Novul

[Kyttias]

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚PROJECT OVERVIEW˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙
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Novul is planned to be an online virtual pet game! It is less a creature-collecting game and more of a feature-collecting game, the features being augments such as various kinds of ears and tails. The emphasize will be on breeding Novu into the coolest, cutest critters with colors and augments to your liking.

The plot here is set in a realm of dreams, which is being plagued by outside nightmares! The end goal for this project is something closer to an actual RPG, where time is spent exploring, questing, and purifying nightmare-infected Novu to learn augments from them and customize your Novu.

Individual Novu can be played with, groomed and fed! If you run out of action points to continue exploring the world, take a break to browse through and interact with other people's Novu to restore your points. Visiting Novu, your own or otherwise, let's you collect dreamdust, which is used to gauge site activity.

Your own engagement levels are also measured against others and you will receive weekly rewards accordingly. The top percentage of active dreamdust collectors will be entered into raffles to potentially win a pre-release of the next month's donation gift augment for free!
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·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚DEVELOPMENT NEEDS˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

✧ Environment & Augment Artists ✧
✧ HTML5 Canvas/JS/Phaser Games ✧
✧ Music for Promo Videos & Games ✧

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚RECENT UPDATES˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙
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December 2020 - After a long hiatus, work is being done again. I'm ambitiously desiring many custom systems. I'm happy to lurk again to answer any questions I can. I still can't offer tech support on any of my old Mysidia addons -- I've sincerely forgotten about them.

For Novul itself, I've implemented the means to use Discord as an oAuth login rather than having users register through Mysidia. It still has some problems for use in a live site, due to things other than the uid being referenced in certain core Mysidia files, but I'm working on it. I've also implemented Patreon integration successfully, but I'm still working on practical use cases. (I don't mind offering Patreon integration as a mod for Mysidia 1.3.4/5, but Discord login will have to wait for 1.4.x probably.)
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[Kyttias]

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚SPRING 2021 TO•̩̩͙DO LIST˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙
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Discord Login Integration - This is actually already done!! However, there are a few remaining issues if users have non-Latin/English characters in their Discord handles that I need to deep dive into.

Fix Tabs on User Profiles - Somehow this got borked real bad.

Add Pagination to Pets Tab on User Profile - I may end up having to do this with an iframe for the best effect.

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[Hwona]

Oooh, this looks really interesting. I could help out if you want. :3

 

[tahbikat]

Ooohh, I'm liking your adoptables so far! I will join once your site is up and running! ^^

 

[Abronsyth]

The art looks very cool so far, and I like the story

You might try asking around the VirtualPetList for programmers for the game and currency, and there are probably sites that either offer open-source music or where you could purchase liscences, etc for the music?

 

[Kyttias]

@Wallie - Would love the help. ovo

@Abronsyth - I wonder if anyone over on VirtualPetList is familiar enough with Mysidia or would be willing to learn. I'm fairly good with coding myself, but Mysidia's just... not well documented/not documented at all. Both me and the stranger I enlist face the same task of staring through files until it makes sense. (And any decent coder might be tempted to make their own system from the ground up for the same price as learning a new one, just so they know what they're working with for future additions. . . . and I don't really want to pay for that.) If I can convince someone there's potential profit to be had by getting their hands into Mysidia and really learning it to help out the community here, then it'd still be a worthwhile visit to flag down some outside interest. But... I might want to wait until the release of 1.4, since I hear so much is changing.

I really, really enjoy visiting NewGrounds just to listen to the music section. As soon as I've got a game built I'm considering poking at a few people. (So much talent over there.) Most audio there seems to be licensed as 'must give attribution, not for commercial works' - and I'm not sure if that's just site-wide policy, the default, or what the majority of people choose to select. I'll just have to contact people.

 

[squiggler]

Those are really good! Hey, I have an idea for you- maybe if your users achieve something big (collect 500 adopts or something?), you can give them one full colored one! Just an idea.

 

[Kyttias]

Heh, these guys will be colored! In fact, I want to hire people to color them. I'm still in the process of getting all the files organized. Everything that's done has their own file for Paint Tool SAI, but I'll be saving to .psd soon so my helper artists can open these files in more programs.

During beta, Novu will be black and white at initial adopt/purchase. After beta, they will come in their own default colors, and the beta versions will be discontinued - but still owned by everyone who has them, essentially making them rare. Non-colored versions of new species after launch will be available through a quest (or perhaps as item), but ordinarily, these guys will come in a variety of colors.

 

[squiggler]

Oh, that'll be cool! I might join.

 

[Hall of Famer]

This looks nice and promising, more important you have a plan and I like the fact that you know very well what you are doing. Keep up the great work. ^^

 

[Kyttias]

new novu + more about novu

new novu:​

Ouros are low fliers, and from above they are camouflage to their environment.
These will be obtainable via a hidden promo code.

Dezh are part-hyena, part-dragon, and they have a snappy attitude.
They will be found in the first nightmare zone. Can you tame one?
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[Kyttias]

daily stamp card:​

I'm considering making a 'daily' feature for the site that involves stamping a card.

Imagine a bingo card with a handful of symbols on it. Each day you visit the game, you'll roll a die to get a random symbol from your card that's not already stamped, and then every instance of that symbol on the card will be stamped. You get a base reward for each instance of the symbol. The stamped symbols on the card carry over each day until you've completed at least three rows of the card. When you complete an entire row, you get an additional prize. And finally, on the day when the card has at least three stamped out rows once you've received your daily prize, it disappears. The next day, you are handed a new card to start the process over again.
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sticker collecting:​

In addition, every day that you play you can get a sticker. At 10 stickers you get a prize, at 20 stickers you get a slightly better prize, so on and so forth, to encourage logging in each day. At each significant mile marker, you get a special sticker that will be displayed on your profile (like an achievement). It may be just what you need to gain access to special shops, locations, or quests!
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gachapon vendor:​

Operated with special tokens, these machines will dispense capsules with items of varying rarity in them. The items will be cycled out every few weeks, making them limited edition. Some will only operate with Rues tokens purchased with real money, making their contents especially lucrative. A small number of the capsules may even contain promo codes for rare Novu!

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[Kyttias]

new novu:​

Each Fresik has sensitive whiskers, used to detect something special.
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[Kyttias]

shopkeepers:​

I would like my shops to be tended by shopkeepers. So my plan is to add a column in the database where the shop information is kept that will store the file name for the image that holds the NPC. In the shop display script itself I'll have to point to where the image is, grab the image name from the database based on what shop it is, then place it beside the rendered table on the page that holds the items for sale in that shop. Wish me luck. >_o

Shopkeepers are humanoid Novu (backstory for this pending, ahaha):

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[Folli]

Whoaa this is looking so cool *^* Can't wait to see the website! nw n

 

[Kyttias]

item tooltips:​

I may release a tutorial for this in the future, but I might want to wait until the next version of Mysidia before doing so. It currently relies on Bootstrap, but doesn't actually have to.

Above is an example of how it will work in shops (the overall design isn't final). I don't have a working inventory version yet - but this is a work in progress! ^^I'll report back with an update on this soon. Everything should inevitably be fully functional.

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world building exercise:​

I made up a 30 day list of things to do for myself. All of it focuses on world building, plot, and design. You know - details and flavor text. I intend for Novul to have an RPG sort of feel, where you can complete quests for a sense of progression. And the farther you go, the more items and new species of Novu you can obtain!

Currently, I'm detailing my plans in the blog the Mysidia forums provided. So here's a link to all blog posts. And then here's a link to my 30 Day List of World Building Activities - feel free to make your own and do this, too! (Note: Only logged in users can view blogs on the Mysidia forums.)
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[Kyttias]

screenshots:​

I've gotten quite a bit of work done the last few days~

I'm currently using this personality mod to display unique quirks about adoptables, generated from a random list at their creation. Thanks Wallie!

pet manage page (owner side):

changing adoptable trade status (rename similarly formatted):

clicking adoptable for the first time each day (everyone):

after you've visit an adoptable once (everyone):

shop - Crossed Roads (will display quest text if user has an adoptable above a set level)

shop - Spectrum (will display quest text if user owns a specific item)

When the requirements are not met to start the above quests, a random phrase is said instead, based on a supplied list for each shop. Different art/character expressions can be displayed based on the case context, too (currently during quests, but normal phrases could change the npc image as well, if desired). Because I'm generous, and it could prove useful, you're welcome to study the source code a little bit (just for the NPC display, nothing to do with how I have items displaying... and I don't even provide css, but perhaps you get the jist?).

            #This changes the npc based on the current shop
            switch ($this->shopname) {
                case "Crossed Roads": 
                    #Check if user has an adoptable at least lvl 1
                    $mysidia = Registry::get("mysidia");
                    $req_lvl = 1;
                    $req_lvl_adopts = $mysidia->db->select("owned_adoptables", array("aid"), "owner='{$mysidia->user->username}' and currentlevel >= {$req_lvl}")->rowCount();
                    $strongest = $mysidia->db->select("owned_adoptables", array(), "owner='{$mysidia->user->username}' and currentlevel >= {$req_lvl} limit 1")->fetchObject();
                    if ($req_lvl_adopts) {  
                        $catchphrase = "Woah, your {$strongest->name} looks amazing at level {$strongest->currentlevel}! Say, could you do me a favor, {$mysidia->user->username}?";
                        $npc_img = "http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/262/a/2/base_npc_60_by_kyttias-d7zqrnf.png";
                    }

                    else { #Normal visit
                    $npc_img = "http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/262/a/2/base_npc_60_by_kyttias-d7zqrnf.png";
                    #Based on the random number, sets a quote for $catchphrase
                    $num = Rand (1,6);   
                    switch ($num) { 
                        case 1: $catchphrase = "Time is money."; break; 
                        case 2: $catchphrase = "Isn't icecream super?"; break; 
                        case 3: $catchphrase = "Welcome to {$this->shopname}!"; break; 
                        case 4: $catchphrase = "Off to see the wizard?"; break; 
                        case 5: $catchphrase = "Tomorrow is another day..."; break; 
                        case 6: $catchphrase = "PHP is cool!"; }
                    }    
                    break;
                case "Spectrum": 
                    #Check if have quest item
                    $q_item_1 = new PrivateItem("Beta Icecream", $mysidia->user->username);
                    if ($item->iid == 0 or $q_item_1->quantity > 1) {
                        $catchphrase = "You have Beta Icecream? <br/>Can I have some?";
                        $npc_img = "http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/314/5/1/base_npc_2_60_2_by_kyttias-d85ygfs.png";
                    }

                    else { #Normal visit
                        $npc_img = "http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/313/a/c/base_npc_2_60_by_kyttias-d85ww5k.png";    
                        #Based on the random number, sets a quote for $catchphrase
                        $num = Rand (1,6);   
                        switch ($num) { 
                            case 1: $catchphrase = "What are you waiting for?"; break; 
                            case 2: $catchphrase = "I bet half of these don't work."; break; 
                            case 3: $catchphrase = "Welcome to {$this->shopname}."; break; 
                            case 4: $catchphrase = "Are you going to buy something?"; break; 
                            case 5: $catchphrase = "(Window shopping?)"; break; 
                            case 6: $catchphrase = "..."; }
                    }
                    break;
                default: $npc_img = "http://placekitten.com/g/200/500"; $catchphrase = "Welcome to {$this->shopname}";
            }
            
            #This is the npc and their shop (typically random) catchphrase 
            $document->add(new Comment("
                <div class='shop_npc'>
                    <div class='popover fade top in' id='npc_popover'>
                    <div class='arrow'></div><div class='popover-content' style='width: 220px; text-align: center;'>
                        {$catchphrase}
                    </div></div>
                    <img src='{$npc_img}'/>
                </div>", $linebreak = FALSE));

I'm rather proud of myself in regards to my placement of the shopkeeper npcs. Screens all the way down to 1024 widths, such as 10" and 12" Netbooks, and many decent size tablets in horizontal mode (Kindle Fire HD, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and all Apple iPads) will still display shopkeepers, albeit at a reduced size. Below these widths, shopkeepers and their text will simply not display.

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[squiggler]

This all looks so cool! One suggestion, though: many users on Flight Rising (petsite) complain about pop up and hover boxes. Mobile users because they can't hover, and the rest because the pop ups glitch and cover pertinent buttons or take time to load. You may want to consider this.

 

[Kyttias]

Modals, tooltips and popovers are three different, though similar, animals. *(What's the difference?)

I'm familiar with Flight Rising's glitchy bugs with all three of these. They just don't like being dismissed - usually when you try to open a new one of one type while one of another type is already open. I run into this a lot trying to sell dragons on the Auction House, for whatever reason. However, this is an example of poorly implemented coding, not necessarily poor design overall. Flight Rising is still in closed beta, and one of their lead coders was hit by a vehicle and has spent the better part of the year hospitalized. It's understandable that even fixing basic typos has been a struggle for them - only so many of their team has access to, let alone understands, what's going on behind the scenes to fix the problems at hand.

While it's actually possible to implement mobile-friendly touch tooltips (the standard is to make sure the tooltips are hide-able by a double-click, while the first click opens the tooltip, the second will closes it), my plan is actually to have entirely different layout on both shop and inventory pages on devices with a width smaller than 1024px. This doesn't just have to do with the information on the tooltip being hard to pull up, but the fact my shopkeeper NPCs just won't have room to exist -- yet they will be both quest starters and objectives. I'll be sure to carefully playtest tooltip issues.

I try to make as much of my content as I can mobile-first so it's ready right away, but some of the more complicated features will take their sweet time. ^^;

 

[Hall of Famer]

Oh this looks really nice and promising now, great work Miss Kyttias. ^^ Its so good to know someone is utilizing the script to its potential, and there may be even more to exploit. Let me know if I can help you with anything. ^^