friendsim2

[friendsim2]

Is there any reason the purplebloods are all coded as black people?

There are a couple reasons - one being commentary on some of the aspects of Homestuck and how the purple bloods (and especially the clowns) are portrayed in canon as well as in Friendsim itself (especially with Marvus and his dialogue quirk). The clown religion stuff intrinsically ties back to ICP and horrorcore (including a lot of inspiration and ties to black artists) and to voodoo (albeit in a way that's often not fantastic, hence the desire to add some nuance to that in the route itself).

All of this gave the sprite designer a lot of room to work with building the characters out in a way that they felt reflected their vision for these characters, and then for the route's main writer to explore parallels to our world, like the exploitation of marginalized cultures for entertainment and the stereotypes about violence foisted on those same cultures.

Rather than trying to ignore some of the racialized elements from canon (again, getting back to the horrorcore and voodoo stuff), we wanted to try to say something about the parallels to our own world, similar to the commentary about other aspects of Imperialism from other routes.

[friendsim2]

hi i'm curious; other thann developers, how many people have fullly 100% completed FS2?

If you mean "completed the game, end-to-end, and saw the ending" - idk, Steam stats suggest a few hundred people (like maybe 300 or so).

If you mean "got 100% of all the achievements" - it's kind of hard to say? You can't really look at achievement numbers because some of them are potentially mutually exclusive on a run. If I were to hazard a guess I'd say probably like 50 people - how many people really did look down the stump in Volume 12 or do all of the Technicolor Heart routes?

[friendsim2]

something I've been curious about regarding volume 3 and I'm not sure if this had been asked or answered before

But I know it's supposed to be a commentary on American milliatary and that the milliatary does starve its soldiers

My question is why would alternia specifically starve their soldiers when it's seen that trolls are just naturally stronger no matter the blood caste?

I don't think we ever suggested that the Alternian military was specifically starving its soldiers, at least not in the route? (food supply in general isn't something we talk about much, although Diemen specifically mentions the Empire doesn't let them go hungry in volume 11)

The American military at least very much does not starve its soldiers - it takes a lot of calories to do military shit, and the military is known for having food that would best be described as "bad, but available in large quantity." Provision of basic food/shelter is one of the tools that imperialist armies often use to recruit and keep soldiers around - it's a lot easier to convince someone to fight for you when you're providing them with (usually) hot meals, shelter, and clothing.

If this a theory based on Skylla's art where she's more drawn-out and taller than her original design - that was a stylistic choice to evoke her border collie lusus and contrast her with Konyyl (stocky and bulky) and Marsti (right in the middle). It's not supposed to be ultra-realistic or anything (if Skylla were real she wouldn't have a neck that's like a foot long either).

[friendsim2]

do you think you'd also be interested in revealing story concepts that were either changed or scrapped before the final product? You've talked before on just making it a smaller project focusing on a handful of characters and it had me curious on that and whatever other concepts you or others had in mind that didn't make it or were changed

Yes, a few things changed during the course of development.

A few highlights:

Originally, the concept was a more straightforward "MSPAR goes and saves everyone" but this was scrapped as being not super interesting. This was mostly in the original planning stages, back before we were planning to make original art assets - so it would've been a much simpler project that was a bit more in line with the tone and feeling of the original Friendsim.

The whole "dream sequence" bit of volume 12 was originally completely different - there's actually a bit of cut content there that was actually finished. There was a trial sequence where Tagora and Tyzias are facing off against each other, and then there were these walk-around hallucinations where you saw echoes of some of your past decisions from earlier volumes. Technicolor Heart was a "what-if?" concept that ended up spiraling out because I had a lot of assets I could re-use from another, unfinished game where I'd made a lot of the backgrounds. A bunch of them are photos that I (Jonaya) took traveling in Texas, and some of them are renders that I did a few years back. The art for Maria, Aradia, and Rannel (and the cats) is also re-used from the same unreleased game. The rest of the TCH bit was made possible by not having voiced dialogue and me writing literally the entire script, coding everything, and doing all the UI (which is a pretty shameless rip-off of homage to the Dream Daddy UI).

The concept for volume 1 was originally this: "Tagora and Galekh get into a legal dispute over pre-nup stuff that Galekh tries to stick into the marriage vows. Stelsa and Tyzias pick sides and who the player supports and how the mediation goes determines what Tagora and Galekh decide to do. (specifically Galekh)"

The original volume 8 concept is simply listed as: "Tirona is a fake journalist."

Volume 6 was originally going to be a more on-the-nose discussion of what being queer means in Alternian society, which morphed into the whole quadrant vacillation/multiple people in a quadrant thing that it ended up being.

Volume 9 was originally going to have Tegiri/Polypa/Mallek specifically breaking into the dry dock to rescue the gold bloods that were being held there, which ended up being split off with volume 9 having a more self-contained plotline about attacking the Empire's supply lines and volume 10 dealing with the gold bloods.

We batted around a lot of different possible concepts for volume 12, specifically how Gl'bgolyb was involved and how the whole dreamscape thing would manifest itself.

The Metal Gear-esque segments of Volume 3 (among others) were originally a "could this work in RenPy?" experiment that ended up spinning off into basically every mini-game that the game has.

Volume 3 was re-written a couple times to coordinate better with Volume 4 and how Marsti was characterized. Originally she was much more enthusiastic about being a pilot for the Empire, and her more bitter, anti-Empire vibes were a result of the Volume 4 writer's feedback. The bits where you hang out on the rust-blood side of the compound for a while was also added in to give you more of a view into the day-to-day of their life and what Marsti's doing for them, which also makes what Konyyl and Skylla end up doing more meaningful to the overall plot.

Volume 3 had a version where it's actually Marsti who agreed to plant the charges on the airfield, which was scrapped in favor of having her be unaware of the plot until MSPAR finds her to let her know what's going on.

Volume 5 was originally going to talk a little bit more about how popular culture and fandom connect to the Alternian Empire - volume 5 ended up becoming a more introspective character-focused route, and volume 8 kind of picked up some of the "how media works in Alternia" slack.

Volume 7 was, unsurprisingly, not going to originally include "Hiveswap Act 1/2 but in RenPy" as a thing. This came up as a possibility during the writing process and the plot of the route (blackmailing Zebruh) ended up coming out of that naturally. The original concept was to be pretty much solely focused on the Alternian entertainment industry and how it supports Imperial propaganda, but the more personal focus on the characters was distilled from that to show their place within that system and how they respond to it.

Actually, in general the original concepts for a few routes were more "big picture" and going to talk about themes of how Alternia as a society works, but a lot of that was honed in to specifically look at how the people in the routes act within those systems rather than trying to "very special episode" the concepts/worldbuilding. For example, rather than just saying "Imperial propaganda sucks and is bad and Ardata isn't happy because she's given her life to something that feels hollow" to show how warped her whole perception of everything has become through her interactions with MSPAR. Or to show Xefros and Chixie's disillusionment with the systems that uplifted them as low-blood only insofar as they were able to entertain the Empire.

Volume 13 originally had a bit where you talk to the Sylph of Space more in-depth, including a version that was more meta and talked to the player specifically instead of MSPAR. There were at least three revisions of this conversation that gradually trimmed it down and tried to make it feel more impactful, and finally I just cut the whole bit entirely, choosing instead to end on the cliffhanger of "Scratch is back and he's not super jazzed with how much you've been altering the timeline" which felt like a stronger choice than trying to Say Something™ to the player.

Volume 14 was always supposed to be a showcase of how far the timeline had deviated from the original due to MSPAR's involvement (with the weird stuff around Damara and Scratch being killable now and Lord English being gone), but there was a long period where I wasn't sure how the actual end bit would manifest itself. Adding the game script as an item and introducing that bit of meta-narrative was a late decision to tie things together between Boldir, Scratch, and Damara.

Whether or not MSPAR would get their powers back wasn't a settled question originally. There was a point where killing Scratch would give them their powers back and that was how they got everyone home, but that felt narratively kind of flat - like MSPAR would just become basically a god again who could do whatever the fuck they wanted with Scratch gone, so why not just use their First Guardian powers to also fix Alternia? But part of the point of the game is that there isn't a magical fix-everything solution to the problems of the world, so MSPAR has to learn to live without their powers again and the people of Alternia are able to determine their own fate. Things have been improved by killing Scratch and positioning Trizza in a place of power but nothing is guaranteed.

Trizza wasn't originally going to be a part of the story, and when she was I wasn't originally sure how she would be involved in the plot. I had a long conversation with a friend about Meenah and her place in Beforan society and it got me thinking about doing a version of Trizza who had, through her upbringing, become a more sympathetic and kind person and how she would respond to the situation she was in. Part of the throughline to the game is "what if people change?" so we see versions of people who become worse people, but also people who become better - and the impetus for that and the ramifications of it are interesting to explore.

Other stuff changed over the course of production for various reasons (assets changed, re-worked, character designs tweaked, etc.) but those are the bigger narrative or gameplay aspects that changed over time.

[friendsim2]

So my question is what DID happen to the author self inserts? Like did they die? are they hiding? Were they just dolls handmaid and boldir used for anonymity sakes?

The author self-inserts represent the narrative team and their relationship to the story itself, so them being gone just means that the team has finished with their part in the story and now things are in the hands of the characters, whatever that means.

Which, within the fiction of the game, basically means everything up until MSPAR returns to their timeline. At that point, they're in charge of their own destiny and free of the constraints of being part of the story, just like they were at the end of Pesterquest.

[friendsim2]

Spoiler alert (?) for the final act — just so scrollers can scroll through without not spoiling a bit of it.

What is the quirk of giving characters with weapons established in friendsim rifles? I clocked it immediately with tegiri and held off asking a dumb question, but one of the routes ends also shows Amisia with one, and both of them already have been assigned respectively with a katana and an axe. Both decisions leave me baffled but I’m unsure if there’s a proper explanation for both of them to now have guns or if it’s just that it’s a bias.

(Some major spoilers within)

Short answer: Depends on the character, but generally speaking it's an exploration of the reality of violence in the Alternian Empire - taking away some of the romance or goofiness (with Amisia having a giant axe) because these are tools used to enact violence and exert power in the system. Longer answers, more character specific:

Tegiri might best be summed up as "don't bring a knife sword to a gunfight" - his background was being pulled into training as a Legislacerator enforcer until he ran away after witnessing an entire hivestem being wiped out by the cadre he was training with. He and Polypa are fully committed to fighting against the Empire, and that means using those same tools of violence against them. We find out in Act 2 (and possibly Friendsim idr right now) that the sword he carried wasn't sharp - something he comments on depending on who you talk to during volume 9. But the gun is real, standard military-issue, and it represents a shift of the character away from the romanticized ideal of violence and towards its reality. Depending on what arc you take Tegiri on, that could extend into either rejecting the revolutionary violence and leaving the fight to someone else, or fully embracing it.

The Amisia end-card is more of a reference to Marsti and her shotgun rampage through the tower in Volume 4 than anything else (which was part commentary on Marsti's willingness to take a darker path after volume 3 and part Die Hard reference). There's also some of the same commentary on weapons-as-tools - this is a weapon that exists for a simple utility.

In general, we wanted to show characters who had developed and changed over time, including being in a different place in life - which sometimes meant changes in equipment (Tegiri and Polypa donning body armor and military rifles) or uniform/outfit (Skylla, Konyyl, and Marsti wearing uniforms or Folykl and Kuprum in their Fleet-issue scrubs).

[friendsim2]

hi just thought i'd pop into your askbox to say: the cat ive been catsitting (her name is tabbie, short for Tabitha) has been sitting on my lap when im playing FS2 and when i have it open she tries stepping on the touchpad. 10/10 cat rating

Friendsim 2: Cats Love It™

[friendsim2]

Join us this Saturday, April 19th at 3:00 pm Eastern time as our director, voice director, and a motley collection of our cast and crew play through the final volume and discuss their thoughts and experiences with the game!

[friendsim2]

writing this minutes after finishing volume 14 and all i can say really is thank you. thank you so much to everyone in the team for creating something so magical and with so much genuine heart and passion put into it, and thanks for letting us give our friends as happy of an ending as we could ^u^ FS2 has become not only my favorite HS game, but one of my favorite games/VN overall so thank you so much to everyone ^u^ (also especially for allowing Damara to have a happy ending like she deserves)

Thank you! Really glad that you've enjoyed the experience so much, and thanks for sticking with us all these years!

[friendsim2]

Congrats on releasing the final volume ! Well wishes to everyone 💖

Thank you so much! We're proud of what we've accomplished, and we're happy to have had everyone along for the ride!

[friendsim2]

Ive been fallowing along the development of this game since the concept was announced and it was such a pleasure and a source of constant light through the darkest years of my life. The teams done such a fantastic job and its so bittersweet to see it end. Thank you so much, happy 413 and much love and luck in future projects to you all <3

(game's director/lead writer responding) Thank you so much - I'm really glad that the game has meant so much to you, and I know what you mean about it being bittersweet.

Personally, I'm proud of what we've done with this game, and I'm excited for the future ahead.

Thanks to you and everyone else who has supported us along the way - that really makes the whole thing worthwhile!

[friendsim2]

Happy 4/13!

It's been four years, but we're proud to announce the release of our FINAL VOLUME!

Thanks to everyone that's supported us over the years - please join us this one final time at the end of everything!

[friendsim2]

Happy 4/13!

Big news, Part 1: We're proud to announce the second volume of the Friendsim 2 original soundtrack is now available!

Now let's just give the West Coast folks a minute to wake up for something else big...

[friendsim2]

friendsim volume this week YAY!!!!!!!!

Friendsim volume this week yay!

4/13 is less than a week away!

[friendsim2]

4/13 will be an exciting double-feature from us this year as we release our *final volume* as well as the much-anticipated (we assume) second volume of our soundtrack!

Volume 14 brings our story to its close as we discover what began of MSPAR after the cliffhanger ending of Volume 13!

And our second soundtrack includes 33 awesome tracks from a variety of artists, including a few names you might just recognize!

[friendsim2]

was playing volume 9 at 1 AM and the technicolor heart section completely DESTROYED me (in a good way). I am doing a blind play-through so I had no idea that was a thing lol. hats off to everyone who worked on this game its been super fun :D

(director/lead writer responding)

I'm so glad you enjoyed that! Technicolor Heart was an idea that came up late in production for volume 12 and it was implemented relatively quickly (it used a lot of preexisting assets) so I'm glad folks liked it!

[friendsim2]

Hello! I have a question about the save function. I have a save slot that has all my original choices I made from start to volume 5, but I was wondering if I replayed volume 5 from the chapter select with new / different choices and then saved to a different slot, would my previous choices (from start to then new choices) still exist? Sorry hope this makes sense.

The persistent choices in the game are all tied to whatever the values from your last loaded save are - so if you save your game, it'll save all those choices into the file, and they'll be loaded back in when you load it up again.

Think of each save as a snapshot of the whole state of the game, including choices and routes unlocked - the only exception to this is gallery and achievement unlocks, which are universal to your game install and stay unlocked even if you load an older save from before you unlocked the achievement/gallery.