Over the last year or so, we've done a lot of internal shifting of things on HP. We've worked to optimize the coding, change some things on the back end to keep up to date and running well, etc. But spending the time, money, and attention there has resulted in fewer new features for the players on HP! And I haven't been the best about updating everyone about that, so to remedy the situation, here is the list of things we are currently trying to work on.
As many of you know, we have had some issues finding someone who has time to work on programming things in large chunks, so right now, we are working on getting the bugs fixed. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of that, as well as the other stuff!
In addition, we are also working on having a fall and a spring layout background version made, so we can switch the layout up four times a year instead of just two!
This is by no means a complete list of things that we would like to do, games are always evolving. It's just a list of things we are doing right now. As always, any suggestions you have are appreciated!
Bugs
We have a news post scheduling bug for mods/admins where it's posting things in a weird order.
The birthdates are still weird. Any time a player edits something on their profile page, the game makes them put their birthday in again.
Lost password emails don’t ever show up to hotmail/live/outlook accounts. I’m not sure if this is something that we can do anything about, because it may be them, but we're going to try!
Retirement dates on horses I have commented out for now, because they were telling people that the horses would retire when they were 22 instead of 21. They’re supposed to say the date that the horse will retire, which is the day they turn 21. Dogs may also be having an issue with this.
New Stuff
Notification System - I would like for everyone to have an option to receive a notification message for certain things (and if they could pick which ones they wanted on and off on the edit profile page).
Things I would want them for would be:
When someone bids on your animals
When someone bids on your upgrade auctions
When someone bids on your graphic/layout auction (maybe this should be chosen on the auction itself though, like when you make one, you can choose to “check” the box to get a notification of bids, rather than setting it as a default to get a message for all bids)
When your animals you have up for public sale are bought
When people request your private shows or tickets
When you get a new achievement
When someone signs up with your referral ID
When someone replies to one of your topics on the forum or a topic you’ve posted in (maybe you could subscribe to topics you’ve posted in individually by checking a box when you reply if you want notifications for it? Or maybe it should just be a box you could check/uncheck for any topic you want even if you haven’t posted but want to subscribe anyway?)
And then the message you get when you send/receive money or credits could also be optional in there!
Some of these do have cross-over with current messages, but I’d like it all to be in the same system where things could be turned on/off. In my mind I just see the notifications being a message to inboxes for these things rather than a separate notification box. Keeps things more streamlined, I think?
New Player Tutorial - I think it would really help us retain new players if we could have an optional walk-through when they sign up for the game. I was thinking something that once they logged in for the first time, took them to a “Welcome!” page, and the would be sent to the store to pick an animal, and then to the animal to take it to the vet and farrier, and then to enter a show, and then to a “Yay! You’re getting the hang of it! Want to buy a Starter Pack?” page.
Other Category for Clubs - Since we took out associations, I would like to add an “other” category to clubs for all the non-horse/dog stuff. I want them to work exactly the same as the other clubs do, except with a horse AND a dog show each week instead of just one or the other. This is one of many club changes we would like to do, but it's the first step of many!
Adults-Only Forum Category - Since we have so many adult players, it would be nice for everyone if there was a forum category for only those who are 18 (based on birthdates). This way there could be a place for our older players to post memes and stuff like that which would result in a warning if posted in chat. The world is not rated PG-13, and even though HP is, sometimes it's nice to say a swear word or two, right? Right.
Over the last year or so, we've done a lot of internal shifting of things on HP. We've worked to optimize the coding, change some things on the back end to keep up to date and running well, etc. But spending the time, money, and attention there has resulted in fewer new features for the players on HP! And I haven't been the best about updating everyone about that, so to remedy the situation, here is the list of things we are currently trying to work on.
As many of you know, we have had some issues finding someone who has time to work on programming things in large chunks, so right now, we are working on getting the bugs fixed. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of that, as well as the other stuff!
In addition, we are also working on having a fall and a spring layout background version made, so we can switch the layout up four times a year instead of just two!
This is by no means a complete list of things that we would like to do, games are always evolving. It's just a list of things we are doing right now. As always, any suggestions you have are appreciated!
Bugs
We have a news post scheduling bug for mods/admins where it's posting things in a weird order.
The birthdates are still weird. Any time a player edits something on their profile page, the game makes them put their birthday in again.
Lost password emails don’t ever show up to hotmail/live/outlook accounts. I’m not sure if this is something that we can do anything about, because it may be them, but we're going to try!
Retirement dates on horses I have commented out for now, because they were telling people that the horses would retire when they were 22 instead of 21. They’re supposed to say the date that the horse will retire, which is the day they turn 21. Dogs may also be having an issue with this.
New Stuff
Notification System - I would like for everyone to have an option to receive a notification message for certain things (and if they could pick which ones they wanted on and off on the edit profile page).
Things I would want them for would be:
When someone bids on your animals
When someone bids on your upgrade auctions
When someone bids on your graphic/layout auction (maybe this should be chosen on the auction itself though, like when you make one, you can choose to “check” the box to get a notification of bids, rather than setting it as a default to get a message for all bids)
When your animals you have up for public sale are bought
When people request your private shows or tickets
When you get a new achievement
When someone signs up with your referral ID
When someone replies to one of your topics on the forum or a topic you’ve posted in (maybe you could subscribe to topics you’ve posted in individually by checking a box when you reply if you want notifications for it? Or maybe it should just be a box you could check/uncheck for any topic you want even if you haven’t posted but want to subscribe anyway?)
And then the message you get when you send/receive money or credits could also be optional in there!
Some of these do have cross-over with current messages, but I’d like it all to be in the same system where things could be turned on/off. In my mind I just see the notifications being a message to inboxes for these things rather than a separate notification box. Keeps things more streamlined, I think?
New Player Tutorial - I think it would really help us retain new players if we could have an optional walk-through when they sign up for the game. I was thinking something that once they logged in for the first time, took them to a “Welcome!” page, and the would be sent to the store to pick an animal, and then to the animal to take it to the vet and farrier, and then to enter a show, and then to a “Yay! You’re getting the hang of it! Want to buy a Starter Pack?” page.
Other Category for Clubs - Since we took out associations, I would like to add an “other” category to clubs for all the non-horse/dog stuff. I want them to work exactly the same as the other clubs do, except with a horse AND a dog show each week instead of just one or the other. This is one of many club changes we would like to do, but it's the first step of many!
Adults-Only Forum Category - Since we have so many adult players, it would be nice for everyone if there was a forum category for only those who are 18 (based on birthdates). This way there could be a place for our older players to post memes and stuff like that which would result in a warning if posted in chat. The world is not rated PG-13, and even though HP is, sometimes it's nice to say a swear word or two, right? Right.
I actually have the same issue, Over. I've asked about it before, and it was fixed a little (used to be worse), so I can definitely ask again! I think it's partially the editor that we have, so I'm not sure if it's something that's super changeable or not, unfortunately.
I actually have the same issue, Over. I've asked about it before, and it was fixed a little (used to be worse), so I can definitely ask again! I think it's partially the editor that we have, so I'm not sure if it's something that's super changeable or not, unfortunately.