Hi everyone! Time for this month's wrap up and devlog. It's been a doozy, hasn't it?

I'm getting this update out of the way a little early just to post something positive.

First thing's first, WSC was not affected by the recent impacts to the NSFW tag on Itch.io. At least not yet! The future is uncertain for any games with NSFW content and while I wasn't settled one way or the other on having spicy CGs later in the game, these events are something I'm keeping a close watch on as I move towards chapters that have slightly more steamy content (Chapter 8 has some mildly steamy moments for some characters but it's really Chapter 10 that will be the issue).

I'll keep you all updated as things progress.

Now on to Chapter 7 updates.

And the good news is that despite its length, Chapter 7 release is actually just a few weeks away! We're looking at mid-August. Read more below

Summary:

• Finished all sprite expressions for Chapter 7
• Finished BG cues, SFX, and music cues for Chapter 7
• Finished all CGs for Chapter 7
• Created 3 new side character sprites for Chapter 7
• Released the Chapter7 beta rounds 1 &2
• Preparing to release Chapter 7 to Patreon Early Access within the next week or so.

About Chapter 7 Content

As I've mentioned, Chapter 7 is around 80,000 words of content. It is really big for a single chapter. But it's actually the smallest of the remaining updates. This chapter will finally push us to over the 50% point with content (but only just. It puts us at something like 52%).

This is also a big chapter from a plot development standpoint. The set-up from Chapter 6 finally starts to come to fruition. Things begin to unwind and we start to get stronger hints about just why Wil might have been left in that box, culmination in a big action sequence before hints at revelations to come.

You get several 1x1 scenes with your chosen LI(s), including an action sequence and two romantic/sweet moments.

There are some character reveals, as well as some hints about future character reveals and important character back story info.

Also, quite frankly, there's a fair amount of kissing. Including from the one LI you haven't been able to smooch yet.

While there are no bonus scenes this time around, beta testers were incredibly excited about the content in this chapter.

It's a good chapter and if you've been waiting to play this game, I highly recommend keeping an eye out for the public release because with all the changes to Itch, with it impacting the stats of even the games that weren't delisted - this game and others need all the support they can get right now if any of us are to continue making these games.

Views and downloads have been throttled even for games not directly impacted by the NSFW bans, including When Stars Collide.

Serial releases absolutely rely on a growing audience and in some ways this is bad timing because outside forces are doing what they can to ensure my reach is even smaller than before.

So if you like this game and haven't given it a rating, please do. 5 stars give a huge boost for visibility. And just spread the word for this game and any game here on itch.io that you love.

And now for more updates.

Art

This month in art I created 6 new CGs for the Chapter 7 release as well as 3 additional side character sprites who appear briefly in this chapter. Huzzah!

As Wil doesn't appear in these CGs they were a bit faster to create, which was nice since the chapter is so huge.

I also created a few new sprite variations for various characters. Silver Eyes and Blue Eyes got a new, glowy evolution.

I swear we will see their faces someday.

Kav got a new hairstyle and I've worked on some sprite stuff for Chapter 8 too. Sneaked it in!

So basically I did a fair amount of art. Go me! 💪💪

Coding and Other

Well, I magically got all the coding done. For Chapter 7.

The truth is, that I had a huge headstart by the time Chapter 6 released and that helped a lot. There were also a lot of 1x1 scenes in this chapter which was also helpful.

So I got expressions completed in record time and from there just had to focus on the small things - SFX, music, etc.

So when I said this chapter was going to take a long time......I lied. I guess? 

It took a weirdly short amount of time.

And I released the beta version of Chapter 7 for testing. Though there were a few blips with the (MASSIVE flowchart)....

..so massive...

most of the fixes have been pretty minor stuff and a lot of them from edits made after the chapter was coded. (So very recent edits).

And that one time this happened. <.<

Anyway, we are wrapping up the beta and getting ready for Early Access. So that means public release is around the corner too!

Upcoming Month

In the upcoming month, during early access and beyond, I will be shifting gears to focus on Chapter 8 & 9, which will release together as one episode since Chapter 9 is a bit on the short side. With only a few more days left of beta, I will be releasing Chapter 7 to early access Patrons very soon.

Though I'll inevitably have to make a few more fixes and corrections in the next few weeks, I'll be moving on to prepping Chapter 8 &9 so I can hit the ground running with the next episode.

I was hoping to release the *beta* of Chapter 7 at the beginning of September. Releasing EA right before the beginning of August puts me quite far ahead of schedule with this release.

Right now I'm trying to give myself as much of a head start with the next episode as I had with this one so it maybe won't take me 3-4 months either. 

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be seeing you in a few weeks for the release of Chapter 7. Hope to see you there! 

And don't forget that if you want weekly updates, beta access, early access, lore posts and the like, Patreon is the only revenue stream for this game so I appreciate support over there!

Thanks all! As always, your support means so much to me. Thanks for sticking with me through this journey. <3

~Esh