Mind Blind (01/31 Demo Update. A Story Where You Are NOT The Chosen One!)

[Nm6k]

Yay Kent is back also oh god this is what visions were warning us about. Great update @wildelight

[Sel_Lee]

If MC is killed with Nick still in their head, will Nick die as well? 'Cause MC’s attitude toward the mission would differ greatly depending on the answer.

Also if I were MC’s rich family I would assign them a damn mindguard. Like body guard but for the mind.

[Vofademp]

It seems that every time i logout and login the forum the game loses all my saves. Darn

[QuestionableLemonade]

Rosy: appears
My MC immediately:

[wildelight]

First off, thank you to everyone who caught typos and issues!!! Reporting them makes editing a much less stressful ordeal for me.

@yankeescap

Also, the Mr. Snodgrass mention is a reference to the Santa Scam story, right? Cute!

He is! And that was a coding error that you caught–initially, I’d planned on having the secret impact personality stats, but thought it would be more fun to remember for a callback later on.

@Hannah_Minger

That was a really nice twist—I never saw it coming! And it wasn’t one of those cheating ones ( cough HansfromFrozen cough

I feel very passionately that good mysteries are good because they are guessable, and not just because of meta knowledge like being aware that Kristoff is the Anna’s love interest and thus Hans must turn out to be evil because Disney would never let their heroine come across as flighty and hurt the feelings of an otherwise nice dude. (I see you share my dislike ofthe Hans twist.)

@Ohy

I’m not sure how to phrase it, but I don’t think I see wholesome-AND-nuanced sibling interactions often enough in fiction.

Thank you so much!

There’s a lot of combative sibling relationships in fiction, because, I mean, who doesn’t love an evil twin? But while you don’t have to play Button’s relationship with Nick as close (being combative with him from the get-go was something I added due to reader feedback), I really wanted the dynamic between Button and Nick to be obviously founded on genuine love and care.

A lot of Button’s past is preset, including their family’s actions and feelings. This admittedly limits roleplaying (although Button can interpret things in a multitude of ways, like seeing Hope’s departure as abandonment), but these presets give me as a writer more opportunity to delve into the nuances of siblings that truly love each other without depicting their relationship as flawless. (Unless Button is at loggerheads with Nick, however, their relationship is meant to come across as seemingly “perfect” in the first few chapters, with tension gradually building, because I think that realizing a parent/guardian as human is a huge part of growing up).

@MadAdam

Does K pull my heartstrings? Nope, he plucks them out of my chest, strings them on a lute and then serenades me with my favorite song.

This phrasing is both beautiful and hysterical! With your permission, I’d love to include this metaphor to one of Button’s responses when on K’s romance.

@Avi

I love Kim. Kim is the love of my life. Kim, I love. KIM A8AGWEJFIDJAJJDKSIHEKFDIHQKEDIDU

I didn’t initially like him bcuz, ace stuff but hes so nice?!? Im cryiing T-T

I really enjoyed showing how Rosy and Nick treat Button differently, especially if Button has a panic attack or otherwise goes into shock.

“Nice” isn’t an adjective I would’ve bestowed on Rosy, but they do deeply care in their own hardboiled way. I’m happy that came through!

@BreBee

Also, I have to say, a lot was revealed in this chapter. It can be easy to make that feel lengthy or tenuous or sloppy. In this case it was none of those things because the manner in which they were revealed was careful and natural. To poetically describe it, reading this chapter was like being guided down a stairwell blindfolded with your most trusted friend as your functional assistant.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. A lot of chapters in MB are very information-heavy, and one of my insecurities about these segments is that they’ll be tedious to read. I have a very flighty attention span, and I know that info-dumps tend to be where I usually tune out in books.

I struggled to make the logic leaps that Button takes feel natural (especially since a few are somewhat convoluted). It helps that Rosy is a “figure it out for yourself, genius” type person.

@XaosMinion

I’m ashamed to say I never noticed that the chapter quotes (??) change depending on which route you took in chapter one.

As of Chapter 7, I’ve run out of Sound of Silence lyrics and am bereft

@zee

That would certainly bolster a guess I had about why K freaked out and rushed at Button when they taunted them to “read their mind” to figure out the fate of Antigone and Cassandra. NOOO. K :((( If someone threatened my dogs, I would deck them with extreme prejudice < 3

Yeah . . . Button’s going to have to really prove that they feel bad about doing that in order to regain K’s trust.

@Sel_Lee

If MC is killed with Nick still in their head, will Nick die as well? 'Cause MC’s attitude toward the mission would differ greatly depending on the answer.

Also if I were MC’s rich family I would assign them a damn mindguard. Like body guard but for the mind.

In game, no one currently knows! The situation is extremely uncommon. Meta answer: yes. He’d slip into a permanent coma, unless he was already close to being fully recovered. This will be plot-relevant later.

A lot of family’s probably would’ve done exactly that, at the cost of even more of Button’s autonomy. Button can rankle against Nick’s and Sally’s protectiveness, as they more or less serve the same purpose as a guard, but if Button prioritized being 100% safe over being free, then they would’ve probably moved away from Chicago to a small Ment-free town and never joined Unity.

Maybe some Buttons did. Just not ones whom you can play as, because that would be a different story.

@Vofademp

It seems that every time i logout and login the forum the game loses all my saves.

I don’t believe the forum is connected to dashingdon in anyway, but maybe someone else can shed light on this problem? I’ve never enountered it before!

@fabulist

Also, if that garlic smell has anything to do with the waitstaff of a certain restaurant, I will never stop laughing.

Oh, but I thought everyone was convinced that Antonio/Elisa was a red herring!

. . . Me? Laughing ominously? Never!

[MadAdam]

Lol I would be honored. Button is me, I am button

[wildelight]

You may very well be! This isn’t the first time that I’ve used your phrases!

Such as this blast from the past:

Mind Blind (04/30 Demo Update. A Story Where You Are NOT The Chosen One!)

Love the update, there’s so much going on! All I can say is, “oh Noh!” (See what I did there?) Heh, i’ll see myself out. Fingerguns.

My reply: “I love it when you guys write Humorous MC’s dialogue for me.”

I very much wasn’t joking

[Vofademp]

@wildelight

don’t believe the forum is connected to dashingdon in anyway, but maybe someone else can shed light on this problem? I’ve never enountered it before!

Oh well looks like i’ll have to replay It all again. Not that i mind

[Jender]

Wooooah…this one has been bookmarked for me for awhile and I finally got to read it today and HOLY SHITE IT IS SO SO SO GOOD!!! Congrats! Looking forward to following this one

[Jenna_V]

So, I just want to say how much I appreciate the way anxiety and trauma are handled in the game. Prior to some extensive EMDR I had in 2016, panic attacks were a daily thing for me and anxiety’s something I still deal with. It felt sooo good to be able to play a character (by choice) who was dealing with mental illness and decide not only how far I wanted to take that, but also how it would manifest. What I loved even more was that mental illness didn’t necessarily preclude the MC from being powerful or valued.

Also, thanks for Sally! There’s nothing I love more than a BFF romance, and Sally is simply wonderful.

I can’t wait to see how the story develops!

[Yachire]

Every time I play through Mind Blind it’s like all of my chakras align and I am enlightened. I’m always left in awe.

[Waywalkerlover]

Just fully played through the new update… these cliffhangers will be the death of me. You played me good. Fool me once and all that jazz. I’ve been such a jerk to a certain dog lover. Even though he could run me over and I’d say thank you.

[deusvult]

Me too, I really appreciate that there’s an option to remain silent. Not out of willfully doing so but because you CAN’T TALK. I’ve been asked so many times why I’m not saying anything when I’m having a panic attack, crying, or really angry. But I really just can’t make any words come out. Oh now you’re ignooring me huh? Nope just leave me be for 10-20 minutes and I’ll be able to make words come out of my mouth.

[Isabella_Taylor]

Love the new update.

Just saying, someone in this thread absolutely called the K twist, I remember that conversation. Props to that person, who I forget.

I also love how resentful MCs basically don’t even have to lie to anyone now lmao. Truly a plot direction made for angsty Buttons.

[Maria_Winfield]

Not me wanting both Rosy and K
Do I have to choose?
I can’t have both?
I WANT THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS🎶

[No_This_Is_Patrick]

Yeah you have to choose

[Ikan_teri]

No thought. Head empty. Only Rosy…

…And Nick (literally)

[Maria_Winfield]

…
do I HAVE to?
@wildelight

[Empress_Nightmare]

@Maria_Winfield

Rosy and K

[Redhood53]

So finally read the update phew
More twists and my head would have snapped.

Me reading K’s actual pollard score:

Also, love how Nick’s responses change when playing ‘chill’ MC and ‘Sasuke’ MC. The numerous number of choices to choose from with varying dialogues in each of them really makes this new update beautiful. Can’t wait for the next update. rubbing hands together