... you don't know many rockstar coders then. XD The pixels would be the hard part. The coding for that isn't all that complicated -- having a pet is trivial, having to feed the pet is easy, having OTHER people feed the pet is close to free, limiting the number of feeds per person per day WOULD be tricky except I've already implemented something for that for previous games. A shelter for preowned pets is slightly tricky but not too bad; having pets automatically run away is about the same difficulty. (The hard part here is the design considerations -- who would ever buy a pet that's already maxed out and therefore gives no benefits?) Buying pets is no harder than buying items.

Well, if a pet is "maxed out", maybe it would fetch better rewards per x number of feeds?

The problem then is you wouldn't WANT to get rid of maxed-out pets, because they'd be giving you the best rewards.

I think the result here is that pets need to be good for something besides just the feeding rewards for a shelter to make sense.

Perhaps a change in form beyond the normal changes as it grows (based on the type of pet, history, and perhaps a few other factors) to something rare.

Or for something a bit more practical in the shape of a discount, given a history of taking care of pets (well), in a shop or multiple shops based on the type of pet or whatnot. Just some ideas.

Stop it youre making me want this so bad. D:

Also for the maxed out issue would it be possible so that when the pet is put up for adoption its level gets reduced down to zero so the new owner can start fresh? Only they wouldn't have a say in the name or personality or anything. o3o

/rambling

That'd ruin the rarity of the rewards. :( It would allow the reward sequence to be repeated indefinitely -- consider sending your pet to a shelter and then buying it with a mule.

Ohhhhh you make a valid point. I didn't think about the possibility of mules. D:

u so smart coda.

Just keeping my eye on game balance, that's all.

There are so many other pet sites though, not every site needs to also have pets.

granted of course we need to get the site up to snuff before pets are even thought about XD

No no... What I meant is one a pet reached it's max out point in terms of feeding. It will grant 1 item at random, and then start back at 0 again to feed all over again.
Buying rarer creatures, then paying $1 for a instant item grant from that item is just for impatient people who simply just want to try and get the item they want rather then put times towards it.

So hence your cashing in from someone's impatience to spend time on the site to talk and advertise their link in their signature in someway xD

That's why you need a high amount of feeds per animal (100? 1000?) The rarity of the rewards would be like giftboxes that have been on the site for years, the longer the item has been in circulation the less rarer the rewards will be. But you do make a point, on whether a system like this should be limited in someway but that's only if you guys would decide to maintain some sort of item rarity.

But, meh. I just heard pet system and spurred an idea within 10 minutes. The only big task for a game like this would be the pixeling, and if you guys re-used a lot of the current animals on trisphee and just make items based off of them that will make things slightly easier. But there's still the entire design/pixeling crap to go through in general.
But hey, talking about this stuff in general is fun anyways xD

There's so much I want to say on this topic but I feel like I'd come across as a jerk and would start some sort of argument.

It just really frustrates me when I see everyone constantly saying "real life got in the way." If real life is keeping you from completing most of your tasks, maybe reconsider staying on staff. I quit Trisphee because I didn't have time to do both it and my webcomics. I didn't want to be another name filling the staff list that didn't contribute. I understand that the staff members really care about Trisphee but so did I. I spent a lot of time and money on this site when I could but I had to make a choice. Trisphee needs staff members that can and will make the time for it or everything will forever keep getting delayed.

I have been working on webcomics for 7 years, I get the whole "real life" thing. But I still find ways to get everything done on time even when working a full time job.

*Gives small applause for you being courageous enough to get that off your chest.*

Now how does that make you feeeeeeeelll????

I feel like there needs to be some major changes here if anyone expects this site to improve. I've been gone a year and it seems like the only thing that changed was the art at the top. Looking through this thread, it seems like the staff are dedicated and really care for Trisphee but most of them that posted said they were too busy to get anything done. That's a major problem.

Weeks of delays turns into months and turns into years of nothing happening. How many events have there been in the last year? A mini spring event?

You said yourself Illusion that you were considering leaving and coming back in a few months to see if anything changed. I already did that, I've been gone a YEAR and it seems like Trisphee is worse off than it was before.

I dunno. Things need to change. Even if that means taking one of the DIs away and only having 2 so that they have a better chance of getting done on time. Put whomever would have been in charge of the 3rd DI in charge of making event items or commons. They don't have to be extravagant. A simple event to just get people posting again to get some items would benefit.

The shops need some serious reorganizing. If I were new and wanted to see everything there was in the shops, I'd be stuck looking through over 200 pages of things. Maybe have it where only 1 of each of the items shows up, then you click it to see what colors are available. That would cut it down drastically.

Make realistic deadlines. AND STICK TO THEM. I don't know how it is now but when I was on staff there'd be deadlines and when they weren't reached there wasn't much of a backlash so staff would just continue missing them. This is a business so treat it like one. If staff members don't carry their weight, let them go. Don't keep them in hopes that eventually they will. I know everyone is friends they no one wants drama but staff members shouldn't be on staff because they're your friend, they should be there because they work to help Trisphee achieve better things. There's like 25 staff members, hypothetically tons of things should be getting done. But how many of them are actually active? A few of them haven't logged on in a week, a couple in months.

Maybe sites like this are things of the past. I don't see any that are doing well nowadays.

So basically everything I've been complaining about for the past year. xDDDD
I will be honest, give me 10 of the most random items (or anything that's been laying around for a while), a way to plant items into User's accounts, a new account to make a random NPC, a forum for an event, and the trust that I can single-handedly handle a small event I can do it.

I have come to understand the effort of having to do some things on the site, but truly is it that hard to make a thread and say "Talk here, and you might get an item from a magical whatchamacallit?"

Well like I said, I haven't been around for the past year so I haven't seen what you've complained about. :P lol

Good to know I'm not the only one though.

You aren't but most of us are too afraid to say it. Hell half of Staff is too busy or doesn't get on a talk to the users so we don't know that they are on. I am slowly pulling away from the site and it sucks but with no one to talk to that I can't talk to on Skype or other sites I feel no reason to donate any more.
And... I want to say a lot more on the subject but it would call out names of staff members.

That's a huge problem! Members are too afraid to post their feelings about the site? I know most people don't like hearing criticism but it's necessary.

So my question is, why are members too afraid to state their opinions?

I mean, just reading through this thread I see a lot of excuses. As a staff member, if you don't have time for Trisphee, then stop sticking around and giving the impression that you do. If I were a new member and I looked at the staff list, I would assume there'd be a lot of stuff going on.

I just don't know. I don't want to sound like I'm just randomly showing up and ripping on Trisphee because I really enjoyed my time here and wish it would succeed. But apparently something is not working because it doesn't seem to be moving forward.

I have to agree with both. as well. I don't know why people are afraid to talk. And while I have had little time for trisphee because I have been working a crap load. I still made time to pixel a monthly and get some stuff done for the site. I have been working close to 70 hours a week and I still make time to check trisphee and to pixel. And I put my own money into the site to make sure some people still get paid. I have to much love for this site to let it fail and I somehow make time for it even if its not as much as I'd like it to be. Yes I will flat out admit, I am busy, thats not really so much an excuse as saying thats why I haven't been pixeling that much lately. But I still make time here, and what users have to say is really important. I pretty much stepped down from making a bunch of decisions on trisphee and put it in the hands of people who were here every day for it when I can't be. But I have to agree that trisphee needs people that are here everyday and work for it everyday. I am trying to get to a point where I can do more and I am not just sorry and ashamed that we aren't doing as good as I'd like, but that I don't have time to step in and do everything either. I do feel responsible for things not getting done, and I really do need more people who can step in and keep to deadlines, step in and help, people who care for Trisphee like I do.

taiki, you have said words that couldn't be truer and i am grateful they were said


and thankyou gall for giving us this update

Fen it feels as though your words came straight from the heart, it's really touching!

While I know it does hurt the staff to have to delay item releases there is only so much you guys can do. Work and lives come first, and this is especially true in the current economy.

My view on the staff is that there seems to be a lack of communication despite some of the announcements. Even just a routine (like monthly, bi-monthly, weekly, whatever) sort of thing. Perhaps do it monthly like a "State of the Site" sort of thing. Could include things such as: some of the projects in the works (even just having barely enough detail to whet the appetite), status of the site overall, etc.

I can also guess that there is a lack of oversight or management due to the fact that Fen works so much, Suze has been sick, and Mizzy has been likewise preoccupied. Yeah...I don't have much to say other than maybe some power needs to be delegated and/or more people are trained and "brought into the fold" so to speak.

Personally, I enjoy the stories for the events and the backstory as a whole. An idea to take that a little further would be to perhaps tie in little short stories or pieces of the larger plot in between events so as to keep users intrigued.

@ Gallagher, well you seem like you want to get things done, so I look forward to the changes that you are trying to push out. :] I hope that you guys can get Trisphee going in the right direction. Thanks for taking the time to reply and give an update!

State of the site as an announcement would definitely get some people's attention. Perhaps you could give Illu the job since he loves messing with people...xD. Seriously though, wouldn't hurt to have.

A newsletter....hmmm....that could be interesting. Optional though perhaps? Like an opt in or out sort of thing. Might be something to build up to though since it would be another project to add onto things (if you wanted to go full out and design it to look more formal). Also I know some people (myself included) aren't so great about checking or combing through their emails sometimes.

i for one look at my emails maybe once a month, so i'd see no benefit in an email newsletter >_>

just a regular announcment would be fine for me. or some kind of Global PM, if that's even possible?

I think email notification would be extremely beneficial.

It'd also bring back old members, I think. Like with me, there are some sites I forget about, but when they send a mass email to all of their users, and it pops up in my inbox, I'm all "HOLY CRAP! HAY HAY! I REMEMBER THAT PLACE! -proceeds to check out- "

So, I'm all for that, dudes.

The best thing about that idea is that people wouldn't know if I was telling them the truth or not. Which would actually spark discussion on my legitimacy, and I could play that off for weeks. xDD Best thing to, I could make crappy pixels of stuff for "sneak peaks" just to mess with people more. xD
Aaaah... It's such a beautiful idea, but alas someone else would end up with the job. xD

As long as the sneak peak idea isn't for anything pixel related I'm up for the idea. I always hate when site's do these "sneak peaks" and everything is already made, to me it's like "RELEASE IT ALREADY."
But all the concept art you guys do would be awesome to see that before the item releases, and screenshots of anything that is a work in progress would be cool.
And again, if you were to do a sneak peak. DON'T SHOW OFF ANYTHING ALREADY COMPLETED THAT CAN BE ALREADY IMPLEMENTED IN THE SITE.
Seriously, it pisses me off beyond belief you have no idea.

I dunno, announcements from the staff that were half made up crap would honestly just piss me off. Immensely.

Not always true. It could be a sneak peak of one pose because when I personally pixel I do a pose from start to finish, adding color and everything before moving on to the next, so just because one pose is finished doesn't mean the whole item is finished.

True, but I meant more showing off fully completed items is what grinds my gears.
But if you were to show one pose each, that would be... Boring...? Not really interesting... Or even if it was just 2 or 3 poses out of a item that would be a simple click on the announcement and a short comment about how you can't wait to see the rest of the item, then run away.

Sneak peaks wouldn't really work with items in my opinion, it would work with sneak peaks in artwork that will be used in upcoming event without completely spoiling what the event may be for example. Or showing screenshots of a new game in development or just show us assets from it, and assets as in just showing off the crane in the crane game for example, but being mysterious about it by asking us questions like "What do you think this is for?"

If you were to do that, I'm sure that will spark a lot of discussion. As the site stands now, your goal right now is to continue doing what you have been doing. But after an event ends, you should be constantly trying to build up hype for something upcoming without bluntly telling us what it is to keep us spectating and interested.

If its what the other staff was thinking I think item sneak peaks could be fun. It could be a guessing game: what do you think the theme of the coming item is? What do you think will also be included in the set? Stuff like that.

As it stands and has been said before, we're trying to improve but its not going to happen overnight.

Speaking of announcements and previews...

Are the September items going to be released late?

The September items will be released within 24 hours. The staff is doing their best to make it happen as soon as possible. We apologize for the slight delay. <3

I didn't even notice it was september already.
Then again, the same thing has happened to me for the past three months. I have had zero sense of time this summer.