Hollowed Minds (Chapter 2: Part 1 Updated Oct. 8, 2022, +58k words; Patreon launched on Nov. 3!)

hi! i was wondering if you had an idea for about how old the mc is?

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Gonna break my rule of lurking to give my love and praise for Hollowed Minds :sparkling_heart:

The setting. I absolutely love how complex it actually is. Figure of authorities that aren’t as good as they claim to be? A city that hides its grittiness under silenced scapegoats and under-the-table operations? Sure, the big picture seems straightforward enough. But, from what you’ve told us so far, the city and its systems speak about real life injustices and corruption. These themes came from something and you were very transparent about that, something I admire you for because this is incredibly taxing and difficult to write but you did it justice!

The characters, the MC, and the dynamics. I barely make new MCs for IFs but Hollowed Minds really encouraged me to create one. Something about the way they’re written just makes them more real to me :two_hearts: As well as the characters, and how MC interacts with them. You fleshed out your characters really well and the interactions have so much potential for replay! Honestly, so much kudos to you for the amount of outcomes/reactions certain (inter)actions have.

Your writing. I don’t know if this is actually a compliment but dkjfnvdkjf you writing style feels so comfortable to me? It’s just so easy for me to get into the narrative you offer and I was immediately immersed in your little universe :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: it usually takes me a while to get into IFs (testament to my attention span) but Hollowed Minds reeled me in immediately.

I think this game is absolutely amazing and I’m patiently waiting for updates! :eyes: Very excited to see where this story goes, and you deserve every praise! :sunflower:

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@ClamoribusRogamina Thank you!
@ScatteredA I’m setting it on either 24 or 25! (Wesley’s age would be the same) I’ll be putting the age on the stats page for the next update, so I’ll be making my decision by then while considering certain factors. The story will take place for a few years so that would be the range I’d be comfortable with.
@anon65856626 Thank you so much! :sob: Didn’t really expect I had to make that post but at least it cleared things up :heart:.

While I’m still constantly making some edits to make the interactions better, I’m really really happy that this is how it’s being perceived. These characters are all important to me, so I really appreciate you saying that!

I try to make it easy to follow since missing details might make things confusing in mystery stories, especially with this IF, though I’d still be improving some parts that need better imagery and descriptions. But thank you!

Anyway, I’m getting close to an update and the chapter now has over 30k words. There will be new things to discover about the city and the MC’s condition, so I hope you will enjoy that when the time comes!
Thank you all!

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Hi everyone!

So as you can see, I’m back with an UPDATE!

Although, perhaps, it’s not what you’d expect. I have beta testers now, who are helping me make the game be better, so what I have here right now is a revised prologue, with over 39k words.

As of the moment, I decided to pull out Chapter 1 as it would go under more testing, but be rest assured that things are also going well on that aspect. What was previously around 40k words has now gone over 60k! Chapter 2 is also halfway done, but I have no intentions of rushing things again.

I hope you’ll enjoy!

And for those who are using tumblr, reblogs would also be appreciated!

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Nice! I really like this story, I’m glad to hear news about it.

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I am so very happy to see an update of one of my favorite WIPs. I hipe you are all well and good @Shai_Manahan!

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Thank you all! I’m definitely feeling much better now compared to the last few months, and tbh all the delays were pretty much due to my struggles in settling with my own writing style. I noticed a very huge difference when I was writing Chapter 2 so I had to make adjustments, though I’d like to think taking the time to make those adjustments has been worth it. Plus there are more interactions now and additional scenes; it will just be a question of how much y’all will like them :blush:

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Im so glad that your back. Really love the way you write :heart_eyes::kissing_heart:

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Glad to see ya doing better and back at it and that I look forward to seeing what work has been done to the next chapters :smiley:

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Thank you! :pleading_face:

I was actually quite ready to upload the first half of Chapter 2 before, until I realized the Prologue and Chapter 1 still need some editing work lmao
But I’m very excited to show you all what happens!

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Progress Update 3/06/22

Hi! I hope you’re all having a fine weekend!

I haven’t done much of these posts lately, and I probably won’t for at least two more months, but I do want to share my progress when there is some!

Anyway, the revision for Chapter 1 is going well! I was actually done with the first half about a month ago, though I did have some difficulties moving forward during the second. It appears that I have a lot of things to fix in there lmao, and it didn’t help that there were a lot of diverging paths in the said chapter. But I’m almost done with Owen’s route. I do feel like I managed to make Owen’s character have more emphasis this time, and I aim to do the same with Jade once I get to it.

Oh, and there’s also a small update! Not really an update, I guess, but I edited some stuff on the stats page, and you can now read some lovely information about Richard, Callie (if you met her in the prologue), Bale, Bale’s territory, and the bar itself! Some of them can only be viewed after the scene where they initially appear, but I’m quite sure they’re there now!

Once I finish with Chapter 1′s revision, I will also start sharing some wonderful spoilers both on ko-fi and on the discord server, so stay tuned.

In any case, if you fancy having a chat with me or with the other readers about what you feel with regards to HM, drop by the Discord server and let’s have some fun!

(Still so excited for Chapter 2; it’s got like some of my favorite lines so far :relieved:)

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Omg this prologue is so good :sob: I feel for the mc :pleading_face:

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Thank you!

Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the MC’s… struggles :smiling_face_with_tear:

Glad you enjoyed it, though!

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Order of the stuff I’ll be doing for the next few weeks (and months)!

  • finish writing the last part of the revised Chapter 1 within the month (I’m done with Owen’s route, but I decided to delay writing Jade’s until the next update so there could be more focus on their separate scenes; there are only a few more scenes to write now!)

  • send the said Chapter to my beloved testers

  • release the Update!!

  • create full character profiles for the ROs :)))))))))) (and maybe others)

  • time remains unpredictable but if I do manage to have a little free time by the end of April compared to the past few months, I will start posting exclusive content for my Ko-Fi subscribers! I was contemplating before on making my ko-fi purely as a tip jar, but I love writing and I can’t post them all here in here or tumblr so djaksdjakdk I think I can make it so that one-time payments could still enable you to see the said posts.

  • writing Jade’s route in Chapter 1, sending it for testing again, and another update after that!

  • lore posts!!

  • Chapter 2 :)))))))))))) I’ll probably start being more active again once we get to this point. I have a lot of things to share. Also, this might not take too long to upload since I’m halfway done already. The first half’s all set.

  • Opening a Patreon (perhaps??) I did not believe it would be fair of me to open a patreon when I haven’t even uploaded Chapter 2 yet, so I’ll only do this once that’s done.

And that’s it! I just wanted to make a quick update on how I’m planning on proceeding with things, and I didn’t want anyone to think I’m no longer working on this (how could I ever!). I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend :sparkling_heart:

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Progress Update 4/24/22

Happy Sunday, everyone!

There’s really not much to announce but I’m pleased to tell you all that the revised Chapter 1 (with Owen’s route) has been sent out to my beta testers! The available content for the chapter will have around 56k words, which is quite bigger compared to the previous version considering the other route will not be included yet. I’m not promising a specific date for the chapter’s release, although if all goes well and I manage to apply all feedback that are/will be given, it might be released in two or three weeks time. Meanwhile, I’ll probably post some answered prompts every now and then on my tumblr.

After the release, I’ll probably take it slow again and focus on making character profiles for the ROs (and for the other characters if I’m able to) before proceeding on writing Jade’s route for the same chapter. While doing that, I might also start posting some exclusive content on ko-fi, since I’ve been planning to resign from my current job (turns out working 16-17 hrs for 6 days a week hasn’t been good for my eyes and, well, my overall health). Anyway, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop posting content on my tumblr so don’t feel pressured to subscribe if you’re unable to; I’ll just need something I can earn from (however small it may be) while I steadily recover because I can’t go for full time jobs right away. Plus, that’s assuming I’ll actually have the capacity to create meaningful content when that time arrives.

Oh, also! One of my testers suggested this, so by the next update, you’ll get a sort of notification in-game whenever the lore sections of the stats page get updated! There will be some very interesting details I’ll be putting in there, and I’m quite excited to let you all see them!

That’s all for now. I hope you’re having a great weekend!

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Update will come on May 7, around 9:00 pm (GMT+8) :blush:

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Can not wait! :hourglass_flowing_sand:

Just recently found your IF and oh man how amazing it is! The story is so refreshing and new, the world feel so grim it gave me Gotham vibes as I was reading. Loved everything about the way the story flows, the interactions with characters and the constant angst that something will go tho sh*t! Oh and the stat page was os cool, it gives character to the story, I truly felt like detective reading through files on people, a really great touch!

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Hii thank you so much! I don’t think this is the first time someone pointed out that the setting has Gotham vibes lmao although maybe it’s because Gotham-like environments are also the ones I’m most familiar with when it comes to writing. I’m really glad you’re liking it so far – never fails to make me happy when I read comments like this :relieved:

Especially with this! There’s actually gonna be a lot more info in the lore sections when the next update comes, so I hope you’ll enjoy them, too! I think, as we move forward, all those information that will be added in there will eventually serve as clues as to who has been writing all those… reports :)))

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