Surprise, Sex!

Things slowed down a bit working on the game, as you may have noticed. A nasty crossing between my netbook and a thermos full of tea gave me a scare, but that wasn't the primary cause. As is my greatest boon and burden, I refuse to write if I don't think I can do the piece justice at the moment, especially when it comes to this game. The section I'm working on right now is coming out differently than I expected, to be honest-- and a deal longer. The process is pretty organic, and while I have goals and plans, I leave myself a lot of room to improvise according to what sounds right, like what would actually happen.

So what does that mean? It means that, even though I thought this update was actually going to have very little sex in it, embarrassingly enough, a big sex scene has sprouted up, and I'm struggling with keeping the word count down for this section. Partly because it's already pretty lengthy, and partly because it makes the other sections all the more imbalanced. I was chewing on it a while deciding if I wanted to go back and cut stuff, but at this point, I'm thinking I'll take this where it needs to go, and go back to add in some more to the shorter section if necessary-- or maybe as part of v0.15, just to get v0.14 out the door already.

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With all that said, I'm tentatively marking another notch on the progress. Hopefully, there isn't much more actual writing to be done, and the last 20% should be putting all the pieces together in the game and getting it running, then proofing it out. If you're on my proofing list, it may be time to start easing out of your comas. If you're not on my proofing list, consider helping out! My pool of proofers is still embarrassingly small, and who knows how many are still alive for this round ^.^; I end up finding out about a lot of errors and typos well after release, and I want to snatch up as many as I can ahead of time!

Either way, I appreciate your patience, everyone :3 I'm still pretty nervous about how folks are going to take all the crazy new stuff going on, so part of me is in no rush to see all this released x3 But released it must be! I have so much more story to tell you. So for now, I'll leave you with an obscene little teaser for the new stuff written up just tonight! :3

"p-please, use me too! I-- there-- there's still room! If you get underneath...!" His face is bright scarlet as he lifts one leg, shaking on the edge of balance to demonstrate the open space below him and reveal the tight, pink hole between his cheeks, apparently thinking he can manage the both of them side by side...

One Nasty Cold Later...

Hail! I was out of commission for about a week on account of spending every waking moment wishing I was asleep, and every sleeping moment wishing I could breathe, so yes, bit of a delay. But I've gotten some more work in! Enough, I believe to bump the progress bar up a notch.

(++++++====)

The worst thing about these colds (or flu's, or whatever) is that they don't know when to go away. I could swear I've been past the worst of it for almost a week now, but I'm still all nasty and clogged up. Egh. Hope you guys are doing better out there! And here's another spoiler-ish, less depressing preview for the coming update!

I remember 'amateur magicians,' because it was like a double whammy of condescension. Magician is a nasty word at the college.

Halfway There!

Hopefully not time wise, but content wise, I do believe I'm at least halfway done with the basic content for v0.14. Not to jinx myself, but judging by previous releases, this is hopefully me picking up steam as the finish comes into sight :3

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And I'd like to take a moment to thank those of you who've been spontaneously donating of late ^.^; I know it doesn't make much sense to donate to a project when it seems to be stagnating like mine tends to between updates, but it feels a little like folks are cheering me on even when I falter, as silly as it sounds. As an extra bit of thanks, a rather longer preview. It's a little spoiler-y, so I've colored it to be harder to read unless you highlight it.

Hey. Everybody dies sometime. You sigh silently, pulling a vial from your pouch. When you break this seal, you have sixty seconds before the contents loses its potency.

Progress and a Tease

Another chunk written up. I swear I'm not playing favorites, but I'm pretty sure one of the three routes is going to come out a good deal heavier text-wise in this update. Can you guess which one??

(++++======)

40% of the base required content for v0.14 complete! And now, a five-word preview from today's writing:

          You've hired my skills at

Where are We Now?

Hello, folks! My friends in the chat room, and the comments on FA, and just about everywhere, tell me I should hurry up and make another blog post, even if I'm ashamed of how little progress I've made with the game so far. Yes, the game is still going, though dreadfully slow in its pace for a variety of reasons of varying validity. As for how far along it is toward the next update... well, that's a bit tricky. I have one large goal for this next update, to release the first chunk of the new story. To be honest, I'm expecting this next step to be pretty controversial, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people are disappointed with it. The real payoff will be long in coming, as this is the first step toward an actual full on story and ending.

So my dilemma is: the story itself needs setting up, but this initial stage may be frustrating. There's a good-sized chunk of side content that I'm also looking at developing, however-- less story, more treats. So I can either set my goal for just getting this first chunk of story done and out, or I can push to include some goodies as well to make it a nice overall update. Looking back to my previous posts, I resolved to make smaller, more rapid updates, but obviously, the rapid part hasn't worked out so well so far. That said, for now, I'll be estimating my progress according to the minimal requirements for the next version, if only to lend myself some small sense of accomplishment and the accompanying sanity. So, to the progress bar!

(+++=======)

30% Completion! I've spent a while trying to get it all straight in my head, but yes, one of the three main routes is just about complete for this chunk of the story. As I've mentioned before, the three collars serve a specific purpose in the future of this game: they delineate the three primary paths the plot can take once it's underway. This reflects the three main styles of relationship you can have with Lith. A lot of people want to make dominant Lith a fourth path, but I see it more as an overlay for the other paths. Of course, in some areas, this will break down Lith's behavior with you into six or nine possibilities rather than three, but such is the grave I've dug myself. As ever, I thank you all for your support, and I hope you enjoy the new version when it finally arrives! I'll try to post again soon!

MVOL Needs Guides!

First, if you haven't seen it yet, v0.13 is out, now featuring lady parts available for the avatar!

With that said, MVOL could use your help! I mentioned previously that we need proofers, and that's still true, but today I'd like to talk about guides. At least half the feedback I get on the game tends to be along the lines of "how do I do this or that," and while I do like to help people, it also leaves me very... conflicted on some levels.

The tricky thing about MVOL is that, to me, it has a little trouble fully qualifying as a game. It's interactive, yes, but the actual "gameplay" amounts to two things: exploration and repetition. That is, you work your way through, trying out new scenes, which unlock other scenes, and still others after that. Eventually, things stop unlocking right away, and you have to start doing certain scenes two or three times to push up this or that value high enough to unlock the next scene. And as you get into the really difficult stuff, you're forced to find the right scene or combination of scenes and access them several times, revving that cat up to be in just the right mindset for what you're trying to pull off. That basically describes the game's mechanics, from beginning to end.

What this means is that I could very simply say "In order to get to A, you just need to do B about X times, then go to C, and A should unlock." But then the player would do B about X times, go to C, and get their A scene and go home happy-- kind of like turning to page 28 in a book and reading what's there. The thing that sets MVOL apart from a naughty pick-your-own-adventure book (besides getting to change up the genders and naughty bits) is the hunt. The entire challenge is in finding ways to unlock those tricky scenes, and the concept behind it is supposed to be that if you think, "how would I get this cat to A if I was really there with him?" and if you understand how Lith works as a person, you'll immediately think to do B several times, then go to C. Not because someone told you, but because you thought it out in-game. That's immersion. That's the difference between coming up with a solution and just turning to page 28.

In short: I could tell you how to play the game, but then you wouldn't be playing it-- you'd be reading a book.

A lot of games rely on random number generation to create gameplay. I designed MVOL to try and make sense, and I specifically wrote the game to never used random elements for anything important. The only scenes that use random elements just cycle through potential outcomes in a random or semi-random fashion, to encourage you to try it several times and see what comes out. Figuring out how to access scenes is the entire game that I have designed, and I just don't have it in me to take that away from you.

So that's where you come in. I can't bear to spell out the game and leave it naked and meaningless, but I heartily encourage people to discuss the game from the outside-- to talk about their experiences with it and share tips and tricks. The logical extension of this is user-generated guides. If you think you have a good idea how the game works, I beseech you:

Write a Guide!

New people play MVOL every day, and a lot of them get confused at one point or another! This subforum is dedicated solely to being an official repository for guides to MVOL that we can link to from the game itself, to help players everywhere. But for that repository to help, we need more guides!

Whatever aspect of the game you'd say your experienced with, consider pitching in your own insight on how to overcome the harder parts of the game, or even just how to get started if someone hits a hitch early. There's a quick set of rules at the top to give you a basic idea of how to get started, including a link to email me if you've written a guide but you're not sure it's up to snuff. The closest I can get to telling people how to play is Petre's surly guide, and that's just not enough for a lot of folks out there!

The newbies are waiting for your help. Think of all the Lith's going uncollared without your guidance! Write a guide today!

v0.13 is Live!

With this, a wave of horizontal expansions on the game draw to a close! I'm done for the moment adding options and side content, and starting with the next update, we'll be jumping into the story! This update has a little bit of something for just about everyone as we wrap things up!

For those of the more female persuasion among you, be it in body or mind, vagina/nodick avatar support has been added to the game! You can now play a full herm or a regular woman, although I should note that if you choose not to have a dick, you won't have access to as many scenes. The black collar, for example, relies entirely on a scene that you can't access right now. I may expand V/ND avatar scenes later, but for now, I hope you enjoy hunting down the slightly less obvious hanky panky you can get up to with this new equipment :3 For a hint, I'll note that the more recently I wrote a scene, the more likely it is to include support for V/ND material from the getgo. I haven't been able to get excited about making Lith eat anyone out, but there should be at least a couple different chances for you to get something barbed and pokey in there.

For folks that prefer to keep the bulge in their pants, there's a final (for now) scene added to [Offer Yourself]! This is the hardest outcome to get, or rather, the hardest to find, so I've gone ahead and added a brief addendum to Petre's Guides to help out with this side of things, now that it's completed.

For those of you that are big on getting dominated, Lith now has several subtle changes to his attitude strewn throughout the game, so that when you interact with him, he'll act a bit more confident if you've brought out his dominant side.

And for those of you that enjoy a challenge, I've brought back player achievements for this version! See if you can find every scene in the game with Cover to Cover-- and, as a new addition to complement that, I've added Even the Footnotes. MVOL has always had a lot of scenes with alternate outcomes and bits that switch out, but [Offer Yourself] is the most extreme example of that so far. So, to make sure you've seen everything the game has to offer, I've gone through and bookmarked a total of 37 outcomes with at least a paragraph of text that you might not see on a normal playthrough! If you really want to challenge yourself to hunt down every hidden bit this game has to offer, this is the achievement for you! Around 15 of them are from [Offer Yourself] as well.

And finally, for those of you that feel like donating, v0.13+ features Vagina/Nodick content for Lith herself! Including an alternate for the brand new [Offer Yourself] scene... Also, there are two snippets of content you can hunt for to get a peek at the story content coming in future updates! One is the next stage in Lith's story, and the other is a very strange offshoot, which you can unlock in an alternative to the first... And, finally, I've upgraded the cheats included a little to make them have a more dramatic effect.

So far as I can recall, that should cover the changes I've made with v0.13! I've probably poked and adjusted a few things here and there besides, so you never know :3 Hope you all enjoy!

We Need You!

I mentioned it previously, but I'd like to take a moment to throw it out there in a more urgent sense: MVOL needs proofers! If you've ever thought about helping out with the game, please check out the Page for Proofers! It's got everything you could ever need to know about becoming and being a proofer, the wordninjas behind making sure this game runs and reads well. MVOL is a big game, text-wise, and I need help with proofreading and testing to make sure this game is ship-shape for spreading across the web!

It's not easy being a proofreader-- yes, you get access to lots of the content before anyone else, but you're expected not to simply enjoy it, but to approach it critically, dig out problems and report them in a timely fashion. Right now, I have a pretty small group of proofers, and for one reason or another a lot of them are having trouble taking part in the process. I need more hands on this game! Are you a responsible and focused reader/gamer? Please take a look, and if you think you're up to it, lend a hand!

(+++++++===)

I've got some bits and pieces to wrap up, but right now, getting this game proofed is the big bottleneck! Uncle Lith Wants You! (To proof his game.)

Pretty Pictures!

Hey folks! As you may have noticed, I've rearranged the blog a little. Some of the smaller tabs were consolidated into a new FAQ that will likely be expanding with time, and there's now a Fan Art section! There's not a lot there, but you should definitely check out what we've got ^.^ Hopefully that'll be growing soon too!

And speaking of art, I've been working with a volunteer artist for a while now. We're still working out Lith's look for the moment, but we're hoping to eventually draft a whole new face for Lith in the game! Gone will be the ugly lil chibi-face I made eight versions or so ago. Want a preview? Here's a preliminary sketch! We're still working on nailing everything down, but this is our start :3

And in other news, the game is coming along half-decently at the moment! [Offer Yourself] has been completed, and it's looking like vagina/nodick support for the avatar will finally be coming to public beta for everyone to try out! :3

(+++++=====)

And on that note, I need playtesters! If you think you might be interested in helping improve the game, I now have a full page right here detailing everything it involves and how to get started! It's not easy, but it does get you sneak peeks at the game weeks before it's fully available, as long as you take it seriously! Take a look, and if you think you're up to it, join us in making MVOL the best it can be! :3

Poll's Closed!

The poll's results have been pretty clear for a while now, which is a refreshing change ^.^; I used a new poll system this time because the Blogspot default poll seemed to be buggier than a roach motel, so it didn't include an actual close date, but I do believe the poll has gotten all the entries it really needs for a clear answer.

 
I've already gotten to work adding more variations for attitude to the game, largely focusing on variants for Lith's dominant side, as I assume that's what's drawn a lot of the vote ^.^; Work has been intermittent, and slogging through all the game's code making small changes here and there has always been slower work 6.6; The funny bit is, a lot of these changes will probably be unnoticeable on their own, but hopefully overall they'll make a noticeable change :3 Progress!

(++========)

Also, if you're trying to catch other people in the chat window to the right, it may be a big help if you turn on the sound! ^.^; I didn't realize it myself until just recently, but the little triangle to the bottom left, just under the text entry box, is a sound toggle. The chat window will make a soft popping sound when someone else speaks, so you can leave the window open and know when someone else is around. I set it to turned off by default when I created it (and then forgot about it) because I didn't want this thing to be randomly making noises for people that just want to check out the rest of the blog 6.6; So, hopefully that helps! :3 Hope to have more news for you soon!

Let's Get Started...

After spending a while chipping away at my commissions, I feel like I'm ready to work with Lith some more :3 I've spent some time looking at exactly what I want to achieve with v0.13, and a lot of it is really up in the air at this point. My big goal with this version is basically to finish up my horizontal expansion of the game before jumping back into the story! So that means finishing up the [Offer Yourself] scene and anything else I think I'll have time to include from the stuff in that "What would you like to see?" poll a while back. She-Lith is in the game, and subby Lith is stable, though I've still got some plans for adding more scenes specific to it, but there are a few things I'm still prodding at.

One addition that jumped out at me looking over my notes is that Vagina/No Dick support for the avatar may be approaching a playable state! I've written a lot of it into the game already, but becaus it wasn't complete enough to show up consistently, I've labeled it Alpha content, meaning only donators with cheat-enabled copies can access it. I'll have to go through and double-check a lot of scenes to make sure, and this may be an overly optimistic estimate at this point, but we may have V/ND avatars ready for the public for v0.13 ^.^;

The other addition I'm considering is More Detail. It ranked 2 out of 7 on the survey, with a healthy margin behind it, so I know you guys are pretty interested. The problem is that it's tough to go back through my old work and try to add things while keeping the narrative flowing smoothly-- sometimes it feels like taking my perfect child and chopping off a part to stitch something else in, or something similarly morbid. So it's, ah, tricky! With that in mind, I figured it was high time I asked people just what they're looking for-- what details do you want me going back and adding to old scenes to make the game more rewarding for the decisions you, in particular, have made?

And, to clarify, a brief list:
Species - Include more mention of what species you're playing.
Endowment - Spice up sexual scenes with more references to the size of your dick.
Boobs - Make sure to mention both the avatar's and Lith's breasts more often whenever it should happen to be appropriate.
Knots - Put more emphasis on the presence and implications of knots for fox and wolf avatars.
Attitude - Add more variance to how Lith and the avatar act and speak to each other in less sexual scenes according to how nice or naughty the avatar is and how dominant Lith may be.

Choose the things you feel like there just isn't enough of in the game, and I'll do my best to enrich your playing experience accordingly! ~3~ In the meantime, things are finally, albeit slowly, coming into motion again.

(+=========)

v0.13 is a ways off, and I'll be honest, I'm more excited about getting back into the story again! It will make for quite a change of pace, and hopefully will satisfy a lot of folks that have been howling for all sorts of things that have been impractical up to this point :3 So to that extent, I'm hoping right along with you that v0.13 comes out soon ^.^; Fingers crossed!

Sex Zombies!

Well, the poll seems to be coming out with a rather quiet response, so I won't make a big deal of this 6.6; But I've just posted an installment to the only story project I'm currently working on just for myself! Which theoretically makes it a step above writing that I do at someone else's request ~.~;

You can check out 27 Days After at SoFurry and FurAffinity. It's the third installment in a Halloween-themed series centering around a bizarre disease that spreads through fluids and transforms people into huge, muscular, hypersexualized dudes and herms that immediately go on a sex rampage! Follow the story from the beginning to see our protagonist's first harrowing encounter with the creatures, and the horrible aftermath in later chapters...

My Stories?

Game development has been on a bit of a hiatus-- a cooldown, perhaps, after the frenzy leading up to release, while I tackled some of my other writing projects. I just released a commissioned sketch story on FA and SF on Monday, and an idea was mentioned on the forums.

I've considered discussing my other writing endeavors on the blog, or forming a separate blog, to help keep folks updated on my stories as an alternative to the standard furry sites. I'm uncertain how much interest, if any, there would be in such information, however-- indeed, I wouldn't want to clutter up the blog with news people aren't even interested in, when they're anxiously awaiting some sign of the next version's impending release. I also played with the idea of posting another mirror for my stories, either on the forum or on my website (once it becomes more than a blog), to possibly serve as a central hub for browsing and discussing my less interactive written works. As with many of these things, I allowed a mixture of shyness and skepticism to rein me in, and the ideas had been discarded.

But in the awkward interlude of silence, it occurs to me that news on other projects might not go entirely amiss with my readers and players, if only to show that the blog is alive, and perhaps to raise awareness of my other literary exploits. So I'll pose the question to you! Take the survey to the right if you dare, and we will see how much interest --or opposed interest-- is invested in expanding the blog's purpose and/or starting an independent archive for my stories. I have the final say on these things, of course-- but the purpose is to see what you all want! I wouldn't want to add all these things only to find it annoys more than helps, or that it goes entirely unnoticed. Tell me your thoughts! :3

Come Lurk!

Thanks to the handy dandy Aincalandorn, the forum now has a proper age screening prompt when you open it-- meaning I can remove the restriction on guests reading the forum's content! So if you haven't already, now's a decent time to come take a peek at the forum and see what we've got going on :3 It's a little slow, but that's just because we don't have enough people like you to keep a good set of discussions going! Come take a look, and decide for yourself if it looks interesting, or if there's something missing you think you can add ^.^

Thanks again, Aincalandorn!

The Hunt Begins...

It's time to give Lith a new face! I'm planning on commissioning an artist to draw up a new face for Lith to put in the game and finally replace that silly old cartoon I sketched up for him so very long ago. The only question is, who do I go to for one of the most important graphical elements in the game-- the single visual representation of Lith himself?

There's a lot of possibilities out there! So I'm taking suggestions from all of you-- I wanna know who you think could draw Lith the best! :3 The topic is live on the forum, ready to catalog every suggestion in one handy place, and I'm hoping to find the perfect match somewhere out there! It could be a huge name, or a tiny one, but I want the perfect fit, and the search starts here. Bring me names! And wish me luck ^.^;

v0.12 is Live!

My work with r3drunner has finally paid off, and we have a brand new GUI for MVOL! :3 Included are new buttons for options and help, to accommodate our new Autosave feature! More on that in a second. The new scene [Offer Yourself] is live, but unfinished-- there's still more to be added to it, though you should find plenty to enjoy as it is :3 Finally, an option for folks that just want to leave it up to Lith-- although it's still up to you to get him in the mood for whatever you, ah, want him to want :P

And finally, Lith has the option for breasts available! There's not a whole lot written into the old scenes for it, as I only slipped it in where it really fit the flow of the narrative, but you should expect a lot more content with lithtits worked in from here on! Also, while working on the save files feature, I've found how to move the save location-- all MVOL games from now on will save to a central folder on your computer instead of on all sorts of different ones, so your save file should be a lot more persistent, whether you're moving the game around, changing its filename, or even playing v0.13 when it comes out!

As for autosave-- it's set up to use what used to be slot 7 as the spot it automatically saves your current game every time you return to the main scene. You can make it save every less often in the options menu, or you can turn it off altogether. If you're one of those savvy fellows that imports your files from old version to new ones manually, please note: you'll need to add "MVOL_" to the front of each folder when you move it up to the root folder, and you may want to copy your slot 7 file somewhere else before autosave overwrites it.

Also, with the addition of [Offer Yourself], I've taken the opportunity to rearrange the menu a little. Several underused options now have a home in the new [Self...] menu, and this leave the main scene's options looking that much cleaner :3

If you've played through all the new content and want to discuss it or give me feedback, as ever, I encourage you to come visit us on the forums! :3 There's a spoilerific thread waiting for you for folks to discuss the new content in Feedback, and we're always ready to help in the Guides & Help section if you're having trouble accessing all of it.

And a final addition, for those kind donators out there: first of all, thank you again for your support! :3 I received some very generous donations since the last release, so much so that I was surprised and a little embarrassed. So, as thanks for those ridiculously generous souls out there, I've already sent out complimentary copies of MVOL v0.12+ to everyone that was so unbearably kind as to donate 25 dollars or more since the last release. I think I'll make this an ongoing thing! :3 If I missed you, please email me and let me know, it should already be in your inbox!

That's it! If you haven't already, pop over to the "Play the Game!" tab, download  yourself a copy, and enjoy! :3

Coming Soon!

Alright! The save system has now been upgraded, and the new GUI is almost done being designed, we're just working on getting Adobe to do what we want as far as transferring designs! So that's about three points of progress that have actually been completed. I've just sent my rough draft to my proofers and testers while I work on finishing it off, so if you've made my list of approved proofers, I suggest you check your email! At this point, I'm making it a tentative goal to release v0.12 on Saturday!

(+++++++++=)

If things take longer than I'm hoping, I may push off to the Friday after next, in which case I'll just have more time to add a few extra bits to [Offer Yourself] to make it a more robust experience :3 It's not really complete right now, but it's almost ready to at least make its debut.

Maybe I really should make progress reports more often, because this seems familiar 6.6 I suppose it makes sense that taking the time to lay out exactly what I have done and what's left to do can have a positive effect on one's drive and efficiency to accomplish those goals x3 It helped to see that there wasn't actually all that much that really needed doing, compared to the big, amorphous mass I'd thought I was staring at! There's always more, of course, but we should be pretty close to a good release point at the least.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your patience and support! Here's hoping I'll have more good news for you soon! :3

P.S. If anyone out there is handy with html/css, please drop me a line! I'd really like to set up my forum, and indeed my whole website, to have a basic "Are you 18?" screen any time you try to access it-- that way, I could make the forum itself easier to access! So if you think you know anything about how to make this work, I'd definitely appreciate your help! :3

Progress: Tits!

Well! It's been a bit since I've spoken up, and I feel like I've at least gotten enough work done to not be completely embarrassed talking about it! So it's time for another progress report. As of tonight, I've finished adding support for Lith's breasts to the current game content, so Lith can now go shemale instead of just being a poor girl cat trapped in a boy's body. At this rate, full support for Lith to have a vagina and/or lack of dick is probably going to wait until after the next batch of story is added to the game, but I'm still working on adding it to new content as I go, so donators should be able to enjoy at least the partial experience, and that'll be less work when I go back to add it all throughout the game.

The other big push I'm making with this update is for Dominant Lith content. I've got one biiiig new scene I'm adding to the game: Offer Yourself! You can offer Lith the choice of what to do with you, though it's still up to you to nurture the impulses in him in the first place before he'll indulge in them... I've probably got it about half-done, and it will probably feature over a dozen possible outcomes when it's complete, but I may release v0.12 before it's 100%.

And on another front, I'm working with a kindly volunteer by the name of r3drunner on a new GUI for the game-- it'll be functionally almost identical, but having an actual graphic designer should give the game a better look overall. We're still working on it, so we're not sure if it will make it into v0.12, but it should be coming soon.

Finally, I've been hearing a lot about save files-- I actually have included support since v0.05 or so for importing your old files into new versions of the game, if you know how to copy them over manually. This is a bit complicated for a lot of folks, though, so I'm hoping to delve into how Flash works with file saving and create a more robust saving system-- with the ability to import older games' files either manually or automatically, and hopefully include some kind of autosave system.

Those are my big four goals for v0.12, and I've made some fair amount of progress. To the progress bar!

(++++++====)

Some extra bits that need added here and there, plus playtesting so I don't have to re-release each version four times as bug reports come in, round out the work needing to be done.

And on a related note, I'd like to address the folks that despair that this project might be abandoned when I don't update for a while. You don't know me personally, so I should clarify about myself: it is not in my nature to abandon this project. I honestly can't see myself abandoning it short of some massive, life-changing event-- basically major illness or injury. Unless something like that happens, I will keep working on this project until I'm satisfied with it. I may slow to a crawl at times, and churn out work by the leap and bound at others (very occasionally) but I will always keep working on this game. It's just a matter of being in the right state to do the game justice.

To be honest, I can get sick of Lith at times. I created him a long time ago to express a part of myself that doesn't get much outlet, but working with him so much can, well, drain that part of me. Forcing it makes for crappy writing, and makes it that much longer before I can get back into it with any real enthusiasm. So I'll go silent sometimes, because I can't bring myself to give Lith the attention he deserves, to bring him to life in the way you all enjoy. It is a blessing of the medium of writing that one evening of perfect alignment of the cosmos can be immortalized for you all to enjoy from that point onward-- that I can give you all my very best moments, rather than making you suffer through my day-to-day mediocrity.

The upshot is that this will all take time. Sometimes, by chance or fancy, I'll pump out a lot of work, and we can all rejoice, but otherwise, it will come slowly, as the opportunity strikes. I thank you all for your patience as I try to refine this process and find ways to create work that meets my standards for this project on a more regular basis.

In the meantime, I hope it will give you all some measure of relief to know: My Very Own Lith is not dead. It is not going to die away quietly-- it will either die suddenly in the case of my own health taking a downturn, or it will come to rest at the end of the road, when it is finally complete. The road is long and the going slow, but I've no intention of falling short of my destination.

To all my readers, players, fans, supporters, and donators, I say thank you, and I hope I'll have more for you soon.

The Poll, the Game, and the News!

Hey, folks! A few updates :3 The poll's done with and I'll likely be putting another up soon. This one came out... well, with a pretty low consensus. I seem to see a lot of that polling around here! ^.^; Which is good, it means that I have a large diversity in the folks that are playing and checking the blog, and whatever I choose to do with the game, hopefully at least SOME people will like it. I'd love to be able to please everyone all the time, but I believe there's a famous saying about that.

For this poll, I'm impressed with the numbers for people interested in each of these features, enough to make me hesitate somewhat, but honestly, I'd have to be completely blown away to reverse the decisions I've made. Again, I went into the details on the forum, but basically, each of these features will be omitted from the game because they are too radically distant from what I want the game to be. My Very Own Lith isn't meant to be a game to indulge and describe your every possible sexual fetish-- Fenoxo has already put tons of work into making that a reality with his game. MVOL is a more focused game-- I'm intent on simulating Lith as a character for you, and helping you to see and understand him, and interact with him in just about every way possible. Anything we do to alter Lith from his actual state of existence as a character is diverging from that goal. Adding the option to make Lith female is a design feature I really never intended to add at the beginning, but after a lot of deliberation, I decided there was room in the game to make it work. It will, in a way, feed back into some of the core issues of who Lith is as a person. But some things are just too detached from who and what Lith is to be a real contribution to the game's goals, and many of them would honestly make me feel uncomfortable, especially trying to write it all out for the entire game's content.

So, I'm sorry if this is a disappointment, but several particular features will not be available. Let me describe how it's going to work, once all of the content I'm working on is ready. You are free to make Lith identify as male or female at the beginning of the game. Once the game has started, you'll be able to modify Lith anatomically: if he is a "she," you'll be able to give her breasts, and if he is a "she" and you have a dick, you'll be able to give her a vagina and/or remove her dick. In short, you'll only be able to modify Lith's anatomy if Lith identifies as a girl, and you can only change her down there if your avatar has something built in to put in her. Further, I won't be supporting any kind of non-genders-- neither you nor Lith will be able to decline having any kind of genitals at all. If you'd like to discuss this properly and try to persuade me to change my mind on any of these counts, I welcome you to email me or visit the thread discussing it on the forum. Otherwise, I hope that I've helped you at least understand why this will be happening, and that you'll still enjoy the game!

In other news, I'm still working on the game, albeit only in bits and pieces when my moods allow writing of the quality I expect from myself. I'm mainly focusing on adding content for Dominant Lith, but it's a firm goal to finish adding support for Lith to have breasts before v0.12 comes out, and I've been chipping away at that as well. I'm hoping to have a new scene with multiple outcomes ready in time, in which I think those of you looking to be dommed will find a fair deal of enjoyment ^.^ Additionally, I'm working with a designer to give MVOL a new look! You can see a preview and give feedback, and maybe even influence the design on the forums :3

Lastly, a more personal piece of news. I've just found a new job! I'm hoping this will give me a better schedule for getting writing done with more regularity, so fingers crossed! My thanks to you all for playing, and for taking the time to see what's new with the game's development ^.^ Cheers!

P.S. I know I seem to be harping on the forum a lot ^.^; But the fact is, I'd really like to hear from you all! I've had folks contacting me all sorts of ways, wanting to talk to me or give feedback, but I honestly think the forum would make an ideal place to discuss the game and just chat about anything, both with me and with your fellow players! We've already formed a very pleasant and open community, but the actively posting member count is so very small! The forum does require you to register to see the actual content (as an 18+ measure), and once you're registered, your first post has to be approved before you can post further (as an anti-spam measure, nothing more), and I regret these difficulties in getting started, but I sincerely hope you'll bear with me through this initiation of sorts to enter the community proper. We're all waiting for you! :3

Gender vs. Sex and Future Options

The poll going on right now dips into some of the nooks and crannies of the sex options that I'm planning on making available in the future for MVOL. I've made a few decisions as I've gone on to restrict certain options, and I go into the reasons on the forum. There has been a little confusion as to what exactly I'm saying I'm planning, however, so I thought I'd try and clarify that here.

Can a male or female identity Lith have _____?
Anatomy | "He" Lith | "She" Lith
Penis   |   Always  |    Yes
Vagina  |    No     |    Yes
Breasts |    No     |    Yes

Can Lith have ______ if the avatar does or doesn't have a dick?
Lith's  |Av. w/ Dick|Av. w/ No Dick
Penis   |   Yes     |   Always
Vagina  |   Yes     |    Yes
Breasts |   Yes     |    Yes

Can Lith have ______ when s/he has or doesn't have a dick?
Lith's  |   Dick    |    No Dick
Vagina  |    Yes    |   Always
Breasts |    Yes    |    Yes

So if you want to have a Lith that identifies as a girl, has breasts, but has a dick, that will work just fine, and she can have a vagina or not, your choice. But if you leave Lith identifying as a boy, his anatomy will essentially be unchangeable. If you choose to have no dick when that becomes available, then you'll be able to give Lith a vagina and breasts as long as you've chosen to have him identify as a girl, but you won't be able to take away her dick.

Again, if you'd like to know more about the reasons behind these decisions, or want to discuss them, I encourage you to join us on the forum. The poll is also there as a way for you to voice your desires. I'm sure some of you will be disappointed that these options are being restricted, and I'm sorry for that, but I don't think there's a significant enough demand for it to be worth writing in throughout the length of the game and fighting my own instincts on what's right for Lith. But the poll is your chance to prove me wrong on that point, should the case be.

I hope this clears things up a bit, and thanks for taking the time to read!

MVOL Forums is Live!

If you've ever wanted to speak up on the blog but didn't want to bother with the cumbersome blogger comment system or risk being lost in the buzz amidst the chat, come to my new forum! Guides and interview transcripts are readily available, and you can discuss and share with your fellow players. I'm open to suggestions for new features and topics to add, so take a look around and let me know what you think!

v0.11 is Live!

Head to the Play the Game! tab to get started! For more info on what's changed, read on, but the other big news you may have missed is, I hope to have a forum going up soon! Check the post just under this one for more info.

A recent survey on what content players are interested in having added to the game put three features on top, roughly: dominant Lith, more mention of the avatar's individuality in scenes, and girl Lith, in that order. I've actually already started working on just about all the options that were on that survey in one way or another, if only to see how difficult they would be to implement. It was this explanation, along with the personal encouragement and offered assistance of a fan by email, that led me down the road of converting MVOL's code behind the scenes.

At first, converting all of the text in the entirety of the game to work with this new, more streamlined system seemed an overwhelming and tedious task, but once I'd gotten working on it long enough, I actually found a great variety of the work could be done with powerful find-replace tools rather than having to read everything and fix it manually. Thanks to this conversion, many more options became dramatically more feasible, chief among which was one of our top three desired additions: girl Lith.

With the new system of writing, I can mark each and every use of "he" or "him," etc, such that it can be automatically converted to "she" and "her" and so on. This allows us to effectively make Lith a girl-- or indeed, any of the many interesting shades in between. Of course, this is only a first step down that path, and there are many limitations: Lith's anatomy will not be affected in any way by this change, and some text may sound strange being converted so directly. In most cases, I went through and tried to add logic trees and such to make things sound more natural, but in some, I actually like the odd contrast-- such as when Lith is discussing his past. As it stands, this conversion to female is something that you can do to Lith just before you first meet him-- meaning that while he may identify as female now, he was a male before... and I just may be expanding on that in the future :3

As for dominant Lith, I've had the idea in the back of my head for a bit, and with this update, I've added modifiers to all existing scenes that seemed like they should affect how dominant Lith sees himself in the relationship and added one scene that can only be accessed when you've nourished his dominant flair sufficiently. For the second of the three options, details for the avatar, I tried to write the new scenes with this in mind, and I'd be interested in how well people feel I did-- and I'm hoping to discuss what exactly people want to see in the game on this count when the forum is up and running!

Lastly, a request that stuck in the back of my head for some time-- I've added the option to give Lith a big, warm hug as an end-game scene that should also make it significantly easier to get some of the collars.

For those of you that may feel inclined to make a donation, along with the usual cheats available in MVOL+, you should know that I've also added some more content for an avatar with no phallus, as well as the beginnings of the option to give Lith breasts! Click Donate Now at the upper right of this screen, and any amount you see fit to donate will get you a copy of MVOL+ as my token of thanks :3

I hope you all enjoy tooling around with v0.11! I'm sure I missed a lot of "he's" and "him's," so do let me know if and when you find some! ^.^; My email is best. Cheers!

Coming up Next: a Forum!

I've noticed that while I get a fair amount of traffic at this blog, a lot of folks don't end up commenting or leaving their mark and thoughts for a variety of reasons, even if they'd like to. And what's worse, it's hard for people interested in the game to communicate with each other! So I thought this would be a good time to introduce a forum. I don't expect it to be very large to start with, but I'm hoping that if enough folks are interested, it could grow into a proper lil community :3

Right now, I'm partway through getting it set up-- I have a host and a domain, and I'm trying to decide between BB software templates right this moment. I've got it narrowed down to either phpBB or SMF, and I'm having a terrible time making up my mind xP But I'm hoping that I might have it set up and ready to go by this weekend!

I'm planning on including a variety of features on the forum: a space for both official and unofficial guides, a Q&A/help forum, a direct line of contact for asking questions of Lith and Lithier (possibly a replacement for the mid-livestream interviews), and general discussion spaces for the game and for other things.

What I'd like to know is: what else would folks be interested in having opened up for the forum? A suggestions/future speculation space? A space for sharing your own stories? For roleplaying? General porn? A space for discussing some other, specific thing? Doctor Who? Anime? Video games? I've been deliberating on what to include, and I suspect that I could just open a subforum now and then for whatever comes up most prevalently, but at the same time, I suspect that opening a forum on a specific subject would encourage more conversations to open up on it. So, what would you like to see? What would you like to talk about? I'll be keeping my eyes open for comments on this post, on the chat to the right, or if you can't use either, you're welcome to email me.

I hope you're all as interested in making a community together as I am! I'd really like to have an open space for discussing the game and everything around it! ^.^

Another Livestream and Interview Done

 Livestream is all done! We didn't have much of a turnout, but my thanks to all those that came! Here's the transcript of the interview we had ^.^

Interview Transcript

Opening up with questions for Lith! Any and all is fair game, though he is, of course, a bit limited in what he knows and what he may be willing to answer himself... Be creative! Advice, philosophy, secrets, the great and small questions of the universe. Flaws, strengths, prides and shames, his past, his future, his opinion on current events. It's all up for grabs!

shut_up_steve: 1: favourite thing to do 2:most recent activity? 3: what is your current desire? 4: what grinds your gears? 5: any irrational phobias? (like afraid of clowns)

Lith: Oh o.o starting with a bang! Well... 1. My favorite thing to do... in general, out of all things one could do? I'm guessing winning huge piles of money doesn't count, if only since I've never done it ^.^; My favorite thing to do... would probably be curling up with somebody I trust and watching something really nerdy-- a good anime, or firefly, or the like, with some bad chinese food to share or something of the like. And maybe breaking out a good console game when the show's over. I guess it's plain, but I've loved it every time I've done it, and there's few times I've felt more... comfortable ^.^ 2. Most... recent? o.o; That's a little tricky to answer, since I'm kind of an amalgam of myself from across a large period of time ^.^; Can I cheat and say my most recent activity was describing my favorite thing to do? x3 3. My current desire... kind of falls under the same problem. My current desire is to give you a satisfying answer, but I think it isn't working! @_@ 4. What grinds my gears? Well... people that just won't listen, I guess. There's a lot of injustices in the world, a lot of things that have gone wrong on purpose or by mistake, and while some of them are caused by people that honestly don't care about their fellow man (or only care about those very close to them) so many... horrible, heart-wrenching things happen because people just don't listen. I believe that knowledge is the most precious currency in the world, and it should be exchanged freely and constantly. But when people lie, keep secrets, or refuse to even listen, everything falls apart, and the "civil" in civilization begins to disappear... Sorry if that's kind of vague, but I think everything that really frustrates me comes down to that, eventually @.@; 5. Irrational phobias... well, I dunno how irrational it is to be, um, kind of terrified of speaking in front of crowds o.o; I mean, if you say something wrong, you could suddenly have an angry mob on your hand... and angry mobs are very good at not listening, to say the least ~.~;; I will say that clowns are pretty creepy as well, I've never been comfortable around them, but I'm not sure many people since the 50's have been...

Xanes: what is your opinion on the brony community?

Lith: Ohh o.o; They can be a bit of a peculiar bunch... I will admit there's one thing that sort of ticks me off-- the main draw, at least as far as I can tell, is that it's an animated show that is well-animated, decently written, funded well, and has voice actors that actually know what they're doing. In short, it's a GOOD animated show, which, in America, is pretty revolutionary... especially when it isn't centered around superheroes. So, my frustration is that it's accumulated such a massive following because Americans (and I'm being pretty rude about this, I'm sorry, it's really the Western hemisphere in general ^.^;; ) have such a massive gap in their media where animated content is concerned. So, my objection is that there's already tons of anime out there that's exceedinly well-crafted... but it's already earned a certain overarcing stigma among Westerners as geeky. So the fact that there's finally a Western cartoon that's actually well made draws a huge, sudden following... I dunno, that's what it spells out to me at this point. I've looked into the dichotomy between American and Japanese animated media a lot, and the huge disparity in quality and variety is just aching for relief. I guess in that perspective, it's both frustrating and promising-- if this success can translate into a new batch of properly made, Western animated shows; if producers will finally get it through their heads that there's a market for this, thanks to anime and My Little Pony? Then I'll count it a blessing. But... as for the community? Well, like any internet community, they have a lot of quirks, some trolls, and a very persistent set of memes tied to them. If you let yourself be annoyed by it, it could be very annoying indeed ^.^;; Personally, I just see it as kind of amusing and strange... and um, some of the, ah, "art" isn't too bad... Ah, n-next question?

Xanes: do you have the same senses and abilities as a normal cat

Lith: Well o.o I do have retractable claws, and a tail... if that counts. I smell better than humans do, but not by a lot. I forget just this second if regular cats are colorblind, but I can see all colors, as far as I know ^.^; But I can't see much better in the dark than humans can. I guess I've got pretty human eyes. Let's see... I can sleep as much as a cat does, if I care to :p I'm plenty flexible, but I don't really have good reflexes. And I almost never land on my feet... @.@;;

And with that, we concluded Lith's portion of the interview. Now for Lithier!

Xanes: when did you join the furry community and why did you join the community?

Lithier: I couldn't give a date, or even a year, but I believe it's been at least five years now-- although it may depend on your definition of being a part of the community. I think I answered this question before, so I'll try to be brief: as far as interacting with furries, I first started chatting amongst them five or more years ago for jollies and enjoyment, and gradually learned more about the furry scene from there. I've never had a direct fursona, and I've attended all of one in-person furmeet, and I've since moved away. I don't know where the line is drawn, I don't even know if I could fully be considered a furry now, but I have a fairly long history with members of the community, and I'm glad to be here ^.^

shut_up_steve: whats your favourite game? and what is the part about it you like best?

Lithier: That's a tough choice-- I have a rather large library, and I dabble a lot. If we were going by sheer amount of time I put into the game, I'd have to say Team Fortress 2-- I've lost hundreds upon hundreds of hours to that game, which is funny, because I generally despise shooters. What sets TF2 apart is its friendly, eye-pleasing style, the immeasurably superior attitude of the community of players, and its constant support and improvement at the hands of its creators. Each of these are really massive, singular achievements when you get into it, honestly. As far as simply being an excellent game... There are too many to say, but Final Fantasy IX holds a fond place in my heart after all these years, with its fundamentally enchanting atmosphere and near ideal mix of the old classic mechanics before squenix started messing it up. Really, there are lots of excellent games out there in recent days, and I'm thrilled that the game industry seems to be getting back on its feet after some serious stagnation in the late 2000's. I hope to have a lot of new favorites soon.

shut_up_steve: what is your favourite sort of thing to watch on youtube to fix your boredom? comedic acts? action stunts? educationals? other? or just drift at random?

Lithier: I don't catch a whole lot of youtube, really, but what I do watch is usually comedy. Typically, I'll either watch the latest DBZ abridged when it comes out, or bounce around silly TF2 videos until I get bored. When I'm really bored, don't feel like gaming, and don't have the energy or focus to work on creating entertainment for you darling folks, I'll probably either read/listen to a book, or watch some anime. But not on youtube, so I dunno if that counts...

Xanes : if you could make same kind of graphic you see in a video game and were going to make a game, what kind of game would you make?

Lithier: You know, I used to have lots of huge plans for making all sorts of non-ero games back in the day, but I haven't thought about designing a regular game in quite some time now. If you mean, supposing that it was just me making an indie game, but I also had the ability to 3D model and all that? I'd suppose I would make some kind of RPG or simulation game. I enjoy toying with the idea of parallel timelines and decision trees, and how you can explore new concepts, new sides of things by retreading old ground with new intentions and different intentions, and I think it could be pretty fun to make a game you could play each time and get a different outcome-- a little like what you see in MVOL, but on a less perverted, grander scale, with more violence, probably. If you mean, were I to be the lead of some kind of actual, professional game project? Hell, I'd probably run a proper sim, then-- something along the lines of Civilization, either on a smaller or much larger scale. I think it could be pretty interesting. If you mean... a porn game? Well, I've got a couple ideas I've been storing away for a possible successor to MVOL, though none of them really count on having significant graphic elements... It would be nice to have a Western equivalent to all the lovely humping games you see coming from Illusion and the like in Japan, though.