New Feature - Announcing the Eldsonas Beta!
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:43 pmIt's finally time to roll out the new feature that's been months in the making - Eldsonas! An Eldsona is a custom avatar that you can create based in the lore of Eldemore.
Now, it's important to note that we are beta testing this feature, which means that it's not fully finished yet, and doesn't have all the great fluffy features that we want it to have, and may still have bugs in it. We just wanted to roll it out so users can test it and provide feedback, and see what we've been working on in the shadows.
Here's what you can do right now:
Here's what we have planned (in no particular order):
It's important to note that if you change your Eldsona, the link will not change, but the image will (you might have to refresh a few times to see a change, but you won't have to update the link). Also, know that anyone who's logged in can see your list of Eldsonas, but right now, they can't see detailed information on them (if you go to someone's profile page, you'll see what I mean).
Now let's go through the editor page tab by tab:
Info
This displays basic info about your Eldsona. All of these are simple text fields that you can put basically anything into. Name, nickname, and occupation are limited to 50 characters, while age and sexuality are limited to 25. But for age you could put something like "24 years" or "24 centuries", or even ∞.
Body
This is where you establish your race, gender, and skin color. Right now, you can only choose human, but eventually, more Eldemore races will be obtainable. If you change your gender or race, your Eldsona will be reset! However, this doesn't matter until you hit the "Save All" button.
Note that nothing is ever saved until you hit the "Save All" button. Use it often so your session doesn't expire.
Inventory
Ok, let's get down into the nitty-gritty. Everyone starts out with one of every preset item, but those items are reusable between Eldsonas, whereas items you obtain later on are not. The preset items include hair, faces, and a basic outfit. From there, you will have to obtain new items as we release them, or from the Bazaar (coming soon), or by trading (also coming soon).
If you equip an item to an Eldsona, you can't equip it to another one, unless it's one of the starting items (which is all you will have right now). When you equip an item, it just snaps on, in the right spot. There's no dragging and dropping items where you want them, and trying to line it up right.
Above your inventory, you can change the item category. What you see in that list is all there is right now.
Layers
From this tab, you can see all of the items that are equipped to your Eldsona. You can easily drag and drop the layers in the order you want them, from top to bottom. Your changes are previewed in real-time to the left of the screen. You can also click the little x to unequip an item. Remember to save when you're done!
But wait, where's the Yuletide event?
Instead of rushing to get this out, and also put on a big Yuletide event, we decided to hold the Yuletide event later in the month this year. That way, we don't have to kill ourselves to get everything ready for Christmas, the holiday rush and family craziness can die down a little, and you can expect a whole new event with tons of pets on or just after Christmas.
Thanks everyone for your patience. I have been coding this off and on since September 2nd, but that doesn't even include the design phase or the time Jendalie spent doing the art for it. So we fully intend to continue developing Eldemore for the foreseeable future.
If you have any questions or comments about this, you may leave them here, and I'll be sure to see them. If you experience bugs, please post in the Eldsona Glitches thread, which I kind of wanted to keep separate from the normal site glitches.
~ Big props go to Jendalie who did ALL of the art for Eldsonas, including all of the preset items as well ~
Now, it's important to note that we are beta testing this feature, which means that it's not fully finished yet, and doesn't have all the great fluffy features that we want it to have, and may still have bugs in it. We just wanted to roll it out so users can test it and provide feedback, and see what we've been working on in the shadows.
Here's what you can do right now:
- Create a maximum of 2 Eldsonas
- Give your Eldsona basic info, such as name, occupation, sexuality, etc.
- Equip items from your inventory, and layer them how you like
- From the main Eldsonas page, you can get an image link to your Eldsona in either thumbnail or full sized form, which you can use to post in forums, signatures, or other websites.
Here's what we have planned (in no particular order):
- Ability to trade items (definitely near the top)
- Sell item sets and Eldsona slots in Bazaar
- Ability to crop a section of your Eldsona to use as an avatar (like a headshot)
- Character relationships (create relationships with other Eldsonas)
- More user profile and site integration for Eldsonas
- Ability to choose a "bonded pet" for your Eldsona
- Bio section where you can write a full post for your Eldsona
- Codex integration
It's important to note that if you change your Eldsona, the link will not change, but the image will (you might have to refresh a few times to see a change, but you won't have to update the link). Also, know that anyone who's logged in can see your list of Eldsonas, but right now, they can't see detailed information on them (if you go to someone's profile page, you'll see what I mean).
Now let's go through the editor page tab by tab:
Info
This displays basic info about your Eldsona. All of these are simple text fields that you can put basically anything into. Name, nickname, and occupation are limited to 50 characters, while age and sexuality are limited to 25. But for age you could put something like "24 years" or "24 centuries", or even ∞.
Body
This is where you establish your race, gender, and skin color. Right now, you can only choose human, but eventually, more Eldemore races will be obtainable. If you change your gender or race, your Eldsona will be reset! However, this doesn't matter until you hit the "Save All" button.
Note that nothing is ever saved until you hit the "Save All" button. Use it often so your session doesn't expire.
Inventory
Ok, let's get down into the nitty-gritty. Everyone starts out with one of every preset item, but those items are reusable between Eldsonas, whereas items you obtain later on are not. The preset items include hair, faces, and a basic outfit. From there, you will have to obtain new items as we release them, or from the Bazaar (coming soon), or by trading (also coming soon).
If you equip an item to an Eldsona, you can't equip it to another one, unless it's one of the starting items (which is all you will have right now). When you equip an item, it just snaps on, in the right spot. There's no dragging and dropping items where you want them, and trying to line it up right.
Above your inventory, you can change the item category. What you see in that list is all there is right now.
Layers
From this tab, you can see all of the items that are equipped to your Eldsona. You can easily drag and drop the layers in the order you want them, from top to bottom. Your changes are previewed in real-time to the left of the screen. You can also click the little x to unequip an item. Remember to save when you're done!
But wait, where's the Yuletide event?
Instead of rushing to get this out, and also put on a big Yuletide event, we decided to hold the Yuletide event later in the month this year. That way, we don't have to kill ourselves to get everything ready for Christmas, the holiday rush and family craziness can die down a little, and you can expect a whole new event with tons of pets on or just after Christmas.
Thanks everyone for your patience. I have been coding this off and on since September 2nd, but that doesn't even include the design phase or the time Jendalie spent doing the art for it. So we fully intend to continue developing Eldemore for the foreseeable future.
If you have any questions or comments about this, you may leave them here, and I'll be sure to see them. If you experience bugs, please post in the Eldsona Glitches thread, which I kind of wanted to keep separate from the normal site glitches.
Zayin wrote:Yes guys, the event is still coming. It looks like the Sealer may have slept through Yuletide this year...
Honestly though, I'm still preparing it. Usually I take the whole month to prepare for an event, but I wanted to get Eldsonas done and rolled out before working on Yuletide. Otherwise, I would have to pick that project back up in mid-January. Add on my full time job, and it's been pretty difficult to get this all ready by Christmas.
So I just had to accept that this was going to be a "post Christmas" event. Rest assured, I am working on it every day, so expect it to be rolling in a few days. When it goes up, we will put up a News announcement, and you will see tokens on the navbar like usual.
The way it's going, it will probably be up by this weekend. Thanks for your patience!
*Hype new feature*