Post by luke1821 in Cruel Serenade comments

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luke1821130 days ago (4 edits) (+1)(-12)

this game is more sad than it is arousing. also i hope that the creator of this game is an adult. the contents of this game where a little disturbing honestly. of course, what was i supposed to expect given the provided screenshots... i don't know, i feel the game would be better if you excluded rape. but i have a feeling that may have been the point. regardless though it was fun while it lasted great art and pretty good writing. 7/10

ps: i hope my comment does not offend you its not meant to.

love and respect bro.

i really hope your grown, man, the furry community gets kids involved in shit like this all the time and it makes me sick.

bitshiftgames129 days ago(+6)

Works of fiction are not real life. One of the purposes (maybe THE purpose) of fiction is to explore the unconscious, including (especially) the darker areas. We are, fundamentally, a predator species (sharp teeth, meat eating, persistence hunters), and despite tens of thousands of years of stuff accumulating on top of that, the base urges and instincts remain the same. It is better to exorcise those "demons" in contained places where they can do no harm than to let them fester in the dark. That which is feared and revered becomes powerful, that which is trivialized becomes largely harmless.

And even all that said, this is a very modest dipping into these themes. If they're not for you, that's fine of course, but understand that they ARE for a lot of people. The whole of BDSM essentially grows out of this, and it's not one-sided either. People enjoy throwing others around, but a whole lot of people enjoy GETTING thrown around too (and it fact that's the main audience for this game).

On your last point: In my experience the fandom is simultaneously one of the best and worst groups of people out there. Most are incredibly kind, patient, generous, creative and so on. But it's also a community of people built on the idea of being outcasts (like nerds, geeks, "gamers" etc), which makes its members extremely hesitant to gatekeep or have hard limits or boundaries, and this in turn leads to exploitation by bad actors who would have been much more rapidly shown the door in other circles. To be clear, I am NOT advocating the witch hunt nonsense that has devoured the internet in recent years. Encouraging dogpiles over minor things or fabricated evidence is bullshit. But if there is clear, severe evidence that someone is up to seriously terrible shit, and has been for a while, people should obviously warn others to stay away. What I make is adult entertainment, for adults. It's clearly marked as such. This isn't a physical store, I can't card people (and trying to do so online is impractical and dangerous for a variety of reasons), but this is an adult product with an adult intended audience.

luke1821129 days ago(+4)(-7)

i guess i understand but it still saddens me. and i guess thats my own messed up mind but seeing that stuff inflicted on real or fake people upsets me and i honestly think that things such as BDSM and kinks that revolve around, violence, humiliation, zoophilia and pedophilia should NOT be expressed at all in any way fictional or real. and i see where your coming from but id have to argue that making things like this to "explore" those fantasies only leads to that individual wanting more than just the fantasy. maybe not everyone but i feel like it just enables that behavior. and your comments about the furry community are somewhat false. i was involved with the community since i was 11 years old i'm now 18, and my ENTIRE time with the community was horrible. i was groomed, bullied, and abused by the people i tried to fit in with and now have lasting mental scars and it pisses me off every time someone says its 50/50 or that bad folk in the community are few and far between, its the exact opposite. and whenever i say this someone claps back with "well thats just your experience" or "you just hung around the wrong ones" and that is wrong. i tried and tried again to fit in and make friends but theres always problems. I'm always bullied or if not that I'm in a group of people who are toxic or judgmental or raciest or fucked up in some way. I'm tired of people acting like the community isn't mostly bad. it is mostly bad and i have damn near half my life to prove it!

Again i don't mean to offend you or be rude or be a dick and i apologize for ranting. to be honest i just want to heard. The furry community fucked me up and i struggle with it to this day, i've been though therapy, talked with countless people and asked countless questions and i still hurt i still feel like if i try to involve myself again it will only lead to more sadness and regret, more bulling and more stress.

i want to say one last thing. i don't know why but every time i see furry art or someone in a fursuit it makes me angry. it used to make me feel comfortable and safe but those feelings are rare now, and it fucking kills me. and now whenever i try to grab on to those feelings of safety and comfort when i see something that has do do with furries its immediately overshadowed by all my anger and sadness regarding the community.

i guess I'm done now sorry for the rant...

bitshiftgames128 days ago(+2)(-1)

I'm sorry for your experience, and I'm certainly in no position to question it. All I can say is that I have an experience of the community as well, spanning quite a long time, and while it's far from the wonderful, fluffy thing a lot of people imagine it as, there are good people too. Again, most seem to be fairly harmless, and that can be a problem because their severe lack of cynicism and skepticism can be very welcoming and warm, but can also render them somewhat oblivious when someone someone starts exploiting people.

But again, fiction did not do this. Fiction did not create the people who abused you. Everyone has dark shit in their head. If they let it consume them it's because they chose to do so, not because art corrupted them somehow. I know it's tempting to think that way, to think "Why don't we just get rid of all the stuff that 'gives people ideas'? Only happy art, only happy thoughts, only happy acts." But that doesn't work because the problem isn't external, it's internal. This stuff is already a part of all of us, it's inescapable, and if you try to ignore or suppress it it only gets worse. That's what the old Jekyll and Hyde story is about: you can't "purify" things, either on an individual or societal level. That just makes the problem worse. You have to learn to integrate the two, to find a way to live with the dark side of yourself and, ideally, sublimate that energy toward something positive.

If furry stuff brings up bad memories, by all means stay away from it. I'll admit I find it a little strange you played the game, given your background. If this stuff has bad mental associations, stay way from it! Or at least re-introduce yourself slowly. But regardless, understand I don't want to cause you, or anyone else pain. The purpose of these games, in their own humble way, is exactly the opposite. Sex CAN be fun. Exploring kink and taboo in a safe way can be fun. It can relax and renew and help distract from the miserable grind of day to day life. I'm sorry your experiences have been bad, and I'm not denying them at all. Just understand that they CAN be positive too: they have been for me. In a weird way, this stuff has been a very positive force in my life: It's helped me deal with negative emotions, de-stress, reorient. At times in my life when things have been very dark, being able to get lost in fun little fantasy works, little horny vacations has been profoundly helpful. It has, almost literally, been a lifesaver. And that's why I make this stuff: to make some money of course, but also to try to share that positive experience with others. And from the comments I get, I've had at least some success.

I'm not a therapist or a psychologist. All I can say, genuinely, is that I hope you're able to heal and be happy again, in time. And I hope some of that happiness is being able to enjoy sexual stuff again, despite what's happened. It really can be a positive thing.

luke1821128 days ago (2 edits) (+3)(-1)

I don't know what to say. No one's laid it out to me that way honestly I don't know. I really do wanna be involved with it because it makes me happy. but I'm so tired of the pain and shit man. I just wanna be happy. I really appreciate you talking to me. You've done a lot more than a lot of other people. I've tried to talk with genuinely thank you. I don't know man my whole life I've had trouble making friends and feeling happy and then when I became a furry things got a little easier and then like I said all that shit happened and ever since then I haven't been able to have that feeling again. now it's gotten so bad to the point of where I honestly don't believe I can have a relationship or an actual friend. I don't know what to do. I want to go back to feeling happy and comfortable with that but now it's just a source of constant sadness and anger, and I don't want it to be. sorry I'm going on another rant. Honestly, these past couple weeks have been hard and my head's been all over the place. I'm sorry I even laid all this shit on you, man. I hope your life's going good and I hope you keep being the good person you are. seriously thank you for what you said. I've been anxious about this conversation and what you said I don't know, man I've got so much to work on. I've got so much fucked up with me. and I hate it bro. I'm scared cause I'm only 18 I'm terrified that shit's gonna get worse and all I'm trying to do is heal man. and all this thinking about my past and this shit on top of trying to find a job and make sure we have food and shit. It's just so much. And all I want is to relax and be happy I used to ERP and shit too man. god it made me so happy but then as the years went by, I started getting mad at myself for it.told myself It was bad even though deep down I knew that was helpful for me and it did exactly what you said it did (i even talked to my therapist and she said it was a good way to get those feelings out) and you're right. I'm just denying it because I am upset. I don't know man my whole life's a fucking mess but once again, I'm sorry to put all this on you. I know you're a complete stranger I'm sorry.i hope you have a good rest your day and thank you so much for replying to me once again. your words mean a lot to me, thank you.

oh, one last thing sorry about not seeing your messages. itch.io doesn't notify me. So if you reply to this, sorry if I don't see it for a while.

bitshiftgames128 days ago (1 edit) (+3)

Hey, hey, breathe, it's good, you're good.

I'm not going to say I know the feeling EXACTLY, everyone has their own stuff to deal with. But I had some pretty rough times from high school all the way up till...a few years ago really. Trying to deal with shitty living situations, financial stress and yes, definitely sexuality stuff (though that resolved a lot sooner than the others). But I'm definitely no stranger to that overwhelming feeling of being buried under shit. And being younger can make it worse in some ways, because you have more energy, which means there's more energy for the anxiety to work with and run wild. The good news is there's obviously a lot of advantage to being young too, most obviously that you've got time.

Take that time. Sort out priorities. Triage like they do in ER, try to figure out what's most important, where you're taking the biggest hits or, on the other side, where the easiest wins are, and start stacking them up. Don't force yourself to do stuff too fast or too early, but do try to make steady progress on what's important. Build it up over time.

And again, I'm really sorry to hear something you enjoyed so much got ruined. Not because you can't enjoy my silly little game, but because like I said, that stuff really is a big part of life, and can be really positive and helpful with the right people. But again, just do what you can to build, slowly. As someone who's struggled with depression and definitely still has some trust issues, human connections are still important, despite the shitty things so many people do. I obviously don't know you, or all the specifics of your situation, but I do at least somewhat remember what it was like to be a teenager, and yeah. I'll just say that if I was able to get past some of the stuff that seemed really dire at that point, your chances are probably pretty good too. Just let yourself take the time you need. Not too fast, not too slow.

luke1821128 days ago(+6)

thanks man. I really appreciate that. I wish there were more folk like you, i appreciate you talking to me man. Have a good rest your day and rest of your life homie. whatever you're going through still I hope it resolves quickly. We probably won't talk again but for the record, my name is Lukas. It was nice man seriously sorry about the dumbass comments that I made.

bitshiftgames127 days ago(+3)

No problem, and same to you Lukas. Hope things improve for you with time, and good to hear from you.

luke1821127 days ago(+2)

<3 have a good one man!