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!!!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to this second edition of Scene Scribbles!

Here, you'll find a list of screenshots from all the locations where you can write something for Chapter 3.

Check out the screenshots, then refer to their numbers for more details about each location!

Please note that these screenshots are rough samples: decoration, characters, and camera angles may vary in the final release.

1) MC's Kitchen - Characters present (MC, Sora, MC's Mom), breakfast!

2) Sensei's Classroom - Characters present (MC, Sayuri, Misaki, Takeshi, Sensei)

3) Maya's Dorm - Characters present (MC, Maya), special surprise.

4) Abandoned Classroom - Characters present (MC, the Godfather), reporting back.

5) Cafeteria - Characters present (MC, Takeshi), betrayal.

6) Love Hotel - Characters present (MC, ???, ???), pulling an SSR waifu.

7) Limousine - Characters present (MC, Older Man), bad end.

Tier 2+: Add your name to the location of your choice.

Tier 4: Add a short message to the location of your choice.

Simply comment under this post or send me a private message.

Remember to include the screenshot number, and put your message and/or name in quotation marks.

If there's any issue, I'll reach out to you directly.

Pic 1 - "Sora is overrated."

->Anonymous message on the MC's kitchen scene.

Pic 3 - "This message is so long and the surface so small, Haptales will have to reduce its font size! -Anon77"

->Signed message on Maya's dorm scene.

Pic 5 - "Anon77"

->Name only on the cafeteria scene.

You have until August 13 (one month) to send or edit your message.

After that, I'll collect everything to make the final renders.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me. I usually reply on weekends.

Thank you for your support, and see you in a few weeks for the next devlog!

Hello, everyone!

Glad to meet you again for this preview of the next release of RomCom: Divergence!
Chapter 2 will focus on the MC's second conquest... Sora!
 
He-he! Didn't see that one coming?

Now, you might think this girl would be easy, especially compared to the gyaru, but...

Oh, oh! It looks like the MC is going to have to put in some serious effort with this tomboy!

But wasting your life and money on stupid things. All for a little bit of romance that will last until graduation! Isn't that every boy's dream?

Hang in there MC~

Chapter 2, with a length close to the prologue and chapter 1 put together...

...will be releasing on 05/31 at 2pm (UTC+2) for all Tier 2 subscribers, and on 06/07 for everyone else!

Thank you for your support, and see you soon! (Sooner than you think!)


-???

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