broke or anything else needs editing.)
What is IF?
Interactive Fiction (IF) covers everything from text adventures through to visual novels, by way of all sorts of experimental works. It can be mostly a game, or mostly a story; it can be a way to immerse the reader, or to play around with the concepts of storyteller and audience; it can be an exploration of chance, or of fate; it can be a straightforward story, or something else entirely. From Healy's post:
[IF] is a term used for games which are made up primarily of text, like Adventure, Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and other text adventures, or more experimental hypertext works like My Father's Long, Long Legs, or even visual novels. Interactive fiction these days is generally divided into two groups based on how you interact with the game: parser-based IF, and choice-based IF.
Parser-based IF, more commonly known as text adventures, are controlled by typed in commands, like "GET KEY", "OPEN DOOR", "GO NORTH", "LOOK UNDER BED", and stuff like that. Not every command you type in will work, though, so they're hard to get used to if you haven't tried them before. To make things easier, here's a card of most of the common commands. Some good parser-based IF to try first would be Ryan Veeder's So, You've Never Played a Text Adventure Before, Huh?, Admiral Jota's Lost Pig, Andrew Plotkin's The Dreamhold, and Adam Cadre's Photopia.
Choice-based IF is simpler; you just pick from a number of options. This can be done through hyperlinks and other clicky selections, though more rarely you may have to type a number from a list. Good examples of choice-based IF include Anna Anthropy's Star Court, Alan DeNiro's Solarium, the various games hosted by Choice of Games, and most every given visual novel.
Writing IF for Yuletide
IF is considered opt-in for Yuletide - please don't write it for people who don't want it. If you aren't sure whether it would be welcome or not, ask a mod to check with the intended recipient.
You are still required to follow the normal rules, such as focusing on requested characters (unless the recipient has said you needn't include them all).
It can be hard to figure out what word count an IF story really is - what you've written is full of code that doesn't count, and what your recipient sees may vary in length depending on their choices. If you're posting to the main collection, try to overshoot the minimum requirement a bit, just to be on the safe side. Say a minimum of somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Or probably about 10 to 15 minutes play through.
If your post to the main AO3 collection is under 1,000 words (e.g. you're just linking to an online playable version elsewhere), please drop the mods a note so they know it isn't someone posting something under the minimum, and provide them with an estimated word-count.
If you're writing a treat, unless it includes over 1,000 words of text and you're also sure your recipient would be happy with it as a main gift, please post it to Madness
If you're writing a treat, unless it includes over 1,000 words of text and you're also sure your recipient would be happy with it as a main gift, please post it to Madness
Your recipient does need to be able to access what you've created! Please link to a suitable IF interpreter if required, or if possible make a web-playable version.
Requesting IF for Yuletide
If you would be happy to receive IF this year, please leave a comment below, following this template:
IF Canons Nominated for Yuletide
Plenty of IF canons get nominated for Yuletide! While it's still important to ask before writing IF for someone, someone who consumes IF already will probably be more interested in getting it. (Some of these canons were adapted into other mediums, so it's possible that someone who's interested in one of those isn't at all into the IF side of things. Thus why it's important to ask.) Consider requesting or offering one of these if you're interested in IF for Yuletide. For 2025 moontyger thoughtfully composed a list of IF canons in the tagset, available here: Interactive Fiction in the 2025 Tagset!
Some IF Tools
A * means they can make web-based games.
Parser-based
Inform*: One of the biggest development tools for making parser-based IF. Has an English-like code. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Quest*: Another big IF development tool. Has a click-and-point editor with the option to check out the code. For Windows and web.
TADS*: A long running engine for writing interactive fiction, though generally not as easy to use as Inform. The latest version can make web-based games, although they need to be hosted on a non-https address or on the IFDB.
Choice-based
Twine*: Very popular tool for making choice-based IF. Has a visual editor, with some code-y bits for variables and the like. Can be extended with some Javascript passages. Available for Mac and Windows, and Twine 2 is web-based. See this comment for more notes.
ChoiceScript*: Used by the fine folks over at Choice of Games. Uses simplified Javascript to make games. It's very stat heavy. Requires a text editor. See this comment for notes.
Ren'py: Engine for making visual novels. Uses a simple scripting language. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and can make games for all those platforms.
Inklewriter*: A completely web-based engine for making CYOA-style games.
suzy_queue (suzy_queue) wrote in yuletide2025-10-22 07:09 pm
suzy_queue) wrote in yuletide2025-10-22 07:09 pm
Entry tags:
Season's Treatings mini-challenge
Do you love receiving or writing end of year holiday stories? Are you prompting a snowed in Hanukkah celebration or an Australian New Year's beach party? Season's Treatings may be for you!
This mini-challenge is all about November, December and January holidays, traditions, and cultural celebrations big and small and all over the globe--and perhaps some fantasy worlds, who knows. If you want to prompt it, someone may want to write it.
When you comment, please include:
AO3 Name:
Letter Link (if applicable):
Holiday(s) Requested:
Fandom and character(s):
Prompts:
When you upload, tag it as Season's Treatings so we can all find them.
This mini-challenge is all about November, December and January holidays, traditions, and cultural celebrations big and small and all over the globe--and perhaps some fantasy worlds, who knows. If you want to prompt it, someone may want to write it.
When you comment, please include:
AO3 Name:
Letter Link (if applicable):
Holiday(s) Requested:
Fandom and character(s):
Prompts:
When you upload, tag it as Season's Treatings so we can all find them.
which_chick (which_chick) wrote2025-10-21 06:40 pm
which_chick) wrote2025-10-21 06:40 pmEntry tags:
Orchid updates! (Let's practice image posting with new site!)
I've got some orchids. More orchids than you probably think, if you've been keeping track, and more KINDS of orchids than just phalaenopsis. Phals are fine and there's nothing wrong with having them but I am not ever... satisfied. I'm probably one of those Schulyer sisters, a fucking difficult and perpetually angry one, if there is one of those.
Obviously there are now more orchids. You knew this was happening. But there are also ones I've had for more than a full year.
( Come and see the orchid pictures! )
Obviously there are now more orchids. You knew this was happening. But there are also ones I've had for more than a full year.
( Come and see the orchid pictures! )
ruric (ruric) wrote2025-10-21 10:49 pm
ruric) wrote2025-10-21 10:49 pmEntry tags:
Weeks 41 and 42 - bit of a write off
Week 41 (6-12 Oct) was ridiculously productive at work which left little time for anything else and then on 10th I got either a bad cold or the current round of Covid, so that was mostly about surviving the days and the crashing out in the evenings. So the last 14 days haven't exactly been productive.
#ORJENISE100 didn't get much done the last couple of weeks but I am plugging away at my master email account.
HOME: spiralled a bit back into chaos when I wasn't well - but have more or less clawed the kitchen, bathroom and hallway/stairs back from the brink!
HEALTH: it was a rough 10 days!
LIFE ADMIN: no progress for the last 2 weeks.
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: got my main email account down to 12500 emails before I got sick. Need to get back to that!
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope.
COOKING/EATING: spent the last week living on tins of soup!
READING/LISTENING: nope.
WATCHING: quite enjoying Murder Before Evensong (an 80s version of Grantchester)!
CREATING/LEARNING: I did drag my unwell self to a pumpkin crochet class on Sunday 12 October and have since made 2 small and one medium pumpkins.
CATS: all good.
VOLUNTEERING: not recently.
SOCIALISING: Yes withravurian last weekend two showings at the BFI London film festival. Pillion on Saturday night, a funny and quirky coming of age film starring Harry Melling (who I only recently realised is Patrick Troughton's grandson) and Alexander Skarsgard. Excellent performances and it's getting good reviews. The director had the cast and a lot of the crew on stage before the showing and Skars knows how to dress for his audience. *G* The back up Sunday morning for The History of Sound starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'connor- beautifully shot film about love, loss and folk music. Cracking soundtrack too. Then we went for lunch.
WORK: still busy but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
This week is shaping up to be busy but not awful and the weekend should involve time spent on the allotment in the garden.
#ORJENISE100 didn't get much done the last couple of weeks but I am plugging away at my master email account.
HOME: spiralled a bit back into chaos when I wasn't well - but have more or less clawed the kitchen, bathroom and hallway/stairs back from the brink!
HEALTH: it was a rough 10 days!
LIFE ADMIN: no progress for the last 2 weeks.
DIGITAL DECLUTTER: got my main email account down to 12500 emails before I got sick. Need to get back to that!
GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope.
COOKING/EATING: spent the last week living on tins of soup!
READING/LISTENING: nope.
WATCHING: quite enjoying Murder Before Evensong (an 80s version of Grantchester)!
CREATING/LEARNING: I did drag my unwell self to a pumpkin crochet class on Sunday 12 October and have since made 2 small and one medium pumpkins.
CATS: all good.
VOLUNTEERING: not recently.
SOCIALISING: Yes with
ravurian last weekend two showings at the BFI London film festival. Pillion on Saturday night, a funny and quirky coming of age film starring Harry Melling (who I only recently realised is Patrick Troughton's grandson) and Alexander Skarsgard. Excellent performances and it's getting good reviews. The director had the cast and a lot of the crew on stage before the showing and Skars knows how to dress for his audience. *G* The back up Sunday morning for The History of Sound starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'connor- beautifully shot film about love, loss and folk music. Cracking soundtrack too. Then we went for lunch. WORK: still busy but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
This week is shaping up to be busy but not awful and the weekend should involve time spent on the allotment in the garden.
Entry tags:
MultiLingYule 2025
The MultiLingYule mini-challenge is for works in languages other than English.
Maybe there are very few fanworks in your first, second, etc language, and you'd love to connect with a fellow speaker who's also a fellow fan.
Maybe you're learning a new language and getting a gift in it would be a delightful way to improve your fluency.
Maybe you just want to talk about how much you love conlangs and invite someone to incorporate conlangs into your gift.
The possibilities are multi-ple!
On the creation side: unless someone has clearly indicated that a non-English work would suit as their only gift, gifts of that kind need be posted in Yuletide Madness, regardless of length. Works can only go in the main collection if they fulfil all the same requirements as an assigned gift.
Similarly, someone may be delighted to get a gift in a language you've just started to learn, and connect with you over enthusiasm for that language, but if you're posting a gift in the Main rather than the Madness collection, it should probably either be in a language you're fluent in or in a language you can call on fluent help for.
On the (tangential) beta side, people who can check text snippets, lines of dialogue, etc, in multiple languages are extremely valuable and appreciated, and if you can offer this service, please consider doing so when the beta post goes up.
Maybe there are very few fanworks in your first, second, etc language, and you'd love to connect with a fellow speaker who's also a fellow fan.
Maybe you're learning a new language and getting a gift in it would be a delightful way to improve your fluency.
Maybe you just want to talk about how much you love conlangs and invite someone to incorporate conlangs into your gift.
The possibilities are multi-ple!
MultiLingYule is an opt-in challenge similar to Crueltide and Interactive Fiction. Comment here to let people know
-if you are interested in receiving gifts in languages other than English
-what languages those are
-what you're prompting (link your letter; if you don't have a letter, you can link your prompts on the app after requests are revealed)
-any other useful notes.
With a Mod Hat On
On the requesting side: if you would be happy if a gift in a different language were your only gift, please also note this in the optional details of your sign-up form. This prevents mod panic when we go to check assignments and need to figure out if someone can actually read their gift!On the creation side: unless someone has clearly indicated that a non-English work would suit as their only gift, gifts of that kind need be posted in Yuletide Madness, regardless of length. Works can only go in the main collection if they fulfil all the same requirements as an assigned gift.
Similarly, someone may be delighted to get a gift in a language you've just started to learn, and connect with you over enthusiasm for that language, but if you're posting a gift in the Main rather than the Madness collection, it should probably either be in a language you're fluent in or in a language you can call on fluent help for.
On the (tangential) beta side, people who can check text snippets, lines of dialogue, etc, in multiple languages are extremely valuable and appreciated, and if you can offer this service, please consider doing so when the beta post goes up.
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dw_maintenance2025-10-20 10:11 am
alierak) wrote in dw_maintenance2025-10-20 10:11 amAWS outage
DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.
Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.
Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.
Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.
Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.
