Posted August 02, 2026 by CD-RR0M đż
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The 2026 Futures Championships are now over.
A postmortem has been added to version 1.0.3. The bonus folder has been updated one last time.
With our collective 30+ years as competitive and/or queer adolescent swimmers, we wrung from our experiences from its world of competition, in-jokes, telltales, heartaches, races, coaches, speeches, practices, stretches, drylands, sets, relays, warmups, blood, sweat, tears, joy, anger, identity, values, victory, losses, and everything in between to give you a small piece of the voracious world we were a part of. We hold the water, salt, and chlorine dear in our hearts, and we hope that this serves as our celebration, memorial, manifesto, and obituary of the pool, and as a reminder of the pure freedom the water holds and the fierce love it can give to you to find and uncover your true self, in those dark undiscovered places in the deep sea of your heart, or in lapping waves of everyday life, beyond the lane lines.
This mentions and references death, drowning, transphobia and transmisogyny, and vomit.
- three sisters who admire, love, embody, and miss swimming very much
Myself, Jeanie, and Mayhem knew we wanted to make something together as a trio. At the beginning, SWIM4SWIM started as a setup about a swim team and the dynamics between swimmers. Starting off, we wanted to show the kinds of women around swimming, and there were a few ideas floating before the jam started properly.
We had a poor chum who would have drowned under the bulkhead, fracturing an already fraying IM relay team from ever accepting their ambivalent new race member.
In another scenario, was a swim mom who would get involved with the team coach and reveal the more adult intervention and bureaucracy in childrenâs sports.
As for me, I desperately wanted to play with the taboo idea of a camera found in a locker room, and mess with the POV of the narrator character as secrets were uncovered.
But now, SWIM4SWIM is about womenâs bodies, bodies of water, and swimming itself.
Did you know?
About 46% of adults have anxiety around swimming.
In July 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in the US, there were 839 recorded unintentional drownings. July 2020 in particular still remains the highest number of drownings in any single month to this day.
July is still consistently the deadliest month of any year for drowning. Thatâs only in America.
Only 1 in 3 women worldwide can swim.
More than 90% of drowning deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
âFor every fatal recorded case,â says Oporia, âwe think around 14 more go unreported.â
World Drowning Prevention Day is observed annually on July 25.
Swimming was inevitably going to be a strange topic and a deeply personal extraction process for all of us to talk about. Swimming is very dangerous. Please use a lifevest.
Another fun fact. Indoor pools used to be known as "natatoriums".
week 1 - may 31 - june 06 - writing / music demos / gone fishin
week 2 - june 07 - june 13 - writing / music demos / art established
Iâm Rom, who pushed the project along. I wrote, coded, and drew BGs.
I swim long distance in freestyle and breaststroke, especially in 200 BR. At first I thought swimming 1650 yards, a mile, was stupid - it takes over 18 minutes to swim a mile, yet casual track runners can race it in under 10 minutes. But now, I try to swim over a mile every time I go to the pool, especially now I donât race. It takes me over half an hour, and I savor each yard. I can wait, and keep going.
Early on, I read Sweet Poolside by ShĆ«zĆ Oshimi, then Chlorine by Jade Song at Mayhemâs recommendation. The idea of Miley and Yuun, a serious/hairy swimmer and her casual/hairless âfriendâ, was carried out through the rest of S4S. However, Chlorine fell short just where I needed it most. At this stage, I also was unsure how prominently Iâd want to include an Asian American perspective- these were not only American sentiments -but itâs obvious now that Yuun encapsulates these kinds of experiences in her early conversations with Miley, and even taking the triple-meaning talkdown from Coach Jo. Itâs revealed later that Yuun is not even American-born, but passes for one or at least gets assumed so.
In trying to seek non-American works I moved to memoir Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton, fascinated and moved by the simple but provocative watercolor silhouettes of pools, of other swimmerâs faces, and figures twisting in the blue waves. These watercolors became the basis of the visual identity of S4S, but, these memories, they werenât mine, clearly- yet it's in a way that was certain.
A swimmer, like me, but nothing like me at all. Someone I couldnât recognize by the tangy smell or texture of skin and dryness of hair, who swam in different waters. This idea formed the basis of Miley and Yuun's actual relationship.
I wanted to hear from voices I thought could sound similar to my own.
I pored through He/She/They by Schuyler Bailar, Fair Play by Katie Barnes, Let Us Play by Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne, and The Other Olympians by Michael Waters.
These texts would make up the backbone of the conversations, discussions, and research about the history of both trans athletics and policy into American sports, locker room culture, and hormone regulation or restrictions, topics that would be revealed to be the centerpiece of the narrative.
The internal conflicts within the LGBT inclusion movement for American athletics and stories of reluctant activism seemed to be what I was searching for this entire time, detailing stories of normal people who were taken out of their original contexts and turned into icons, even going to address the general publicâs misconception of sports and understandings on transgender bodies- but suddenly it all felt alien again. Something is still missing.
69% of Americans now say transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on teams that match their birth gender compared to 62% of Americans in 2021. At the exact same time, 39% of Americans now say they know a transgender person, compared to the 31% in 2021. This currently means that only 30% of those who know a transgender person favor allowing athletes to play on teams that match their current gender identity, down from 40% in 2021.
But I already knew that.
I wondered why I couldnât truly talk to anyone else other than my sisters about this. I wanted to know why it felt like I was ignoring something completely obvious that I couldnât show to others, even if I tried to explain something so clearly, and grasp why it seemed to never be understood the way I intended. Then it was there.
My focus shifted from wanting to comprehend trends of anti-trans legislation in sports from the right and having language to understand and present evidence to inform possible rhetoric in our characters, to something much more simple and a much more realistic sentiment that I had seen myself, not just in texts.
There, in front of me. All around me. All-surrounding and pressuring to crush. I just needed to remind myself. This is water. This is water.
Now, I finally had a conclusion of what I wanted to create, and presented a thesis. I suddenly knew it was important that at least one name rhymed with â-ileyâ.
To me, swimming is a state of mind I spent so much time immersed in as a growing teenager and then instantly tried to repel in order to become an adult and study up. To others, it was their brief ticket to escape an even more painful situation, a chance to prove themselves, or their only solace in a world full of turmoil and hate; the pool was where all worries would fade away and just pure determination would shine. To even more, itâs just a bad anxiety exercise and sunburns, remnants of old fears and the shock of cold sharp rocks underfoot, an all too real reminder of everyoneâs mortality.
Comments, of being vain and selfish for confidence in our athletic bodies- assumptions about decisions that no one has business to know- unfounded remarks about our personal lives and relationships- suggestions that had nothing to do with playing sports- were always, has always, and may forever be from âfamilyâ, other cis queer athletes who judge us for transitioning, other trans and enbies for not, other Asians for entering a âwhite spaceâ, even online friends will surprise me by flat out refusing to engage- these peers all believed they were excused from dismissing or even outright attacking a part of me and you that will make up because weâre both just some gay girls who eat hot chip and lie, COVID made us both trans, I shouldnât perpetuate the âbikini effectâ even if I âcanât help itâ, and keeping up with sports is just so chuddy anyway, right?
Water makes up 60% of our body.
A fun fact about the script: every quote in a card was spoken or written by some person at any point in real time.
week 3 - june 14 - june 20 - coding / music production / sprites made
Hi Jeanie! Thanks so much for composing the soundtrack, and being one of our consultants of course. Can you tell us if you had a favorite event to swim?
- I donât think I ever really had a favorite, but man I kicked ass at 100 Back and 100 Breast. Loved me those spriting events
Were there any direct musical inspirations you pulled from? Early on, we decided on using electronic music; do you remember if you had a specific reason or preference for the electronic genre in general? When you first heard the original pitch(es), did you curate a list for musical inspiration or anything similar?
- I think the electronic soundtrack worked best because it enabled me to get a lot of wet sounding sounds (if that makes sense) In retrospect I wish I could have implemented a bit more acoustic sounds but overall Iâm very happy with how everything came out sounding
Did you have a favorite track to work on?
Inversely, which track felt the most difficult to iterate or had given you the most trouble?
- I think if I had to choose a favorite it would have to be Face2Face. It was a super simple thing I had kinda knocked out on a whim but it definitely stuck with me. No track really ever game me problems besides one of the quiet moment tracks, and that was just because I had recorded it poorly from my synth
Are there any specific notes on any particular tracks that youâd like to tell, like moods you intended or sudden inspirations you had on a particular day?
- 3:30PM was a complete accident. Genuinely no idea how it came out like that. I know it uses something from 6:00 PM and it shares some aspects of a demo of it, but it kinda appeared like that and I think it fits perfectly. It feels like a locker room to me.
Face2Face was something I had recorded a couple of times, the one that ended up in the game is probably the slowest iteration I made of it. A lot of songs were slowed down at least some just to fit the mood better and not feel out of place.
How do you feel having participated in a game project in general? Iâd like to hear your experience in trying out something new, especially if there were things that surprised you during development. While you were making demos, I felt I couldnât really provide you with solid song samples until much later in the development (my bad!!)- has seeing your music in the context of the game and the scenes changed how you feel about it now?
- I had a great time! It delights me seeing everything work so well in context and having everything working and in front of me makes me giddy. If I could do one thing differently Iâd definitely want to make sure that Iâm experimenting more with the creation of tracks and how to flesh things out a little bit easier.
Lastly, I canât believe this is our first collab! Also, is this your first gamejam, too!? Were you surprised or hopeful when I approached you to specifically make a visual novel? Were there things that surprised you now that the game has been out for almost two weeks?
- I was a bit surprised to be asked to produce music while never doing it in my life, but it's a step I had wanted to take for a looooooooooooong time so it was fantastic to get a start! And I think overall for a gamejam, I was able to make some bangers B) Iâve been enjoying what people have thought and taken away from the game, glad people are using and browsing the swim dex because thatâs got some really important shit in there.
Thank you for being the composer! I hope we work again soon!
Thank you! :3
week 4 - june 21 - june 27 - coding / music production / cards made
Hi- Iâm Mayhem. My main role was to work on the artwork like the character illustrations and cards that were incorporated into SWIM4SWIM, but I also served as a consultant- as we all did- for the story.
Hi Mayhem! Really appreciate you creating all the character illustrations and cards. Did you have an event you specialized in, or like to swim too?
I specialized in 100+200 Breaststroke, and 200 IM. I liked shorter events, but 500 Free was an exception because I liked to freak out my coaches by sprinting every other lap. I was supposed to specialize in 400 IM as well, but I stopped swimming it when I hit college. Even now when you look at the rankings itâs one of my top events. I could never quite shake it off.
What were some of the visual inspirations you looked at during sketching and drafting? I remember there was a painting you did early on to watercolor styletest, can you tell me your thoughts about how it inspired you?
Most inspiration came from my own experiences and teammates. Some were things I used to do- otherwise it came from people who inspired me as I was competing, and some literal models- so there was a large database to reference. I normally design characters with story in mind, their character being established well before I even put pen to paper- but I felt like a larger unspoken story could be told through the body shape of the athletes. I wanted to pay respect to the work of the folds, stretches, muscles, and aches that create an athleteâs body, creating that base, after which I built their silhouettes and faces from there- even though we ended up not using faces. As for specifics:
There were two main test pieces I made- one of Brigid and one based on Howard Pyleâs The Mermaid. Iâm not very familiar with watercolors- so I knew I wanted to try to recreate an existing piece to practice. And last year- at R0MMâs suggestion- I played Ten Metre Tide and loved how it recreated art pieces with its own characters. Which led to my own shoddy recreation, with the very basic ideas of the athletes at the time. It worked very well for me to get used to my new tools for this project though and highlighted watercolors' unique advantage of fluidity.
I wasnât really sure how much detail I could put into my artwork for this- so I used a painting of Brigid to experiment as well. Itâs probably the most detailed of the pieces that were made for this project- nothing else got the privilege of receiving eyes (or was there something else?)
Was there a fav card/sprite to draw? On the other side, which frame or character gave you the hardest time to design?
My favorite character to design was Brigid- itâs why I ended up using her for the detail test piece because I knew if I couldnât stand adding that amount of detail to her I wouldnât like the amount of detail Iâd be putting into the rest of the project.
Even though I love Brigid to death- Yuunâs Post-Timeskip sprite made me happier than any other piece. I ended up giving them a mullet/layered hair as a fun easter egg to a teammate who surprised me with a random mullet when we met up years later, but they really look great with it + layers.
They really look so inviting and warm here donât they? Just take their hand. The waterâs warm.
I really struggled with designing Miley- mostly because she was so open to interpretation. At the point in the story that itâs being told- there isnât much extra backstory that her body type may provide- so I could do anything- and it gave me a bit of decision paralysis. All I knew was the way I wanted her to carry herself- and that she needed to have good hair. The chlorine and salt water wasnât destroying it anymore, so she automatically got the best hair.
As I understand, you can do digital and physical art, but have you had a preference? What was it like to work with a purely physical medium? During development, I was a little nitpicky because I had to also bother you about specific lighting or possibility of scanning (sorry abt that btw) - did these particular cares change anything about how youâve made art before?
While I can do both- I tend to lean towards digital due to my own tendency, as Iâm sure most artists know all too well, to want to continue to correct my own work. Iâve been watching a lot of Spilled Ink on youtube and wanted to return to physical and traditional art, so it was a nice change of pace and challenge, although I had to color correct a lot of pieces- we only have warm lighting in my home. I also donât own a proper scanner, so I really had to be careful with how I took my photos and shadows when I did- but I knew that and understood that going into it- so not too much changed aside from how I sent files. (Photo->Crop/Warp to âflattenâ image if needed->Color Correction-Other edits like background removal->Send) I knew I was probably going to need to retake some images and re-do some edits as well- so having to be nitpicky never bothered me much.
Iâm really honored that we can finally work on something, since youâve been drawing for as long as I remember. Youâve been in short gamejams, if I remember correctly, but how was it to work on this longer form project? Did you enjoy working on a visual novel as well, and was it as you expected? How do you feel about the project two weeks out since release?
Iâve never actually been in any gamejams.
The longest project I have going on is my annual self-portait but otherwise this is the first real interactive project I've been able to participate in. Iâve always been intimidated by the idea of making a visual novel- I see a lot of the stereotypical dating simulator visual novel style projects and go âoh no- thatâs a lot of artwork and detail.â I really enjoyed this though, we were able to be a lot more flexible with what was incorporated and how it was incorporated.
Holy shit its been two weeks
I was really worried about the release of this. Iâm proud of my work as an artist on this project- that work is sound. But the content, as someone who swam Division I in the US, worked both in and out of the pool on both sides of the sport- athlete and coach -was really difficult. I have a long relationship with swimming- as do both my sisters -and I was really worried about the complexity of what we were trying to bring to the table. Not to mention- since we all got to essentially work as consultants- there are quite a few personal conversations that got adapted into the project.
When we first implemented them- I couldnât finish it. I got scared that it would read too harsh or painful for others. Iâm glad we kept it in. Iâve had more meaningful conversations with other swammers thanks to this project than Iâve had in a long time.
Thanks tons for being the illustrator. Letâs look forward to another project soon!
Thanks for having me!
(all images can be found in the bonus folder)
week 5 - june 28 - july 04 - game finish
week 6 - july 05 - july 11 - game polish
The logo was designed by AbnormalChaos, who went on to help refine the GUI windows and icons. Chaosâ help was indispensable in adding the last visual cues and pieces to the gameâs visual identity.
When Chaos asked for the general premise of the game, I emphasized the shaving plotpoint and wanted to highlight a mirror or reflection aspect into the design. The original logo mockup had mirrored text, but Chaos suggested the âMâ and âWâ to line up and allow negative space to create the illusion of a razor. It was perfect.
In the final version of the logo, the upside down â4â was turned into an inverted Venus or female symbol, and the colors are based off conference emblems and similar athletic logos. Many of the elements within the logo were reused such as in the swimdex and Chaos also provided some extra GUI assets that made the game more legible; Iâm really grateful she was able to lend a hand.
Powerpinch ended up not only recording quite a bit of the water sound effects, but the lake footage as well. As the teamâs token NARP, he gave us all general support whenever possible.
The GUI and game was designed to be legible and simple, despite its story. Coding was not complicated this time around but as both writer and programmer I realized I had the very particular control over how the text would be conveyed in RenâPy.
As a purely linear story, the narrative serves fine, but the actual beats are not meant to belong in a purely fictional sense. (Sorry, but the disclaimer was [mostly] there for jokes. Glad itâs a success.) But being written directly into the narrative text just… didnât feel completely right.
âTelling a storyâ isnât the main reason why I want to make this specifically into a visual novel or even a âcomputer gameâ program. I wanted to allow time and space for the player to absorb the real world ideas that reveal themselves despite not being explicit in the âgameâ.
The swimdex formed during development. As beta reader, Ougi had listed out specific swimming terms they were unfamiliar with, and adding a general index was just an agreeable idea. The swimdex quickly proved to do more than be a glossary, it helped slim the script down to its important scenes. As editor, Michael helped cut the main script from 16k to 11k, but through the cuts I was able to fill out gaps within the swimdex. As more and more parts were added into it, character vignettes, mini scenes, relevant posts that resembled character conversations, and of course finally the news articles, realities of S4S would reveal themselves and mingle here.
Mathcat conducted beta tests and helped aim for accessibility, which included adding a static âdryâ mode of the game that eliminated the wavy visuals. Pretty sweet! Along with proofreading I consider one of her bigger contributions is how, in a tragic way, she pointed out the swimdex could be completely missable. Even Iâm unsure how much I ended up deliberating on my own about this, but in the end, Iâm trusting readers to dive in on their own into the swimdex.
In general, I sought to keep things simple in the code while focusing on a stronger written delivery. Last year, if youâre not familiar, my previous entry to Toxic Yuri VN Jam was incen(diary), featuring a guided user experience and an in-game file exploration system. I was very excited to push RenâPy variables and screens, but in trying to encode the files… it broke frequently. and hahahah that is soooo tragic lol !rue is like what are u doinggg!!!!!!!
finals - july 12 - july 13 - game publish
Did you know? Lake Ontario is freshwater. I'm sorry to say the photo used in the final scene is not Lake Ontario. Yuun would not taste like salt, contrary to popular belief.
One note Iâve frequently seen is the use of mixed media. With phone pictures to hand-written text, illustrated cards symbols, stylized watercolor sprites, even real life footage recorded on a Miku Hatsune decorated camera in a plastic cover, I hope this is a trend that other VNs continue and take inspiration from everywhere and anywhere.
However, hearing a âmixed realityâ aspect at first made me guffaw when I heard a friend describe it this way. But no, there's a good reason thereâs links to the actual articles in the swimdex while keeping the disclaimer that the entire work is âfictionâ. Regardless, SWIM4SWIM wears quite a lot on its sleeve for media inspirations. Both of these ideas, even if not completely trendy (yet), I hope continue too.
The cards are clearly rooted in my unfettered love for the Monogatari series- known for its bombardment of information onto the viewer with text and visuals intentionally meant to be quick to display and disappear.
The music showcases Jeanieâs adoration and learnings into electronic sound and embodies our shared love for Justice in their oppressing, repetitively hypnotic, and engrossing sounds. She made a list of inspirations like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and of course had to put Boards of Canada on when we brainstormed together.
The artwork is a labor of love from Mayhem, who had always spent any time she could steal away to doodle and try a hand at webcomics. Though swim practice always took so much time, it was hard enough to have a hand at illustrating and painting if one had to keep fingers wrapped in a bandage from a laneline run-in accident.
These were all things that we were discouraged to pursue or talk of, so we could swim instead.
SWIM4SWIM is a story about all the pain we find when we jump headfirst into water, pools full of contradictions and lies made to soothe wounds with saltwater. I say swimming since… My big secret is that I crafted the full ending. Each of the characters have full storylines. But, like our protagonist- I canât write them down. Iâve come to understand my sense of humor has always been ill-timed, and sick.
Instead, I wrote about basic things we need to remind ourselves, over and over again. Athleticism and competition have made us the women we are, or not. Athletes are normal people with other interests. Youâve never forgotten how to swim. We have never stopped being swimmers. I canât let this go on. I refuse. We should want to support and have good exercise for each other. To jump off a diveboard and breathe hard and laugh with splashes and to enjoy your body whatever form you want. I want you to live a long and healthy life. I want you to be there and to play with me. This is water. This is water. There is no end to water. Weâll go swimming again soon.
week ? - ??? - ??? - ??? / ??? / ???
march 14th - went to a coffeeshop and received a letter. thanks casey.
march 16th - when i ask, my roommate said it's only something he did for fun. i'm confused.
march 20th - i looked at gym membership prices and scoff.
march 24th - i looked again but this time i tell myself i'm not that serious. really.
april 7th - cried over football. i don't know football. something is terribly wrong.
april 16th - i ask my sisters if i'm thinking too much about it.
april 17th - the first thing that strikes me is how expensive all the gear is the suit, cap, goggles, towel, bottle, bag, milk. it adds up but it'd be worth it, right
april 18th - it costs $700USD yearly to be member of the gym. this is the best deal- and plus! it's priced for a family of 4. there's a free trial for a week, if i just want a sample.
april 19th - i don't have family here.
april 22nd - something is surely, truly, wrong.
may 1st - i think there's something wrong with myself.
may 4th - i'm ok again. tell my sisters i'm ok. i'm really, going to try to stay ok.
may 17th - i read the speech 'this is water' and learn that david foster wallace killed himself at 47
may 21th - start a one week gym trial. just to get toes in the water. just to see. just to feel.
may 22nd - the pool floor is too shallow. i can't do starts.
may 23rd - the temperature is too high. i breathe through tar and murk.
may 24th - kids clamber into my lane. i teach them to blow bubbles.
may 25th - an old lady says she admires my swimming. i blush.
may 26th - i share a lane with a man who fistbumps me. i grin.
may 27th - i wish the old lady a good day as she leaves. i tear up.
may 28th - my trial ends. i sit in the locker room for longer than i realize.
may 29th - i strike a deal and split the costs with my roommate for the proper gym membership. my roommate almost pukes the first day he tries to swim. pushed himself too hard. i'm amused.
may 30th - a voice still says i'm doing something wrong to myself but how is that possible when my body floats perfectly fine? its true, being in the water makes me forget the pain. pain that isn't in my limbs or fingers or legs or arms - but pain in my heart. pain in my soul that gasps when i dive in. pain in my voice that screams as i'm cheering for myself to keep swimming. pain in my memories of companions lost to time and deeper waters. i do seem like a good swimmer. thanks casey.
