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SingSong

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SingSong last won the day on October 9 2017

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  1. @Cassandra1891 Can you PM me your Paypal? That first one is similar to an idea I wanted to use, and I really like how it looks. ^-^
  2. Oh, good to know! That's nice of you to offer to complete the Patreon rewards. Carry on. I'm sure you'll find someone to pick up this project.
  3. Good luck finding a buyer. I hope it goes to an owner that will continue what you started. You do have some concerning things to address to a new buyer though. On Novilar's Facebook (facebook.com/novilarrpg), you have a post from one month ago that mentions a lot of glitches. "As you know, we've been struggling hard to resolve some fundamental issues with the server and with the site itself - sitewide image glitches and backend brick walls have greeted us at every turn, and we've still yet to resolve them after months of research and effort." I think some of the image issues you mention are related to the demo pet creator on the site. I included a couple images of what that looks like when you try to test out different looks. That's pretty unfortunate because I remember that demo creator working really smoothly when I checked out Novilar months ago. This is also bad news for a new owner: "Please do note that when we return, ALL patreon items will be delivered, no matter how long it takes to do so, we swear on our honor. You're of course free to discontinue, and we would expect you to - but if there's even just one patron who chooses to remain a patron through the hiatus, that user will get each and every month's custom item(s) sent in bulk as promised." I looked at the Patreon, and the rewards include Patreon-specific items and custom pet skins. Because you're selling the site, the new owner would be responsible for delivering these items (assuming they want to keep that promise). That means the new owner would be supplying rewards for Patreon payment they didn't receive.
  4. Your Thanksgiving items are tempting. How do your robots look?
  5. Beautiful. Someone should make a site dedicated to pickles.
  6. @Digital Yeah, that makes the collection useful. However, it's not a very creative approach to a collection, because it has been done on so many sites now. I'd personally prefer for there be unique (non-item fetching) quests to unlock different worlds and for each world to have a quest that is specific to it. Maybe if someone wants to play around with the puzzle maps, they could do something like this: Like commonly seen, there are multiple puzzle pieces to collect. Let's say there are 9 pieces to a puzzle. But instead of the puzzle just requiring the 9 pieces, each puzzle place has a few variations to it. If the puzzle were an image of a barn and some surrounding land and a lake, for example, the puzzle place with the lake could have two variations, one with a duck and one without. If you complete the entire puzzle with the rooster on the fence, the duck in the lake, and the chickens outside of the coop, you get X reward. If you complete it with another combo, you get Y reward. You could even make it more complex with some pieces working for multiple combinations, so it's not just "this" or "that".
  7. I personally am against most collection features in games. Yes, they can give players something to do, but I also think they're usually added as an easy go-to feature with little thought involved. What does collecting plushies or collecting cards or stamps have to do with the game? Nothing really, but now the site can state that "collections" are part of what it offers. I've also witnessed that they can be a way to take advantage of players. Sites with these types of unnecessary collections usually sell collection items in their cash shops. Someone that's spent many hours saving up virtual currency to complete 98% of their collection will likely spend the $15 on cash shop items to complete it. And then when another gets released in the cash shop, those collectors will open up their wallets again and again. Because no one wants to see 99% complete when they're worked so hard to collect all the other items. Yes, sites need to make money in some way, but I think this is just a form of manipulation. Because these items don't offer anything to the player's experience aside from giving them a goal of some sort (and goals should already be established in other ways if the site has any point to it at all). So it's this idea of giving "value" to something meaningless and making players believe that they have some value. And I just think games should have features worth paying for or worth putting effort into. I am not against all types of collection features, don't get me wrong. But I like them to be things that are more than collecting site items that are just made for the sake of collecting. The kinds of collections I like and have liked in the past: -Pet interaction collections (such as foods eaten or toys played with). However, this has become more common in sites and is almost getting dull. So I'd like to see a site that has it so these collections have a purpose. Maybe pets that have eaten more X foods than Y foods means they gain an agility bonus in battle. The opposite means they'll have more defense. If sites are going to bother to record pet interaction activity, they could make it worthwhile. -Avatar collections. Who doesn't like these kinds of collections? Generally, avatars are how you show some kind of individuality and personality on the forum. So you're given something to "collect" while also have a goal you need to meet and getting something you can use indefinitely later. It's a perfect combination. I would, however, like to see sites moving away from the 60px by 60px Neopets-style, pixel avatars in favor of doing something more unique. -Trophy and achievement collections. These are the kind of collections that make you earn them by completing a task instead of simply buying them. I like these, assuming the task involved takes skill and isn't just a reward for refreshing a page 5,000 times or something (I'm talking about tedious "do this over and over" achievements and randomized ones).
  8. @dracula Oh, okay, that clears some things up. I just found a piece on your DA that's actually very similar to my original art style idea, and you did such a good job on it that I think will go in that direction instead. May I PM you?
  9. @dracula Can you do completed pets based on existing sketches? If so what would the price be for semi-realistic? I'm looking for something like your lion example: semi-realistic with a cartoonish face.
  10. Ooh. I need to see this one grow up. Thanks for the new adoptable.
  11. I'm surprised this thread hasn't gained more interest. I like Witch, Chains, and Nightmare the most. I'd like to see what else you come up with. Maybe you'll end up drawing I can find a use for.
  12. I've heard of this before but haven't played. I think I'll give it a chance; the pixel art is rather nice-looking. Thanks for sharing.
  13. I think deciding when to start making your project visible to the public eye depends on what your own goal is for sharing your game and its development. I can think of a few reasons why people publicize their projects: 1. To build a following and get the idea out there. People will have to know your project exists in order for your game to have anyone playing it when it opens. However, your development stage and its updates will reflect on the project itself. People will see how committed you are and whether the project is one they can trust to be a success or not. 2. To create hype and get people excited about the game's release. This works best when the project is close to completion and has an opening date already decided. It's hard to maintain hype for your project if you consistently have setbacks or need to change any art or features once you've declared that that is what people have to look forward to seeing on your game. 3.To help your team meet deadlines. Sometimes, the best way to push yourself to get things accomplished is to have a way of holding yourself accountable. Once your project is out there in the public eye, you must be committed to the idea and make it a reality in a timely manner or you will damage your project's reputation. 4. To begin fundraising. The only way people will spend money on an in-development project is if they have a reason to back it, so putting out information and sneak peaks is the first step toward creating a Kickstarter or other fundraising strategy. Again, how your game is presented through updates will either encourage people to donate or turn them off of the idea. 5. To gain input and suggestions. As important as it is to create a project to mimic your own vision, you also have to consider what your future players want from the game. They may be able to help you come up with new ideas or improve on the things you thought were perfect as is. 6. Because it's hard to stay quiet when the developers are excited. Many people share their game development for this reason, but it should be a secondary reason to share it and not the main one. It's easy to think your project is great when you have a way of visualizing the finished project. But unless you give your followers all the pieces that are floating around in your head (like art that they can see and coded functionality of the game), they are unlikely to be as thrilled about the project as you are. It's best to keep your project to yourself until your updates can easily show people what they can expect from your game. Like it's already been mentioned in this thread, posting updates will require time and focus, things that may be better spent on completing the project itself. Eventually, you will have to reveal your project to the public, but holding back on doing so can help you polish the game on your own without the added stress of needing to post updates and meet deadlines when you and your team are not ready to do so. I have witnessed developers that post every single update that they have accomplished in the background, such as showing off one new item drawn for the site. I don't believe that this is all that interesting or exciting to followers. Updates are better done as groupings of completed work, such as a reveal of all the starter pets. But in order to do updates like that, you'll need to have a lot of the work already finished. That's why it can be best to start posting updates when the project is close to being completed. Your updates will be a lot more meaningful to followers, and you will not have to think so much about what to post because you'll just slowly release aspects of all the main and side features instead of fumbling to complete 3 items just to have something to show.
  14. I don't think you're alone in this. Plus, if you're working on a project on your own, it's easy to get into the pattern of rushing to complete things and feeling like you need to push out as much as you can all at once but then get overwhelmed by the work and have to take a step back. Additionally, without a team, you're more likely to keep second-guessing your ideas or continuously work on "improving" them, because you don't have that second party to hold you to the original idea. So even though working alone can give you the freedom to create as you like, it also makes many parts of the creation process more difficult. You will have a hard time when it comes to this. If you want to create a team or partnership that is able to execute your vision as you want, you have to completely rework your mindset. Most people, especially on this forum, want to make their own vision a reality. So if you desire to find someone or some people that will team up with you to make your project come to life, there will have to be a reason why they would gravitate toward you and your project rather than going off on their own. Having a good idea (I can't say whether yours is unique or interesting without knowing anything about it, so let's assume it is a profound new thing) is not enough. To successfully manage a team and make the game you want to make, you have to be the leader. If people aren't going to get the proper direction and motivation from you then they may as well put their time into something else. You have to be the one to put the reigns on the horse, so to speak. Secondly, if your goal is to make a browser game (a game that is never complete and reaches the public eye during its many various stages), you will have to let go of the idea of this game mirroring your vision exactly. A game like this, if you want it to be successful, is in part owned by your userbase, and their ideas will end up shaping it. Some features you didn't necessarily like may be the ones players want the most and enjoy the most once implemented. Of course, you may have an idea of what you want the basics to be, and that's fine, but be open to the idea that when it's out there, you have to give up some control. Sometimes it's like this. But I have witnessed the opposite, for the most part. People have jobs. They have kids. They have families and obligations. Some people are able to give 100% of their time to these kinds of projects, and if they are doing that then it makes sense that they want a partner that can do or is willing to do the same. For the rest, they are very lenient when it comes to deadlines, and it's almost to a fault because things have to be completed in a reasonable time frame in order to ever see a project come to fruition. If you want the role of a leader then you have to develop the qualities of being one and that means divvying up tasks, setting deadlines, managing the group, and mimicking the behavior you want to see in everyone else. If you want them to get things done consistently, you have to do the same. If you want to be the owner of a game and make it come to life but don't possess the skills that your team needs, unfortunately, that would most likely require close friends or money. You may get some volunteers, but if you can't keep the ball rolling on your end (e.g. a team member asks you to tell them what you specifically want for a feature but you aren't able to give them more details at the time), your volunteers will lose interest and when you have a high turn over your project suffers. Every time someone leaves and a new person enters the group, you take a step back. The best advice I can give you is to find methods that work for you that allow you to tackle what you already recognize will be an issue. If this project is your child (many people here can relate to that), you have to be willing to work on improving your habits to make it happen so that you may introduce your child to the world one day.
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