#blook88

[if-mirrormine]

hi there alli.

im currently reading all of your posts, starting from the very first one in 2021, and im currently at around August 2022. during this ive found some asks about the bad endings and good ending. i have a few questions about them:

about Demetri´s involvement in the endings: a) ive read you can get the good/bad ending depending on how you/MC treats Demetri. does this mean the only importan variable will be the relationship-stat between MC and Demetri? or can i for example have a bad relationship with Demetri the father, but still trust him enough to let him help MC in whatever you plan for the story. b) assuming that the only important variable is Demetri´s and MC´s relationship-stat: do i need to always pick the friendly option/"min max the relationship-stat with Demetri" to get the good ending?

i believe you mentioned, that the ending will also be based on choices MC makes (those will probably not include Demetri). would those choices be a) obvious enough for the player to regognize them as important ones (exaggerated example: "read the obvious mcguffin book you found" VS "go to sleep") OR b) be more like "you didnt say hello to that one unnamed NPC back in chapter 2? too bad, now in chapter 14 you dont have that one item from them and arent able to get the good ending".

anyways super excited for the next chapters and how the story continues. thank you for answering.

i dread to know the cringe you're experiencing going that deep lmao

with demetri, you can't have a bad relationship and still expect him to help you. i'm sorry, i know it sucks and i know not everyone wants to give him a second chance (understandably so) but to me, it wouldn't make sense otherwise. which does unfortunately mean you need to have a good relationship with him in order to get the good ending.

now this doesn't mean you can only have either a good or bad relationship with him; you can also have a neutral/non-existent relationship with him. the bad endings vary in their "badness" based on your relationship, meaning the worse relationship you have, the worse the ending you get will be.

so you've got the good ending, the okay-ish ending, the bad ending and the really bad ending. i'm grouping the okay-ish ending with the other two because it is in no way good and very much traumatising for the mc but definitely not the worst it could be. trust me.

the choices will be somewhat obvious. some are marked with this ⚡ emoji and others are just plain text but they will be paired with a choice that makes it obvious, like your example. so if you're given the choice to talk to demetri or to just let him leave, i think you know which you need to pick.

i hope this isn't disappointing to anyone and that you don't feel forced to get along with demetri. i love all the endings equally and i think they all make for a compelling story. and yes i did come up with all of it so of course i'm going to say that but that doesn't make it any less true!!

[brighteststars-if]

hi there Dawn.

ive found your IF yesterday, when another tumblr blog recommended it. i really loved everything about the IF: frm the characters to the world to your writing style. im also truly intrigued on how the story continues and whats about MC´s prophecy.

i have a few questions and suggestions (decided to send those in a seperate ask): [i apologize for the length]

about the personality stats:

how important will those be? if i have a high stat will i be locked out of picking certain choices//will i be locked in to a certain (good or bad) ending; e.g will i only be able to get the/a good ending with high pious-stat? Or will those stats only influence the flavourtext? like a MC with high daring-stat there could be a flavourtext about how MC challenge someone to say something about their outfit with just their gaze

does each personality stat have different "levels" to it? so if my MC has between 51% and 60% daring, they would be considered as "slightly daring", between 61% and 75% they would be considered "daring", and anything above 76% would be "very daring". or will you/the IF only check if MC is atleast at 51% in a stat and as long as MC stays at this, they are considered that personality (e.g. MC is considered "daring", as long as they have atleast 51% in it).

this is a specific question about the impious/pious stat: (A) what exactly does having a high impious-stat mean? i dont believe MC would be similar to an Atheist, right? (B) i imagine that the Religion is very important in this world/for the kingdom. so i assume its also quite important that the royal fmaily/king & queen are considered pious. will it be possible for a impious MC to "fake" piety during important events? ==> in gameplay terms: if i pick the impious option during an public religious event, will my MC be "smart" enough to not publicly refuse to pray and instead keeping the prayer intentionally short OR just mumbling a prayer etc.?

about skills (combat//charm//intelligence):

4. a similar question as 1.), but for skills: how important will skills be? will there be skill checks? etc.

5. if there are skill checks, can you actually fail them? or will you always suceed, and only the description/flavourtext will be different?

6. what does the numbers represent [1/2/3 in a skill]? does 1=bad//2=average//3=good OR 1=average//2=good//3=very good?

7. does the flavourtext for e.g. intelligence 1 change when MC gets older/grow up/becomes an adult? as in: when younger they are bad at math and dont remember historical facts (as seen during the tutor lesson in the demo with 1 intelligence) VS when older, MC isnt that bad in math per se, but need longer doing it in their head; they remember the names of important historical facts/events and when they started/ended, but not specific details. i love playing as a charming fighter character, so usually in IF´s i end up with a low intelligence/smart/... stat. while this is completely fine by me, i always worry a bit, that this stat spread turns my MC into ""the dumb brute""-category (for the lack of a better word).

no specific topics

8. how important will the relationship with the different characters be? do i have to watch out to stay in good grace with certain ones or risking heading to the/a bad ending?

9. when choosing MC´s name you have the option to pick "Elysia". could you (not necessary spoilers) give an example for the mentioned specialized content if choosing the name? will those add new scenes which include additional lore/plots/etc.? or will it simply add new flavourtext to scenes?

10. do you plan to include the wedding between e.g. m!Lux and f!MC (or vice versa) in the story? if so, will it happen during the story or only in the ending/epilogue?

11. in case of bug/error reports: do you have a preferred way to receive those? or can i send them via ask here?

thank you for your answers. im really excited for how the story continues.

Hello blook. I'm so happy to know that you're loving the game so far!

To answer your questions" about personality:

They will mostly be flavor text, although corruption will lock you into/out of making certain choices.

No, for my sanity, the personality stats won't have levels to them. So if you're above 50% for a stat, you'll get the same text regardless.

Having a high impious stat is basically the same thing as being a skeptic, but not an athiest. The Balanced exists, no one can deny that. But you can resent that and question smaller things about doctrine, if that makes any sense. And yes, in certain situations, you will be able to fake piety.

Yes, there will be skill checks.

Yes, you can fail skill checks to disastrous results, especially later on in the game.

The skills are: 1 = bad, 2 = average, 3 = good. As you collect more stats, these numbers will adjust in scale.

I hadn't consideredit before, but I might include an child to adult scale for what the MC knows! Depends on the coding, I'll stick a pin in it for now.

Your most important relationship is with Lux. The others are secondary. With this being said, you should keep a close eye on all of the relationships, as the will influence factors later in the game that lead to endings.

Choosing Elysia as a name will add specialized scenes to the game, yes. The MC, in this case, will have the same name as Isolde's first love, which is... not going to go down well with her.

Both same-sex and opposite-sex Lux and MC will get married! Opposite-sex combo will get married at the end of arc 2.

Please do send your bug and error reports to me! Sending them via ask here is fine. Though I pray you haven't found any yet XD

Thank you for sending such a thoughtful ask! I look forward to sharing more of my game with you <3

[theincantation-if]

hi again.

i have some followup questions for my previous ask. i apologize in advance, if some things sounds too harsh.

you said, that there will be no rival/antogatistic path with jasser. so this mean, that the friendship with jasser will be forced upon the player or from the persepctive of the MC: it will always end with Mc realizing "Jasser is quite nice, they arent a bad person", right?

so MC can "rebel" against jasser, maybe even go into a hungerstrike, but there will be no "rebelling-path"? if so, then (in my personal opinion) this is a missed oppurtunity. for the (lets call it prison arc) there would be 2 main paths: the frindship/grooming-path and the rebel-path. these could alos open up new sideplots and potential plothooks. on the first path, MC could later realize (with the help of other people/the RO´s) what jasser´s true intentions are and confront them; while the rebel-path could be about MC planning their revenge on jasser. also as an bonus: maybe MC´s experience on the rebel-path (e.g. violent punishment/etc.) could be one of the resons, why MC wants to destroy/taking revenge on the kingdom (and obviously jasser). 3.) i think, it would still be possible for jasser to force themselves into MC´s life, even on the rebel-path. maybe noone believes MC´s accusations about jasser, maybe jasser even becomes MC´s "parole officer"

once again, i want to stress, that my intention is not to talk your IF bad and i apologize if its sounds too harsh. i wanted to share my thoughts and maybe they can act as suggestions. no matter what, i will still try the demo and will also stick around for future chapters. i admit, maybe this asks is inspired by how my usual MC´s in IFs look like: i just really like to play (lets call it) "strongminded" characters, and the inevitable friendship with jasser conflicts with this.

anyways, thank you for your answers.

you don't sound harsh at all! i want to say that your mc can still be strong minded, choosing to play the role of jasser's friend does not mean that your mc has to truly believe they are friends. you won't be forced to believe that jasser is a good person, your mc can firmly believe the opposite but choose to "play" friends with jasser, as it were only so that your mc gets what they want.

i don't want anyone to feel like i'm forcing you to play your mc's a certain way. there is no set rival/antagonistic path in the game. however, there is an option on the friendship path to essentially play jasser's games back at them. when jasser thinks they're manipulating mc into a friendship, mc is manipulating them right back. it's simply not called a rebelling plot line, because jasser doesn't take it as rebelling. mc will get their opportunity for revenge on jasser that is outside of how mc feels about the kingdom (if that's how your mc sees it).

i hope this clears things up at bit!

[adoriels-tears-if]

hi Arielle.

just finished the demo and i really liked it. especially the world and characters. i admit in the beginning i had the feeling that the story moves too slow, but this changed quickly to excitement.

i have a few questions:

1.) at some point some choices had emojis added to them. since they only appear with arthur so far i assume that they have something to do with romancing arthur? anyways could you explain what exactly those mean? i think one was an embaressed face and the other someone fencing?

2.) something i noticed was, that neither MC´s appearance nor their personality bars changed over the course of the demo. is this a bug or simply not integrated/coded yet?

3.) how important will the personality bars/choices we make during the early chapters (like being angry at arthur and the adults) interms of the story? will they greatly influence it and potentially lock you out of certain choices/endings/romance? or can a angry and well... more evil MC get a good...er ending?

4.) do you have an update schedule, like trying to update the IF every few months, or is it more like "you update, when its finished"?

i also found 2 bugs. i hope its alright i add pictures of them here:

A) when clicking on the arrow at the top of the screen to then click on e.g. your character "sheet", there is one option called"relashionship". clicking on it leads to a page containing something along the lines of "doubleclicking to edit".

B)

B) as you can see, at some point this link appeared and clicking on it leads to the error message.

anyways, like i said, i really like your IF and hope you will continue it. thank you for your answers.

Hi dear ! Sorry I'm late !

I'm glad you like the characters and the world since I work a lot for it. As for the progress of the story, I admit it may seem slow, but it simply follows Mc, a simple, quiet life in the prologue and chapter 1 that accelerates in chapter 2 until it becomes extremely confusing with everything that's going on.

As for the emojis, yes, they're the first point of romance. That's how it works.

🤗 This one is for this variable $ArthurRofriend, so basically does Mc see Artie as a friend it's the platonic choice

💋 this one ($ArthurRoboldlove) comes into play if your Mc is well aware of his crush on Arthur and is more assertive.

😊 This one ($ArthurRofriendmance) comes into play if Mc is friends with Arthur but there's a possibility that this friendship will turn into more over time. Although Mc isn't fully aware of this at the time.

😎 This one ($ArthurRofriendvale) comes into play for the most self-confident Mc, those who have a friendly rivalry with Arthur and whose feelings may evolve into something more.

💗 this one ($ArthurRoshylove)is for the Mc's most shy about their feelings towards Arthur.

😳 This one is for those who are currently rivals with Arthur, but whose hearts take a leap when they see him ($ArthurRorivalmance).

🤺 You don't love him, pure disdain.

(What the hell kind of code is that? Where exactly was I going to go?)

2.) 3) not coded yet ! I'm not a big fan of stats, per se. But I do track the actions and words of your characters that have consequences. I don't want Mc to be blocked by certain choices unless they're radical. There's always a chance to evolve, to redeem.

4) Up to now I've been updating every 10,000 words, but I've noticed that a lot of people prefer to play at once and wait for the chapters to be finished, so more regular updates will now take place on Ko-Fi and I'll post the next public update only when chapter 2 is finished.

I'm still struggling with this sort of thing.

5) The bugs have been squashed, so you shouldn't have any more problems with the next update.

Thank you for your kind words.

[if-mirrormine]

hi there alli.

i have an idea for a drabble request, but i have a question about that:

besides requesting a scenario, can i also request smaller things i like to see in the drabble/request specific things that happen in the drabble? => for example: if the scenario is "Alex and MC on their first date", can i also include requests like "could you include how Alex picks up MC from their home (and getting Nora´s and Callies reaction that way)" and "Alex and MC kissing infront of the door of MC´s home after the date"?

thank you for your answer.

for sure, you can include whatever details you'd want to see in the drabble as along as it makes sense lol

i can't promise when ill post any new drabbles since im trying to get the next chapter done but i do like having the requests ready for when i can get to them

[if-mirrormine]

hi there alli.

just played the demo on itch and i really liked it. loved the story, characters and im excited what will happen in the future.

i have one question:

on the itch.io page it says, that the last update was on the 16.June 2024. that lead to my question: is the itch-demo the most up to date one or is there a "newer"one on another website/supporter only? the demo i played ended right after MC´s father appears; and after reading a bit here on tumblr i came across the name of jesse, which (unless i missed it) never appeared or was even mentioned.

please dont take it the wrong way, if you take your time, thats fine. normally i wouldnt even ask this, since you are obviously still active, but the fact that some talking about someone, who i didnt encounter in the demo, left me a bit confused.

also a small bug: when clicking on "full body tattoo", the game assumes, that you clicked on "full sleeved tattoo" and continues as if you clicked on it. if you then click on the "full body tattoo"-option again, nothing happens/changes.

thank you for your answer.

the demo on itch.io is the most up to date version - big yikes looking at that date, im truly so sorry its taking me so long besties 😭😭

jesse will officially be introduced in the next chapter but you technically can already meet (?) him in one of my drabbles, morning news pt. 2. he's currently romantically involved with alex, in which there has been much discourse, in a friend's with benefits relationship.

as for the tattoo option, as soon as i can work up the courage to open twine and see where in the code ive fucked up, i will fix it. mark my words!!!

[theincantation-if]

hi there.

just found your blog randomly and so far the premise sounds really interesting. i definetly follow you and your progress. some questions i have:

you mention the opportunity to either "save the kingdom or doom it to eternity". does this mean there will be a good & evil path/ending(s)? or did you write it to increase the tention? (like the text on the back of a boardgame usually says "can you defeat the evil necromancer skelly skellington or doom the world?")

if there are different endings (not necessary good vs evil) will every RO be available? or can they at some point break up with MC or even becoming MC´s enemies (e.g. if romancing evander and go for the evil/destruction of the kingdom path, that would likely to lead to a break up/becoming enemies)

could you maybe explain de Peyster`s trope a bit more? never heard of the trope "sworn off love". maybe because english is not my native language?

how regualary are you planning to update? dont get me wrong. im a firm believer in letting someone take their time rather than rushing. i simply had to many cases (to be honest just recently) where someone made an introduction post for their IF in 2023, only to release the first chapter in the beginning of may 2025. and in those cases i got attached to the story and was quite hurt, when suddenly they were abandoned without notice.

thank you for your answer. im excited for the prologue/chapter 1.

hi! thank you so much, these are all really good questions. i'll answer them under the cut because it's a lot of information. i hope this can give everyone some insight and if there's any confusion i'll try to explain the best i can.

1. when i say mc has the opportunity to save the kingdom or doom it, it's literal. however, it might not be the "burn the city down" idea everyone would want. mc has a good/evil stat but it doesn't just affect mc, it affects the ro's as well. for instance, if they were abducted - if mc chose to kill their attackers (evil trait) it would raise teddy's bloodthirst / maeryn's wrath but lower evander's justice / hartford's empathy. these are all traits that affect how the ro's impact the world, so if you wanted evander to become a ruler that starts wars just for fun you could lower his justice trait and he'd do whatever he wanted.

2. the endings work with mc's good and evil traits plus the impact of the ro's. i wouldn't necessarily say they'll break up with mc if their paths don't align, more so they'll try to convince themselves that mc knows what they are doing because mc is technically the most powerful person (with magic) in the kingdom. all the ro's love the mc, even if they become the monster in the story. it's really the mc who can choose to not love the ro if they become the monster.

3. teddy's sworn off love trope essentially means that they will never allow themselves to be in love with anyone (or so they think). it stems from their relationship with their parents which you'll see more of in game and how the way they were raised shaped their idea of love into something that makes them weak. ((teddy will be in love with the mc, if you chose to romance them though, they'll just take more time to realize that it doesn't have to be something that destroys them))

4. i’m planning to update as regularly as i can, the prologue is already done (however it is quite short at 1.5k) and i'm working on chapter one currently. for the most part, i will say it definitely won't take me two years to release the first chapter. i've already written out plot points for each chapter and snippets of future scenes. my philosophy is to simple write out the story and add in the coding once that is over. i'm more experienced as a writer so that part comes naturally, it's the coding part that will take me longer to grasp (mainly the variables/stats i'll need to track). however, i will do my absolute best to keep everyone updated on the progress of the story as it continues.

[brighteststars-if]

hi there again.

found a small grammar error:

i think it should be "wHile" not "wile"

also i would like to add a small question: previous of this scene we have a choice to agree with (in my case) F!MC´s father OR "argue" with him. will the choice between those two options be important later? for example, if i pick the "agree"-option, will i not be able to pick a "war horse"(for the lack of a better word)/"a greater mount" as written in the scene above?

also now that im thinking about this: shouldnt this option increase the untradional-stat (atleast for F!MC)? since i guess MC´s father made his chocie based on MC´s gender?

thank you for your answer.

OMFG all these bugs and typos are about to make me crash all the way out 😭. Thank you for pointing them out, though. I appreciate it.

The choice to accept the horse or to argue with Alaric won't matter in the long-run, no. If you agree, you'll still be able to pick a more fearsome horse later, if given the opportunity.

The untraditional stat shouldn't raise for the f!MC if she argues because Alaric doesn't choose the horse based off of gender. He merely takes a look at the horses available and gives his youngest child -- his littlest boy/girl -- the horse he deems to be safest. For once, something in this game doesn't have to do with gender haha.