So, you've just played the initial release and are feeling mighty excited. CoC2 is a reality now, and with a party-based system! It's time for you to inject your lovely waifu/husbando into-
No.
Stop.
The temptation to write a companion is there, I know. I experienced it back in my days of writing for FoE - while it was still active, everyone and their mother wanted to write a companion, half the ideas on the old forums were for companions. The allure is simple to understand, as the people who follow the champion around are the top-tier NPCs, and having your self-insert be played by so many other people feels good, doesn't it?
That's the problem.
A companion is a massive investment of time, effort and dedication. Savin has made it clear in his design docs that he's going to be no-fun Hitler about this, because of so many problems which have cropped up in previous FenCo games, the main ones being:
-We don't want bubble people. No camps and spaceships full of waifus and husbandos who never interact with one another. No planets full of people who never interact with one another. Quality over quantity. If you write a companion, you're expected to keep abreast of what other people are doing, especially other companion writers. You're expected to communicate with other writers about how your characters would interact. You'll be expected to work with other people on their docs, and help people figure out what your character would say. You'll be expected to learn the ins and outs of other writers' companions.
-We don't want people who will flake. Everyone remembers the ton of unfinished content in the original CoC. We want to avoid that, and so will only take people who we know will commit. Sometimes the unavoidable happens, and we get a JimThermic (who we will all miss) and there are systems in place to help future-proof against that, but ideally there will be nil cases of this. This won't just take months, it's likely to take years, and your companion is going to be hanging out there with the champion all this while. No one likes writing for other peoples' shit - just look at people trying to continue Jim's work. If you flake, that means Savin or someone else is going to have to write crap for you, because as I said, companions are bloody involved.
-We want people who will be responsive and on the ball. If a major plot scene requires your input as a writer because of something your companion might do, you're expected to be relatively prompt about it. Otherwise, people are going to write for you, and as above, it's irritating for everyone involved. Keep in communication.
So what are we going to do about it?
-Firstly, only established writers with a track record get to write companions, people whom have proven themselves to be reliable and who won't flake at the drop of a pin. Savin has his own criteria, but I personally think someone who has established projects implemented in FenCo games and who has been writing for over a year would be eligible.
-Everyone who gets the green light to write a companion gets only ONE. Quality over quantity. Judging by the amount of time I've burned on my particular project, it's going to be massively time-consuming to keep up with all everything needed to keep one companion at the standard which we'd like to set. More than that, and you might as well make writing smut your full-time job.
-You're going to be expected to be easily available to the other writers at reasonably short notice. Fenchat Discord is a good venue; most of the dev discussion takes place there.
-You're going to be expected to keep up with the lore, what's going on, and who's developing what. Then, you get to work with other writers to flesh out interactions with each others' plotlines and the main story.
No, it's not fair, for whatever meaning of fair you choose at the moment. No, we don't care. The purpose of this exercise is to learn from previous mistakes and move forward. If you can't commit the time, refrain from flaking and be social with the other writers, then a plain old NPC might be more your thing.
