If before I was neutral towards Viv, this update made me a certified hater. I make sure to ruin her life on the first opportunity, fucking deadbeat
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I don’t know, I feel like it’s way too early to write her off as just a deadbeat. What she did is awful, don’t get me wrong. Like, yeah, she really left her kid for five years and hid it so.. girl, what the hell?? Massive screw-up. But we’re also clearly missing a huge chunk of the story. There could be reasons that explain why she left, even if they don’t make it okay. I’d rather wait until we have the full picture before I grab my pitchfork. Until then, she’s still on my “ma’am, you’re a toxic asshole” list.
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Yep, it’s been brought up before! Thank you, though!
I’ll definitely be changing the name before the game is published to avoid the association. At the moment, I’m still drawing a blank on a replacement, so suggestions are welcome.
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What made you choose the name Egmont? That might help with suggestions
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“The House of Egmont” was meant to evoke the feeling of stepping into Vivienne’s world: the magazine, the hierarchy, the culture she controls. Kind of like entering someone’s court or domain, where everyone else has to learn the rules. Vivienne just happens to be the current head of that “house,” so the title was always meant to refer to the institution and the world surrounding it rather than to her as the central character.
I still like the idea behind the title, but the name absolutely has to be changed.
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@bonbons I know you’re not on Reddit so thought you might have missed this lovely fanart someone did.
EDIT: Oh and while I’m at it, there’s also this nice comment someone left.
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Oh, wow, thank you so much for sharing these! It absolutely made my day to see that lovely artwork and those sweet comments. Seeing someone take the time to put their own creativity into fanart for my game is incredibly touching and means the world to me. The quality and care they put into it is just fantastic. I really appreciate you going out of your way to let me know!
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How about House of Elegans? Elegans is an incredible old term to refer to someone with taste and a stylish appearance it’s apparently Roman
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I have some ideas:
A Man of the House
- the usual phrase is THE man of the house, so this could show how the MC is A man of THE house iykwim
Glossy Ranks
- playing on the literal gloss of a fashion magazine and the rigid corp hierarchy
The Final Proof
- since proof is the final before printing stage of a magazine, it can imply proving MC’s worth to the bosses
The Velvet Trap
- Like luxurious and glamorous but warns the MC of the danger awaiting him
You should probably make sure there aren’t any real world associations for these too lol
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That would sound really cool but as someone who worked with C. elegans in a lab before, this name makes me think of microscopic roundworms instead of fashion 
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Haha aww man I didn’t know about that 
oh well I liked your suggestions but Velvet Trap made me think of like a D&S club. 
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Finally got around to reading the update and my first thought was “That’s it? That can’t be it! I want more! I NEED MOAR!” But really, wonderful update and I’m looking forward to navigating the fallout coming in chapter 5. Going through the one on one moments from the RO’s that have my interest, and trying not to spoil the moments for anyone else who hasn’t read the update yet, why is your writing for the characters so good?! Viv comes across as a woman made of ice, but I’m determined to reach what all that ice is protecting. The verbal back and forth with Elise feels like a game of tennis and it makes the little moments of sincerity feel like winning a game. Serena is a wildfire and I don’t care about getting burned. And finally, this update sold me on Clara with a moment that had my character and I having the same reaction. I now have to do four playthroughs cause I can’t even list a favorite to least favorite anymore.
TL;DR, I absolutely loved the update, all the characters are great, and I am excited for more.
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Really cool something like this WIP exists like it might be the closest we have to DWP fanfiction and that’s best news of the day for me! We are literally one of the Emily’s in the first film and giving I’ve always had a huge crush on Em so getting closer and romance the Queen of comebacks herself the character inspired by her Elise is godamn amazing and my number one pick, you better let us if you do a sequel in the far far future to start with children with her and maybe even divorced heh those scenes with her and her ex husband in DWP2 were damn funny, playing the male MC in such setting is as amusing as is surprising just imagining being thrown into that as a guy that cares the bare minimum about it must be as confusing as it is terryfing perphaps you end up doing like some soul searching still you deserve the praise writer for the interesting spin, Vivienne also lives up to the vibes Miranda gives through Streep’s great acting it was not surprising she ignored her son like that like in the films the woman does the same with her daughters so adapted well you did I say, your Vivienne commands the room and is genuinely intriguing so far so good if you ask me.
Perphaps my worries come with characters like Clara that honestly that I can think off has no counterparts and breaks a bit the atmosphere of the place being so nice ya know? Fashion is about terrible greedy insufferable people skilled sure with some redeeming moments but Clara either does a 180 being a secret witch or yeah she’s more boring than the rest would hope to be in that regard like the MC can relax with her at least, Martin also makes me hesitate cause he needs to live up to a legend literally returned to see DWP2 because of Nigel that bald menace is alongside Miranda the character that left the most mark in Andrea and who literally is as much as a beast of the fashion world as he is a victim of it, is Mary in as close to Vivienne as Nigel is to Miranda? his quote “good luck maintaining a relationship in this world” is why literally Andy if you ask me will ever be single no matter how successful and good the feels are with the guy of the day they throw her way. Looking forward to see what you can do there and in general which butterflies can you bring into such a well chosen setting!
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Really enjoyed what you have so far. Will for sure keep an eye on the games development.
Only thing i noticed is that the game assumes that i have interest/am attracted to Viviene, although I don’t think I flirted with her or made any interest known. I’m not sure if you have a flirt counter or something. If not maybe you can add that instead of using a high relationship bar as a sign of interest (im not a code reader so i might have come to a wrong conclusion to the game mechanics).
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That would be so fire. @bonbons you can take all my money for a sequel like that
I don’t think Clara is too nice or anything because she’s actually realistic. She’s in Public Relations, so if she were to be mean, it’d be a nasty backfiring
I saw that you were going to rewrite chapter one so GL with that! I’m looking forward tk whatever you cook up lol
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I think all the people comparing it so heavily to DWP need to take a step back. Just because that’s its inspiration doesn’t mean this is a retelling or that and the more you bang on about DWP the more you put this in its shadow.
This WiP should be celebrated for the world the author is creating not turned into a DWP fanfic. Also having a nice character like Clara doesn’t ruin the immersion. If you find her boring or don’t like her don’t choose that path but other readers might like her.
To summarise I find many people on WiP comments just want to indulge their own fanfic without writing their own IF and too many people I see moan on a WiP about what an author should do than just encourage and celebrate what has been written.
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Yeah!! Louder for the people in the back. I saw people on reddit hating on this IF for not being able to be a “gay Andy for Miranda” which I get, but they can just hop on Ao3 for that
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I loved reading this, and that’s coming from someone who has zero experience with anything involved in the story lol.
Great job with the characters too! Elise is my favorite so far and I really like how the MC’s relationship with her seems to naturally grow even without the choices to internally be attracted to her like the others, although Clara is a close second for me.
Hella funny too, can’t wait for more especially after the potential scandal! Do I need to watch the movies now because if they’re like this then I’ve been missing out
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Thanks for bringing this up! Yes, I will have to tighten the relationship mechanics. Hopefully by the next update, fingers crossed.
Highly recommend the first movie! It’s iconic. The sequel just came out recently, so you can do a double-feature marathon if you end up loving it.
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