#but the whole experience is a lot nicer when they're here to share it with me

[lunarsapphism]

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[feelin-kinda-cocky-bmc]

Calling all BMC Writers!

Hello fellow BMC nerds :>

If this project hasn't shown up to you yet or if you're not in the Discord server, then you probably haven't heard about this project I'm working on: Feelin' Kinda Cocky!

Feelin' Kinda Cocky is a Be More Chill dating sim/visual novel where you play as Michael, and romance one of four love interests at Middleborough high (not including secret routes and possible polyamorous routes).

This game has been in production for two years now, but is stuck in the writing phase. I just recently completed Rich's route and have just started Dustin's. Not to mention, I have a bit of early-game material for Jake and Jeremy. Between school, extracurriculars, and taking care of my mental health, it has taken me a long time to write. However, I was recently prescribed ADHD meds, which will tackle my executive dysfunction. That, combined with a lofty New Years resolution, I'm aiming to get all of the writing done before the end of 2023. ...Especially because the artists for this game have been extremely patient with me, and I want them to be able to contribute sooner rather than later. Although I might have one or both of 'em draw some stuff to make the Tumblr page look nicer-

So that's why I'm here! To looks for some likeminded writers in the BMC fandom, which I know there are many on Tumblr lmao- If you're interested in helping out, there's two options right now:

The FKC Community Idea Drop:

The FKC Community Idea Drop is a Google Doc for you to just drop your ideas down. Are there any post-Squip ideas/drabbles/scenarios/dynamics you've ever wanted to see fully realized? Well throw 'em on the doc! If your idea makes it into the game, you'll be credited by whichever name you put on the doc, because I don't believe in stealing ideas. This is a non-committal way to contribute to the game at whatever pace or frequency you want. Feel free to just go wild with whatever you wanna put on there!

Link here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/134HD8ZxBILGacL5Zg165A-mU0IX3HbQqynKuyCqctIE/edit?usp=sharing

2. Joining the FKC team

Everyone who has joined the team so far (two artists and a writer) has joined completely voluntarily, purely in an effort to bring this idea to life. I feel like this is a given, but I want to make it clear that this is not a paid job for anyone involved, including myself. Just like Be Less Single, Feelin' Kinda Cocky will be published on a website and/or on Steam for free, meaning I will make absolutely no money off this game. I just want to make a fan-game with the help of my fellow fandom nerds lol

As a writer, I'm hoping we can work collaboratively to come up with storylines, route events, and dynamics between the ships. Whether you want to work on all the routes, or just focus on one ship, I'd love to work with you! I am currently one person attempting to plan out and write four separate routes, all with three different endings if you don't include secret routes, which I will write myself regardless.

I will also say, if you want to multitask (for example, be an artist or a programmer while also being a writer), go ahead.

For the writing (and the game as a whole), I want to make it clear that I care a great deal about positive representation. And I don't mean just making cute little scenes of our favorite ships (though that is absolutely apart of the game); I mean accurately depicting things like trauma, mental illness, neurodivergency, queer experiences, relationships and friendships, so on and so forth. Not only because all the things I listed are important to me, but because they're extremely important to a lot of other people, especially within this fandom.

Now, if there are any other ways you'd want to contribute to Feelin' Kinda Cocky's development, let me know! And if you have any questions at all, my inbox is always open, and so is the Discord server (linked on this Tumblr page)!

Thank you to everyone who's been with the development so far! Hopefully, this turns out awesome when it's done :)

[astrolavas]

What do you think hunter and amity dynamic might look like? Are they always going to hate each other or do they have a chance to become friends

see, here's the thing; i don't think they hate each other.

i feel like that is.... a very common interpretation of their dynamic; where they both hate each other and amity still doesn't trust hunter and says only bad things about him and absolutely despises him, etc. etc. meanwhile in reality it's...... really nothing like that.

like, i love the idea of them having a playfully-mean/bickery kinda friendship, where they constantly tease each other about stuff and embarass each other and take playful jabs at each other. it's SO funny, it's so entertaining to think about. but at the end of the day amity... isn't actually Mean, like she's trying rly hard not to be, that's the whole point of her character development from s1 to s2; she herself says that she wants to be nicer to people like luz is. she definitely isn't cruel or hateful, or anything of the sort, like some amity and hunter content seems to make her out to be, so???

like, sure, they're definitely not FRIENDS-friends at the moment, they only really interacted in eclipse lake and then only as part of the group, so they don't really... have an established friendship dynamic.

like, for example, when it comes to willow and gus, hunter spent lots of time with them, serious situations as well as some fun/downtime moments included. they played flyer derby, they connected over personal stuff, they fought together, they spent at least a whole week bonding as friends and getting to know each other; they're close. hunter sees them as his friends and he still hasn't shared the truth about himself with them because he's that worried that they reject him for it and he loses them. he went his entire life having no people who'd genuinely care about him; he knows what that's like, and now that he sees how good it feels to have friends, he desperately doesn't wanna go back to the point when he was all alone. he cares abt his friendship with gus and willow, a lot.

and then, when it comes to hunter and luz, they didn't get to actually do anything fun and chill as of yet, all the situations they were in were, in one way or another, somehow related to survival or missions or fighting or running for their lives, but they're also very much visibly friends. it's hard to describe their relationship in short cuz it's FULLLLL of little nuances and the way it progresses is also so, so good; the way it seems like luz is the only one looking for friendship while hunter is only annoyed by it, even though deep down he still hopes to make a connection, even though he wants friends. the way he immediately drops calling luz "human" and starts calling her by her name right as he finds out the truth about belos. how they trust each other with their secrets, how luz offers hunter to stay at the owl house, how she never treats him as the enemy even when he's on belos' side because she knows it's more complicated than that, how they both went through a deeply traumatic event together and they're the only two people who actually understand what it was like. so hunter and luz's friendship still lacks those...... light-hearted "we're hanging out and having fun" moments but they very much are, also, friends.

now, as for amity and hunter, there's....... eclipse lake. they have a lot in common and they bonded while talking about their experiences as well, and amity offered hunter her hand (and really hoped he'd take it), but their interaction ended in a fight and, even though hunter was genuinely thankful that she gave him the key and he expressed it, they just...... didn't have the chance to get the closure about what happened. so while they're in the same friendgroup and, thus, friends by association, there's still something lacking before they can call themselves friends. (actually, just in general, i'd say amity is, out of the entire hexsquad, the most "disconnected'' person from the rest of the group... surprisingly. i feel like her dynamics with others could be more explored and it'd be beneficial if she got to bond with everyone separately as well, but that's a whole 'nother topic so.... moving along)

i feel like there would be some awkwardness/tension between her and hunter if they were to be left alone, since they hadn't had a real one-on-one talk since the whole eclipse lake situation, but once they got over it and maybe had some occassion to bond with each other more, maybe even find some mutual interests, they could definitely become friends.

and when it comes to all the "amity hates hunter and is suspicious of him and will never forgive him" stuff; even before, amity would trust luz's (and willow's and gus') judgement. i doubt she'd think he was still about to betray them or would be actively hostile towards him, especially not NOW, after everything that's happened. she sees what he went through, she knows his situation (not fully but frankly she still knows enough for it to matter and be worrying), she knows he's with them now. she's not distrustful of him, she doesn't think he's gonna stab everyone in the back.

i feel like post-eclipse-lake/pre-hollow-mind there might've been some bitterness left, from the fact that she gave him a chance but he didn't take it, and the whole fight, and what he said about luz, and just that whole.. situation; but even then, never like……. actual hate. amity saw (at least to a degree) what kinda situation hunter was in and could relate, saw how desperate he was and that he was troubled, and even when he WAS on belos' side, neither luz nor amity treated him as an "evil villain"; they were still sympathetic. i think, for example, in labyrinth runners she might've been a little suspicious of his true intentions at first, because she had only known him as the golden guard who'd do anything to come out victorious after all, but since willow and gus vouched for him and she saw that he wanted to help, she definitely didn't actually.. continue be distrustful of him. if anything, we saw alador accuse hunter of "being eager to return to belos" but nothing of the sort from amity.

so like, i feel like there might be some kinda unresolved thing between them and they definitely need to talk, and i DO love the idea of them having a very teasy/bickery dynamic, but there aren't any like…… held grudges or hostility or anything of the sort between them. just some awkwardness and unfinished matters. not friends yet but... possibly, in the future.

[agentravensong]

Okay apologies if this is annoying but you mentioned Kris and Frisk being similar and it unlocked An Interest--

Speaking of Kris and Frisk being similar, for months now I've thought that rather than Kris, Chara was actually a lot more similar to Noelle. Even made a post about the parallels between Frisk/Kris and Chara/Noelle in No Mercy and Snowgrave.

But like. Noelle and Chara. There's the obvious stuff-- both being a way of measuring how corrupt we become in their respective weird routes, both being 'the demon who comes when we call their name' (Chara calling themself this, Noelle literally coming when we call her in the Spamton fight), both become fixated on 'growing stronger.'

But there's also other similarities between them. They're both children who have immense expectations placed upon them-- Rudy talking about Noelle's mother, and I'm sure being the future of humans and monsters was no pressure for Chara in the slightest, Asgore. There's also how Chara was implied to be rather shy, yet intelligent and reading a lot-- for shyness, there's how they always hide their face in photos and speak too quietly for the video to pick up. For intelligence, if you go with the NarraChara theory, they make some very complex puns and reference Japanese literature at one point, and outside the NarraChara theory there's also how they seemed to be the 'brains' behind their and Asriel's plan.

They also both, despite being quiet, seem to have their own appreciations for horror and pranking their loved ones. Chara catching Asriel with a scary face, Noelle enjoying Kris' pranks, but also pranking them back in Chapter 2.

Also also! Strong angel imagery for the both of them!

I just. Sometimes I think about perceptions of Noelle and perceptions of Chara, and how they may have been similar. Chara was maybe softer and quieter and shyer and nicer than the fandom first anticipated, when talking to them while they're not hopped-up on 20 LV. Noelle could become more pragmatic and cold and megalomaniacal, if allowed to continue down the path we set her on. There's lots of KFC stuff or Asriel meets Ralsei stuff but I wish there were more content of Chara and Noelle being friends aaaaaaaaagh--

If you've read the whole ramble. Thanks, hope you found it interesting XD

No need to apologize for rambling to me about UT/DR stuff! Especially if it's about Chara and/or Noelle, they're both comfortably in my top 5 characters from these games. And you hit on a lot of the reasons why I love them so much! I definitely think all the parallels you pointed out here apply, both in terms of their roles in the bad routes and in terms of their general characterization.

The only thing I feel like adding is: I think there's also a fair amount of Noelle / Asriel parallels, especially when you take into account Noelle's relationship with Dess.

The angel imagery is something both Noelle and Chara share with Asriel, as well as the translating of their traumatic experiences into video-gamey terms to help process them (Chara's mentioning of stats in no mercy, Flowey's explanation of resets and viewing of the other characters as NPCs, and Noelle understanding battles by comparing them to dragon blazers (a point which isn't made explicit in snowgrave but can be inferred))

Both Noelle and Asriel were fairly emotional kids, with at least one known particular instance of each of them crying (Noelle's being crying into DR!Azzy's jacket, Asriel's being... quite a few)

Dess promised Noelle she'd take her someplace other than hometown someday, to a place with "shining lights"; Chara likely made a similar promise to Asriel, even if only on their deathbed

And now, like Asriel/Flowey, Noelle is left behind with only the memory of her sibling, wishing there was a way to bring said sibling back.

Plus, as a bonus Chara - Dess parallel: Chara may very well have fallen into the underground on a december holiday.