My loose plans

[Murrawhip]

Just figured I would give a short update regarding what I'm working on lately.

The game is relatively stable so while my updates will still include bug fixes from now on, they won't usually be the main focus. Due to a change on BYOND's end that's prevented us from continuing the "BYOND exe tool" (newbies could join just by downloading an exe from our site and running it, without a BYOND account), I'm developing our own exe to do essentially the same thing (plus keep BYOND updated automatically, etc.). The problem with this in the past has been that newbies would get a BYOND key or switch computers, thus losing their save file. So my next feature release should have you all converting your BYOND key-based savefile into a new email-based savefile. This means that you can access your character from anywhere, regardless of whether you're using a guest key (which most new players would be using).

Our new exe launcher should come with a future update, as it would require the email-based system to be relatively bug-free. My main motivation behind this change is that the barrier for entry at the moment is too high. Potential players are probably confused by the prospect of getting a BYOND key, downloading BYOND, etc. Google analytics is suggesting that many of the new people we're getting to our website click through to our BYOND hub, but never actually join the game.

Besides those changes, I would like to finish the work I started late last year on clans. I'm hoping that there will be a regular scheduled clan wars (where both the HQs have destructable doors, and an objective inside that the other team can destroy for points.) Points can then be used to purchase clan-related benefits. I will also be implementing a few things I'm seeing in the Suggestions board.

Slightly further in the future 'plan' is fully customizable housing (starting with slightly customizable). I definitely don't want to have these huge 'student housing' maps though, so I'm thinking of something more along the lines of a limited amount of house plots, which you can rent by bidding the highest amount in an auction for an as-yet undecided amount of time. (A week?) Your house would be 'saved' and could be 'loaded' into another plot if you paid for one again at some point. Maybe people could make some gold selling pretty house designs or whatever.

With player level caps, end-game content is increasingly important. When things are back on track in terms of gaining new players, I will probably switch to bug/small change releases only, while saving new quests, spells, larger features, etc. for 'expansion packs', which will probably come with a level/stat cap increase.

My plans include a lot of 'maybes' and 'probablys' - TWC is unpredictable and I don't know where we will be next week. Please don't consider this a roadmap set in stone.

Do keep up the suggestions - I read each and every one of them and they give me valuable feedback on what direction people seem to be hoping for.