Development Update Part 2
Message from Bedouin
I want to take a moment to sincerely acknowledge everything that’s been shared and address what’s been happening from my side.
First and foremost, I owe a genuine apology to the team - Roze, ERA, and Curly - for my lack of communication over the past couple months. You’ve each carried this project forward with dedication, creativity, and heart, and I recognize how frustrating and disappointing my absence must have felt. I’m sorry for leaving you without answers and for not showing up when the team needed clarity and collaboration most. That is entirely on me.
While I’ve been traveling and managing an in-person event for the past 2 weeks, I understand that none of that excuses silence on the latest offer. It felt very aggressive from my side so I was trying to diplomatically find a way to respond without squeezing it in the tiny time between meetings. I’m currently the backbone of five active businesses and consulting on a sixth, with three of those in rapid growth. Just this past month, I onboarded three new team members for one company. I let my responsibilities spread me too thin, and HoFa paid the price for it. That was never my intention, but I know impact outweighs intent.
That said, I’ve been quietly working behind the scenes since mid-week. I’ve fixed a wide variety of bugs in this latest update and will continue doing so until the game is stable again. I am not abandoning HoFa. I will be keeping the game for now, and once all major issues are resolved, I’ll re-evaluate what makes the most sense moving forward - including the potential for a sale or other options. It doesn’t make sense to sell a game with bugs that would burden the next owner and would only set them up for failure.
Back in April, I had shared a new set of development tools with the team to help streamline our process. At the time, we were all swamped and didn’t get the chance to explore them together. That one slipped through the cracks, and I take responsibility for not following up when it counted. I’m now using these new tools which have helped speed up several bug fixes.
I want to be clear: Thunderbolt and Brumby are both staying on board, and I’m grateful for their continued commitment. Despite everything, there’s still a foundation worth nurturing here, and I’m hopeful we can still move forward.
To the players: I apologize for how everything has gone down. I know this game means a lot to many of you - and it means a lot to me too. I’ve worked on it for over a decade myself with over 10,000 hours spread over all the versions of the game. I will do better, not just for the code, but for the community and the people who’ve poured themselves into HoFa for over a decade.
More updates will come as fixes roll out. Please know I’m actively working. I will let my work speak for itself without any other excuses.
Discord Server
The existing Discord server is now the unofficial Discord server. No new updates will be posted to it, but you’re welcome to stay. I have left this server because previous staff have removed my permissions so it may seem like I’m ignoring you when I actually just can no longer respond.
If you want to continue getting Discord updates, you can join the new official server here: https://discord.gg/DNn3NtDb5Q
The State of Art
We have several bases in progress. The campaigns will be completed. I will need grace on the tack since I’ve never personally been involved in that process, and that will be the one thing that requires a bit of wait time on these completed bases.
Bases and markings complete:
- NSH
- Pintaloosa
- Irish Cob
Bases in progress:
- Cobian
- Elven Warhorse
Boosts & Achievements
Achievements with boosts as rewards no longer cancel out active boosts. They will now stack on top of each other.
This now fixes bug #1464.
Bug Fixes
If you still encounter the issue again, please mark the bug report as Fix Failed.
- Bug #1620 - The “Add Breed” button now works when starting new campaigns.
- Bug #1165 - Enter All 1 should now work for halter horses with less than 100% energy. This is one in particular that I’ve struggled with tracking down for years but the new dev tools helped me locate it. 🎉
- Bug #1438 - Stud and brood achievements are now being tracked.
- Bug #287 - Aren Gee should now be fixed.
- Bug #1011 - Horses should no longer be kicked from boarding when saving.
- Bug #1154 - Moving forward, there should be no more Dun Dunskins. I’m in the process of updating existing horses in the game.
- Bug #1638 - Train all button should now work with career only horses.
- Bug #1431 - Mailbox pages should now be sorted correctly.
- Bug #1307 - There is now an extra check for making sure no extra halter shows are created.
- Bug #1357 - The “Breed Now” button should now populate the mare and stallion when clicking from the foal predictor.
- Bug #1469 - Put in a fix for foals still aging while frozen. I didn’t mark it as fixed because I’m not 100% confident it is fixed but will continue to monitor the report.
- Bug #1631 - Halloween items will no longer appear in random events.
To be completed soon:
- Foal predictor - This is a performance issue and will need some refactoring.
Moving Forward
I have checked my travel schedule and here are the next few updates (I have added them to my calendar and will shift things around as needed to fulfill this):
- June 14
- June 21 - very small update, will be traveling
- June 28 - no update, will be at an event
- July 5 - larger update to catch up
- July 12
Updates will be on Saturdays (like the old days) due to my crazy schedule during the week. First and only priority right now is bug fixes and to finish up in progress art.
Thanks,
Bedouin
@Kentucky241: Before the other campaigns will not be finished and get theur Art, I will pay not a cent for a coin, ingots or other things. Now I have no trust that things come to a good end. Sorry for my humble English.
"Fan of Légèreté"
Do you like special horses? Join the " World of Crossbreed" Club https://eqcetera.com/club/139
How am I supposed to have any faith in a game where the owner disappears for months at a time without any notice because of how busy or burnt out they are? You have MULTIPLE people willing to take this website - AS IS - off your evidently full plate. What is the reason for pretending like that isn't the case? I have zero trust in you. Cannot believe this game has gone through all it has just to end up here.
Viridian Wilds - Performance Stock Horses
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@Rocksteady There is a lot of us that are united. In the now unofficial server there are plenty of people who have left the game completely. People are done and fed up. A large group are not only leaving to support other games, but also to support others that are making games. As a large part of the dedicated player base has decided no more and either won't join until someone new is at the helm or not at all.
The new dev tools are just AI. You lost your staff and are replacing them with AI. Which is insanely offensive to your years of staff that have given more time of their lives than you have to keep the game together. This is why people hate AI. It is easier and can't argue back, I get that's why you like it. You don't need to make sure it's cup is full in any capacity. That works for you.
Doing work on the game is great, but I fear most - if not all - will never associate this game with anything good again. The cycle is you do work, say oops I was busy, then disappear for months. You left us hanging when HoFa launched to go to your diving, rented island adventure, while we all scrambled to keep players content enough to buy you time… while you barely contacted us for months. It's disgraceful to put it kindly. This is the time and actions you've set in stone for HoFa and Eqc prior. It is the same constant cycle. Your playerbase does not trust you anymore regardless of any fixes.
words can't really describe what i'd like to say, so we'll just go with ‘i’m genuinely disappointed' instead.
but now i'm wondering, are these so-called new actually just an ai program?
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You do realise the amount of people who have only just learnt that Curly isn’t even the owner of the game? THAT’S how absent you’ve been.
Bedouin, I understand that life can be crazy sometimes (especially if you’re the backbone of multiple businesses) and I appreciate your apology. Thank you for being willing to fix bugs and continuing to improve this game even when people have been critical. I really enjoy your game and hope that you will be able to continue to improve it.
Bingo, we all hope things turn around however these bugs that have been fixed I believe one is at least 2 years old. She herself stated after months of absence the three fixed bugs would take 14 hours.
There is no excuse in the world to willing accept people’s money with zero updates not only to the player base, but their staff. You are welcome to do what you wish of course, but the criticism is absolutely warranted especially when you allow your staff to take the brunt of the frustration, dodge accountability and again… all while accepting money. Please consider this especially if you choose spend money on the game now. Where there’s smoke there’s fire and the entire forest had to burn down for “14 hours” of Bed’s time.
The only reason we have these updates is because the staff quit and we all pulled financial support. The bugs are being fixed in hopes to sell the game in a few months.
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You desperately need to sell this site. You have been a nonentity in development and making bad decisions since I was on staff, what, 2 or 3 years ago? Your ambitions far outpace not only your commitment, but your ability.
Nothing but respect to Curly, ERA, and Roze, not to mention Alf, Beni, Shea, and Solo, all of whom put more work into this game than you ever did and are the reason it still exists at all.
Edit: God, I just noticed the fonts still don't display correctly on Firefox. Which I flagged when we first redid the site.
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