You can play the new version right now by going to the Play the Game tab above!
With this release, the first trip through the Glass Door is very nearly complete. I still need to add a few smaller scenes and make a few adjustments so everything hopefully works together more smoothly, but the bulk of the content is ready now. Last update saw a lot of a certain kind of scene with one character, and well, this release covers the other side of that coin. There's some new content that's pretty easy to find, and some that's rather more difficult, but you may have seen hints that it was coming if you've been paying attention while playing through the Glass Door.
Besides the new scenes, there are two new pieces of art, as always thanks to my kind supporters. This time they're actually paired pieces, to cover two rather different versions of the same scene. This particular scene is pretty easy to find just going through the game's content, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it in a normal playthrough, regardless of your collar.
For the next version, I think I'm going to take a short break from the glass door while I figure out just how to handle the next section. In the meantime, I'm considering adding some content that's been requested in one form or another for quite a while, so if I do go through with that and can execute it well, I think a certain section of my audience will be very happy with the result. I hope!
I have to admit, so far this Door hasn't been as heavy to write as the last. It's been very complicated in its own way, of course, but it feels like this section, at least, has passed quickly. Of course, it was probably the final section of the Stone Door that really seemed to drag on forever, and I've hopefully learned a thing or two about making this Door a little less ridiculous to follow through with. Maybe! We'll have to see how it comes together, of course. I have a lot of ideas and possibilities, but it really comes down to how it actually happens in the moment, and what feels like it needs to happen, what it feels like the characters would do. I'm hoping they'll have mercy on me.
To tell the truth, I'm kinda hoping we can work through this door pretty quickly all around. I've been getting positive feedback from some of my audience, and I'm really happy with that, since I've been pretty worried this section would just make everyone pretty uncomfortable and unhappy with me. It's necessary, but I'm not happy making people unhappy! But more than that, I'm really looking forward to what comes after the Glass Door. That will be the Final Chapter of MVOL, and I've been thinking on it and refining it in my head for literally years, obsessing over it since the days I first realized I could make this game bigger than just putting a collar on Lith. I'm almost scared to finally get to that stage, and at the same time I keep finding myself wishing I could jump straight to it rather than writing all this.
But the story's climax needs its setup. We are not yet ready for what will come. But if the characters cooperate, then maybe, not too much longer.
Flash itself has been having some troubles, apparently. I'm not sure what all would be involved in trying to import MVOL to another engine, but I'm not looking forward to making the attempt, and I'm kinda hoping I can just... finish the whole game before it gets to that point, and maybe find a way to encapsulate it in an executable I'll be comfortable with and call it a finished product, or something like that. I'm keeping an eye on the whole situation, and I'll do what I can to try and help Lith meet as many people as he can, but this is just one more reason to want to give this game its proper ending before too much longer. It still feels strange thinking that we're nearing the ending, even if it is only that we're making good progress through the chapter before the actual ending begins.
Anyway. For now, I hope you all enjoy the fresh content. Thank you all for playing, for reading, and for your support in every way you care to offer it! I don't know if this story will have exactly the ending you want, but I hope that sooner or later, you'll find the one that makes you happy!
