We're back from GDC COVID-free, and it's still Transgender Day of Visibility somewhere.

Now, normally one would say "happy" before the name of a holiday, but I feel like it'd be massively disingenuous considering how 2024 has been going so far. I've decided that I'm not mincing words when it comes to this project, so let's lay out the facts:

• In the US, 479 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across state legislatures (via ACLU)
• Violence against LGBTQ+ youth is on the rise globally
• GamerGate 2 is in full swing
• The genocide in Palestine has continued for over 175 days
• The number of COVID-19 cases has risen to levels surpassing those at the beginning of the pandemic, with strains only becoming more deadly than before
• At least one woman was drugged at GDC this year

While I enjoyed my time in San Francisco, it only served as a reminder of the privileges I do and don't have, the reasons I take the precautions that I do, as well as the reasons I wanted to develop Blood & Play to begin with. A lot of the people I spoke to about B&P showed genuine interest when I mentioned the topics I touch upon in the story and the fact that Santiago and Matikas are explicitly stated to be trans men of color. More folks were excited by it than I had originally anticipated, and combined with the positive reception we've already gotten when Queer Vampire Game Jam ended, I feel like B&P has wider appeal than I initially projected.

Yet, this fact doesn't really change the trajectory of the story. I'm not going to sanitize any scenes for people who this story wasn't meant for, nor am I going to flatten the nuances of intersectional topics in dialogue. Trans themes, and especially trans masculinity, remain front and center. Santiago will be messy and imperfect as a protagonist, he'll do things that'll make you frustrated, and most importantly, he'll grow as a character. (Somehow even that basic tenet of storytelling is revolutionary in the face of uncritical media illiteracy with the deluge of re-imagined media series that have forgotten why audiences were nostalgic for them to begin with.)

So where this currently leaves us in development is this: I'll be working on cranking out as much of the script in April as possible alongside the art team, who will be rendering backgrounds and CGs. If time and energy allows, I hope to be able to squeeze in devlogs every Thursday talking about different facets of the project, such as how I assembled the team or what decisions led to our UI design. Expect an updated demo by the end of April at the latest, and we'll see how things go from there.

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More than ever, it's important for trans folks to not simply be visible and "happy"— real, material support and solidarity from those outside of these groups is vital.

Survival is not enough. We deserve to thrive.