Mind Blind January Update

Scroll to very bottom for demo link (it's the same).

If you’ve played the demo this month, you might have noticed that all of Chapter 17 was quietly added to the Vengeance Route. Chapter 18V (the final chapter to the Vengeance Route) is still fractured with “under construction” signs, though, because of a character who literally speaks in circles. More explanation on that below.

Sigh. Given how often I’ve failed to deliver the last chapter, all I can do is promise to keep the demo link the same. Honestly, I’d probably have the coding all fixed if I didn’t keep rewriting entire scenes every time that I go to fix a single bug. I need someone to sit by me while I work and smack my hands whenever I start typing anything but a code fix.

I didn’t want to post until everything was updated (mostly because I wanted to say THIS IS IT, like I planned to do months ago), but I’ve genuinely given up on an ETA at this point. Every time I think the game is finally playable, I replay and find something else majorly broken. I then go to fix the scene, and in the process rewrite an entire chapter because I can’t keep well enough alone.

(One other note is that Juliette is now easier to meet with in Chapter 10. I don’t know why so many playthroughs were unable to meet her, but I rewrote the code to lower the variables and to fix any accidental spaces that may have been breaking things. If you still can’t meet Jules in Chapter 10 despite having all the other Vengeance members fall in love with you, please-please-please let me know, because meeting Jules is a requirement for the Vengeance ending and I've spent several days literally doing nothing but playing through Chapter 10 and trying to fix her. I think she sometimes bugs out in save files.)

If you haven’t played Chapter 17V already, here are some of the highlights that were added:

(Spoiler warning)

-Choose your laughter type in a DIY evil monologue

“${Kent} Zarneki, my old partner now nemesis. Ah, how the pendulum turns!”

“Pendulums swing,” Boris points out.

-Learn Andy/Liz’s full history with Reese

“Reese miscalculated.”

That small admission, although barely accusatory, drains all of ${Andy}’s previously combative energy. $!{Khis} shoulders slump, and ${khe} looks at you and Boris with an expression too hollow and weary to belong to someone in ${khis} mid-twenties.

-Watch as Romanced Kenzie realizes that you joined Vengeance in The Worst Scene Ever (Not, actually, the worst scene ever, but the worst scene in this chapter.)

You once fantasized about a honeymoon in Bali; now you’re holding the groom hostage in a basement.

-Reach a horrible realization (Or wonderful if you hate Nick, I suppose?)

No blurb for this one, because it’s a major spoiler. You can’t miss it, though.

Some things to note about the Vengeance ending chapters:

You can have a positive relationship with Nick and still ally with Vengeance. In fact, saving Nick can be your primary motive for joining Vengeance, because Button can view a permanent BRS as a way to “free” their brother.

Everything considered, I do think the changes I worked in this month are for the better. Originally, I was super preoccupied with Mind Blind feeling like a complete experience regardless of your choices. By “complete experience,” I mean that I wanted as many secrets as possible to be unveiled in each and every ending, with really on Shard’s identity being held back due to certain choices.

The result was a lot of very contrived and very forced exposition, because I wanted Button to (for example) learn the truth about Vancouver even if you didn’t go with the Vengeance ending. Even if that meant awkwardly shoving that truth in between your mother’s breakdown and Gray’s dramatic declaration of love.

After growing more and more dissatisfied with these scenes, I finally accepted that (bracing breath) it’s okay if a single playthrough doesn’t reveal all major plot points. In fact, interactive fiction’s strength is replayability, and replaying is more rewarding if each ending reveals something new.

The endings still feel complete and make for a rewarding narrative arc (I hope), but it’s now impossible to learn EVERYTHING in any single ending.

(SPOILERS)

With the reworks, you’ll never learn Nick’s Deep Dark Secret™ if you choose to ally with Vengeance. (Before, Reese awkwardly handed you a paper saying “here’s your brother’s file, muahaha.” It didn’t work. At all.)

Nor do you learn about Tobias’s role in Vengeance if you choose to go save Nick instead of taking down Vengeance. And the truth behind Vancouver is only fully revealed if you play through twice: once allying with Vengeance to learn about the culprit(s), and once if you manage to uncover Shard’s identity and motives.

Not all the issues that I’m fixing are narrative—90% of my work right now is just rewriting code. Because, unfortunately, having the code functional is not the same as having the code working. Functional code requires running tests; working code requires playthroughs, and playthroughs take a lot of time especially when I can’t fix a single sentence without rewriting it.

The reason that Chapter 18 isn’t up tonight that Tobias’s scene has looping dialogue depending on how Button tries to win him over. This conversation completely broke after I attempted to make sure it correctly reflected Button’s past interactions with Kenzie: whether you’ve read the article, visited Maria’s grave, and how you treated Tobias in the beginning. I’m working to fix the issues and can only apologize for the constant delays; I’ve also left in some of the (very broken) Chapter 18 code that you can play through to get an idea of why the structure is killing my soul.

. . . Okay, this got rambly. Sorry. I really need to stop writing posts at 3am.

My progress has has also slowed down due to external factors, unfortunately. My mom’s cancer migrated to her lungs. They were thankfully able to remove a nodule with surgery, but at this point it’s up to the universe.

The last few months have been really, really tough.

Woman is still climbing Kilimanjaro in two weeks, though, because fuck cancer.

In cuter, more uplifting and definitely cuddlier news: three years ago, I promised to reward myself with a dog once I finally finished writing Mind Blind. She arrives next month, giving me just enough time to hopefully get everything up before she arrives. She's my self-granted reward for writing the equivalent of The Lord of the Rings series (The Hobbit included) in under four years. Do I wish it had only taken two years? Yes, absolutely, but life has a way of sucker punching you in the kidney and derailing plans.

I would also like to clarify that Mind Blind is only the equivalent to Lord of the Rings in regard to word count quantity, not quality. Tolkien was a godly wordsmith capable of creating his own languages, while I snicker over the sentence:

“Boris shivers at the sinisterness of your snicker, and even ${Andy}, a consummate snicker-er himself, takes an involuntary step backward.”

It’s been a wild ride, y’all. Chapter 18V will go up once Tobias’s dialogue pathing is fixed.

Also, I promise to post puppy pics.

Demo Link: https://dashingdon.com/play/wildelight/calebisbeingabitch/mygame/