Devlog [12.31.24]

Sindonic - Dec 30th 2024 12:01

NEWS

Hello, Sprouts 

Happy holidays! It's time to recap our 2024 progress and give an end-of-year update. As noted earlier, we're about two months behind our timeline. We also missed some programming goals due to critical bugs that took much longer than expected. Consequently, we focused most of our efforts on quality-of-life improvements while addressing larger projects. We plan to tackle the missed projects as soon as possible. 

We have a lot of work coming soon to set up Achievements. As soon as the work on all January 1st changes are complete, we will get back to you with a goal list containing an outline of our objectives for 2025. This means two more updates will be coming soon, but for now, this update will consist of 2024's completion summary, reminders for changes set for January 1st, and a preview of incoming features. 

2024 Summary
Projects completed in 2024:

- Completed the Vomsettifolk, Hopperfolk, Ekkofolk, Orm, and Novinaut information pages. 
- Revised the Feral statuses and how it is earned for Companions. 
- Introduced x18 new Companion subtypes, including ages artworks and x14 Feralon types.
- Updated all the companion headers with new subtypes.
- Completed the Capria and Fluffia settlements. ( x31 Fully rendered detailed backgrounds)
- Completed the information pages for Gods, Matter, and Planets.
- Completed the mutation page overhaul, reducing each mutation type to 10 and creating new artwork for it.
- Completed five events (Leap Away, Dragon Migration, Hollowbean, Companion Riot, Time Gala.
- Completed the body type guides and additional anatomical resources for Griffolk pages. 
- Created the Event Archive, which includes all old events in the form they were originally displayed. 
- Created over 140 items, which includes the stamp set for the NPCs. These are now given out as prizes for each NPC's Bloomday. 
- Many bug fixes, minor edits, and code updates.

Quality-of-Life Changes:

        - Improved Navigation.
        - Shop improvements and New Shops.
        - Improved menu usability and optimization, such as multi-select.
        - Improved masterlist search features. 
        - Added history sections for approval pages, Void Well, and Feedback.
        - Implemented a "feedback has been read" feature so users can see when we have viewed their feedback.
        - Improved user settings. 
        - Implemented an exchange function for familiars and sidekicks.
        - Implemented an exchange function for Love Items and Status Berries into Vouchers.
        - Added Message favourites.
        - Added an owned item count for all items.
        - Added a system for flagging approvals that are "under review."

Projects that were not completed in 2024:

- Updated Beania settlement updated art.
- Additional Weekly Game Features - Tasks.
- Relationships System.
- Play as Griffian option.
- Raffle System tied to activities and items.
- Void Swap Item System.
- Ping System - Scrapped for now, replaced with Bluesky.

Projects started in 2024 that remain unpublished/unmentioned:
Although we've missed a few deadlines, we have started some projects that are still in progress. Despite putting in considerable effort, they are not yet finished. We plan to continue working on them next year and are happy to tease some updates since they have already begun. We've started developing the framework for the Lore Timeline, The Faunapedia, and the Griffian Evolutionary Branches diagram. While these assets still need refinement and are not yet presentable, they were essential for finalizing much of our lore and visuals from this year. Each of these projects is substantial and will require time to complete.
Additionally, we've been creating catalogs of older information on Milanote and further streamlining old records. We're also working on porting Original Designs for users while addressing organizational aspects for our upcoming projects. We appreciate everyone's interest and look forward to sharing our progress when it’s ready. 
Now, let's get to the updates that will be live on January 1st!

Achievements - (Live January 1st, 2025)
Achievements are coming soon, and they are a major update. We will have to dedicate an entire devlog to them to outline the changes and functionality once it goes live next year. We need it the feature to be live/published before addressing it so users can see the changes. Stay tuned! 

Tokens Bundles Removed - (Live January 1st, 2025)
Token Bundles are being sunset, as mentioned here: https://www.kingdomsofgriffia.com/home/news/dev111624. They are not part of the plan for achievements, as we are still trying to address the economic bloat from Winning Flower. December 31st is the last day to take advantage of the Token Bundles item rewards.

Blessed Forms No Longer usable for Activity Approvals - (Live January 1st, 2025)
We have eliminated blessed forms from official activities and revised the guidelines accordingly. These forms will still be accepted for Design Approvals and Masterlist Approvals but will no longer be usable for activity approvals. The decision to remove them stems from the high number of declines associated with them. Most blessed forms lack three limbs, which results in users missing out on approvals and rewards. To avoid compiling extensive lists of acceptable versus unacceptable forms, we decided it was simpler to cease their acceptance for activity approvals.  

Porting is now Mandatory - (Live January 1st, 2025)
Porting is now a requirement for all activities. What does this entail? It means that if you intend to use any character in any activity or approval, they must be fully ported first. If not, you will be declined and directed to a porting comment. Note that this does not affect transfers or errors. So, to prevent missing out on rewards, please ensure all characters you own or plan on using soon are fully ported ahead of time. Porting takes longer than 5 days. 

Changing Mascot & CYO Themes and Design Approvals for Mascots -  (Live January 1st, 2025)
- Themes Biscuits now work on Mascots and CYO. 
- Mascots can now be dyed without dye restrictions; updated guides are TBA. 

Removing Winning Flower - (Live January 1st, 2025)
The Winning Flower activity has been removed and sunsetted as a feature; it will not return.

Removing Free Rebel Subtype Change - (Live January 1st, 2025)
The comment for the free subtype change for Rebels will close on January 1, 2025. https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/903492170/5144103665.

DEVLOG

Changes
Item - Duo's information has been updated on the Magic Familiar Item Page to reflect current usage.
Item - Petitions have finally been switched to the item type, "Trinkets." They are now transferable.
Item - Void Essence is now transferable between a user's character but is still Account Bound.
Item - The text has been updated on the Griffolk Theme Biscuit page to reflect the coming changes to Mascots and CYO. (Live January 1st, 2025)

Now, we want to give users a preview of the devlog coming after the 1st of January 2025 when the changes are pushed:
- ACHIEVEMENT SYSTEM YOOO.
- Added line indicating whether or not the item is doubled by Duo on the item page.
- Added confirmation before claiming Time Loot if the character has an unactivated magic familiar in their inventory.
- Added increment/decrement buttons to "Open Container Modal."
- Character image slot buttons are now hidden if that slot doesn't have an image
- Fixed visual bug where character image shifted slightly when you toggled edit mode on a character you weren't allowed to edit.
- Fixed bug where the sidebar would overlap page content under certain conditions.
- Fixed bug where character item rewards were doubled by Duo even when the approval didn't have a Magic Familiar bonuses reward.
- Increased padding from 10px to 15px in inventory, relationships, owned characters and history sections.
- Added "Max Selected" button to the inventory selection modal.
- Added "Trade" button to the user dashboard page that links to the trade page and preselects the user.
- Separated bloomday masterlist search into: day, month, and year for ease of searching on masterlists.
- Disabled buy button when buying shop upgrades if the selected item already has the upgrade.
- Fixed bug where character submissions limit requirements ignored characters not owned by the user that submitted.
- Treasure hunt selected cells and reward rolls are now visible on the treasure hunt grid after submitting.
- Added setting to opt out of Treasure Hunt messages.
- Added setting to toggle inventory filters visibility without edit mode enabled.
- Added system for reporting user and character bios.
- Added black and white lists (blocking users function) in settings that users can use to control access to their dashboard pages.
- Added custom sorting to a character's approved designs.
- Added support for comma separated values when searching the masterlist and item index pages.
- Fixed bug that caused chronopod group id to not be saved when creating/editing items.


2024 is logging off for the year!