Curly, I'm so sorry that you have been dealing with all this. You absolutely deserve the right to security and safety! 🫂

You have been doing an amazing job with HoFa and I have loved seeing the progress that has been made in the past year!! I hope that you get to relax and enjoy your upcoming holiday break ❤️

For one, I am happy to see that Bed is still around. I know things went sideways but I never thought (my personal opinion) badly of Bed, only that it wasn't handled very well. So hearing that she's still been around makes me satisfied that emotions weren't something that was broken… wow… that came out rough…

Anyway, it's sad to hear that the potstirrers have gotten to you. I know you and the team has been working diligently on the game. Please remember that there is more of us rooting for you than there are naysayers. Although we may not be a big, loud and well-heard voice, we're the bigger population.😊

Rest well when you take your vacation!

i have a lot of emotions and know it's probably a bad idea to say anything right now. but this is honestly a tipping point for me after a year of nonstop frustration and hurt.
 

everything about this is incredibly unfair and makes me upset. i hate that Curly had her privacy invaded like this, over an online horse game too? a game??? people have done far less harm to people who've done much worse things. why would anyone think this was deserved or fair?

it's upsetting knowing we have people in the community willing to hurt like this, HoFa has genuinely been one of the safest communities i know.  i remember so many difficult times like this and people still giving everyone grace and understanding and second chances, even when they didn’t deserve all that. why wasn’t it given this time? there have always been terrible people who come and go, but this isn’t the community i joined and loved. 

 

and i'm extremely hurt and upset to see that this situation is benefiting Bed of all people, the one who hurt and drove the entire playerbase away save for 2-3 people who didn't care?? that Bed?? people are literally only spending money on HoFa because we thought she's gone, the entire playerbase came back after HoFa was sold because we thought she was gone, that the money spent on the game wasn't going to her anymore. so many people straight up said they're happy they can actually support the game financially after you bought it. and all the work i did when i returned as a helper was. because. i thought she was gone. i would have never come back to work if i knew. i would have never stayed. i’m sorry if this hurts to hear and i hate saying it, but i feel like i too have no way of knowing the full truth with you either now. 
 

"The last year has proven to myself that Bedouin is consistent in the work, does a great job, and has always rooted HoFas success." i'm sorry but this truly feels like a slap in the face. working as a helper this past year has been the most demeaning and frustrating thing i've ever done because of the terrible coding and fixes and lack of communication and everything we say falling on deaf ears. but i pushed through because i wanted to help and thought HoFa was going to see better days without Bed. i felt safe and hopeful working on the team.


and things were better at first but gradually became just as bad as before Bed “left”. it has felt no different from when Bed was around. constantly making changes that caused more bugs and confusion that me and the others have to deal with explaining to the players, bugs being marked as Fixed or Not a Bug when they are, players confused about things that we ourselves don't have any context for and cannot help them understand, so many things breaking with even the slightest change to the game. it felt like we were being forced to pretend “the dev's” work was fine and nothing was wrong. i honest to god started thinking “the dev” was scamming you somehow. that there was no way someone could be this bad at coding and still being paid.

it probably looked fine since me and the others were dealing with the playerbase ourselves. doesn’t matter how many bugs and how many frustrated players we got, as long as more stuff gets implemented then who cares about the quality.


honestly writing that, i realize it’s all just happened again right? the team being worn down and hurt over time, trying to keep the playerbase from getting out of control anyway, then getting hurt anyway. the “HoFa cycle” of no transparency + broken code + features pushed through when the playerbase doesn't want it never really left i guess. i feel dumb for thinking it was over for good when HoFa was sold.

“Bedouin has only worked and will only work in the code capacity and has no say in planning, HoFa direction, or anything outside of code.” again i’m sorry, but this is objectively not true or how it works. she is the sole coder, everything that can or can’t happen is entirely down to whether she can do it. when asked about changes and features you’ve repeatedly said “the dev” isn’t able to or “the dev” says they have to do this instead etc. how is she not affecting HoFa’s direction and development?

i don’t care about how you personally feel about each other, that’s your private life and no one should have any say in it. but i feel like crying seeing Bed defended, credited as behind all the success the game has had, knowing how bad things have been for the rest of us who worked behind the scenes all this time. you and her may have worked things out and made amends but what about the rest of us? 

i want to ask you, truly, do you not understand how big of a betrayal this is to the community? reading this post feels like that’s not the case, though maybe cause most of the players who were there and remember the hurt, all got driven off already. none of the new players were here for the spiteful comments, treating players like expendable resources, all that AI stuff or whatever. so yeah i guess nobody's upset except older players who can be written off.

i know this isn’t fair, that you’ve been through a lot, that this is a bad time. but i’ve been keeping my head down for over a year just to continue helping and doing what i can because i love this game and its community. there never was a good time and it’s always unfair and you’re always going through a lot and saying how i genuinely feel would always be cruel. so please forgive me if realizing now that it was all for nothing is pushing me past my breaking point and making it hard for me to stay kind to you. i can’t pretend this doesn’t hurt like hell.
 

i guess i feel mutual about the breaking of trust honestly. the last thing i ever wanted was to work alongside someone who hurt the community like that ever again. so maybe it's good i don't have a say in that anymore? i guess all those people whose frustration we've had to deal with can just tell the source directly now.


 

and to whoever you are, the person who harassed Curly like this, made her feel unsafe and scared, went after her and invaded her privacy, hurt her over a game about fake pixel horses,

if your intention was to bring accountability or transparency to the game, you failed. completely.
 

if your intention was to harm every single person on the team except Bed, then congrats. you did that perfectly.
 

i hope you never feel at peace with how you ruined everything.

I'm really sorry to hear you chose to let most of your team go. There were some fantastic people working on the game - their contribution and kindness will be very much missed 💕

I haven't been here very long and I want to be sensitive about what is happening since it affects real people so I've waited hours to ruminate since reading this news post to comment but I'm not going to lie, this is a kind of instability that makes me nervous for the future of the game.  Does this mean the V2 art shift will remain forever incomplete with the staff all dismissed?  Are there not going to be any new campaigns accepted in light of this?  Was the private data of the playerbase compromised as well? It's just very ominous to hear some unknown harasser caused the game to suffer such a grievous setback.

I’m so sorry you have been put in the awful situation of being harassed, Curly. That really is awful and shame on whoever is responsible.

I do think we should have more details on what the future of HOFA is looking like with most of the staff laid off, because a lot of us are putting money into the game. At this point full on honesty without beating around the bush may be necessary to try and build some trust with the situation. 

I'm sorry that your boundaries were crossed. That should never have happened. Thank you for everything both you and Bed have done. I do appreciate everything y'all have done for the game. You deserve this upcoming break and I'm excited to see what happens after the holidays. And please enjoy your time off and have fun. 

@Miss Meriweather - as far as I know, the art team stays with the game. I will continue working on the greyscales for the V2 art shift and the campaigns.