#fictif takeover

[fictifile]

Hey guys, it’s been… a minute. The last time I posted on this blog, the Dorian takeover hadn’t happened yet, Fictif was still been actively updated, and I was working on analysing the results of a survey about Rime. That kind of fell apart when the app collapsed, but I was going through my phone today and I still have so many screenshots from Fictif stories that I initially intended to post. And I figured… why not still post them, y’know? Why not celebrate what enjoyment the app did bring? So long story short, prepare for some Fictif spam today – a year delayed, but no less important because of it. We’re kicking off with the rest of my Rainier content ❤️

[gaming]

Ready to spend this Valentine’s Day with some of your favorite fictional cuties?

To celebrate the heart-shaped holiday, Nix Hydra Games, developer of visual novel mobile apps FictIf and The Arcana, is taking over Tumblr’s official Gaming hub on Monday, February 14th. So, submit your questions for their team right here, and stay tuned for some exclusive FictIf Valentine’s Day cards, videos, and answers to some of your Qs!

[badass-at-fandoming]

Hi!

@story-crow Oh, which VN? Lovestruck might not be the best example, but towards the end, unless they were mega-popular, routes got shorter. Arcana has only released short Tales since last year. Lovelink's way more interested in starting routes than finishing them. Choices is going off with standalone VIP books. What's going on? I'm getting flashbacks to the comic book industry, whose wildly outdated & unstable business model hinges on selling as many first issues of storylines as possible. I'm totally fine with shorter stories, but when it's not what I'm expecting...it feels bad.

From the marketing and framing, it's clear to me that the three love interests' stories of the four initial series were meant to be similar in length. The marketing team and the app itself never lets me forget the awesome ladies of Fictif. They're on the login screen, for goodness' sake! All standing side-by-side! It was reasonable for me to expect that the female LIs would receive a similar route length to their male counterparts. I expected Fictif to meet that expectation. But they didn't, and it feels cruddy, and people are threatening to uninstall the app.

I want everything explained, which leads to Sweetsilver-sea's comment:

@sweetsilver-sea DEFINITELY. Honestly, I was more aggrieved about the confusing public statements than anything else. I understand wanting to be professional and save face, but lack of clear communication from Voltage tore the Lovestruck fandom apart and led to many uninstalling. So many arguments could have been solved with a word from their social media. We want to know what's going on. If stories are going to be shorter, that's fine, but tell us. We won't think the sky's the limit if we know where the damn ceiling is. Right now the Fictif fandom is like, cannibalizing itself. All anyone has is their speculation and their feelings of disappointment, because expectations were not met.

Nix Hydra said in their statement about Tess AND on their Tumblr Games Blog takeover, that they'd like to publish more female and nonbinary routes, if enough interest is shown. Later statements added that how many people read a route and "game usage" (unclear what exactly that means) are watched closely.

If route length depends on interest, when are we supposed to show that? How are we supposed to, especially if the resources allocated to a route are decided before it's published? We can't read what's not there. If we wanted Celia's story to be longer, should we have made more fan art? Published more memes? Written more fanfic? Bought heart scenes for other female characters, like Calysta, Aurelia, and Anisa? Those things were happening! After Tess, I re-committed to support female and nonbinary routes. I wanted Celia to be a success, with lots of chapters and spin-offs. I felt I was doing everything I was supposed to--reblogging art, fanfic etc, buying all the Star scenes--but none of that ended up mattering. Her route length was already decided.

Haha, thank you for reading all that. I spent way too long thinking about this.

My OTHER Fictif thought that nobody asked for or likely cares about BUT is a perspective that I haven't seen: Fictif is transitioning to shorter, more condensed stories, and Celia and Tess are unfortunately caught in the riptide. When the app started, they focused on longer stories, with 10+ chapters. Each LI got their own route, and each route had multiple endings. The initial LIs (Sage, Sergio, Poe, Nicky) and stories (Last Legacy, Heir to Love and Lies, Roadkill, Cinematic Universe) are designed in this manner.

For whatever reason, Nix Hydra's switching to telling stories with shorter chapter counts. Instead of a unique route for each LI, every LI's romance is interwoven with a main storyline. Maybe it's profit metrics; maybe an executive's artistic vision changed; maybe it's a consequence of the pandemic. The result is the same. Celia and Tess were the last LIs of the original stories to receive routes, and their routes are being designed in this new, shorter style.

Which is terrible optics. I feel super bad for the marketing team, who have been hailing and evangelizing the coming of female love interests for two years. The social media managers have taken great pains to signal to the queer community that we are welcome here. The individual producers and narrative designers work hard to create queer stories, which are unmistakably queer even if the MC is the opposite gender of the LI. Cisheteronormativity's a powerful force, and it's obvious these folks are fighting it.

This whole situation is just so damn unfortunate.

[gaming]

Cosplaying has its perks: sometimes you get transported to other worlds and meet intriguing, handsome (and cute!) personalities such as Felix, Anisa, and Sage. Who to choose?!

Check out more from FictIf here 💖

[gaming]

Will the arcana x fictif crossover be continued?

We might continue it in the future if there’s enough interest! The best way to let us know is by telling us on social media.

[gaming]

If you want someone to sweep you off your feet and treat you like royalty, while also feeling the thrill of danger, then Nicky Valentino is the man for you!

Check out more from FictIf here 💖

[gaming]

Want to feel the love from multiple angles? Then For The Love Of Gods might just be for you…

Check out more from FictIf here 💖

[gaming]

Miguel from Catch Me In Miami would be an amazing Valentine’s date… If you can keep up with him! Don’t let this hunk drive away from you!

Check out more from FictIf here 💖

[gaming]

Feeling like life has grown stale? Time to renovate, then! We will provide you with a magical house and its residents. Don’t be scared; they are total sweethearts.

Check out more from FictIf here 💖

[gaming]

Fancy a trip to Hollywood? Then Celia is the lady for you! But under the glitz and glamour lies a femme fatale you shouldn’t underestimate…

Check out more from FictIf here 💖

[gaming]

Hiiii FictIf Team! What/who was your inspiration for Nicky Valentino? 🌹❤️😍

The inspiration for Nicky Valentino is our obsession with the 1920s and love for gangster movies, but we wanted to make him a sweetheart!

[gaming]

Do you guys plan on having more murder mystery stories?

Mayyyyybeeeee…. ;) As we always say: if you show enough interest, we might!

[gaming]

how do you guys feel about people kinning your characters (as in, the fictionkin community)?

As long as they are happy and not hurting anyone, they can do whatever they want! Bonus story time: at one point we got this question and didn’t know what kinning was… so we told the person to send a message to our app support! Woops!

[gaming]

How does the timeline works at the cinematic drama stories? Do they have the same one timeline? Like, Fictif Cinematic Drama Universe maybe?

Hmm… In that case, who would you want us to cast as Thanos…?

[gaming]

That's all, folks - thank you from the whole @fictifgames team for participating in our lil' Valentine takeover! If you were intrigued by what you saw and wanna continue the romance, make sure to download our app from the Apple or Google Play store. Toodles!

[gaming]

What is Sergio's favorite song or telenovela?

Sergio’s favorite song is Dákiti by Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez. His favorite telenovela is Mar y Mar.