Do you know how many hours it takes for the breed art for these campaigns?

$500 actually sounds very reasonable considering the amount of time it would take the artists. 

$500 certainly is a lot of money, but art is incredibly expensive to commission. Crossbreed campaigns are also meant for multiple people to contribute coins, so the expense doesn't fall on only one person. I can't say I know of any game which allows players to create their own breed which gets official art - $500 in the long term is quite reasonable.

I hope you can find a campaign that you are interested in! It's a unique aspect of HoFa that offers a lot of customization and challenge. 

As Mewlie said, campaigns are supposed to be many people contributing not just one.  It's also not possible for just a single person to fully fund a campaign, the requirements to get one funded are that you have at least 5 different contributors so that $500 cost would be split amongst at the very least 5 people.  It still sounds like a lot but if a campaign is popular you might get even more people funding it and while the playerbase is probably too low to expect 100 people to each separately contribute a coin, that's supposed to be how campaigns work.

Though it's not just $500 anymore.  The campaign gets completed with that sure and it gives you access to an official breed name and registry and the game beginning to track the breed on the leaderboards, but the art itself is a separate cost now as of this news announcement https://horsefable.com/topic/8080 unique artwork for a campaign breed requires $500 additional funding to cover costs.  This still likely doesn't cover the costs entirely given it's not $500 for an individual art piece but $500 dollars for unique art that comes in every single combination of color, gene and marking available on the site plus art for each of those in every style mane and tail cut that has to be compatible with each piece of tack, accessory or companion.  This is to understate it, a lot of work, especially given the art team is small.

As far as pay-to-win, eh politely I disagree.  Campaigns are entirely optional for the player, you can get on leaderboards, have large numbers of horses available, and use all the other site features all without participating financially in a crossbreed campaign.  Even participating in a campaign doesn't necessarily cost a player real dollars, breeding and selling horses that meet star and generation requrequirement still counts towards completion it just also takes someone else using real funding to see the breed going official.  But it's supposed to be hard to do, so that only crossbreeds the player base actually wants make it into the game, not just any slapped together cross that would lose all player interest in a couple weeks.  If they were to change things so that buying or breeding horses in general costed real money then that's more what pay-to-win describes.

I agree with the points above. While I am new to this site, I have been playing these types of browser sims for quite a while and $500 - $1500 is a pretty standard price to fund a new custom asset. And most sites do not allow it at all or just in very limited situations, like backing the Kickstarter. The campaigns here are a very interesting concept and the cost and amount of work to complete one is reasonable imo. 

I thought about starting a campaign, saw the cost, and thought to myself  “Ye that makes sense!” And decided not to bother because I couldn’t think of a new breed that would be unique enough that other players would want to get behind it.

Calling it pay-to-play is unfair imo. You can buy, sell, and breed horses to any level with absolutely no restrictions. You don’t need to spend money to have a great time playing this game. 

But websites cost money. Servers, hosting fees, coding, regular updates, and original artwork costs money. I’m an artist too, and it takes years to develop those skills. Artists should be paid properly for their efforts. A doctor will spend 10 years at university building their skills, and we accept that they deserve a high pay grade for their discipline and dedication. Artists also spend 10+ years to get to the skill level needed to create the beautiful breed art that we are blessed with in this game. 

If you would prefer to buy another rescue Mustang for $500, no one is stopping you! That sounds like a great idea! But no one is forcing you to spend money on this game either. Comparing the price of a rescue horse to paying a professional artist for their time and skill is a false comparison. If it’s more meaningful to you to buy another horse, then do that. But don’t expect artists to lower the value of their work to fit your personal budget. 

I have absolutely nothing against you personally, but calling it pay-to-play is a bit dramatic. I can’t afford to fund a campaign either. Just spent £110 on a new car battery today 🤪  

OMG, oh my. Ok I guess I have some explaining to do. My sister and I share this account on here, and I had no idea about this, but it is nice to know there is support for this game on here, and so many artists! Thanks, now I will go talk to my sister lol!

Your art is lovely too, Goose. I hope you'll be paid for it very well one day!