Second Best IF

A Game Dev Blog for the upcoming game Second Best

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Second Best IF

Demo to come soon

Sibling of the chosen one—the spare. That’s how the people of Aristea whispered your name. Celine, your twin, was blessed by the gods with radiant power and breathtaking beauty, while you, the second born, stood in the shadows. Since the fateful day of the Choosing, when the gods selected your twin and overlooked you, gifting you only the pitiful ability of conversation with beasts, your life has been confinement and disappointment. But now, fate has shifted. Celine has been taken, abducted by monsters during a purification journey. As the kingdom’s finest gather to embark on a discreet rescue mission, a new path unfurls before you: the chance to step into the role of your twin and reclaim your place in a world that has long deemed you unworthy. In Second Best you take control of the spare, controlling their destiny and their path. Will you fight for freedom or stay in your sibling’s shadow?

Second Best is a romance fantasty interactive fiction story with dark elements. This game is made for an 18+ audience and contains potentially triggering and sensitive topics such as swearing, violence, sexual content, injury & more - a full list of warnings will be updated once the demo is released and updated with each new chapter added

Play as the spare and customise them to your tastes

Name

Gender {with male, female and nonbinary options}

Pronouns {choose a preset or create your own}

Appearance {hair colour, eye colour, scars and more}

Personality {make choices that will develop your personality traits and that could change your fate}

Romance one of four potential love interests - with each choice creating a branching path and a new story for you to explore {you will be able to choose the genders of each love interest or randomise them}

Discover the truth behind your twins life and their kidnapping

“I would give my crown and kingdom to keep your heart” | The Royal | Prince/ Princess Wallace Aurelius

Age: 27

Height: 175cm/ 5'9

Build: Average

Eye color: Yellow

Hair color: Black

Character traits: Polite, Kindhearted, Calm, Distant, Lovely, Academic, Repressed

Bio: Heir to the throne of Aristea and Celine’s supposed finance although they never met. Given the moniker 'the kind' - however when you meet they seem polite but distant.

“I will protect you with every fibre of my being, and fight for you until my dying day” | The Knight | Farris Butcher

Age: 26

Height: 195cm/ 6'5

Build: Broad and extremely muscular

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Ginger

Character traits: Sarcastic, Cold, Duty Bound, Emotional, Romantic

Bio: Childhood friend to the twins and now a head knight of the Royal Order. Farris is assigned to protect you while you pretend to be your twin.

“My soul is bound to yours and I would defy the gods just to keep you close” | The Magician | Leon ???

Age: 28

Height: 170cm/ 5'7

Build: Thin and lanky with long limbs

Eye color: Green

Hair color: Dark Brown

Character traits: Humorous, Witty, Smart, Resourceful, Pragmatic, Flirtatious

Bio: Magician and protector of your house, Leon is a close friend and trusted confidant of your twin, but was asked to stay back to maintain the ruse.

“You are the light in my veins and the shadow that haunts my darkest thoughts” | The Foreign Dignitary | Ludovica/ Ludovico Barboza

Age: 29

Height: 185cm/ 6'0

Build: Well muscled but lean

Eye color: Orange

Hair color: Light Brown

Character traits: Bold, Outgoing, Talented, Scheming, Flirtatious

Bio: A foreign dignitary from a Country neighbouring Aristea, they are here to sign a treaty of trade between the two nations, however they seem to be here with an ulterior motive and flirt with you every time you meet.

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The most important question in my book; Are we breathtakingly beautiful as well?

Haha, the MC is customisable and as such can be breathtakingly beautiful if you’d like to imagine your MC that way!

The ROs ofc will always think you are the most beautiful both inside and out

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Talking to animals sounds very useful to me. Even the most innocuous of them has information/gossip on the people and places they're most often around, so MC gets to be a little bit like a reconnaissance and information gathering specialist, if you think about it.

I'm also a little curious if the ability itself would mean animals and beasts would have some favor towards MC... Going full Disney's Snow White/Sleeping Beauty in a forest sounds like a fun time to me.

Tangent, but this somewhat led me thinking about Celine and her relationship with MC. To what degree does the player have control over it? Will we get options about how we feel about her? Some modicum of resentment is undeniably present, but I can't help but think that their sibling dynamic isn't quite black-and-white... Perhaps I'm being too optimistic 😅 crossing my fingers to hope this doesn't evolve in a manhwa-like situation where she lets the attention get to her head lol.

Yesss for sure! And you'll deffo have the ability to gather info from them, but while some animals may be friendly and offer information willingly - others you might have a little more trouble with since they are very loyal to their owners or wild, and will only give you info info inf you prove yourself! I'm hoping to add a timer mechanic to those interactions too (although you'll have the opportunity to turn it off if you need)

I don't think the ability would mean any inherent favour toward the MC, as all it enables you to do is talk to and understand animals, but if you are kind to them they will repay you and become loyal to you. I love the idea of going full Disney Pricess in the game and calling on animals to help you <3

The relationship between Celine and MC is very fluid, but at the point where the player enters the game the relationship between the two has become estranged. I'm not entirely sure yet how much autonomy the player will have over their relationship with Celine as one of the key stories I'd like to explore is how Celine and the MC rebuild their relationship.

Celine and MC were brought up very close, and so they both love eachother greatly, however, in their youth MC did get overshadowed a lot by their twin (mostly due to their father) and as such MC will have a complex about this - this does not mean they hate or dislike Celine, but just that they are jealous of them which has estranged their relationship.

However, Celine themself also has some issues with sacrifice and other emotional burdens that they will need to work through, alongside some strong feelings about the MCs jealousy. So definitely not black and white. I'm very excited to tell the Twins' story, thank you for the ask :)

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I don't even care if MC doesn't have twins power because imagine being able to talk to your dog? like let's fucken go!

Honestly same!! I’d genuinely love to be able to talk to animals and know what they are thinking!!

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Does some people refer to MC as Celine's twin/sibling, from viewing MC not as important as Celine.

About MC's powers, can they just talk to beasts? Can they make pacts with them?

Yes, I think for sure a lot of people think of MC as Celine’s twin, most likely calling them the Golden Ones Twin or Light-bringers Twin.

For MCs powers they can communicate with animals and beasts but they aren’t able to make pacts with them. However if you have high amiability you may be able to convince the animals to do things for you!

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Hiiii!!!

I am gonna steal someone's spouse. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

Normally i hate routes where people are like betrothed unlesssss it's a really toxic relationship or it's literally just a arranged marriage thing. Then it's fair game and i shall be the love of their lives instead!

I love the concept. Ignore that other weird ask you got. Mxm you write whatever the hell you want to write just a btw. 🙄

And I'll be so happy to see what's going on on the page. Oh question. What kinda asks are you okay with? 🤔

And oh hello.. did i say hello?? Hello lol and i hope you're well.. and I love all the ROs already but definitely gonna steal them fiancé 😅😏

Hello and thank you so much for the lovely message!

I think Wally would be very happy to be stolen haha!

On the outside they might be a little stoic, but inside they’re a huge golden retriever 🥰 kind of like a cactus, but not prickly

Thank you so much for loving the concept and I honestly am so excited for everyone to play it and (hopefully) enjoy!

At the moment I’m working on the prologue-y bits so not much of the ROs (although there might be Easter eggs here and there🤫), but in chapter 1 we’ll see a lot more of them!

I’m ok with any asks tbh! Whether it’s about the ROs or questions on the story, I’m mostly just very excited for people to finally be able to play!!

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Just stumbled upon your account, and I just have to say I’m excited to see what you’ve got cooking! Definitely gonna check out your demo once its out :)

Thank you so much!! I’m so happy to hear that and I can’t wait to release the demo!

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Oh, hello! I read your pinned post and my, it sounds so promising and exciting. I will be waiting eagerly for the release <3

Thank you so much!! I’m looking forward to your game too! (Also I love your profile picture)

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Oh no. Another one where you're the black sheep. Like 90% new IFs in these days (the remaining % you are traumatized badass). Just a loser who can, at best, pretend they're their perfect sibling while they're gone.

Why isn't there one single wip where the situation is reversed? Beloved Chosen One with the burden of responsibility, spoiled royal who needs to learn that not everything in life is simple and nice...

No, you always *have* to be black sheep.

But people can get tired of this constant narrative: your life is a series of disappointments, now you change it because...* insert breakthrough event in mc's pathetic life *

Hello, thank you for taking interest in my game - it isn't released yet, but part of the game will be played from the perspective of the golden twin (the golden child) as I agree a reversed situation is interesting and novel!

This will also aim to confront the burden they face and create an opportunity for the MC to reflect on themselves and their own privellages. A key feature I aim to explore through this is how identity and self worth differ from the perspectives of each twin.