Stirrings in the Deep

Hey, folks! I've got some good news and some bad news today. The good news is that, after about a week of especially intense hatred of everything I've ever attempted to write, I've started feeling better, and I'm finally getting some more writing in on the game. Better than that, I've rediscovered some of my zeal for the sexual and managed to bust out a sex scene that I think came out pretty decent, and I believe its content will make some particular crowds around here pretty happy. I still need to complete at least one more, larger sex scene before I could even consider the game complete enough to release, and even in that state I think the new content would feel disappointingly short. So I'm conflicted on how much further to go before calling it v0.15, but at the very least, I think this counts as a not insignificant chunk of progress.

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40% is a rough estimate-- if I want to push the update out sooner, it may be more like 50 or 60, but if I want to make it a worthwhile update that at least gives a good idea of what the new content is about, it may actually be more like 30% of the work that needs to go into it. I may go for sooner, though, as I do want to ship out a few small improvements on the side as soon as possible and see how they work out!

Now, for the bad news. I do have a tendency to be pessimistic about things, especially when they seem to be too good to be true. That's a part of the reason I kept a pretty tight lid on the fact that I was working closely with an artist on refining Lith's appearance, with the goal of creating a new, vastly superior mood picture for Lith in game in the short term, and potentially adding a good deal of art to enrich the experience in the long term. I was honestly very excited for the opportunity, as the artist was talented and their style, I felt, worked very well for Lith. Unfortunately, real life has swooped in and turned the artist's life upside down, and the project has been aborted for the time being. I'm sorry to say my pessimism has turned out to be a wise measure in this case, as I would have hated to get all of you as excited as I was for this development, only to experience the same crushing disappointment.

So, I'm still looking for an artist to supplement the game and replace my crappy little Lith face in there. Hopefully at some point another opportunity will come along, but at this point, I'm not sure what I can do to seek it out aggressively. Most artists of the skill level I'm seeking are often both quite booked, quite expensive, and jaded and wearied by the strange and unclear demands of their clients, and I can't say that I would be any less particular or demanding-- my overly strict standards for the portrayal of Lith do not extend only to text, after all. But I shall maintain hope. Perhaps over the next few weeks I'll share what work and sketches we had created in the process of trying to make the project happen, if you all would be interested, and would not feel it to be too much like salt in the wound.

So, that's the news with My Very Own Lith. Progress is beginning again, the game advancing in one area while it founders in another. I thank you all for your patience, and I hope I'll have more good news for you soon :3