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

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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!

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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.

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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 ^.^;