advent-if

[advent-if]

hey everyone! sorry i haven't been as active haha, uni and work and my personal life are all at war with me rn. i've been wanting to post about a few things but i figured it would make sense if i asked you guys directly to see what you'd like to know the most!

i'll make posts for both of these eventually, but in the order of the poll results.

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I wasn’t planning on doing Nian’s route, but the fact that you’re so secretive about her is really intriguing lol! Is it because she’s the only RO with a secret identity?

haha that's exactly why! i'm trying to be really careful with the information i share so i don't accidentally blab and reveal too much, which would spoil the surprise lmao. it is very on brand for me to be a little careless with information so i'm trying to prevent that by being being secretive!

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I keep thinking about my innate powers MC. Sure, I technically don't know anything about him, but I am going to try to make someone as close as possible to Superman as I can. I like the idea of goody two shoes himbo MC (although you can debate how good of a description is that for Superman).

Anyway, I had two ideas two share. One was a dumb funny scenario, the other a question. Both are somewhat related to the Superman inspiration, however.

1. Funny scenario:

As I said, I want my MC to be a bit of a himbo. So, I was imagining him designing his hero costume. And then being like, "Well, I want to be like Superman, and he doesn't use a mask." So, obviously, he concludes he should wear glasses. If it worked for Clark Kent, it must be able to work for him.

Issue is, he is already an adult who has been seen without glasses. If he began using glasses, but didn't use them as a superhero, everyone who already knew would know his identity.

Therefore, the solution is obvious. He has to wear glasses when he is a super hero. And he never thinks how little practicality there is for that decision until he tries to train with them on and they fall from his face and break.

2. Question:

I would assume we should be able to choose just one power, or could we have more? I'm probably fine with having two. Something like super strength and flight. Although something like durability would probably be higher on my list if it's a different option that doesn't come alongside super strength.

ahaha i love that for your MC! it's so goofy and cute, thank you so much for sharing it <3

as for your question, you can choose any two powers from a list! although the powers are intentionally all bodily manipulations, so no flight :( there is healing, though - an effect of which is no fatigue which would help durability, if that helps!

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vinny face claim too powerful, its so over for me

this is soooo real. tbh it's the most accurate face claim for me, vinny was always meant to be a handsome guy

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Could you give a small description of what the daily civilian life is like for the three types of MC (orphan, acquired and innate), at least before they decided to become heroes?

I understand it can be a bit much, but I would like to understand each route a bit better. Personally I'll probably go with the innate route because I like to play as a Superman adjacent character, but maybe I'll get too tempted by the other routes and I'll end up making three characters instead of one.

sure!

in each route, you can choose what your day job is. as an orphan MC, daily civilian life is filled with charity galas, board meetings and late night parties. depending on whether you get on with, pretend to like or openly hate the people you spend most of your time around, this can be either glamorous or tedious. although, being loaded has its perks - you have a lot more free time. jo has a similar lifestyle.

life on the acquired route is pretty regular. 9-5 job, drinks with friends, work parties, yada yada. it's not spectacular, but it's comfortable and paced, so you can make the best of it - although you can choose to be unsatisfied with it and/or feel like you want/deserve more than being a pawn for the overlords. sometimes, things can get violent in your area, but it's not very common. vinny and nian have similar lifestyles.

life on the innate route isn't rough, but it isn't pretty either. a stable job is a luxury, but you're lucky enough to have a kind boss who wants the best for you. you might feel bitter at the hand life dealt for you, or be very peter parker-y and for the most part enjoy it + be involved with the community. so mostly decent, except for the part where trouble is everywhere in your neighbourhood. aguilera and arya have similar lifestyles.

hope that answered your question!

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Do you have any face claims for the ROs? I’d love to see how you imagine the characters!

haha i didn't necessarily have any face claims for the ROs but now that u asked i've thought long and hard about it

luiz definitely has a rugged kind of look, i imagine like jeffrey dean morgan in the 90s

gina carano reminds me SO MUCH of luz. it just makes sense to me. ofc luz has brown hair tho!

damson idris is soooo vinny coded

i imagine jo to have a pointy face and nose, but i couldn't really find any exact face claims! for now i'd say this version of blonde megan fox for josephine and mike fast for joseph (but blond ofc)

this specific picture of dhruv vikram is very m!arya. other pictures of him aren't as apt, so i'm sticking w this forever

meenakshi choudhary is almost exactly how i imagine f!arya !!

for technical reasons i can't reveal too much about nian but the girl has gorgeous long black hair, something like these two:

i'm still not too sure about joseph's lmao if anyone has any suggestions pls do let me know! these are just my own personal ones, i don't want to stop people from imagining the characters however they want to apart from the base level of detail in their character intro.

thanks for your question <3

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Could you please tell us about MC family on each route?

of course!

in the orphan route, MC’s parents are wealthy industrialists and well-liked by most people around the city. they fell in love and had MC at an early age, around 23. they’re good people who care deeply about their child, but are often too busy to be there all the time.

in the acquired route, MC’s parents are middle-class professionals. MC’s father worked as a bank clerk, whereas MC’s mother worked as a lab assistant. they want nothing but the best for their child, but to make sure of that, they had to work really hard. although, they’re attentive and caring.

in the innate route, MC’s parents are lower-class workers. MC’s mother worked as a personal cook for a much wealthier family, whereas MC’s father was in and out of many jobs. anything that MC has wanted, they had to earn. though poor, MC’s parents are fiercely protective of their child and are willing to suffer so that their child leads a better life than them.

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I wonder how would Marisol feel about an orphan route MC being in a relationship with any of the ROs?

she would be happy that MC has found someone! some less than others though lol, like she’ll probably be apprehensive of jo at first, and it might take her a while to warm up to nian. but she’ll try her best to love them, she’s cute like that.

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I time ago I asked about the powers customization. Now I realized I could also ask about the appearance customization you have in mind.

I expect the classic skin tone, hair color, eye color and hair length and texture. But will you include more? As in: height, body type, facial hair, piercings, tattoos, etc?

I think it's fine if you don't include some of the latter. Height is often not too relevant (although I like to play with very tall MC's who tower over everyone, but are also incredibly kind and friendly), but maybe it could have some effect on certain fights. I think I the forgotten one has one single choice where success relies on picking a combat option that matches the height of the MC.

Body type is an interesting case. For instance, I would assume a more athletic body type by default on most MC's. However, more can be done on that regard. After all, a superhero can be muscular and buff, or it can be lithe and graceful. And a more overweight superhero can be fun too, as is not what most people would expect. Of course, other than flavour text, body types could easily be turned into minor stats. For example, a buff or debuff to strength or speed depending on body mass (muscular and fat characters being slower but stronger, while thinner and graceful characters being weaker but faster). Of course, it's up to you if you decide to make body types customizable, and if they will affect any stats you may be planning to use for the game. I think the stats ideas applies to height also.

(I also thought about the possibility of having an 'Intimidation' stat, or similar. Which would depend on how big MC is, plus another factors. I think One Knight Stand has this feature).

I'm also curious if you have considered the customization of the hero costume. I do guess it would be different based on the background. A hero without powers has different needs than one with, after all. Or maybe you are planning something more akin to what Fallen Hero does with the villain suit? In the sense that it has like 4 appearance types, and some specializations when it comes to combat. Instead of something more in detail, like Unsupervised, I think, where you can choose colors, and symbols, and basically customize the costume from top to bottom (I think it was Unsupervised, although I played the demo a long while ago, so I may be remembering wrong).

Sorry for the length of this ask. All of the stats ideas are mostly me writing what I'm thinking, and not asking for them. I don't even really consider them to be a suggestion, more of sharing ideas. I guess. I just thought it made sense to conflate those with the original purpose of asking about appearance customization.

Have a nice day!

i find that personalisation is such an important part of ifs so i'm going quite deep into it, not just general physical characteristics but also finer details like those you mentioned!

regarding height and body type, my plan is to allow a base level of customisation that would be slightly altered in cases of MCs with powers. on top of your base customisation there's an added bodily effect of your chosen power, e.g. super strength as a power would cause MCs to have bulkier and more toned muscles than other people of the same chosen body type. i want for players to be able to play with the kind of MC they want and for it to "make sense" at the same time!

as of now gameplay is largely strategy based, so choosing the right options that play to your strengths is the way to win a battle! successful choices are based more so on MC's powers/abilities (for orphan route MCs, the features you embed in your suit) rather than your body type. for each battle a health stat comes into play, and the amount of damage you incur for a given opposing move is also dependent on this to some extent.

buffs and debuffs would come into play for situations where your given superpower proves to be a(n) advantage/disadvantage. going back to super-strength MCs, they'd have a natural debuff in situations where agility and speed is required, so to succeed they would have to find ways to get around that. training level also plays a role in success! the main mantra is: play to your strengths and work around your weaknesses.

your hero costume is definitely customisable lol it's a big part of developing your identity as a hero. the better you get the more features you can implement into your suit. for the orphan route the player's choices as to what features to embed in the suit are what decide your abilities.

hope that cleared stuff up!

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We know the orphan MC is rich. But what is the socioeconomic position of the acquired powers MC and the innate MC?

A part of me is inclined to believe the acquired powers MC is relatively poor. Mostly because I compare that MC with Spiderman. While innate MC... I don't know much about them. For all I know they could be like Clark Kent and be raised in a farm an later moved to the city for a steady job. Or they could just be from a middle class family on the suburbs. Or anything, really.

On the other hand, they may not be wealthy at all. Since that MC works for Feroz (that's the name, right?), and he used to be someone who was in a rather precarious situation when he came to live in town. But he must be doing better now if he is a boss.

You don't have to give many details if you don't want to. And if you answered this before, I apologize for not checking your blog more thoroughly.

thanks for your ask! it’s sort of the opposite haha acquired powers MC is middle class and innate powers MC is relatively poor.

in the acquired powers route MC had a very middle class upbringing, moderate-to-small apartment in an okay area of the city. in the innate route, on the other hand, MC grew up in a tiny apartment in a pretty bad part of the city.

these are all pretty important because the result of all the corruption and shady business in the city is a vast socioeconomic disparity, with a small rich elite that controls much of the administration and the vast majority of the population anywhere from middle class to poor. because it’s a big feature of the city i wanted to make it such that a player could view the city from all different levels! plus, it plays a role in the motivations of both heroes and villains alike. hope that answered your question!

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(In the relationship stage) how would the ROs react to an orphan route MC that likes to spoiled them?

cute question!

aguilera is super weird with money. in the initial stages of the relationship they would be very awkward with getting spoiled/accepting gifts and mentally make a note to “repay” MC with another gift, by paying for lunch/dinner, etc. as the relationship progresses they would ease into it and come to really love it haha

vinny is a serial gift giver, he’s all about gifting little or big things. he would welcome an MC that tends to spoil their partner with open arms and would be super cute about it, like playfully trying to “out-spoil” MC. he loves it and doesn’t bother hiding it either

nian is also sort of awkward with money but she’d find it very cute and try to reciprocate in her own way. unlike aguilera it’s not to “repay” MC’s actions but instead something she’d do without thinking, motivated by affection. she’ll roll her eyes playfully when MC spoils her but would bask in it internally.

bieri is an A-grade spoiler but for the wrong reasons. they’ve dated casually before and usually “spoil” their partners with gifts and expensive dinners etc as an easy cheat for them to not have to get emotionally involved. MC spoiling them would at first make them feel odd but once they find out it’s out of affection they’d get comfortable with it.

arya wouldn’t really dwell on it to a certain, because as friends they were definitely the type to buy MC stuff and prevent MC from paying, so they’d assume this was something similar. if it gets excessive though they’d sit and have a chat with MC like “babe i love u and the fact that u have money but pls you’re spending on the wrong person. what am i going to with any of this.” jokes aside if MC was spoiling them they’d make sure that MC also gets a good share of what they bought because it “makes sense” for them to experience it together

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hi! i have some questions about you, dear author :D (feel free to ignore if you don’t want to answer!) is this your first if? have you written other stuff before, professionally or otherwise? what’s your writing process like? how much do you have planned out in advance?

hey! very flattered tbh lmfaooo. this is my first if, and i’ve been writing for a long time, stories and essays and blog posts and whatnot. a looong time ago i used to write fanfic, the embarrassing kind lol. i’m kind of all over the place when it comes to my writing process, this if started as a way for me to let go of stress from uni and work and life etc etc so i slot it in the midst of everything else. i have an elementary outline of the story at large and the endings for ROs, but i usually sit to outline each chapter when i reach that stage, so right now i have outlines and progress for the prologue and chapter 1. hope that answered all your questions! thank you so much for your ask <3

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Yo, on the subject, what flavor of journalism energy does Vinny’s job have? On the scale of gossip rag to Daily Planet. (is there a more prestigious superhero newspaper pull…? i’m not actually a comics guy) They got people winning Pulitzers over there, or what?

deeefinitely the serious types. the news network vinny works at digs into some pretty heavy and serious work (think like vice) but very focused on the city, especially its grimier parts. for sure the pulitzer kind. vinny’s a super chill guy generally but when it comes to journalism he’s dead serious. thanks for your question!

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wow are those collages? that you spent too much time making? themed for each character? i sure hope they are :O

jo bieri. they practically ooze class.

arya anand. the world was in their hands.

vinny jacobs. nothing escapes his eye.

captain aguilera. they cradle hope like a child.

nian. ever elusive, like wisps of smoke.

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What’s the general cultural perception of superheroes/vigilantes? Do we get an idea of the RO’s starting attitudes during the story? (like, what were Arya’s feelings on it when we were children? What’s the tone of Vinny’s articles when he’s covering superhero stuff?)

Great question! The general perception of vigilantism and heroism is revealed through the course of the story, which are varied between different social classes and affiliations. Lower-level vigilantism is common in the city, but MC is the first hero-type to emerge, so the public might have different perceptions of MC specifically. Public perception a stat that’s dependent on the choices MC makes!

And yes, the opinions of the ROs on the topic will be revealed too, and might play an important role in their route :)

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How would the ROs react if every time they meet up with civilian MC they are always late and would give them different excuses when in reality MC was held back by super hero stuff

(Bonus is that Arya remembers that MC was normally always on time)

this is a great question because it’s definitely something that pops up in the story!

i imagine aguilera would be instantly suspicious. especially if something big has happened in the city that the police have got to know about, the cogs in their brain would instantly start turning. unless the cover-up is super convincing and they’re given probable cause to believe otherwise, the suspicion would stay.

nian would be similarly suspicious, but that’s only when she’s not involved in the same matter as well. if she was involved in the same superhero business as MC she’d be trying her hardest to dole out convincing excuses as well lmfaoo

jo would be annoyed at first, because their time is getting wasted as they wait. depending on how good the excuse is, they’re surprisingly the most likely to accept it as is and simply chalk it up to MC just not being a punctual person. if the excuse isn’t too good they’d assume MC was hiding something but not really want to probe into it deeper

vinny at first would also just assume that MC isn’t punctual, but as time goes on he’d start to get suspicious too. i imagine he’d be in denial about it for a long time though, especially if he’s close with MC, and before he makes a conclusion he’d attempt to gather as much evidence as possible so that he doesn’t falsely accuse or make ill-thought assumptions

arya would be worried at first, especially if MC normally used to be on time. they’d be concerned that MC is going through something really bad. they wouldn’t assume that it’s related to superhero stuff at first, they’d be more concerned that something was wrong with MC’s personal life that they’re struggling with

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So the rich orphan route is based off of/inspired by Batman, and I think you said the innate power route was inspired by Superman (correct me if I'm wrong, sorry). Anyways, my question is, is the acquired power route based off of another specfic hero?

you’re right! the acquired power route is actually (taking a step away from DC lol) inspired by spiderman :)

the routes themselves aren’t exactly similar to any of the heroes above, but i find that the more you read/engage with superhero media, you kind of realise that origin stories ultimately fall into one of these three main classes. obviously there are nuances (innate powers could be a result of extraterrestrial origins, magic or mutant genes, for example, + the way you acquire powers can be vastly different), and of course there are origin stories of heroes i have very little knowledge of that might push the boundaries for this theory of mine, but the bottom line is that the inspiration for this story was to explore how heroes are made from their circumstances !!