Short Fiction Key Giveaway

Hi! Nic here. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a little while now, and I think I’ve finally decided on doing it. I have twenty five keys for Sun Dogs that I’d like to give out in return for 100-200 words of original science fiction. It doesn’t have to be good, or necessarily with transhumanist themes. Any definition of sci fi is cool, and the more interesting the better. If you’re wondering what Sun Dogs is, or want some inspiration, check it out on Steam and Itch.io.

Some topics that interest me, to get you started: identity in a fluid society, societal impacts of large scale environment engineering, effects of time dilation, interstellar generation ships, social and political evolution over the centuries, how technology affects wide scale changes in economics and means of production, and so on. Don’t worry about producing a whole narrative, I think a slice of something greater would work fine. 

I will accept entries until the keys run out, and every entry will get a key! I’ll reblog them myself and maybe write up a post collecting my favorites. Your post can be written anywhere, but reblog this post with your story embedded and linked below, and I’ll reach out! 

There are only a few keys left, so hurry and enter! I also can’t seem to get in touch with a few of you, so if you’ve entered but haven’t received a key - message me! 

They’re all gone! Thank you so much to everyone who wrote in. I’ll compile a few of my favorites, but I encourage you to read them all. Until next time, and keep writing~ 

Short Fiction Key Giveaway

Hi! Nic here. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a little while now, and I think I’ve finally decided on doing it. I have twenty five keys for Sun Dogs that I’d like to give out in return for 100-200 words of original science fiction. It doesn’t have to be good, or necessarily with transhumanist themes. Any definition of sci fi is cool, and the more interesting the better. If you’re wondering what Sun Dogs is, or want some inspiration, check it out on Steam and Itch.io.

Some topics that interest me, to get you started: identity in a fluid society, societal impacts of large scale environment engineering, effects of time dilation, interstellar generation ships, social and political evolution over the centuries, how technology affects wide scale changes in economics and means of production, and so on. Don’t worry about producing a whole narrative, I think a slice of something greater would work fine. 

I will accept entries until the keys run out, and every entry will get a key! I’ll reblog them myself and maybe write up a post collecting my favorites. Your post can be written anywhere, but reblog this post with your story embedded and linked below, and I’ll reach out! 

There are only a few keys left, so hurry and enter! I also can’t seem to get in touch with a few of you, so if you’ve entered but haven’t received a key - message me! 

Short Fiction Key Giveaway

Hi! Nic here. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a little while now, and I think I’ve finally decided on doing it. I have twenty five keys for Sun Dogs that I’d like to give out in return for 100-200 words of original science fiction. It doesn’t have to be good, or necessarily with transhumanist themes. Any definition of sci fi is cool, and the more interesting the better. If you’re wondering what Sun Dogs is, or want some inspiration, check it out on Steam and Itch.io.

Some topics that interest me, to get you started: identity in a fluid society, societal impacts of large scale environment engineering, effects of time dilation, interstellar generation ships, social and political evolution over the centuries, how technology affects wide scale changes in economics and means of production, and so on. Don’t worry about producing a whole narrative, I think a slice of something greater would work fine. 

I will accept entries until the keys run out, and every entry will get a key! I’ll reblog them myself and maybe write up a post collecting my favorites. Your post can be written anywhere, but reblog this post with your story embedded and linked below, and I’ll reach out! 

The body is horizontal on something… undefinable. Not that it is difficult to describe, maybe it isn’t, just that it hasn’t been sensed yet. No data has been collected. The head is propped up, the eyes staring immobile at the hand that rests on the upper chest. The fingers bend and flex. They’re sore, and throb when they touch. I am not orchestrating this action.

Pain is proof that I am the body; pain is my one connection between myself and the outside. Of course what the mind is experiencing is within the world, after all, synapses and neurotransmitters are unquestionably tangible, but there is a separation. Disconnect. Thoughts can’t exist within a vacuum, and a mind without a physical aspect is nonexistent.

I am undefinable as well, not because I haven’t been sensed, but because I cannot be sensed. At least, I cannot sense myself. Something else probably could. Something outside this immediate area. Could I become that something?

Am I the body, or am I myself? Perhaps I am both. Perhaps the body is myself and I am neither. Perhaps these distinctions are arbitrary. No matter.

I will soon be more than either category can give me.

Soon.

Short Fiction Key Giveaway

Hi! Nic here. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a little while now, and I think I’ve finally decided on doing it. I have twenty five keys for Sun Dogs that I’d like to give out in return for 100-200 words of original science fiction. It doesn’t have to be good, or necessarily with transhumanist themes. Any definition of sci fi is cool, and the more interesting the better. If you’re wondering what Sun Dogs is, or want some inspiration, check it out on Steam and Itch.io.

Some topics that interest me, to get you started: identity in a fluid society, societal impacts of large scale environment engineering, effects of time dilation, interstellar generation ships, social and political evolution over the centuries, how technology affects wide scale changes in economics and means of production, and so on. Don’t worry about producing a whole narrative, I think a slice of something greater would work fine. 

I will accept entries until the keys run out, and every entry will get a key! I’ll reblog them myself and maybe write up a post collecting my favorites. Your post can be written anywhere, but reblog this post with your story embedded and linked below, and I’ll reach out! 

Space junk kills. The posters plastered everywhere have ingrained that into the collective conscience of every child that grew up on the ring. There were boogie-man stories of bolts or ice slicing through housing sectors like high-impact velocity cannon rounds and PSAs about proper disposal of material.

Then, last month, my family transferred to Mars. I was in shock. Nobody keeps track of their debris. Ships coming into dock would dump detritus 25 kilometers out and it’s apparently fine. The people are completely different too. Back home, if you had implants or a limb you would get synth-skin coverings and make every effort to appear sapien-standard. Here, everyone has exposed metal. It’s almost like they take pride in being less than human. My classmates even have limbs, in secondary school! None of them lost the limbs either, they CHOSE to have them replaced. Even the air here smells weird. 

I don’t want to live here. 

I want to go back to Saturn. 

Back home. 

Short Fiction Key Giveaway

Hi! Nic here. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a little while now, and I think I’ve finally decided on doing it. I have twenty five keys for Sun Dogs that I’d like to give out in return for 100-200 words of original science fiction. It doesn’t have to be good, or necessarily with transhumanist themes. Any definition of sci fi is cool, and the more interesting the better. If you’re wondering what Sun Dogs is, or want some inspiration, check it out on Steam and Itch.io.

Some topics that interest me, to get you started: identity in a fluid society, societal impacts of large scale environment engineering, effects of time dilation, interstellar generation ships, social and political evolution over the centuries, how technology affects wide scale changes in economics and means of production, and so on. Don’t worry about producing a whole narrative, I think a slice of something greater would work fine. 

I will accept entries until the keys run out, and every entry will get a key! I’ll reblog them myself and maybe write up a post collecting my favorites. Your post can be written anywhere, but reblog this post with your story embedded and linked below, and I’ll reach out! 

Okay, this sounds like a fun trade! Here’s something I just wrote called “Birth Face.”

“Nice face! Where’d you get it?”

Red flinched and looked up from their scroll. A fellow teenager with a magenta pixie-cut and movie-star face had boarded the train and was leaning toward them. Red’s eyes flicked left to the holographic profile: Inako Takahashi (高橋いなこ), female [she/her], born 4/15/79, Miranda High School, US citizenship, spoken languages: English, Japanese, ASL…

The list just kept going. Red’s profile stopped after the basics: name, pronouns, school, citizenship, and spoken languages (along with inaccessible hidden health data and a lifelong record of web searches, purchases, and physical location), but this girl’s profile had everything from MBTI type to fandoms to sexuality to star sign to favourite quotes fully on display. To everyone!

“Um,” Red stammered. “Sorry, what?”

“Your face! It’s super cute! Where’d you get it?”

“I, uh…” Red stammered. It was a bit embarrassing to admit this was just their birth face.

“I’mma try it on!” Inako declared, and before Red could react she took a quick scan with her scroll and pushed a few buttons on its screen. Within seconds, Red’s own face beamed down at them. Stolen.

“Haha, nice. Classic look,” Inako said, and she winked.

Presenting Vienna Automobile Society

Hello! I’m Nic and I made a game last year called Sun Dogs. I’m pleased to begin talking about my new project, a game I’m calling Vienna Automobile Society. Vienna (or sometimes VAS) is a racing game designed for up to four players in an arcade or local multiplayer format.

As a fan of racing formulas like F1 and Formula E (sometimes I’ll catch Moto GP or Formula 3.5), my design goals for the game are to recreate the tension, excitement, and split second decisions made by racing drivers. Using a lot of abstraction and simple controls, stepping into a race should be easy, but not immediately crashing and ultimately climbing to first will prove challenging.

The general method of how you race your car can be seen above: instead of actually steering, you instead control the path your car is navigating along the track. Whether you take your turns wider or tighter affect how your car slows down, but also if you can get around someone else ahead of you! While not braking, you’ll need to gear shift as fast as soon as you can, to maximize your speed.

Everything is of course still very early on, I’ve only been working on it since about last November. Expect regular updates here, and more about design, the art style, and more!

Final note: I plan to release on PC and Mac either late this year or early next year. Stay tuned for more info~

It's my (Nic) new project! Come check it out and follow along for more updates.