Model Citizens: Unmasked (WIP - Update March 11, 2022)

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Ok! Sounds good. So far the three are pretty separate, I think…
But, well, you’ll see.

What kind of secret evil villain would I be if I cared about the fate of mankind?
Don’t you know? It’s in the handbook that you have to destroy the world even if you live on it as well.

I mean, true, but I always feel a little guilty whenever I update anything halfway (or in this case, 2/3 of the way) through the section. It feels… like it ends awkwardly or abruptly.

But I’m probably just overthinking it.

Thank you. I just don’t like leaving things half-done, even temporarily (always gotta complete it.)

Ough, sounds rough. I’m sorry you had to go through that.

Well, if its any consolation, it was only for the latter half of the year (most of which was spent doing this really big research project anyway) so she didn’t really have to teach us anything past the first two weeks she was there…

Though her grading on the research project was really weird. She told me my paper was perfect and then gave me a B.

[spoiler]Oh, see, its not ACTUAL money. It’s a Nickelport reward. Which means a bunch of green construction paper cut into tiny rectangles.

Ah, I see.[/spoiler]

Mmmm, technically no, but what kind of Nickelport city councilwoman would I be if I didn’t bend the rules every day now and then?

I just imagine that the MC immediately turns around to him and says this, even has a nightdress at the ready, without waiting for the answer.

Someone as in… the MC?

This sounds vaguely like your stereotypical soldier reminiscing about having to sacrifice their comrades.

“Sacrifice to reach my goal? Yes. But forget? Never…”

Fashion withdrawal therapy via Ricky.

It could probably also work for someone who’s not allergic to cats, too, though. All he has to do is throw it at them. It’s a distraction technique. Also, if they choke on the cat hair then that gives him even more time to escape.

She really is adorable.

Not a florist, and not a villain!

Her profession is very in-line with her personality, though, so I’ll give you that hint.

Ha! Well, I could certainly see how some teachers wouldn’t want to teach my middleschool grade…

These two guys had a constant thumbtack war. I sat between them so I became a kinda mediator who would warn each one whenever the other left a thumbtack on his seat.

War never changes.

Thank you very much!

Yeah, this one is more fast paced and humorous, Icarus Sun is a lot slower and based more in drama. So they’re both pretty different, and one may appeal to some while the other doesn’t, and vice versa. (I think of this one as my wild-child of a story while Icarus Sun is my more quiet-child of a story.)

I’m glad you like both of them though!

EDIT:

Shoot! almost forgot to answer this one! Sorry about that.

I’m always really bad at these kinda things, (mainly because my knowledge of actors is… subpar) but I’m gonna try my best.

[details=So here we go!]Raf -

Farhan Akhtar.
… I’m also not gonna lie, a good 90% of the reason for choosing him was because of this smile.

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He even has the laugh-lines.

Lucy -

Ajiona Alexus

Ricky -

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Robert Downey Jr.
Three reasons:
1 - I love Iron Man.
2 - It’s kinda ironic and funny that he plays a super hero in the real world and Ricky is a guy in a world full of super heroes who isn’t a hero himself.
3 - He plays a self-satisfied, selfish character and Ricky is… a self-satisfied, selfish character.

Finley -
Finley was really difficult to find. There’s really not a lot of genderfluid actors out there. :sweat_smile:
So, I’m not sure how well this casting fits, but after doing some research, I think that my choice for Finley would be:

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Ruby Rose

Informant -

Godfrey Gao
There’s actually another reason besides the fact that he looks close to how I imagine Informant but it involves some pretty heavy spoilers so I’m just gonna… move on.

Likewise -
So weirdly for Likewise the only one I could find was for female Likewise…
When I looked up ‘red haired actor’ Benedict Cumberbatch came up and… I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have red hair so I don’t know what Google is doing.

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But for female Likewise, I’d go with Amy Addams.

Jacob -

Ezra Miller.
He has that youthful face which works well for Jacob. Also,

Yolanda -

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Anika Noni Rose
I mean, she’s literally played a princess. It’s only fitting she’d play Nickelport’s shining starlet.
Also I love her voice. Granted, Yolanda isn’t a singer but… I just love her voice.

Eileen -

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Jessica Chastain
I mean… She’s cuddling a baby lion.
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If anyone can cuddle a baby lion it’d be Eileen.[/details]

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We are trying to conquer the world not destroy it. To make it into a paradise where the strong rule and the weak crumble beneath our feet. It is the main of the villains of the world to conquer it. It says so on the first page of the handbook right after the title and author, V. I. Llan himself. Only a truly monstrous villain would want to destroy the world they live in. It’s utter chaos.

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Looky here I thrive on utter chaos.
It is my lifeblood.
I follow the handbook up until it says don’t destroy the world.
This is The Pit, my friend, the world is already gone.

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I guess you have a point. But is their a method to the madness at least? A little order to the mayhem?

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Lmbo, that class seemed like fun lol

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Imgur has a thing where you can set images to private with the ability to share via direct link or something like that.

It was a dark and stormy night when he walked into my office. His name was Ricky and he was wearing a red nightdress and a sultry pout. Something told me he meant business and I was right. The famous burglar Harbinger, also my ex, had broken into his office and stole a priceless painting called Nickelport at Midnight. Ricky led me to the offended office and let me in. “Please,” he said, “find out who this so called Harbinger is and bring him to justice, gumshoe!” As soon as Ricky slammed the office door dramatically, I looked around the room, it looked nice, too nice. That’s when I saw it, cat hair on the window sill. Upon closer inspection, this hair could only come from one cat, a cat that belonged to my ex, Mr. Fiddles…

To be continued.

Not all teachers are bad. Very few are excellent, some are good or okay, the rest are bad. My absolute favorite teacher was my French teacher, first day of class she pretty much told us if we weren’t in her class to learn then we should leave the room. I think she was the only teacher I’ve ever had that made me feel bad about not doing my homework.

On the bright side, I wasn’t the only one. I don’t think she was well liked…

That makes it somewhat better. I’d argue she shouldn’t have been teaching anyone anything.

Sounds like some passive-aggressive grading…

So the gold isn’t worth a damn thing? Maybe I should rethink my career, I hear loan sharking is pretty lucrative around this time of year. Speaking of, we could use some new calendars and clocks. The only year we have is 1953 and the clocks are stuck on two minutes til midnight.

Yay! That means the public funding for the creation of hellspawn portals won’t get cut!

Can I just say, if you let us have the chance to force Ricky to wear a nightdress at any point and have all of the characters see him in it, I will die from laughter.

Who else would be able to get Ricky to wear anything other than a suit?

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I only second half of that, my mc is too possessive to want to share that with anyone else. Besides if Ricky did come to my wearing a nightdress, chances are he wouldn’t exactly be wearing it for long. :sweat_smile:

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Oh, but of course! The order to the mayhem is to cause as much mayhem as possible. The method is simply to mess with everything until it somehow works out in a way that at least vaguely resembles the way I originally planned it working out.

… I mean, that’s essentially my strategy for everything I do- making food, writing, heck even walking the dog. And it’s gotten me this far. So it’s certain a method for the madness.

That’s certainly one way to describe it.

Not entirely sure that’s how I’d describe it. (The again, I actually really enjoy science. Except for biology. … She ruined biology for me. But I’ve always got physics!)

It’s… it’s beautiful.

I’m done.
I don’t need to write anything anymore, it couldn’t live up to this standard of pure, unadulterated drama. This is it. It’s beautiful.

I… honestly if I understood what went on in her head I’d probably view the world in a different way then I do today.

I mean, at least Cinderella is happy with that kinda technology around.
Besides, it’s better than last year. Last year it was 1742 and nobody wants to look at that year 24/7, one time is good enough.

But it does mean we have to budget the orphan’s care fund…
So I see no losses here.

Somehow I feel like if it ever did happen it would have to be something like this:
“Quick, Ricky, wear this.”
“What? Why? What even is this?”
“Superhero comic book conventions, Ricky! We need the cliches!”
“I-”
“Likewise! Get the cables and shark tank ready!”
“What?”

Good point. Good point.

Why is it that I get the feeling that in this hypothetical your MC was also the one who bought said clothing, considering he’s basically become a self-appointed personal shopper for Ricky?

I feel like Ricky would have a lot of questions for your MC before he actually put the thing on.

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Some thing are simply made to ripped off. :grin:

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Lol yeah, I had alot of good teachers in my life, that help guide me. And yeah I had a Spanish teacher like that.

@RenaB Lmbo, I never like biology either, couldn’t do physics because I was a typical jock😩. I don’t get me wrong I’m smart but I didn’t have to work hard for grades, so I didn’t worst decision, but doing different in college I swear lol.

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Throw in some fuzzy purple handcuffs and my MC will agree with you.

It needed to be done! Reading it again, I’m not sure if it’s clear that Mr. Fiddles is the cat or MC’s ex… Oh well!

Rena! You need to continue writing! How else would any of us come up with ridiculously brilliant things! Please! You must hear my impassioned cries!

I doubt for the better…

Was that the girl that wore glass shoes to prom?
I remember the Great Tiger Uprising and I still have nightmares. So many dismembered spleens…

We still have that? I thought that was thrown out when we sold the orphanages to fund the lake of fire.

Best convention ever! One might say it’s to die for…

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Alright! So! New update is up!

Sadly, like I said before, not every path in the update has reached its end. But I wanted to put up what I had before the whole CSComp starts since I want to try it out (against my better judgement and time management skills screaming at me that this is not a good idea. But hey, should be fun, right?)

As of right now, anyone who went with Ricky to the party is pretty much done (like 99%, all you have left there is actually leaving.) Those who went with the statue cover story, that path is also pretty much done, (90%, I’d say, just have to write the actual ending of the QnA and you leaving). And for those who want to interview Yolanda… That’ll be the next path, I apologize for taking so long, but the QnA ended up being a good ten times more complicated than my original plan.

Which kinda brings me to some specific questions I have about the update if you all don’t mind looking at them and answering these:

  1. Does it drag on too much? I got the sense when writing the whole statue unveiling that my paragraphs were getting a little longer than they should be, and the pages should be broken up more, but I’m not 100% sure. So advice here would be good.
  2. This question involves some spoilers, so I suggest reading the update first before looking here. So interacting with Lucy/Raf, does it feel too quick or rushed? I guess this would be geared more towards people who didn’t go with Ricky, but even then, I was wondering if that should be longer or…?
  3. So, this one is specific to people who chose to go with the statue cover story… and its probably my biggest question because I may or may not have ended up writing a certain where there are 21 different choices (granted, you’ll never see all of them at the same time)… And I don’t particularly like how I did it. (Also vaguely spoilery) So if anyone gets to the point where you have to point out Yolanda Waltz’s contradictions, and find them in the first place, I tried to make it a bit more difficult by making it impossible to get all of her answers at any one time, but I wasn’t really sure how to write this scene? It feels awkward, especially since I was trying to figure out how to label the choices but since not everyone is going to ask the same questions the numbers might jump around a bit. (It could say Question 1 and then Question 3 right after it because you didn’t ask Question 2). Does it seem awkward? Does anyone have any advice on how to handle it? I’m not explaining this very well, I think… But I’m not entirely sure how to explain it.

Basically, that whole scene feels like a mess to me but it may not be a mess and that may just be me. So if anyone could just go through and read it and give some feedback on it that would be amazing.
(To help, I’ll give some directions on how to get it, because it’s actually kinda… difficult to access in the first place?)

So, first of all, you have to choose that you’re going to use the statue as a cover story, that’ll get you into the QnA. But it also requires that you have interacted with Alexander Bright during the party and have tried to attract enough attention that you overhear gossip. Then you can ask Yolanda Waltz about the gossip you heard during the QnA. However, if you want to get to the point in which you have to point out her contradictions, you have to fail at lying when asked how you got your information. The easiest way to do this is just to say you used online sources. At this point you’ll be presented with either 6 or 7 questions (depending on whether or not this was the first question you asked during the QnA. You get an extra question if it’s the second question you’ve asked and you chose to let someone else speak during the first round of questions). It’s after this that you have to point out any contradictions you found in her responses to the up-to 5 questions you were allowed to ask.

So here are the more specific questions I have on this scene:

So, I tried to make it a little easier on the player here by putting up Yolanda’s responses to any question that they asked. But I feel like it might look a little awkward unless you asked questions 1-5, seeing as I didn’t know what to name them other than just the number in order of how they could’ve been asked.

I feel like this… isn’t the best way to handle it, and could be a little confusing. Is it? Or am I needlessly worrying?

I also didn’t want to just hand the answers to the player if they asked the right question, but have you actually have to figure out which ones contradict each other. Does this work?

Another question: Are the contradictions clear enough? I tried to make them fairly obvious, and penalize/gift the player depending on their answers. (If the two could have been related, but aren’t, you won’t be penalized as much as if you answer that two completely unrelated answers contradict each other.)

Also, is it too easy? Too hard? Or a good balance? (Just in general when it comes to succeeding during this part.)

Finally, any other critique or feeling you have on this sequence would be helpful. My original goal was to keep this fairly simple… which… didn’t really end up as planned.

That being said, I kind of like the idea of it? Like having the player pick and choose which answers contradict each other. Since I want it to be one of the main systems within the game I want to make sure it actually works and, more importantly, works well.

So… yeah. Just general feedback on that bit would be really helpful.

Anyway! I wanted to answer everyone after I actually finished this bit. (Or, well… as finished as it is.)
So, sorry about the wait.

Y’know after seeing Into The Woods whenever anyone mentions anything like this all I can think of is the whole Agony song choreography and… now I can’t help but think of some kinda weird musical-version of MCU.

With copious amounts of melodrama, of course.

Physics can be fun! (or maybe that’s just me…) But a lot of it also depends on the teacher.

I was going to say ‘could be both’ but then I realized that that would mean the MC was married to a cat…

No! My work here is done! I must now ride off into the sunset on a gallant stallion of rough drafts and spelling corrections.

Because that’s how this works, right?

Eh, maybe everything would seem a little more surreal. Could be fun.

Yep.
Ew… sounds… uncomfortable.

We almost did but we were stopped at the last minute by legalities…

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Yolanda is…disturbing to say the least. Just like the statue :sweat: In fact everything about the whole party is fishy. Hm.

Anyways, kept getting Raf even though I choose Lucy as a femc btw.

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Something is definitely up, eh?[quote=“BoisterousBumblebee, post:595, topic:22922”]
Anyways, kept getting Raf even though I choose Lucy as a femc btw.
[/quote]

That’s supposed to happen. You get whoever wasn’t your ex. So if you were married to Lucy you meet Raf, and if you were married to Raf you meet Lucy.

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Ah geez now im seriously worried.
What if theres something even bigger going on underground the city? If even Yolands party was affected…yikes. What wold this mean for the city? Big scoops for us sure but ugh. Just who can we trust?

(Thank god, I definitely dont think It would have went well for my mc to actually meet Lucy, tantrums galore!)

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The only thing more twisted and malignant than Nickelport’s city streets is its underground!

Hmm, hmm, well, there’s definitely something going on, and you’ll be sure to find out more about what exactly it is, and how it’s all connected as time goes on.

As for who you can trust? Well… that’s up to you. :wink:

On who’s part, I wonder?

Ohoho, well, your MC still will get to see Lucy… relatively soon, I think.
I mean, that’ll certainly be a fun time for everyone!

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I notice a distinct lack of Lucile in this update. But they say patience is a virtue. Otherwise I’m liking where this is going. Everything is very descriptive and it gives me a clearer image of everything. Also I noticed that vega changes between she/they. Is that supposed to happen?

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Yeah, the Exes haven’t come in yet. This update is also sorta to start by setting up the part that the one you didn’t marry will play ('cause like I’ve said before, both will appear no matter what).

But! Your patience will be rewarded (I hope, I mean, I’m gonna try to reward it!) It just takes a little longer for the Exes to appear because…
Well… Things are a li’l awkward between the MC and their Ex, so either Ex isn’t exactly all that keen on running into the MC any time soon.
Fun, kinda spoilery fact (not entirely plot-based… though it is also kinda a clue… but it’s also more something I put in there for fun to see if anyone who gets it notices it): If you go with Ricky and either drink or argue with Alexander Bright… he might give a clue as to why you don’t run into your Ex during the party…

Yay! Thank you so much!

The player does chose the gender of Vega (agender)/Vera (female)/Vincent (male). It depends on who you choose to talk to the second time around in the party.

So it’s not supposed to happen within one playthrough, but if you’re going through the game again and it’s changed it would be because you chose that V would be agender instead of female (thusly Vega instead of Vera).

So was this in one playthrough or did you play it again and it changed? ('Cause if its in one then its a bug I should fix!)

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No it worked how you set it up. I saved before the choice and choose different options to see how things change. Also drinking with Ricky and then a clue as to why they don’t show up? I’ll try that.

Edit: ok I did all that but I still don’t see an explanation. I’m pretty sure it’s just me not seeing it and overlooking something. I will try again.

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Okay, cool! Good to know.

[spoiler]It’s pretty subtle, admittedly it does change depending on the Ex to make it clearer as what he says pertains to their personalities and powers, but it really isn’t a big thing. Just something fun that I put in for anyone who notices that does kinda (?) hint at a plot point but not really? Mainly just for the fun of it.

But if you’re really lost, I can just state it here since it’s for fun: It’s when he mentions the person who gave up their ticket beforehand. If you were married to Lucy then he mentions it was a woman and that the worker who had to take her ticket back was scared by her. If it was Raf then he mentions that it was a man who called just seconds before you called Ricky.[/spoiler]

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