Writer's Blog: Disappearing Stats and The Evolving Biography (Patreon)

Word Count: 426k

Next Update: October 16 (aka tomorrow evening)

In addition to the romance reworkings that I mentioned in my last blog post, I’ll also be doing major overhauls of how stats present in the menu screen.

In the second draft (which will be done after I get this alpha out), many relationship stats will not longer show. Nick and the main ROs will remain (complete with Nick’s possible 200%), but Button's relationship with their parents, as well as with members of Vengeance, will be hidden. The “Past Crush” gages will also disappear.

I over-relied on numerical relationship tracking when I first started coding Mind Blind, and that's something I intend to correct.

Hope and John

One of the inevitable ramifications of having a low relationship score with Hope and John is that it gives readers the impression that Button’s animosity may go both ways. It doesn't. Sure, Hope and John may enjoy the company of certain Buttons more than others, but they unconditionally love even the most resentful and angry of their children. A simple relationship bar doesn’t reflect this.

I'm not saying that Hope and John did everything perfectly: they didn't. But they did do their best, and they do love Button.

During the Great Recoding, Button's relationships with Hope and John will instead be tracked by invisible variables that will remember the type of relationship Button has with each parent (the planned options are: Fearful, Resentful, Close, Apologetic, and Awkward). These variables will be what change the family scenes. Furthermore, Hope and John will have somewhat independent variables (with exceptions like John not having a Fearful variable).

Reese and AL

On the flip side of this equation sits Vengeance’s top two terrorists. Their relationship bar right now is an odd combo of trust level and personal affection, which I plan to divide into two and then hide both. In addition to more nuanced reactivity, it’ll make undercover scenes much more tense and realistic if you don’t easily know whether or not you’re actually winning over Reese and AL.

There will be more textual clues in their behavior about how they feel towards Button, but the nature of the undercover dynamic is meant to keep you guessing. I feel like having a mathematized relationship score for these characters diminishes the intended impact.

Past Relationships

The Crush Bars for Sally and Gray were perhaps a bad idea to begin with, I admit. I wanted a way to make sure people saw their past choices being tracked, but those relationship bars become awkward when Button romances someone else. Should the crush bars disappear as if nothing ever happened? What if you’re playing a Button who, although romancing Kenzie, still has a wistful soft spot for Gray?

I feel like it’s better to get rid of the stats altogether.

THE REPLACEMENT

In place of these removed relationship bars, there will be a new tab on the stat menu labeled “Biography” (or hopefully something pithier). In this section, short sentences will be gradually added to describe your character.

Examples:

You confessed to Grayson about your crush in high school, but were rejected. Your feelings have since/haven’t gone away.

You and your father have a tense relationship. He tries to make amends, but you can’t forgive him for abandoning you when you needed him most.

I’m also considering turning this tab into a “The Story Thus Far” portion, for if you ever set Mind Blind aside and not remember your last choice. It’ll summarize not only your starting relationship dynamics, but also record the major events.

Examples:

You and Sally beat Kent at Glitch by locking Kenzie out of Room 1.

You didn’t visit Nick at the hospital.

Andy accused you of being a spy. You bit his nose.

This last part will be a lot of additional coding, but I think it'll be a nice way to keep track of your choices (at least, the choices which the code is already remembering). The trick will be striking a balance between summarizing Button's actions and not ending up with a five-page Sparknotes version of the story.