MVOL v0.91: Flowing, Morphing, Changing

Big News

If by some chance you haven’t heard about this already, I’ve been talking a ton about how MVOL has turned out and what’s next, and I’ve put out four surveys to get input from all of you on how things went and what I should do from here! This is the last time I’ll be plugging it, and in a week or so I’ll be pulling the final data and getting started on some tough choices. You can get a quick summary of everything and links to the surveys here, or you can start from the very beginning of the discussion here.

One other big piece of news before I get started on the release itself, actually: My Very Own Lith is now available on HTML5! Kylor has been awesome with getting the game ported and rebuilt to work on a whole new code base. This means you don’t have to wrestle with making Flash work anymore, and the game should be playable on just about every device, including iOS. We also have less to worry about with Flash “dying,” though the flash version should still be playable even after support ends, as I understand it.

That said, there are a few downsides. HTML5 means you have to play online– you’re basically browsing a site set up to function identically to the game. It’s a little slower switching pages and loading art, so you may see a little more blinking than usual. We just got this into a playable state, and there are definitely still a lot of bugs in there right now, so if you run into any please shoot us an email so we can get things tidied up! Right now you’ll have to start a new game to play on there, but the full storyline is all there, and we’re hoping to get cross-compatibility through the save backup system going in a week or two. We’re still polishing it up, but I hope a lot of folks out there will be relieved to have this alternative up and running.

The Update

Now! This update has a wide variety of changes in it, so I’ve got a lot to cover. There are two new sections of content, the early game has been heavily revamped, a limited system for customizing your species is up and running, two new pieces of art are in there, and lots of little changes besides. Let’s get into the details.

The Talk – Anything section used to be the main source of hints on how to play, but it tended to be really immersion-breaking, and I knew when I finally got the new hint system set up that it was time for all that mess to go. I’ve replaced almost all of the content in Talk – Anything to be less about clues and more just fun, random stuff that’ll help you get to know Lith. There are a lot of variants packed in there to change things up as you progress through the game, too. Hopefully that’ll be a nice treat for long-time fans as well as helping smooth out the early game experience a little.

And while it didn’t quite win the vote on my Patreon, it was tied till the last minute and came in a close second, so I went ahead and added one more chunk of content for the Jello snack. This one is pretty much setting the stage so we’re ready for some peculiar, lighter scenes once I get around to adding those.

What did win the vote, though, was a very tentative, experimental idea I put on the poll in response to constant demands for adding new species as playable characters. Basically since the very start, people have always wanted more species added, often very obscure ones that would be almost impossible to really add everywhere in the game. This concept was the best compromise I could find to let people play the species they want without completely breaking the core features of the game, or breaking my sanity.

I’ve gone through the whole game scene by scene and expanded the variants to allow you more control over your character’s species. You can now name your race and choose from a list of features, mostly mixing and matching from the options that are already written into the game, with a few extra bits. The art generally won’t reflect you very accurately if you go for something really out there, but I’ve tried to rewrite scenes to respect your choices as much as possible.

Basically, if all this time you’ve been wanting to be a dog with a horse dick, or another kind of reptile, something like that, then this should be almost seamless for you. If you want to go really out there, the only real limit is your imagination, but some of the descriptions may be a little off the mark at times. Still, I’m hoping this will let tons of people out there finally feel like you’re really playing as “yourself.” I’m open to feedback on how it’s turned out, but I should clarify, this is pretty much the final state for this feature. It will only ever be possible as a compromise, because the way my game is built just will not accept customization on the level you’ve seen in other erotic text games. I hope it at least helps you get a little more comfortable in your role!

Now, seeing as we’re in Beta, one of my big focuses has been refining how the game plays and feels. I especially want the early game to be more welcoming and feel less like a brick wall for new players first trying it out– the real juicy bits lie deeper within, and I think the rough early game has been turning a lot of people away early. To that end, I’ve adjusted a whole bunch of factors.

The Pink Collar has been notoriously difficult, so I’ve adjusted its requirements some to distance it more from the Blue Collar and hopefully make it easier to acquire if you’re playing in the right direction. Both collars are now unlockable in multiple places so it’s harder to miss that crucial next step, and variables have been adjusted in general to be a little easier to build up, as well as specifically to be more open in how content along the Pink route can be unlocked. I’m hoping this will still feel natural and like there’s some “resistance,” like there’s a real person in there whose feelings you have to respect, but with less of those dead moments where immersion starts breaking as you run out of ideas. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from hired playtesters and my proofers, so fingers crossed we’ve tweaked it to a better balance all around!

And of course, two new pieces of art are in there. One is so easy to find you’ll hardly have to look for it, while the other is a chilling rendition of what I like to think is among the most memorable moments in the midgame. Very proud of these pieces, I think they’re among the best in the game so far!

What else? I’ve finally set up a proper scroll bar, though that turned into a surprising headache to implement across versions. Gone is the half-hidden blocky bar, we’ve finally got something that looks halfway decent in the game’s aesthetic! I’ve fixed loads of bugs, especially with Kylor’s help going through the code, so you might notice some subtle changes here and there. I also rearranged the talk menu a bit to hopefully feel less messy and more intuitive!

Let’s see… I’m probably forgetting one or two things, but I think that pretty much covers it. Phew! In terms of raw content, this update might feel a little on the lighter side, but I feel like MVOL may have changed more overall in this update than almost any other before it.

What’s Going On

So, where’s that leave us? My Very Own Lith is very near completion, now. I’ll be paying close attention to feedback as people try out the new version, but right now, there’s just one big feature left that I know I want to get into this game before I can consider it complete. It’s still hard to believe, and I keep feeling like I must be forgetting something else, something big I’ve been wanting to add, but it’s important to know when to put it down and stop fussing with it, too. So unless something big comes up, I’m expecting the next release to be The Big 1.00. Hope you’re psyched to play the fully completed game!

I’ve still been developing my new concepts on the side going through all this, but in the next couple months, along with figuring out how production is going to go as I shift gears and jump into what comes next, I’m hoping to get the first rough prototype started up properly. I have a basic framework with some problems in it ready, but there’s still a ton of work to be done before I can even begin to share what I’ve got going on. I hoped I’d have more by now, but MVOL has taken up a lot of my attention and a few delays with contract work have left things to slide a little on that front.

As I said, once I’ve gotten all the feedback on these surveys that I think I’m gonna get, I’m going to start making the big decisions about building games from here. I’m tentatively planning to expand onto another platform to offer more options for support, so I’m gonna try and build a new series of rewards and go live with the changes on both at the same time.

I do expect to keep working on MVOL after v1.00, but it will probably slow down, and I do expect that to be the big turning point where I focus more on new projects. It’ll be up to me to get something ready that’ll show I can still capture your heart even with new characters and different gameplay! Keep an eye out for some pretty big announcements along with the next release, if everything goes according to plan!

I’ll also probably post something going over some of the results from the surveys later this month. I’ve got a lot of data to crunch here, and some of the results so far have been very interesting. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts to help me make a better decision!

I think that’s all I’ve got for now, though. Be sure to check out my Twitter and the game’s Discord if that’s your bag! I also have a host of (mostly more fetishistic) stories available on various sites, and a few small (arguably more vanilla) ebooks on Amazon if that’s your bag, check the links at the bottom of the page for “other places!”

Thanks for joining me on this long, crazy adventure! It’s still hard to believe we’re really reaching the end, this game has been a huge part of my life for years and years. Thank you for reading, and for playing, and I hope you’ll enjoy what’s to come!