#planned update

Hey everyone!

I have some hopefully good news!

I’m finally wrapping up the new content for CT:OS that I’d hoped to include in the next release, and will be able to send it off to beta-testers in ~2 days time. We’re really close to an update!

Release dates:

Early-release of the update to ko-fi/patreon supporters: 28 Mar

General/Public release: 11 Apr

Here’s the content you can expect in this new chapter (contains approx. +51k words)* Caveats on wordcount:

Features:

Fall festival (mini-car trip to a nearby town: hang out with your hallmates, feast on doughnuts and pies and apple cider, kiss in a corn maze with G) 🍂

Experience the fall-out and consequences of your Halloween Hookup (if you’d done something with Felix…) this got a lot lengthier than I thought (and very branchy) 🥀

Gear up for the National Doubles Tournament with your doubles partner 👯

Ride in the bus up to University of Philadelphia and play the first two rounds of the tournament, and bump into a certain redhead who’s now more foe than friend (technically, anyway). 🎾

Spend your first night in the hotel room (pre-match shenanigans with one particular character, for the brave and the lucky…) 🛏️

Then, depending on how fast I write, I’ll aim to release the next bit featuring the later part of the tournament as soon as I can, which will feature:

The third-round match

Quarter-final

Heart-felt convo in the hotel room at night leading up to the semis / finals the next day…

Semi-final, where you either play against Sam or someone else (depending on the category you’re competing in & MC/Sam’s gender).

As always, thank you for your patience (I’m sorry I dropped off the face of the earth a little in Feb, I had a bunch of personal things that needed my time.)

CT:OS Halloween bonus

As promised, wrote like a fiend this month and banged out almost a full chapter's worth of content for spooky season!

The update is three-quarters of chapter 7 (about 40k words including code and variants), and picks up where Sam's visit left off.

Release dates:

It will be out to ko-fi supporters on 31 Oct, and a week after to the public :)

Features:

Deal with the aftermath of your decisions over the weekend (talk to G, Tobin or Rayyan) <True horror>

Attend a language fellow/exchange student dinner-gathering as G's plus one (and the only American in the group). <the G-only scene I promised! You don't have to be dating.>

Prep Halloween costumes with your hallmates (yes, chaotic), and go trick or treating! 🎃

Attend a party after with the team ... then stay for horror movie marathon + sleepover or head back to Haynes to end the night with G.

Yep, Halloween hookups (however ill-advised ;)) are possible.

You can end this chapter very much in a committed relationship with the RO of your choice.

More details on the rest of the chapter/plans for CT:OS for 2024 below the cut.

Upcoming chapter

I'm 95% done with writing the next chapter of Merry Crisis (i.e. 27th Dec) and it's already a banger at 56k words!

Features

The lead-up to the Nat surprise(!!)

Visit the columbarium with your family (to commemorate your grandparents 👴👵), and relive some childhood memories! <flesh out your MC's family life!>

Skip the columbarium family trip and have lunch with Qiu (at their workplace 💼🌶) or Shay (includes an optional boxing 🥊 session, and potentially meet someone dear to them 🍲). Or play boardgames with Joony 🎲 instead!

Meet Qiu or Shay at a 'winter'-themed funfair/carnival in the evening (or save it for a future Nat date)🧸🎄🍻 <win stuffed animals, drink mulled wine, sit on the lawn and... experience... snow(?)>

Release dates

Early: 22 Mar

Public: 5 Apr

Call for Beta-testers

Merry Crisis has reached a really substantial word count (past 200k with this new chapter), so it's about time I started editing it more systematically! :)

I would love to get a couple of beta testers involved, so do drop me an email at [email protected] if you're interested to help beta-test the newest chapter and the entire IF!

If you have noticed some errors, do also drop them here (much appreciated!)

Sneak peak scenes

As you guys know, I was meant to publish an early sneak peek for Qiu's lunch scene a long time ago--and it just took a long time to take shape.

I'll be releasing not just Qiu's lunch, but also Shay's lunch, and both will be fully interactive. You will need to do a quick input of your MC's/Qiu/Shay's pronouns though.

Release dates

Early: 15 Mar

Public: 22 Mar

Public release of CT:OS update #8 will go out to everyone on 21 Dec! 🎉

Chapter: +72k words, ~13k words in a single playthrough (estimated).

Whole story: 468k words, ~98k words in a single playthrough (est.)

Personal rambles

My recovery has gone well, and beta-testing / editing is also going smoothly! I can't wait to release this to everyone and hear your thoughts on this update at long last!

Features

Meet Sam again(if you chose to have them come over for the weekend)—yes, running bear hugs are possible, and you can even choose to wear Sam's jacket! 👕️️️️️️

Your hallmates will come watch your game (with a poster!) 👭👬

Play your first doubles match [Includes some sneaky tactics [spoiler]like pretending to argue/fight with your partner, to the astonishment of those watching[/spoiler]] (achievement up for grabs) 🎾

Seal your win with a kiss! Or go find Tobin, Rayyan, Sam, G, or your hallmates after the doubles match (before the singles match) [kisses for Rayyan/Tobin possible]. 💋

Edits to earlier chapters include a holistic nickname framework added! You can now have nicknames from Sam, your teammates, hallmates, and G!

Whether you win or lose the doubles match will also affect whether or not Cargill wins the point for doubles (which will have a big impact on whether Cargill wins overall!)

Some exciting announcements! 📢

I'm done with writing / coding the first part of Chapter 4 for CT:OS, and making good progress on the second part! 🔥

I wanted to update everyone on how things are going, and share some of the main juicy bits you'll be able to expect for the chapter + set down some TENTATIVE (!! don't shoot me, I'm always overly optimistic 🫣) dates for the Chapter 4 release.

The first part will be romance/friendship-heavy, and the second part will be mostly tennis-heavy.

To celebrate pride month, I'm working on releasing the fourth chapter of merry crisis! I am about 90% done with the writing and will start editing/polishing by next week! Could not have timed it better if I tried 😊 It will also include an extra nugget for queer Qiu/Shay lovers as well :) 🌈

Key moments in the chapter:

• "Morning after" scene with Shay if you chose to stay over

• Mountain bike ride with Shay if you chose to go on it 🚲

• Flashback of The Incident with Qiu 👀

• Short stroll down the Singapore river with Joony

• Reunion dinner with old classmates, and seeing Qiu again for the first time

• Different scene with Qiu if you chose not to go for the reunion dinner 

Target release dates

Early-release for ko-fi supporters (who will also double-up as my beta-testers hehe thank you guys in advance hahaha): 24 Jun

College Tennis: Origin Story Planned Update #6:

Tldr; First weekend, doubles matches & team line-up for the season announced!**

Release dates

Pt. 1 Early release (to Beta-testers and Ko-fi supporters): 8 Apr

Pt. 2 Early release: 15 Apr

Public release: ~22 Apr (Pt. 1), TBD (Pt. 2)