MVOL v0.44 is Live: Bump in the Night

Happy New Decade! I’ve been working on this update right up to the last minute so I’m a little wiped out, but I’m pretty proud of it. The big news for this one is that The Hidden Section is now complete! It got a pretty huge chunk of content with this update, and technically I could still go back and add a few last bits, but it’s at about 95% completed and has proper endings and everything. So that should be great news for the folks that like it, and the good news for those that don’t is that I’m just about done making any of that content from here out!

This section has two ending achievements, but it technically has four different “endings” possible, along with a big spread of achievements to reward you for your playstyle. That said, due to the nature of this section and the achievements themselves, I’ve set them all to be hidden, so you’ll only see the ones you’ve unlocked. I don’t think it’d be fair to encourage folks to hunt after this stuff like with other achievements, but I hope the ones you get will represent some fond memories for you.

Actually, the achievement section itself got an overhaul this release. The achievement list has gotten pretty huge, so I’ve divided it into pages by category and adjusted the look a bit. I think it should be a lot more satisfying to look at now.

Speaking of the game’s aesthetic, my voters on Patreon saw to it that with this version, MVOL now has a dark mode! It’s not a dramatic change, but I think it works pretty well, even if it did give me a surprising number of problems and bugs getting it working.

And of course, two new pieces of art have been added! These ones are pretty easy to find. One is in the early game, a scene that’s very straightforward to get to though it does require a couch for the art, and the other is just about impossible to miss in the midgame.

Besides the new content, The Hidden Section actually got a lot of tweaks along the way. I’ve massaged the intro a little to try and make it clearer it’s “okay” for people not interested in this content to just pull out early. I’ve adjusted some of the stuff behind the scenes to hopefully play a little smoother, especially if you’re eager, and hopefully there’ll just be lots to enjoy and explore in this section for those that care to.

Other than that, a few random bug fixes and quality of life improvements round out this version! I’m sorry to anyone that was hoping for content of a different nature, but as I said, we should be all done with all this for now. It was nice to take a bit of a break and work on something different, honestly, but I’m ready to get back into the meat of the game.

On that note, if everything goes as planned on my end, the next update should be v0.90! This will be to signify that the “essential content” of the game is complete, and after that, the game will finally transition from Alpha to Beta. This means my focus will be less on content generation (though I still intend to be adding more) and more on refining the game as a whole, trying to fine-tune the experience, make it more playable and more satisfying in a lot of subtler ways, maybe add things where I feel there are gaps in the “feel” or the flow of the gameplay, maybe remove things that just don’t feel right. This will be another first for me as a game designer, but I’m pretty excited to get into it, and I hope you guys will appreciate the improvements that come from that!

But that’s a ways down the road, from v0.91 and on. For now, enjoy this hefty chunk of content if it’s your jam, and if not, hopefully the next will be more your speed!

Besides that, I’m still spinning a lot of plates behind the scenes trying to get a non-Flash version of MVOL going, building my first mini-project to come after it, and getting more art done for the game. It’s been a great trial, but I’ve actually got an animation nearly ready to go, and hopefully we’ll be importing that with the next release as well! I’ve had to learn a good deal about how flash animation even works, so it’s been a bit rough, but I think it’s gonna be worth all the headaches in the end.

I still need volunteers to help make MVOL the best game it can be! Please take a look at being a proofer and if you think you can help out, show me what you can do! It does get you access to the new release a week early, but I’ll expect you to pull your weight and help search for bugs and typos!

And lastly, I’m still working on my big series of blog posts about how MVOL has gone and where I’m going from here. I got a little wiped out and haven’t added a new one in a while, but I’m hoping to get to that next week.

That’s all the news I can think of to bundle in with this release. Thanks for reading, and for playing! I hope you enjoy all the new content!