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Test Notes- 2 - 5 August, 2011

Post-Post test start update: Change in Meat and Butterfly Collector behaviours in your yard- see below!

Beta Testers! We are testing again- FOR YOU!

So, ok- we hear you on the collector changes! Here is the modified plan:

• One collector of one type is active at a time; when it is full, the extra goods will overflow to the next collector. (Not to two collectors, just one!)
• You can have any amount of milkers and collectors in the yard, however there will be a percentage of failures to collect in a time period as you increase the number of collectors there! Efficiencies will decrease.
• Meat collectors can now accumulate 60 meat and the Butterfly milker can accumulate 80 bottles, which is what the stack size is in your inventory.
•Those Butterfly milkers? They are valuable, right? So, they are now 400 currants to purchase.

There are not a lot of new things for you to play around with in the test (promise, more stuff will be in upcoming tests!), but we do have a few small changes to highlight.

We've made some physics change with ladder climbing. Your horizontal movement is prioritized over vertical now. This means that you shouldn't jump off a ladder if you had the up arrow pressed though you also had right or left arrows pressed (now, you should do a small jump of the ladder in the arrow direction you press).

Skills- Piety and Martial Imagination! We actually let people start learning these skills at the end of the last test, so if you missed that, you can now do so! And those skills and what you can do with them will become more clear for you... soon. ;)

There is still more client work for us to do in memory optimizations, and we'll be looking more at the issue where Chrome users on the Mac see their chat become very unresponsive and dropping letters whre t smetmes lks lk ths. Ahem. 

Races can now no longer be offered when you are in the fiery depths of Hell. Some of you might recall a bug striatic pointed out where two players who are in hell both "win" the race, and are plagued by repeating teleports to Burnabee. No more Hellacious races, as funny as they were! 

Gameshow wheels should now be properly placed in your homes, meaning- your trophy case shouldn't obscure them. 

(There were more things fixed -- honest!, but those were a couple of the more noticeable ones.)

Also, we also have a list of known issues in the Bugs Forum, we'll list if we need more reports on them.

Posted 17 months ago by kevbob Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • I've got it! How about a second component, similar to how the machines have to be pieced together... that the butterfly milkers would connect to... and it would store the collected milk and then we could turn a crank and have milkshakes!!! I mean... come on... we get to SHAKE the MILK, but we get butter instead of MILKSHAKES!!! I thought you had to churn it to get butter!

    I know, I know... that's too non-laborious... I guess it would be considered a "cheat" for it to be automatic, thus why we have to collect each meat and milk from every collector. But still... I'm just thinking of the milkshake parties I would be having!!!

    The real resolution seems to be that the game server would know how many collectors were in someone's house and that they would fill up one at a time. Not all at the same rate after the one in the pen fills up. I'm all for fairness! Milkshakes... all I'm sayin'
    Posted 17 months ago by Dr007 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just curious....does "soon" in reference to Piety and Martial Imagination mean during this test or a future test?
    Posted 17 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • “we'll be looking more at the issue where Chrome users on the Mac see their chat become very unresponsive and dropping letters whre t smetmes lks lk ths. Ahem.”

    Awsm! Cnt wt t c ths fxd!
    Posted 17 months ago by scottj Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can't drop my meat collectors and butterfly milkers back in my backyard... are they fixing this?
    Posted 17 months ago by Princess Pufflepuff Subscriber! | Permalink
  • timely update... thanks kevbob... btw, God said to "Look at me"... I couldn't see God! sigh....

    And GREAT job on the collectors modification! That's what I was pushing for!!! a roll-over from one to the next as they fill up. PERFECT! Now I have to go buy back all the ones I sold... (looks for vendor)
    Posted 17 months ago by Dr007 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you GOD :) 
    Posted 17 months ago by Momo McGlitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've been able to place 4 collectors before I get the warning: "Warning: Too many milkers can confuse the animals and make collection less efficient." so I would assume the efficiency goes down from that point.
    Posted 17 months ago by Kippsi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The change has now been made and the details are up at the very top of the page.

    So, Princess Pufflepuff (and everyone else), you should be able to drop them in your backyard again.
    Posted 17 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Actually the butterfly milker is still 200 currants...
    Posted 17 months ago by Nevet Subscriber! | Permalink
  • also a reminder to all those who weren't checking their collectors in the pens to allow them to always be full... not sure if that will affect the other collectors you have if it isn't collected, but just a reminder...
    Posted 17 months ago by Dr007 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks guys!  It sounds like everything should make sense now.  (But I'll tell you if I figure out how to break it again...)
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My mac-chrome lag is AWFUL. #justsayin

    edit: reloading AGAIN
    Posted 17 months ago by Mac Rapalicious Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Mac, Jobynana just told me about clearing flash storage, which fixed my lag problem when reloading and cache clearing didn't.  Right click on game window to get the Flash menu, choose Global Settings, and then you should see a way to clear the storage.
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Re: meat/ milk collectors: 
    this is probably still being worked on, but I now have one meat collector that holds 50 and some that hold 60 meats.
    Same with my milkers- 2 hold 50, one holds 80 milkses.

    Just FYI.
    Posted 17 months ago by Wrendolin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank You! 
    One collector fills so fast - But then again I have happy well fed critters. :)
    I will admit it -   I AM A PETTAHOLIC!
    Posted 17 months ago by litlc Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Really glad to see the collection modification was rethought.  I was getting a little worried about some fixes seeming overly punitive/reactionary.  The butterfly/Gurly drink thing last reset seemed aimed at smacking people who were exploiting singing when a simple "Gurly drinks don't work with singing" would have been sufficient IMO.
    Posted 17 months ago by mirth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hi Wrendolin, have your collectors with the limits of 50 actually collected anything yet?  I have the same problem, but I have a conjecture that they switch to the right limits as soon as they do any collecting.

    Also, for the record, I am also still seeing milkers for 200 currants (500 for meat collectors).
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ARGH. I have spread out my collectors so none are touching a thing, and I'm still not getting anything. This is maddening!

    Just give us the danged rule already... how many milkers and meat collectors are we allowed? Is it per animal, or per cubic inch of back yard, or what? 

    This is REALLY frustrating. I have ALL the animal husbandry skills, and this shouldn't be so difficult. Just have a rate that the item is collected, and if you have enough food, it keeps coming until they are full. Sure, slow down the rate if it was causing too much of an advantage, but don't hamstring us this way, PLEASE! 

    Just set a rate that it fills, and tell us what we need to do to take care of it, and let us do it. This mysterious hocus-pocus sometimes it fills, sometimes it doesn't, is just awful (and for the record, I haven't had ONE DROP of milk in THREE game days now... yes, they are spread out, and I have 14 butterflies). And may I just say again: ARGH!
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilith Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Lilith:

    From the top of this thread

    So, ok- we hear you on the collector changes! Here is the modified plan:

    • One collector of one type is active at a time; when it is full, the extra goods will overflow to the next collector. (Not to two collectors, just one!)
    • You can have any amount of milkers and collectors in the yard, however there will be a percentage of failures to collect in a time period as you increase the number of collectors there! Efficiencies will decrease.
    • Meat collectors can now accumulate 60 meat and the Butterfly milker can accumulate 80 bottles, which is what the stack size is in your inventory.
    •Those Butterfly milkers? They are valuable, right? So, they are now 400 currants to purchase.
    Posted 17 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Gave my collectors to the giants so oh well, have to go shopping, happy me:)
    Posted 17 months ago by xoxJulie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you, WindBorn. I did read that and it did not explain why none of my milkers ever collected anything. 

    It turns out that the collectors in my area are buggy and need to be thwacked into submission by the dev that wrote the code. 

    Now all I have to do is grow back the hair I tore out trying to figure out what was wrong!
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilith Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is the first test (at least in recent memory) that I have experienced lag. I'm using Chrome on Windows 7.

    Edited to add: Yes, I know I need to reload, etc to get rid of the lag. But my point is that I've never had to do that before.
    Posted 17 months ago by Becky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm glad I didn't read this before it was fixed! :)
    Posted 17 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Confirmed: all my collectors that had the wrong limits after the switch (50 instead of 60/80) corrected themselves as soon as that particular collector collected something.  (Or a benevolent dev fixed them overnight.  But I suspect the former.)
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Along the lines of @Lilith, I'm looking for something a little closer to specifics.

    Do the collectors have to have a gap between them of 1 pixel? or is it just drop one and move a pixel over and can drop another? See how crazy this is?!

    Is the collector number limited to some many per how many pigs/butterflies? (saying limited  due to the "failure" terminology. I realize it's possible to have an unlimited amount, but not favorable) Is it limited based on house type? or just a flat limit on collectors per house? Still should have one in the pen and the rest out?

    I'm completely for following the rules, but it seems a little vague here. I'm glad it's not my decision to make on these things! I'm all for capitalism and if someone figures out how to do well, that they be rewarded... I also give away a tremendous amount of the meat/milk that I've collected using the issue that was corrected. As well as giving tons of currants and items away from when I sold the meat/milk from those benefits. But I also completely understand what an exploit is... and that was definitely one! So, again... completely understandable to have this fix. Just please give us some more direction on how it should work (how many pigs/butterflies... how many collectors/how laid out).
    Posted 17 months ago by Dr007 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • here are my results:
    four of each collector, lined up, not touching
    four hours  later I have    196 milk  111 meat

    15 piggies, 18 butterflies in big house in Alokol

    Does this sound reasonable?
    Posted 17 months ago by 1padme Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This sounds reasonably balanced. So, if I understand the new collector algorithm correctly...
     - I can have 6 collectors if I want & I will eventually find meat/milk in all of them
     - each collector wakes up occasionally & attempts to collect
     - if a specific collector is full then goods will attempt to roll-over to the next collector but no further

    Questions:
     - do collectors wake-up in sequence or randomly? 
     - if I have 6x as many collectors do I get 6x as many wake-ups or same number of wake-ups but distributed across all the collectors?
     - does the "next collector roll-over" operate left->right or randomly or in order they were placed or closest?

    I guess I'm not asking for answers from TS... more fun to work these things out ourselves :-)
    Posted 17 months ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Dr007, the collectors can overlap, but you don't want to drop two while standing in exactly the same spot.  So, your second option.
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • well, none of mine are collecting anything at all now : (

    If one of you lovely tiny speckers is passing near my Tallish Crest abode and could pop in to give em a good kick to get them working again, that would be grand.

    My piglets are munching through the food in the feeder and not providing me with anything in return for it.
    Sheesh!
    Posted 17 months ago by Wrendolin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My milkers are working again. THANK YOU!
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilith Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Both my meat and milkers are only filling the first one nothing after that, but at least I am getting something
    Posted 17 months ago by Midnight1226 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What happened with the test?? I though will be off afternoon SF time!
    Posted 17 months ago by El Glitcho Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Wrendolin, as far as I know, while the feeder makes feeding the piggies convenient, it also means that you don't get automatic piggy plop and seeds. I circumvent that by feeding my piggies in addition to it -- the feeder is mainly for times when the game is closed, or when I can't make it in to check.

    I wish it were otherwise, but I can understand why it's not, I guess. The only part that I find mildly annoying is that I usually have to feed each piggy 1 vegetable three times, and it gets kind of tedious.

    Awesome test, devs! Thanks much!
    Posted 17 months ago by Soufflé Girl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Totally enjoyed this test...especially since my youngest son joined the game and I did things in the game that I hadn't tried before - I am now in love with races and using no-no and dying and...yah - I did more things in this test then I've done since I started testing lol
    I also finished a lot of the quests that has been sitting in my log quest that I didn't think I'd ever bother with and found it all to be quite a lot of fun!

    I"m really not liking the new way that the collectors work...even with it being re-worked...but, I was one of those who didn't have the bug with it to begin with, so I guess that's why.
    Mine never filled up all at once. The first would fill and then I may have had a few in one or two other ones while some wouldn't have any at all.
    But now it just seems so slow to get anything collected in them.

    I did experience some lag that refreshes would improve and some lag and freezing that total browser reboots would be needed to fix - other than that I don't remember having any bugs to report in my game.

    Very, VERY fun test!! TY!!!
    Posted 17 months ago by sgjo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you so much... my milkers and meaters are working!!!
    (ignore how much of a late reply this is :D)
    Posted 16 months ago by Princess Pufflepuff Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My experience in a nutshell:

    Mobile: Using the mobile browser to upgrade skills while not in-game was really a love/hate relationship. On the one hand, it's very convenient. But perhaps too much so - I could have a week off not playing the game proper but still learn skills to a massive degree.

    On the other hand, I found that the web browser wasn't very well formatted. It was a little frustrating to press buttons. Either an app or a few 'real' buttons as apposed to hyperlink text could fix this.

    Hell: I only went there once. It had some cool styles I would like to explore more, but I just clicked grapes for a while then vanished back to the real world. A bit boring?

    Mac/Chrome lag: can be at times quite distressing - even when I wasn't in an area with any other players. For example in the rook egg destroying quest. I guess this might be a server issue?

    EDIT:

    I forgot to say, thanks a lot for inviting me to the beta - it was a great (and quite addictive) game experience over all - I just wanted to highlight problems I discovered!
    Posted 16 months ago by Mr PorkChop Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Mr. PorkChop - There are a few glitches(!) in the generated html. :) I've reported the ones that I immediately could find. It looks like it's still on their "to review" list from my end. But I'd rather they work on the in-game bugs rather than the browser bugs.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Sarah Jane Smith - The part about having to feed the piggies one vegetable at a time really bugged me, too.  I finally figured out that if I drop most of the particular veg outside the piggy pen so that I am only carrying 18, then feeding 3 at a time is always an option, and I can quickly administer 6 feedings before reloading.

    Now the thing that bugs me is, with a lot of piggies and chickens running around the pen, how difficult it can be to get the focus on the piggy plop so I can examine/pick it up.  Has anyone figured out anything to make this easier?
    Posted 16 months ago by Hawkwell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm loving the changes to the milkers and the meat collectors. Getting much better returns now!
    Posted 16 months ago by Duck Bill Platty Subscriber! | Permalink
  • how long will this test last?
    Posted 16 months ago by Dr Foxglove Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for the search tool on the friend page!!!  Nice to have options to find folks!
    Posted 16 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Dr Foxglove, the test kevbob posted above is over.
    the next test is near August 11th. it shall go on for 1 whole week. hope this helps :)
    Posted 16 months ago by GiaTori Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Hawkwell, stand in the middle of the plops and hit Enter, then choose the plop you wish to interract with!
    Personally I just pick them all up and then 'Examine' them when I have them in my bag,  as it is easier than trying to pick up the packs of seeds!
    Posted 16 months ago by Cassandria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks,  Cassandria!!!!
    Posted 16 months ago by Hawkwell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The friends "search" option is wonderful!! TY!!
    Posted 16 months ago by sgjo Subscriber! | Permalink
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