Mortish
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New Tendency Poll & Upcoming Changes
🕑 Added 2025-04-18 01:46:33 +0000 UTCAll right, so I said we'd be doing a makeup poll for the tendencies that didn't make the cut, but I want to do one more new tendency poll first. While I was in the weeds with Night VI today, it occurred to me that instead of doing the fabled Week One update after Night VII, I'm just going to do it after Night VI.
Night VI is going to be much bigger than Night VII, since the latter is more of a holy-crap-so-much-happened-yesterday-let's-just-take-a-breath-and-chill night. So what I'm going to do is edit the previous nights and release the full first week altogether.
I know a lot of readers are worried it'll take a long time or that I'm going to make crazy changes to the story or characters. Not at all. I will be streamlining some things, such as the prologue. Rather than having the Zealot and Heretic have different backstories, they will have a clear point of divergence which revolves around that smutty book Miscilla gave her. How your MC handles that book will determine whether she ends up a Heretic or a Zealot. This means that your Heretic will be able to grow up a true believer like the Zealot, only to have her faith cruelly betrayed by the inquisitors. Likewise, your Zealot will be able to be a sweet, sensitive soul who adheres strictly to doctrine, not because she truly believes, but she's terrified to step out of line. Or you can play the trad routes of each if you want to keep a consistent character.
Next, we'll talk about the Serax of it all. Right now my discussions about him are scattered across multiple message boards/posts. I'm going to gather it all up and Darksingers/Duskweavers will be able to offer input and vote on whether we want the Serax MF route, as well as changes to his dynamic within the story.
Another change I've mentioned is the lusty darksinger. One aspect I downplayed in the original demo was the MC's carnal desire as she wakes in her new body. In general, she's been kind of blasé about her heightened senses and such, I'll be fixing that. I'll also be adding the option for the Unbound Mode Zealot to lose control on Night IV.
Speaking of modes, Sealed Mode will be dropped across the board. Almost no one plays it and it's too much extra work for readers who ultimately won't be the target audience of an erotic romance story. I'm opened to being convinced to keep it, but I think it's important to prioritize delivering content more quickly to the majority of readers.
One thing I'm considering with tendencies is opposed stats. So instead of Pious and Irreverent being separate stats, they'll be one wherein you have a certain percentage of each. It's a bit of extra coding, but it could really streamline the tendencies, so I'd love to get you guys' feedback on that. Once all of our new tendencies are picked, this Patreon feature will change. Rather bloating the game with a bunch of new tendencies every other month, we'll be voting on which tendencies you'd like to see more of in the upcoming episode.
For now, let's pick some new tendencies to round out our roster. We'll still be polling all the tendencies that lost, and I'll also be letting Tumblr users vote on a few of the unchosen tendencies. As always, feel free to suggest a tendency you'd like to see or make a case for your favorite tendency.
New tendencies:
Tender // A tender MC is quick to soothe and slow to judge. She wears her heart not on her sleeve, but in the small things—soft touches, listening ears, unspoken comfort. She finds beauty in broken things and still believes that love, when real, doesn’t need to be earned.
Morbid // A morbid MC is drawn to what most people flinch from. Death doesn’t frighten her—it fascinates her. She sees beauty in decay, poetry in pain, and sometimes wonders if love, like life, means less if it doesn’t hurt a little.
Cynical // A cynical MC has seen enough to know better. She isn't heartless, just realistic. Compliments bounce off. Promises are met with raised brows. If someone wants her trust, they’d better be willing to bleed for it.
Devoted // A devoted MC doesn’t give her heart often—but when she does, it’s absolute. Her loyalty runs deep, quiet, and terrifying in its intensity. She will follow the one she loves into ruin without flinching, not because she’s blind, but because she sees them, wholly, and still stays.
Final note:
You'll notice I didn't include the Serax/Valdricht +/-. Just pick what you think will be the most enjoyable without worrying about who will like what.
Comments
ayesleigh
Awww! 💗
Melody
I can't spell 🙈 I don't think irreverent has ever come out of my mouth before lol Sad songs 🙂↕️ For Serax https://youtu.be/dphuN_E7H3k?si=bgshcOsISBfW2gEQ For Val https://youtu.be/6BL_kNVBZGs?si=IVQ6PRAsA56V_CHs Edit: pressed enter by accident again... 🤡
Mortish
You read my mind on so many levels, Sunday.
Ro
I mean, they are helpful and insightful and Mortish herself says she loves character essays, so 😂 🩷.
ayesleigh
It's definitely not a bad thing to keep things short and sweet; I'm sure I've got people groaning at the freaking research paper-length screeds I tend to drop in the comments. I swear you guys, it looks much shorter when I'm writing it in Notepad! 😆
ayesleigh
@sunday Thank you, that's so pleasing to hear! I've often been appreciative of your input in the comments, particularly in the Tendency Poll #2! And both of your ideas here have merit as potentially elegant solutions for the issues I asked about. 💖
sunday
Tysm for clarifying mortish, I get it now! I really think opposing stats will help reduce any confusion and bloat around the tendencies. Also ayesleigh this was great feedback, I agree with every sentence. @ our lovely Mortish, it might be good to have the tendencies "lock in" at certain points in the story (to lessen the things you need to track and keep number of, especially because as we get further into the story we won’t be able to majorly shift tendencies anyway). I think high stat checks for story beats or anything that branches is good so that mc doesn’t act wildly out of character where it doesn’t make sense and make more work for you, but for social situations maybe mc can still make the opposite personality choice, it’s just that the boys react differently. this way it also lets mcs like Ayesleigh’s act uncharacteristically if Serax deserves it, for example 🤭 So a romantic mc suddenly being cynical might make the boys raise their eyebrows. Or an irreverent mc being pensive and serious might make them worry. That kind of thing!
Mortish
Okay, actual feedback, this was super helpful and I'm going to make a new Patreon post that will give everyone clarity on the tendencies and how they will affect gameplay. Also, please share the song!
Mortish
I think with the next poll I'll provide some examples that way you guys can see how the choices will look in action. Sunday mentioned that the Romantic and Tender traits have overlap, which I can definitely understand. For me writing them, a romantic character would be one who tends to romanticize/idealize people and situations. If it were to give it an opposed stat, it would be "Practical." Tender, on the other hand speaks less to a fantasist nature and more to a sensitive, empathetic soul. If I were to give that an opposed stat, it would be something like "Abrasive." Devoted is another one that can appear very similar to them, though I would consider it akin to loyal, although with a deeper connotation. If I were to give it an opposed stat it would be "Independent." All that aside, you bring up a good point about understanding how the stats will affect gameplay. I'm going to go ahead and make a separate post so everyone has more clarity on this!
Ro
For once, am keeping this short 😂 🫶🏻: knew I'd have to go with tender, one of my favorite character traits of all time.
ayesleigh
Another poll of tendencies that I'm fairly torn between. A lot of the tendencies we've been polled on have been a mixed bag for me where I think certain parts could work, but other parts might be problematic. And as sunday and Melody said, I do think there's some seeming overlap between some polled tendencies and in-game tendencies and we don't know enough about them to intuitively grasp how they will differ from one another. I think it would help if I asked a question (and I'm kind of amazed at myself for not thinking to ask it before now, but): How often will the tendencies affect the narrative and dialogue in the game? I find stat reactivity in IFs to often be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can give a very pleasing flavor to the narrative and reactivity to NPCs where it seems like they're paying attention to MC's qualities. And why even have stats if they're not going to have a purpose, right? But on the other hand, I find that it can sometimes rob players of agency and MCs of nuance. Like, if Lydie accrues points in Cynical due to her apprehensions with sex, is the game going to have her dismiss a compliment or scorn a promise that I think she might've been open to because she's starved for affection and hopeful of maybe being loved? It's a very difficult tightrope and one I think a lot IF authors struggle to balance because they're only human and can't account for every single possibility that scores of total strangers will think of while playing the game. I do think that putting the stats on a scale will help with that, as it could account for MC's potential character development over the course of the game instead of continually holding them accountable for traits they had as an lonely and sheltered vestal whose only worldly experience is a short stint of missionary work/being used as prop in missionary work. It'll be interesting to see how that will work out if you're relatively in the middle, though: Lydie's going into Night VI with Pious (7) and Irreverent (5) -- I guess she's fairly contrary and her reactions tend to be situational. And she's normally very prim and Proper, but Serax occasionally annoys her enough to get her to dip into Spirited -- as a consequence, those qualities are both sitting at (2). In situations like that, will the game go with the higher number if they're close? In the absence of a higher number, will the game be forced to toss a coin or will players be given input?
Mortish
Ok, so I'm getting ready to start my afternoon writing session. I'll be back tonight to respond to everyone's comments, but I just needed to ask if your phone is autocorrecting Irreverent to Irrelevant and please say no because I am giggling at the thought of "Irrelevant" being one of the MC's personality traits <3
Melody
You've read my heart again Mortish... 🥹 I'm looking forward to all of these changes! I have great difficulty putting my thoughts into words, but you worded it perfectly. I really agree that having a divergence point makes more sense than living through different experiences, then making choices which aren't necessarily comparable anymore. Opposing tendencies being % based is a fantastic idea, and it sounds much more practical in the long run. It might involve making a different way to do skillchecks but it makes tendencies as a whole more intuitive. Currently, it's possible to have high points in opposing tendencies and act almost bipolar –since, while you can lose points in a tendency, they don't cancel/lock each other out in any way. I'm also surprised that the opposite of irrelevant was pious instead of proper, but having them paired together would contextualize a lot. It also gives the oppurtunity to sneakily add tendencies... let's say, maybe the opposite of romantic is cynical. 😏 As for feedback, I think there's some tendencies that overlap a bit and can cause confusion. Often times, I have to look in the tendency page to understand the nuance. For example, I'd say someone who's spirited would be irrelevant, and a coward or fatalist is likely to be compliant. Someone pious is more likely to be proper, while being irrelevant might make one inquisitive. These already overlap with Val and Serax's preferences. I'm guessing the reason they're kept seperate is due to how much they're valued, but maybe it'll be easier to simplify tendencies and assign the "affection/bond counter" to individual choices instead? I've never coded on twine, so I might be completely wrong but that's my guess. The wording might also invoke some bias, ie. If a reader... doesn't even realize there's a 'Tendencies' page and always attributes coward to be negative and romantic to be positive. Or personal interpretation, like when I first saw devoted on the poll, my first thought was faith-based devotion rather than loyalty. These are merely my (probably very much in the minority) opinion; there's nothing that needs to inherently change, but I thought it might help a little. 🥲 Please don't add too much to your plate. For this poll, I picked cynical... cause it's me. I think most players gravitate towards a sweet, soft, affectionate MC. I'm not looking for her to become a girl boss Mary Sue by any means, but I'd love for her to grow out of her naivete if given the choice. Thus far, there hasn't been a tendency like it and she'd really benefit from some sense of danger lol. Of course, not everything has to be assigned a tendency to happen so it is what it is. P.S. I found a song that reminded me a lot of Serax, can I link it here? I can also just give the name but it's in Korean so gotta find the lyric video 🙈
Sian
I really like the sound of all of these tendencies. I love Tender and Devoted (especially as these would suit Aurelia) but Morbid sounds like a really interesting one to see play out that I would love to try
Alerose
Won’t lie to you. All of these options are my sweet spots. I love a cynical MC as much as a Morbid and a Tender one. I really wanted to pick them all but I went with my choice so let’s see which one wins.
RinkutsuKi
Thats my exact thought process. I also feel like tender will be more conducive for my preferred mode, unbound. But it was definitely a hard decision, cause i also view my mc as fiercely devoted to her mates.
sunday
Will the prologue changes change their backstory/personality in the game in their routes? Like if you play heretic personality -> zealot choice would they look back with more skepticism? And if you play zealot personality -> heretic choice would they look back as more of a believer? Or is it mostly for backstory headcanon? Oh! Also will zealot night iv be similar to heretic where it’s locked behind alignment? Also I think streamlining the tendencies makes sense. Although, with tender in this poll, I feel like it’s maybe too similar to romantic? I can’t imagine not also giving tender to my romantic character because romanticism kind of encompasses tenderness so it feels like a double up. The other 3 are so interesting tho and I’m excited to potentially have some darker tendencies! (Specifically rooting for devoted, I rlly wanna see mc be a lil more unhinged at times <3)
Vincentvanohno
So I had to pick tender
Vincentvanohno
I was soooo torn between tender and devoted but there’s something to beautiful about MC being so filled with a soft, soothing, healing love where she can look at Valdricht and Serax fully and instead of seeing them as these incredibly powerful men is able to see their weaknesses and hurt and love them regardless. Something more gentle and long lasting than passion alone. I see your flaws and I love you anyways.
