[UPDATED] Devs' Corner: October 2024

Our developers have something to tell you! Every three (3) weeks, our devs will provide you with information about their work in the “Dev’s Corner.”

This publication is a way of keeping everyone updated on what’s happening with the game. We invite you to discuss and leave your feedback for each of the publications.

Note: All posts must adhere to the forum guidelines and be constructively made.

Take a look at our very first Devs' Corner publication!

Warm wishes,

The Howrse Team
 
Ow
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I don't think they will restore the old system. On prepod and in spoilers when it was first announced that this would be implemented people were upset and really hoping they wouldn't go through with it.
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Despite the huge amount of negative responses, they went ahead with the new update.
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They obviously didn't listen then and I doubt they will now. Especially now that it's already implemented. Howrse has been going downhill recently (they haven't even brought back the Help Centre) and they don't seem to care that much about the players' responses.
Veren
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The more I think about this, the worse it becomes.

1. Effectively they have erased years' worth of progress and resources spent.
2. Unless a player was keeping daily screenshots of their trophies (and who would remember to keep up with that when the game was tracking it for you), they have made it impossible to know exactly how much progress has been erased. They deleted the evidence.

This whole sorry debacle should have been stopped in the "playing with ideas" phase, when they realised it was not possible, and/or they could not be bothered, to transfer ALL the progress exactly as is. That right there was the point at which they should have either have canned it, OR decided not to move forward until a secure way was found to transfer and preserve ALL the progress.

I have seen some sorry situations in all of my years of gaming, but this takes the biscuit.
Cranedaughter
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Veren wrote:

They obviously didn't listen then and I doubt they will now. Especially now that it's already implemented. Howrse has been going downhill recently (they haven't even brought back the Help Centre) and they don't seem to care that much about the players' responses.


Yeah a few pages back they confirmed it was a scheme to drive older players off the game and encourage newbies to spend a quick buck before they learn the game is unplayable and quit. (In theory, getting replaced by more newbies who'll spend a quick buck before they realized the game is unplayable and quit, etc. etc.)

We're not meant to be here at all, and you're right, they don't care.

And in a few years this site won't exist either, because it's ALSO confirmed that that's not a sustainable system. So, yeah. It's been nice knowing you guys. default smiley (y)
Crookedstar915
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For those wondering about the other versions:
- The French one is as agitated as this one. I cannot translate all the epithets, but I'm assuming the use of "truc" was not always intended in a friendly way.
- The Italian version I have gotten comments via PM because there are no forums and they seem... ambivalent. I've heard both very bad and very good comments, but because the community was smashed to pieces and recycled through the trash bin because there are no forums, I cannot say what the majority is...
Nalu93
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Crookedstar915 wrote:

Yeah a few pages back they confirmed it was a scheme to drive older players off the game and encourage newbies to spend a quick buck before they learn the game is unplayable and quit.


Nobody said that never mind 'confirmed' it default smiley :)

Crookedstar915 wrote:

And in a few years this site won't exist either


Our dear original Ow once told me, when the game was just 3 years old, that it had already passed expectations for a game of this type. It is our wonderful international community of players that has made Howrse what it is, and that has kept it going this long default smiley 8-)


Long-term players are the backbone of Howrse, and that's always been strong, but of course nothing survives with just a backbone, especially as it necessarily gets chipped away with time, hence the need to attract and encourage as many newer members of our community as possible.
Dr Zig
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I want to hear how the powers that be plan to rectify this.

Because being offered a BMI here and there, further and further apart, combined with the unfortunate medals and a poor divine every now and then, really is not going to make up for the years of progress and resources and hard work that were thrown away here.

Whoever thought transferring 1 month would compensate for years and years of work?
Cranedaughter
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Cranedaughter wrote:

I want to hear how the powers that be plan to rectify this.

Because being offered a BMI here and there, further and further apart, combined with the unfortunate medals and a poor divine every now and then, really is not going to make up for the years of progress and resources and hard work that were thrown away here.

Whoever thought transferring 1 month would compensate for years and years of work?


We still have all our horses and collections, so how has anything been thrown away?

All our work is still there and most stuff transferred over with full credit going back quite a way. It is only old trophies that were on a 30-day cycle (e.g. some of the EC and rosette trophies), that credit us only for very recent stuff. Yeah, companions too, which is odd given there must be a way to run an algorithm to work out how many we have on horses we own.

But we've also been told that some possible additions are being looked into. Yesterday, for example, a bunch of congratulations trophies were awarded to me on the UK server. Getting trophies for congratulations seems very silly, but hey, I'll take it default smiley :d

I'm autistic so I see a lot of the world a bit differently, so forgive me if I'm missing something that seems obvious to everyone else – that happens. I just struggle to understand how the drive to make our collections is tied in with a need to display our 'achievement' on our profile page, or how different icons representing said achievements alters those met goals in any way default smiley :s
Dr Zig
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Yeah, I don't like the new trophy update - it shows no specific progress and I feel like the trophies showed "the story of the account". It's meaningless to collect them now and the icons look ugly.
Nimeria
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I can only answer for myself here. Which is hard enough considering they deleted my trophies and so I have no way of comparing everything to see how it tallies up. I can't personally see how the current percentages line up with my previous numbers, but it feels off. I don't think they can possibly have transferred all the old numbers and counts all the way back. If they did they must have changed the trophy goals and milestones drastically? It feels completely unfair to not have past achievements count going forwards. And this isn't even a particularly old account, but I had still put a lot into it.

The point of collecting for me is both a sense of achievement and the satisfaction of being able to organise my collections, look at them - and display them. I also enjoy browsing the collections of others. They took the fun right out of that. We can't even look at someone's profile and tell which retired Golden Apples they have at a glance, or indeed which trophies they have at all...

I would not have bothered investing, searching, and collecting as much as I have if the current system had been implemented back when I returned. Those investments were made specifically with the old trophies in mind! They have changed the goalposts of the game after the fact. I would not have made the same priorities with this system in place. And yet that is disregarded.

I enjoyed the neat look of the old trophies. I enjoyed having everything on one page, available with one click. The new system is a complete nightmare to navigate, look at , and interact with.

It feels to me like this was done in a complete hurry, without proper care being taken to make sure everything was preserved.
Cranedaughter
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Veren wrote:

They obviously didn't listen then and I doubt they will now. Especially now that it's already implemented. Howrse has been going downhill recently (they haven't even brought back the Help Centre) and they don't seem to care that much about the players' responses.


Someone said they are working on displaying collections on our pages, so thats something

plus they might add something for GA and RC without changing anything current, I don't think its improssible
Capella
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Dr Zig wrote:

Our dear original Ow once told me, when the game was just 3 years old, that it had already passed expectations for a game of this type. It is our wonderful international community of players that has made Howrse what it is, and that has kept it going this long default smiley 8-)



Then what a shame it is, that the current people running the game have no respect for the players that made the game what it is today default smiley (8)
Crystal Clear
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Dr Zig wrote:

I just struggle to understand how the drive to make our collections is tied in with a need to display our 'achievement' on our profile page, or how different icons representing said achievements alters those met goals in any way default smiley :s



It's not just the displaying of trophies that is causing this outrage. That's one small factor in the many complaints regarding this change. It's quite silly to downplay all the pages of complaints and put it down to just wanting to display specific trophies
Crystal Clear
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@ midnight stargazer The Aus version is showing a rather unanimous front of burning dislike, dare I say almost a rather passionate uproar of very much the same opinion and that is none of us are very happy campers but there could be more posts since I've checked and if there are players that like the update they haven't made a post in the forum yet. The not so well thought out "update" has even made players who don't normally weigh in on things much appear out of left field and state some very lengthy opinions probably like it has done here as well default smiley (m)
ryanchi
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Please Howrse admins, I am so upset and I only want to love this game as I always have. The RC coat collection is impossible now, so what is the purpose of them any longer? I am checking nearly ten times daily for updates because I love this game so dearly. New players have no loyalty like I do and other older players, and children cannot fully fund this site! I love new players and often gift them items, but we cannot simply abandon the rest of us players in the dirt! To take all of our years of work and smash it... I am heartbroken! To do this and then hide away, not answering our concern. I feel so worthless and ignored. I beg for an update!
Mikunotcheating
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Dr Zig wrote:

I'm autistic so I see a lot of the world a bit differently, so forgive me if I'm missing something that seems obvious to everyone else – that happens. I just struggle to understand how the drive to make our collections is tied in with a need to display our 'achievement' on our profile page, or how different icons representing said achievements alters those met goals in any way default smiley :s

default smiley (l) I think you misunderstand - at least in my case you do.
I'm upset because I no longer have access to a simple graphic visual view of what I have.
I loved being able to fast get a glance at what was needed to progress.

Example: Let's say I wanted to work towards having 2000 GA's.
Or how many RC's did I still need of the rare ones etc.
With a quick glance the old trophy page icons told me how many I had, and how many was needed to progress.
Or if I wanted to see what breeds/colors I needed to get all of X breed.

Now it is all a jumbled mess, or the info I could access before simply isn't there any more.
Another issue that rubs me the wrong way is WHY are GA's collections now and not trophies. Players spend passes on GA's as well, not just divine.

I'm one of those that do way better with graphics that a lot of text or endless lists.

The new trophy page is basically useless to me
If I go to that page, all it tells me is, that I need to work on trophies I have deliberately ignored on the old trophy page.... like

Win xx rosettes
Grand Prix trophies
Give birth to Zonkey things
Yggdrasil
Fairy tale horses
Musketeers
Grail horses
Fountains

Others are equally impossible to work on unless I change the way I play 180. Or I live to be one very old 200+ year that still plays howrse.
Asfridur
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Nimeria wrote:

Yeah, I don't like the new trophy update - it shows no specific progress and I feel like the trophies showed "the story of the account". It's meaningless to collect them now and the icons look ugly.



Cranedaughter wrote:

I enjoyed the neat look of the old trophies. I enjoyed having everything on one page, available with one click. The new system is a complete nightmare to navigate, look at , and interact with.


And this so much this!
Asfridur
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Triple post ...sorry

It is great that other players find the new page useful.

But howrse needs to remember not all players work towards the same goals.
Asfridur
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Just saying Asfridur, as someone that is also autistic it really means a lot when people take the time to break down things the way that you did, a bit of patience really does go a long way in helping us understand it from another's perspective. default smiley (l)
Oathkeeper
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Wow. I just completed the 'Win 5000 competitions' - trophy. Next one: Win 10.000 competitions... 5000 takes a long time, but now I just need to win 5000 AGAIN? This is surreal. Especially considering that I enter a lot of comps daily and am often in the top 300 rank of comps won yesterday.
Supergirl80
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[quote=1404392096]Yeah a few pages back they confirmed it was a scheme to drive older players off the game and encourage newbies to spend a quick buck before they learn the game is unplayable and quit.

Where?

This is what bothers me is.....I believe Equideow and International are the two largest member sites. Why aren't the 'Powers that Be" posting anything here? Why do we have to get any information, as little as it may be, from other sites?
Arabians are best
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Asfridur wrote:

I'm upset because I no longer have access to a simple graphic visual view of what I have.
I loved being able to fast get a glance at what was needed to progress.

This is a great summary about my navigational and organizational concerns.
But of course I have to add my 2 centsdefault smiley (lol)
Navigational: All of the "collections" were on one page, and I didn't need to scroll far to look for a particular trophy. The amount of scrolling required in the Collections is terrible. I could have my Trophies page open in one window, and my farms and/or the sales in another to search for what I need. I now need to hop from multiple Collections pages and click through various tabs within them. If I were on slow internet, I'd be concerned about all of the page loading.

Organizational: I'm a visual person, and icons were the bread and butter of the old Trophies page. It was easy for me to see at a glance what trophy I wanted, whether I completed it, and what my progress was without having to guess based on a percentage (I'm terrible with numbers). I also loved that they were split by categories, which the Collections does, but the Trophies does not.

In regards to how lost icons from our achievements alters our accomplished goals:
I collected the Special Item coats more for the Trophy itself, and its addition to my Rankings, than for the actual coats. I wouldn't have bothered acquiring all of those 5th Element coats per species had there not been a Trophy for them. All of those trophies are now gone, as there is only a single 5th Element Collection. Which won't help the market for those coats, I'm sure.

Then there is also the damage done to both my General Ranking Score, and my Trophies rank. General Ranking improvement and Trophy collecting have been my goals for the past year, and both severely penalized overnight. I lost 281 spots in my Trophy ranking, and 342,000 points in my General Score because of all the Customization and Coat Trophies I lost.

We also lost a ton of history with the deletion of the Cowbra and Olympus Cards, as well as the gift cards that showed a bunch of old items like turnips, Seahorse and diamonds. While possibly not valuable to actual game play, I don't think the Cards should be part of the new Collections. The Collections count for General Ranking, which I agree with, but it's impossible for us to go back and collect old cards. They'll forever remain as incomplete as our Retired Coat Collections page, which are redundant to the Creation Directories since we no longer have tier levels like we did with the old Trophies.
Legacy Ann
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^ I completely agree with what Legacy Ann and Asfridur wrote above.

Having the old single page overview with little neat details was about a hundred times easier to navigate and understand. I enjoy the little details... I don't like oversimplified page designs, or large size fonts and images, and I really do struggle with all the extra scrolling and clicking now required to get the same overview as you could at a glance before.
Cranedaughter
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Maybe someone already mentioned this, but the "Put x Companions on some horses" trophy stops at 150 companions applied. I'm at the Gold tier, with a gold-coloured bar that now says 100%, and when I applied an additional companion to a horse it didn't start counting towards a Diamond tier.
Cranedaughter
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Arabians are best wrote:

Where?


Yeah no, that was my speculation, where I said that STATISTICALLY, games live more through microtransactions than via whales or long-standing players.
No admin ever said something like that. default smiley :)
Nalu93
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By Retired breeder, 6th January 2023 18:04:27
22
Dr Zig wrote:

I just struggle to understand how the drive to make our collections is tied in with a need to display our 'achievement' on our profile page, or how different icons representing said achievements alters those met goals in any way


Put simply, humans like to brag and show off default smiley xd I liked finishing a set and knowing that I could display a nice trophy on my page so that people would know I completed it. I want people to know that I have a the coats per breed, all the divine collections I have, which divines I have, how many GAs and RGAs I have - and the reserve is true too. I loved going onto other peoples pages and noseying around at their trophies, seeing what divines they had, etc etc.

Dr Zig wrote:

We still have all our horses and collections, so how has anything been thrown away?

All our work is still there and most stuff transferred over with full credit going back quite a way. It is only old trophies that were on a 30-day cycle (e.g. some of the EC and rosette trophies), that credit us only for very recent stuff. Yeah, companions too, which is odd given there must be a way to run an algorithm to work out how many we have on horses we own.


True, but I can't SEE that now. There's no information given to me now looking at 4 ribbons on someones page. They might have one diamond trophy - wonderful! But what's it for? 100 applications of golden apples? 1m poo? There's nothing gained by what's showing. Yes they still have all their horses, but I don't know that now unless I trawl through their tabs which I won't ever do.

I'm also neurodivergent and the new collection page is an absolute nightmare for me now. Before we had one page that showed absolutely everything you could need. The collections that weren't finished were greyed out, the completed ones were coloured in. if you clicked on them, a dropdown would show everything involved with whatever set it was. There were numbers!!! Actual, meaningful, wonderful, beautiful NUMBERS! I knew exactly how many UFOs I'd clicked on, rosettes I've won, how many GAs I had, or rays, etc. The percentage bars mean NOTHING to me - 92% of 200k competitions won, does this mean 184k? or 185k? or 185,999? I don't know what I'm working towards anymore because I don't know exactly what my progress is. And the collection page is now click after click after click.

Before: trophies - Seal of the Apocalypse. Want to see a different collection? Just click the new one and it'll show. Nice and quick, minimal clicks.

Now: collections - special coats - SOTA. Want to see a different collection? You need to go back a page, go into that page, and then click that collection. Takes longer, have to click more to find collections, add in wait time for the lag to make an appearance.
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