Infamous if (band wip) chap 3 (457k wrds) released (9/08/2024)

[djinnism]

I like that MC is a potential homewrecker. I think it’s such an interesting moral complication that’s rarely explored in IFs. MC is doing something that other people see as inherently villainous and that is undeniably cruel, but isn’t necessarily being vilified by the narrative for it. I think MC doing something bad, knowing they’re doing something bad, and still doing it anyway because they can’t help falling in love with G/V and then dealing with the trials and tribulations that stem from that is much, much more fun to read about than someone who is unjustly maligned.

I also don’t know how much managing the public will be a thing in-story, but I do think it’s funny that an MC that is genuinely just friends with G might still potentially be mired in homewrecker allegations just because they’d be less inclined to shrug off G’s affection, while a G-mancer who keeps the relationship secret might be better off re: public perception.

[Rayden]

I wonder if Jazzy might potentially have a strong reaction to a homewrecker MC since she herself is married? I’d love to see some of our friends at the very least lightly chastise us when MC goes full on homewrecker with either Victoria or G.

[Anna_B]

For the G romance, I hope we can play it like “we have a connection, but you’re married” and not just a homewrecker kind of path. Because that’s not my MCs style

[djinnism]

Oh, totally! And not even from a moral standpoint (although I don’t think of the band members would approve of infidelity), but MC is colossally fucking up their chances of winning public favor by engaging in an affair. MC isn’t nearly famous enough to weather that kind of storm and they’re dragging their entire band down with them. The band is already on shaky ground with the cheating allegations, and now MC is gallivanting around town with a married person. I’d be in MC’s hotel room lighting their clothes on fire if I were them.

[fsix]

That’s be pretty much being equivalent of Avina in the MC/Seven pairing: “we’re in relationship but they’re a soulmate”.

[djinnism]

@Anna_B

For the G romance, I hope we can play it like “we have a connection, but you’re married

An emotional affair? I’m sure you can, but I don’t think that precludes, well, the homewrecking part. Even if there’s no physical aspect, MC is still stealing someone’s spouse.

[parisgracex]

@Anna_B

G romance, I hope we can play it like “we have a connection, but you’re married” and not just a homewrecker

my mc wants to be a homewrecker though I need the drama in fiction bc real life is so boring

[h_neptune]

@djinnism

An emotional affair? I’m sure you can, but I don’t think that precludes, well, the homewrecking part. Even if there’s no physical aspect, MC is still stealing someone’s spouse.

They might be referring to wanting an option to somewhat follow the romance, but at some point express reservations about taking things too far or having the option to decide that regardless of what MC feels about G, they don’t want to take it as far as having G break up with Victoria for them. “I like you, but I’m not going to break up your marriage to be with you.”

[djinnism]

I like that! I think the idea of requited pining has a lot of potential. Maybe having a sort of open ending with hope for the future instead of establishing a full romance, but avoiding the messiness of what a public physical/emotional affair would entail for MC. That could be a good middle ground for people who like G or V but don’t want the affair.

[JBento]

Well, recent talk has bumped this thread to the top of the forum, so Imma check it out. @EvilChani tells me this requires exactly zero music knowledge, which is great, because I’m only slightly above that.

Click here for stoffs

Alrighty, alrighty, I see we have dialogue indicators, which is good.

Immediate bonus points for making the character say the first thought that came to my mind:

Choosing that you don’t generally match outfits (in the choice that leads to this screenshot) doesn’t affect Relaxed/Professional, and it feels like it should? I certainly expected it to.

“R&B” isn’t capitalised in the stats screen:

This pronoun switch between “they/their” and “she” threw me a bit for a loop. This is all Devyn, right?

Lol, do they think she’s Beast, or something?

This should be an “and”

Not needed, but I think this could benefit from a comma here:

Alright, let’s go for maximum chaos here, and see where it leads.

…
wait
Why does everyone give the “Hide details” treatment to Seven stuff, complete with trigger warning?
Oh god
What did I get myself into here?

Ah, yes, spite, the great motivator. Very relatable MC. (this is not sarcasm)

This is not a “but” situation; the two halves of the sentence are in agreement, so it should be an “and” or a “so” or something along those lines.

This duo is great, I love them.

Orion is the bestest of straight men, and I may have to go full-on jokester just to play off of him.

This answer doesn’t match the question.

Being able to insert your own lyrics is a cool stuff, even if it doesn’t affect anything (I HOPE it doesn’t affect anything, because I utterly fucked up the metric between the first verse and the others)

“gasping”. Orion remains hilariously stoic. Huge Captain Holt vibes (RIP Andre Braugher. And now I made myself sad )

Wrong pronoun.

Disconnect between singular “gaze” and plural “are”:

Wow, Clare is… a lot. Not a lot of ANYTHING, specifically, just a lot. O_o

Holy shit, Orion really IS Captain Holt! Temptation to Peralta through this game increases!

Suggestion: if you DON’T go meet Sebastian and Maya, add an extra choice to respond to them (or not) in various tones.

WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?

“be within five feet of me”

“had made”, to keep the tense consistent.

Alright, at least Seven’s dislike of the MC has a reasonable existence. It DOES, however, contradict the earlier choice when you can tell the band “you guys didn’t do anything wrong.”

This bit shouldn’t be here. The game is giving me the text of BOTH decisions regarding the tattoo of Seven’s initials (I had it removed, for reference).

Hmm, Dakota isn’t in the RO list, but is gender-selectable. Also a manifestation of chaos, apparently.

Wrong pronoun.

Is there any chance to actually stop the fight at the party? I don’t want to disappoint Dad, I mean, Captain Holt, I mean, Orion.

“never been”

The hell is going on in American schools that high schoolers can sleep past noon? I had class at 8 fucking AM.

Oh god. We get picked for the show because Seven is there and this generates MOAR DRAMA and therefore higher viewership, don’t we?

“come”

So, uh, the group amounts to 133%?

Sleep break!

[parisgracex]

@JBento

Hmm, Dakota isn’t in the RO list, but is gender-selectable

Dakota isn’t a main RO, they are a “sub RO.” Which basically means that you can romance them but they won’t show up as much as a regular RO would.

Also with main RO’s you will get to choose the ending of the relationship. But with sub RO’s how it ends is ultimately down to the author, Amy lol.

Edit: also a lot of these bugs will probably be fixed soon as Amy has a newer version of the demo. However it’s only out for patreon so far.

[loomy]

@JBento

This pronoun switch between “they/their” and “she” threw me a bit for a loop. This is all Devyn, right?

i’m pretty sure devyn uses they/she pronouns

edit; yeah they do

[KZV]

@JBento

Choosing that you don’t generally match outfits (in the choice that leads to this screenshot) doesn’t affect Relaxed/Professional, and it feels like it should?

Eh, for something like this a non-matching aesthetic can be a valid professional choice. I mean, who would expect a metal band in coordinated outfits?

[Anna_B]

That’s what I meant, yeah. The MC likes G, G likes the MC, but nothing happens until G and Victoria separate

[Elseguard]

I have heard the name of this WIP for awhile but never looked into it until now where I thought to give it a shot this past week. I have read some of the recent comments so I will try to focus more on the game as a whole with just a small bit of the character everyone is talking about and just share some of my thoughts.

I have to say the demo here was great and really had me into everything from the naming of the band and songs to making some of the lyrics. I’m not creative enough to come up with my own lyrics but had fun blending a few of the bands I like together to form my MC’s band.

Still on the customization element, I feel this game has one of the best feeling starts for me in a long time with the audition and letting you establish your look, but also things like how you perform. Stuff like, I picked that my MC rages out when getting into the song, but he also does crowd participation by choosing to hold the mic out so they can sing the chorus back and feel how amped up the crowd is. I love that the author describes the styles you pick so I could mentally picture the performance and my MC feeding off the crowd.

Other things I liked were all the different dynamics of getting into the industry but having to deal with the drama (manufactered and otherwise lol) which keeps everything interesting to me, even though its the opposite for the MC I chose to play who is more serious/professional, but wants to make it to the top as a means to an end to get their music out there to make people feel something which kinds of plays off the parents dynamic. He doesn’t really feel any real way towards his parents anymore so he doesn’t care about being loved by them or Seven, (he learned early on that they don’t seem to be invested in him like decent parents would be) but he wants to make people feel something from his lyrics and music. It also feeds into why he takes time to be nice to fans and do crowd participation even though he’s not the most outgoing person and doesn’t like partying (he’s super straight edge and doesn’t do drugs or drink). My MC likes the fans to feel like they are heard and and part of something which fuels him on stage.

I liked all the characters and thought they all were interesting to engage with even if my MC tried to ignore them like Blake lol. The bandmates really felt like a unit (Orion and my MC were so similar which also helped) and definately had an “Us against the World” feel especially after you get a target put on your back with the allegations and claims of G’s favoritism. (Seriously, when you are making the first song after starting the tour and G seems to constantly only focus on giving your band special attention, i’m like, “Ok cool you’re giving us good tips and everything…but you really got to back off a bit cause from the outside looking in, even I would think there was some rigging going on with how often you keep focusing on us and its hurting us” lol

Anyway, just wanted to give my thoughts on the demo since I was really into the journey and characters.

Avenged SEVENfold thoughts here that can be skipped:

My MC chose to have her as an ex and want to stay a duet, but ofcourse that turned out badly. My thoughts on the whole situation is, I feel like there is some missing context here since we never see what caused the two to break up or I could be misremembering stuff. I know the vote was the start but I think I remember there was a line about them officially breaking up later, but we don’t see what happened.

Also, its a weird situation so as a reader, I don’t really know what i’m supposed to feel about Seven since technically they have a right to be upset for the vote, but at the same time…it was a VOTE so I guess she expected my MC to just quit the band/his friends (even though they didn’t kick Seven out and just “demoted” her). Just feels like what would be the point of a vote or everyone voicing their opinions (fans included) if they are just going to be ignored. Leaving just doesn’t seem reasonable. Or atleast leaving like Seven did and having a hatred for the MC now doesn’t make sense.

Honestly, after reading the demo, I kept thinking this story/situation would have been more fun or engaging if you had been playing from Seven’s position and the MC is the one who decided to leave. Then you could decide if you want to be angry at your old band and Seven and even choose to write songs playing off of that hatred or about still being in love with them while basically rising back up as a lead vocalist in another band. You can still sort of do that now I guess but just feels like it would make more sense if you were the one who left.

Every time there is a scene with Seven and the MC, I kind of didn’t feel invested since I still didn’t understand or buy the super hatred and also she never seemed to even want to be professional with my MC even though he never was saying mean things to her. Also definately wish there was like another option for romance stuff for Seven other than irritatingly flirty and blushing bride shy since my MC isn’t super flirty but also is not the groveling/super shy type and rather discuss things seriously, but I get that might not be how the writer wants to go with angst being a promoted theme of this route lol

I know its only chapter 2 but it felt pretty long to me so having multiple interactions with Seven and never really see sparkles of hope there of reconciliation, felt like it was starting to drag a bit. (I can only attempt to smooth things over/be nice so many times and be hated still before I lose interest Seven lol)

Maybe the Patreon content gives insight or context to Seven’s mind but right now i’m just not seeing the hope there other than the meta reason of knowing that this is a romance route. At the most you see a facial expression of confusion when you are nice to her, but then instantly back to hate.

I heard the author is rewriting Orion as gender-selectable which is nice and would definately fit my MC more than any of the other potential RO’s so hopefully he could attempt to go for that instead of dealing with Seven.

I don’t dislike Seven as a character, but its kind of hard to want to keep going down the route with her. Ok done rambling lol

[EvilChani]

@parisgracex

@parisgracex

my mc wants to be a homewrecker though I need the drama in fiction bc real life is so boring

I’m curious… are you going for one of the endings where the MC crashes and burns and loses everything? Or are you aiming to get some sort of happy ending?

Given some stuff on tumblr, I agree with @djinnism that the MC is going to seriously fuck up their chances of winning by engaging in an affair with G or V. At the very least, it’s going to make everyone hate the MC even more than they do now with the cheating allegations. And I think that, even if the MC manages to put the cheating allegations to bed, having an affair will reopen that can off worms. Like that old adage goes, “once a cheater, always a cheater”.

Now, since Amy said that you can get a happy ending(ish?) no matter who you romance, there has to a be a way not to destroy your MC by the end even if they romance G or V, but it may require a specific set of choices (hiding the affair, breaking it off until after the competition/game is over, etc.) to get it. Fail to make the right choice and your MC loses and gets ostracized. And probably loses G in the process, since G dumping the MC is a very real possibility mentioned on tumblr.

I’m still going for the G romance with my main MC, despite the fact that I don’t think it will end well, because I like G and I think she’d be good with him. She can deal with her career being ruined, her losing the competition, and her being hated by the whole damned world for being a homewrecker as long as she can actually be happy with G and have someone who actually loves her, since the closest she ever had to that was Seven (be it friend or lover).

I like the emotional affair angle, but it’s still an affair, which is still bad. The MC will be the villain in this route no matter what, and will have everyone hating on them, so we may as well roll with it. It’s the tradeoff for a G (and probably V) romance.

@JBento

Well, recent talk has bumped this thread to the top of the forum, so Imma check it out.

I’m glad you decided to play it! As for the Seven trigger warnings… don’t ask, lol. I am curious what you think of Seven, though. And Avina…

And I never really caught that before with Orion. He is Holt!! Maybe that’s why I find him entertaining. The rest of your questions were answered, I believe. I’m just glad you played the demo pre-rewrite so you can see the difference when it comes out.

@Elseguard

@Elseguard

The bandmates really felt like a unit (Orion and my MC were so similar which also helped) and definately had an “Us against the World” feel

That’s interesting. I really disliked the band in the demo, and never felt the friendship between them. It felt more like the MC was taken for granted and pushed around because the band knew they could get away with it. With the exception of Devyn, anyway. The rewrite helped it, to an extent, but I’m still not feeling it so much.

@Elseguard

I guess she expected my MC to just quit the band/his friends (even though they didn’t kick Seven out and just “demoted” her).

That is precisely what Seven expected and why they got so mad at the MC.

@Elseguard

Honestly, after reading the demo, I kept thinking this story/situation would have been more fun or engaging if you had been playing from Seven’s position and the MC is the one who decided to leave. Then you could decide if you want to be angry at your old band and Seven and even choose to write songs playing off of that hatred or about still being in love with them while basically rising back up as a lead vocalist in another band. You can still sort of do that now I guess but just feels like it would make more sense if you were the one who left.

I had never thought about this as a possibility, but I think it would’ve definitely been more fun. The MC doesn’t get to have fun, really, and anything good that happens to them is immediately followed with a brick to the head.

You get in the finals but get labeled a cheater. You get stuck on a bus with the asshole who told everyone you’re a cheater and wants to ruin your life or your ex/exbff who hates your guts and spits nails at you every time you are in their vicinity. It’s just one miserable thing after the next, which is why I have embraced the suck with a seriously depressed MC and another who is uber-professional but will stomp your ass in the ground to get where she wants with her music (and has developed a weird attraction to Orion that confuses her).

So yeah, being able to play the bitter golden child would’ve been a lot more fun (and would’ve felt like the MC wasn’t starting at the bottom of a snake pit and getting kicked in the face every time they try to crawl out), but I think the MC being the one who constantly has their ass kicked by the world is kind of the point of the story. The story is meant to be high angst. And it’s more angsty to be stuck in the MC role than in Seven’s, since Seven is already in a better position than the MC professionally when the game starts and is the one dishing out the vitriol.

@Elseguard

felt like it was starting to drag a bit. (I can only attempt to smooth things over/be nice so many times and be hated still before I lose interest Seven lol)

Well, strap yourself in, because we have many chapters to go before that gets resolved! You won’t get to be in a relationship with the LIs until mid-bookish (I think she said it’d be around 20 chapters) and even then it’s the beginning of the relationship so will be more heaps of angst.

As for Seven, the rewrite shows a glimpse of what happened back during the fight, which helps a lot. I just don’t think we should expect to have much control over what our MC did, and we should expect to be the villain in that exchange, too, so Seven will be justified more in their hatred. Just my guess, though.

What did you think of G and V?

[mordorintrigue]

@EvilChani | Look, but only touch at your own discretion.

@EvilChani

So you’re on board with the “you have your life and I have mine” relationship with a detached partner?

Yeah, mainly because I don’t care about Seven or their romance in that sense. I enjoy analyzing the character; they’re interesting, but I’m completely detached from them and have been for a long time. It started when we were discussing Savina and the MC being in a LT and how that situation spiraled a bit. They just have the most information to discuss and analyze. My main focus is on G and Orion; there’s just not much to talk about in Orion’s case right now. From what I can tell, that is how the relationship will begin, but it will gradually ease up on the bs as it progresses, or at least should. People who are invested in Seven’s route or who are dissatisfied with the direction it will move in are still understandable. That’s just the road that the MC will have to follow for a while when romancing Seven, but the good news is that, unlike the MC in the short, we can customize our MC to not invest immediately in the relationship, address the distance in the relationship, chase after Seven, etc. The MC I have on Seven’s route is pretty detached from Seven, if the narrative didn’t force them to interact, they wouldn’t.

I will say you were completely right about the direction their romance was going. Nice job, lmao.

@EvilChani

Oooh, am I the devil?

LMAO, yes, and the secrets within that door will harm the viewers! If they trespass, they shall feel your wrath of a thousand suns!

@EvilChani

I think a more apt term for this path would be “attracted acquaintances” because there’s nothing really romantic about it, and there’s not even a friendhip there because it’s too distant and cold.

That’s a good point, and hopefully we can become better friends before committing to a romance with Seven. Seven’s point system might also play a factor in how they respond to certain MC’s and how much they’ll manage their emotions and detachment. I kind of feel that a chaotic and emotional MC should invoke Seven to be less detached, but I doubt it.

@EvilChani

Maybe. I’m getting the impression that any sort of intensity is seen as “bad”. Only lukewarm or cold feelings are good in relationships.

Hm, potentially.

@EvilChani

The MC’s thoughts at the beginning about Seven not really feeling anything for them and being happier away from them totally fit what we see, even if it differs from what Seven says.

Fair, but in this instance, we have to remember that this MC is unhinged for a purpose, and that mindset isn’t canon. What they see is exacerbated by their unhinged mindset in order to show us how Seven will be and may react.

@EvilChani

As for Seven, the rewrite shows a glimpse of what happened back during the fight, which helps a lot. I just don’t think we should expect to have much control over what our MC did, and we should expect to be the villain in that exchange, too, so Seven will be justified more in their hatred. Just my guess, though.

Seven’s anger will never be justified to me, but the MC should probably be portrayed as more of an asshole in the rewrite because there’s no guarantee that Seven would have quit if the MC had been in their place. I don’t believe that Seven would give up their dream of becoming a famous singer for the MC. As obsessed as they are with the MC, that’s probably the one thing they won’t give up for them until they’ve thoroughly experienced each phase of their career. I can even imagine Seven warping the situation, still fueled by hatred because the MC didn’t suffer in the band and stay with Seven. Having said that, how do you defend someone who won’t even let everyone know they have a problem with the vote and won’t defend themselves? At most, the band could have demoted Devyn to BG vocals and given them to Seven. Off topic, but I don’t understand why Iris is even necessary for the band; if the keyboard wasn’t utilized in the band, no one would notice. Another option could have been to disband and hold auditions to replace members. For example, MC, Rowan, and Devyn form band one, whereas Seven, Jazzy, and Iris form band two. Everyone should be quite satisfied with this; they will still be friends, they could have offered each other advice, they could have added new members to their family, there’s no betrayal, and so on. This is just me brainstorming.

@EvilChani

I like the emotional affair angle, but it’s still an affair, which is still bad.

The option to emotionally manipulate G or Victoria in order for them to end their relationship would be a good feature. You’re still involved in the emotional affair, but you’re actively working to make the situation appear better on the outside for the MC. For example, the MC has an emotional affair with G, conceals the affair, makes an acquaintance with Victoria, “convinces” her to end her marriage with G, and then, by the conclusion of the tour, social media, fans, and other bands all hint at their relationship, but they never confirm it. That seems like fun to me.

[JBento]

@loomy

i’m pretty sure devyn uses they/she pronouns

Gotcha, gotcha. I found it a bit confusing using both in the same sentence, though, because there are other “shes” around and the pronouns are all we have to go as identifiers in that sentence. Maybe that’s just me, and maybe I’ll get used to it further into the game?

I keep seeing people only mentioning “G or V”, but the OP mentions a G+V; has that been dropped as a possibility?

[Isi_Talks]

Yes , they can be romanced in a poly. Where you can basically be the missing link. Help them come to terms with their relationship and help them find love for each other and the MC.

From what I understand we can also help their marriage when we don’t romance either of them.

[parisgracex]

@EvilChani

are you going for one of the endings where the MC crashes and burns and loses everything? Or are you aiming to get some sort of happy ending?

Im planning on (depending on what choices Amy implements) to have my mc have an affair with G as she sort of has always hero-worshipped them. But kind of have her get out as it were when it starts to get serious & tell G to sort their sh*t out with their self and their marriage.

Also my mc and seven be like soulmates but in the realise that it wouldnt work out in reality as they’re too toxic together. And even if seven works on themself, my mc doesn’t want a “watered down” version of seven like the last special. Seven deep down wants to settle down I think and mc is too wild for that.

So basically yeah I’ve planned out in My head a whole imaginary narrative and different paths

I hope in the end for my mc to be clean and sober & without a RO but free and happy…y’know after she’s had affairs and done every dr*g and drink binge under the sun