Year in Review and 2022

Hey everybody!  It's been an exciting time working on this game and watching it grow.  Daily, I am just blown away at the growth and activity the game sees.  It's been a real motivator to continue to try to make it better.  Thank you to everyone that has been a part of the success so far.

Since early May, over 100,000 accounts have been created.  Over 9,000 people play daily now and there's somewhere between 23,000 and 25,000 active players.  The retention so far is about 22-25%, which is much higher than expected.  All in all, it's been a successful 8 months since I started working on the game.

So what's next in 2022?

A lot.

Last year, I broke out my plans per month.  There's a roadmap on the game if you go to Updates and I have revised it to summarize the big updates that took place each month in 2021. However, for 2022, I'm going to do things a bit different when it comes to the roadmap.

Basically, I have a lot of ideas for additions that I want to add to the game.  Sometimes, I'm able to plan and develop these things quickly and other times, not so much.  In my haste, some of last year's updates actually caused a lot of lag and speed issues (cough crafting effectiveness cough), which resulted in me spending more time fixing things instead of making new things.  That's not ideal.

So, going forward, I'm giving myself more time for major updates.  Rushing stuff out is fun and full of hype, but when it causes issues that affect the game experience... well that's bad.  You can see now in the roadmap that major new things are now listed per Quarter (3 months at a time) instead of monthly.  This allows me to plan, develop, test and release without as much of a time-crunch and hopefully will reduce the introduction of game breaking bugs or performance issues.

The other side of this is just how big the game has become.  Updates will take longer because of the need to ensure they are "correct" when it comes to optimizations and balance.  I won't be perfect, but by not rushing things I have a better chance of it.

Ok, here's what's next! - Q1 2022 - January through March

• Android IAPs: You'll be able to support the game and buy Gold with Android In-App-Purchases.  These are in work and on track to be out soon.  
• Bookshelf: I've been trying to get this one going for a long time.  Currently part of the system works on the Alpha game and is on track to be completed and out into Beta in the near future.  This system will change the progression of the game in a lot of ways, I believe.
• -Redacted-: More on this one soon :)
• Trade Reputation System: Trading is a huge part of the game and during 2022 I want to expand the trading system, starting with a Reputation system.  I'll be posting about this separately in the weeks to come.
• Apple Cider Repurpose: Apple Cider is useless since Auto-Crafting ended.  I've got a number of possible things AC could do, so I'll get it working again this quarter.
• Cooking Skill:  This is far along in planning and has a lot of potential.  I know what I'm going to build here, so just gotta get to work building it.  It would be the first new skill in the game since I started.
• Other things:  Tons of small updates, new items, new crafting recipes, new masteries, new CC goals, etc.  Lots of small UI changes will happen and a variety of other things.  Looking at events for Valentine's and Easter in the near future.

To help with the development, I'll be starting over in my own play-through of the game for the 3rd time.  I'm waiting until the December Event ends and I'll be playing on @magicandwires more to assist with my efforts.  

Who's excited?  I know I am.  Back to work, farmers.  Happy New Year!