Chapter 1 is now available for download on itch.io
This update contains:
Approximately 40k words spread over 4 scenes and many, many branches
25+ unique sprites for three new characters
5 new backgrounds
6 illustrations
Music & sound effects, with an original piece produced by Stephen Poon
Click here for a link
As previously mentioned, there is currently an unfinished branch that prematurely ends the chapter. This branch will be patched in at the end of the year, along with other improvements to the UI, menus, music, and more. Additionally, we suggest playing through the prologue as several fixes were made that may interfere with the new content.
Thank you for your support!
Or not! That's fine too!
335 notes
·
View notes
Episode 189 - Romantic Comedies & Humorous Romance
This episode we’re discussing the fiction genre of Romantic Comedies! We talk about the difference between “fun” and “funny,” crossover romance genres, cataloguing romance fiction, and more!
You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.
In this episode
Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards
Things We Read (or tried to…)
The House Witch by Delemhach
A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown
I Kissed a Girl by Jennet Alexander
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
Other Media We Mentioned
When Harry Met Sally… (Wikipedia)
The Bear (Wikipedia)
Nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
The Martian (Wikipedia)
Golden Globes change comedy rules after controversial win for The Martian
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Beetlejuice (Wikipedia)
The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare
A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Judgment (video game)
Bridgertons Series by Julia Quinn
Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan
Cats (2019 film) (Wikipedia)
Links, Articles, and Things
Episode 119: Regency Romance
What does a happily ever after look like? (romance novel covers)
Sensible Chuckle (Know Your Meme)
There Is Only One Bed (TV Tropes)
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
Does the Dog Die?
20 Humorous Romance by BIPOC Authors
Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.
Courting Samira by Amal Awad
The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell
A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Caña
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao
How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
Game On by Seressia Glass
Manhattan Dreaming by Anita Heiss
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson
Much Ado about Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin
Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli
The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau
Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee
The Secret to a Southern Wedding by Synithia Williams
Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne
Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu
Give us feedback!
Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!
Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!
Join us again on Tuesday, February 20th we’ll be talking about our reading resolutions for 2024!
Then on Tuesday, March 5th we’ll be discussing the genre of Dark Fantasy!
2 notes
·
View notes
Day 2 of our Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Featured Author Interviews, continuing with Mouse & Ram!
Mouse and Ram, authors of Beau Ideals
Merchants stare up and out, some advertising their goods, yelling, others perched, confident that the outward quality of their wares is enough to draw customers in: rubble arranged on tables, mageware scattered in between with display lights illuminating milky crystals; the fruit of their ventures into the Expanse, the hope that it was worth their sacrifice. It all passes in a blur and I feel the press of time. One of these items will be worth the risk of stealing. It will be my last act as a free citizen before disappearing into the Southern Expanse.
A low-level criminal on the run for the crime of the century, the end of your journey approaches as you arrive in Lau Lyssa, the Kingdom’s southernmost city. Resigned to your fate of living as a fugitive in the wilds of the Southern Expanse, you know you only have so much time before word of your misdeed sweeps the land.
Read more about Beau Ideals here.
Play the Demo Here.
Tags: Fantasy.
[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]
Q1. Hello! Could you tell us a little bit about to yourself and your project?
Hiya, we’re Mouse and Ram! Mouse and Ram
We’re two long-time friends who wanted to try our hand at creating something together that reflected aspects of our experiences growing up Chinese (Mouse) and Vietnamese (Ram) in the United States. As adults. High school? There’s nothing to see there.
Beau Ideals is a text-heavy, fantasy visual novel where you play as a rogue-ish MC that finds themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. and a rock
Q2. What inspired your current project?
We’re both big fans of visual novels both mainstream and indie. Combining our love of art, writing, and storytelling has been a habit of ours since we were wee-babaies. Now that we’re older, have a little more time on our hands, and have been tempered by the trials of adulthood, we wanted to see what we could do as larger babaies.
Cultural discourse has changed quite a bit as we’ve aged into our twenties, and with that change, our own understanding of our identity has also matured. It has been enlightening and painful in equal measure, and with that growth came a lot of inspiration.
Q3. Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?
Ram: Of course! The entertainments I experienced growing up in East Asia imparts stylistic preferences that evolved as I was later exposed to western media. What is presented now is a combination of what I find appealing, plus what I feel represent the narrative we want to portray.
Principles of family and community were a huge part in my upbringing. And along with Mouse’s writing, those values inform my understanding of the character dynamics and relationship with their peers and their communities. These aspects seep through to the current and the future game art.
Mouse: My experiences growing up Chinese American has affected my work in both subtle and obvious ways. While the MC’s voice is something I want the player to take some degree of ownership of, I can’t deny that some of my own beliefs, perspectives, and “general posturing” don’t also slip in.
All of the main characters face issues and circumstances that I myself, or the people around me, have experienced. A/PI have gone through a lot these past few years, and it’s my sincerest hope that the writing reflects our experiences, no matter how small.
Q4. What are you most excited about your project?
Ram: To see the plot and character arcs completed, and to have the game wholly finished :D
Mouse: To see all the pretty pictures Ram draws :D
Q5. What has your experience writing an IF and with the IF community been like?
Mouse: Compared to novels, screenplays, or even comics, the types of decisions you have to make are completely different, and you have to be extra-super mindful of how consequences play out in the story. It can be extremely difficult and it necessitates a much higher degree of planning.
Ram: In terms of art, I find creating effective yet versatile assets such as sprites challenging. A good challenge.
Together: As for the community, we’re a little shy. It’s something we know we’re lacking. We’re well aware of some of the discourse within and around the IF community as a whole, but have had some incredible individual interactions with fellow creators! In the future, we hope to be doing some ask-prompts and Q&A’s for our followers.
Q6. What changes in the IF community would you like to see?
We can’t say we’ve been around for terribly long, but since we’ve set out on this project there has been the Interactive Fictions tumblr, and the first few IF/VN-specific game-jams on itch.io. It’s been cool to see. A writing workshop on IF/VN writing would be incredible, but we still might be a little ways away from that.
There isn’t anything specific we’d like to see changed per say, but there is one thing we can say: we want to see more voices join in. Everyone deserves the chance to tell their story. It’s corny but it’s true.
Q7. What piece of advice would you give to fellow creators?
Ram: Since we tend to be hard on ourselves, I encourage those with similar habits to focus on completion over perfection. You’ll find the minor roadblocks are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And you can always go back to edit after. Plus, have no fear to scrap anything that doesn’t contribute to your story. Shelve the idea for a more fitting opportunity.
Mouse: Take some time to flesh out your vision. Sometimes your best idea is the first one that you think of, and sometimes it’s the twentieth. And if you’re stuck, as I often am, let yourself explore ALL the possibilities, even the dumb ones. Execution matters way way more than the idea.
80 notes
·
View notes
8/24/21 Updatesss
More steady progress! This is the last look at some of the prologue backgrounds until we release!
TLDR; We're rapidly approaching the ability to start coding the prologue!
1. Writing
Chapter 1 is moving at a steady pace. There are 4 total parts to scene 4: two major and two minor. One of the major parts is nearly done while the two minor parts help bridge between certain variations. Mouse is aiming to complete this scene, as well as scene 3, by the end of the month.
Additionally, as Ram continues to work on the background, a final round of solo editing will be done on the prologue to prepare it for coding. It's all very exciting.
2. Art & Assets
Ram has completed the linework necessary for the background and has moved onto colors. This is final draft of the backgrounds you'll see in the prologue (and last preview). With the completion of these assets, Ram will then move onto the meat of the game which includes character sprites and the actual backgrounds you'll see for the majority of the game.
Yes we are spending a ton of time on assets you'll only see once ;)
1 note
·
View note
Hello!
It's been a while, far longer than we intended. We wanted to provide an update since we've been radio silent for the past few months.
For those looking for a TLDR: we're fussy perfectionists that are terrible at estimating time.
The Delay
Between the art and the writing, the writing is what feel behind the most. Our intention was to put out the final portion of Chapter 1 early in 2023 but, depending on your definition of early, this has not come to pass. Excuses can be made, but they're far less interesting than the content promised.
As of tonight, the draft of the update sits at around 10k words. Mouse hopes to bring that word count to ~12k by the end. There will only be one additional background added to the update, as well as a smattering of small CGs.
Future Chapters
Chapter 2 has not entered the drafting process as of yet. Not officially. Completion of the second draft typically kicks off Ram's work on sprites, backgrounds, and CGs. We've decided not to make any predictions as to when this will be ready for release since we've proved that we're not great at this whole forecasting thing.
Anyways, that's it! We're Sorry!
37 notes
·
View notes
Thank you for all the lovely comments and reblogs! A lot of work went into this update, and more work will be needed to finish off chapter 1.
We've got lots of stuff planned for the future, but in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the new content.
~Mouse & Ram
95 notes
·
View notes
Chapter 1 Update Part 1
Version 1.0.5
Beau Ideal will be updated on September 30th on itch.io. Part 1 will contain the majority of the content planned for chapter 1. Due to some changes in planning, a isolated branch of the chapter will not be included in this update, and will instead be patched in later in the year. If you come across this branch in your play through we highly encourage you to scroll back and try one of our many other branches. Otherwise, please come check Beau Ideal again later this year!
What will be included in this patch:
About 40k words of new content
4 new, beautiful hand drawn backgrounds
25+ unique character sprites
10+ mini-CGs
Music and sound effects!
What is planned for a later patch (est Dec. 2022):
The remainder of the writing (Branch 3.5)
Two new backgrounds
Additional CGs
UI improvements
Thank you so much for all of your support and interest. We're really excited for you all to see Chapter 1. Special thanks go out to all of our beta readers. Your input has been invaluable in making this better than we could've imagined.
84 notes
·
View notes
Another year, another chapter.
We will be pushing a minor update later than anticipated. It is unfortunate, and we have many excuses, all of which are not interesting and not worth your screen space. The update will come in the first few months of 2023. What will be included is as follows:
Addition of OpenDyslexic as a font option
Update to Soundtrack
Bug & error fixes (thank you to our lovely readers!)
The remainder of Chapter 1
This update will also roll out as soon as Mouse figures out how to use the butler tool from itch.io
We would also like to thank everyone for your support and interest. Beau Ideal has been a fun project to work on and has pushed both of us to become better artists in our respective mediums. As we continue into 2023 we hope to continue to add to Beau Ideal and that our lack of quantity is met with sufficient quality.
Happy New Year
31 notes
·
View notes
6/11/2022 Update
It's been a while since our regular update, for which we apologize. The good news is we've spun up operations again and have made good progress, more specifically on the writing.
The major branch of scene 3 has been completed with a word count somewhere around 9k. In addition, editing for scene 4 has also been completed, but quite a bit of work remains to get it to a playable state. If you want to see the cold hard numbers, take a peak below the cut.
As things are progressing, we anticipate an update in a month's time: sometime in mid-July. No promises, but high hopes.
24 notes
·
View notes
When scene four already has 14k words and still isn't quite done yet
Scene 4 has two major variations that are totally separate from each other, thus resulting in a 40+ page Google doc that is still growing. Additionally, one variation in scene 3 branches out into what I'm calling scene 3.5 which will close out the chapter in a way that's entirely different than the two variations in scene 4.
Surprise Niko
Scene 3.5 is very behind. So much so that we're considering adding it in separately from the rest of the chapter. Let us know if you think this is a good or bad idea!
20 notes
·
View notes
July 31, 2022 Update:
The end of July brings with it the start of convention season. Ram has been a busy bee and will be at several comic cons across the contiguous United States. Be sure to check out the artist alley, you just might find them!
Coming to you soon!
We're really excited to put out an update. It's taken much longer than anticipated but it's all good and fun. Check below for a preview.
The base of code has been completed for chapter 1 scenes 1-3. Scene 4, the longest of the scenes is undergoing the final round of review and revisions, and will transition into code shortly after. Our goal is to release the majority of chapter 1 within the next two months, excluding one branch of the story which will be patched in separately.
Mouse is entering the planning phase for chapter 2. It's easy to forget how much time has been spent drafting and re-drafting chapter 1. At the moment, they are looking into unused materials to recycle.
19 notes
·
View notes
A Brief & Tardy Update
Hello everyone. Things have unfortunately not gone as swimmingly as we had hoped. Both Mouse and Ram have had to meet a number of other obligations during this past month. Mouse in particular is woefully behind on the writing.
That said, we will not be able to meet our deadline of end of April, not just because everything isn't "perfect", it's because it's simply not done.
We're going to withhold on setting a new deadline since this next week is likely to be hectic for Mouse (who is by far the most behind). Apologies to everyone! Please take a snippet as an apology!
26 notes
·
View notes
IT'S HERE
The demo is out! Version 1.0.0
Go download it here.
Thank you everyone for all your support! Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you've found an error or issue with the game. We also have a google form to report bugs, link here.
Let us know what you think. We have a lot more in store for Beau Ideals and can't wait to show everyone. In the mean time, enjoy and Happy New Years!
~Mouse & Ram
258 notes
·
View notes
Main Cast
Cale | Suuli | Liem | Irie | Niko
The delightful main cast of Beau Ideals. The most unlikely of circumstances pits the five against each other in a long war of wits, each frustrated by the turn of events that brings them to a screeching halt along their respective journeys.
What will you bring to this volatile mix?
176 notes
·
View notes
Looking for Alpha-Readers, Beta-Readers, and Beta-Testers
Hello everyone,
Chapter 1 is reaching a point where we'll need a few more eyes and minds to look over things. Get a first-look at the mess your MC can get themselves into!
Link to Application
The application will remain open until the end of March.
There are three roles, of each which are distinct. Summaries of what each will entail are included below. You can apply for one role or all three.
Guide to the Roles:
Alpha-Reader: See the writing in its roughest form. You will be working your way through a formatted google document. Sections of the text may not be finished. Greatest influence in the final product but will require the greatest amount of commenting and note taking.
Beta-Reader: You will be reading a near-complete draft of the text, presented as a google document. Sections will rarely be unfinished. Focus on flow, pacing, grammar, spelling, and other minor edits. Impressions of events/characters will be used in future chapters.
Beta-Testers: You will be playing an early build of the game. Testers will need to download the Renpy application and play through. Report bugs or errors in the text.
If you have questions, please reach out via DMs or in the Askbox.
58 notes
·
View notes
3/22/22 A quiet update
A proper update this time around. Ram has much to show.
Guess who talks with their hands?
1. Writing & Coding
Mouse had to step away for the past two weeks to focus on their mental health. Still, some writing and coding were completed. In the tail end of March, they'll be ramping back up to a much more sustainable pace of work.
Thank you to all of the beta readers who have helped read over the complete two scenes. Your feedback has been both so helpful and encouraging. It's because of you Mouse can start coding it into Renpy.
Yes, the variables are separated out by chapter.
There will be no tracker. Apologies.
2. Art & Assets
The major assets for chapter 1 are nearly complete, with only one set of sprites that needs to be shaded. We're starting off with 35 sprites for chapter 1; 5 unique poses per character with a variety of different expressions for each. After completing the stragglers, Ram will be moving onto some cosmetic changes for the UI.
Sneak peak into three of the completed backgrounds.
Ram feels much more confident batch working on sprites and backgrounds. It's streamed the style and process overall. Highly recommend.
And finally, a reminder for anyone working on files of any importance is to periodically duplicate your source files. Ram has nightmares that each of their Photoshop files of 10+ sprites becomes corrupted....
48 notes
·
View notes