College Tennis: Origin Story (WIP) - Updated 14 Feb 2026 [1.08m words]

[Kion-kun]

I was not into tennis before playing this, but after going through the WIP, and experiencing every interaction with Sam, Tobin, Rayyan, and practically everyone — all I can say is… I am still not into tennis, but I am very much into the story.

The dialogue with the characters felt so organic and believable that I found myself smiling or laughing every now and then.

Tobin’s sweetness and sunny persona is cute. Rayyan’s grumpiness and fierceness is hot. Sam reminds me of a labrador. Diego is such an annoying goofball (I love him). Guillaume (Hozier, in my head. IDK why) is quite sweet. I could go on forever, but point is, every interaction with these characters were actually enjoyable.

This goes out to the hallmates and the rest of the team, too!

As for the actual tennis matches itself, I felt like a badass every time I won a game. There was never a boring moment when it comes to the scenes regarding how I should play the match. I never had to skip a single page, nor found anything boring. Whether it’s just practice, or 1-on-1s, or doubles, they were all thoroughly enjoyable. In fact, I looked forward to them every single time.

So, I’m really happy I gave this WIP a try. I’m looking forward to the first official singles match!

One of my favorite scenes that made me laugh so hard happened during the laser tag tournament:

Cpt. America might just be my favorite nickname (aside from Devil).

[tjapoenk]

Probably but still in my country tennis is not really popular so I don’t really have friend who are into tennis. But I like your MC tho

[Sujan_Dhakal]

Just a thought when replaying the laser tag segment, there’s two instances throughout where you can screw over one of your teammates to get one on the opponent, Juda as one of the listed optional nicknames afterwards would fit if you do that

[Isabella_Taylor]

I just played the demo obsessively for a few hours after being recommended this, and I love this story. I can’t believe a story managed to make me want to play a sport. Who even am I???

[rozane]

@AnneWest

Not sure what a stone-face/poker face during games gives you but I think it may boost a hidden stat of some sort?

I think it’s mainly for roleplaying purposes. It does change how you play against Deepal though. You can crack a joke or stay serious/focus on the match. And if you choose to not crack a joke, you’ll win slightly more games (though still lose the match, of course). This choice makes me super torn. I wanna play well, but I also wanna make it look easy.

[Winas181]

What the HELL!! This was an amazing read… I dont know shit about tennis but this made want to learn and play now.
Great read and absolutely amazing RO’s.
Sam, Guen, Rayyan, Tobin!!
Loved all of em and all the interactions.
Is there a chance for poly option to be included in the future? Coz i cant choose one!!!

[reevec]

Oh my goddd it ended when I was getting addicted to it :((( i really love your writing style!!! Please please please finish this!!

[love4tae]

@burninglights

no poly routes planned

the answer to your question.
@Winas181

[tjapoenk]

This game is sport oriented not really focus on romance so there will be no poly route but I can relate to your struggle. All RO has their own charm and I keep replaying this game for another route but Sam is still my number one to go

[Winas181]

Damn!! Thats too bad…Great story nonetheless
Ill head canon the heck out of this!!

[Winas181]

Yup sam is definitely my number 1 as well. Love the whole “i love them but i dont wanna lose their friendship” troupe

[burninglights]

@Man Yup, Felix’s a fling.

@ChairmanMeow Gotchu, I’ll check this out when I do the next update!

@Coffiefoxy Glad you liked the characters, I’ve got to watch Prince of Tennis one day!

@parisgracex haha, hope you had a fun (sleepless) night~

@rozane I absolutely take it as a compliment that the game’s been occupying your thoughts Thanks for your message and of course it’s always a joy to have thorough comments/feedback!

Thanks for the bug report for the serve game - that’s definitely not intentional. I’ll fix that in the next update. The dice roll thing can also be circumvented with a page-break, will do that too (sorry @idonotlikeusernames, I know it’s a convenient cheat of sorts

Also not gonna lie, that excel file of stat increases would actually be kinda useful for me ngl HAHA. As for tips, I do know that a walkthrough is in DEMAND (I always get asks but I haven’t had time to get around to that just yet

Love the variety in everyone’s builds, and the discussion on how different playstyles have affected your playthroughs! Always so good to hear. As for @rozane and @idonotlikeusernames’s S/V Finesse Strength builds, that one really allows for quickest decimation of opponents; while the rest (esp the endurance/agility/tactics builds) probably start winning and making their opponents sweat in the later parts of each match! P.S. A five skill build is definitely impressively well-rounded!

It’s also so interesting to see different approaches re: how much to sacrifice in terms of social / romantic life in exchange for stats/skills. I think it’s very realistic / true to MC’s in-game dilemma!

@idonotlikeusernames Love how Ben Shelton reminds you of Tobin. Definitely Ben’s more bratty imo though.

@Doomslayer27 It’ll probably stop at the end of freshman year (with a slight chance I might speed things up / change the scope or pacing midway through), with the epilogue maybe stretching further, perhaps even till the end of College. Definitely will have consequences if you flirt with more than one RO, especially later down the line - ROs will start confronting / talking to MC about it! As for being distracted from tennis… I guess it’s up to your MC

@AnneWest Usually stone-faced / flippant / smirky options during matches are more for role-play text / vibe differences, rather than pass-fail checks!

I’ll get to the other comments at some point!

[burninglights]

@Not_A_Smith Given how much I check condition during a match, it’s absolutely a critical stat hahaha and LOVE the slow (or rapid? depending on how you view it) descent of your MC’s condition the longer they stay in college It’ll definitely have consequences soon enough!

@solemnii Haha, I think G doesn’t get ‘jealous’ in so much as they have never felt like they ‘possess’ MC. Because their stance on life is so much contingent on a “I’ll adapt to whatever comes my way”, coupled with a deep dislike of controlling / being controlled, I think their general attitude to relationships is to give their romantic interests full reign to choose someone else. I think they very much subscribe to the “may the best person win” or “all’s fair in love and war” or “what will be will be” philosophies.

That said, if MC does return their advances, and G starts to develop stronger, romantic feelings for MC, they’ll be very much brokenhearted / sad if MC chooses someone else in the end. I think that’s different from jealousy!

@chrisbat You could also decide S/V is a throwaway stat though, and make sure your “baseliner-centric” stats (endurance, strength, agility) are high enough to take the penalties of not having a well-rounded game!

@Kion-kun Aww so glad to hear that you liked the character interactions and the story/ tennis matches! Hahaha love the character analysis - the G / Hozier comparison killed me! I can kinda see it. Mellow, husky-voiced indie singer songwriter vibes. In another / alternate universe, maybe P.S. that laser tag match was a blast to write, so I’m happy it gets some love from time to time!

@Sujan_Dhakal Ooh interesting! I might add this in!

@Isabella_Taylor HAHHAA. IMPOSTER ALERT!! /j, happy to have created a new sports-IF convert!

@Winas181 Aww, what a kind message! @love4tae Thanks so much for linking my answer No poly, but definitely welcome to headcanon it, and I do think there are certain combinations of ROs that create slightly-more-tense situations if they’re both romanced at the same time (e.g. Sam and G, Tobin and Rayyan) - not that it appears fully now, but I’m definitely planning a couple of scenes here and there in the future!

@reevec Thank you!! I definitely am planning to!

[0Meletti]

@burninglights

It’ll probably stop at the end of freshman year (with a slight chance I might speed things up / change the scope or pacing midway through), with the epilogue maybe stretching further, perhaps even till the end of College.

I’m curious to see how the “pro dillema” will play out, since the MC would not have to necessarily decide on whether they want to persue a professional career in tennis or not right in their first year of college.

[Winas181]

Thanks for taking your time to reply… I also wanna add that this is probably the first wip if where i felt all the RO’s had equal screentime(or read time if you will ) and i think thats
what probably made choosing one over the other even harder for me.
Excellent and very easy to read ~flowing~writing. Keep smashing

[rozane]

@burninglights

Also not gonna lie, that excel file of stat increases would actually be kinda useful for me ngl HAHA. As for tips, I do know that a walkthrough is in DEMAND (I always get asks but I haven’t had time to get around to that just yet

HAHA, I meaaaan I’d honestly be happy to share?? It’s a bit messy right now. I’m working on cleaning it up with dropdown lists etc. But maybe you just need the raw data?

@burninglights

As for @rozane and @idonotlikeusernames’s S/V Finesse Strength builds, that one really allows for quickest decimation of opponents; while the rest (esp the endurance/agility/tactics builds) probably start winning and making their opponents sweat in the later parts of each match!

I’ll have to replay, but I’ve found that builds with endurance actually make somewhat of a difference in how long/well matches go. As in, builds with high endurance will have shorter matches as condition stays better and there are some checks, at least in the match with Jacks, that decide game wins on tactics or endurance.

I do have to say, one of the reasons my mind is digging into the builds so much is because how elegantly complex the skill checks are. I just stumbled across the condition check in the match with Jacks which takes match energy into account which is raised at various points throughout the match. Ugh, these stats are part of my animal enrichment plan.

To ask you directly: I’ve come across some pronoun switches and story inconsistencies. I’d be very happy to go through the whole game and make a summary for you. But maybe you already have a to-do list you’re working on and don’t need it?

[chrisbat]

I suppose you could but its certainly not what your coach in the game are telling you to do!

[AnneWest]

@0Meletti

I’m curious to see how the “pro dillema” will play out, since the MC would not have to necessarily decide on whether they want to persue a professional career in tennis or not right in their first year of college.

I think it depends on your character’s perspective, doesn’t it? When given the opportunity to “dangle off a bridge” only two of the options would indicate an intention to go pro (the tennis only mention and the have it all option.) I generally opt for the have it all, but with the idea that for my MC, having it all means having a successful college tennis career and doesn’t include going pro. The way she sees it, she had to get college paid for somehow, and she loves tennis. She can love tennis without going pro, pay for college with her tennis scholarship, and once she’s got her degree go on to have a fulfilling (non-tennis) career and hopefully happy family with someone. So for some of us (unless forced) there really isn’t going to be a dilemma to work our way through.

[0Meletti]

“Dilemma” was a bad way to put it since the answer to it is much easier to some then others, but regardless of that you’re still presented with the question of what your character hopes to achieve through varsity tennis: they may see it was a way to have a enjoyable and successful college life, a gateway to play the sport professionally, or maybe they still haven’t fully made a decision on the matter.

The MC has to constantly face that reality, be it in character interactions or in the choices they have to make. Rayyan is absolutely resolute in turning pro, Tobin wishes to pursue a career through his diploma, your other teamates are probably a bunch of fence-sitters and the player character is prompted to state his position on this spectrum somewhat often.

All that to say I’m interested to see how this overlaying plot will conclude by the end of the first year, because while the MC may have already made a decision about it, he wouldn’t really have to act on it until much later.

[dividom]

I do not care much for polyamory stuff but an opportunity or two for a threesome would be interesting. college people love their wacky stuff and are also VERY horny so it could fit in well.