Hello everyone, and thanks for checking out my page!
I’m Haptales, a beginner French developer, and I’ve finally found the courage and motivation to start my very first project!
Writing in English, rendering with Koikatsu, and bringing everything to life in Ren'py are all new experiences for me, so please bear with me if you spot a few hiccups along the way^^
About RomCom: Divergence
Follow the life of our protagonist as he embarks on his new life, meets a variety of beautiful ladies, and discovers that things aren't quite what they seem—
Wait, scratch that. You know the drill already, right?
Start a new game, choose a name, and complete the story while unlocking all the endings.
Collect every heroine to 100% that gallery, and ruin the life of every other male character in the process.
Stuck at an obstacle that feels impossible to overcome? No worries— just follow a walkthrough or even use cheat codes!
Does this remind you of someone?
Well, this story is all about the characters whose lives get turned upside down by that same someone.
This visual novel will be divided into episodes, each featuring its own timeline and protagonist (male or female).
Release Schedule
Since this is my first project of this nature, it’s hard to provide an accurate estimate at the moment.
Devlogs should come every 3-4 weeks.
I aim to release a new chapter every 2 months, but this will also depend on my full-time job.
Why Support Me?
By supporting my work, you’ll enable me to dedicate more time to it.
This means faster releases and higher-quality content for you to enjoy.
You'll gain access to subscriber-only posts, lewd previews, and get to play new releases before anyone else.
Additionally, at the end of an episode, you will have the chance to participate in a Class Council where you can interact with the characters (Questions, theories, etc.)!
Don’t Want or Can’t Support Me Yet?
That’s perfectly okay!
New releases will always be available for free one week after the early release, so you can still support me just by playing and sharing your thoughts about the game!
While I plan to complete this project no matter what, every bit of support helps me continue creating better content for you!
If you've read this far, let me thank you again for your time. I hope to see you again soon!
It's already been three weeks since the last devlog, so here's a new update on the next chapter's development!
What's Been Done?
215 renders and 4 animations
It should have been 5 animations, but the last one is still giving me some trouble to finish.
Started rewriting the prologue
I had some issues with my computer last week and couldn't work on the renders, so I ended up tackling the prologue a bit earlier than planned. No worries, my computer's fixed now. I usually prep scenes bit by bit on weekday evenings, then render them over the weekend... so it only threw off my schedule a little.
Rough scene setup for half the events
This will help me speed up rendering over the next couple of weeks.
Added a 'Hide' option to the quick menu.
Nothing like a quick two-second job to sneak one more line into the changelog!
Preview Pic
Finding a proper house for MC and Sayuri was a huge headache. I wanted one of those classic Japanese-style homes you always see in slice-of-life anime and manga. That's how I ended up with the one you can spot in Chapter 2, behind MC's lemonade stand.
Of course, that created a new problem for Chapter 3... What the hell am I supposed to do with the interior? I've already shown MC's bedroom and kitchen, so I couldn't just go with a traditional Japanese house layout, it wouldn't match what's already in the game.
In the end, I decided to handle it the same way I did with the school. So uh… please don't look too closely at the missing tatami mats or the questionable house dimensions. ... What? Sora being carried over MC's shoulder? Totally not important. But if you're worried about this fictional character's well-being, don't be. Both of these fully grown, entirely fictional adults signed a certified Fictional Consent Agreement™, in triplicate, witnessed by a neutral NPC, and archived in the Hall of Narrative Compliance. We take our imaginary paperwork very seriously here.
What's Next?
More rendering and animating...
You know the drill.
The return of Takeshi's Sneak Peeks
I've changed my workflow a bit for this chapter, now I'm working on patch content alongside the main (vanilla) content. It should help me standardize the characters' poses between versions, thus reducing the workload... well, at least it should. I'll also be trying out a new format for this Tier 3 perk, so you can expect something next week!
About the Itch Situation
I'm a bit late to the party because of work, so I'm not going to repeat what every other dev you're following has probably already said. I'm not sure what will happen to my project. Actually, I haven't noticed any drop in views or downloads, so I guess I'm safe for now? Well, if it happens, it happens. Although it'd be pretty funny to wait three months to get my project indexed, only for it to get removed a month later!
ETA?!!!
It's a bit of a long shot right now, between work and everything else, but I'd really like to have the chapter fully rendered before the end of August. There'll still be plenty of minor stuff to wrap up before release, but that's just how it goes.
Final Word
I've been really busy the past couple of weeks, so sorry if I missed anything or didn't get back to you. I'll do my best to catch up next weekend!
Just a quick reminder to vote in the popularity poll if you haven't already! And for my subscribers: entries for the Scene Scribbles perk are still open until August 13!Don't miss out!
And that's a wrap for this 2nd devlog. As always, a huge thank you to everyone supporting and following this project! I hope you'll enjoy what's coming next in RomCom: Divergence!
For Classmate-tier subscribers, I'll see you next week with a little sneak peek of Chapter 3's "plot". As for everyone else, I'll catch you in the next devlog (scheduled for August 20, hopefully).
Thank you for your time! -Haptales
P.S. Only TWO weeks left for the Scene Scribbles!!!
It's been a little over a month since the public release of Chapter 2, and as expected, Chapter 3 is already in the works!
So, it's time for a new round of devlogs!
Between the public release and RomCom: Divergence finally getting indexed on Itch, quite a few new followers have joined my pages. So first of all, welcome aboard!
I work on this game during my spare time, which means I'm mostly active on weekends.
These devlogs come out every 3–4 weeks, usually on Wednesdays at 2 PM (UTC+2) on Patreon, Subscribestar, and Boosty, and a bit later on Itch, once I'm back from work.
And now, onwards to the devlog itself!
What's Been Done?
The Chapter 3 script is complete! And I'm also updating the character cards. Still a work in progress, but getting there.
...And that's mostly it for now! No renders yet, as I'm still in the behind-the-scenes groundwork.
Originally, I had planned for this chapter to be shorter than Chapter 2. But after comparing the two... well, it looks like we're in for another big one!
It's hard to say which chapter will end up longer overall, but Chapter 3 is definitely shaping up to be more wordy and less action-heavy. Which means... fewer renders! (Hopefully)
The plot will start to get a bit darker from this chapter onward, so if you're sensitive to heavier themes, consider proceeding with caution. Then again, if that was a deal-breaker, you probably would've dropped the game back in Chapter 1... But hey, you never know.
What's next?
Before I start working on the renders, I'll be putting together the maps for the upcoming scenes. It shouldn't take more than a weekend or two. I'm lazy, you see, so I made sure Chapter 3 reuses as many Chapter 2 maps as possible!
After that, I'll publish the list of scenes where subscribers can write their messages. And on that note...
"Blackboard Writings" is now "Scene Scribbles"!
Sounds a bit better, don't you think? Plus, it suits the perk much more accurately.
When I open entries for Chapter 3 in a week or two, I'll explain the details on how it works.
For now, let's keep it simple:
I provide a list of locations
You pick one from the list and send me the message you want to write
Your message will appear on Chapter 3's renders taking place at this location
Misc stuff planned:
Improving the writing of the Prologue and Chapter 1. This will add some extra time to the update's development, but it's necessary. I don't plan to retcon anything, so older players can feel safe. However, some characters' speech patterns will be updated to match how they're portrayed in Chapter 2.
Adding a hide button for Android! Thanks for the reports!
Adding a "Music Room" to the Extras menu.
Learning how to use Timeline on Koikatsu for better animations... if I ever find the time. (Probably won't!)
ETA?!!!
Somewhere between tomorrow and next year. So... stay tuned? Maybe? Hopefully?
And that should cover everything for now!
As always, I'm immensely grateful to my amazing subscribers who support this project, to the kind souls who bought the game on Itch, and to everyone following and playing along. Thank you all so much!
For my subscribers, I'll see you in a week or two for the Scene Scribbles. As for everyone else, I'll see you in the next devlog!
Thank you for your time, and I hope to see you again soon. -Haptales
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Creator Stats
5 subscribers
26 posts
Goals
$34 of $100
per month
I can consider that my VN isn't a flop!
Yeah!
$34 of $400
per month
This will be a huge help to my finances, for sure.
It won't be enough for me to go full time, but it will be a great motivation to go further!
$34 of $900
per month
Beyond this goal, I'll consider changing my full-time job to a part-time one, thus increasing the time I'll have to work on my game.
$34 of $1,500
per month
Making this VN become my main job!
I'll still have to work on the side to make ends meet, but I'll be able to dedicate most of my time to developing this game.
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