College Tennis: Origin Story (WIP) - Updated 21 Dec '23 [468k words]

Would play a nice, hard to ruffle MC and an infuriatingly talented cocky punk (who is surprisingly selfless/hardworking) just to check the different dynamics between all characters.

… … … Why does my brain makes me hear Blue/Gary Oak’s theme all of a sudden?

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[quote=“stsword, post:193, topic:109879, full:true”]
I find I have a fondness for pusher with agility and endurance.

But I tried a strength, agility, and endurance playthrough, and that was interesting. Got young hulk achievement, won the race, won against Emerson. Oliver Garcia’s new teammates are probably wondering if he was rocketed to Earth as a baby from Krypton.
[/quote] I ended up with this one on my sole run through to date, But good chance I’ve just matched up well with everything written so far and there’s hidden pitfalls to come. Really enjoying it though. Love the sports and college settings.

For the record, I’ve gone with Sam as my RO. The tragedy of a guy falling for his best female friend just as they leave for separate colleges is too good to pass up. Hot French exchange students be damned.

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Not going to lie, this has to be the best WIP I’ve read all year. Sure it’s only just started (the year that is) but I’m giving this WIP a huge 10/10.
I look forward to reading any updates or the full version upon release.

The thing is, I can’t fault anything about this. It’s extremely well written, stats do matter and the way the story balances between, shall we say, a game within a game, is absolutely spectacular.

Keep this one going!! :grin::grin::grin:

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Haha. Will have to add in a fun/informal serve-and-volley/finesse check during training somewhere to even things out :wink:

Ah absolutely! Sometimes we don’t realise how much of a good thing we’ve got going, until one half of that ‘good thing’ ends up on the other coast :stuck_out_tongue:

Aww - this comment is the best thing that’s happened to me today, hands-down! Thank you for the kind words, I’m so glad you enjoyed the game so far. I’ll keep plodding along!

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Hey again! Great update!! I read it a few days ago and it was :dizzy: exquisite :dizzy:

I’ve been re reading it from the start again (I’m addicted I love your writing so much its like a warm hug), and still couldn’t get past trying to beat Deepal, but the error message is different I think:

1-1_meetcoaches line 2962: Non-existent command ‘selectable_if’

I dunno if its only on my end or something… Also I noticed a couple of scenes are missing like Akimi’s & Lee’s introduction options are missing, I’m pretty sure that was there before? And the part where u choose your sexuality when your dad asked about mike? I wasn’t sure if that was you editing it out (in which case, I think its fine to leave it gone) or if it was a bug.

Anyways, lots of love! Take care of yourself!! :two_hearts:

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@fuel-to-your-pyre Awww thank you! Grinned from ear to ear at your comment - sending you more virtual warm hugs!

Thanks for catching the bug at “1-1_meetcoaches line 2962”, I’ve fixed it! I’ve also added back the introductions for Akimi and Lee (I’m not sure where it disappeared to, and I can’t remember what I wrote, so I came up with some fresh content :joy:)

As for the part where you choose your sexuality, I took that out because until I think it’s necessary to provide different text (e.g. grey-out certain flirting options) based on player-selected sexuality, I don’t actually need the question. Currently, I feel it still makes sense to leave the flirting options in, as players with no interest can simply not choose those.

Still, it’s something I’m chewing on! Just didn’t want it to seem like the game was asking something that wasn’t addressed in any way by the code, so I’ve taken it out for now :slight_smile:

Cheers!

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From what little there is I must say I am beginning to like the dynamic between Max and my mc. Seems like Max really could become Sam’s replacement in the friend department, particularly now that my mc is developing different feelings for Sammy. :sweat_smile:

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Ooh. Ouch that’s rough for Sam ahaha but also yeah I totally get what you mean.

I wrote in my notebook to make sure to give Sam and Max more distinctive voice/flavour as the story proceeds though, so I hope that it never feels like they are basically the same person. In my head, Sam is more wacky and comfortable being their own person, excited/exuberant, while Max is more of a… preserve group harmony, “keep things light” sort of person.

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Nobody can ever fully replace good old Sammy, particularly not now that my mc is beginning to develop feelings of a different kind for Sam too.
But the Sam is one of the few people his own age my mc feels comfortable with. The other potential candidates are Tobin (including the other type of feelings), Max and maybe our sleazy RA, Mike.

For all that my mc has a snarky and bratty front and the kinds of looks and confidence that tend to do well socially there’s not that many people he’s truly comfortable around. And with Sam on the other coast it sure is good that Tobin and Max are around.
The additional benefit of Max is that he is in the same sophomore group as the mc whereas Tobin is nearly at graduation already.

Just got another thought for all that Sam is going to be a complicated long-distance relationship, Tobin will soon be as well, particularly since it seems a romance with him would take a while to get up to speed and then Tobin would be graduating already. My mc sure knows how to pick em, eh? :sweat_smile:

Guillaume on the other hand creeps me out with his window stalker stunt. That would be creepy even with a normal person, I have known a few athletes and even been the boyfriend of one for almost a year. I know how anal, pardon the pun, they tend to be about their sleep and workout schedule. So, really G. should have known better than pull a stunt like that on a jock like my mc, as far as I know from experience. :sweat:

Aww…didn’t mean it like that, besides Sammy is also much more of a hottie than Max…at least my mc thinks so. :heart_eyes:

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Hey :slight_smile:
just played the Demo and I have to say that after having played close to a hundred HGs and CoGs, your’s is already one of my favorites. I really love all the different characters, the MC gives so much potential for different personality types, the story is developing at a perfect pace with enough time to explore. You found a really good balance between the technicalities of tennis (which I also enjoyed reading despite having no touchpoints to tennis irl) and the story outside of matches.
I was too engrossed in the story to write down any comments i might have - I will do so when I play your next update - but there weren’t many to begin with, because it was just so good.
I’ts been a long time since I’ve enjoyed reading this much, so thank you for that. Your writing is great and really fun to read.
I am really looking forward to more.
Have an awesome day :grin:

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@idonotlikeusernames -

Aw, that’s really cute, your MC seems to feel comfy around the kind, cheery ones :slight_smile:

Haha, yeah, I was toying with the idea of making either Tobin or Rayyan a sophomore, just so they’d stay around longer, but eh I dunno, them being that age (and in the same year) just seems to fit. I did have some narrative ideas for a sequel game for when MC’s an upperclassman, but god that’d probably be many years in the making.

You know, you’re right - I’ll have G apologise for the noise instead of merely smirking, and maybe add a possible option along the lines of “screw you for waking me up” - but also, some athletes are pretty chill about their sleep schedules. I know for instance that Nadal’d go partying into the wee hours with his friends and still wake up at 8 the next day for training. He might very well be an exception, though.

@Kitai -

Oh my gosh, this is such high praise, thank you so much!!

I’m so glad that all the characters have struck a chord with you. I always view CT:OS as a character-driven story, first and foremost.

Thank you for the really kind comment, and of course feel free to come back with more feedback any time, I’d love to hear it! <3

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Hey, I just wanted to stop back by to thank you for giving me an impromptu introduction to Artbreeder. That let me get myself some artwork for my own game. Thank you, Burninglights.

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Aww no problem at all, so glad it was useful for you! :slight_smile: which WIP were you working on for ArtBreeder?

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I will add (in terms of points of being especially interested) I was super invested in the actual tennis matches, especially the description of the quarter finals - really felt the intensity of the scrappy underdog in it!

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I loved this a lot - way more than I was expecting as someone without a particular interest in tennis! I didn’t feel there was any bloat actually, and I’m someone that regularly skips pages if I lose patience; I felt everything served to have me learn about a character, or the setting, or tennis/the game play. Really liked how I was able to direct the MCs personality/attitude and play style - felt really tailored and like it came into play throughout. Actually just really liked the whole thing! Look forward to more, and I think I’ll be following closely (which I’ve rarely done before for a WIP!)

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@dormouse Aww thank you so much for dropping the little note :slight_smile: It’s great to hear that you thought that every scene did something to move the story ahead. I love games (fiction too) with really compact, sharp, simple writing, but somehow in practice my style always ends up being more on the ‘meandering’ side of the spectrum.

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Ooo hype!! Been waiting for sports stuff for a good while. Gonna play this now.

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FINALLY, a college game! I’ve been wanting a game set in college so bad, and to be just a normal young adult at that!

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the demo. I’m honestly not a fan of tennis but this was so interesting and fun to play. I also really love the different characters.

Will definitely watch out for this WIP :eyes:

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Would it be possible to romance more than 1 RO at once?

I seem to be unable to pick between Rayyan and Tobin

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Honestly same for me with Rayyan and Sam. My fightsexual urges are battling my childhood best friend favoritism and it’s a solidly even fight.

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