Hello HoFa players. Today I have quite the update about the status of HoFa development and what has been happening internally the last few months.

Several months ago Bed and I brought Roze on to help us with planning and scheduling since I was having to step back from my role some. During that time both Roze and I had managed to plan out our next year for all needed, currently on hold, and new art assets along with release date for bug fixes, new quests, story lines etc.. Both Roze and I can only work on planning, art and and a few fixes to specific items/game pieces on the back end. We are unable to fix or make any code which is where our internal fall out has stemmed from.

Over the last two months the only work that has been done is art, bug fixes Roze and I can do, and some fringe extra planning and additions here and there. Bedouin has been mostly MIA and we now we no longer have confidence she will be returning with the capacity and dedication that HoFa needs. We have requested updates, scheduled fixes, made lists of tasks etc.. However, there is only so much planning and structure we can make and so many notifications and messages we can send and receive with no answers or action. During the last two months Roze, ERA and I have given the choice of three ultimatums; sell us the game, hire a developer, or we quit.

Today we come to you because our attempts to get HoFa back on track have failed. We managed to land on hiring a dev to fix all the bugs. However, our other demands such as a ownership stake of the game, transparency in the financials, and detailed documentation of all HoFa code have fallen short. Bedouin has failed to respond or indicate to us a willingness to move forward. We have been ignored for months and this sadly means we are on to our last ultimatum. We quit.

We have worked hard for over 12 years to make HoFa what it is and what we, and you, believe it should be. Many know we’ve had rocky spots, not due to lack of planning, and have tried to make HoFa a online horse SIM that does what many others don’t. It hurts to see something that has/had so much potential end up in this situation but sadly, this is where we are. In all transparency, HoFa has only moved forward due to heavy lifting from myself, our moderators, hired art staff, and our HoFa helpers. My ability to lead and pull the cart has greatly depended on my health and setting aside my life to focus on HoFa work. Myself and others have lost all confidence in Bedouin returning in enough capacity and willingness to move HoFa forward that our only option is to cut our losses and leave now. This means HoFa as it stands now, will sit as-is unless Bedouin decides to do differently.

I myself have 0 ownership in the game which means I have no capacity to pay folks, hire anyone, or leverage to get the game moving. No one else currently on staff has any stake in the game nor do any of us have access to the code base. HoFas direction is no longer in our hands and we are so sorry to our player base that this has happened.

Over the last 12 years working on Eqcetera and HoFa has been my place to express my love for equines, community, and art. I have spent thousands of hours doing unpaid work from coloring tack and bases, planning events, making quest lines, and making sure HoFa moved toward a game for the player. As my health has failed, HoFa has remained a constant joy in my life. I truly have no words to express to the player base, or to anyone reading this, what you all have meant to me. I have had the pleasure of working with artists from around the world, chatting with players about their lives, and building friendships with some of the best staff a girl could ever ask for. I’m not one for excuses but I believe it is worth noting in this message. Any time HoFa has had a rough patch, it's not due to lack of planning on my end, failure of the mods and testers to do their work, nor on any of our artists for not delivering. To put it in blatant terms, I’m done being run over, my efforts disrespected, and players having to deal with the fall out.

I am not the only one who has dedicated so much unpaid time to the game. Roze, our community manager, has helped for 8+ years with moderation, art tasks, and much much more. She has been my rock over the last few months and I believe she deserves more recognition than I am able to give here. She has taken on being the front-facing person of the game so I could sit back and focus on my health and adapt to a new future. In life it’s hard to find folks like that and I am so grateful to Roze for stepping up. ERA, our moderator, has been working with us for 7+ years and has always been a great source of equine knowledge and testing help. Often ERA has worked on moderating in-game and our Discord and has taken on every single task asked of her. We also greatly appreciate the help of past moderators and staff for their help and time. Without volunteer help, HoFa would not have been able to move beyond a simple horse sim.

What now?

I know many will have plenty of questions about what is going to happen. I’ll put it simply. I have no answers for anything. Because myself and the staff have no access to any code we could not update campaign art, fix bugs, or anything of the like before we leave. Since we no longer are working on HoFa we cannot give any help or indication about what is going to happen.

Where are you going?

Myself, Roze, and ERA will still be in the Discord and will be leaving the Discord open. We will be off spending our time with family, new endeavours, and resting.

I’m in a panic and don’t know what to do. I’m sad.

Myself and some others will still be in the Discord. Feel free to come chat. I want to kindly request we keep it civil and as positive as one can possibly be given the circumstances.

With much love, care, and heartfelt gratitude to you all,

Curly