Development Blog - March 2024

Hey all, time for a monthly development update. Oh man, this one came out way longer than I was expecting.

So, Chapter 3 is all but finished, just a few little tweaks and then testing will commence. As I said in the previous update, it is essentially a bridging chapter between the eventful chapters 2 and 4, and quite a small-ish at roughly 40 mins play through, so I hope that doesn’t disappoint too many people. I didn’t want to force events or interactions with particular girls in just to expand it at the cost of the story I have already plotted out. It does however have some nice character moments and the previously mentioned lewd scene with four possible ways to go about it (5 if you count just skipping it, I guess).

The update will come with some new features as roughly showcased in an older post in the form of character bios and special render galleries.

The character bios are nothing too in depth, literally just name, alias, age, occupation & superpower, along with a picture of the character. I may add further information to them in the future if I feel it's appropriate.

The bios also include certain icons depending on which character you’re looking at, in the form of “love interest status” (heart symbol) or “side girl interest” (dick symbol… naturally). As you progress through Origin Story you will come across the option to pursue certain girls... or to not allow things to progress further in the case of Evelyn and Moonsong (I know Panda… blasphemy). There are also times when you will need to make choices that will open up some characters as love/fuck options but maybe shut down others… and one of those is coming right up in Chapter 3 (hint: the choice you make for the lewd scene will affect some side stories later on). As you make these choices, or if the characters make them for you, the icons will turn from faded question marks, to fully visible or crossed out.

These bios will unlock as you progress through the story and meet the characters, where you will be given a “character bio unlocked” notification. There are also times when you will learn more about particular characters and their profiles will be updated afterwards (e.g. Marina’s ability is “unknown” on her bio, until you discover what it is later). Their profile pictures may occasionally update throughout the story too.

I’ve added all the unlocks throughout Chapter 1 & 2 so when you first start, you’ll only see Evelyn, Amber & Fraser’s bio. Shortly after you’ll unlock Lucía, Marina, Mrs. Ross etc… So anyone starting from fresh will unlock these profiles naturally. Anyone just continuing from Chapter 3, all the profiles you should have unlocked by then will unlock for you anyway so no need to go back.

Certain characters will also have galleries that can be accessed through their profiles. These will be noncanonical “special renders” of these characters. As it stands, by the release of Chapter 3 there will be galleries for Evelyn, Amber, Parker, Riley, Moonsong, Emerald, Coldsnap, Lady Steel, Ghostraven, Lake, Mrs. Ross and Lucía. These galleries will be populated over time with the release of new updates so don't expect them to be fully decked out just yet. The images will also unlock as the game progresses because I don’t want any old player to just get an eyeful of a naked Moonsong, until they have seen her naked as intended in the game first. Why spoil the surprise?

Almost all the renders within them, you will have seen already as they are the same special renders I am adding to Patreon every week. Though there may be some surprises.

Now, onto some other quite significant changes that will come with the release.

Now, we all know about the Parker controversy, and I’ve done some rewriting that will hopefully make it clearer about my intentions with this whole thing. However, as I alluded to in an earlier post, I had a few other scenes I had removed in advance as I worried would upset a certain type of player. They’re mostly insignificant in the grand scheme of things and not even remotely NTR.

I will give you an example. There is a scene MUCH later in the story where a character uses the promise of sex to lure someone into a trap. She will even go so far as to get on her knees while this “villain” proceeds to get his stuff out ready for her. While he is distracted, the violence ensues.

Now, not even remotely NTR as I said, but I know some people will complain about it regardless because how dare I include someone else’s dick in the same shot as one of my LIs. They already complained about Parker, and no doubt will still proceed to complain with her re-writes coming in Chapter 3. Hell, they even complained that the scene where Moonsong & MC test Todd’s teleporting abilities and accidentally land in on the spit roasting of a completely insignificant character (WHO IS NEVER SEEN AGAIN) is NTR. So, if they’re going to complain regardless, why should I change my story to placate them? I’m no longer going to avoid those scenes.

The game will now immediately start with a warning about how Origin Story will not shy away from the fact that its characters have sexual histories. It will also warn players of these scenes and give anyone who has utterly distorted views on NTR, or… the more understandable perspective… simply doesn’t enjoy seeing other male characters in sexual situations, the option of “safe mode”. Safe mode will render these scenes non-canon and either skip them or replace with safer alternatives, depending on how significant they are (e.g. aforementioned accidental viewing of the spit-roast is now skipped entirely, because it’s literally there for comedic effect and nothing more).

It will render "voyeurism mode" redundant, and Fraser no longer awkwardly brings it up during the initial conversation with him as that conversation purely existed as a means to give the player that option.

The other big change I’ve had to make to the existing story - and this will affect every player -  is the relationship between Parker & Riley with MC. I’m just going to go ahead and admit my naivety here. I had no idea that Patreon deemed relations with a “legal guardian” as incest. I had no intention of making this an incest game – it’s really not my bag – and it is also VITAL to the story that Parker & Riley are not related by blood to the MC, hence why I am begging players not to come up with their own patches for it.

For story reasons I refuse to go into yet, I did need Parker to have played a significant role in MC’s life and I thought her being the one to take him on and raise him after the mysterious deaths of his parents would be the best way to go about it. Turns out, by Patreon’s definition this would still qualify as incest and could land me in trouble. So, I have had to make some changes to avoid any trouble that may come in the future when relationships may develop with Riley or Parker, and I think this is a reasonable way to do it.

So now, MC was raised by adopted parents while Parker financially supported them and kept a watchful eye over his upbringing, in honor of her deceased friends (his real parents). MC still had chance to grow close to Parker & Riley, visited them frequently on weekends and summer breaks, and still had chance to befriend Evelyn (Parker’s neighbor). MC’s adopted parents were dicks though, and as soon as MC hit eighteen and legally able to, he moved out and Parker welcomed him in with open arms. So yes, in a roundabout way they are now “landlady” and “roommate”, but I’ll be damned if he ever calls them that. I cannot promise Fraser won’t make a comment about it though.

Naturally I’ve had to tweak the dialogue, or add new bits, here and there to account for this. For instance, in the flashback to the “fuck pact” being born, MC now tells Evelyn he can’t promise he’ll be sane by the time they turn nineteen because he’s pretty much had a three-week longer boner since moving in with Parker and Riley.

As such, he is no longer "MC" Samson. He is "MC" De Santo.

Hell, even this change in dynamic might make people complain about Parker less!

And that’s it for Chapter 3.

I’m still expecting the release of the update will come next month sometime, probably more towards the middle so look out for an update on official release date closer to the time.

As for other chapters, Chapter 4 is now fully posed and post-worked. I’ve done a bunch of music and audio coding in, but there’s still a bit left to do. And there’s a whole sex scene left to do the dialogue for, because that’s how I work when it comes to sex scenes. I make the renders first, and then I write the narration/dialogue according to what poses I’ve been able to do etc… As opposed to the entire rest of the game, where I do the opposite and make renders according to what I already have written.

Chapter 5 posing and rendering has also commenced, and I am currently 150 renders into this already. This chapter includes a storyline that has potential for some of the community here to put their tiny stamp on Origin Story in the form of a comment on a superpowered “only-fans” style website called Power Play that one of our characters creates “content” for. I have plenty of room for more comments on these pictures which have now all been added to the Power Play channel in the discord server. Should you wish to take part and embrace a character commenting on these photos and have this character reply to you (and mostly in a mean way), hop on the discord and check that channel. I’ll warn you that we already have the pregnancy-obsessed pervert covered (you know who you are).

And just on a slightly ego-boosting tangent, I recently got a message from the dev of Chasing Sunsets, a game I ADORE (as you’ll see in Chapter 4), saying how much he liked Origin Story so far… so I’m still kind of on cloud nine from that one. Whoop whoop!

Right, I’m out. Catch you all later.