Friday, March 27, 2015

v0.16 is Live!

Head to the 'Play the Game' tab to check it out!

It feels good to hit the schedule! I would have liked to have gotten it out a little further from the deadline, but with how little time I gave myself from deciding to make this happen, I guess it's not surprising I needed all I could get. I would have really liked to at least fully complete this step in the stone door story --I cannot imagine how many times over the next three months I will have to explain the missing piece-- but I have to accept that a degree of regularity is important, and this this will push me on to set stronger, more solid and more achievable goals for the future.

So! The update's big addition is the second trip through the stone door. Every collar will be able to return to that place, but not every combination of collar and choice from the first visit. Two out of the six possibilities are unavailable for this version. These choices will continue to be important for the rest of the stone door, so if you haven't already, now may be a good time to make some save files following either choice, if you want to see every bit of what's available as it comes out!

The second addition is my mysterious "bonus." I'm pretty pleased to finally include it, and I hope to be adding more in the future. I was actually surprised with how little it increased the game's file size, so that's great. My last hint is that you'll find it early on in the game. Don't worry too much about missing it-- I've added a small system upgrade for making sure experienced players don't miss certain important events in the game :3

I still feel like this update could have done more, been larger, but as I mentioned, it's half the size in new text of the v0.15 update-- but delivered in one quarter the time. That's certainly an improvement, and much more in line with my new resolution to offer smaller, more rapid updates! The next update is scheduled to come out in June, and I hope that with the full three months scheduled out ahead of me, I should be able to pack a lot more in!

I hope you enjoy the new content, everyone, and thanks for playing!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Ready and Waiting...

It was a bit close, but v0.16 is complete, on schedule! I sent out advance copies two days ago to everyone that donated $25 or more to v0.15, and I plan to make the public release next weekend. If you just can't bear to wait until then, though, as of this journal you can donate any amount to get your own advance copy of v0.16 with cheats enabled! And, of course, if you donate $25 or more that will put you on the list to get a copy of v0.17+ ahead of everyone else.

Also, the TagIt sale is still going over on SoFurry and FurAffinity! If there's any themes or kinks you've been wanting to see me write about, now's the time to put your money where your wishlist is and make me write about them! Also, I'd like to clarify that buying multiple tags is allowed, and that you don't have to worry about the transition to latecomer prices if you're buying them in one big bundle, just to keep it simple. I wanted to encourage some diversity, but at this point, it's more important to me that we fill all the slots so I can get to work!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

On Schedule!

Well, it doesn't look like I'll be busting it out early, but so far it looks like I'll have v0.16 ready just barely in time to send out advance copies this coming weekend to those that have donated $25 or more on v0.15, and I should have it all polished up and good to go by the weekend of the 28th for the public release. It's getting close!

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My proofers have been giving me some positive feedback on the new content. There's no sex scene in this wave of content, but I hope you'll all enjoy a little more in-depth character development as the nature of the world behind the stone door really starts to set in. It's also shorter than the v0.15 update, but half the words in a quarter of the time is a pretty decent improvement, I think xP I hope you'll find it worthwhile!

Also, I've finished my first TagIt story, the one we voted on here a few months ago, and I'm getting ready to post it this coming weekend as well. Along with that, I'm getting ready to start the second TagIt, the "for realsies" one where anybody can pop in and buy a tag to make sure I'm writing about the topic of their choice in my next story! :3 If you'd like to get in on it, keep an eye out for my journals on FurAffinity and SoFurry this coming Friday!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Let's get this thing rolling...

I've sent out a check-in request to my proofers, so if you're on that list, please make sure you're checking your email! Similarly, if you want to help contribute to the game and get a super early sneak peek at new content while you're at it, check out the application process to become a proofer and join in. I'm not looking for people that just want early access, but those that enjoy it as a side benefit of a job well done. Take a look if you think that's you!

Now, for MVOL news. I've refined my goals for the writing I need to get done, pulled them back a little more and evened them up. It looks like the main new text content for v0.16 will be three new scenes, one for each collar. The bad news is, they're a little short and there's no real sex scene among them-- these are more for character and story development behind the stone door, working us up to the big conclusion. Now, since I jumped on this new schedule when I was already two months in, I think this may end up being a lighter update than those that will follow, where I'll have the deadline in mind from the start.

On the bright side, there's a little bit of extra content coming with this version. I won't go into specifics since I'm still working on it and I'm not sure what all will make it for this one, but I hope it'll make up a little for this version having less of "the juicy stuff" than usual.

That said, I think the writing side of things is 90% done now, so I'm bumping up the meter.

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60% seems a little shy for this close to deadline, but that's mostly padded with it being lots of smaller things, each of which have the possibility to go horribly wrong. So uh, hopefully this last chunk goes smoothly and we see a release sooner rather than too close to the end of the month! Thanks, everyone!