#id.patch

[idolizerp]

IDOLIZE GROUP PATCH 2.2

Hello Idols! I’m sure you’re tired of us, but we’re here today with some updates to the general Idolize narrative! Some of them are retcon on our part and some will take place via the site narrative, so be sure to read closely under the cut!

NIGHTMARE. 

As you’re aware, KTM is canonically struggling to define Nightmare right now, and they’re having trouble keeping the girls afloat. Our plan is and has been to develop them through the use of the Loona subunits, which will (as Loona experienced) grow their international popularity further, which Dreamcatcher also boasts relative to other groups. Much in the same way of Minx/Dreamcatcher, after the conclusion of promotions for the third unit (Eve), KTM will canonically (and this will be demonstrated through a pann and newsflash posts from the main) rebrand the group slightly. 

Their discography will NOT change. However, the company will give them an overall official softening of their image, changing the name of the group to Divinity. They’ll boast a half creepy half cute image that provides them more flexibility in promotion, and the ability to incorporate Loona songs into the main group discography alongside Dreamcatcher. The narrative of KTM will begin to shift towards a powerhouse that really has a big pull on the international market, as each of their groups diversify out, with Nitro’s strong overseas presence, Divinity’s growing presence, and XLNC set to take over Japan. 

After rebranding into Divinity, we’ll pare back to 2 subunits of three members each and redistribute the removed spot’s lines (because Dreamcatcher is not particularly fair with lines so that’ll boost things for some of the muses in the main group a bit) named Eve and Bliss. We’ll promote them alongside the main group, distributing songs out from the three Loona units to suit. Bliss will have the slightly cuter vibe and Eve the slightly more girl crush vibe. 

All of this information is updated on the pages (along with a new moodboard for the group!), but does not go into effect fully in character until the pann and newsflash posts about the change. Nightmare/Divinity muses incoming are welcome to incorporate it in their bios as if the change has already happened, however, since it will be upcoming quite soon. We decided to change the content now to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to evaluate that when choosing a position and writing their bios. Functionally their past discography doesn’t change, this is just a way for KTM to begin boosting them overseas and getting them better endorsement deals and opportunities.

1NFERNO. 

As we’ve mentioned a bit on the main in reference to some asks, we’ve been looking at changing up 1nferno because frankly Seventeen wasn’t getting the use we could have made out of their discography and never quite fit the MSG sound, and with indiGO taking on a more public friendly non-MSG sound, we needed to be sure 1nferno could maintain that MSG weird but strong vibe. So, after talking things over with the current 1nferno members, SVT is being removed and the narrative of 1nferno is reworked slightly. They’ll still have been versatile and experimental throughout their career but will have, now, a more cohesive overall image that trends towards intensity, performance, and the unexpected incorporation of disparate musical elements, reflecting MSG’s desires to be taken seriously artistically. 1nferno will function as the male counterpart to CHERRY BOMB! much in the way that indiGO and MayDay are counterparts in their appeal to the public market.

ON THE SEVENTEEN DISCOG. 

Lots of people have asked about this, and we do have firm plans to move forward with a new company addition, likely sometime in the summer months, that incorporates a Twice group and a Seventeen/Verivery/TXT group (however this is subject to slight change, so don’t hold us to those exact combos, though we will of course be using SVT/TXT). We’ve got the information for the group pretty fully sorted but as we’ve recently made additions and changes, we want to give time for those to settle out before we throw too much more at the site, lest things get really overloaded. Tentatively, the Twice debut year will be 2015 and the TXT/SVT debut year will be 2017, so you can keep that in mind when considering potential future muses.

[idolizerp]

INTERNATIONAL PATCH.

Hello Idols! Our much anticipated and greatly desired International Patch has finally arrived, and along with it there have been particular changes made to the discography of various groups, alongside some more purchases that can be made, which you’ll be able to see in the points shop beginning on Wednesday Everything will be outlined below and if you’ve any questions you may send them our way! 

1.) Official Japanese debuts and releases have now been incorporated into Idolize! These will only continue to grow in the future. For groups that have not yet made a debut overseas, you may have noticed some particular hints lurking around the site (particularly if you’re a member of XLNC) that indicate there will be some Japanese work in your future. Japanese debuts and comebacks for groups will be handled by the main, as usual. 

In instances such as NCT/1nferno where there is precedent for work overseas in other countries, such as China, we’ll take it on a case by case basis. Since Chinese releases tend to be tied more directly to having Chinese members in a group, we’ll likely want to be sure we have that representation in place before we move forward with that, but we’d definitely like to get that going so if you had that kind of a narrative thought in mind, consider picking up an 1nferno muse! In terms of companies, KTM will do the most aggressive Japanese marketing, especially with the upcoming fix8 group, as well as their two more “rock” influenced concepts, with Nitro being decided more established there as part of their “more popular overseas at first” narrative borrowed from GOT7. The songs involved in being backdated to have already been released will be listed below and added to the pages as soon as we’re able!

Olympus

Before the Dawn (2012)

She’s Back (2014)

Air (2017)

JiNX

Up & Down (2017)

Titanium

Chained Up (2017)

Error (2018)

POIZN

Nilili Mambo (2012)

Jackpot (2013)

Dumb and Dumber (2017)

Imperial

Empty (2014)

Sentimental (2017)

CHERRY BOMB!

Pinocchio (2014)

4 Walls (2016)

indiGO

Na.Na.Na (2016)

Access to You (2017)

Atlas

I Like It Pt.2~ In That Place~ (2014)

For You (2016)

Let Go (2018)

Nitro

Around the World  (2013)

Love Train (2014)

Laugh Laugh Laugh (2015)

Hey Yah (2016)

Turn Up (2017)

THE New Era (2018)

2) New buyable elements for members will include solo debuts and releases in other countries, predominantly Asian. Voices may be claimable provided they were also at one point active in the Korean entertainment industry, such as Luhan, Fei, Henry, etc.  We will generally request that ethnicity and voice claim have a match in terms of this, since in some cases (such as Chinese promotions) there are legal issues to consider and, on top of that, we’d like to make sure that the relatively fewer soloists with, to continue our prior example, Chinese and Korean promotions can be claimed by someone who represents that population. So for example if a bunch of fully Korean muses had all the Chinese voice claims, a muse who was actually Chinese might be locked out of promoting in their home country which would in-arguably make more sense to do from a management standpoint, so narratively it would be odd. 

If you buy a voice such as IU who released music in both Korea and Japan, you’re free to release music on both sides of that discography as makes sense narratively for your character, group, etc. The big exception to this is unfortunately Tiffany, who has released music in America as well. However because releasing music in America would pull the idol from the Idolize “world” for so long as it’s much more than a quick plane ride to deal with and would preclude them from real time events and schedules, we’ll have to skip out on that.

3) We now allow the opportunity to purchase photoshoots across Asia on a solo basis as a shop item. We do ask that as always this be considered in a logical and narratively focused way and follow what is generally within the realm of believability. We may on a case by case basis allow purchases for photoshoots outside of Asia assuming it is something that has also been done by a solo idol of a similar caliber to your muse.

4) In the case of muses from another relatively nearby country, they may be able to purchase roles in applicable dramas or films (relative to the scale of their general popularity, so don’t go buying huge lead roles overseas right off the bat just because they’re from the country) provided they’re not promoting with their group in the upcoming future (since we don’t want anyone missing from promotions, generally, since that also misses out on points associated with schedules and the like and would lock you out of similar scenarios). As a general rule of thumb, if an idol of a similar popularity level / career caliber to your muse has done it, you can probably claim it.  

5) Please note, however, that prior to any solo promotions in a country, one needs to purchase the International Fanbase item in the shop with respect to that specific country, to ensure that the idol has demonstrated to their management/company and the public that they have sufficient popularity to support the investment.

[idolizerp]

NOW LIVE  >> GROUP PATCH V2.1

As we move into the new year, we figured it was time to respond to a popular question/request we get regarding groups! In a general sense, our biggest concern when adding new groups is that each one has a clearly defined image and narrative that allows that group to occupy a niche in our little idol-verse that is unique to that group. As time goes on, we find ourselves thinking of additional narrative possibilities or finding better fits for groups,  and so on. We don’t want to rush into anything generally, but we do try to accommodate requests we get for new groups and so on as well. In line with that, there are four parts to this patch, which we’ll outline below!

IndiGO has been added to MSG Entertainment, with a debut year of 2014 (the same as Titanium) and a narrative that centers around an underdog story one might recognize if they have been following Nu’est: a promising debut fizzles out into lacking attention and on the verge of disbandment or obscurity, the group is saved by a last ditch effort displayed on a survival show (set in late 2016/early 2017). They’re now enjoying both an image shift and an unprecedented level of fame compared to where they were before. Their discography is a blend of Nu’est, Nu’est W, and BTOB (though the latter encompasses their new direction in the post 2016 era). 

fix8 has been moved to Koala.T as their current trainee group. Recognizing the versatility and marketability of fix8′s image, we worried their conceptual similarities to Honey might be discouraging involvement in the group. Thus, we hope that moving them to KTM and changing their narrative a little to reflect their new role will help. As KTM struggles to get Nightmare and XLNC the kind of public recognition they need to pay the bills, it stands to reason that they would be  looking to cash in on Honey’s viral successes and the pervasive bright, color-pop image that’s going around, thus crafting fix8 in the hopes of producing the next big thing, aiming high for viral moments, variety presence, and overall punchy, exciting charm. 

In continuation of the KTM narrative, the company has been facing the struggle that comes with a hyper-conceptual group like Nightmare: endorsements are few and far between and they, by nature, alienate a lot of potential fans and the casual public by virtue of their heavy concept and intense theatricality. In an effort to make them more marketable in the new year, the company is introducing subunits. In order to accommodate this on our end, we’ve added 3 roles to the group, rounding it out into 7. The subunits will be divided 2 / 2 / 3 and it should be understood that in character, the 3 new members are not new, but have been present since the beginning. However, as you’ll see in further detail on the Projections post later today, the sub-unit concept is brand new to the girls and they have not debuted those units. The subunit discography will come from the Loona subunits, as we’ve often been asked to include them in some capacity! KTM is hoping to show variable sides of the girls through this methodology, hopefully increasing their impact on the public and their brand recognition. 

Finally, MayDay has been added as the new upcoming MSG trainee group. With a blend of April and Fromis_9, we’re hoping these surreal, whimsical electropop vibes will carry on the MSG banner well. They’re an important point of growth for MSG, as the company largely will be leaving behind the “mandatory” rap role with the girls, likely after criticisms regarding the lack of necessity for rapping in many of their other girl group songs. We’re hoping to build a narrative that MSG, like JYP, is particularly adept at producing girl groups, and MayDay will be the latest installation in that narrative. Their debut date will be a bit farther out than many of the others, but we hope to make up for the wait by having them make a strong splash out of the gate. 

And that’s all for now! Look forward to the Projections post later to day, we’ve queued it to go up a bit after this post to be sure everyone has a chance to read up on the new groups before we drop information on what everyone will be doing over the next year. We hope the addition of a slightly more ballad focused group and a few of the popularly requested groups goes over well with you guys, we’re excited to bring them to you! 

[idolizerp]

NOW LIVE: IDOLIZE V2.T >> TRAINEE PATCH

Hello Idols! As previously promised, we’re here today with the much anticipated Trainee Patch. Just like a normal patch to any game you might play, our patches will not alter canon but will update gameplay to make improvements for everyone. With that in mind, we want to introduce to you some of our features. After a series of questions over time on how to play trainees, what options there are for trainees, and more, we’ve been really putting ourselves to work trying to generate ideas for how to make sure trainees are as integrated as possible while still maintaining a level of realism of their more limited opportunities, so that growth after debut can be outlined and explored. With that in mind, we’ve got some exciting new things to tell you all about.

Most importantly, there is a new TRAINEE HUB sideblog, now home to all the various information a trainee might need on integrating with other trainees and on opportunities to reach out to members of other groups/companies as a whole. 

On this page you will find trainee specific prompts (aesthetic, skill building, and character development) as well as new storylines and opportunities in which they can engage. We’ve also opened Chain Station claims and the Dream High opportunity to trainee muses. 

On the subject of prompts, we’ve added a new graphics template in the format of ‘Revan TV’ which can be used for some of the new trainee aesthetic prompts (like posting an audition or evaluation tape)! The password to download will be given upon acceptance, as always!

Further, the sideblog will host a rotating schedule of timed prompts to mirror regular idol schedule prompts posted on the news blog. These will cover three categories (tasks, lotteries, and workshops). More information and the first lottery post can be found here and posted on the sideblog. 

We know that Idolize is, by nature, geared towards our main debuted groups and that that can feel limiting to trainees in the past, but we have also really wanted to grow the roster of groups over time. Since we’re playing a long form game here, we know that debuts won’t come at the drop of a hat, and so we’re hoping this will be a great way for trainees to have plenty to do and lots of opportunities for involvement as they wait for their debut! Stay tuned for the next expected patch: Idolize International!