Jacques D'Or
patreon
Development Blog - Aug 2025
🕑 Added 2025-08-15 22:45:38 +0000 UTCHey all!
A slightly earlier update this month. My usual time for posting these updates happens to fall at the time when I will be taking my kid on his first vacation. From a week on Monday, I’ll be spending five days in Paris (most of it in Disneyland), which is something we’ve been saving up for ever since he was born until he’d be old enough to appreciate it, and now we’re finally here. Excited. Too bad I’ll be riding the Avengers coaster by myself… he’s too short for that still.
So, I thought I’d bring you an update now instead, while I’ve got some other cool news to share.
I’m not going to cover the progress on Chapter 8 as it’s only been a little while since the last update, and that feels like a bit of a re-tread. Let’s just say significant progress has been made since then, and there are only a couple of things left to finalize. So, expect some news in the not-too-distant future, I guess.
So, let’s, instead, touch on these other bits.
Steam
Now that I am nearing completion of Chapter 8, and thus “Season 1”, I have finally begun the major preparations for a Steam release. I’ve got the page all ready to go, it’s just waiting on a build to get uploaded (and approved by them), before I can start putting it out there for everyone to wishlist etc… Naturally, it might take a while for Steam to actually do their part, along with whatever back and forth I have with them, but we’re working towards it!
On a slightly related note, I currently have two trailers - SFW & NSFW – being worked on right now! So, look out for them soon, too.
And on another Steam-related note, the awesome Amomynous Games’ Office Perks has been released on Steam today! So please show him some love and grab his awesome game if you haven’t played it already. Then maybe you’ll have a clue who Anna Abraham’s speedster “maid” is.
Replayable Scene Gallery
Finally, the much-requested replayable scene gallery is coming! This has probably been the most requested feature in Origin Story, so I’m happy to say that it is coming with Chapter 8. It took a little while to figure out how to make it do exactly what I wanted, and maybe it drove me nearly insane too, but with some help from some other devs, I figured it out.
(Holy crap, I didn't think posting this screenshot through very well. I had to lock so many of those thumbnails so it could fly on patreon.)
Now, I’m no expert coder, so sure, my GUI might look a little basic. I’m afraid you’re just going to have to take it or leave it. Ultimately, you’ll unlock the scenes in the gallery as you play (or the code at the start of chapter 8 will work some magic and determine what you should have unlocked on that particular playthrough already). They’ll become available in this scrollable gallery for you to replay in the future. To the right, you’ll have a text description that, when you hover over each thumbnail, will either give you a hint on how to unlock that scene, or if it's already unlocked, give you a basic description of the scene “CH2 Moonsong Sex” etc..
Nice!
Like many other games, these scenes will not be carried over between seasons. So, in the future when you’re playing through Chapter 9 (Season 2) and you decide you want to relive your first experience with Evelyn, I’m afraid you’ll have to fire up Season 1 to do so.
Special Render Gallery Overhaul
And I figured, while I was updating that part of the GUI, I’d update the special render gallery too.
Firstly, there will be three ways to access the special render galleries.
Through the usual way, clicking the gallery icon in the character profile. These will take you directly into the character’s specific gallery.
Through the in-game menu by hitting escape while you’re playing. In there, you can access the gallery menu, where you can choose between Special Render Gallery and Scene Gallery.
Through the main menu.
If you choose either option 2 or 3, you’ll come across this screen, which looks like the character selection screen from the sexiest fighting game ever. Here, you can select whichever character you want to look at the special renders of. When you hover over a girl, they turn full colour so you know they have focus. Looks pretty nice, I think.
The galleries will unlock the usual way, which is when you meet those characters, and their character profiles get unlocked. Some will require you to be on their paths to see the gallery (i.e., Isabella or Anna/Arwen’s will only be available depending on what your chapter 3 choice was).
The renders themselves will unlock the same way, with the start of each chapter unlocking a bunch of renders.
The big difference is that these unlocks are now all based on persistent variables, meaning, once they’re unlocked, they’re always unlocked, just as it should be. Naturally, this is why I also included an option to view the gallery through the main menu.
The character galleries themselves look more or less the same, but have had a bit of an overhaul to firstly make the screens scrollable, as I was getting awfully worried about running out of space with the imagemap way of doing it that I had before. Secondly, I have made it SIGNIFICANTLY easier for me to add specials to each gallery. It was a pain in the balls the previous way. Now all I have to do is make two tiny thumbnails, one washed out and one full colour, add one tiny bit of code for each image, and boom, done.
Preparing the galleries prior to a chapter release was one of the most frustrating aspects of Origin Story’s development, so doing it this way is going to save me a significant amount of time. It’ll also mean I can add special renders into the gallery as I make them, rather than doing them all in bulk at the end of an update’s development cycle.
Oh, and now there’s also an “extras” gallery, for all the random renders, crossovers with other games, Christmas/Halloween themed etc…
Generous God Tier
And one last tiny update regarding a new tier I have implemented. You’ll know I have the God Tier, which is the highest level of support you can show Origin Story. This tier includes a custom render upon initial subscription, plus one custom render per month thereafter.
I love making these customs, not only because I like to give back, but also because they often allow me to flex my creative muscles, make renders I usually wouldn’t be able to do, and generally mix it up a bit. Plus, they also give me a lot of content for the aforementioned special render galleries.
The trouble is that a number of these supporters simply wish to support Origin Story and don’t expect anything in return. And, as much as I appreciate them for that, they are taking spaces from supporters who would like to take advantage of the custom render benefit. So, I find myself opening new slots whenever someone expresses interest in being God Tier simply because I want to be doing those customs, as long as I’m not over the five a month limit I have set for myself.
So, I thought the best way around it was to introduce the Generous God Tier, a tier that has all the benefits of the God Tier, just without the expectation of custom renders. So, if you’re one of those people on God Tier who doesn’t want any custom renders… 1) THANK YOU, and 2) Please feel free to switch over if possible (the annual ones will be stuck on there for a while, I guess).
---
Now, that’s all my updates.
You guys are awesome. Catch you later!
Comments
BenRedDevil
have fun . we know we can seem impatient sometimes but for each our own happiness first . take your time and make some great memories
RicardoS
JDOR - enjoy the time with your kid, they grow up to fast, i missed much of the youth from my kids because i was never at home - and it finally cost me nearly everything including my marriage… so enjoy the Trip with your son, thats one of the most important things, and i am sure your son will hold fond these memories for the rest of his life.
