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
to my freinds and the community:
I plan on quitting along with the past (AND F-ING AMAZING) staff. If Bedouin doesn’t sell the game within the next month and a half then I will be saying my goodbyes.
I want to say THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH AN AMAZING COMMUNITY OVER THE TIME I HAVE BEEN HERE.
THANK YOU.
I will miss this community -(if Bedouin messes up MORE)- SO MUCH, for the past year you guys have been there and been amazing.
Last year I had a lot of mental health problems but playing this game has helped ALOT, not just because horses are the best thing ever, but because you guys are too. And I will never be able to sum it up, or say it enough, but, I wanna say it again for emphasis.
THANK YOU
To Bedouin:
Wow Bed. You just lost your entire community because you didn’t care enough to even log on and help the people putting in FREE WORK into YOUR game! They didn’t deserve this, and you didn't deserve them. Unsubscribed, hated, and trust lost. The ONLY TWO REASONS that I might stay are: this community, and, to support Thunder and Brumby. I have put over a year, and SO. MANY. FREAKING. HOURS. INTO THIS GAME! For it to go to waste. All of Curly’s and Roze’s work, wasted. Gone. Because Bed, simply, didn’t. Care.
Sell the game Bedouin. The entire community wants it, if you really care about your game, your community, SELL. THE. GAME.
It’s the only way forward, face it if you continue, the community will leave, gone forever. If you sell the game, it could thrive again. So again. IF YOU CARE, SELL THE GAME!
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Regardless of real failures in our friends lives, hopefully we are all caring people who can turn around all of the hating in the world to a better place where grace is given and humans are valued in spite of their real failures and our real hurts. The only hope for the world is for us all to choose to love and forgive and to be the first 1 courageous enough to work for peace. Bring hope to the world🌎
WILLOW of Emberwilde
Happy to hear that you will continue working on HF! So excited to see the changes and bug fixes sure to come.
Oh naive children. Dont be too excited. It wont last.
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Come Join the Equisar Discord
https://discord.gg/n67Ctp6Gpd
Taking peoples' money when you know you're not going to do what you said is fraud.
As a player that joined less than a week ago, literally a day before this all dropped… I can't begin to explain how disappointing it is. The bones and foundation of this game ( and focus on narrative alongside sim elements) is really special.
There is something great here but part of what makes it great is the extremely kind and patient community that this game has. I have played so many games in my time and I have never met a player base that is so respectful, patient, and kind.
But the disrespect towards staff and to the player bases's dedication is extremely disappointing. In its current management I can not reccomend this game to anyone. Any dev should understand that this dedicated of a player base is what makes a game valuable and to throw that away to focus on 6 other projects (???) …. It's disrespectful to the time and money the community has put in.
Please sell this game or prioritize your time properly (in the long term not just a few months!) to give this game the support it deserves or else it will slowly die and in a few months it will be bled completely dry of any playerbase.
This is so very disappointing. Having been a player since well before Eqc became HoFa, it is absolutely gutting to see Curly, Roze, and ERA go. Having worked as a volunteer for this site myself, I have nothing but positive things to say regarding working with all three.
Bed, I do hope you reconsider your decision not to sell HoFa to Curly and team. There really is no excuse to say you can’t justify selling the site with bugs when there was an open offer to purchase it ‘as is’ by a team your player base is already familiar with and trust. I get that HoFa is your baby and it is hard to let go, but please do right not only by your player base, but also the game as a whole. There is so much potential. Don’t kill your loyal long-time community by being selfish when you know you won’t have the time and energy to fully devote yourself to this community- which is a full time job in itself.
I am not going to quite yet, having so many years invested into this game. I will be freezing my account and taking a step away though until this is resolved. Hopefully with the right decision being made, which prioritizes the players and long term health of the game over personal attachment.
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