7/30/2024

3/5/2026 1:53 PM

1373

1

1511 wins / 1485 losses

Marauder

Gay and Depressed in Prison

3rd place entry in Corgi's Gaybellion Contest

In this game, you play a very familiar character from the previous Gay and Depressed stories, who is now in jail. You used to be a side character in other people's stories, but now the spotlight is finally yours in this Gay and Depressed spin-off!

If you're interested in some more Gay and Depressed story games, check out the original by queenlatifah04, Gay Old Time by Darius_Conwright, Gay and DepressedER!!! by fresh_out_of_the_oven, and Gay and Depressed: The snow bunny society by Benholman44. All of the "gay and depressed" stories are stand-alone stories, so each one can be read separately, but I highly recommend you check these stories out!

Junkyard Bay Blues

unpublished

My entry for Mizal's 1 day contest that took place on 2/22/2026.

My story's been going ok, thank you for asking! It's set after a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Even after the world was destroyed by nuclear radiation, both countries are still at war. The game centers around a robotic assassin who gets a contract from a mysterious third party group to kill one or both of the world leaders. Their goal is to end the war for good, so the story will follow this assassin as he journeys throughout the nuclear wasteland that is America, figures out a way to get to the Soviet Union, and competes with other assassins(and races agains the clock, since reports show that progress towards building an even more dangerous weapon, one that has the potential to vaporize the Earth itself, has accelerated tremendously) to kill the target. Along the way, you find out more about the world, the relationship between robots and humans, and you may choose to achieve the goal of world peace in a more pacifist way. Progress has been slow, but I'm planning on writing some more this weekend. The major issue is the world building and making everything make sense since I don't want to mess this one up. And I'm trying to improve my prose, since I want to write a really good story with great prose this time around. I can't mess this up. I'm trying to figure out timelines and whether the story would make more sense set right after the world-destroying event(i.e. something like the Stand, although in that case it was a disease pandemic, rather than nuclear, but same principle), or hundreds of years afterwards. I'm right now doing hundreds of years afterwards, but I'm trying to do some research on whether radiation lasts that long, and would people really stay underground for so long, since everyone pretty much lives in interconnecting underground bunkers. I wanted to give a sense of claustrophobia and tight spaces to add to the tension, since that just feels kind of cool, but I do want my protagonist to eventually go above ground. Best of luck on your third story!

Here's the game I'm referring to. Read it because Ogre has a fantastic grasp on branching, it's something you could learn from, and I think you can learn about structuring your story from this one. I also linked this one because it's his first game, and you can clearly see how ambitious his storygames have gotten now, so don't feel any pressure to write something really crazy for your first game. Although I will say one thing. This game was published a while ago, and since then standards have changed. But I like this game because it's self contained and there's a realism to it, so it's perfect for beginners to read because it kind of shows you that you don't need to go too crazy, and if you're feeling overwhelmed, you can still write a good story without a complex and overarching plot. Something as simple as getting the mail and running into unexpected trouble along the way yields great fodder for a fun storygame. https://chooseyourstory.com/story/go-get-the-mail~21

I'm not familiar with the source material, but if it's something you're really passionate about, go for it! Don't feel like you shouldn't do it, I think the idea sounds a little promising. There's actually a game with a somewhat similar premise by Ogre, it's called "Get the mail". It's not the same thing exactly, but it's about a normal trip to the mail that goes haywire. I kind of like these self-contained storygames that start off normal and then go off the rails. Plus, your first storygame may not be good, but if you publish, you'll have a feeling of accomplishment, and that will motivate you to keep going. Write the game, and put some effort into it, and learn from the comments. Best of luck, Rokayo_Cat!

Heard of him by reputation and i have one of his books on my tbr but I’ve never read him yet. I’ve heard people say that book of the new sun is some of the best sci fi ever so I really do want to check it out some time in the future

I’m really proud of you stories_unwritten! Well done! You’re an inspiration and seeing you write so much if motivating me too! Thank you for setting such a productive example.

Whoever this is hates Dark Souls. Honestly, this is a good hot take because I'm stumped. I can't imagine who this might be.

I feel like I might be overposting on this thread, so I'll drop 2 more recs and then stop. 1. The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. Apparently there's been a super popular movie based on this book called Hellraiser with like 9 sequels or something really crazy. It's constantly getting remade, so there may be a new one out at some point. If you've seen the original movie before, then you know the story, but I hadn't heard of Hellraiser until I finished Hellbound Heart. Pinhead is not named in this book, and the Cenobites themselves play more of a background manipulative role. But the hooks in their flesh and all that are accurate. Unlike Lonesome Dove and Pachinko, this book is more mature, with way more gore and explicit sexual content so I would caution younger readers away from this book. This book is basically about this dude named Frank who gets bored of life on Earth and is seeking some kind of new and previously unheard of pleasure. He gets this puzzle box called the Lemarchand Box that can unlock some kind of mystical race of supernatural beings called the Cenobites. Apparently they can take you this different realm and offer you your heart's desire. Except, it turns out that the Cenobites, a race of powerful, sadistic, and unearthly beings, do not have Frank's best interest at heart. Shocker. Who could have seen that coming? So they end up imprisoning him and torturing him to harvest his suffering, which they feed on. They also imprison him directly behind the wall of the house he lived in while trying to crack the Lemarchand box, so he can see his room but can't go there because he's trapped behind the wall in like this other dimension or realm or something, I don't know, it doesn't really specify. But he's there and not there at the same time. His brother, Roy and Roy's wife Julia move in to the house, and Roy has this accident where he cuts his hand on a chisel and bleeds in the same room that Frank was spirited away from. This is important because in this other realm, Frank lost his corporeal form entirely, so the only way he can get his body back is with blood. And the only reason he's able to do that is because of another even more gross thing that happened that basically allows him to maintain some semblance of a foothold on Earth, and then the blood feeds him enough so he can become a sort of nervous system attached to an eye type specter. Julia finds him, decides that she likes Frank better than his brother, her husband, and then the duo set out on a morally bankrupt, incredibly evil journey to get Frank a body back of some kind. I couldn't put this one down because it's short for one and creepy to the point where it sort of fixed my attention. It's 150 pages, and there's not a lot of fluff. The pacing is fast, and things get set into motion rather rapidly, and the imagery is really visceral and gross, so it's kind of hard to put it down. There's a lot of twists and turns, and there's this really cool gambit where another character also hatches an interesting ploy to get revenge, and I thought that was pretty cool. 2. Devdas by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay This book is suitable for a younger audience, and it's also really short. I think it's even shorter than "The Hellhound Heart". It's basically this Shakespearan story set in 1900s Bengal. it's a super popular novel to make a film out of in India, and that's how I originally heard of it, since it's basically filmed in almost every Indian language, with all kinds of takes over the years. So it's kind of like the Indian Romeo and Juliet since it's also a tragic love story, but there are a few differences. Okay so the narrative revolves around this zamindar(landlord) named Devdas who lives in a small village. As a kid, he and this girl named Parvati(Paro) were in love with each other, best friends as kids, and then they slowly start falling in love as kids. So they're basically childhood sweethearts. Devdas is in a higher social class than Paro and a lot richer so that puts a damper on their relationship. Devdas leaves their village to study in the big metropolitan city of Calcutta. Then when he comes back, he and Paro fall in love. But when Paro's mom goes to Devdas's mom with a marriage proposal(both families have been really close with each other for years, but there's also this lurking understanding of social class differences in the back of their minds), Devdas's mother gives a sort of noncommittal answer. Paro realizes that Devdas may not be able to marry her, so she goes to his house at the dead of night, but then Devdas, who's a bit emotionally immature, leaves and goes to Calcutta. Paro then gets married, then Devdas coincidentally finally decides he likes her. But she's already married so he gets drunk and fucks up the rest of his life. That's sort of the spark notes version, but you should read the whole thing, this summary doesn't do the story justice. I couldn't put this one down because for one, it's short, two it's really haunting and sad. I read this one right after Hellbound Heart, and it's sort of a palette cleanser, because even though it's tragic, the characters here are more wholesome. I really liked the prose, it's simple and straightforward, and I enjoyed the way the story develops, and how there always seemed to be a silver lining in sight. If only one action proceeded with a different outcome, then maybe things would have been different. It's like watching a train wreck that can be stopped at any time but the train driver refuses to act. There's something so captivating at seeing this guy who at any time could choose better but doesn't, and with every page you hope for him to do better and yet he just keeps fucking up. But he does try and he tries to fight his alcohol addiction. I also really loved the progressive themes in this novel and the way that Sarat showcases characters like Paro and Chandramukhi. It's a quick read and one that's pretty absorbing, and I definitely couldn't put this one down until I was done. It was better than the movie, which is surprising because I really loved the 2002 film adaptation, but the novel is just so imaginative and quietly understated in ways that I felt the movie could have adopted as well.

That sounds really cool! Adding it to the list!

Pachinko! It's the story of 3 generations of Koreans who fled Korea and lived in Japan because of WW2 and living conditions in Korea were untenable because Japan recently annexed Korea and things were not good in Korea. There's this family who operates a lodge. They make money by taking in boarders, but then the daughter gets pregnant out of wedlock, a kind priest who lodges there decides to marry her to give the baby a name and a better chance at life, and they move to Japan. Then the story follows this girl, her sons, her grandson, as they all try to make it in a country that's discriminatory towards them. The reason why the book is called Pachinko is because of a Japanese pinball kind of game that's popular in gambling parlors. Because of societal discrimination, operating a pachinko parlor was seen as low-class and criminal, and Koreans were seen in a negative light because many times Koreans get involved in the business, and there was already a societal discrimination around Koreans. So it became sort of a negative stereotype. But Pachinko also plays a positive role in the family's story and shows up several times to save them. It's a really good book, and it doesn't really get boring. I really enjoyed traveling alongside all the characters and seeing their lives.

Malk, have you read Between 2 fires? I think you'd really love that one! I haven't read Hollow, but if you enjoy historical grimdark fantasy horror, Between 2 fires is absolutely awesome. It's about this disgraced knight who lost his holdings because his wife's lover usurped his title, and he goes on this quest with this prophetic little girl who's like possessed by an angel or something. She's trying to get to Avignon because she wants to see the Pope. While this journey is going on, it's the Black Death, and so there's a bunch of gnarly scenes, and there's also demons roaming Earth. They go on this journey, and I won't spoil what happens but it's pretty awesome. If you haven't read it , check it out when you get a chance!