crescendo-if

[crescendo-if]

Having a fwb arrangement with your childhood friend of 10 years seems like an absolutely terrible decision…that I will be making 😎

Terrible decisions are the name of the game in Crescendo

[crescendo-if]

just curious, when is the demo coming out by chance?

I hit a few minor hiccups while in the process of editing (coding and the like), which has delayed release a lot more than I was expecting!

I thought it would be ready to go sooner than it is, hence why I set the release date to august 7th (and missed it by a mile :’)).

So I’m sorry about that! I should’ve waited a fraction longer to set a release date I could actually meet, or left it up in the air until the demo was completely finished, kinks worked out and all.

I’m reluctant to offer a concrete release date, seeing as any target I aim to hit I shoot right past, but I will say it won’t be too much longer I leave you in suspense

Again, I’m sorry about the lack of a released demo. I’m working on it, promise

[crescendo-if]

Hi! The demo needs some extra strength polishing before I let it fly so I’ve extended the release date by a (1) week

Not my favorite turn of events (I would have really preferred the original July release), but, to me, this is a massively better option than releasing an initial demo I’m not all-around satisfied with

[crescendo-if]

pls release twine demo first I love the aesthetics there lol CS is boring ashhhhhhh

haha you don't have to fret anon, both demos will be released at the exact same time

[crescendo-if]

You said the demo will release in July. Does that mean beginning, mid or end of July?

I wasn't sure initially which is why I left it open, but now I know i'm on track to release the demo in late july!

[crescendo-if]

This looks fun, thanks for inviting me (even though I showed super late to the party haha) <3

Last Song: No Lights on the Horizon by Metric (currently writing a Hydra-focused scene so I'm listening to their playlist on repeat)

Fav Color: Deep Purple

Currently Reading: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (I've been attempting to read more classic and influential books lately to broaden my horizons a bit. I'm not super deep into it yet, but I like it!)

Last Movie: Palm Springs (Andy Samberg is up there as one of my favorite actors, particularly in b99, but somehow, despite this movie releasing in 2021, I'd never seen it before. The twist was so out of left field, i remember just sitting there for a solid minute completely flabbergasted)

Last Show: Resident Alien (Alan Trudyk as Harry I think is one the best castings I've ever seen in a show. He embodies an alien masquerading as human more accurately than I could have ever imagined)

Last Obsession: The Narcos (+Pedro Pascal as an honorable mention)

Tags: @debtofdeception-if, @tag-if, @redo-rewind-if

Tagged by @suevi-if :)

Last song: technically two since i've been listening on repeat and so i don't remember which one is the last one. Kids in America by Kim Wilde and Hold Me by Menudo

Fav color: oxford blue

Currently reading: two books. SQPR by Mary Beard and American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett (it's about a strange town people haven't heard of... sound familiar?)

Last movie: do docs count? the newest Menendez Brothers doc on Netflix (this case is a hyperfixation forever and i feel really bad for the boys) if not then the last movie movie i watched was Nosferatu

Last Show: ugghhh I don't really watch tv shows. Too much of a film buff.... I think it was sex and the city? (and it's cause i wanted to see how horrible these women truly are)

Last obsession: this is going to be embarrassing. Degrees of lewdity. Although it's tied with my never-ending obsession with 80s music

Tagging @fir-fireweed, @sentience-if, @bacchanal-if, @if-underourskins

[crescendo-if]

Hey, it's been a whole two weeks (or possibly more)!

Lots of apologies for my extended absence, i've been adjusting to a temporary moving situation (but still chugging away on Crescendo!) and haven't found much time to be active here. I'm not ignoring anyone who has sent me asks during this period, I promise! I just haven't had much energy for anything beyond unpacking and writing in my little spare time

I expected to move during the summer, but it's been a little more draining than I anticipated with all the hassle of adapting to a new area and learning the lay of the land while maintaining a writing schedule and my overall life haha

But I think the hardest part is (hopefully) over and done with now, and I'll have more time during the week to devote to posting on tumblr along with writing

[crescendo-if]

Glad to know you're not leaving! crescendo's plot is kinda boring with the whole overused rookie rises to fame plot but there aren't enough celeb ifs around and I need more in modern day setting :')

Glad to be of service my friend

[crescendo-if]

theres smth almost comforting abt mcs like this! like knowing exactly how the story won't surprise you haha. Everyone is doing the same thing these days. Still fun tho.

I do love me some comfort characters haha

[crescendo-if]

Critique ahead, ignore it if you want to! idk if you're open to criticism or not.

the summary kind of reads like it wants to be emotionally devastating but instead settles for melodrama and clichés in search of meaning. especially the first paragraph. the opening and closing line. it's trying so hard to sound profound that if forgets to say anything new. Every sentence reads like it's been said in a hundred other rise to fame stories. :(

I'm definitely open to criticism and critiques! Making this story the best it can possibly be and cultivating my writing ability along the way is the entire goal of this project, and I can't do that without hearing from my audience and the people consuming it !

Onto the actual critique: I wholeheartedly agree that the summary in the intro post is not my best work. I've reread it a few times now and it sounds so stiff and formal that I wince skimming it again. Not to mention how vague most of it actually is, like where did I put the actual storyline? So I understand what you mean in that regard. Once the first demo is released, I intend to alter it to better reflect the premise and I promise it wont be as overdone lol

But honestly, I'm not trying to be groundbreaking or reinvent the wheel with this story. If it sounds melodramatic and cliche, that's probably because it's kinda what I'm going for haha ! I'm going to edit it to be more of a real summary with some depth, of course, like I said, but it'll likely be as melodramatic as it is now and I don't see that changing much

[crescendo-if]

So, gonna start this off by wishing you a good day/night and that coding and writing come easy to you. I've got zero clue what's going on with the anons the past week since Yven was chased off, but I'm really hoping it's just a small phase that'll end sooner rather than later and it not being indicative of whatever those anons are on becoming commonplace. But to pivot to the ask, not gonna lie, I think the thing I'm most excited for are the inevitable interviews the MC will have to go through. Like, there's of course the mess that will be an MC romancing Hydra or Nat, not to mention whether the MC hates all the drama or plays into it. But of course, there's J and the possible questions that'll pop up if it becomes obvious that J and the MC know, or well knew, each other. Just imagining the MC going, "Maybe back when the hyacinth tattoo J has meant something, but not anymore," or something along those lines, regardless of whether the MC wants to stir the pot or still deeply feels the effects of what happened maybe a bit of both

Good morning haha! Even though it’s midday for me right now, im sure it’s morning for someone somewhere

I'm also excited for the interview scenes, just from a writing standpoint. The interviews are important because they're one of the few places MC has a chance to control the narrative about them without someone else (like the label or their manager/band) interfering and mold their image however they want. Once the camera is on, MC can spout whatever they want and (almost) no one can stop them. On the flipside, they could obediently stick to whatever story their media team told them to spin

That being said, all of the journalists in crescendo are sharks hungry for blood especially since MC is presented very early-on as someone Hydra is actively promoting and endorsing. They all want a piece of MC, and they're not exactly gentle in the way they go about getting their story but that's what makes it fun hehe

And yes it's waaaaay more tense if MC’s in the deep stages with Hydra or Nat, especially if they have a hard time holding their tongue around reporters which is sorta required when you’re having an affair with someone as famous as those two !

As for questions about J… they’ll be an abundance of those

[crescendo-if]

The bulk of the asks sent to my inbox since yesterday have been so sweet, I don't want to answer them for safekeeping hehe. Just know I appreciate them and that's why I'm holding onto them <3

BUT i do want to reiterate that nothing sent to me is going to deter me from continuing to write this story. I know the anonymous asks feature can enable negative behavior, so if i ever feel like my inbox is leaning toxic, I'll switch off that for a few days if i need to. But like i said before, you're stuck with me for the long haul no matter what !

[crescendo-if]

Re:last ask

honestly...wish it was you and not the septic saints author who left...yven's writing was so incredible no offense 😭😭

What an odd thing to say

[crescendo-if]

After what happened to Septic Saints IF please tell me you won't deactivate/ delete your game😔

*I’ve scrolled through a few posts that have given me the rundown of the situation over the last few days but forgive me if my takeaway is lacking the exact nuances. Just a disclaimer incase i’m missing any crucial information

Anywayss, It makes me really sad that a group of faceless anons can chase away someone who only wanted to share their passion project. When they posted their work, the author of Septic Saints didn't sign up to be harassed.

Hate comments/trolls are something that most people sharing their work on the internet will deal with (im not saying that's okay or acceptable in the slightest, but im aware it comes with territory), but, to my knowledge, the asks sent to Septic Saints crossed the line into sexual harassment. They established clear boundaries after this that these anons ignored.

Its completely understandable the author took a step back after these incidents. Readers should have enough respect for the authors of the stories they play to listen when they say something is causing them to be uncomfortable. Its a letdown such an intriguing story is gone, but it was completely avoidable if the anons in question had just listened.

But to answer the actual question in this ask, no im not going anywhere !

The number of positive anons in my inbox far outweighs the negative, and I refuse to let a few sour apples taint the whole bucket

You guys are stuck with me for the long haul so buckle up :p

[crescendo-if]

Alright, so the logical follow-up question, considering how…fans can be sometimes, how you described the OG fans and the kind of songs the MC was writing after J left. How did the fans deal with the whole fallout? Considering they're from the MC's hometown the MC probably has surface-level knowledge on the OGs, which makes the description make sense, as they would, outside of attending the band's shows, likely have personal interactions with MC and J, especially if the hometown is one of those "small enough to know everyone's name but big enough where, dependent on job, you probably won't know everyone personally" places. I also figure that J probably had some of the OG fans migrate with them, so a very small part of their fanbase are the OGs from the band, which feels like it would have created a bit of a fandom war.

Well the OG band was more underground and ‘exclusive’ for people who frequented those types of venues/clubs and didn’t have an active presence on social media/online. J thought being less reachable to the masses made them more authentic and real

So for awhile, most fans didn’t realize there was something amiss. The band stopped doing gigs, sure, but all bands take a break every once in a while. But only the fans most invested in the music noticed their absence. Those are the fans that still follow MC and their career today, the diehards

Since no knew where J had gone or where they were continuing their career, none of their previous fans could follow them. And once they made a public resurgence in the music scene, it had already been two years and most OGs moved on. All of their current fans are from their blowup in the last three years and most of their previous fans have forgotten their existence or think it’s a fun story to tell their friends that they knew J Ziegler before they were famous.

So no fandom war… yet

And Instead of hometown I should say homecity. MC (and J + C) are from a mid-sized city big enough to have an underground music scene but not mark too big a stamp on the map. The more outspoken fans MC can identify from their social media handles alone, and put a face to some others. I’d say most of their fans from their birthplace feel they have a sort of personal relationship/connection with MC, especially if they comment on their posts/DM them a lot.

[crescendo-if]

DEMO UPDATE (ISH) ;

17th May 2025

Hello, hello, hello :)!

As I said I would, I've updated the demo with the new UI (using one of the templates by @/lapinlunaire-games) as well as A SMALL CONTENT UPDATE

It isn't much, but I wanted to show that I'm still working on TAG, even if slowly, so I've left in...around half of chapter 1 as well :)

anyway, some of it might still be a little buggy whilst i transfer things, so don't be afraid to make bug reports !

as always, find the demo:

here!

[crescendo-if]

So obviously, MC gets a HUGE popularity boost from Hydra and is nowhere near J's level of popularity, but I'm assuming MC has a very, very, very small but dedicated fanbase.

Anyone unknown/underground in Hydra’s general proximity has people murmuring about them and wondering who they are. Plus, Hydra does some thiiiings in the early chapters that have fans very invested in MC unrelated to their music which is good if they want to capture fans attention! Bad if they prefer to avoid drama and gossip but that’s the name of the fame game babyy

A sizable portion of MC’s fanbase is composed of OG fans from their early days back in their hometown when they were in a band with J and those fans take their fanship responsibilities very seriously

The rest MC gained from their career in LA and honestly those fans kind of avoid the diehards haha but they’re still dedicated! Just not as devout

J won a Grammy… their level of popularity/renown is hard to achieve for most musicians even with all the promotion from the most famous person in the world