Axel & Dom's Route - A Foreword.

So, with that cat (or cheetah?) now out of the bag, now might be a good time to discuss this route, our approach, philosophy and exactly what we're going for with this new route.

So, as you all probably already know, this is a route that will explore a polyamorous relationship. This was something that was planned before Sileo even debuted publicly back in 2020, but back then the idea that the route would explore polyamory was pretty much the only concrete idea. As we've discussed before, we went into Diego's route without having enough to work with which resulted in us ultimately feeling our way through the route and making major decisions for the plot as we went - this has a lot to do with why Diego's route wound up being so rough compared to our newer material, though there's far more to it than just that.

Thankfully, by the time we started work on Tai's route we'd already worked out the major beats of the story and the themes we wanted to explore, though Tai's route was also subject to many, many additions during development. With that said, the core of Tai's route never changed, we just added to it, and I think that went a long way to strengthen that route and deliver the story in a satisfying and entertaining way. The experience of developing Tai's route is largely emblematic of how we want to develop new routes. Believe it or not, Logan's entire role in the story was not something planned ahead - instead, we had a largely blank slate for Day 14 and once we'd reached that point in the story, we brainstormed for ideas on what could be done on that day. Both CurryCatz and I had the same absolutely insane idea, and despite both of us being reluctant to put it forward for consideration, we soon found a lot of inspiration within that idea. Honestly, I love how it came out and I love what it did for the overall story of Tai's Route. Stuff like that is exactly the kind of thing we want to embrace in future routes, so long as it doesn't interfere with the main story being told in a way that undermines it. 

In the time we've spent working on Sileo so far, we've constantly been experimenting with our characters and trying out different ideas for those characters in other routes. With that said, Tai's Route foreshadows a great deal of the plot of Axel's Route (we'll call it that for short) through what happens to Axel and the characters around him in that route. In general, the four routes are all part of the exact same timeline until that fateful sequence on Day 5 where Adrian decides just who it is he wants to pursue. This is why some events such as the nightmare sequence, the 'shark attack' and the hot springs sequence occur in multiple routes with some variances. 

Now I know we haven't wrapped up Tai's route just yet, nor have we completed Axel's arc in that route. But you've seen the events up until Day 19 play out. Now, imagine what would happen if on Day 5 Adrian had chosen to pursue Axel or Dom instead of Tai. How would Adrian's direct involvement in this whole arc change the outcome?

That is the exact circumstances you will be journeying into in Axel's route. Axel likes Dom, but Dom seems distant and hesitant though he is unwilling to explain why. Meanwhile, Axel's childhood friend Russell is there for him through thick and thin, advocating for him, supporting him and drying his tears. The eventual conclusion of that arc in Tai's Route is one possibility for those circumstances. What we see in Axel's route is an entirely different outcome. 

Entering into this route, Adrian is well aware of Axel's feelings towards Dom and that Dom seems ignorant or otherwise not receptive to those feelings. This is the initial dilemma - prompted by none other than bestboi Eric, Adrian comes to realize that he harbours some slight feelings for one of these two characters. Combined with the new introduction, it'll be entirely possible to pursue Axel and Dom separately. Both will lead into the same route, but depending on who it is you're actively pursuing, the route will vary in a number of ways. In the upcoming release, the opening to this route has been adapted to fit with the old intro and will likely remain largely unchanged when the new intro is completed. As of right now, you'll have the same granular choice you've always had with one key difference - Axel and Dom are now separate choices. 

This scene should be a good demonstration of how this choice will matter going forward. While the conversation with Eric largely follows the same beats, there are considerable dialogue variances depending on who it is you've chosen. The new introduction will replace this granular choice with an affinity system which will automatically guide you down a certain route based on your choices throughout the introduction and offer you special scenes only accessible if you've made the right choices. When 1x4R is complete, this will contain the first of these special sequences, but only if you've made several correct decisions throughout the day in Diego's favor.

An interesting thing about Axel's route is how the first major arc of this route is a hard right turn right at the beginning of the route. An existing character is introduced to the plot far earlier than his appearances in other routes, and this has massive consequences for the overall plot. And it's this specific element which has got me so excited to write this route. The first major arc of this route will make a lot of people very happy I think. I can't wait for you all to see what we've been cooking up. 

Anyway! That's enough for now, I'm drinking cider and it's surely coming across in my writing by this point, so that's enough for now! Just know we have something very special and very cool in the works here, and I've been so excited to get started on this route for some time now - so fuck it, we start now! 

(Yes, we'll still be working on Tai's Route and the Intro Remake. But the best possible thing for our forward momentum is to have many different things available to work on so when we hit a snag like we have with this update we can just say "fuck it" and do something else to rebuild that creative energy before unleashing that same energy on the material we had trouble with before. It's all about momentum!)