I told myself I needed to update this blog more, and I finally had a reason to remind myself to hop on here! I've published a new story on SoFurry and Inkbunny: To Hold On To Pt 4. This is another in the series of sketch stories I pummel out now and then to blow off some steam and get a change of pace after cramming on work for MVOL, and explore some of my other weird fetishes. You may want to check the tags before reading, but if you're on the fence, I'd encourage you to at least give it a try. Start from Part 1, if you haven't seen this series already!
That's the proper announcement out of the way. In other news, I've been a bad writer. I finally got my release schedule for MVOL swung around so I'm releasing at (or around) the beginning of the month, which is good, but it also feels really weird and has kind of thrown me off my usual rhythm for handling writing on MVOL. I've been releasing in the middle of the month, every other month for about a year now, I think, so I've gotten a little set in my ways, and that's created some complications.
Add on top of that, I was feeling rushed and super busy for several months, and only at the beginning of this month did I finally have the chance to take a deep breath, get a little time to myself... and play some video games relatively guilt-free. And now... well, the month is just about gone, and I've found I've gotten very little done! I've been working with the team over at The Cathouse Tale a lot, of course, there's always a lot going on, it's always rush hour over yonder. But I let myself go days, even weeks without writing, to let myself recharge. And I let that become a habit, which is the worst thing I can do to myself.
So now I'm fighting the habit, and trying to get back into my routine of finding as many times as I can to write throughout the day. I don't even have enough content for the Monthly Mini-Update right now, so I'm gonna be crunching on that and apparently trying to send something out at the very last minute. And that feels shitty, but it's where I am right now. I thought I'd finally gotten away from the last minute thing, but rotating my schedule forward one way puts me behind another, apparently.
I know some of you will be disappointed with me. Just know that I'm more disappointed with myself. I'm putting this up half as a sort of penance, to remind myself that even if I have time for a break, I always need to make sure I can set and follow a schedule for getting back to work well ahead of the next crisis. We're all good at proctastinating and working just under the deadline, but I still like to believe I can get myself into a more steady workflow. Someday! Haha.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading my self-admonitory rambling, folks. More game content will be coming up soon! You can always keep an eye on my Twitter for rather more regular, if tiny updates on what's going on!
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Saturday, July 9, 2016
v0.23 is Live!
Go to the Play the Game tab to play the new version right now!
This version is a bit of a strange one. I've been running on fumes for a while now after the big rush the last few months, but I wanted to get this version out there early in the month for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that I hate that feeling of coming in just under the very last deadline. But I haven't been able to get much writing done in this state, so this update is less text-heavy and more a grab bag of new features that, hopefully, will make the game more interesting and less frustrating for a variety of players!
First off, I've added a new "Game Mode" you can turn on in the options menu. This lets you see how many options are unavailable in each menu and why, so you can get a rough idea of how much remains to be discovered and where. This does spoil the feel of the game a little, making it less of a simulation and more of a "game," but I think some folks may find it helpful, whether they just want to access all the content and want any clues they can get, or want to make sure there aren't any big features they've missed after playing a while.
Next, a small convenience for everyone: the bulk of the menus now have loose descriptions for each action you're considering taking, so you can get a slightly better idea of what you're getting into before you accidentally do something more unsavory than you'd intended. These descriptions can change a little in some cases to reflect your current morals and highlight what you might want to think twice about.
There's also new art in this version, but I'm afraid I could only get one new piece of art in time. I've got a lot more art coming up, but for now, I guess this reinforces the idea that v0.23 is something of a "half-update." Sorry to disappoint! I might be able to manage three pieces of art in a future version to make up for it, but I'm not certain right now.
Maybe the biggest addition with this version of the game is the new Flirt command! This should help make the pink collar path a bit easier and more interesting to play through, and offer a little bit of fresh communication for every path to explore. There's not a ton of content here yet, but I did pack in a fair little variety of potential outcomes.
To go along with that, I've made a series of small adjustments to content in the first half of the game to fix little issues I've heard about and try to make a few things make more sense. My thanks to everyone that's taken the time to let me know when there were parts of the game missing that polish I try to maintain, in which your choices matter and your past actions influence your future!
Lastly, I've added a very convenient exclamation point for you to make use of. I've gotten several requests for functionality along these lines, so I hope that this will prove a decent way to meet your needs in this regard.
I think that wraps up the additions for v0.23. I was hoping to have more written content done for this one, but hopefully these additions and adjustments to the gameplay will be an interesting diversion for you guys while I finally recharge my creative batteries! I'll be trying to make more blog posts in the future, also. I meant for this to be a much more active news feed, but it has, along with several other things, fallen by the wayside as my days have gotten more and more packed and my focus more frayed. Should be better once I've regrouped!
Thank you for your support, everyone, and for reading all this! I hope you enjoy the new content!
This version is a bit of a strange one. I've been running on fumes for a while now after the big rush the last few months, but I wanted to get this version out there early in the month for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that I hate that feeling of coming in just under the very last deadline. But I haven't been able to get much writing done in this state, so this update is less text-heavy and more a grab bag of new features that, hopefully, will make the game more interesting and less frustrating for a variety of players!
First off, I've added a new "Game Mode" you can turn on in the options menu. This lets you see how many options are unavailable in each menu and why, so you can get a rough idea of how much remains to be discovered and where. This does spoil the feel of the game a little, making it less of a simulation and more of a "game," but I think some folks may find it helpful, whether they just want to access all the content and want any clues they can get, or want to make sure there aren't any big features they've missed after playing a while.
Next, a small convenience for everyone: the bulk of the menus now have loose descriptions for each action you're considering taking, so you can get a slightly better idea of what you're getting into before you accidentally do something more unsavory than you'd intended. These descriptions can change a little in some cases to reflect your current morals and highlight what you might want to think twice about.
There's also new art in this version, but I'm afraid I could only get one new piece of art in time. I've got a lot more art coming up, but for now, I guess this reinforces the idea that v0.23 is something of a "half-update." Sorry to disappoint! I might be able to manage three pieces of art in a future version to make up for it, but I'm not certain right now.
Maybe the biggest addition with this version of the game is the new Flirt command! This should help make the pink collar path a bit easier and more interesting to play through, and offer a little bit of fresh communication for every path to explore. There's not a ton of content here yet, but I did pack in a fair little variety of potential outcomes.
To go along with that, I've made a series of small adjustments to content in the first half of the game to fix little issues I've heard about and try to make a few things make more sense. My thanks to everyone that's taken the time to let me know when there were parts of the game missing that polish I try to maintain, in which your choices matter and your past actions influence your future!
Lastly, I've added a very convenient exclamation point for you to make use of. I've gotten several requests for functionality along these lines, so I hope that this will prove a decent way to meet your needs in this regard.
I think that wraps up the additions for v0.23. I was hoping to have more written content done for this one, but hopefully these additions and adjustments to the gameplay will be an interesting diversion for you guys while I finally recharge my creative batteries! I'll be trying to make more blog posts in the future, also. I meant for this to be a much more active news feed, but it has, along with several other things, fallen by the wayside as my days have gotten more and more packed and my focus more frayed. Should be better once I've regrouped!
Thank you for your support, everyone, and for reading all this! I hope you enjoy the new content!
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