Not Much Done This Week

Well, last week my other job started and there was a lot to do because of it opening. As a result, I wasn't able to get much done.

Primarily I had the chance to tinker with the names of future heroines a bit. One notable one is the Ice Queen you see in Hombre Blanco's gallery (if you don't mind spoilers). I've been looking over Finnish names to give her. Originally I'd had her as being Greek (and chose the placeholder name Chione Boreas), but as time went on I feel Finnish would be better.

My general process is to look for mythological names that are meaningful first. They have to be unfamiliar to your general American, second. The misuse of foreign mythological names is so prevalent here that people would completely miss the point and probably assume references instead. References which horribly butcher the origins of these names and the meanings behind them.

I wasn't seriously considering applying it to the Ice Queen, but the name Mielikki is the name of a goddess of the hunt in Finnish mythology. I absolutely CANNOT use that name even if I had an appropriate heroine, however, because she's ALSO a goddess in D&D. One where she is horrendously mischaracterized as something closer to a new age touchy-feely nature goddess than as the more interesting huntress-goddess of Finnish myth. Granted, the original myths had her as a healer and goddess of fortune, but also as someone to be feared. I really, REALLY hate when people misuse names like that.

I ALSO really hate the D&D conceptions of neutrality and nature-based classes and gods, but that's a different rant.

Other names are looked at and discarded for various reasons. The three daughters of the underworld aren't getting used - they'd be appropriate if she raised undead like Nanshe did, but she doesn't. Plus, they're pretty ugly and disgusting by design, and I don't get my giggles by sneaking in things which are gross. I like stealthy puns and absurdity-painted-as-deadly-serious humor. Gross things don't really belong in a porn game or in anything, IMO.

Really, none of the Finnish goddesses have quite the right type of meaningful name for her. Which means I'll probably go and look up the meanings of various generic Finnish names and use those.

Not all the heroines have meaningful mythological names, but some, such as "Nanshe Ninedinna", do. The names are sort of intellectual puns. They're not meant to be funny per se, but work like puns on some level.

Nanshe is the name of a Babylonian goddess. The goddess of Earth, Water, and Fertility, among other things. She's interesting. You should study her.

Each of these things are reflected in Nanshe. She promises to make the Overmind fertile again, and her dungeon is a mix of stone catacombs and water.

(Fun note: Nanshe was also considered a goddess of "social justice", which tempts me to make Tumblr jokes with her. I avoid doing so because those get annoying fast and don't really fit into the setting, but MIGHT do that if I find some particularly clever ways to do it.)

The second half of her name is Ninedinna. This is the name of a Babylonian goddess of the books of the dead. Nanshe is both a mage and a necromancer, making her name fit well.

Every character has a name like this, to a degree. I sit down and use my vague memories of my childhood spent reading endless books on mythology, and then pair them up with characters. I carefully use the internet to confirm the facts are what I remember, or to dig up additional info.

I'm glad we have the internet; when I was a kid I'd have had to go to the library to look this stuff up. Not that it isn't fun. The smell of old books around you, the feel of paper in hand... ahh. Wonderful. But then you have to put up with the librarian giving you odd looks as you read "The Blood Countess" or a romance novel or a fun b-sci-fi book. Every time I go to a library I always end up pulling a dozen books off the shelves of all kinds and reading all of them. And then you have to put up with those LOOKS from people who see your giant weird pile of sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mythology, gardening, architecture, cooking and history. As if knowledge or reading ANY genre of book were something to be ashamed of. Ingrates.

But the world isn't the place it was when I was growing up. People respect knowledge more. And that's good. 


Anyway, I'll keep working on the game like this and get back to actually putting down code soon. Wish me luck.

Development continues!

Well, this release seems to have been accepted well. 0.3. is next, with the Princess Melita path, a lot of fixes to various issues, and the Orb of Dominion ability-buy system using Orgasmic Energy.

I really can't give a timeline for it. I'm going to try to fix some quiet but deep seated bugs and that will take some time. A lot of the work for this is going to be invisible. Writing these scenes would probably take no more than two hours of real work, but the actual development process behind the scenes will likely take a while.

Add to this that it is summer, and that means I have a second job that I'm taking on for a few months. For most people this would mean a temporary halt to development, but haha, nope. I'm still gonna work on it, because I find it fun. Assume about a month or two at least for 0.3 to be finished.

The Overwhored art team has been working in overdrive to get things done, and they're doing a SPECTACULAR job.

One spoilery art post I can link to for a character that is not in the game yet can be found on Hombre-Blanco's page here.

He really went above and beyond with this one, adding several characters in the background for free. So please, praise him and give him a pat on the back for it.

Additionally, PChronos recently did another picture for the project. The three-cowgirls scene that was not selected in the extras was a project he decided to take on entirely pro-bono. Praise this man. He did a spectacular job.

Check out this preview of the finished pic:

As you saw last time in the Rubati preview, Planet of Junk has finished the second Rubati pic. Meaning she's ready to be captured once it's time for her to be in the story!

Also, the same artist has been working on a Dwarven heroine named Audr who will be the subject of the eventual 0.5. (Possibly 0.4, depending on how quickly the character art for the Halfling heroine is done, as I don't currently have an artist working on her) This is NOT her finalized design, but is pretty close to how she'll end up looking.

All of this has been made possible by my fans, donators, and a spectacular art team. Thanks to all of you.

Once again, if you know an artist you think would work well for Overwhored, or if you ARE an artist and want to work on the project please let me know. I'm always looking to expand the art team. I'm especially looking for good shortstack (Yordles, Halflings, Gnomes, oh my!) artists.


Here are some links to the sites of the artists currently working on Overwhored. Give them your praise, love, and attention. They're a great group of people.

Planet of Junk:
http://planetofjunk.tumblr.com/
http://planetofjunk2.tumblr.com/
Sleepymaid:
http://sleepymaid.tumblr.com/
http://squid-ops.com/comic/1
(Check out this comic!)
Placidandy:
http://placidandy.tumblr.com/
Steveman, aka idrawboobs:
http://idrawboobs.tumblr.com/
Hombre-Blanco:
http://www.hentai-foundry.com/user/Hombre-Blanco/profile
Pchronos:
http://www.wwoecforum.com/showthread.php?t=1962

Also Enjoy This:

Once you're done enjoying the latest update to the game, I also maintain a tumblr where I post mind control themed photomanips.

I mostly keep that and this separate because it has nothing whatsoever to do with the game, but if you think it's something you'll enjoy, have fun.

http://overwhored.tumblr.com/

Overwhored Ver. 0.2.6, Game freezing bug free edition

Well, after a rocky start yesterday here are two working links to the current game. I'm going to have several more up in about an hour. This has been named Version 0.2.6 to avoid confusion. I have also deleted other uploads.

This version also contains some hints to quests people had been having trouble with.

http://depositfiles.com/files/j2sn3fq3x

http://www.4shared.com/rar/f2n_xwhX/Overwhored_Ver_026.html

 http://www.sendspace.com/file/ox9pst

http://www.putlocker.com/file/5944F0AD5CBB2FC1

https://mega.co.nz/#!GhRS2ZqQ!B7P7x0mzJ6preD7bUA1jHWSdoIVAIpOxCBy8rn1koT8


Known bugs for this version: If using a save from ANY previous version, you may get the disappearing Skree bug, where she does not appear in the tower. Starting from a save before you get her in the party in this version will fix this problem. Other bugs might appear as well relating to previous saves, but the game should work overall.

This version of the game should be completely freeze-free.

Sorry for putting everyone through that rocky start. I'm going to change things up for future releases to ensure that doesn't happen again.


EDIT:
SOMEONE ON A FORUM ASKED:
Heh. Is the Priestess going to be a running gag to the point where even the strongest heroine will be caught before she will be? That'd be hilarious, actually.


No comment on WHEN she'll be captured, but have a preview of what'll happen when she is.

Fixed version

Here's the fixed version. Sorry for the delay, all.
EDIT:

Aaaand I'm a dummy, that one was broken due to a simple mistake as well.

Here, this version has some bugs but it's the last stable beta.

(Link Deleted, see newest post)

I'll have a fixed version up tomorrow on multiple sites, and I'm going to do a total runthrough of it myself just to make sure.

Overwhored Version 0.2.5 Released!

Hi everyone! I mean to have this out this morning but I wasn't able to before I had to go to work. Well, this version is up now, so enjoy!

There's only one download link currently, but I'll be uploading it to more sites and editing them in as they go up. Have fun, everyone!

*Link removed due to game-breaking bug*

EDIT: Due to a game breaking bug, the link is going down for an hour or so while I upload a fixed version.

Release Wednesday

Alright folks, I'm going to send out a new finalized beta today. If I didn't break the game trying to fix it, it'll be the version that goes out to release.

Version 0.2.5 should be out on Wednesday.

To my beta testers, thank you very much for taking the time to give thorough bug reports. I have fixed a lot of little things, which will make this game great for a lot of people. 

Beta test of Release 0.2.5 Released!

Donators, friends, you should see an e-mail soon. If you don't and you did donate, e-mail me! I'll make sure you get a link.

You can leave feedback in the comments here, on my forum here:
http://www.henthighschool.com/overwhored/overwhored-bug-reports-thread/new/#new

Or in the threads on hongfire, ULMF, or the hypnopics collective.

Feel free to leave feedback on bugs OR on the writing. I may rewrite things in this section heavily before general release. So state what you do and do not like, and let's all enjoy another round of good gaming fun.

Beta Release Wednesday

Well everyone, it quickly became apparent that the pro-incest side would win, but I held off on doing any writing until that became completely clear, as well as it becoming clear that people would like the bandit leader to be female. As such, though the game is playable right now, I still feel the writing is a bit shoddy. Rather than compromise standards, I'm going to spend two days in light revisions. I wouldn't bother if this weren't something that were getting released; I'd just rewrite it later.

The writing for this game is essentially first-draft, as I've said in previous posts. Everything is subject to change and most stuff, such as the sex scenes, will be completely rewritten to be far more extensive after the core game is finished. So if you feel any of that is lacking - so do I. But it's more important to have it down in the game than to have it perfect. Revisions up quality a great deal. That said because this does go out to the public, I do try to maintain a basic quality level rather than go pure minimalist "thumbnail sketch" quality with important core scenes and primary gameplay.

You can see the difference between what I consider "thumbnail sketch" and what I consider "basic first draft" levels with the difference between the three slaves sex scene and the Nanshe sex scene. With some hard rewriting and revisions, Nanshe's sex scene should be the equal of any professional production, and much longer. But that won't happen until the core game's storyline is finished, and probably not until after a number of extra dungeons and such things are filled out. This approach is the approach I tend to take when writing. My main concern is that I'll finish the main storyline and then people won't care much once it is in revisions because they've seen things already, but who knows. I'm going to stick to this approach either way, though.

I have a friend (who wishes to remain anonymous) working on giving a bit of extra depth to some sex scenes, such as the blacksmith and in the next release, the three initial slave girls. 

It looks like the coffee sex scene won't be done in time. My good friend Sleepymaid has the image at the lineart stage (and it looks fucking godly) but has been spending a lot of time lately on a reboot to the Squid Ops universe. I've seen it, and it is absolutely awesome. You can check it out here:
http://squid-ops.com/comic/1

If you like it, buy it. It's pretty cheap and Sleepymaid is the one doing some awesome images like the Nanshe sex scene.

I've also been talking with PChronos about getting the "three girls on one Overmind" image done for the cowgirl farm, and I've gotten back an awesome sketch. But PChronos is super busy, so I have no idea when or if the image will be completed. Here's to hoping! As usual he's doing it pro-bono. If you see him, give him a pat on the back and a thanks for working on Overwhored. Without him, Skree would not be a character. As it is, she's going to become an important one.

On the subject of incest, I'm going to put it in but keep it heavily implied rather than directly shown. So though it'll be talked about in dialogue, you won't have any explicit and directly incestuous sex scenes on screen.

As a final note I'll state something I brought up in the comments. Female fans, I know you exist. I'm glad you do and hope you enjoy this project as much as the guys. If there's something that you want to make the game hotter for you or something that already exists you want to see more of, let me know.

The main proviso is that I won't include yaoi or futanari. My friends in the artist community sometimes draw those things, but they are just not to my tastes. The scenes themselves will be almost entirely "Overmind on girl or girls". I'll work to see what I can provide within those guidelines, however.

Mind you, if you do fanart I flat out don't care WHAT the subject matter is. I'll point to it and go, "look how cool this person is for doing fanart!" even if it's not content that I personally find sexy. So feel free!

PS:
If you're a donator and wish to be in the credits, I MUST have a preferred name to list you by. If I don't have it, you will remain unlisted as an "anonymous donor".  If you're a donor and don't wish to be listed in the mass e-mail and get an individual e-mail instead, e-mail me and tell me now. You've got two days, so that's plenty of time. And thanks again for donating!

PPS:
Oh, I almost forgot. This is a gif I made that won't be used in this version of the game. But do enjoy it or feel free to use it if you like. I made it by hand before discovering the base template MOST people use for gifs like this, and I am NOT a sprite artist. So I hope you enjoy the work that went into it.

Quick Poll Thrown Down

Vote. Incest in the next release, yay or nay?

I'll remake the mausoleum this week, and depending on what you vote, I'll either remake the bandit lord into a girl and remove the incest or just keep things as they are. We'll see. I'm going to hold off on extra writing until this is resolved, though.