Hello everyone!

It's already been three weeks since the last devlog, so here's a new update on the next chapter's development!

It should have been 5 animations, but the last one is still giving me some trouble to finish.

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.

This will help me speed up rendering over the next couple of weeks.

Nothing like a quick two-second job to sneak one more line into the changelog!

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.

You know the drill.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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...

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:

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

P.S. Don't forget to vote for your waifu(s)here!

Hello everyone!
It's been 3 weeks since my last report, so it's time for a new devlog!

First of all, for those who saw my last post on Patreon about an outage, I was able to find a temporary fix in time, so all is well.
Also, no, it hasn't affected development.

Now, as you might have noticed from the number of renders or the presence of different girls in the previews I posted, the second chapter won't be all about one girl like the first one.
Chapter 1 was written together with the prologue. Well, more as a continuation of it, really. So there wasn't really a need to get back to the other girls.
Although I realize this may have given the wrong impression about the flow of future chapters.
Chapter 2 and future chapters will give more screen time to all the girls.
But don't worry, this is still Sora's chapter, and she's the main focus!

Preview pic:
I was unsure which picture to add to this devlog, too many choices.
So I decided to choose the only girl who hasn't appeared in any devlogs yet: Misaki!
Huh? Maya? She had the whole last update to herself, so she can wait a few months!

Anyway!
In this release, we'll get a glimpse of the other side of Misaki!
The prologue and the first chapter may have portrayed her as a simple, love-struck girl, but I think it's high time to bring out the "tsun" in tsundere!

What I've done:
Release is now mostly complete with over 800 renders.
Some minor work on the soundtrack and replacing some tracks here and here.
I didn't count, but I added a lot of dialog lines to match the renders.

What's next:
The spicy stuff, I'm just getting started on that, but I estimate at least 2 weeks of work at my current pace.
There should be a little bit more content in it than there was in the last chapter.

There are also a few minor things to work on before release, but I've kept things clean from the start, so there shouldn't be any nasty surprises.

ETA:
I'm still trying for an early release for May 21st, but it might be a little short, so I might take an extra week.
My next posts should be the preview post, first the tier3 one then the public one.
I just hope I don't get a sudden outage the day before the upload like this time ^^.


Finally, thank you for your time and support!
I hope to see you soon with some preview images and the long-awaited release date.

-Haptales

Hello everyone!

It's been 3 weeks since my last post, so it's time for a new devlog!

What has been done?
First, let's talk about the preview image, since I didn't have one in the last devlog.

Pool and beach episodes/chapters are pretty common in these kinds of stories, so I wanted to try and make my own version. 
But this won't be the last time, so you can expect more swimsuit scenes in the future! And of course, I'm not just talking about school swimsuits!

In terms of actual progress, I'm currently at 312 renders (and 29 more that will go into next Misaki's treasure box).
I also did 2 little... animations? Well, I'm ashamed to call them animations at all, it's just a bit of bouncing added to two renders, so please don't expect anything more.

On the more behind-the-scenes stuff, I fixed the dialogue box opacity issue on mobile, and also reworked the loop on some music tracks.
I wasn't happy with a scene at the beginning of chapter 2 and rewrote it (doing the renders for it gave me a better idea of what I wanted).

ETA:
Despite making 312 renders, I estimate that I am only about halfway there (not counting the more cultured stuff).
The good news is that I'll have more time in May. So I'm really confident that I'll be able to do the release then.

I want to remind you that you have until 26 April to send me your messages for the Blackboard Writing perk. (link).

Finally, thank you for your time and support!
I hope to see you again soon, probably with a third and final devlog on May 7.

-Haptales

Hello everyone!
The last couple of weeks have been quite a busy time for me, but I feel like I've made a lot of progress in spite of everything.
Unfortunately, this is mostly behind-the-scenes work, so this time, there is no preview pic or big render counts to show off.

What has been done?
So far, the whole script for Chapter 2 is written, but... I don't know yet how many renders there will be. What I do know is that it's going to be a long chapter.
Currently, and based on the script, chapter 2 should be at least 25% longer than chapter 1.
With post-render adjustments, it could be even more.

I also worked on the character's cards too, as I needed to make some outfits.
Plus a little work on the body of a certain character.

What am I currently working on?
Now I'm mainly working on the maps that will be used, I've got a few new ones to make so I think that should keep me busy for at least a weekend or two.

What's next?
After doing the maps, I'll be able to provide you with the list of blackboards(or whiteboards) on which you can leave your name (or a message).
Incidentally, I'm planning to improve the tier benefits in this matter for Chapter 2, so that each paid supporter can at least leave his name while higher tiers can write on multiple boards.
Well, I'll tell you more on that in a week or two.

Afterwards, I'll work on the renders, then the dreaded animations.

ETA?
None.
I'm busy with work until at least the end of April, beginning of May, and this next release isn't small.
So I'm not going to take any chances: Chapter 2 will be released in 2025!

Aaaand that should be all?
Thank you for your time and support, and I hope to see you again soon!


Ps: If you haven't seen it yet, I've opened a poll about the music used in the game.
It would be really helpful to have your opinion on the matter.

Hello!

It's been 3 weeks since my last post, so I think a little progress report is in order!
I'm still working hard with what little time I have, but I see the finish line getting closer!

For the new year I challenged myself to release the new update before February, so where am I three weeks later?

Most of Chapter 1 is complete with +400 renders, plus a few more to add, so it turned out bigger than I expected. (Prologue had 300+ renders)
Currently I'm working mainly on animations, but I don't know yet how long it will take me to get the result I want.
With all that said, a release before February is very unlikely in my opinion, but I don't think it will take much longer either.

And that's all for this short progress report!

Thanks for your time! 
I hope to see you soon, and this time I hope with the full preview of Chapter 1!