Devlog [11.16.24]

Sindonic - Nov 15th 2024 12:00

NEWS

Hello, Sprouts 

It is time to update you on our progress before the end of the year, as December will be here in no time, and we need to wrap up and prepare users for incoming changes. First, we are slightly behind schedule. This year was asset-heavy, and some projects will be bumped into 2025. Regardless, let's cover what is coming before the end of the year so you all can prepare. 

We're skipping our annual break this year since we've already lost two months to illness and surgeries, and we want to avoid startup lag.

Clarifying Companion & Feral Form Changes - Live
We are sure many members have experienced the learning curve regarding Feral Companions and Tameable Companions. It is just a lot and confusing, we hear you. It is a little wacky. To help mitigate this and make Companions better in general, we have some pretty surprising changes as well as some additions. 

As of the release of Companion Riot 2024, all Companions will now be tameable and creatable using Love Petals. We have added several new Companions, some of which are entirely new, while others have received new subtypes. Additionally, you can change the subtypes of these Companions using the Companion Subtype Fruit. We hope users will enjoy the availability of these new friends after years of no access. This change eliminates confusion regarding what can and cannot be owned or created as Companions. Griffolk, who have Enchanted unlocked, will automatically receive free access to these new forms. Companions will have to unlock the Purrapod, Weedile, and Kattlepod forms because they are new, and Companions do not have access to Enchanted to get them for free.

What about feral? Don't worry! We have introduced a new subcategory for untamable creatures called Feralon. This new section includes a dedicated page with lore and a variety of all-new creatures. We made this separation because we want to explore the biology of Griffia in more depth, as not all creatures in Griffia are Companions. 

Users do not need to do anything to ensure their Griffolk's usable forms are accurate; we have handled that for you. Additionally, Companions with the Riot Ribbon can now utilize Feralon forms instead of the previously designated Untamable Companions, and they all had the new suba enchanted form unlocked for free.  

If you encounter any errors, don't hesitate to contact us at the Help Desk. 
  
Enchanted Berry's Tier Increase. - Live
The berry previously cost 1 voucher, but it now costs 3 due to the number of new forms and how many forms are already included in the status. Typically, we give users 30 days' notice before making any changes. However, we cannot do that this time to prevent the market from flooding with free vouchers.

If we allowed this, users could have converted all their vouchers into enchanted berries, waited for the market to change, and then exchanged them back into vouchers, effectively gaining 2 vouchers for every 1 they used. This would likely harm the market, so we decided to make the change immediately.

We strive to provide opportunities for our users to take advantage of these changes. As a compromise, we will add Enchanted Berries to the weekly prompts for the last two weeks of December. This will be an additional prize alongside the usual rewards. Users can earn up to 4 berries or 12 vouchers using Duo. This approach will allow users to benefit from the opportunity without significantly impacting the market rate. We hope that users will appreciate this offer.


Mascot and CYO Theme Changes - Live
We have encountered a change in plans. Initially, we intended to create a Mascot Theme Biscuit for distribution. However, It would be easier to allow Mascots to use the existing Griffolk Theme Biscuit as it is a much easier and cost-effective solution since our code classifies them as Griffolk. However, that means we would have to give out over 1K Griffolk Theme Buiscits, which isn't a good solution either, as it would create a market imbalance. Instead, we have created an approval page for Mascots and enabled it so CYO can also use the theme change page. This will allow all Mascots and CYO to change their theme once for free. This approach achieves the same goal without adding excess items to the economy.

This is live and can be done here: https://www.kingdomsofgriffia.com/characters/account-bound-theme-change.


Blessed Form Changes (Pet, Smol, Sidekick) - January 1st, 2025 (30+ Day Warning)
This change may surprise users, but it is necessary to address some challenges we are facing as moderators. We will discontinue the use of Blessed Forms (Pet, Sidekick, and Smol forms) in activities across the board. Many of the Blessed Forms do not have three limbs, which has led to a significant number of declines. It is easier to eliminate this status from activity approvals altogether than to pursue other solutions like creating exceptions and guides. We understand that this may be disappointing, but it is important to ensure that all users have fair access to activities.  These forms are still usable on the Masterlist.


Achievements - January 1st, 2025 (30+ Day Warning)
The Achievement System is set to launch in 2025, and we are excited to introduce it. Completing this system is essential for us to develop other integrated features. Users will have over a month to complete their current Tokens if they want the prize bundles, as these will be removed once the new system is implemented.

At launch, the Achievement System will be in its early testing phase, but we plan to add new achievements as we progress. The initial achievements will consist of familiar and new tasks for users and their characters. We also aim to introduce additional features in the future, as other systems will depend on this framework for progress tracking. Furthermore, this new system will help alleviate inventory clutter by organizing this information into a separate tab with clear visuals for tracking progress.


Porting - January 1st, 2025
It is finally here: mandatory porting. In the back, we have already started auto-porting the officially designed Griffians. We have made significant progress, and it is time to make it mandatory to speed this process up. Beginning in 2025, all characters used in activities, approvals, etc., on our site must be ported; otherwise, they will be declined and sent to porting. Taking care of this in advance is vital to avoid forgetting to port a character, joining an activity, and then getting declined due to a lack of information before the activity resets.
 
Waiting until the last minute may result in a decline and missed opportunities and rewards since porting is a slow manual process. We recommend that users only transfer characters they currently plan to use actively. This will help prevent the porting queue from growing too large. If the queue becomes unmanageable, we will separate it into two different categories: Express Porting for active characters and General Porting for all others. Express Porting will be designated for users who are pending approval or are seeking approval within the next five days.

https://www.kingdomsofgriffia.com/home/general-support.

Griffolk Body-Type Guides - Coming Soon
We are currently developing a body size guide that includes visuals to assist artists in depicting Griffolk in various sizes and body builds. While this has always been allowed, these guides are designed to help users avoid the common issue of inadvertently adding excessive definition to the Griffolk's chest, crotch, and markings that can accidentally resemble areolas.

This is not an issue of users creating NSFW content; it is simply accidental occurrences, and until now, we have lacked proper resources to address these issues. This often forced us to make hand-drawn edits and send lengthy explanations, which we know can be distressing. We are working to minimize this as much as possible.

Our new solution will provide clearer guidelines. We recognize that defining torsos is a matter of realism and stylistic choice, and until now, the only references users have had were based on humans, which isn't accurate for Griffolk. Our goal is to limit definition in specific areas while making it clear that it is entirely permitted in others. We want to empower users to explore various body types in Griffia and hope that the new guides will expand their resources for customizing their folk with much-needed references.

This update should not somehow be confused with us adding rules to how users depict bodies as this isn't the case at all. It will be hosted on the Home Page with other tutorials. 


Additional Anatomy Guides - Coming Soon
We got sidetracked from our planned projects by the creation of additional anatomy guides, which took far longer than we anticipated. This guide will be hosted on the individual Griffolk pages and includes many long-requested anatomical details, such as eyes, pupils, teeth and bite imprints, foot and hand imprints, mouth details, tongues, hands and feet in different positions, and ear positions. We will also provide a skin sample to help users achieve different skin textures in their renderings if that is their preferred style. We hope these assets will clarify many questions the community frequently asks us in the Q&A.

Account Requirments & Verification, DeviantART - Coming Soon
We are using DeviantART less for our ARPG and manual approvals. It should be evident that we have been moving towards complete independence from DeviantART. Eventually, all processes will be conducted on our site. The last significant interactions we need to move onto our site are manual approvals, helpdesk, reporting, and block systems. 

We will eventually discontinue using the DeviantART API, which connects your DeviantART accounts to KoG. Having a DeviantART account is currently mandatory, and removing this requirement has been a long-requested feature, and we are preparing to implement it. We have made this choice due to a lack of support and updates to the API. We will not rely on decaying systems. The verification system is an essential tool to catch cheating and ban evasion. To mitigate this, we are developing a new method for verifying accounts so that users won’t need a specific external website to confirm their identity. 

Instead of DeviantART API, we will implement a prompt-based verification system that all new accounts must complete to verify their accounts for use. These prompts will focus on art, eliminating the need to review art on any separate social media account, meaning you can participate without being dependent on any platform. New accounts will receive starter items by completing these prompts. We do believe this will improve the confusion surrounding the new user experience. Users will use our NPC characters, allowing them to grasp the rules and guidelines before fully engaging in the ARPG with a character and setting up their inventory for success before ever making a Griffian. As we are an art role-playing game, this aligns with our goals.

After this is complete, we will look into building our art display functions, which would display art submitted through games, master lists, trials, and activities. That way, we will maintain the social aspect of an ARPG, which is paramount to this experience. 

DEVLOG

Addition
Companion - Purrapod Added. Subtypes: Bay, Bog, Brook.
Companion - Kattlepod Added. Subtypes: Luma, Umbra.
Companion - Weedile Added. Subtypes: Ice, Ore, Pox, Zap.
Companion - Ealeg, Scoot Added. 
Companion - Eek, Monarch Added. 
Companion - Facet, Fillagree Added. 
Companion - Pixi, Selkie Added.
Companion - Relic, Relickapi Added.
Companion - Riceraptor, Sculpted Added.
Companion - Suba, Star Added. 
Companion - Suba, Sponge Added. 

Feralon - Feralons have been added and has a new Hub Page: https://www.kingdomsofgriffia.com/characters/griffians/feralon

- Tapisuar 
- Nautimaw
- Leechowl
- Bulkasuar
- Tome
- Boreel
- Muskurr 
- Ravogator
- Pampaw
- Brinejaw,
- Tidebat 
- Konacap
- Phantom Beast
- Pomecat

Item - Collectible - Vita Vera Added. 
Item - Collectible - Kattlepod Card Added. 
Item - Collectible - Purrapod Card Added. 
Item - Collectible - Weedile Card Added.
NPC - Elly has been Added - No Page Available
NPC - Neo's Suba has been revealed. 
 
Changes 
Art - The following Companion headers have changed:

- Ealeg
- Eek
- Facet
- Pixi
- Relic
- Riceraptor
- Suba

Companion - All previously untameable Companions are now Tameable and can be made using Love Petals. Their Companion GIC Cards have been changed to reflect this:

- Cafflufe, Gullit
- Eek, Emperor
- Eek, Greater
- Facet, Bezel
- Floop, Floopyeti
- Kittecura, Destroyer
- Mycakit, Mycalynx
- Paraglire, Parawhale
- Reed, Woof 
- Suba, Jelly
- Ursaraptor, Clusterr
- Ursaraptor, Minor
- Ursaraptor, Stellar

Companion - The following Companions can now be created for free through the Open Species redemption:

- Ealeg, Froog
- Rootalp, Ash  
- Rootalp, Sand 
- Snych, Tropical
- Weedile, Ice
- Weedile, Pox
- Weedile, Ore
- Weedile, Zap

Companion - Several Companions have changed continent assignments: 

- Kittecura: Beanian> Union
- Riceraptor: Beanian>Union, except Origami, which remained Fluffian.
- Seashimi: Beanian>Union
- Snych: Beanian>Union
- Mycakit: Caprian>Selenian
- Rootalp: Caprian>Selenian
- Geotura: Fluffian>Selenian

Companion - Reefshimi and Florashimi ears have been changed. Ages and official art do not reflect changes yet.
Hub - Companion Hub has been reorganized to reflect new Content assignments. 

Misc
Bug - Characters missing the Common Status have now had it added.
Bug - Bavom's missing bind has had it added.
Outdated - When clicking on Companion GIC Cards it still takes users to the outdated art on DeviantART with the wrong continent assignment. This will be fixed in a later update. 

My Companion always has my tail covered—it's a pawsitive partnership!