Moved!!

In case you haven't seen, MVOL has moved to my new website!

LITHIER.COM

Change your bookmarks, subscribe to the newsletter, follow the feed and enjoy!

v0.40 is Live!

Tons to talk about today!

First off, if you haven't seen already: I have a new website! This is the last update I'll be posting to this blog, so make sure to head over to Lithier.com, bookmark it, subscribe by email, add me to your feed, follow me on Twitter, whatever you gotta do to stay up to date with the news about MVOL and any games I'll be working on after that!

I have a wild mix of news about the new version going out today. First off, the bad news: we left v0.39 with a bit of a cliffhanger, and no, The End is not in this update. As I often do, I'm pausing between sections of story content to add more side stuff. Sorry to keep you all in anticipation! If it's any consolation, this extra time to listen to everyone's feedback and thoughts so far and really think over what I want this ending to be and what I think everyone's expecting has helped a lot with really refining my ideas for it into something I think we'll all be happier with.

Next, the alarming news: this update is another Weird One. I've already compared it on Twitter to how nervous I felt about the first Stone Door update way back in the day, because it is a big, crazy twist to the feel of the game, and some people are probably gonna hate it, but I'm hoping that others will love it. There's a big community out there that's been asking me for more X, and uh... well, some of them probably still won't like this, but others may find this is exactly what they've been craving. I'm expecting this update to be polarizing, and I'll get into that more below.

Now, the confusing news: what the hell is this update already!! Well, that's the trick. v0.40 is The Hidden Update. There's a very large chunk of new content ready that I've been working super hard on, partly because I intended it to be even bigger and laid out all the groundwork for that, but I ran out of time to get all the content done. However, this big chunk of new content is all hidden! Which is pretty hard to do in a text game, arguably. This section of the game is supposed to be a big surprise you eventually run into just when you're not expecting it as you're doing your first few playthroughs, and I feel like if I just spell it out for you guys how to find it, that'll ruin a lot of that experience for you.

So instead of right out telling you where the main new content is, I'm gonna talk about it a little more, and hopefully this'll give you enough hints to point you in the right direction. The truth is, I've been intending to add this content for a LONG time. I knew it'd be added, at least as a small thing, very early in the game's development, and I put a placeholder in the game for it that maybe hinted at what this section would ultimately be like. But! I got such a strong reaction to the placeholder that, in the end, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it entirely. So now, I've decided to keep both the "placeholder" and the new content in the game. New players are more likely to see the placeholder first, but if you have at least 100 points and have been through the Stone Door at least once, you'll find the new content where the placeholder has been until now.

Now, I think that should be enough to point most folks that have played the game a good amount in the right direction, and I'd encourage you to go play a bit yourself and see if you can't find it. The surprise when you do find it is part of the experience! But if you just can't figure it out, I've spelled out the last piece of the puzzle here. Please only use it as a last resort!

Now, I'll be talking more about this hidden content below, but I'm not gonna give any spoilers. First, though, there's some more, somewhat unrelated news about this update!

As usual, two new pieces of art have been added to this update. One is actually right in that hidden content! The other is a piece I'm really happy with that I got for what a lot of my fans have described as their favorite part of the game so far. Happy hunting!

The one addition for this update that isn't hidden in some way or another is the new content voted in by mysupporters! The Imitation Soda has been upgraded to now be available “both ways,” and doing it the other way can go one of three different ways in the end. Hope you guys will have some fun with that! Thanks to the voters for bringing this scene into the game!

And the last big addition with this update is the new Super Cheats! For high-level supporters, the game truly becomes Your Very Own Lith. Not only does Lith know you by name, but you'll now have access to a powerful suite of new cheats that you can access at any time to change a bunch of variables directly, on the fly, and see how that changes the scene you're looking at. You'll also have the ability to quickly “rewind” to the last few decisions you made in the game, which should make exploring all the game's content a lot easier and faster. This one has been a big challenge, and I hope it'll entice some folks that were on the fence to jump in and be a big part of this project!

On a side note, I've made a few adjustments to the game with this update as well. Cheat versions now start at 100 points instead of 50 to help with finding the new content, but the “Magic Book” has been removed, as it wasn't very useful to begin with, and mostly confused people more than it really did any good. The Completionist's Map at a higher tier level does the job a million times better. Also, the art archive has bumped up to three pages to contain all this awesome art, and I've renamed one of the achievements because, somehow, I hadn't noticed that two of them had the same name for a long time. D'oh!

Alright! That's it for news about the update, but I still have a few things to talk about, starting with the big chunk of new, hidden content. Again, no spoilers! But I know that this is going to be a polarizing addition, and I'm not really sure how it's going to fall in terms of people that like it vs. people that hate it. It's not complete yet, and at this point I'm not sure if I should try and “wrap it up quick,” or if a lot of people want to see “the whole thing.” I originally intended it to be pretty small, but trying to do it right has turned it into a lot more content than I'd expected years ago.

So! I want to hear from all of you, once you've played through the new content! What did you think? I want to get everyone's vote on how you felt about the new contenthere! There's also a space for comments so you can give feedback without spoiling it for everyone else. Please share your thoughts, whether they're good, bad, or meh! I'd like to hear from as much of the community as I can.

To tell the truth, I don't only want people's feedback to see how far I should go with this section of content. This has partly turned into a sort of experiment with ideas I've had percolating in the back of my head for a while. I have about a million ideas for new games that I'd love to make, and one of them shares some themes with this new content, and I kinda used this area as a testing ground for some of the ideas from that concept. So I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on what works and what doesn't!

Next, a small announcement/reminder: I'm still writing stories! MVOL is my main focus these days, but sometimes it's nice to write something a little more casual (and often a lot more fetishistic) on the side, and when I finish up a little story, I post it around on SoFurry, FurAffinity, and InkBunny. I generally consider SoFurry the best place to find my stories, though you'll need an account to actually find my work, as it hides adult stuff from guests. FA doesn't allow some of my stories, and SF just provides the best experience for reading from what I've seen. I just posted a new story a couple weeks back that I was pretty happy with as a peculiar little emotional experience, exploring the idea of vore from a slightly different angle.

And lastly, a note for clarification: yes, the “playable preview” I posted right on the cusp of the beginning of April was, in fact, an April Fool's joke. This was another idea I've been hanging on to for a long time, and I kinda wish I'd done it a year or two earlier, but at least this way I shouldn't have to worry about too many people seeing it that haven't gotten through the whole Stone Door already. Sorry to anyone that was disappointed this maybe wasn't what they were expecting! It was a little bit of a tease for those that are always asking for a “fourth route,” because I've made it clear several times that there are only ever going to be three. Lith's dominance is compatible with all three routes, and has a slightly different feel for each of them. Please enjoy getting used by a cat in the flavor of your choice!

Phew! This was a long one! Big thanks to everyone that's read through all this, and also to everyone for playing my game! I know it can be a weird trip at times, and I appreciate your putting up with my hijinks. I hope a healthy portion of you enjoy the new content!

New Website! Playable Preview!

That's right! I've finally decided it's time to put together something better than this funky old Blogspot page. I have my own website all set up now to use as a platform for MVOL and for future game projects!

Lithier.com

Move your bookmarks now, because I intend to ramp down support for this blog from here. I'll be announcing v0.40 on both sites, then leave this page running purely for posterity and post all future news on the new site.

And to get everyone looking at the new site, I've got a little treat! Be sure to check out my recent post for a playable preview of upcoming content for MVOL! I know a lot of people have been requesting the "fourth path" for quite a while now, and I've finally gotten enough of it done to share my work so far with you all. So check it out today!

v0.39 is Live!

Go to the Play the Game tab above to grab the new version now!

Got a ton packed into this one in the end! The big feature is, the second portion of the game's final chapter has been installed in full. This means two major new scenes and a bunch of variations for new and existing content. With this, we've arrived at the precipice for the game's final endings!

After that, I'd say the most notable addition is the new save backup system. I've seen folks request this here and there for some time, and when I added it as a possible addition on my Patreon, my supporters finally voted it in! It's been tough working it all out, but I feel like it's mostly reliable now. I can't guarantee it'll work 100% of the time, but my proofers have tried pretty thoroughly to break it and couldn't, so I feel comfortable putting it in your hands.

And of course, two new pieces of art have been added. One is in the early game and will be hard to miss if you're being kind. The other is in the mid to late game and requires being especially cruel... Happy hunting!

Other than that, a lot of small additions and adjustments. I should have done this now, but a certain alternate result from the game's final chapter now has serious, permanent effects on your gameplay when you return to the void. I've also adjusted content to make it a little easier to explore a new side of Lith if you got that choice, but instead gave in.

Also, we've had a lot of issues lately with people being unable to run the game. I think it might be getting a little big for Flash, a little burdensome and heavy on processing, so I've finally gone ahead and removed one of its more troublesome features. The game will no longer collect gameplay telemetry, and should no longer try to connect to the internet. I really liked the idea of being able to see how the game is being played on a large scale, but it just never quite worked out how I'd hoped. Now, I'm hoping that removing that will make the game a little easier and faster to load and play for everyone.

For supporters, the game's basic cheats have also been updated! The cheat menu got a much-needed overhaul and two new cheats have been added. I still need to work on the "advanced cheats" I've promised on Patreon, though, I've been putting it off while trying to get a new Deluxe UI put together. I believe those are the last two big things I still need to add to fulfill my recent promises on Patreon, and while I'm not sure about the UI, I'm hoping to get the full cheats put together for next version.

And the reactions while scrolling through the game have finally been extended through the entirety of the game's content! I also have a lot of notes for extra faces I found I'd really like to add in, so I'm hoping to get those made up before long to really get Lith more expressive and reactive to what's going on in the future.

I think there've been a few more small additions in the background, but that should be everything noticeable to you guys. Phew! This one was a bear to work through, I have to admit, but it's good to have a bunch of stuff crossed off my list. The game is finally taking shape and getting closer to its final state in several ways.

That said, I'm thinking we're gonna leave this at a sort of "cliffhanger" for a little while. I have a healthy amount of side content to work on, and I want to make sure I'm ready to do the final endings just right. And for those wondering, yes, I do expect to continue adding content for a while after the final endings are done with-- there are a lot of little things that could use some extra love once I'm done with the really important stuff. But I don't intend to add too much extra, or to "milk this out." MVOL is meant to be a more focused experience with a purpose to it, and past a certain point, adding anything else will just be detracting from that purpose. It will be very strange to finally declare the game finished, but also very satisfying, I think.

I'll talk about what comes next when we get a little closer to that. For now, thank you all for reading all my ramblings, and for playing my game! I hope you enjoy the new additions!

v0.38 is Live!

Looking for the game? Go to the Play the Game tab above!

This update has been a big ol' bag of smaller things! First off, a warning: the side story behind the Wooden Door has finally reached its big conclusion, but some of the content can be very disturbing. It's pretty clearly marked when it's gonna get into that, just be aware going in.

That segment is the biggest chunk of new writing in this one. Besides that, thanks to my voters on Patreon, a new, alternate sex scene has been written in for a snuggle scene to accommodate Avatars without certain equipment that have driven Lith to develop a certain attitude. I'd describe it as short but sweet.

The third note as far as written content is that I've finally gone through and started adding alternates to early game content to reflect Lith's "new attitude" after your first taste of the game's final chapter. I'm probably going to add more later, but between this and the next note, you may find you have decent reason to try going back through some of the old content.

Another feature I've been working toward for some time has finally come to fruition in this update! This one proved more technically challenging than it probably should have, and commissioning all the art just right was surprisingly difficult, but now, Lith has a series of faces with which to "react" to the game's content! These will change as you're scrolling through some scenes to help "set the mood" as things progress. I've only implemented these in the first half of the game for now, and I'm hoping to commission some more faces to fill a few gaps I hadn't foreseen, so keep an eye out for more developments with these!

On top of that, I've commissioned faces for our new friends through the Glass Door. These come with a few different versions, and I hope you'll find they make your visit all the richer an experience!

I'm counting all these little faces and such I've commissioned as one "piece of art" for this version. The other is actually fairly related-- this lovely lady got a lot of art in this update...

So besides the big conclusion to the game's main sidequest, the new snuggle scene, the attitude variants sprinkled around, the new scrolling reaction faces, the Glass Door portraits, and the new art, there was one more thing taking up a lot of my time with this update.

With the last update, I added the Completionist's Map to the game. This is a mid-tier Patreon reward that basically shows a fairly cryptic map of the entire game's contents-- every scene and every significant variant. When you start, it's all marked undiscovered, but when you find the scene, it's marked on there, both for whether you've seen it on this playthrough and if you've ever seen it in any of your playthroughs. This lets you get a real idea of how much game is left to discover, and roughly where you might find more, without spoiling anything.

Well! With this update, I made the next big step in improving this Map. For high-tier supporters, the Completionist's Map now acts like a gateway: you can click on any spot in the game, discovered or not, and the game will "teleport" you right into that moment. Have a favorite scene? Or ten? Figure out where they are on the map, and you'll be able to visit them anytime, from any save file, or even from the main menu. Can't figure out what that one undiscovered scene on the map is? Teleporting there won't "discover" it for you, but it will probably give you a big clue as to how to find the scene for yourself...

This was a lot of work, but I think it will be a great feature for people that really want to get all they can out of My Very Own Lith. It's already been a big help for me with testing new scenes more quickly and easily, and I hope my supporters will really enjoy using it.

And that wraps it up for this update! I've still got a lot more on my to-do list for ramping up MVOL to where it needs to be for the promises I've made on Patreon, but hopefully once I've finished upgrading things it'll be pretty self-sufficient from there and not take up too much of my time from finishing the game's actual content.

Thanks for reading all this, and for playing my game! Oh, and happy new year!

Hotfix going up everywhere!

Well, I did mention I was exhausted, right? Turns out I forgot one little thing when I was adding the new features, and now you couldn't load any files from previous versions of the game. Well, that's fixed! I'm uploading fixes to the Patreon content right now, but all the links here and all the other places I upload should be all set. Just look for "fixed version!!" at the top of the main menu.

Sorry for the trouble, guys! I'm just gonna... go lie down...

v0.37 is Live!

Check the Play the Game tab above to download your own copy!

The last couple months on this project have kept me super busy! I just recently pushed out a ton of new rewards for my supporters on Patreon, including a huge archive of full-resolution art, new ways for supporters to speak up on what content should be added to the game, and an in-game hint map, which I'll be talking about more in a bit.

The new content in this update mainly features the addition of the other route for our first trip into the final chapter. The first trip is now complete, although when you finish, it makes heavy implications that Lith's behavior will change, and that hasn't been implemented yet. Hopefully in the next one! Also, thanks to the voters on my Patreon, I've finally added a scene for the Imitation Soda behind the Wooden Door for feline avatars.

Additionally, two new pieces of art have been added. One can be found at a moment when you are perhaps at your kindest with Lith, and the other at a moment when you have, perhaps, forsaken him to fulfill your own desires.

Lastly, v0.37 introduces the introduction of a big new feature! It's still a prototype, but I believe I've worked out the majority of the bugs. From now on, as you play the game, it will remember not only every scene and every significant variation on that scene that you've played through in this file, but also in every file. You can access this data in the Deluxe version of the game given to mid-level supporters on my Patreon, where it will be rendered in what I like to call a Completionist's Map.

The Map will seem cryptic at first, and it will never spell everything out for you, but it will provide you with clues to what sections of the game you've fully explored and what sections still hold many secrets from you. You'll never be able to see everything in one playthrough, but with this map, you'll be able to say with confidence that you've explored all the worthwhile content the game has to offer.

It doesn't track every tiny variant, of course-- some scenes are only somewhat different if you happen to have one piece of anatomy or another, but I marked each variant I felt was significant. I hope that with this, my most devoted players will be a little less frustrated and a little more engaged in playing through the game finding those last hidden bits.

There are still more rewards on the way-- in the near future, I hope to offer my high-tier Patrons a more extensive suite of cheats, and the Map itself will become not just a bookkeeper but a portal. They will be able to click any scene and go there instantly! If you'd like more details about all the new rewards, I'd encourage you to check out my post here.

Adding all this has been a ton of work, and there's more to be done still. It's been exhausting, but I've been happy to see a jump in support in response, which is just what I was hoping for. I'm still settling in in Portland, I've got a lot of new bills to deal with, and it's thanks to you guys that I can make ends meet here.

So thank you, everyone, for your support, and for playing my game, and for reading all my rambling! I hope you enjoy the new update!

v0.36 is Live!

Check the Play the Game tab above to try the new version now!

Lots to talk about with this version! Also, toward the end I'll get into some personal news fans might be interested in. The big addition with v0.36 is: the beginning of the game's final chapter is open! Right now you can only choose one "route" as it's all that's playable from beginning to end, but it's enough to give you a lot of clues for what's yet to come and how the game may, on a larger scale, conclude.

Along with that, I've made a number of smaller additions, for which I'll give hints. There's one obvious ramification after completing the last chapter, and new content has been added to an existing setup to reflect that. Also, a number of small bits have been added that all fall under one category and can be found in one place, for a little harmless silliness. Lastly, an alternate has been added for a scene that I've seen become something of a running joke, to finally acknowledge when the timing just gets... weird.

And of course, two new pieces of art have been added! Both focus on when you push Lith too hard, but not in the way you think. One requires a certain piece of anatomy for you, and one was a more recent scene added to accommodate when you don't have that same piece. Both are pre-collar content. Happy hunting!

Also worth noting: I've just added a ton of new rewards to my Patreon! Make sure to check it out and see if I can't tempt you, I've taken a lot of feedback from my fans on the things they'd love to see from me and tried to make it a thoroughly enticing (and rather large) selection.

Now, I've already mentioned this next bit of news on my Patreon explaining why this release came a little later than I'd planned, but I'm gonna go a step further with it here. The big personal news for me is, I've moved to Portland, Oregon! This move is at the center of a whole mess of problems and challenges I've been dealing with that has made it hard to focus on the game at times, but I'm finally settling in, and hopefully things will be better soon, leaving me better able to focus on MVOL than ever.

Now, if you've been following me for a long time, you probably know I don't tend to talk about myself much. I tend to have a strong belief in anonymity on the internet, maybe bordering on paranoia. But at this point, I have to admit the internet is a huge part of my life. You guys are all a huge part of my life!

So I'm trying to put myself out there, a step at a time. It's been a long time since I've lived in Portland, and I don't really know anybody here. If any of you live in or around Portland, drop me a line! I'd love to get in touch with the local furry community and meet some more fans in person. Just don't take it personally if I'm still a little guarded, this is all pretty much virgin territory for me.

My email is always open, and you can also find me on Twitter, or of course, join our Discord server! Get in touch, or just join the fanbase and meet others that like this game!

Thank you, everyone, for reading this rambly mess, and for playing my game! I hope the new update's got you excited!

v0.35 is Live!

To play the game, pop over to the Play the Game tab above!

For this update, we're in the intermission between the Glass Door and the beginning of the game's final chapter. For the public version, there are two new chunks of content of note. The first is the addition of several shorter scenes available for the cupcake, to fulfill the implied "beginning" we saw adding that item as an option a few versions back. The other is the addition of another visit with an old friend that's also behind the wooden door, for those that like feeling bad.

For supporters, there's also one more chunk of content: the beginning of the next chapter of the game. This is how I've worked it for the start of each big new chapter: I start writing the setup on the side in small parts and making it available as a sneak peek in the cheat version, until there's enough of it together that I can actually finish a "playable" path to get the new one started as public content. So if you're dying to know what's going to happen in the final chapter, now might be a good time to try out joining my Patreon!

Other than that, as usual, two new pieces of art have been added to the game. I've been looking forward to getting these pieces for a long time, as they can serve as references for a lot more art I'm hoping to get done before long. They were really hard to get done, but very easy to actually implement compared to my usual additions. I hope you guys love them as much as I do!

My personal life is and has been pretty crazy for a while now, so I feel like this update and maybe the next one may prove a little light on content compared to some others, but I'm pushing through and doing my best to keep it going. I'm really excited to finally get into this final chapter, and I'm still mentally fine tuning how the final endings will play out as I go. Everything has been building up to this, and I only hope I can do all my dreams for the conclusion of this game justice.

Thanks for playing, guys! Hope you enjoy!

v0.34 is Live!

Go to the Play the Game tab above to play it now!

With this release, at last, the Glass Door is complete! I may be adjusting a few things and polishing it up later, but it is now content-complete according to my original big plan for it. The new content for this update may actually be a little unintuitive to find: it's not a new choice for you. Until now, Lith always chose to go after Amelia, but now, he can make his own choice-- but you can influence it through the actions you take during earlier trips through the Glass Door. This gives you access to one big new sex scene and one alternative sex scene, along with some smaller bits of content here and there.

The new art this month is actually one piece that I'm counting as a double for how expensive and labor-intensive it was pulling it off. It's very easy to find and it probably won't look all that impressive on its own, but it is probably the single piece of art that's added the most to the game's filesize and detracted the most from my sanity getting it all working properly. Hopefully you can guess why when you see it!

Simple enough update this time around. From here, I'll be working on some side content for the game while getting ready to start the final chapter of the game's story. I've been looking forward to this part of the game for a long time, and I'm almost scared I won't be able to pull it off well enough to satisfy everything I've got packed together inside me waiting for this final chapter. It's been such a long time since I decided I wanted to do this, and I've been thinking about it, trying to build everything toward it since the beginning of the Stone Door. An embarrassingly long time...

I'll be getting started on that soon, though. For now, I hope you guys enjoy our last moments with these two, and that you're excited for the side content coming up soon! I know at least one area that really needs filling out and that some people will be pretty excited about...

Thanks for reading!

v0.33 is Live!

Grab your copy by going to the Play the Game tab above!

Another chunk of the Glass Door is filled out! Finally, you can choose to seek out James instead of Amelia, despite the consequences you know may arise. Of course, one particular collar has a workaround for that issue that results in a dramatically different scene. Also, due to popular demand, I've hacked together a poor but functional answer to let people start a new game without restarting the program. The Help menu has been replaced with a Main Menu button!

Other than that, two new pieces of art have been added. Both are set in pre-collar content and each features activity similar to the other, though the other way around. In fact, without cheats, you won't be able to see both on the same file... Happy hunting!

I ran into a fair amount of trouble during this update cycle, and I'm not very happy with the amount of content I managed for this one. I got really sick, and just ran into some personal life issues that made things pretty difficult, but I'm glad I was able to finish things to the point it made a good lump of content to add without things being too confusing.

From here, it's possible we'll be able to finish the Glass Door in one more update. Most of the options are complete (and in hindsight, I removed one or two that had been implied but would just make for pretty redundant scenes), and at this point it's pretty much just a matter of letting Lith have a little more choice in matters, actually. After that, we'll be taking a short break from storyline content to look at other stuff, and to get ready for the beginning of the game's final chapter. Pumped!

In other news, the hunt for art has been smoothing out a bit since I got more serious about cataloguing and tracking artists, and hopefully I'll actually be setting up a small section on the new MVOL Discord before long so fans can help keep a sharp eye on all the potential artists on my list so we can snatch up a commission for the game as soon as they're open! At this point I'm probably spending an amount of time looking for artists or communicating with them, polishing out details with sketches and such, equivalent to the time I spend actually writing for the game. So that's been crazy, but hopefully you guys will see it really starting to pay off soon!

I think that's all I've got for this update. I hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for playing!

v0.32 is Live!

Go to the Play the Game tab above to play it now!

So I called last update the Teaser Update, because it opened the third trip through the Glass Door up, but when you played through it, you saw lots of choices and possibilities that just weren't available. Well, I've finally filled in a few of those options-- specifically, I filled in three, though the pink collar one is probably the meatiest by far. Each collar now has one "deal with the problem" option unique to their respective desires and strengths.

And at the same time, this update is also a teaser in its own way! There's one new(ish) item to be found through the Wooden Door, but you can only use it once, despite how much you might want to use it again. Still, I hope you guys will dig the new content and its implications-- I've been getting requests for a certain option for quite some time, and this is the best way I can personally see to fulfill that desire.

Besides the new writing, there are also two new pieces of art I'm very proud to have procured-- I think that this update may have the best art out of any so far. I've been having a lot of trouble with commissioning art on the level I'd like for the game, and I think in this particular case I mostly just got lucky, but I'm certainly hoping I can keep it going. One of the pieces is the final part in completing a trifecta that you'd think I could've gotten all done at once, but I'm glad I didn't. The other is a treat for when you're in an especially compromising situation, and I actually had to split up the scene into two separate pages to put it in, as it already had art installed for its introduction rather than its... conclusion.

Lastly, I got in touch with the amazing Mz Nite, who has done a ton of art for MVOL including the new portrait in the corner, to see about getting a series of adjustments and improvements made to fine tune that very piece. Her original art for the portrait was absolutely beautiful, but it was rendered at a much higher resolution than you actually see in the game, and shrinking the art made some details difficult to see. So I worked with her on a lot of small improvements, especially with Lith's mouth, to make his face clearer and the changes in his emotions easier to judge on the standard 800x600 resolution game. I hope you'll have a much easier time telling just what Lith thinks now!

Along with that, though, we added a couple small pieces to his portrait that I think make a huge difference. Going through the doors, you should notice a more dramatic change that I think really helps highlight that sense that something strange is going on, and that there's a very strong, sudden transition between the void and the insides of the doors. Overall I think the portrait is a ton better with this update, especially for people playing the standard version of the game (or goodness forbid, the compressed versions I have to use on e6 and FA D:).

This update also marks my big push to put my new Discord for MVOL out there! I opened it to my patrons for a while first to test it out, and I think it's gone pretty well, but I'd love to make it a space for all the people that enjoy my game to come together and help each other and maybe make new friends. If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to check it out!

That's all I had to go over today. Lots of little things in this update, working our way through the final stage of the Glass Door before it's time to get ready for MVOL's final chapter! Thank you all for being part of this adventure with me, for reading all my ramblings, and for playing my game. I hope you enjoy!

Family and Friends

Happy Holidays everyone! Merry Christmas, if that's your thing. I hope your year has been a happy one, and that your future is bright. Cherish your family and friends, for they are precious and often go sorely underappreciated.

If you're feeling a little short on friends, though, or maybe you're a little tired of dealing with your extended family, then I may be able to offer one solution. I've opened up a Discord server for My Very Own Lith, and I'd love to see you all there. I believe I have one of the most amazing and kind fanbases in the world, and I think if you come together you might be able to form a wonderful community and make many lifelong friendships. So come and join us!

And there's one more piece of good news. It's a little less on-theme, save that it has a certain emphasis on the importance of family. I've released a new story on SoFurry, FurAffinity and InkBunny that, while not so cheery, I believe you may find an enjoyable read. Be warned, it does have some strange themes.

Also, I recently released the Monthly Mini-Update on my Patreon, and we're still roughly on schedule for v0.32 to go live to supporters this weekend, then go public the weekend after that, if I can manage to rush out this last section I'm working on. So there's a lot to look forward to!

Happy tidings, everyone!

Hotfixes are Up!

So, had a few issues with this release! Long story short, the original release will lock you in the art gallery if you go to the second page but haven't unlocked any art there, and also the Android release was a test copy and not ready for final release.

Wherever you've downloaded the game, fixed copies should now be up! Except e6, that one's flagged for deletion but it'll take a minute, and the new version is uploaded there. The e6 version is all ugly and compressed anyway though, download a copy from the Play the Game tab!

Grab a new copy of the game and enjoy!

v0.31 is Live!

Get your copy now under the Play the Game tab above! Having trouble? Check the FAQ for a guide on making SWFs work and just lots of interesting stuff!

You could probably call this update the Teaser Update! We're jumping right into the third trip through the Glass Door, and there are tons of choices and branching paths... but most of them only have one branch right now. So, fair warning: you may get a little frustrated that you can't pick the choice you really want! Not yet, anyway.

Even so, this update features three distinct sex scenes, although one will be unavailable depending on matters of anatomy. The third trip is, frankly, gonna be pretty heavy on sex with just about every option. But knowing what's through that door, that probably wasn't a big surprise to most folks.

Besides the new story, there are two new pieces of art. One is by far the easiest to find in the game. You could find it before any other piece. But very few people will probably see it. The other piece is in the early game, but a bit tricky to find, as it requires specific anatomy that doesn't usually get its own art. Plus, I've given the Art Gallery a small upgrade since the list was getting kinda huge.

Also, speaking of art, I'm still looking for help! I think that my last post calling for volunteers was a little poorly written, as I did not receive a single response, and those that did comment on the issue seemed to completely misunderstand what I was looking for in an “Art Hunter.” So I've written up a more compact, reader-friendly page to lay out the basics! Please take a look! I could really use your help, and it's pretty easy work, there's just too much of it for me to keep it up.

I'm really excited to get some better-quality art in this game, but in a way, you might say we're running out of time. It's going to take a few versions still to round out all of the possibilities for the Glass Door, but after that, there's only one Chapter left in the story! I've been super excited to get to this for the longest time, but the closer it gets, the scarier it feels!

I'm not really sure what I'll do when MVOL is finally complete. I know it won't be terribly sudden, there's plenty of potential for adding extra content, lots of little things I've been meaning to do that would complement the story as a whole, but I can't do that forever. Too much side content would definitely detract from the game as a whole. Besides that, as people have been wont to warn me, Flash is dying. I'll be looking into ways to possibly export it to some other medium, but one likely solution is just to finish the game before then and make sure it's available in a way that should ensure it will be playable forever.

That will be a pretty huge milestone in my life. I'm glad I have time to consider it ahead of time and figure out what my next step will be, but it's true that I'm already heavily involved in The Cathouse Tale, and I always have ideas and more games that I wish I could be making. I love designing games, I can spend days just obsessing over how to make a great system, but I tend to be a pretty amateurish programmer, and I can only write so much in a day. I've been trying to reach out to a programmer or two, but if anyone has solid programming experience and would be interested in making something with me, I'd be happy to start a conversation. My email is always open!

But I've rambled pretty well off the topic. The new release is ready, it's chock full of sex and art, and it's waiting for you! Go enjoy! Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing!

So I guess I should ask for help!

I mentioned in my last post that I've been having a lot of trouble making the transition to getting art from upper-tier artists. Often, it's a lot of work just finding their commission information and getting an idea of how they work, if they run on a certain schedule or what, or even if they're actually taking commissions. And if they are, many of them seem to only announce it in certain places all over the web, often for very short periods of time. It almost feels like just getting art from these people would be a full-time job!

It was really discouraging for me, and I have a lot of things I'd really rather be doing, but it needs to be done! So I realized: I get folks emailing me and the like now and then because they love MVOL and they want to do whatever they can to help. And besides becoming a Proofer, I usually don't have much to suggest, as much as I appreciate the sentiment. But maybe that's no longer true!

So I'd like to call out for anyone with spare time every day and a bit of patience that's willing to help me get awesome art for MVOL! There would be two major parts to this. First, I'd send you a list of artists that I think are promising, and you would research them. Look through their posts, journals, google them, find what blogs and such they might have, try to get all the info you can on how to commission them. Prices, procedures, terms of service, schedule, things like that.

Second, for any of these artists that still seem promising and are only open some of the time (which seems to be most of them) you would keep tabs on wherever they announce that sort of thing. In some cases, it might even be necessary for you to grab a spot for me before they close up, but that's something we'd have to figure out as we go along.

Having experience with commissioning big name artists would certainly help, but isn't necessary. If you think you have the time and patience to act as an Artist Hunter for me, please drop me a line! I would be happy to have more than one, as I have a lot of artists on my wishlist, and with how short some of these windows for comms can be, I think having multiple eyes out there could be a big help. This feels a little silly asking for this, but I think it might be the only way to get the real high-scale art I'm hoping for into MVOL!

Also, if you're interested in helping and you have a fine eye for detail and a strong grasp on English, I'm always in need of more Proofers! There are always more typos and bugs in MVOL, and I can use your help cleaning things up! Proofers also get early access to new versions of the game so they can help clean it up before the release. Take a look!

Thanks, guys! Hopefully together, we can get MVOL looking better than ever!

v0.30 is Live!

Get your copy now under the Play the Game tab above! Having trouble? Check the FAQ for a guide on making SWFs work and just lots of interesting stuff!

So this version comes with some good news and some bad news. First off, you might consider this both good and bad news: the second trip through the Glass Door is complete! That's right, it's all done in one version, start to finish, including every variation! The bad news there being, that's because it's not as involved a trip as most of the others, nor as varied. This marks the middle section of the middle chapter of the second and final Act of the game, and you might say it's something of a lull before we start the big... well. Before the end begins.

For more good news, if you've been keeping an eye on my Patreon you may have noticed we've passed (more or less, Patreon's numbers vary a lot over the course of the month because weird reporting) my second big stretch milestone! This means it's time to triple my art budget and start getting in touch with some of the big names in the art community to see about getting some really high-quality art into MVOL! I've been super excited and super nervous about this goal, but the time has finally come to reach out to artists I've hardly dared dream of working with. And...

And it's been a complete failure so far. I've sent PMs and emails to over a dozen artists I really admire and think could be a great for for MVOL, asking if they'd be open to drawing the variants necessary for a piece of art in MVOL. A couple were open to the idea, but not available for commissions right now. One or two declined. The rest flat out ignored me. Honestly, just trying to track down commission information for all of them (and the two dozen artists who, upon research, would obviously not be a match for one reason or another) was exhausting, and half the time I simply had to try a PM because I couldn't find any other indication of how to possibly approach them about commissions, even when they were obviously churning them out in great multitudes.

I think that top-tier artists tend to find themselves in a situation where they have more people approaching them than they could ever possibly draw for, and that if they simply make themselves virtually inaccessible, they can find more than enough work among repeat customers and the occasional network connection or new client gained by happenstance. That's the best, most optimistic explanation I have at this point for how artists can churn out so many commissions without ever giving any indication of how they accept them, or responding to inquiries.

Whatever the explanation, I have hit a wall rather unexpectedly. That's not to say I've given up-- there are many more artists of great talent I intend to reach out to in the days to come. It's just... you know, tough to throw yourself right back into that. If anyone has advice on how to approach high-level artists, or knowledge of what avenues are the best to use, or maybe if there's some "avoid these commissioners" page somewhere with me pasted on there because I got fidgety about getting Lith's look right one too many times... If you guys know anything that might help me with this great hunt for great artists, please do let me know. You can comment here or email me or what have you, I'm all ears. I want to get amazing artists working with Lith.

Well. That was another set of good and bad news. I did manage to get some art for this release, two pieces as usual, but they're more of the typical fare my usual budget would allow. One will be quite easy to find for one third of my players on a standard run through, and the other is pretty easy to have thrust on you if you're into that sort of thing, and Lith has what he needs. Getting the last piece of art for this release was its own little adventure, just concluding at the last possible moment with a desperate stream commission that turned out surprisingly well. To be honest, v0.30 has been full of ups and downs and has just been immensely wearying in many ways, but I've covered the big points. If you want a better timeline of what happened, and to keep up on how development is going in the future, you're welcome to check out my Twitter. I've been getting mostly better about using it to report as I get writing done, grumble about my problems, and generally ramble about nerdy and furry stuff.

Actually, you may notice on there that I've finished a few stories recently. In case you didn't know, besides writing MVOL, I also have a pretty hefty archive of stories on FurAffinity and SoFurry. I kinda went a year without adding more, but that's apparently partly because I left a lot of them not quiiite finished, and you can expect several new stories to be coming out in the weeks and months to come! My stories tend to be quite the grab bag, including canon stories featuring Lith outside the void, lots of interesting experimental pieces, and a great deal of weird, kinky stuff that's more fetishistic than I really dare to be with MVOL. Try a few! I often surprise people with what I can get them to enjoy reading about, and I love broadening folks' horizons a touch.

Anyway, that's all the news and self-promotion for now. This version was a pretty rough trip, but I'm hoping things will smooth out a little now we've learned from this. Again, if you guys have any advice or helpful information for commissioning high-tier artists, if you know anyone that might be able to put in a good word for me or what have you, I'd be grateful for any help. My amazing supporters have given me the money to maybe afford these amazing artists, but apparently it's not as simple as being ready to pay. But we can make it happen!

Thank you, everyone, for being part of this with me.

v0.29 is Live!

Play the new version right now by clicking the Play the Game tab above!

Finally, the first trip through the Glass Door is complete. The last scene has been added with this version, a few others have been polished up, and I'm ready to get started on the next section. That's only a small part of this release, though. It's turned into a real grab bag!

The first thing you may notice is that, thanks to the support of my Patreon, Lith's portrait in the upper left has finally been replaced with a proper artist's rendition! It's still just as functional as the old portrait, but about a hundred times nicer looking. We actually hit this milestone a while ago, but it's been a challenge finding the artist I really thought could make a Lith face I could be happy with. It's awesome to finally see my derpy old art put away and some professional work going up! Though yes, if some among you are nostalgic for old 3-face Lith, there is an option to switch back in the Options menu.

Other than that, a few scenes have been added here and there to deal with the fact that the Glass Door has opened. They fall into two main categories, and if you know the game well, you can probably guess what they are! Also, I've added one big, new sex scene that rather stands out from the rest, and is probably exactly what some people have been hoping for for some time, going by the comments I've seen. It's extremely easy to find under the right conditions, but to meet those conditions, you may have to get out of your comfort zone. Happy hunting!

Lastly, besides the portrait, one other piece of new art has been added, a cute one for every now and then. Also, while discussing the finer details of Lith's appearance with Mz Nite, one of my favorite artists for this game, she was so kind as to offer me corrected versions of a few pieces, so you may notice a slight adjustment to Lith's appearance in a couple pieces of art.

From here, I expect to start working on the second trip through the Glass Door, but due to the nature of this next segment, I don't think it'll be ready in time for the coming version. So I'll probably continue to work on some other side content for the game as well, and center v0.30 on that, with whatever I got done so far available to peek at in the cheat version next time.

I think that about wraps it up for now. Time for gratuitous linking! I mentioned my Patreon above, but did you know about my Twitter? I use it to report on the writing I'm getting done, and sometimes make jokes and complain. If you'd like another way to support me, you can find some of my writing on Amazon as well!

Thanks for reading, everyone, and thanks for playing my game! Hope you guys like the new content!

v0.28 is Live!

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!

v0.27 is Live!

Pop over to the Play the Game tab to download your copy!

The last version made a lot of implications about what was coming, and now we're seeing some of those coming to pass. v0.27 may be a high point or a low point for some players depending on their tastes, but we've finally jumped into a few sex scenes, for better or worse, as well as introduced a small secondary mechanic that will see more application down the line.

This new chapter in your story with Lith has been put together to meet several different goals, and accomplishing those along with providing a good experience for the player has been an interesting challenge. Where I've been able to play with ambiguity and the division of paths before, there are a lot of overlapping situations in this chapter that need to be addressed, and the avatar's attitude toward what's going on has a lot less room to leave open to interpretation with more intensive social situations going on. I've been worried about stepping on players' toes with scenes that will inevitably pull away from their intentions, but to a degree that's built into the nature of the game. All I can do is try to make everything accountable.

I know this isn't the sort of content folks were expecting behind the next door, and I think that's a good thing. I saw a lot of suggestions for more crazy fantasy locations and such that Lith and the avatar could visit, but it's important to the arc of the story and Lith's development that we don't just linger in fantasy worlds. This is what Lith needs right now. I do get nervous about how uncomfortable it may make some players, but it's an uncomfortable situation, and having that sort of reaction is an important part of being part of the story. I'm implementing things well when I'm getting that sort of reaction, even if I do wish I could just make players feel good 100% of the time, haha. The main consolation is that it's the downs that make the ups that much better, but that's going to be a pretty long-term payoff on that front.

But we're pushing through! I feel like with this update we're actually surprisingly close to completing the first big chunk of this chapter. I'm not sure if it'll be 100% complete with v0.28, but I think it should at least be close. I'm still putting together the details of how the rest of the chapter will work precisely, but I do know that I want this chapter to be less ridiculously complicated and not such a huge chunk of work compared to the Stone Door. It's certainly got its own kind of complication going for it already, but I'll be doing what I can to only keep things complicated where they need to be. One particular, very small segment of this update was a huuuuge headache just to get working properly, haha. I'm glad to have it done, but it makes me wary about how I lay out my complication in the future. Something to keep an eye on!

Anyway, other than the new storyline content, which features two new sex scenes, I've also added two new pieces of art I'm very happy with, both of which from returning artists. I've had a lot of fun (stressful though it may be) hunting down lots of different artists and seeing Lith rendered in lots of different styles, and I think that complements the sense that Lith can be different things to different people, that he can be a different kitty in a different situation. That said, I've been really happy with the work I got from these artists in the past, and while I do hope to continue commissioning a variety of artists, a couple repeating artists will make it a lot easier to sustain the pace of new art every month, I think.

Outside of art and new story content, I've added a touch of extra functionality to the cheats available for supporters to skip straight to the new content more easily. If you'd like access to cheats, make sure to check out my Patreon, there's a bunch of nice goodies available for interested fans.

That wraps it up for now. I hope you guys enjoy the new content!