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Hello
Welcome to Animal Ares!
To get started you'll want to buy some animals! You can buy animals from the corral with corral tokens or from other players. The corral has a limited supply of animals available at a time, so keep checking back if you're looking for a specific breed.
You can earn free corral tokens by completing goals. Completing goals will also help get you started in playing the game earning many great rewards to help you care for your animals.
Visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to get some quick answers to common questions. You can also ask other members or staff for help on our Help Forum Page.
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Happy Halloween!
Hey everyone. Hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween! I've sent out Candy Corn to everyone who's been active in the past 7 days to celebrate.
Not too much else to update about on the game. I've been working behind the scenes adding in some admin functionality for myself to track things better (so nothing to show) and still working on the forum updates which will allow post editing. :)
I did have my pet rat Squeaker pass away over the weekend as well on Friday night. I am doing fine but between that and the holiday haven't made as much progress over the weekend as usual.
Last edited: 2015-11-02 8:21:52 amBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-11-02 08:20:40 -
User Run Halloween Contest
M4rshC4mp is currently running a Halloween Contest in the forums for any that are interested. There are two writing prompts where you can pick one or both and give the best answer to win a prize! Winners for this weeks prompt will be picked next Saturday, dont miss out!
Go to Contest Post
Last edited: 2015-10-17 10:02:35 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-10-17 22:02:11 -
Forum Updates
The main forum page has been updated. Still subject to change but I have started converting it over to the new framework and while making changes have made some styling updates as well.
This is currently only for the main forum page where you see the available topics and recent threads. Other pages yet to come. No new functionality yet, but it's one step closer to being able to edit your posts.
Last edited: 2015-10-05 9:57:14 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-10-05 17:54:47 -
Inventory Updates
The inventory system hasn't been completely refactored, but the main individual item use page has been updated. It should work about the same but there are minor updates in redirection and error handling.
I also added the 'Manage Habitat' link to the animal overview page. It's still on the profile page as well, but I felt it made sense to be under the animal overview page as well.
Brittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-09-14 14:38:35 -
Updates
So I've done a lot behind the scenes this weekend. That does mean I don't have as much visually to show for this time but here some more detailed information down below.
Password Hashing
Previously passwords were not hashed and used a weak reversible encryption instead. I have updated it so that passwords are properly hashed now with bcrypt technology (current standard). This automatically happens at login currently so if you are reading this your password has already been converted.
However it would be wise to consider changing your password in case it had previously been compromised.
Note: this does mean if you forget your password it cannot be sent to you as it was previously. Instead the forgot password utilizes a token system where you are able to pick a new password.
Framework and Overall Code restructuring
My other area of focus was on utilizing a framework for animal acres along with generally restructuring the code. Not all the code has been restructured, this will be a long process that I will likely handle on an as this feature or area is touched/modified basis. But the ground work has been laid and the framework is working dual with the old code. Of course let me now if you notice any issues. I have tested things, but I am one person and this is a pretty big change overall, so I may have missed something.
One thing this has allowed me to do so far is to allow more pages when not logged in. Previously you were unable to see the rules page or the privacy policy unless signed in. But it's good to have this information available before signing up. But overall the system is just much more flexibility and is a good start in getting things updated on the site as a whole.
For any interested programmers out there the framework is called fat free framework, and it was mainly chosen for it's ability to be integrated with our old code. So far it's a pretty good framework and solid choice, especially if you are trying to update older code without a full rewrite.
Hope everyone had a great labor day!
Last edited: 2015-09-07 11:42:46 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-09-07 19:41:58 -
Chat Party Now
A little late starting this off but I will be in the chat for the next couple hours. Come and join in.
Edit
Had a good chat with a number of people. Calling it a night for now. Thanks to everyone who was able to stop in.
Last edited: 2015-09-06 5:50:20 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-09-06 14:50:08 -
Unexpected Down Time
Sorry for the unexpected downtime this evening for any of you that may have experienced that. I was trying to update the server's mysql version (5.5 to 5.6), same as the dev server, and it ended up causing all kinds of grief and did not install correctly. And after the failed install it did not want to uninstall and then reinstall easily either, so took a while to figure out all the areas that needed cleared.
Finally was able to get it cleared out though and restored the database from a backup (one taken just before the attempted install/down time).
Brittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-09-05 00:49:39 -
Chat Party
I will plan to be in the chat room, AA time this Sunday 2pm to 5pm if anyone wants to chat this weekend. A great time to work on your chat goals and just hang out. I will also be open to answering future plan for the game questions.Brittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-09-03 11:23:01 -
Completed Goals List
So this is something I wanted to do and others have asked for, which is being able to view your completed goals. It's pretty basic right now, essentially it is the same as the current goals list, but you can at least view them now. The link is at the top of the page of the current goals page.
Brittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-08-31 18:06:49 -
Recent Post Updates
Updated the top 20 posts to see the created by user and the user with the latest reply. Was driving me crazy having to go into the thread to see if there were replies so I updated it. This displays a users showname without any html, so in some cases will appear empty right now.
Also did some other bug fixes introduced when doing other minor updates. And I have been trying to go through the suggestions board as well to see of any ideas that may still be useful even if older. And I have actually unclosed most of these, so feel free to post and give your opinion on some of them even if they are older.
Last edited: 2015-08-20 11:41:43 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-08-20 23:41:23 -
Messaging System Updates
Just finished updating the messaging system to include sent messages. There's still some work/updates I want to add but for now you have the basic viewing functionality added in.
Please report any bugs that crop up as a result of this change so I can make any needed updates.
You also may have noticed that the forums has had some minor visual updates. And I have did some updates to the categories and board options.
Boards Added:
- Art Critique
- Art Sales
- Roleplaying
Last edited: 2015-08-18 11:32:02 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-08-18 23:25:11 -
Thank You - Survey Feedback And Updates
Thanks for all the survey feedback so far. I've really appreciated all the responses I've received and will definitely be considering everything as I go forward. For anyone who hasn't responded yet the survey is still open.
Go to Google SurveyI wanted to touch on some updates I have been working on so far.
Well much of it is in the background generally improving the code to make it more manageable preparing it for bigger changes in the future. But other than that here are some you may have noticed yourself.
- In chat hovering over the message now shows the full datestamp - instead of just the time that was listed before.
- A favicon has been added to the site; the little icon you see on the corner of tabs in your web browser.
- Minor updates to the inventory including adding the item images to the full overview page. If this ends up making the page to slow I can also lower the number of items that appear on the page initially.
Last edited: 2015-08-06 10:48:03 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-08-06 22:47:24 -
Forums Issue
It's been brouht to my attention the forums are not working properly. We have a fix ready to apply but I won't be able to apply it for few hours. Sorry for the inconvenience and delay.
As well you may have noticed your hourly actions arent taking place. I will be updating that as well and apologize for missing setting that up in the move.
In the meantime if you find any other bugs please feel free to message me on this account.
Edit: Forgot to update this last night, but both of these should be updated.
Last edited: 2015-07-31 8:48:07 amBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-07-30 13:53:15 -
Successful Transfer and New Owner
Hello to all animal acres users! My name is Brittany (commonly Anoua) and I am the new owner of Animal Acres.
This is probably news to some of you, but Amanda has been looking to sell Animal Acres for some time now wanting to find someone to update it and bring it back to life. And I hope to be able to just that.
A Little About Me
Well first I am married and AA is jointly ours. Aaron will probably introduce himself later on. I am a programmer by trade, specifically as a Web Developer. Currently I work just under full time and 4 days a week. But my future goals include being able to do game development as my primary profession, so I am dedicated to this game. I also have another project in the works Eliyo. This one is pretty different with a focus on turn based battling and breeding with dynamic images.
Animal Acres Future
I do have some plans and ideas to improve AA, but I don't want to just come in here and change things. I would instead like to find out what you all enjoy about the game already along with what you'd like to see changed. And I have made a google survey for this purpose. All questions are free form and optional. But the more details and questions you answer the better I will be able to access things in going forward.
Go to Google Survey
Last edited: 2015-07-29 9:26:21 pmBrittany(#13) Posted On: 2015-07-29 21:25:12 -
New Species - I'm just full of updates today! Anyway, Guinea Pigs have been added :D I've added 3 disciplines and so far 2 items for GPs. Feel free to suggest more items, disciplines, etc. under the correct headings on the Suggestions board! I'll be adding more stuff for GPs over the next couple of days.
- If you want a new species added, the best way is to go to the Suggestions board, put "New Species: [species name here]" as the subject. Then, include a list of ALL breeds for that species. Include a brief description of the species. Include some disciplines for the species. If possible, include some item suggestions [not required]. Thanks!!
Coming Soon!- I'll be going through the pages that list the species and breeds of all animals and make them display in a less...irritating...way. I'm hoping to do that between now and...well, 2 weeks from now.
- I'll also be making sure crosses appear on the championships boards. I may be re-doing championships entirely [to give you more options for sorting the lists].
- I'm still working on figuring out that show bug that deletes entries every night. Can't find it anywhere! *growls at it*
- That should cover my mindless ramblings for the night. Thanks for sticking through with all the changes, etc. guys! You're the best part of AA.
Amanda(#13) Posted On: 2006-08-27 19:47:06 - I'm just full of updates today! Anyway, Guinea Pigs have been added :D I've added 3 disciplines and so far 2 items for GPs. Feel free to suggest more items, disciplines, etc. under the correct headings on the Suggestions board! I'll be adding more stuff for GPs over the next couple of days.