itch.io

Omg thank you so much for the comment!! <3 (and what better place for a ghost "party" than in your mentor's old apartment? XD)

Ahh thank you!! <3 I really appreciate that!

Oh I promise there will be a LOT more! :D And thank you for reading! I'm so excited to finally get to share this story. :D

New Comic Launch: Into the Smoke

To solve a crime, a rebellious gay medium binds himself to the sinister spirit of a murdered hitman. 

Spirit medium Blaze is a disaster at life but an expert at death. As a "spirit therapist," he’s ushered countless souls into the light—without a loss to the smoke.

But when he discovers the dark spirit Alastor, he’s forced to bind himself to the ghost to contain him—despite the objections of Father Judd, his ally and crush.

The longer Alastor stays among the living, the deeper the smoke corrupts him. But as Blaze races to solve his murder, he learns Alastor isn’t the only one craving a new victim.

• Spooky Paranormal Fantasy, Mystery, LGBTQ+, Gay
• Vertical Scroll Webtoon (PDF)
• Free

Download Episodes 1-3 now! We'll have a new download every 3 episodes.

https://bob-artist.itch.io/into-the-smoke

Omg this makes me so happy to hear!! <3 I appreciate this so much, and thank you for sharing about it!

Yeah, I'm due for an update to my websites and am trying to streamline things so they're easier to navigate - thanks for bearing with me in the meantime!  And yes, you can reach all the current chapters through the website links.  The simplest way is to scroll down to the "Read on Patreon" links.  (The links to read on the website need you to link your Patreon account to the website.)

Thank you so much for this feedback, it absolutely made my day!  And I'm super happy to hear you're interested in my other stories too. :D Feel free to poke me any time if you have questions about where to find what!

Aw, thanks!! Glad to hear you're excited because I am too! :D

Ooh, thank you so much for playing the game, and for pledging - and welcome to my Patreon! Feel free to poke me anytime if you have any questions! <3

Ah, I'm so glad it helped!  And congrats on getting all the achievements! \o/  And thanks for reading what's available of my other projects, I hope you keep enjoying them! <3

Aww, thank you so much for the in-depth reply, and I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the game! You're right, I had a ton of fun making it. :)  A few answers to your questions:

(I'm putting the After-Party achievement hint at the end - spoiler warning)

1. Yes, we will have more public DOTU pages!  I just finished chapter 4, and chapter 5 is starting in the next few months. The NSFW scenes will stay patrons-only, but I will eventually release most or all of the SFW parts publicly.

2. About the novel and comic and how they fit with CWB - I actually have a devlog post coming soon about this, but I'm out of town for a few days... Here's some info to start, though:

Devoted: Merritt's Story (novel series) takes place first, and it's the story that focuses on Merritt and Belmont's relationship. (Be prepared for some high angst and heavy stuff...) All the things Merritt says at the beginning of CWB about his and Belmont's cat-and-mouse game, getting caught in the end, the evil king, etc. IS Devoted: Merritt's Story.  This is the one to read if you're looking for Merritt/Belmont. Unfortunately, it's a patrons-only story, but if you can ever swing it, it's just $2 for the 300,000 words that are already written, and folks can cancel any time.  Books 1 and 2 are finished; book 3 is coming.  The end of book 3 lines up with the start of Demon of the Underground, where Merritt becomes an East Sphere soldier.

Demon of the Underground (webcomic) takes place after Devoted and is *mostly* Pogo's journey. We get some background on Merritt, but since Belmont has only just been introduced in the comic, we don't have context about why he and Merritt aren't on good terms.  It will eventually come out in the comic, but Devoted spells it out more clearly. DOTU is only about 1/3 complete, so there's a lot of story left to go!

Cooking with Belmont (game) is what I refer to as an AU or theoretical future for Merritt and Belmont, since Devoted and DOTU aren't finished yet, so we don't know what the future holds. :) I won't give spoilers, but I will say that this theoretical future is absolutely a possibility for the gang.

3. Perfect After-Party hint: SPOILER ALERT

This is the most challenging achievement! It's in the Cook Together route, and you have to achieve "Perfect Dinner Party" in the same play-through to trigger "Perfect After-Party." Some of the choices affect the way the food is prepared and some are more relationship-oriented. The relationship-oriented ones affect the "Perfect After-Party" achievement. Bigger hint: remember that Merritt and Belmont have an enemies-to-lovers relationship, and it's okay to give Belmont a hard time. ;)

No, there's not. There are two non-explicit romantic/makeout scenes leading up to implied sex, then fade to black.  The artbook (separate purchase) includes some R-rated adult illustrations, but no full nudity/penetration, etc.

Oh, thank you so much for giving the game a try, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!

I'm so glad to hear that! I'd really like to make another game with them. And if you're looking for something between now and then, I'll have a devlog post soon about the other (comic and novel) projects I have with these characters. :)

Throw a dinner party with your disaster chef boyfriend!

Cooking with Belmont is a gay romantic comedy visual novel where there are no bad endings, only bad cooking. Merritt has promised to deliver a mind-blowing dinner party for his friend’s birthday.  To pull off a great meal, all he has to do is keep his disaster boyfriend Belmont out of the kitchen.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Crime boss Belmont has never cooked a meal he hasn’t mangled—or poisoned.  But he’s a great boyfriend, and he knows Merritt has bitten off more than he can chew.  He wants to help. 

What if cooking with Belmont could make Merritt's meal, and his night, even better? Will they make amazing food, or commit a culinary crime? 

Good food or bad, it’ll be a night to remember.

Features:

• 3 routes, 7 outcomes, 10 achievements
• Blinking, talking, cooking, and additional sprite animations
• 45-75 minutes per play-through, about 3 hours total play time
• 3  illustrated romantic scenes to unlock
• 14 CG illustrations, 7 backgrounds, 7 additional illustrations
• Extras: Achievements, BG Gallery, CG Gallery, Creator Notes

https://bob-artist.itch.io/cooking-with-belmont

Aww thank you so much, I really appreciate the comment! And I'm glad to hear you liked it! :D

That's great to hear, thank you! <3

I just had this same issue (I'm in the US and my rate was showing at 24% when it should have been 0) - and I also wrote to support but got no reply.  I did see a couple other threads that explained the tax withholding rate is only validated and shown correctly when you request your first payout:

https://itch.io/t/2033668/tax-withholding-rate-doesnt-change-after-tax-interview

https://itch.io/t/2068276/why-is-my-tax-withholding-rate-still-at-30

I *hated* that I had to proceed with a payout listing incorrect information, but I can confirm that my number did change to 0 when the payout went into processing.  I wish I'd had any bit of reassurance - a reply from support or a disclaimer on the dashboard, etc.  Since fixing an incorrect tax % is a time sensitive issue, it's a lot to ask new folks to trust strangers in a forum who say the problem fixes itself.  But I hope this helps you a little, if you don't hear back from anyone in charge.