Approximate Length: One generation takes about 4.5 hours. The game decides which friends to give you on a near-random basis, so in order to ensure that you have the right friends to be able to fulfill my relationship requests, you may want to edit your save file to make the game give you certain friends. Here's a tutorial on how. If you want to create something for Nathan and Richard, you'll need to put Richard as your elementary school friend and Nathan as your middle school friend. If you want to create something for Jake and Buddy, you'll need to put Jake as your elementary school friend.
Brief Description: Growing Up is a game that takes place in a US 1990's setting where you raise your character from baby to high school graduation, having to learn and master skills in preparation for the SAT exam and your future career while balancing your mental health with your parents' expectations. Along the way, you'll meet classmates who can become your friends or romantic interests, and adult career mentors who you help figure out what's important in life just as much as they help you.
What You Love About the Canon: The 90's setting and all the pop culture references and nostalgia that come with it. The sense of humor present in the writing and the little animations that play while you're practicing skills. The clear love for music within the game, from the soundtrack to several of your classmates' storylines. How all of the classmates feel very realistic, reminding me of many of the people I went to high school with. The jokes and references and themes that nod toward the fact that this game was released in 2021 while still staying grounded in the 90's setting.
What You Love About Your Ship(s): While Nathan and Richard don't interact at all in the game, they're both social outcasts with angsty plots that also have a love of music, and I think it would be interesting to see them interact.
Buddy and Jake become very loyal to each other after Jake defends Buddy from some bullies. Buddy also takes a lot of measures to try to impress Jake while being jealous of the player character's interactions with him, suggesting that there might be some one-sided feelings happening.
Kinds of Things You're Planning to Ask For: Missing scenes, any of these characters' POVs on events that occur in the game, or post-canon stuff when the characters are in college. Humor, angst, sadness, hurt/comfort, or something lighthearted. I'll be requesting both fic and art for this fandom.
Content Notes: Bad parenting (ranging from "questionable" to "abusive, but the characters don't realize it"), racism, bullying, self-harm, homophobia (including an instance directed toward the player character), underage drug and alcohol use, drug overdose, child death, suicide, eating disorders, fatphobia, ableism, gang violence, misogyny, military training accidents
All of these are textual depictions, not visual ones. Some of these only occur in certain characters' storylines or endings.
Growing Up (Video Game)
Medium: Video Game
Approximate Length: One generation takes about 4.5 hours. The game decides which friends to give you on a near-random basis, so in order to ensure that you have the right friends to be able to fulfill my relationship requests, you may want to edit your save file to make the game give you certain friends. Here's a tutorial on how. If you want to create something for Nathan and Richard, you'll need to put Richard as your elementary school friend and Nathan as your middle school friend. If you want to create something for Jake and Buddy, you'll need to put Jake as your elementary school friend.
Where to (Legally) Find It: Steam, Google Play Store
Brief Description: Growing Up is a game that takes place in a US 1990's setting where you raise your character from baby to high school graduation, having to learn and master skills in preparation for the SAT exam and your future career while balancing your mental health with your parents' expectations. Along the way, you'll meet classmates who can become your friends or romantic interests, and adult career mentors who you help figure out what's important in life just as much as they help you.
What You Love About the Canon: The 90's setting and all the pop culture references and nostalgia that come with it. The sense of humor present in the writing and the little animations that play while you're practicing skills. The clear love for music within the game, from the soundtrack to several of your classmates' storylines. How all of the classmates feel very realistic, reminding me of many of the people I went to high school with. The jokes and references and themes that nod toward the fact that this game was released in 2021 while still staying grounded in the 90's setting.
What You Love About Your Ship(s): While Nathan and Richard don't interact at all in the game, they're both social outcasts with angsty plots that also have a love of music, and I think it would be interesting to see them interact.
Buddy and Jake become very loyal to each other after Jake defends Buddy from some bullies. Buddy also takes a lot of measures to try to impress Jake while being jealous of the player character's interactions with him, suggesting that there might be some one-sided feelings happening.
Kinds of Things You're Planning to Ask For: Missing scenes, any of these characters' POVs on events that occur in the game, or post-canon stuff when the characters are in college. Humor, angst, sadness, hurt/comfort, or something lighthearted. I'll be requesting both fic and art for this fandom.
Content Notes: Bad parenting (ranging from "questionable" to "abusive, but the characters don't realize it"), racism, bullying, self-harm, homophobia (including an instance directed toward the player character), underage drug and alcohol use, drug overdose, child death, suicide, eating disorders, fatphobia, ableism, gang violence, misogyny, military training accidents
All of these are textual depictions, not visual ones. Some of these only occur in certain characters' storylines or endings.