Collide22 - Development Update 26/09/30
infoAbout This Title
Hi everyone, it’s been a while!
I wanted to give you a quick update on how I’ve been doing lately, along with a little look at how development has been progressing.
Since the last update, life has been extremely busy for me. I feel like I say that every time, but this time I really mean it. I’ve been getting by on only about four or five hours of sleep a day while trying to keep up with everything.
And when I say “work,” it’s actually mostly related to graduation. I’m currently writing my doctoral dissertation so I can graduate from my PhD program this semester. Because of that, both the workload and the pressure have probably reached their highest point yet. I honestly don’t think I’ve been this busy at any point in the last ten years. At times, it has been difficult not only to work on the game, but even to keep up with the community properly.
This hectic period will probably continue until the end of this year, but October should be the absolute peak. After that, things should gradually start getting better.
That said, I haven’t stopped developing the game completely.
Whenever I find even a small pocket of free time, I’ve been writing scripts and creating images. I’ve already expanded the massage minigame, which previously only featured Warren, so that it now includes more than ten characters. I’ve also finished all of Arthur and Iman’s free-action routes, which I had expected to be some of the most difficult content to create.
Arthur’s route ended up becoming much more dynamic than I originally expected.
To my surprise, Arthur is actually one of the more popular characters. He occupies a pretty unique position as the protagonist’s younger-brother figure, and because of his bright and friendly personality, he also talks quite a lot during the main quest.
Arthur is especially unusual because his corruption route splits into two forms, represented by his red eyes and blue eyes, and his personality changes very dramatically depending on which one he follows. I suppose that variety has helped his routes appeal to a surprisingly wide range of preferences.
At the same time, those drastic personality changes are both a strength and a challenge when writing his story. They allow me to create a lot of different scenarios, but as the routes approach their later stages, they can also become extremely intense. Some players have already felt uncomfortable with the way the protagonist is treated in Arthur’s red-eye route, while others simply aren’t fond of the direction red-eye Arthur takes as a character. Blue-eye Arthur has also been popular with people who enjoy domination-focused scenarios, but there were honestly parts of that route that were painful for even me to write.
Because of that, when writing Arthur’s new story content, I tried to structure it in a way that could accommodate as many different kinds of players as possible.
His red-eye route will now branch once again. I wouldn’t exactly call either branch a perfectly “normal” route, but they will definitely lead in different directions. If you want to be completely dominated by Arthur, you’ll be able to pursue that path. If you believe that love can still exist even within a relationship where Arthur dominates the protagonist, there may be room for something closer to an imperfect kind of pure romance. Or… you may be able to teach Arthur a very serious lesson instead.
It’s somewhat similar in spirit to the Wizard's corrupted top route. Through all of these different branches, I think you’ll be able to see many different sides of Arthur. And once you learn more about his past and his bloodline, you’ll also start to understand why his personality can shift so dramatically in the first place.
As for Iman, his route will finally split properly into a corruption route and a pure-love route.
Iman is, honestly, almost absurdly good-natured and upright. He’s the kind of person you could almost describe as morally flawless, and that made creating a believable corruption branch surprisingly difficult. Of course, the protagonist has more than enough power to corrupt him regardless, but until now there wasn’t really a convincing trigger that could push Iman in that direction.
This time, however… As you progress through the route, Iman will end up being corrupted in a very particular way. Hmm. Let’s just say that once things begin moving in that direction, they will escalate to the point where he may no longer be able to stop himself, whether he intended for it to happen or not. You’ll get to see a very, very different and much more erotic side of Iman.
And if you choose the pure-love route instead? Iman can become an incredibly sweet and devoted boyfriend. After all, how could he not fall for the person who was the first to truly understand him, helped him realize things about himself that even he never understood, and helped him reconcile with his younger brother? Iman has always had the potential to become one of the kindest and most dependable romantic partners in the game.
Arthur and Iman, of course, are also almost impossible to separate from one another narratively. Even if their relationship became strained at some point, they have shared an extremely long and deep bond since childhood. You’ll learn much more about that history through flashbacks during both of their routes. Because of this, many conversations in Arthur and Iman’s routes are written under the assumption that the other brother is still alive and present. If either Arthur or Iman is dead, was never recruited, or has already become too corrupted, certain parts of the route may no longer be able to proceed normally.
Their reactions will also change depending on what route you previously chose for the other brother. For example, when dealing with red-eye Arthur, a pure-love-route Iman may become a strong ally for the protagonist. Iman from his normal route, on the other hand, may be more inclined to trust his younger brother instead. These differences won’t completely change the main structure of the story, but I wanted to add details like this so that conversations could feel more varied and responsive to the player’s choices.
After finishing both Arthur and Iman’s routes, I moved on to Tristan and Dante. Their stories are not quite as deeply intertwined as Arthur and Iman’s, but the two are still closely connected. Dante asking the protagonist to rescue Tristan during the main quest is the most obvious example, and I’ve also planted small hints about their connection throughout their free-action scenes.
I’m currently planning out both of their routes. Dante’s story itself was relatively easy to conceptualize, but implementing it is a little more complicated from a scripting perspective. If you remember the new entity that appeared during his corruption route, you can probably guess why. At the moment, I’m preparing a battle involving that character, and it needs some careful balancing before I’m satisfied with it.
Tristan is a little more difficult for a different reason. I’m still deciding exactly how far I want his story to go, and I’m also trying to figure out how to make his pure-love route feel more interesting instead of simply turning it into a straightforward romance. I want his route to show off more of Tristan’s different sides and the things that make him appealing as a character.
So that’s roughly where development stands right now. At the same time, I’m working extremely hard to get through the huge obstacle called graduation.
Development may be moving more slowly than usual, but I will never stop working on this game. That’s something I’ve promised ever since I started Patreon around one or two years ago, and even before that, back when I was making the original 7CDP demo about four years ago.
I may move slowly sometimes, but I will never abandon this project. I know how awful it feels when a game you’ve been waiting for suddenly gets the dreaded “development discontinued” label. I’ve watched that happen to games I loved before, and every single time it was genuinely heartbreaking.
So to everyone who continues to be patient with me, waits for each update, and supports the project even when development is slow, thank you so much. Your encouragement genuinely gives me a lot of strength and helps me keep going.
Thank you, as always.
Hi everyone, it’s been a while!
I wanted to give you a quick update on how I’ve been doing lately, along with a little look at how development has been progressing.
Since the last update, life has been extremely busy for me. I feel like I say that every time, but this time I really mean it. I’ve been getting by on only about four or five hours of sleep a day while trying to keep up with everything.
And when I say “work,” it’s actually mostly related to graduation. I’m currently writing my doctoral dissertation so I can graduate from my PhD program this semester. Because of that, both the workload and the pressure have probably reached their highest point yet. I honestly don’t think I’ve been this busy at any point in the last ten years. At times, it has been difficult not only to work on the game, but even to keep up with the community properly.
This hectic period will probably continue until the end of this year, but October should be the absolute peak. After that, things should gradually start getting better.
That said, I haven’t stopped developing the game completely.
Whenever I find even a small pocket of free time, I’ve been writing scripts and creating images. I’ve already expanded the massage minigame, which previously only featured Warren, so that it now includes more than ten characters. I’ve also finished all of Arthur and Iman’s free-action routes, which I had expected to be some of the most difficult content to create.
Arthur’s route ended up becoming much more dynamic than I originally expected.
To my surprise, Arthur is actually one of the more popular characters. He occupies a pretty unique position as the protagonist’s younger-brother figure, and because of his bright and friendly personality, he also talks quite a lot during the main quest.
Arthur is especially unusual because his corruption route splits into two forms, represented by his red eyes and blue eyes, and his personality changes very dramatically depending on which one he follows. I suppose that variety has helped his routes appeal to a surprisingly wide range of preferences.
At the same time, those drastic personality changes are both a strength and a challenge when writing his story. They allow me to create a lot of different scenarios, but as the routes approach their later stages, they can also become extremely intense. Some players have already felt uncomfortable with the way the protagonist is treated in Arthur’s red-eye route, while others simply aren’t fond of the direction red-eye Arthur takes as a character. Blue-eye Arthur has also been popular with people who enjoy domination-focused scenarios, but there were honestly parts of that route that were painful for even me to write.
Because of that, when writing Arthur’s new story content, I tried to structure it in a way that could accommodate as many different kinds of players as possible.
His red-eye route will now branch once again. I wouldn’t exactly call either branch a perfectly “normal” route, but they will definitely lead in different directions. If you want to be completely dominated by Arthur, you’ll be able to pursue that path. If you believe that love can still exist even within a relationship where Arthur dominates the protagonist, there may be room for something closer to an imperfect kind of pure romance. Or… you may be able to teach Arthur a very serious lesson instead.
It’s somewhat similar in spirit to the Wizard's corrupted top route. Through all of these different branches, I think you’ll be able to see many different sides of Arthur. And once you learn more about his past and his bloodline, you’ll also start to understand why his personality can shift so dramatically in the first place.
As for Iman, his route will finally split properly into a corruption route and a pure-love route.
Iman is, honestly, almost absurdly good-natured and upright. He’s the kind of person you could almost describe as morally flawless, and that made creating a believable corruption branch surprisingly difficult. Of course, the protagonist has more than enough power to corrupt him regardless, but until now there wasn’t really a convincing trigger that could push Iman in that direction.
This time, however… As you progress through the route, Iman will end up being corrupted in a very particular way. Hmm. Let’s just say that once things begin moving in that direction, they will escalate to the point where he may no longer be able to stop himself, whether he intended for it to happen or not. You’ll get to see a very, very different and much more erotic side of Iman.
And if you choose the pure-love route instead? Iman can become an incredibly sweet and devoted boyfriend. After all, how could he not fall for the person who was the first to truly understand him, helped him realize things about himself that even he never understood, and helped him reconcile with his younger brother? Iman has always had the potential to become one of the kindest and most dependable romantic partners in the game.
Arthur and Iman, of course, are also almost impossible to separate from one another narratively. Even if their relationship became strained at some point, they have shared an extremely long and deep bond since childhood. You’ll learn much more about that history through flashbacks during both of their routes. Because of this, many conversations in Arthur and Iman’s routes are written under the assumption that the other brother is still alive and present. If either Arthur or Iman is dead, was never recruited, or has already become too corrupted, certain parts of the route may no longer be able to proceed normally.
Their reactions will also change depending on what route you previously chose for the other brother. For example, when dealing with red-eye Arthur, a pure-love-route Iman may become a strong ally for the protagonist. Iman from his normal route, on the other hand, may be more inclined to trust his younger brother instead. These differences won’t completely change the main structure of the story, but I wanted to add details like this so that conversations could feel more varied and responsive to the player’s choices.
After finishing both Arthur and Iman’s routes, I moved on to Tristan and Dante. Their stories are not quite as deeply intertwined as Arthur and Iman’s, but the two are still closely connected. Dante asking the protagonist to rescue Tristan during the main quest is the most obvious example, and I’ve also planted small hints about their connection throughout their free-action scenes.
I’m currently planning out both of their routes. Dante’s story itself was relatively easy to conceptualize, but implementing it is a little more complicated from a scripting perspective. If you remember the new entity that appeared during his corruption route, you can probably guess why. At the moment, I’m preparing a battle involving that character, and it needs some careful balancing before I’m satisfied with it.
Tristan is a little more difficult for a different reason. I’m still deciding exactly how far I want his story to go, and I’m also trying to figure out how to make his pure-love route feel more interesting instead of simply turning it into a straightforward romance. I want his route to show off more of Tristan’s different sides and the things that make him appealing as a character.
So that’s roughly where development stands right now. At the same time, I’m working extremely hard to get through the huge obstacle called graduation.
Development may be moving more slowly than usual, but I will never stop working on this game. That’s something I’ve promised ever since I started Patreon around one or two years ago, and even before that, back when I was making the original 7CDP demo about four years ago.
I may move slowly sometimes, but I will never abandon this project. I know how awful it feels when a game you’ve been waiting for suddenly gets the dreaded “development discontinued” label. I’ve watched that happen to games I loved before, and every single time it was genuinely heartbreaking.
So to everyone who continues to be patient with me, waits for each update, and supports the project even when development is slow, thank you so much. Your encouragement genuinely gives me a lot of strength and helps me keep going.
Thank you, as always.
Comments (0)