Shinobu

Sorry for a bit of a late reply (my 4 month old is starting his teething so he's been a little more restless)

@CaityJuju I'd love if you could link some of your literature examples! I may also have some SucoCat items I'd love done from you! If you have any price quotes for both, please let me know ❤️ You can DM me here or give a boop on Discord

@CynicalRaptor You can either DM me here or we can talk over Discord!

My discord ID is Shino#5863

@CynicalRaptor I'm actually very glad to see you've posted! I saw your post after I had made this and wasn't sure how up to date it was, but I'd love to chat and see about getting a price range for you to work on SucoCats pieces!

Hello everyone! Shino here with a bit of an ad. My husband and I are looking to do some serious work getting some new simulation and roleplay games running and in order for us to do such a thing, we're looking to hire dedicated artists and loremasters that we can have completing work regularly for persistent releases of new content across multiple projects. We're hoping, within the next coming month or two, to take out a bit of a loan to use as a startup fund for the projects that are top priority: my horse sim, Pony-sim, and a DeviantArt based art role play (possibly 2) SucoCats. A possible second ARPG is under review, but Pony and SucoCats are currently at the forefront, but there are several other projects sitting on the back burner until those both are off the ground. For a bit of detail of what we'll be needing, I'll provide a bit of a synopsis of the assets I'm looking for for both SC and Pony.

If you would like to be considered for a role, please post examples of your preferred area (literature, creature art, items, maps) and a price range for each. If you're capable of providing art for multiple roles, please mention so! I would love if the style is cohesive and matches all aspects of each game!

Primary needs are going to be RED

:: Loremasters ::

Loremasters are going to be the literary experts that help with building on the concepts and ideas I've already got rolling for both Pony and SucoCats (Please be aware tho, these are two separate games and none of their lore is intertwined). Your job will be creating a range of descriptions, locations and history for the game(s) that you choose to sign onto and will be compensated either negotiable rate for locations and character development or flat rate for a bulk of succinct item descriptions (I'm not asking, or paying, for a history of for equine tack if you catch my drift). All loremaster work will be checked for plagiarism. Please be honest with the work you produce! Here are a few major points Loremasters will be handling:

• Location Descriptions for Pony or SC
• Personalities for NPCs in Pony or SC
• Accurate descriptions of Pony's breeds and disciplines
• Brief descriptions of the items on Pony or SC
• Developing the encompassing world of Pony or SC based on what lore currently exists

:: Pony Assets ::

Over all preference is the assets can be stylized / cartoony as I'm not wanting the hyper realistic style a lot of other horse sims have been gravitating towards. Pony is meant to be a break from realism so giving it a less realistic look is 100% what I have in mind.

• Breed art - Currently, Pony has 90 breeds that are in need of art, but this number is going to grow as the site does. An adult and a foal image is requested so a quote for both is needed. To start, a 3-part crossbreed bundle (3 adults, 3 foals) is going to be commissioned all at once.
• Human Avatars - 3 separate avatars (male, female, neutral) with multiple different facial feature bundles (eyes, noses, mouths, eye brows, hair styles, etc).
• Avatar Clothes - These will typically be standard clothing options (shirts, jeans, dress clothes, etc) but some holiday themed clothes will also 
• Backgrounds - A large variety of backgrounds are needed; to start, I'll be commissioning a stable stall, stable pathway and paddock area as the first set of images
• Companion Animals - There's a small number of these to start, but I do plan on expanding the list
• Item Art - Pony currently has ~250 items needing redone plus some additional new features that haven't been accounted for
• Town Map - I'm hoping to find someone capable of creating an elegant and cohesive map that helps pull the site together
• Stable Art - Barns, paddocks, Office space, Training Arenas (there's several different ones of varying sizes) are the main things needed
• Miscellaneous Art - Statues, trophies, seasonal and event pieces, as well as any other odds and ends that don't fit other categories

:: SucoCats Assets ::

Bordering on semi-realistic, SucoCats has a concept sketch started and much less art needing completed.

• Species Import Completion - The concept sketch is already started, but adjustments may need to be done. Task will include adding physical attributes (I can provide a comprehensive list of all the traits I'd like), new mane types, new pelt varieties and other odds and ends (I do have some sketches started and can continue to provide additional sketches to follow). Additionally, a dwarf build needs completed as the current sketch only includes a standard size Suco. [Here is the original concept, which has some of the examples of adjustments/manes in mind]
• Design Guides - Creating realistic color palettes, pattern examples and compiling a clear, easy to read guide for users to follow based on the genetics and markings SucoCats will carry.
• Backgrounds - I have 2 starting backgrounds in mind, but would eventually like to expand the collection to have 2 or 3 different backgrounds for each of the canonical zones of the SucoCat world
• World Map - Once the Loremaster(s) help with developing the world of SucoCats, I'll be needing a nice, crisp map made by a skilled cartographer!
• Item art - I don't have a complete list of items I need (I'm still combing through the different aspects of the game), but currently, I need ~60 items and the standard items will be given precedence until a complete list is finished
• Companion Animals - There's a small number of these to start, but I do plan on expanding the list
• Miscellaneous Art - Statues, trophies, seasonal and event pieces, as well as any other odds and ends that don't fit other categories

Please know that we are putting together an NDA that will encompass both games (and will also cover if you'd like to continue work on our team for future projects) so all applicants need to be 18+

Payments will be via invoicing to our Paypal and will not be given until work is completed.

Don't want USD? I'm willing to offer other payment options!

• If you'd like payment in game currency from either game, I'll gladly do so with a 25% value increase (so for every $1 USD, you'll get $1.25 worth of in-game trade-in) that will stack for every $50 worth of art completed!
• If my time permits, I could trade programming scripts for bulk art of equivalent value. I need to compile a price range of my different script capabilities, but this option would be very limited!

I've been planning on adding account deletion into Pony's V2

The way I was planning of doing it was the player had to pay a decent sum of game money (Probably ~10% more than the account starting funds) to start the deletion process (since they're not planning on returning); this should stop players that think they're clever for creating extra accounts to swipe the start up money and delete the account to repeat the process.

Step two would be all their pets being either deleted or sent to the shelter and their remaining money, credits and items will either be deleted or sent to the Giving Tree (player's choice).

The Giving Tree is going to be an area where players can place items, money and credits for new players with accounts under 7 days old can randomly receive a gift every day

Third step would be a email confirmation that would have a link for the player to click. That link would expire in 24 hours (and would have a cancel option for them to keep the account) and their money refunded if they don't continue the process.

Step four is the account being added to a queue to be deleted in 6 months and their pets, items and currency go to the preselected destination; the void or the Giving Tree. The account will still show on the player's login history until it's selected to be deleted in the queue so if they're exceeding the 3-account limit, they won't be able to create more accounts and delete them to keep taking the money and start up items given to new players.

I dunno if this seems too lengthy a process to just delete an account, but I wanted to try safeguarding from account hoppers that make extra accounts over the allowed limit to steal the extra start ups.

1 hour ago, Dinocanid said:

Troll accounts are a concern (so people don't just make accounts for spam and delete them afterwards), so there would be layers to the process. IE: confirmation email and the request is reviewed by staff. Maybe include a "why" field they can fill in, in case you ever wanted feedback on what's causing so many people to leave.

Perhaps you can block account deletion for accounts under a certain age and under investigation for rule/ToS violations? This way, you can track who did what and tried to bail out before getting caught.

On 9/12/2018 at 2:52 PM, hurricaneviolet said:

This is something we've struggled with on HP, but inflation is relatively under control now.

1. We track the economy, like the overall amount of dollars floating around out there.

2. MONEY SINKS. Everywhere. When we run games we charge entrance fees. We will randomly sell rare game items for game money to pull money out of the economy, or have a game money auction on a low account ID and pull money out that way.

3. Adjust the pricing in the store accordingly. If the average player has 3 billion dollars and a new pet costs 500 dollars, that's not serving anyone.

4. Taxes. We tax the earnings from shows, at I think 3%.

I love the idea of being able to offer low account IDs for game money! I hadn't thought of that at all but it would be fantastic for players that aren't able to buy low ids with credits or USD; definitely going to implement this into V2!

I had also thought of a way to control both population and economic flow by means of the pet store; each player is currently given a specific number of horse credits to buy horses with (each horse costs $2000), but I had thought of making it so players could buy an unlimited number of horses, but for each horse over their purchase limit, the cost for the horses goes up by $500 or so.

Taxes seem to be a good way of controlling income flow as well; do you tax players based on how much money they currently have (richer players pay more in taxes) or is it a flat 3% across?

On 9/12/2018 at 11:40 PM, Boltgreywing said:

I feel like I kind of fall into the same boat here. I just don't have that understanding as of yet.

That's why I like sites like this; I can ask for advice from people who've been there before and have more experience they don't mind sharing ;w; Its great learning different methods for all sorts of things from more experienced site owners and developers.

10 hours ago, Mobotropolis said:

It sounds like you're describing two different problems but I'll get to that in a minute. 

The important thing here is to consider " How much is too much? " 

Back in the Day(TM) when I ran games I was beginning to learn scripting but didn't have any a server that could run it, so I did everything by hand. Once I had systems and formulas in place it took about 1.5 hours to do the nightly updates on my busiest game on top of the additional two hours in the evenings it took to roll for dailies. Every day 20-30+ people queued up to look around for items and pets. If you knew the extent of what I did to maintain order you'd think I was insane and, quite honestly, I wouldn't blame you -- BUT gave me a great understanding for how things should work in the games.

• I knew how people earned their money.
• I knew what pets and items people thought were valuable.
• I knew which ones they thought were junk.
• I knew how much things sold and/or traded for.

So I could easily adjust prices to account for inflation and dailies tables. 

These Days(also TM), I would not go that far. 

I know a bit of scripting, now. 

There are many solutions out there that do some of this stuff already. I'd choose one and modify it further to do a little Reporting for me. Perhaps to add it into the Dashboard. To see how much people are earning and where. How much items are selling for. What items are trading. What games and/or dailies are being played and which are being ignored. And so on. Especially, my endgame would be to figure out what's working and what's not at a glance so I can plan and prepare balance changes and future updates. Automating many-a-task can make 4-5 hours of maintenance a day into more like 4-5 minutes after the initial setup work is done. 

Many Game Economies fail because creators are looking for a hands-off solution that will " fix itself ", somehow.

Which brings me to the other issue. 

You as your game's creator, master, and executioner should always be looking for ways to improve your game and its economy. Even in my little manually-run games there were what I call Power Players who committed themselves to getting rich by gaming the system and attempting to outsmart me.

I understood quickly that I could not stop them by being idle. I came up with ideas for how to slow their progress. I put limitations in place. I raised prices. I put down money sinks. I did things to encourage them to slow down and take in the experience more like the other players who were fascinated that this was even a thing in the early 2000s. 

For the most part, it was successful -- but there were and still will be Power Players who take great joy in " winning " your sim. Eventually, I let up on attempting to curb their behavior and focused on bridging the gap between moderately skilled and Power Players so players could progress through the ranks more easily. That caused general enjoyment of the game to increase and seemed to be the sweet-spot. 

As your game's creator, master, and executioner I think the most important thing to do for your players is make the gaming experience enjoyable for new and average players. This is where I think Reporting would be most helpful. Once you know how much money your average player has, how much they make, and how they create and take care of their pets you can begin making moves to bridge the gap between them and your best players. Found the thing that slows Power Players down the most while keeping them engaged is giving them more competition. Just another challenge. And I think the thing that owners want to avoid is people getting discouraged by the length and speed of The Grind (earning money, items, and competitive pets) and quitting before they go from Newbie to Power or even Average Player. 

Beyond reporting and finding averages, I think the most important thing Game Owners can do to understand The Grind in their games is actually playing it. You'd be surprised by how many Owners do not actually see things from their players perspectives. 

Ah, can we take a looksie at the game? 

Judging by what you said it seems like we manage different types of pet sims, but I believe the basics of what I said can be applied to any sim game. Figure out your averages and aim to make the game enjoyable/winnable for the mere mortal/average player. 

http://www.pony-sim.com/

This is Pony; I used to play it when I was in school so when I saw it was for sale, I jumped on it xD Right now, it'd be classed as a sim game, but I'm planning on turning it into a text based RPG style sim.

I completely understand what you mean with making it fun for all level of players; I'm hoping to manage to do that to keep the power players engaged with a lot more difficult tasks than what the newbies and average players would obtain. Something I have planned in V2 of Pony is adding quests for players to complete that will get progressively harder as the player's level grows.

10 hours ago, Hare said:

I would recommend having a logging system that keeps track of every transaction players make. Store the date, money value, and type if transaction that was made. Then you'll have statistics on what players are spending their money on, and what they're earning money with. So if any issues come up, you'll notice them before they develop into a bigger problem. 

I'll definitely add this in! I think being able to see how things are going during testing of V2 will make it easier to fix potential issues I've already got before relaunch.

8 hours ago, Design1online said:

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&ie=UTF8&qid=1536608079&sr=1-5&keywords=economics

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Economics-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465060730/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536608079&sr=1-4&keywords=economics

 

Thank you for the resources!

I did have the idea of supply and demand in mind; I had planned on making it so the NPCs in the game all have different jobs and prices for services that will automatically change based on a RNG personality rate (like the judges). Each service will have a few different NPCs that can do the same job (and then, once Pony gets rolling with more players, they too will be able to do the same jobs) and they'll change based on how much business they get.

I'll definitely read through those books and see about doing a class on it if I can (or buy more books xD)

@Dinocanid I hadn't thought of the different feed types and charging for minigames as money sinks; I think I know where I can add that in (I've been planning on making an explore region in Pony's recode and can add in the feature to charge a 'parking' fee for riders taking their horses through).

I also have the shows planned out so the prize money comes from money that already exists (I've been trying to limit how much money is created out of thin air). Instead of a set fee for creating a show, the cost is variant on the judge they hire as well as the number of horses that enter. Additionally, the shows (and regular use) in their training arena will cause gradual damage to the equipment that would have a cost to be repaired (but it can only be repaired when it drops to around 85-90% condition). Show cash prizes are also being altered based on the number of entries; currently, the show host is able to set the prize as long as the first place is at least x3, second is at least x2 and third is at least equal to the entry fee. But since there aren't a lot of players yet (Pony's been dead for a few years before I bought it), that means one player can earn quite a lot of money from the 15 shows per horse if no one else shows in the same sports.

The intended change is so the prize purse is divided up into three or 4 areas: Judge costs, entrant prizes, host income and (possibly) facility rental. The judge of the show gets their pay first and it can be anywhere from a $1 - $5 base fee for the show with a $0.50 - $2 per horse cost. Shows (depending on the facility size) can host up to 45 horses currently ($67.5 - $315 cost range at the largest show possible) and the judges will randomly change their prices if they get more shows to judge than they can handle (I've added a random personality stat that will determine when they will change their prices and to what if they get a certain number of shows; nicer judges will take more shows but still won't charge too much, but snooty judges will shoot  their prices up if they get too popular). After the judge gets their cut, any possible facility rental will be taken. This would only happen if the host rented someone else's arena for their show. With what remains, it will be split 60/40; the 1st place winner will get 30%, second will get 20% and 3rd will get 10%. The last 40% goes to the host as profit.

Needless to say, I'll be doing a lot of testing for this method before I say its set in stone, but I'm hoping this works well.

Something I have always wondered was how to build a sustainable economy on a game. Something that wouldn't need too much maintenance to keep it balanced, but wasn't ridiculously hard or easy to get by.

The reason I ask is because I used to play a few games where the economy started out so everything was super expensive, hard to obtain and took a while to build a savings for buying new things, but after a year or so, it was heavily inflated. Nothing had value and the game dev added in a money sink in the way of high-value pets that had already gotten a huge number of points (the game's way of training pets added points). That worked for only a few months because the boosted pets just shot their owner's income way high because they would always win shows (there by making a fast return on the buyer's investment) and before the pet would retire from being too old, the player that bought it was able to afford buying two more to take its place from showing the pet and selling breedings to it. And then, any offspring from the show-monster pet would show ridiculously well, making even more money. Rinse and repeat, essentially...

What are some ways you guys balance your economies or what methods have you seen in other games that you thought worked well?

What are some problems you see in failing economies that should be avoided?

Any tips or pointers are appreciated.

I've been trying to work on my sim's breed art and put its recode on pause. I'm not fantastic at horses, but I used to be a LOT worse xD This one is the American Cream Draft and I have about 13 more breeds I've started sketches for but haven't finished yet.I also plan on making a few item bases with interchangeable pieces so I don't need to draw the same item a million times :D I'll post that when I'm done.

There's also this chest that I've drawn to replace a donation item called "Mystical Sugar Cubes." Currently, they're a bunch of cute little shapes, but I had a great idea of having them in a fancy little box, stacked neatly inside. I'll be sketching the cubes by hand instead of using straight lines like how I did with the box to give them a more organic and natural look (because the story that I've made for them is they're created by the local wizard that lives in our town xD).

I'll update when these are finished and when I work on something new ^-^

I've completed the American Cream!

I'm trying to learn PDO and having a bit of trouble. Its mostly me. I'm rather stupid when it comes to reading how something is supposed to work and have to physically do it myself to see what I'm doing wrong... Kinda sink or swim style?

I need some tutorials or videos... anything, really, for learning PDO. ^o^;; I tried google, but I'm not clicking with what I've gotten in the search ;w;

If you possibly have something a little interactive, I'll give virtual cookies of epic deliciousness xD

This looks amazing! Being a huge fan of literally all of the games you listed, I'm really excited to see this one's development! I'll be keeping an eye on this

Those are excellent examples, actually! I'll send an email to you to with details on what I'm looking for so I can possibly get a price quote ^-^

I love your style! Do you happen to have any more examples of birds like the snowy owl? I have a project in mind that I haven't started yet because I suck at drawing birds xD