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Design1online

Game Owner
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Everything posted by Design1online

  1. I don't trust it to not just disappear again when things or his personal life gets tough again. I don't plan on going back. At a minimum he could have posted on other social media platforms why they were having issues and where they needed help. I sent multiple messages with offers to pay for hosting (or buy the whole site) and I never got a response from him so the whole "we can't pay for the host thing so they took down our entire site" seems pretty BS of an answer to me.
  2. I offered to host it for free or to buy it when it went down. I was sorry to see it go but if there's no content there's no reason to return and I would worry about it just disappearing again. It's also really disappointing that not only I but other people as well offered to keep it open and it still went down. I was happy to see TGL pop up in it's absence and some of my old friends ended up here as well.
  3. Copy the contents of your SQL into a variable and print it out. Then run your Cron manually and drop the SQL that your Cron job is outputting and try running it manually. It's probably a DB missing key or something like that.
  4. You can send me what you have configured and the url you're running it on and I can take a look.
  5. Hmm I don't see an email about that. There is a reference in the config/languages table that also has to be updated to serve the correct url. If you can't find it let me know and I will send you a screenshot of the field names. It should also be in the help files doc.
  6. Did you update the .htaccess file with your new root path?
  7. They're moving towards MMOs and multiplayer games for sure. I think pet sites have to evolve in the same direction to stay alive and competitive in the culture of the internet.
  8. Hi guys, I have a dog game for sale for that's a total bargain at only $5,000. It comes with the domain name, all games files and images and a copy of the database. I'm including a huge amount of information about the game, code samples and art samples below. I'm selling it because I just don't have time to give it the attention it needs anymore. It used to have a fairly active member base but it's not as active as it used to be. Serious buyers only, price is firm. 48,752 member accounts 185 Dog Breeds (all but 47 breeds have images, flat image files no psds, full list here: http://simdog.net/breedslist.php) 241 Items with images Game Features Include: Join/Login/Lost Password Newspaper with comments Google Ads Top Breeds/Dogs in the game Breeds list with count of the total live dogs of that breed in the game Shows and show results Trainers Judges Kennels Breeding with genetics Game stores and player stores Game Mail Address Book Personalized account pages and kennel pages Help Files (http://simdog.net/help.php) Walkthrough Tutorial that explains most game features (http://simdog.net/walkthrough/) Dog image uploads Judge image uploads Trainer image uploads Bank Animal Shelter Clubs Games Forums Searches Journals PHP Chat Room Almost the entire site can be viewed without being logged in Incomplete admin panel (you can edit news, admin news and look up user account information). Ads Revenue It has made over $400 since 2011. Average is about $40 a year. Analytics & Demographics Site Installation Requirements Requires php 5.3+ and mysql 5+ and requires mysqli be enabled Currently running on a digital ocean droplet with the following specs: 1 GB Memory / 30 GB Disk - Ubuntu 14 Sample Code The game is completely functional and procedural programming, there is no object oriented programming. <?php /********************************* File: dogs.php Author: design1online.com Date: Jun. 4th, 2005 Purpose: All the dog functions on the game *********************************/ //get ownerid function getOwnerid($dogid) { global $db; $result = $db->query("SELECT ownerid FROM dogs WHERE dogid='$dogid'") or die('cannot get dog ownerid'); $row = $result->fetch_array(); return $row['ownerid']; } //get last ownerid function getLastowner($dogid) { global $db; $result = $db->query("SELECT lastowner FROM dogs WHERE dogid='$dogid'") or die('cannot get dog last owner'); $row = $result->fetch_array(); return $row['lastowner']; } //get dog name function getDogname($dogid) { global $db; $result = $db->query("SELECT name FROM dogs WHERE dogid='$dogid'") or die('cannot get dog name'); $row = $result->fetch_array(); return stripslashes($row['name']); }
  9. Hi, I have a dog game for sale for $5,000. http://simdog.net is the site and it has 48,719 user accounts.
  10. I use both the Adsense to show ads on my site and I've paid to have them run my ads. What I've learned is that the more you pay per click the better your results are and the more targeted they are. The less you pay the more random the results are. Having good keywords helps but it doesn't help as much as higher PPC does. You can also run tracking campaigns to figure out how many people are staying per the keywords and targeting you're using. As far as showing google ads on my site, I've had a lot of success with that and you can see some of my numbers here: https://jadendreamer.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/why-using-google-adsense-really-does-make-ense/
  11. I always start with the concept and then drill it down to an MVP. I find it's best to start off small and build up from there rather than trying to tackle everything at once because that quickly becomes completely overwhelming. You can read a lot more about it and my design process here: https://jadendreamer.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/the-game-plan-minimum-viable-product/
  12. It's really more about creating supply and demand and having an open market with fluctuating prices in order to keep the economy balanced. I would highly recommend you take some economics classes or read some economics books. Here's some resources to get you started: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/economics/ https://www.coursera.org/browse/social-sciences/economics https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand-ebook/dp/B003XT60KO/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1536608079&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=economics https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465060730/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1536608079&amp;sr=1-4&amp;keywords=economics
  13. This really depends on what kind of game you're making. If you're making a text based game then it's a viable option but it's really not necessary unless you are anticipating huge scale problems or you need to do server side rendering. If you're making a multiplayer game that needs multi-threading and lots of server side processing then it makes more sense to use NodeJS. Ultimately, you can really use any back end programming language you want but which languages you choose should take into consideration their strengths/weaknesses and how they are best suited to the game you're trying to build. You don't want to choose something that ends up backing your game into a corner because of it's limitations. PHP has not become outdated but it's certainly dropped in popularity. Personally, I think it does a really good job of keeping up more so than a lot of other programming languages -- I mean it took Javascript from 1999 until 2009 to release a new version with improvements and it took until 2011 to even imagine using JS as a server side language whereas PHP has always been one. https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_versions.asp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP#Release_history
  14. No it's not a typo. Passwords are encrypted with SHA256 so they can be sent back out in an email without having to reset them every time you forget them. Even passwords that are hashed can be unhashed with enough time or through the use of hashing databases. Nothing is ever completely fool proof, even a password that's being hashed can be caught over wireshark, keylogger, unsecure wifi or a wifi pineapple -- hence why there are multiple types of hashing and encryption algorithms out there. The beauty of PGF is that if you don't like how something is done you can easily change it to do something different so you're free to hash it, reverse it, plain text it or convert it into emoticons or lolcatz if you really wanted to.
  15. So I know a lot of people don't like to talk about their game finances and accounting but I think it's a really relevant topic especially for small indie gamers and developers. So I would like to encourage everyone to come up with their own game finances topics so we can spread the knowledge and help other indie devs and games become more successful with their games, getting them up and keeping them open. What Is Amortization? This is an accounting term for taking multiple payments over time or spreading a single payment out over a period of time. Example 1: Taking Multiple Payments One way you can use amortization to your benefit is to take multiple payments for something. So let's say you have a yearly upgrade that costs $50. Amortization in this instance means you allow the player to break that payment down into multiple payments. For instance, they might make two payments instead of a single one; $25 for the first 6 months of the upgrade and then another $25 for the last 6 months. With amortization you can brake a payment down into as many smaller payment as you'd like. So instead of taking 2 payments you might decide to take 5 or 6 or 30 -- however it best suits your player base and brings you good business. Generally speaking, most people tend to break payments down into no more than 12 just because it makes the accounting practices easier if you have one payment a month. If you broke this $50 upgrade into 12 payments then your players could become an upgraded member for only $4.20 a month. Why Is Example 1 So Helpful? Many people are more willing to make smaller payments. This means that even if you don't get a full year's upgrade from one member you're still bringing in income. It also encourages people to try out your upgrade system with a much smaller risk to themselves. If they don't like the upgrade they've only spent half or much less than half the money than if they'd paid for a full year. It also gives them the ability to come and go on their upgrade much more readily than if they had to pay the larger sum each year. They can buy one month and not the other, then come back for the month following that allowing them more flexibility to purchase and keep their upgrade. What's The Downside of Example 1? You may not be bringing in as much money as you like. Because the payments are smaller you also have more online processing fees that are applied, however some payment services will allow you register as a micro-transaction account and will take lower fees since you will be bringing in a higher volume of payments. While payments are likely to happen more frequently they will only be in smaller amounts which may make it seem like your bank account is always struggling to stay at a more comfortable level when you have slower times. Example 2: Taking One Payment and Spreading It Over a Period of Time This other example is one that many of you may not know about. It applies the same kind of idea except you only take one payment and you only apply a portion of that payment to your income over a duration. For example, let's say you got your $50 upgrade and we go back to our 2 payments example. Instead of thinking of that $50 as one payment you apply $25 to this month and then 6 months later you apply the other $25. You may still have the full amount of $50 but you're not considering it income until a period of time has passed. This idea works best when you break a payment down into bi-annually, quarterly or monthly time periods. So in our second 12 month example, instead of getting $50 for this one payment you apply $4.20 from this payment across every month. Why Is Example 2 So Helpful? This is really the icing on the cake and most people don't realize it! When you take in the one payment and spread it out amongst a period of time it gives you more solid, steady income. Instead of getting $50 one month, and nothing for the next 12 months, you now have a steady stream of income coming in all year long. Generally speaking, with games the upgrade tend to have highs and lows, where people are upgrading a lot and then not upgrading at all. You may get $4,000 in upgrades one month and then nothing or very little for the next two. With this kind of amortization that $4,000 is spread over the rest of the time period. So in our 12 month example you would be bringing in $334 a month instead of $4,000 in one lump sum. This also helps you keep a steady income for the entire year instead of getting less reliable income over the duration of the year, even if the overall total for whatever time period you're shooting for is lower than what you bring in for a month. It's great for budgeting and paying your bills and helping you keep your game open even in slower months. What's The Downside of Example 1? This example takes discipline!! It's a much different way of thinking about the income you're bringing in because the balance in your bank account may reflect one thing while your calculations reflect another. It is very tempting to just look at your total balance and think I have $4,000 rather than I only have $334 to spend this month. It also requires some math to keep track of how much money you are amortizing over time whereas Example 1 is easier to keep track of because you immediately account for the money from each payment you get. What do you think about amortization? Do or have you used it? Which type of amortization do you prefer? I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, questions and experiences!
  16. Honestly, if you're talking contracts your best bet is to go to an actual contract lawyer. It was the best $500 I ever spent and now you have a much better and enforceable contract to stand on rather than what you've just pulled down from off the internet (I mean we all know how reliable sources are on the internet right??). I did this with both my Terms of Service and the contract I used to use when I was creating custom games and hiring third party programmers. I never had a problem upholding my contracts with anyone even when they were in violation of it and I had to revoke their rights to programming work or their access to hosting services or a game. I've also never had a legal issues come up from my Terms of Service in the18 years I've been running my games.
  17. It's all about supply and demand. For a really good economy you need a way to balance those. Ie, generating or harvesting resources which are used to create materials. When supply for something goes up the price goes down. When supply for something goes down the price will automatically go back up. Then you actually don't have to set any prices, the market economy will dictate the price of goods all by itself. I apply a similar concept with an MMO I've been working on forever. The supply and demand of resources in the game economy affect the conversion rates and prices of goods in the markets. Taking an economics class online might help you out when you're trying to come up with your own type of economic system that makes sense for your game.
  18. I don't like the blocks, I prefer the tubes. My favorite brand is Schmincke, they paint very similar to Winsor Newton but they come in a much bigger tube so it's easier to get them out when you get to the end of the tube and they're easier to open when the caps get paint on them and kind of dried shut. https://www.dickblick.com/products/schmincke-horadam-aquarell-artist-watercolors/ I love using them on this paper, I think they work better with something that's cold pressed and has a medium tooth and texture to it. http://www.michaels.com/arches-cold-pressed-140-lb-watercolor-block/M10063385.html
  19. Generally speaking, Paypal is the best one I've found with the lowest % taken from your payments. A lot of other online payment services will require you have a certain amount of money coming in each month before they'll even give you an account. In addition, most of the other 3rd party online payment systems require you have a SSL certificate and some of them will give you scripts so that you have to charge the cards directly on your own website rather than on the third party's website. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/286006 From this list I've had experience with 2Checkout, Authorize.net, and Google Wallet. I still prefer Paypal over all of them. One thing I've found with digital goods complaints in Paypal is if you just say it was a physical good and it was sent to the customer they're less likely to refund it. If they ask for a tracking ID you can attach screenshots of the product on the user's account. If the credit card company refunds the charge then Paypal has to refund the charge because they don't have a choice, the credit card company denies them the funds. This can happen even if Paypal agrees the payment was a valid one. It's one of the sucky things about online payments. It may help you if you leave the payments you get in your Paypal account until the refund period time has passed, that way if you have to refund the money then you still have it in your account and you haven't really lost anything.
  20. One thing to keep in mind is if pets don't die you'll have a HUGE number of pets you have to deal with and keep records for. Generally games have pets and items expire for space/database optimization reasons. I've seen games work without the pets dying but that is just something you should really think about if your pets are going to last a long time you might want to strictly limit the number of pets they can own (ie 3 max) because then for every player account you have at least 3 pets and for every pet if they can equip 5 items you're taking 1,000 players means 3,000 pets and potentially 15,000 items. Now take that and times it by 100,000 players and you can see how it easily becomes more and more of a problem.
  21. It sounds like your data issues are disk space related and not necessarily db related. If your site is generating a huge number of errors in your apache error logs that is often why you run out of disk space so quickly and why it happens when the rabbits are being generated means you're probably getting errors or warnings when they are made that are inflating your logs if you generate them every time instead of storing a static image. On your server cd /etc/logs/apache2 and then type ls -la and copy/paste a screenshot. My guess is this is your actual culprit!
  22. I thought it would be fun to have sort of a throwback post! What are some of your favorite old games? They can be from any platform or gaming system. I'll start. Hugos House of Haunted Horrors for PC SimAnt for PC Eco Quest for PC Original Mario for Nintendo Original Sonic for Sega Original Zelda for Nintendo
  23. I use a bot that checks for the number of accounts created in a day. I also had people using auto-refreshing scripts to trigger random events happening more frequently. My bot auto bans all accounts doing either of those things. Sad that we still have so many people cheating! I would love to make a game in the future where there is no money only a bartering system so that would eliminate the need to create so many accounts or use refreshing scripts...
  24. Yes im design1online on TGL discord.
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