@Adagio ah well haters may have been a big word, yours and @DropsCity1992’s comments are quite reassuring in that regard so thank you
@AdmiralLynx89 there’s a lot of people who feel that way, and those who chose to reach out to Zima will have seen a much different side of them anyhow
In short: if you brought them their lighter in the previous chapter, the “truce” flag was activated, which means Zima will automatically be more friendly towards MC in all their aspects. They’ll invite them to spend some time together, chauffeur them to Lin’s club if asked etc. Even if the truce wasn’t achieved, they still mellow out, and will be distant but not hostile. Now in this second half of chapter 4, there will be one specific thing MC can do to make a befriended Zima hostile again, and I’ve actually given MC some options to be really frickin nasty to Zima which hurt to write but I wanted to provide them.
So yeah, while at first Zima was quite uncharitable, which people may either understand or hold against them and I get either one, now it’s pretty much MC’s decision whether they can rekindle things.
In the upcoming update, Zima will actually hug a truced MC if they do sth specific for them, which is the first time they’ll have had physical contact with MC since their falling out a milestone!! Lol. All this to say that growth is possible and Zima does wish for it by the time of the update. “Hate is a strong word” or whatever they said
Lastly, @Valixon thanks for your faith!! Yeah the least I can do is warn ppl and make sure everyone knows what territory we’re treading. I’m glad you can relate, what with the DnD things. If you ever found I mistreated a topic, I’d be very thankful to hear that, as I want the best for (and from!!) this story. Tho ofc it’d be a blow to the old ego worth it though.
The interesting thing is that I’m a little annoyed by Zima, but my MC is actually friendly with her, and maybe she has deeper feelings for her. Is it weird if I give my MC a completely different personality than myself? Anyway, the main characters are all so great (especially Lincoln, my cute little fanatic girl) that there’s no one I wouldn’t want to know more about.
@Bryce_Kaldwin They are legion. None of the other main characters (except by choice MC) have siblings so he got all of them. In all seriousness, I just wanted him to be a family man, it’s part of what makes him attractive His family is not rich, but they get by financially just fine, so he won’t have to take care of them per se. However you can bet that the littler girls will be hanging off of him and asking for gifts
@Bottik_Bimba it’s not weird, I often do that when I play IFs. And hey maybe you’ll like them yourself eventually I’m glad to hear that about you wanting to learn more about anyone
So I already adore this IF and all the band members, and I’m eagerly waiting for the next update to drop! Gonna have to play through a few times for all the different ROs I fear, they’re all too good haha!
Side note: I really, really hope the endgame winds up being the band reuniting for a comeback tour, or at least rekindling their friendship (and romance for the chosen RO, ofc). If not I will be violently sobbing personally.
I’d have figured Zima to have half-siblings at least that they are on the same terms with as the rest of their bio family……..aka very bad to bad. Oh and I wonder if the Portland side job we must get could, for the mc, optionally be their first foray into modelling or acting. Wonder what some Portland businessperson thinks if the kid they hired for their local commercial goes on to become a global superstar and cultural phenomenon?
@Valgen thank you kindly! The endgame will look very different for varying MCs, so the end you desire might be in the cards… or not
@idonotlikeusernames Zima is an only child, and their family dynamics will still undergo some explanation. They are bad though, in that you are correct. As for the side job. That’s a pretty good idea, though any jobs involving public appearances would have to get Kalena’s green light. Your manager is not going to allow you to start in a toothpaste commercial. If it’s shots for sth like clothing, it’s more likely to be possible. I’ll have to think about it a little more
I like it when I don’t love a character from the first moment, but it takes a while for us to find each other, so there’s plenty of that chance with Zima, and I expect it to happen.
At the risk of sounding strange myself, the topics I assume you’re covering in the coming update are the main reason I played the demo for this game. Personally I think it’s strange that certain topics are considered too taboo to cover when murder, gore, and other violent subjects are not only accepted but in many cases expected. As a survivor myself, I’m really looking forward to seeing this covered because I don’t think that any trauma is too disgusting to explore, and I like being able to see my own trauma represented in the media I engage with. It’s not always done well, but no topic is Always done well.
Is the coming update going to focus on the mc and band’s appearance at Dagger’s bday party solely then? If so I assume the update after that would be Portland proper? And that one tackles some very serious issues to me, like who is going to get the master bedroom in the new house? MC as the face of the band with a rapidly expanding wardrobe or Stevie because she is the sole girl (at least in my mc’s band)? I am currently leaning towards mc, since it was already stated the house has only one bathroom anyway, if there was an ensuite at the master I would lean Stevie. In any case for my main mc it is going to be the biggest bedroom and the first proper room he has had all his life since the only bedroom of the, let’s be honest, small vacation cottage he used to share with his mother is stated to be quite small. If that is the case it also means the Zima/Dagger update is likely to be followed by a more lighthearted one covering the band’s beginning of the road to real success (and coincidentally the mc and co’s transition to full adults besides) in Portland.
I dread the coming update though, not as a reader but for my poor mc, as a somewhat lonely gay boy who hasn’t had any real relationships or connections like that between Remy and Leyland and Lin I have him as quite the Dagger fan personally. Guess this latest update will then reinforce the old adage that one should never meet ones heroes, or in this case idols, eh? As currently I have my mc up there with Stevie as being willing to perform for free at every subsequent birthday of Dagger. Anyway it won’t put my mc off from hopefully making his own gaypop inspired song subtly featuring his brief dalliance with Leyland tentatively titled “Texan Drawl” in my own imagination. Since the label execs want a more conventional, (mostly) happy love song for the album.
I’m finally feeling inspired to write Press Play again. I was scared for a second that my motivation wasn’t going to return, but it is. Tentatively, slowly, but it is.
@DevilTheCupcake I totally understand what you mean. I guess I’m also afraid of doing it wrong, which is why you saying that it’s never done perfectly well kinda helped me to hear. Survivors
@idonotlikeusernames I think I actually addressed the rooms already, MC has the corner room which is largest. Poor Stevie in the boy band lol. But yeah single mom MC will have a time™ adjusting to such spacious environs. Mom used to give them the biggest room in the cottage (essentially the only one with actual privacy) and sleep in the living room, so it’s not as if they didn’t have their own, but in that cottage, getting the biggest room is like being the tallest dwarf.
I’ve actually decided to expand this upcoming chapter with more Portland content, and also the band filming their first videos for the album. I want this to be the Portland-chapter, essentially. It’s its own self-contained thing. You can also meet another fling here, which like Leland mostly exists so MCs who don’t wanna get with anyone in the band can have their moments of rom and flirting in the grand scope of their biography. That’s unrelated tho. Mainly, this update is going to be beeg.
Back to Dagger: yeah you’ll regret it. If you have any sense at all. I’ve given MC the option to essentially stick their head in the sand and flirt with Dagger which will go nowhere and obliterate any respect Zima has gained for them. I guess everyone knows what’s coming at this point, but I’ll say no more for now
You can start at the start of a sentence below the summary box and then hit delete until you get to the line it’s on, then backspace again and it’ll delete it.
Speaking as someone who’s been around for a while. There’s no time limit to WIPs. Writing is a process and it can ebb and flow based on your amount of available time as well as interest. It’s alright to have “low” periods in which because you’re tired from your real life as well as having to potentially write some heavier things slow down as a way to make sure you don’t burden yourself too much.
It is perfectly alright to do anything else than write a WIP.
Thank you so much! I suppose I’ll try it again but be prepared to have to take mercy on me and remove it another time I’m so bad at this
Yeah I do feel better about it as time goes on. Shutting down my Patreon helped me stave off the guilt, which is helpful as it definitely wasn’t getting me anywhere. But even so, it was creeping up on me. It’s very irrational but I couldn’t help looking at the other things I was writing to feel better going “why am I doing this, this isn’t what I’m supposed to be creating”. So I’m very glad it’s better now.
you can switch to markdown view, where the errant pieces of code are just text and as such should be easy to remove, unless your browser goes haywire and refuses to show the cursor in the position it’s programmatically in (which is something that’s been happening to me, but doing a hard clear on the browser data seems to have helped on that front)
worth it though.
Anyway, the main characters are all so great (especially Lincoln, my cute little fanatic girl
) that there’s no one I wouldn’t want to know more about.
I’m glad to hear that about you wanting to learn more about anyone
Since the label execs want a more conventional, (mostly) happy love song for the album.
Survivors
I’m so bad at this
