Time Flies
This game was so silly lol. You play as a fly who has a bucket list and you have to figure out how to get through all the items in a level before your short life ends. There's some genuinely odd things that happen in this game but I had a blast playing through it.
Be Fly: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2000120/Time_Flies/
Lone Fungus: Melody of Spores
I'm proud that I beat this game lol. The final fight was not my favorite boss fight by any stretch of imagination. But Greencap remains cute and it was fun exploring this world. Shoutout to Totokitty for the ultimate strategy for beating the last fight, Don't Fall and Don't Get Hit. With that motivation, I was able to make it through the first phase of the fight hitless and managed to beat it on that attempt.
If you jump into this game, know that there are no difficulty sliders, so you just kinda have to throw yourself at challenges until you beat them. If that's not your vibe, I'd recommend other games.
Free Mushkind (maybe?):https://store.steampowered.com/app/2463220/Lone_Fungus_Melody_of_Spores/
Dewdrop Dynasty
We finished it on stream!! I really enjoyed my time with Dewdrop Dynasty. The music for the game was great, exploring the world was fun, and I really like Poe, the lil bee with a gun. It's on the shorter side for a metroidvania, but I appreciated that. It feels like people want games to be many hours long, but a lot of games just know how to be here just as long as they need to be.
I was sad to see that the game dev was kinda bullied into dropping the price for the game. I thought it was well done for their first officially released game. If you've been looking for a good entry point into metroidvanias, this is a solid starting point. But the last fight can kick rocks. I locked in so much during that fight that I'm not even really sure how I beat it.
Restore Your Wings:https://store.steampowered.com/app/1444080/Dewdrop_Dynasty/
On My Own
Constance
Y'all know I love a game that ends up talking about a deeper topic. Most of the time I accident my way into them; this time, I chose it. Constance is a game about burnout and overcoming it. It's another metroidvania (I guess I'm just in the mood for them right now) with a gorgeous art style.
What I am appreciating is that I feel like I can take the game slower because I'm not streaming it. I also feel more comfortable using the different difficulty sliders. The boss fights have some wild difficulty scaling and I have very much been appreciating being able to scale the damage I'm taking in combat. I also turned off spike damage for exploring. I hate spikes lol. I haven't finished the game yet, but I've been enjoying my time with it. I'll report back once I roll credits.
Find your Balance: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2313700/Constance/
Cast N Chill
I've talked about this game before; I just wanted to give it another quick shoutout. The art in this game is stunning. I throw it up in idle mode on my computer when I'm working on things because it's so nice to look at and to listen to in idle mode. One of these days I'll spend some more dedicated time with this game, but for now it's great company on quiet days.
Catch some fish: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3483740/Cast_n_Chill/
Cooking and Trying New Things
The last couple of weeks, I've had the chance to start learning more about making fruit syrups for coffees and cocktails. I've been making simple blackberry syrups and things like it for the better part of the last year, but I've started branching out a little and seeing what else I can add to make more complex options. My favorite ones so far have been a blackberry, basil, and mint one and an apple syrup. Since I wasn't really sure how I wanted to fill this section this month, I wanted to share a syrup recipe with yall. Initially, I was gonna share the blackberry one, but if y'all are also in the States, berries might be a problem lol. So here's the apple syrup recipe! I was measuring using a scale, so I apologies for the recipe only being by weight. I was shooting for roughly the same amount of sugar as water! Disclaimer that I am just a home cook, so this was just something that I made for fun at home. It was not tested in a restaurant kitchen.
Apple, Ginger, and Cardamom Syrup
2 medium apples (I used honeycrisp, but you can use whatever you like. It was about 293g apples for me)
1/4 tsp of cardamom
1/2 tsp of powdered ginger
33g white sugar
120g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp Mexican vanilla extract (regular vanilla extract will also be okay!)
1/2 cup water
Thinly slice the apples.
Combine the spices together and then mix them thoroughly with the apples in a bowl with a lid
Add the vanilla and water and give it another good stir.
Let it sit for at least 8 hours in the fridge, but the longer it sits, the better it will get. Give it a taste and then strain once you like the flavor! You can use the apples as a garnish (I'm gonna try to use them as filling for an empanada type situation).
I've used this syrup in lattes and would also recommend in cocktails, mocktails, and black or hojicha tea. It's very tasty, in my opinion. If you try it, let me know what you think!
My Content for this Month
Slice of Calm Club
Thanks to everyone who’s a part of Slice of Calm! I sent out the postcards today and I’m hoping they make it to everyone safe. If you’re interested in learning more (and signing up), you can visit my Ko-Fi page for more info! https://ko-fi.com/pizza_yeti/tiers. This is a monthly snail mail club where you get a postcard version of a picture I’ve taken and a letter (with some occasional goodies). I may also be brainstorming another snail mail club, so stay tuned for that.
Streams
In August, I streamed three whole times lol! You can check the VODs on YouTube if you missed it.
YouTube Videos - Gaming Channel
YouTube has been on hold for the moment. My days off have all been filled since I started my barista job, so I’m still figuring out the pace that I talked about last month. Hopefully these will be returning soon.
YouTube Videos - Main Channel
I want to bring this back before the end of this year. I’ve been bouncing around some ideas, but if you have anything you’d like to see me make over here, please let me know!
If you want to subscribe on YouTube, I’d really appreciate it. You can check out the Gaming Channel and the Vlogs / Chatting Channel by clicking on the hyperlinks!
Writing
I actually hit publish on a piece during August. Shoutout to the homie Musume for being an early ready for it. It's about grief and Spiritfarer. You’ll find it on my website.
See y’all next month.
Keep telling stories. Keep creating. You are important for the world that we want to create. I look forward to continuing to build a better world and better stories for us all. Thank you for joining me on this journey. I’ll see y’all around the Internet.
As always, thank you for your patience with any typos or glaring grammatical issues. I really appreciate it <3
