College Tennis: Origin Story (WIP) - Updated 8 Jun '25 [968k words]

[burninglights]

Planned update #5: First week classes, training & challenge match
~65k words (including code)

• Attend your first week of classes and training, and find out if you’ve done enough preparation not to make a fool of yourself (achievement up for grabs)
• Challenge match with Jacks or Max (This decides if MC will be within the Top 6 in the singles rankings! - Achievement up for grabs)
• Bugs for the previous challenge match with Emerson will (hopefully) be fixed.
• New ‘offensive/defensive’ and ‘tricky/straightforward’ trackers added, along with ‘dominant arm’ customisation.
• [Back-end] More efficient coding for the ‘tutorial mode’ (you won’t notice any difference - hopefully - but know that there’s no more horrible code-bloat! Did it take me more time than necessary to re-write? Yes. Worth it? Yes(?)

I’ve made good progress in the editing, so this update now has an official release date: 15 or 16 Oct!!**

[burninglights]

@Anatoly_Crenshaw

I just feel like Rayyan would look at him with dread, while Sam would down right call MC names based on their height like dwarf if your short or Moose if your litterally any taller than him.

HAHAH! God yes, Rayyan would be so salty - and still be hella ready to pick a fight either way. I can totally see Sam calling MC ‘dwarf’ or ‘moose’ - so cute that I just might add that into an update in the future!

@Alley_Cat

Unless they’re from Straya, where your MC at 6’2" might get the nickname “Tiny”, or “Bluey” if they’re a redhead.

Ooh this is an excellent addition ahhhaha! I am now determined to add in the ‘nickname’ functionality sooner! P.S. If anyone has any nicknames related to tennis (or not) that they’d really want to see in the game, do leave 'em in the thread!

@Anatoly_Crenshaw

Rayyan apparently doesn’t understand literature and that just made my day. So I will assume he is better at math and science.

Hurhur yeah Rayyan just has very little patience for not just coming straight out and saying what you mean - though that’s ironic because they are also experts at burying their emotions when those emotions happen to be…inconvenient or ill-advised. Also in my headcanon: Rayyan’s granddad is huge into old arabic poetry and is constantly spouting (in Rayyan’s opinion) horseshit.

[Zkrkhey92]

Umm ya mean october right?

[JBento]

Will the new trackers require a fresh playthrough, or are they only tracked/applied starting from the future update’s new scenes?

[burninglights]

@Zkrkhey92 HAHHA oh no. Yes, I mean October.

@JBento Might require a fresh playthrough - or the trackers might simply start at 50% and be inaccurate; I’ll need to update the live copy to find out, as I’ve already played-through my working copy.

[Anatoly_Crenshaw]

Yes! So existed to see this new update, the classes have me nervous even though they aren’t real. I am also briming with happiness, when i was scrolling through my photos i found a picture of me holding a huge snake in an alley from a recent trip and bam! Instant euphoria. Then i saw this and now i have to do a replay. This game’s got me invested, hook, line, and sinker.

[burninglights]

Hahaha! Might wanna save the replay for the update in case the changes require a fresh playthrough though…?

[Sujan_Dhakal]

You mentioned a month back you’d also be contacting prospective beta testers sometime around this second update, I’m guessing that’s still in the plans?

[burninglights]

Absolutely! In fact, I hope to contact folks and release the update at around the same time

[kckolbe]

Looking forward

[burninglights]

Announcement

I’ve contacted mostly everyone who has indicated interest for beta-testing. Hooray!

If you’re interested but missed the call, please drop me an email at allieebobo@gmail.com, or leave me a message with your email address.

Once everyone has gotten their copy of the introductory email and replied to it (there’ll be information in the email), I’ll get back to each person individually with the link to the working-copy of CT:OS. This will include the new scenes that will be released this weekend (I’ll do a rolling-incorporation of beta-tester / non-beta-tester feedback, following the release.)

[Edit 1] On timelines
@Sidhant - No hard time-limit! I’ll be collating feedback as-and-when it trickles in. I’m hoping to release the new update this weekend, but the feedback/edits can come in later - I’ll just continue editing after the release, no biggie

Thanks again for everyone’s interest! Y’all are the best.

[Edit 2] Update 12 Oct 2022, for beta-testers (cross-posted to tumblr)

There were previously (two!) game-breaking bugs preventing folks from proceeding to the challenge match w Jacks/Max, which I really want comments on, so I’ve fixed it, let me know if it still crashes the game.

Yes, it seems like adding sheets to the beta-tester google sheets is a little clunky/troublesome, so sure, sending ‘em in an offline excel to me via email like how most of y’all are doing it so far is fine.

Also, shoutout to the folks who’ve already given me feedback, thank you thank you!

[Edit 3] Beta-testing applications are now closed!
Thank you everyone who has signed up! Look forward to sinking my teeth into the juicy feedback that has already come in!

[Edit 4] THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP, BETA-TESTERS
Y’all have been a humongous help. The suggestions were so useful, and made me think about the story, the mechanics, and even the characters in a different light. And, of course, I think the billion and one capitalization/gender errors have been (mostly) fixed, though I am probably making more of them as we speak. It never ends!

[Sidhant]

Is there any time limit for this , because I would love to be a part of this but i am currently swarmed with my college assignment.

[burninglights]

Fifth Update is here (16 Oct 2022)
First week of classes, training & challenge match (~70k words)

Highlights:

• Attend your first week of classes and training, and find out if you’ve done enough preparation not to make a fool of yourself (achievement up for grabs)
• Challenge match with Jacks or Max (This decides if MC will be within the Top 6 in the singles rankings! - achievement up for grabs)
• Go through your first harrowing surprise test (achievement up for grabs)
• Bugs for the previous challenge match with Emerson will (hopefully) be fixed.
• New ‘offensive/defensive’ and ‘tricky/straightforward’ trackers added, along with ‘dominant arm’, hair-type/hair-length customisation. [Will require further refinement]
• [Minor] More efficient coding for the ‘tutorial mode’, and more chapter breaks for an easier, clearer read (hopefully) [Will require further refinement]

Note: This update focuses heavily on the tennis and class/academics, and the next one will hopefully delve a little more into the extracurriculars, and a bonus café scene with MC’s RO of choice (sorry, Sam’s still out of the running )!

Extras
I have also activated a ko-fi account, finally!

All demo content I create will remain free and accessible to everyone, and I intend to keep it that way! So, this really is just a way for you to buy me a coffee if you so desire, mostly because I do spend a decent bulk of my weekend sitting at a cafe, typing away!

One perk that I did set up is a membership tier that’ll enable early-access to updates (I’m thinking… 2 weeks before general-access at least!) while I complete an admittedly overly lengthy editing process! Let me know if this doesn’t work, or if anyone has any suggestions! I’m a big noob when it comes to these money-matters!

[Mei_Hiroshi]

Thank you!

[JBento]

Hahahaha, I just realised. If you beat Jacks, they’re #5. It’s JacksOn Five!

[Anarore_Kriptih]

The workout before the second match is bugged, can’t get out of it. Otherwise having a lot of fun with the game!

[Brainb]

I honestly thought my MC was going to lose against Jacks, especially since my condition was at an 84 (It is now 72…yikes). So far he’s doing good, but I have a feeling that his tiredness is going to catch up eventually. Oh well, at least my MC can be a god for a few more weeks I hope.

[Abhi_Naskar]

Again again same

[Knoez]

I also have the same issue with @Abhi_Naskar

Can’t go anywhere from this point, it keep repeating the same option.

[Abhi_Naskar]

Small coding problem you can avoid that