Vix

Good afternoon, everyone! Celestial Equine is growing rapidly and we are in need of additional staff members. Interested in getting involved? Keep reading to learn more about our open positions!

Moderator Openings

We are looking to select (3) new moderators to be available via discord and monitor player forum posts/shouts on the game side. We are a very tight-knit team and seek long-term staff members! Moderators receive a free upgraded account and the associated perks! In addition to monitoring conversation, we encourage moderators to get involved, host mini-giveaways, and give feedback in the staff discord chats. If this is something you are interested in, feel free to reach out via Discord or private message here!

Administrative Openings

In addition to moderators, we are also searching for (3) new administrative helpers to assist in the release of new genetics and items. We have a massive backlog of wearables, battle items, and genetics pending release but lack the manpower to get it done. This position will also be rewarded with a free upgraded account along with the ability to request special versions of newly released items/genes. Experience with photoshop/sai is a plus! If interested, please reach out via Discord or private message!

Discord: Mae#0107

Hello everyone!

I am searching for additional artists for www.celestialequine.com. This position will be for our site-based orders (player driven orders will still be filled by our original artist), but could potentially lead to more opportunity!

About Celestial Equine

Celestial Equine is a fantasy breeding game with an emphasis on horses. All genetics and wearables follow this fantasy concept! Site orders will include wearables following a specific theme, mane/tail combinations, horns, and wings. However, I am happy to adjust orders based on the artists strengths! Example, if you are more comfortable with horns and wearables, we can search elsewhere for an artist to fill mane/tail needs. These genes will be adapted to fit out 10 bases (we can guide you through how to streamline this process to avoid repainting genes).

Style Examples:

Interested in a test run? Feel free to reach out on Discord! I can be reached at Mae#0107 or through PM here. Rates will be discussed privately!

Bumping!

Just completed concept docs for a few more features. PM if interested!

I am interested in this project! Do you have theme references/style board created for a starting point? Will send a PM.

Haha! And just like that, ad serving limits are back. How obnoxious!

@Bedouin that is exactly where I started my daily spending. Just an FYI, AdSense did flag my account due to the sudden influx of traffic when I first turned it on. 
 

I agree word of mouth has been the most impactful marketing outlet for us as well. Thanks for the insight! That is a fair monthly increase. 

Hello everyone!

I am mulling over my advertising budget (mainly through adWords) and I am curious how other game owners are determining their budget + timing budget increases. What factors are you considering when selecting a daily budget (example; daily adsense earnings, percentage of site earnings, etc)?

Hello all!

I am on the hunt for an artist to completed (4) family crest badges similar to this look:

The badges should be in CE's item style:

Feel free to reach out on Discord or PM me here if you are interested!

Hello!

I am looking for a front end dev to fix a few css/html related glitches in my game (www.celestialequine.com). PM if you are looking for work!

@judda Thank you!!

Still looking

@MimicTheTruth hello! I should have closed this thread. CE is not for sale at this time.

I really like those books and tulip plushies! Would you be able to modify to fit this style? I think a border adjustment would be sufficient.

Hey all you cool cats and kittens! ??

With all of the craziness going on, I have a bit of extra funds for a few new features over at Celestial Equine! If interested, feel free to reach out on discord to discuss open project options and your rates.

I can be reached at Mae#0107!

@Chixulub

When I say framework, I am really meaning a completed, live game. My biggest regret is purchasing incomplete work, whether that be a framework OR paying a developer as they went as opposed to a per-feature basis. This has resulted in quite a bit of wasted funds and headache on my end. However, this is just my opinion! I have seen copies of games sold on this forum a few times, so it is worth some research. This route allows for more focus on customization your unique features rather than tons of investment in "standard" features.

Best of luck!

Hello there!

I am happy to share some of my experience in this area. I hired out for art, design, development, and some writing for my pet site, so you are already on the right track providing the art yourself! Anything you can do on your own, do it. Development is very, very expensive.

1. It is really hard to give you a price range here since there's tons of ways you can go about this part. You can certainly hire a developer to build out your whole initial framework, or you can go down the path of purchasing a copy of a completed game to modify. If I could turn back time, I would have saved enough money to just purchase and modify to fit my needs. I have watched many new games lose steam right after the basics are completed (registration, various profiles, economy areas, etc), which is really sad.

You are also spot on with your realization of needing some basic dev knowledge to help keep the cost of maintenance down. Udemy has some awesome videos that are pretty easy to follow! I personally have not found the time to work on my own skills, so this advice is easier to dole out than actually do ?

2. This part is super easy. I personally use Server Pronto and really like their service. There's quite a few threads on this forum discussing servers!

3. So, generally you would have a front-end designer for the actual UI and a back-end developer for the implementation. Some have both skill-sets, but I generally had my designs converted to HTML/CSS so my back-end dev didn't spend so much time on that aspect. From a cost perspective, this really helped. My front end person charged about $30 for each responsive design, but this would have been triple the price if my back-end dev did both parts due to the difference in their hourly rates. Back-end rates, in my experience, have ranged from $15-$60 per hour. I now work on a "per project" rate so it is easier for me to keep track of a budget. For example, I would send the details of an assignment and a quote/completion date would be generated from those details.

4. The biggest cost will always be development, so it is important to make sure your plan makes sense to avoid costly "do-overs". Trying to take user input/feedback into consideration will also help dramatically!

Depending on the type of game you have, I think professional writing is a great addition as well.

Gah, I’m back in the doghouse with AdSense! I have made zero changes to my ad campaign, but I have been flagged once again for invalid traffic. 
 

Maybe it’s time to rearrange my ad placement ? It had been such a great start to the month as well!

UPDATE!

My account is still "limited", but ads are running on the site again. I dont know if linking analytics helped, but maybe? I will think twice before going from 0 to 100 running ads in the future!

Will update next time I get any sort of correspondence from AdSense.

8 hours ago, WLeonhart said:

Haven't had an issue with invalid traffic yet because I'm having trouble getting them to approve my site for AdSense at all. I'm hoping adding a blog for extra content will help. I hope you get this sorted out. ?

Are there any alternatives for these kinds of websites?

I am unsure of any other options, unfortunately. Are they giving you any feedback regarding why your site hasn't been approved?

8 hours ago, Anoua said:

Mine was suspended for a 30 days and will be active again mid February. I can't remember if it was in a 'review' state first or not but it's a specific timeline for me now anyway. The official reason listed is 'Invalid clicks and impressions' and then gives some of that generic language I mentioned above when you click for more information. 

For me, nothing has changed on my site recently, so what can I fix? I just feel like it's a matter of time before they do a permanent ban anyway since if there is something on my end that's wrong, I don't have any real way to fix it. And if not, I still have no recourse with them. So just feels like it's a matter of time. And I would just rather not give them a change to get free resources from my site either. Since like I mentioned as far as I know any balance you have with them at the time of the ban is forfeited. 

But I can understand not wanting to just cut them off if you can help it, especially with it being such a large part of your budget. Honestly it feels like in your case they are punishing you for getting a good return on your advertisement, which is even more frustrating when you are using Adwords. Hopefully since yours is just in review they will end up not counting it as invalid and you can continue as normal.

How long did it take for your suspension to be announced? This really is enraging because they have 0 issues with charging me for the traffic from AdWords, but its considered "invalid" traffic on AdSense? What in the world?

Are you currently advertising anywhere on social media or AdWords? Did you setup Analytics? I feel like I will end up being banned as well despite not having invalid traffic. Maybe removing the ad from my homepage would fix it? I cannot get over how outrageous this is and how they have 0 support!

@Anoua getting rid of AdSense would really hurt our budget, so that terrifies me. But I also cannot understand why I have been flagged! I have been obsessing over my analytics, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. I am still running my AdWords because I know I need more activity regardless, but I see where all of my clicks/conversions/impressions are coming from via the Placement tab. Nearly all of my registrations are coming from logged conversions from specific websites of a similar genre ??

Are yours still limited? The limited phase is incredibly annoying since its so indefinite! I love that there's great support for AdWords, but AdSense is non-existent....clowns.

Part of me wants to message him for a refund or completion of services ? $275 out the window sucks!

What a jerk. This makes me so mad.

He knows we know at this point though ?

Has anyone encountered having their AdSense account flagged for invalid traffic? My account states it is “under review”, which apparently is different from a suspension or ban.

I have been struggling with driving traffic to my game, which led to a one-on-one call with Google AdWords. I made the changes to my ads on Thursday and instantly saw fantastic results! However, yesterday my AdSense account was flagged for "invalid traffic", though my ads were only clicked 15 times throughout the whole day. A few years ago I would get around 200 clicks in a day, so I am very confused as to why this is happening. I do not believe this is invalid traffic since so many new players are actually engaged!

AdSense also does not have a direct line to support, so I am not sure who I would even contact for this issue. Advice?

@Bedouin

This insight is amazing. Thank you so much for providing it! I checked out your detailed spreadsheet and noticed "subscriptions". Is this a recurring upgrade system?

About Celestial Equine

Celestial Equine is a browser-based fantasy equine SIM for all ages! Basic game-play is completely free, but upgraded features are available in our Cash Shop. Players can create their own fantasy horses, compete in competitions, battle, explore various shops, and more! With so many interesting features, players can choose to focus on a single game-play aspect, or attempt to master multiple areas of the game! 

2019 Changes

2019 was a year of big changes for Celestial Equine! While managing bugs was our main focus, we also took a deeper look into the player experience. Celestial Equine originally launched with 18 worlds, which were unlocked through game-play. While we loved the 18 worlds, this amount of division created a redundant game that lacked depth. We made the difficult decision to remove the 18 worlds and implement an easy to use central exploration map. This change instantly resolved questions around the flow of the game and cut back on new member confusion.

In addition to our navigation changes, we also introduced an exciting backstory fix our issues with depth! The world of Celestia deserved a beautiful story, which spurred our Celestial Lore concept. Celestial Lore is a monthly story released as a chapter building off of the previous month's story progression. Celestial Lore follows the lives of the Royal Family, which will lead to a natural release of Celestial Herds! Celestial Herds are expected to launch on the live version of the game by the end of March, so stay tuned for that update!

Misc Changes

In addition to the large changes listed above, we made the following smaller changes to our game features:

• Added Personalities to Horse Profiles
• Revised Welcome Page for easier user navigation
• Revised breeding bugs/missing gene images
• Released the Battle Arena
• Revised Competition, Beauty Contest, and Battle prizes
• Revised breeding eligibility requirements

Features Coming in 2020 & More

2020 will be a very exciting year for Celestial Equine! Aside from the released detailed below, we plan to exit live development mode. This will be a huge milestone for the game and we cannot wait to see where CE goes! In addition to exiting live development, we are also excited to tease a few pending features. There's much more on our final task list, but these three are our favorites!

Herd-lands

Celestial Herd-lands will be housed within the 3 Kingdoms shown on the Exploration Map. Players will have the ability to claim herd-lands as their characters and immerse themselves in a totally unique, automated role-play environment. From automated actions to random events, herd-lands will be the heartbeat of Celestial Equine!

Healing Pool

Mini game which allows players to heal their horses. Will be a new landmark on the Exploration Map.

Companion Forest

Allowed players to "lure" companions by offering food or other trinkets.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see a few familiar faces at www.celestialequine.com!

If I could "love" this twice, I would! Great post!