17 Jul 2026

The author notes for chapter 10 of Same Place, Different Universe.

This chapter was previously split into two parts because the first part has a content warning and was shorter than the final draft. The tone of the two parts would've clashed if they weren't split up.

I started this chapter months ago but put it on hold due to details for several characters not being finalized that were slated to appear in part 2 (now chapter 11). That included a Windows XP character and a Windows Vista character for the carnival scene. I still need to finalize them to continue with chapter 11, but I could move forward to finish chapter 10.

In this chapter, I needed to finalize whether Edna exists in this continuity or if she was retconned out. She was prominent in Version 2, but almost retconned out of Version 3 three times:

1. In chapter 9 when I thought over whether Auriga joined and re-joined The Defenestrators, or was a co-founder of the Misfired Circuits Troupe. I decided on the former, but if I went with the latter, she would've replaced Edna's role as the MCT co-founder from Chariots of Colors. Misa would've been retconned to represent all of System 3 instead of 3.0-3.3. The existence of a separate character for System 3.4 boiled down to its strange version numbering within the early Mac OS lineup and obscurity that I could work with that'd be a perfect fit for the MCT.

I also considered whether Misa could've replaced Edna's role.

2. When I was thinking about the issues with the system time reset event, I thought of other inconsistencies. Edna's backstory in Version 2 of her being forced to leave CC due to a bureaucratic error that declared her legally dead didn't make logical sense, since an actual ghost was still part of the team!

That was just how I thought I could reference how some Mac history sources incorrectly list 3.3 as the last release of System 3. I recently thought up a way to keep that reference that'd make more sense. Perhaps she left CC, but not on the best terms. Bands can have members that are forgotten by the band's fans compared to their bandmates, and she could've been the most overlooked teammate, and resented it so she sought out to make a name for herself elsewhere.

3. In chapter 10, Edna's counterpart had a spoken line in the recording. I had to finalize whether that was still her counterpart, or herself.

If she had been retconned out of this continuity, she was still going to exist in Fragments Reloaded in place of her counterpart that's one of the leaders of Five Finger Discount Warez House.

The second half of this chapter also builds onto a detail established in If at First You Don't Succeed...:

I had to finalize some details about Ximena's situation within The Awks during their period of major conflict. This is a sharp contrast to her first story appearance in IWASD chapter 13, which was before she became an OS. Xenix had a reputation for reliability, had a high security rating, and was the best-selling UNIX variant of the 1980's. Features from Xenix were also part of the UNIX System V SVR4 release.

Between the two major factions that emerged within The Awks, she may have in Juna's faction since Xenix switched to a System V codebase, but still might've tried to work with Damien's, or at least persuade who she was working with to avoid being too hostile towards the other faction.

These details had me thinking again to stick with an idea I considered for her earlier as someone who suffered from "Chronic Hero Syndrome", that she tried to save everyone, tried to do so much for the greater good but that it took a toll on her. Even with her success and influence, she couldn't stop the conflicts, and didn't want to see anyone try what she tried, because she suspected that they'd also fail. Thinking about that led me to thinking she would've clashed with anyone who thought they could've stopped the conflicts if they joined The Awks, and also had Chronic Hero Syndrome tendencies, which led to the conversation that Antares had with Marcia about this incident.

As for Antares being the type to have Chronic Hero Syndrome, that's based on the characterization she had in the setting I had in 2019. Her counterpart, Tara, is also based on that characterization, which is based on an unfinished story I started writing in that continuity before scrapping it. The FR portions of SPDU are based on that story, which I want to adapt and polish parts of because of key parts that are still compelling to me. They were previously bogged down by writing issues that muddled what could've been, and scrapping it all together felt like a loss beyond sunk costs.

Concordia's, Tempo's and Becca's characterizations are also based from that story.

16 Jul 2026

Same Place, Different Universe Chapter 10

Title: Is That What You Really Believe?

This chapter has a content warning. The recording in the first half of the chapter has the subjects of it. In the second half of this chapter, Marcia and Antares talk about the recording but also confront some difficult questions, and for one of them also a memory that brings back grief.

This was going to be part 1 of chapter 10 since it was shorter. It became a full-length chapter since the newer ideas I had in the second half lengthened it. I think this is for the best since chapter 10 part 2 can be chapter 11 and there can be more of a break between it and chapter 10 because of their differences in tone.

Finishing up the dialogue in the second half was the most difficult part since I needed it to also match up with dialogue and events in that one-shot I mentioned. Most of the dialogue in the recording was easy to write, but the challenge was carefully choosing how much information I wanted to give out in it.

I updated the SPDU article, but still need to fill out the sections for characters that were mentioned or had their names revealed in this chapter. There'll be updates to several articles, and a follow-up post with a lot of notes about this chapter.

10 Jul 2026

Yesterday I updated the wiki with information from chapter 16 of I Was a Software Developer... and published the article for glitches with information from it:

📄 Glitches

Because of the coincidental timing of when this article was published, I made an illustration and caption commemorating it and added them to the Illustrations page.

Since Marcia is inspired by the main characters from Back to the Future, I couldn’t pass up making this reference 😅 That also means just 12 more articles until the 100 mark!

I have another article almost ready to be published, so I wanted to draw this before then. Chapter 10 part 2 of Same Place, Different Universe will introduce more characters, and articles to go with them. 5 characters are planned to be introduced, but when I get to writing out the entire chapter, I'll have to see about that. Chapters often turn out longer than I planned, and I might split them off into multiple parts.

7 Jul 2026

Lorraine joins in the celebration in this finished drawing commemorating the launch of Version 3.1!

Although I didn't finish this when I announced it on the wiki, I'm glad to finish it now! It took much longer than how I planned this as a simple sketch, but I think it was worth it! This is my first full-color, shaded vector standalone illustration to be added to the Illustrations page, since many of the story illustrations need to be updated with characters' redesigns.

The next updates I have planned after this are continuing my draft for chapter 10 of Same Place, Different Universe parts 1 and 2, and a few more character concepts to be added to the Development Room. Part 1 is mostly finished while part 2 is in the earlier stages. I'll still need to plan what illustrations I'll want to make for it; part 2 will introduce more characters and in a carnival setting!

3 Jul 2026

A WIP for an illustration was added to the sidebar!

I started this as a sketch shortly after I realized that OS Version 3 underwent enough continuity drift and refinements since the start of it that it could be considered Version 3.1.

Wénjié had a slight redesign here; her jacket was shortened to highlight her dress, which also has a bowtie added to it. She might have only two ponytails or the third one just isn't visible from this angle.

This was going to be another drawing I would’ve finished as the line art in Freeform, but I still wasn’t quite satisfied after I spent a lot of time fixing up the proportions and cleaning it up. It seemed easier and more satisfying to remake it with vectors in Inkscape, so I started it. Most of the base coloring is finished.

Larger view:

29 Jun 2026

Another sketch finished from my half-finished pile, this one is of Stephanie. I started this one shortly after her re-introduction in If at First You Don't Succeed...

In her redesign, I gave her robot antennae ears that look like they're made of wood with metal rivets to reference the wood cases that Apple 1 units are usually shown having. I thought that gave her steampunk elf vibes so I drew her in an alternate outfit in that style.

Her usual style is based on 1970's hippie fashion, but steampunk and fantasy styles are also ones she likes.

This was supposed to be a sketch but I spent so much time cleaning it up and making adjustments to it. I launched the Illustrations page to go with it!

📄Illustrations

The next illustrations to be posted will be two of scenes of Valencia's collaboration with Chariots of Colors (see the 27th Apr update), and an illustration of two other characters that commemorates this project reaching version 3.1.

25 Jun 2026

Sidney (Commodore 64) is being re-introduced from Version 2 with a redesigned outfit, and tweaks to her role! In Version 3.1, she returns as a DJ and celebrity chef? More details and a color sketch of her outfit are in the Development Room page:

📄 Development Room

Along with a backlog of character concepts I'm planning to add there, I also have other half-finished character sketches from weeks or a few months ago that I returned to complete them. This one of Juna was one I started just after I published the article for Highway to Shell. This'll also be added to the Illustrations page once I publish it 🙃

I was listening to the song that's the namesake of this team and thought that Juna, usually stoic and professional, could have a hidden depth of being skilled at expressing herself through music, with hard rock being her forte.

23 Jun 2026

There are characters I have ideas for that I'm going to introduce, or re-introduce without already having a story appearance. The details for them are what I’m considering. They’re not all finalized, but I still wanted to introduce these characters and will through a new page:

📄 Development Room

By doing this, I broke a rule that I held on to since the start of Version 3 of only introducing characters once they already had an appearance in a story or wiki template. That rule has a purpose, and it’s helpful to me for writing about characters on the wiki. It gives constraints to keep the articles at a manageable length and complexity to start with.

However, I'm held back by it when I have ideas for characters that I want to introduce, but haven't been able to feature yet. It's also a rule meant to be broken when it's too limiting.

The first I'll be introducing is a Windows XP character. She doesn't have a finalized name yet since I'm trying to decide between a few. Next to be added will be a character being re-introduced from Version 2 with a redesign!

18 Jun 2026

Chapter 16 of I Was a Software Developer... is published, and with it, a sudden major retcon. Changing the name of the setting! I included an author comment about it in the chapter:

Title: "How Can We Report This Without it Being Mistaken for a Prank Call?"

Damien and his group investigate while they try not to reveal the secrets of the OSes to Glorinda since she’s a human. They need to work with Glorinda because of her credentials to investigate the building, but with her enthusiasm for investigating the paranormal, keeping these secrets from her might be easier said than done.

I got stuck on parts of this chapter halfway through drafting it, but when I revisited it after a few months, I did with a fresh mind. That helped a lot with overcoming where I got stuck.

The janitor doesn't have a given name, but I liked writing the scenes with him the most! There's lore stuff in here to be added to the wiki about the glitches that can appear in the Human World.

Due to the name change, I'll need to go through each story chapter again, but I'll need to at a later time anyways to update many of the illustrations because of the character design changes introduced in Version 3.1.

17 Jun 2026

If at First You Don't Succeed... trivia

Some trivia for this story, which also goes into something that can happen in my writing process: changing the script after I start drawing. I changed the punchlines to parts 3 times.

1. At the end of part 2; I changed it to Stephanie and Diana lamenting that what they said sounded better in their heads. That's how I felt about the planned punchline. It didn't sound as great as I thought when I wrote it out 😔
2. At the end of part 4; indecisiveness took over when I was trying to decide between multiple punchlines. To keep this part from being overly complicated, I went for an open-ended one.
3. At the end of part 7; Katsumi getting upstaged by Lorraine's performance was part of it, but the punchline was going to be Petunia showing up again, remarking "Heh heh heh... Is that a hint of jealousy from you?" This punchline was going to be based on a show host not wanting to be upstaged by a participant.

That general idea is kept for part 7, but I replaced Petunia's re-appearance with Paulette re-appearing and causing trouble with her remarks. She's been established as being a heckler in the audience but she was less disruptive than when Juna and Valencia argued in part 3.

It just felt right to have Paulette return at the end from the first part. She gets along very well with Lorraine, but both of them clash with Katsumi due to their differences in attitudes. They can get along, after having a better understanding of each others' perspectives (and Paulette promising to not cause too much trouble), but they still have their moments.

Chapter 16 of IWASD is almost finished, and I have an outline for chapter 17. I also have a page in-progress for characters I want to introduce, but their designs or other details might not be finalized. I'd be going against my usual rule of introducing characters only after they had at least one story appearance. It's been a helpful rule for how I write their articles on the wiki, but also held me back from introducing some that I have ideas for that I've been wanting to get to.

The rest of the updates from March have been moved to the Update Logs Archives.

15 Jun 2026

A closer look of the background for another illustration for I Was a Software Developer... chapter 16. It'll be on the screen of a black and white TV within the illustration, but I still wanted to show the office in color!

I drew in some of the line art after exporting the render, and put BlenderKit assets together quickly for this, but modified some of the textures to work with cel shading.

It's the office that Damien went to in chapter 15. It had a gray and white color scheme in the original, but I changed my mind on it when I modeled part of it for this illustration. I changed it to a 1970's style office with lots of orange and brown wood paneling, and I went back and update the description of it in that chapter. It's also an expansion:

This is the old description:

I forgot to post the second WIP before publishing this one, but I added it to the sidebar. It's drawn in an art style based on Scooby Doo. This inspiration came from the direction this chapter took when I resumed writing it.

5 Jun 2026 (posted 8 Jun)

At this point, I think this project reached Version 3.1. Unlike the other version changes, this one happened through gradual refinements and continuity drift. I noticed enough of it to update the wiki article about this version:

📄 Version 3

Continuity drift can be an annoyance with writing, but I don't mind that it happened. My approach with how I've been writing for this project allows it; at the start of Version 3, I wrote a lot of worldbuilding details about the teams and their locations, but I wasn’t entirely sure about some of them.

As I got to writing new stories and continuing others, some ideas I had then drifted in ways I wouldn't have expected, but I saw them as improvements. Details I wasn’t fully decided about at the start could become finalized while writing these story chapters.

However, there's still an annoyance to this with needing to go back to update wiki articles, usually multiple of them for sharing information that became outdated. Right now, I’m still in the process of introducing several character redesigns.

I'll also have to go back and update several story chapters due to the redesigns 🙃

Possibly retconning its "present" time from 2010 to 2017 is one of the unexpected changes. I had a lot more ideas for characters based off of technology introduced in the 2010's than I did at the start of Version 3. It works out since I still don’t have very many ideas for technology introduced after 2020 😅

The Clubs article was updated with the Previous Version template to mark that it’s only applicable to Version 3.0 🥲

The idea of clubs as secondary groups that can bring OSes across teams together was introduced early in Version 3. These clubs are mostly based on different aspects of retrocomputing and inspired by retrocomputing events.

As I wrote more story chapters throughout last year, distinguishing clubs from teams started to feel clunky so I retconned all but one into being teams; I retconned Computing Old-School Museum of Superstars (COSMOS) to be a museum that several OSes might work or volunteer at. The members of the other clubs-turned-teams can still live in different sectors from where they’re headquartered.

COSMOS being a club instead of a team in Version 3.0 was to keep it from being redundant as a team. However, it wasn't as well-defined because as the other clubs because it had too much overlap with them, so it became redundant as one.

Most of the bits of continuity drift that OS Version 3 had since its start have been positive, but the most frustrating one of all has been about the system time reset event because it's of an issue that can happen with writing is introducing plot points that don't go anywhere or get dropped.

That's something I've been trying to avoid. The system time reset event was an ambitious starting point, and I had a storyline planned around it. If I hadn’t gotten too sidetracked with other things, I could've had enough focus to return to it.

If there's a writing lesson I can learn from this, what could it be? Since I go back and forth between storylines, I needed to have enough notes prepared in advance for each of them so I could return to one without anything nor scrambling to fill in the gaps.

It'd also be great to not get sidetracked so often, but it’s led me to write out or draw ideas I had that I might not have otherwise gotten to 🤔

3 Jun 2026

I Was a Software Developer... chapter 16 WIP 1

When I started If at First You Don’t Succeed... I had a partial draft of IWASD chapter 16, which I’m resuming while juggling chapter 4 of my other story project. I got stuck trying to continue it, but after putting it on hold for months, I looked at my draft again and could get past the earlier roadblocks!