Xander knelt on his hands and knees a few paces away from me, combing through the long grass off the side of the road. We’d been searching for the wardstone for over an hour, but to no avail.
I took a moment to study the brood line of his back, wondering what he was thinking, before I stood and peeled off a wet leaf plastered to my skirt. Good thing Emilia was still with her parents, or she would have my head over the grass stains. I squinted at the sky, where the sun was already begi...
2022-01-30 06:26:22 +0000 UTC
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Before I get to this week’s blog post, I’d like to make some announcements:
1) All the last three January stories will be released tomorrow (Lady Death chapters and a UCRT fairytale staring Nick as Cinderella).
2) Clarence’s interview will be on the 31st so ask any lingering questions as this is officially the last call for questions!
3) The UCRT+ Live Q&As will be this Sunday at 10am and 7pm PST (I’ll post a reminder for i...
2022-01-29 06:50:24 +0000 UTC
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Hey! Ho! Let's go!
This update bumps everyone's save file back to Chapter 15's start due to some major recoding, and unless you have a Pre-15 save, a lot of passages may break in Chapter 15 (it'll be playable but likely nonsensical due to misremembered variables).
The good news is that you can now:
1) Hack open the door.
2) Hack the alarm instead of Glitch. (This route is where you learn that I no nothing of technology, and one cannot get an engineering degree so...
2022-01-29 03:15:18 +0000 UTC
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OH! Before I forget: there will be a demo update this Friday with Chapter 15 and some of the new Chapter 17 (although Chapter 17 has references to an unimplemented scene).
Sorry for not being as active this month—I’ve been dealing with a health issue that left me sleep deprived enough that things have been taking four times as long to write and code. Don’t worry, though! I’m saw my doctor today and am now on both ulcer medication and a temporary sleep aide to re...
2022-01-27 01:17:31 +0000 UTC
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You lie besides Talia upon a too-short picnic blanket, blades of bluestem tickling the soles of your bare feet (“It’s just uncut hay,” Talia said when you asked about the long, reddish grass). Your skin is slick and sticky from Georgia’s humidity, your upper arm sticking to Talia’s as if you’re both suckered octopi. Sad, that your long-awaited vacation together has left you feeling more like a slimy mollusk than the sex deity of Talia’s dreams. The summer sun set two hours ago i...
2022-01-25 00:11:46 +0000 UTC
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You lie besides Ferro upon a too-short picnic blanket, blades of bluestem tickling the soles of your bare feet (“It’s just uncut hay,” Ferro said when you asked about the long, reddish grass). Your skin is slick and sticky from Georgia’s humidity, your upper arm sticking to Ferro’s as if you’re both suckered octopi. Sad, that your long-awaited vacation together has left you feeling more like a slimy mollusk than the sex deity of Ferro’s dreams. The summer sun set two hours ago i...
2022-01-25 00:06:32 +0000 UTC
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Pelosians are perhaps the most similar to humans of all known species, despite being from a different galaxy.
The Pelosian planet’s name, like ours, is the proper noun version of their word for “dirt.” Thus, if the name of their planet was translated into English . . . it would also be “Earth.” (“Tierra” in Spanish, etc.) Needless to say, this linguistical confusion complicated initial negotiations between humans and extraterrestrials, as no one could tell which planet was...
2022-01-23 00:32:36 +0000 UTC
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The people have spoken, and January's character interview will be with Clarence Garfield, administrator to Aeon and spiller of tea! (For those of you who don't remember Clarence, he's first met in Chapter 2.)
Feel free to ask questions about Clarence himself (it's his favorite topic, after all), but also make sure to ask about the embarrassing escapades of others who work at Unity (all events will be rendered even more unflattering due to being from Clarence's perspecti...
2022-01-18 00:48:47 +0000 UTC
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I'm going to try to post some of the new Chapter 15 break-in routes (the coal chute and rewiring the front door options) this evening. This involves taking the still in-progress portions out, though, so I need to figure out how easily those scenes can be segregated.
Note that to successfully use the coal chute, Button needs to be short or very short. I also realized today that Sally would refuse to tell the others about her suspicion that there was a basement if she had that vision abou...
2022-01-18 00:42:24 +0000 UTC
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Wordcount: A lot.
Next Update: January 16
In the early days of posting Mind Blind, I was too busy hyperventilating over the fact that other humans were reading my writing to even consider the different ways that technology now enables reading. Ever since I realized that some early readers were using screen readers for MB’s demo, however, one of my top priorities has been to make sure that the final release includes a t...
2022-01-15 07:49:44 +0000 UTC
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Maybe this time would be different.
. . . It wouldn’t.
I knew that it wouldn’t, because nothing about MacCleason High School was any different that it had been at South Garfield High or Eastridge High or Kimball Junior High. My senior year of high school was going to be exactly the same as all the years and schools that had gone before it. After that?
The bell rang, shrill and insistent, and I hitched my bookbag higher onto my shoulder so that it did...
2022-01-12 22:39:58 +0000 UTC
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All the major characters in Mind Blind have been interviewed (some more than once).
Only one man remains unchosen: Clarence.
Now, some of you might think that Administrator Garfield is a boring choice. The annoying choice.
However, Clarence is a font of gossip. Not despite his position, but because of it. Secretaries are terrifying. They know everything about their workplace and coworkers (I used to be one, albeit briefly, and I swear the other secret...
2022-01-09 05:24:35 +0000 UTC
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First off, I wanted to thank all of you for seeing me through this past year!
Never in a million years could I have anticipated the level of support that I’ve received, or that I’d be able to work on Mind Blind almost full time (with the exception of some long-term students that I’m still teaching). I also can’t believe how close Mind Blind is to the end; had I kept to my original outline and ended the story at Chapter 16, it would already be finished! But thin...
2022-01-09 05:09:15 +0000 UTC
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“Nooooo!” Sally’s cry rings out like a death knell as the screen of her Switch turns black. She stares at you, the flickering light of the fireplace revealing pure anguish in her hazel eyes.
“Please, please, please tell me that the power will back on soon,” she begs.
You glance down at your phone which, like Sally’s dearly departed game console, has already gone into low power mode in preparation of its imminent shut down. “According to the Mount Thistledew ...
2022-01-03 03:35:51 +0000 UTC
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It’s almost 2022!
An hour before midnight, to be exact, at least according to my time. I'll make this short and sweet, because I do have a major milestone that I want to celebrate:
MIND BLIND IS OVER 500,000 words!
This is the CODED count, with the draft version being much longer. The new and improved Chapter 17 has officially set the word count over the half-million mark as of four hours ago. Feeling pretty good over that milestone!
I intended to work on th...
2022-01-01 06:43:18 +0000 UTC
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Note of Warning: SERIOUSLY THERE ARE SPOILERS. A lot of what's talked in this interview has yet to be fully revealed in game, so you may want to save this for later if you prefer to continue being surprised by Mind Blind.
* * * *
The stage has only two chairs.
The first is occupied by Nicholas Wiseman. He sits on its edge, shoulders rigid and legs taunt as if prepared to spring upright at a mom...
2022-01-01 06:13:34 +0000 UTC
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Calling Reese a prima donna is an insult to every person named Donna.
“Curtail your appreciation until we’ve escaped,” Glitch says wryly. “No need to have the sound of your applause lead them straight to us.”
“Gross,” Glitch says, wrinkling her nose.
Sally glares at her. “He’s unconscious, not dead.”
“Sure, but Vengeance has clearly been skimping on the sponge baths.”
“I’m getting Kent back,” Glitch a...
2021-12-29 08:52:14 +0000 UTC
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“I need a New Year’s resolution,” Ellery declared from where she lay sprawled across the living room couch. Her head hung over the sofa arm edge, and her expression was solemn (although it was hard for Sally to be certain given that her best friend’s face was also upside down).
“Do you, though?” Sally asked. “Need a resolution, that is.”
Ellery arched a brow. The effect was disturbing given her flipped angle, so Sally tossed a piece of caramel corn from her bowl so...
2021-12-29 08:28:25 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 1 has a new subway POV! (Same link as before.)
In the end, this new version isn’t all that different from the original. The changes are certainly less drastic than the various drafts I wrote up from scratch, which included passages like:
Time freezes when you see their face.
No . . . time doesn’t freeze. It reverses, and you are once again a child peaking through the narrow crack between closet doors, both hands clasped over your mouth lest your brea...
2021-12-26 08:42:39 +0000 UTC
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From the Rewritten Journal of Lady Vitrula Rhys: The Sixth Death
During my later deaths, I experienced the same sequence of emotions each time I realized that I was about to die. Anger, at Letty for constantly being instrumental to my demise, and at myself for still wanting to believe her innocent. Shame, that Loren cared so little for me despite my best efforts. Annoyance, that my tireless plotting to survive had failed once again. Fear, that this death mi...
2021-12-23 03:02:03 +0000 UTC
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I’m currently dealing with a low-grade fever that’s upset my balance just enough that my thirteen-year-old neighbor accused me of being publicly inebriated when I wobbled down to the lobby for my mail. (This is not indicative of any true severity of illness, however, but rather my complete and utter lack of coordination to begin with.)
Anyway, given my unexpected cold, I had the notion that it might be fun to talk about the things in Mind Blind that were also unplanned. It...
2021-12-18 05:59:29 +0000 UTC
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Loren came to visit me the next morning. Although I restricted to bed rest (Delphine having threatened to break both my legs again should I attempt to leave prematurely) and wore nothing but my nightgown, my fiancé arrived dressed in one of his most formal uniforms usually reserved for diplomat visits and ship launches. He’d worn it to our wedding breakfast, the day I’d been poisoned.
Even back when I’d loved (or rather, thought that I loved) Loren, I’d always found his propens...
2021-12-16 07:56:27 +0000 UTC
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“Sooooo . . .” Glitch waggles her pierced brows suggestively. “Kenzie and I need you to settle a debate we were having about you and Fortitude.”
You glance over at Kent, who gives a half-shrug as if to say ‘leave me out of this’.
“I think that your dear Mr. Black has hidden depths.” This time, Glitch’s eyebrows raise so high that they’re in danger of leaping off her face. “Hidden passions. Kenzie, however, disagrees.”
“I said it wasn’t our busines...
2021-12-14 07:48:54 +0000 UTC
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Delivery's concept of “soul scarring” comes from my own experience with a deceased parent. When a child grows up with death, it can shape their perspectives for the rest of their life. My father died when I was eleven months old. To me, a car has never just been a car; it’s That Place Where My Father Died. A crush was never just exciting belly-butterflies; when I reached puberty, I viewed love only as the prelude to being a widow.
I still hate driving.
This isn’t ...
2021-12-12 23:01:22 +0000 UTC
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In this post, I will (attempt to) explain how one chapter becomes three. Because, as you may already know, Chapters 15 thorough 17 were originally all meant to just be Chapter 15.
Basically, it's like magic! Really wonky magic where the rabbits keep getting lost and then transforming into giraffes.
To simplify my explanation of the process, I’m using a mock timeline. This isn’t at all an accurate timeline, as most of these last two weeks passed in writer’s fugue of frantic r...
2021-12-11 02:32:44 +0000 UTC
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If you're on the Sanctum discord (which I highly suggest you join to receive mini-update news!), you may noh that all of Chapter 16 was posted yesterday, and yet Noh's reveal was nohwhere in sight. I'll have a post on Friday about all the changes made that resulted in the reveal's many delays, but I suspect that no one cares overmuch to read that right now when the actual reveal itself is nohw out.
(Don't hate me for the repetitive puns, my timeframe to use them is running out.)
<...
2021-12-07 23:25:29 +0000 UTC
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My logic is irrefutable
(and totally not a byproduct of sleep-deprivation).
That's right, everyone, it's still December 5th on Planet Jo. For those of you living in the real world, though, you can now play the first half of Chapter 16 which is also mildly exciting. There's violence and revelations and also smooching (I told you those extra Kenzie scenes would be worth it!).
The rest of Chapter 16 with Noh's reveal will also be updated today. . . which, again, ...
2021-12-06 09:29:18 +0000 UTC
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I'm going to promptly unplug my internet again as soon as this post is published, as I've disconnected from all other human lifeforms over these last several days in order to make Chapter 16 playable from beginning to end.
(With the new tunnel scenes, Noh's first reveal now happens at the end of the chapter, and a lot has changed. Which is my own fault for deciding that underground Chicago was too awesome not to include, but still.)
Once Chapter 16 in and all the paths from ...
2021-12-04 02:25:30 +0000 UTC
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When you first met her—truly met her, that is—your first thought upon learning the breadth of her powers was not “sexy time possibilities.”
No, that night, you were a fraught livewire of anxiety and anger, most of it directed towards her. Rightfully so, she admits now in the quiet hours when you’re both brave enough to discuss the past.
After Operation Hemera ended with her help, your fear gave way to forgiveness, and forgiveness eventually turned into trust. ...
2021-12-01 01:32:57 +0000 UTC
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When you first met him—truly met him, that is—your first thought upon learning the breadth of his powers was not “sexy time possibilities.”
No, that night, you were a fraught livewire of anxiety and anger, most of it directed towards him. Rightfully so, he admits now in the quiet hours when you’re both brave enough to discuss the past.
After Operation Hemera ended with his help, your fear gave way to forgiveness, and forgiveness eventually turned into trust. Tru...
2021-12-01 01:28:43 +0000 UTC
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