I’ll preface this by saying the response to this game over the years has mostly been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve gotten a lot of excited comments, and a bunch of fanart (I have a bulletin board full of fanart next to me right now!), and some heartfelt messages about how much the game already means to people, and a lot of people have played the demo, and while I’m not exactly making bank on Patreon it’s been enough to get by. This is what’s kept me going on this project that’s ended up being much larger and taking much longer than I initially planned

But I won’t sugarcoat it. Having this many eyes on a project, as a trans woman making a game that is very openly gay and trans with a title like “Super Lesbian Animal RPG,” has attracted some harassment. It’s absolutely not constant, and nothing serious has ever happened, but yeah, I have gotten some really vile messages in the past. That is, unfortunately, part of the reality of being a trans woman with an audience on the internet. I’ve taken some steps to lessen it, but it’s just kind of a thing I have to be ready for. No matter how good my art is, no matter how I behave, I will never be able to win over every bigot and cancel out the harassment. That’s just not how it works

But like I said, the response has been very, very positive for the most part, and that means the world to me. I’m making the game to entertain other people like myself, not to try and educate bigots. As for spreading the word: honestly, just telling people about the game and the demo helps a ton, as does the fanart. But uh… well, don’t go actively sending the game to transphobes thinking that Melody and Claire will fix their hearts lol

I like pink

It’s a pretty even split! The title isn’t meant to indicate that every character in the game is a lesbian. Three of the four party members are lesbians, but Melody is bi, as are some of the supporting characters like Faith, Beverly, Holly, and Rhett.

Sure! Keep in mind that all of this is naturally subject to change, especially the stats themselves. (Also if you’re really worried about the numbers, none of them have equipment here.)

Within the demo, each specialization has a bit of unique dialogue, and at level 2 Melody learns her chosen spec’s signature Star Power spell:

• As a Woodland Paladin, she learns Woodland Healing, a spell that heals one party member over time
• As an Amorous Paladin, she learns Paladin’s Gift, which partially restores one party member’s MP
• And as a Resolute Paladin, she learns Resolute Seal, which adds a damaging status effect to a single enemy

In the full game, each spec will have one or two more unique spells to learn, as well as a bit of exclusive optional story content. But don’t stress too much over the choice. The main story is unchanged by Melody’s spec, and her playstyle can still be customized quite a bit via different Spellbooks and equipment

I promise it isn’t. Windows is just paranoid about any EXE file with no publisher label

Melody and Claire are both trans! So are some other supporting characters, but the party members take precedence of course

the main villain of SLARPG is the Once-ler, yes

you aren’t thinking lesbian enough

Thank you so much!! Yeah don’t feel bad if you can’t donate for the demo y’all, I’m just happy that people are checking it out and enjoying it and telling their friends

ponett:

it’s been a while since i shared any of the @slarpg-related questions from my curiouscat on here! so here are some of those

anon asked: Are there any transmasc characters in slrpg

yes but i can’t really say who because we’ve revealed like four male characters and i know three of them are definitely cis

beth and mary ena are both nb and somewhat masculine in how they present in-game, but i’m not sure if we’ll establish their assigned genders… i feel like if i was like “oh, this nonbinary character is dfab” some people might interpret that as “okay so they’re REALLY a girl”

anon asked: How does HRT work in the SLARPG universe? Literal magic?

they use magic for basically everything, so i imagine magic plays SOME part in producing it or making it more effective. but melody still takes pills for it. you can see the prescription bottles on the counter in her bathroom

i could easily just resort to saying they use body transformation magic to instantly alter their bodies, but i think that makes it a little harder to relate to the trans characters in this world if you can just go “bippity boppity boobs” and get the exact bodies they want without it being a process

it’s the same reason why allison has to pay rent instead of them living in a beautiful post-scarcity utopia with free housing. their world is better than ours, but i still want them to have similar problems for the story to feel grounded and relatable

anon asked: I recently played the demo and I noticed that Greenridge looks a lot smaller and more compact that the images you’ve posted. Did you design an alternate map specifically for the demo?

the demo only lets you explore roughly half the town. there’s a bit more past those barricades to the south and east that will be seen in the full game, like the library, claire and jodie’s house, etc.

@darkwizardjamesmason asked: Do Chimeras/hybrids exist in SLARPG?

yeah hybrid beast folk are possible and probably fairly common, we just haven’t designed any yet

anon asked: Will we ever find out Melody and Claire’s deadnames? I’m fine if we do, and also fine if we don’t

i don’t currently plan on revealing their deadnames because 1) i don’t want to give transphobes ammo and 2) there will always be people who consider themselves trans allies but also still on some level view deadnames as “real” names

anon asked: i sometimes wonder if you actually like bartholomew at all

as soon as i saw anthony’s design i knew that bartholomew was horrible and that i loved him

anon asked: What are the sexualities of the dog paladins?

rhett and holly are bi and provence is a lesbian

anon asked: provence gives off more asexual vibes to me tbh

anthony and i considered making provence ace, but i worried about the implications of that. i don’t want to be like “oh yeah, one of the paladins is aro ace! you know, the really stern and unfriendly one who shows little emotion”

anon asked: what if Claire had Cow from Cow & Chicken’s voice

i would win game of the year

anon asked: how was rhett’s dinner with her brother and her parents at olive garden like?

from anthony: “they go in, chet is overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on the menu. rhett begs him to just get a soup or a salad and not make things complicated, but the server offers dipping sauces for their free breadsticks that cost like $8 each and chet just immediately agrees. their parents right afterwards make a casual suggestion that rhett should pay for the meal. rhett sips her diet sprite in silence”

anon asked: how skilled are the Dog Paladins… on the dance floor

from anthony: “rhett is the most likely to dance, but the worst at dancing. she doesn’t really flail, but she doesn’t know whole dances, she just kind of knows parts and mixes them together. provence was raised to be good at formal dances like waltzes, but doesn’t consider that really ‘dancing’ so much as ‘a way of life.’ holly doesn’t dance alone, she might kinda bob a little. when she’s dancing with someone else, they’re like a pinball and she’s the paddles”

Also, how is resource management intended to work in SLARPG? I feel like it’d be possible to run out of MP and recovery items within the first dungeon if you’re really bad.

Glad you enjoyed it!

So in the early game, Allison (as the physical attacker) is intended to be the most obviously and consistently useful character in your party. Her various physical attacks are useful basically every turn in the early game. As magic users, Melody and Claire both have obvious uses with their starter abilities, but they both gain more things to do in combat as you level them up and get into more complex fights later in the game. (If Melody has nothing else to do, though, you can just let her attack. She has higher physical attack than Claire)

As for resource management, you CAN run out of recovery items in the demo, but like. I’m not sure it’s mathematically possible to lose due to attrition there if you’re playing halfway decently. There’s a finite number of enemies who can only really do so much damage to you. At least, if it IS something folks will encounter, I haven’t heard about it from anyone

(I’d say this is especially unlikely with Melody’s Star Power abilities. Melody can always gain SP with kisses if she’s out of MP, and depending on which specialization you chose she either gets another HP recover, an MP recover, or an offensive spell to spend her SP on at level 2)

If this IS an issue people have faced without telling me, though, I can always just throw some more recovery items in the dungeon

The only other game I’ve ever finished and released was the (very very different) 2013 predecessor to SLARPG I made when I was 19

big shout out to @fattoads who designed the iconic frog ball

For the record Steam takes roughly 30% of all sales, which is pretty standard, whereas on itch their default cut is 10% (although they’ll let you set it higher or lower). That’s on top of stuff like small payment processor fees and taxes and whatnot, which really add up for cheaper games

If you wanna buy stuff that’s only on itch and not Steam though, just buy it on itch and add it to your Steam library as a non-Steam game. itch doesn’t bite. I promise