KDVal

We've opened up a Patreon to help fund development of the game (click the image above to visit the campaign)!

The money that is raised will go towards developing the game! Alpha is scheduled to begin towards the end of the year! If you want to get in on the alpha testing, join the forums at auratusghoti.com!

What do Patreon Supporters get?

All Patrons will get access to patron only updates! They also will get access to the online lore comic that is being released past at he $10 mark!

Plus, these rewards at each pledge:

Pledge $1.00 or more per month
Access to the Patron-only updates
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.

Pledge $5.00 or more per month
Alpha Level Funding Avatar
An avatar exclusive to those who helped fund the game during the alpha stage (from now until Beta Testing scheduled for 2016 at the earliest). To claim this reward during alpha, you will need to join the free alpha forum and message the administrator/artist, ilrak, with the receipt of payment. This reward will change when alpha testing begins.
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.
Access to the Patron-only updates

Pledge $10.00 or more per month
(Limited 20 of 20 left)
Create an item!
This will be a small (50x50 pixel) item that can be found in foraging that is created to match your specifications. It can be a food item, craftable item, or just a fun trinket! You will also receive 5 copies of the item in-game! The item will be released during either the alpha or beta phase, or when the game is release, whenever the item is finished.
You will also be credited in the tooltip of the item
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Access to the Patron-only updates

Pledge $20.00 or more per month
(Limited 5 of 5 left)
Design an (Enemy) NPC!
A character will be added into the game that players will be able to battle against after the "Pond Predators" event. The enemy NPC will match your specifications and you will receive an effigy of the enemy in-game! This is limited to non-goldfish NPCs. The NPC will be released during either the alpha or beta phase, or when the game is release, whenever the item is finished.
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Access to the Patron-only updates

Pledge $20.00 or more per month
(Limited 5 of 5 left)
Design a marking!
Say what type of marking you would like to see on a fish and it will be added into the game (plus, you get two copies of the marking in-game)! Must be able to work on all breeds! The marking will be released during either the alpha or beta phase, or when the game is release, whenever the item is finished.
You will be credited in the tool tip of the marking changer
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Access to the Patron-only updates

Pledge $20.00 or more per month
(Limited 5 of 5 left)
Design a (Friendly) NPC!
A character will be added into the game that players will have a chance of interacting with during exploration that will match your specifications! This is limited to goldfish NPCs. The NPC will be released during either the alpha or beta phase, or when the game is release, whenever the item is finished.
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Access to the Patron-only updates

Pledge $30.00 or more per month
Breed award, unlocked at $50 per month
When this award level is unlocked, those who donate $30 will get a breed changer for the patron only breed. Only those with this breed changer will be able to change their fish to this breed (one use). The breed change will be released when the game opens to the public.
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors.
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Access to the Patron-only updates

Pledge $50.00 or more per month
The Lore Book!
A hard copy of the lore book with exclusive concept art that is not found anywhere else. This will be sent out after the game opens to the public in late 2016/2017.
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Access to the Patron-only updates
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors
This reward will ship after the game has opened.

Pledge $75.00 or more per month
Super Fish Fanatic!
Two breed changers for the Patron Exclusive breed, awarded when the game opens to the public.
A set of the digital maps of each of the zones (2000x2000 pixels), awarded when the game opens to the public.
Access to Patron-only updates
Special funding avatar from the $5 level
Your name will be on the credits page for contributors

Pledge $100.00 or more per month
All of the awards from the Super Fish Fanatic plus a hard copy of the Lore Book! What a deal! This will be awarded when the game opens to the public in late 2016/2017.

Thank you all!

-ilrak/KDVal

So, it's been quite a while, so the quick updates:

-I'm married now to
-I'm a "great grandmother" to about 200 baby goldfish (and my "granddaughter" who hatched in 2012 to my birthday fish in 2009 is now a mother and is about 12 inches long)
-I am creating a new browser game called Auratus Ghoti.

About that last one - Most of the art that I'll be posting for the time being will be for the game (as some may have noticed). It's a browser based breeding sim where the player controls a school of goldfish who have been added to a seemingly new pond. The main objectives are to please the creatures that are believed to be gods by either having the strongest school (through battling), breeding the best fish, or exploring the pond. A little bit of something for everyone.

Alpha testing is scheduled to start late 2015/early 2016. Right now, we had a setback with programming, but we may be hiring a new programmer so that will keep things on schedule.

There is a cafepress shop now with fun merchandise that will help fund the development of the site. A lot has been out of pocket (for hosting) but with the new programming, more money will need to be raised. The cafepress shop will be the only fundraising that is open prior to the site opening that will be available during the life of the site as well. There will be a patreon fundraiser that will only run until the end of beta testing, and this will have items that can only be purchased during the fundraising. After that, the items will be retired and only those who got them will have access to them (unless they want to sell them for site currency to other members later - so collecting might be a good idea).

Items that will be available then will include
-A special avatar for the site that only those who donated a certain amount will get
-Digital copies of the world zone images
-A special breed
-A lorebook (there is a digital copy, sans images, available on journalister - this one will have concept art in it)
And more!

The cafepress shop can be found at - www.cafepress.com/auratusghoti

Are you interested in becoming an alpha tester when the alpha test starts? Join the pre-alpha forums at auratusghoti.com. These forums will close for registration after alpha starts.

My mom's surgery went amazingly well. They found a harder to detect, more dangerous cancer in the left breast (which they hadn't found cancer in before) during pathology after the double mastectomy. Her healing from the reconstruction has been almost superhero-like. Five days after her surgery, she went to a Weird Al concert for an hour (in a jazzy since she wasn't released to stand upright yet). She has done incredibly well and will be on a Hormone suppressant chemo pill for five years.

On October 20, of last year - the third anniversary of the day we met - Chaz and I got officially engaged. We're planning on getting married in October of 2013. Gives us lots of time to plan! Right now, finding a cake topper has been the challenge (already got the dress, the photographer, a possible venue, and maybe a cake). It's hard to find cute interracial couple toppers, so we may either be looking to commission or make our own topper. We may even go with a topper with our favorite animals (I love ravens, he loves wolves) - though, those are hard to find as well.

I'm also a grandmother to seven (possibly more now) goldfish fry. Turns out, moving the fish to a larger tank made them decide they needed to fill it (they went from a 55 gallon to a 92 gallon cube).

I'll try and respond to as many people who have sent me messages as I can, but I would like to use this journal as well to thank everyone for the favorites, the replies, the comments, and the support this past year!

For those of you who don't know, my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer towards the end of June. It's really been an emotional summer for the two of us as a result. It was stage one with some DCIS in the margins and, after finding more cancer in two lumpectomies, my mom has decided to get a double mastectomy with DIEP reconstruction immediately afterwards.

She'll be out for 15 hours in surgery and will have a six week recovery.

So if you don't see me for a while, this is why. We're currently getting the house more accessible for her and then for at least two weeks after the surgery, I will be taking care of her since she will be pretty immobile.

Anyhow, just giving everyone a heads up as to why I won't be here. Might post something more substantial after all of this is done.

- K. D.

Be one of the first 18 people commenting on this journal entry, and I will add you to the Featured List!

~ For each of the 18 first people answering this journal I will put his/her avatar and the three deviations I like most from his/her gallery on the list.

~ If you answer, you'll have to do the same in your journal, putting me on the first place, completing the list with 17 other people. The idea of this is not to get a free feature, it is to spread art around for everyone.

I'm not sure how many people will ACTUALLY respond but yay~

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Fall from GloryThe terror bird wandered across the grassland. It didn't exactly know where it was going, but it had a gut instinct that it would know when it found it.
The bird was the last of its kind. Saber-tooths and jaguars, migrating from North America via the great land bridge, had started taking over what had been the great bird's territory. The jaguars hunted the same prey, and the saber-tooths stole kills already made.
The weather wasn't exactly helping, either- the terror bird didn't know exactly what it was, but something was causing things to be... different, somehow. In any event, a change in the weather was making everything harder for the terror birds, and everything easier for the saber-tooths.
A shiver passed through the terror bird as an abnormally chilly wind passed by it. The bird looked around nervously, but finding nothing, continued on.
After two more days of wandering, the terror bird stumbled across a dry creekbed with a few puddles left- a good thing, since it was dying of d DecayA civilization likes to think that its legacy, whether or brick, stone, wood, or thought, will endure.
The truth is less pleasing than the pleasant lie.
But the ticking, brass skeleton of Time has no mercy.
Everything fades, everything dies.
The clock of Time ticks.
Winter.
Pipes burst, rupturing from within, ice bleeding out like blood.
Metal groans and shrivels, creaking under the strain
Of snow-blanketed glass and freezing steel.
Water turns to cold crystal, forcing cracks wider.
Blizzards blow in windows, the last barrier against the weather, gone.
The clock of Time ticks.
Spring.
Ice and snow melt, tiny rivers of water flowing from tiny glaciers.
Water trickles down through cracks, a boon to mold
Which forms fuzzy black carpets clinging to walls.
Moisture assaults wood, turning it to rot.
The smooth grey of iron changes to the flaky red of rust.
The clock of Time ticks.
Summer.
Plants bloom amid the rubble of a ruined city, dots of color in a wasteland.
Sun bleaches paint, making