Operation "Revive FeralHeart"

[Ellen11v]

What does Raz need to have in order for all of this to move on?
Does he need more support? I’m all in for that. Does he have a ‘buy me a coffee’ link somewhere? I’ll give $20. If he needs help big time with the job, then let’s do it!!

If that’s not the case, then why is he doing this to all of us, honestly?! I simply don’t understand what he’s going through AT ALL.
True, he’s holding the game up and have been doing so for almost a decade, right?
What is going on, Raz? You know you aren’t alone, we all want to help you out if you let us.

I’m screaming it out that I don’t want this game to die. Staffers and Rhakorra probably knows, because of my drama thread earlier that occured because I wanted to defend the game so bad. I cried that night but luckily Bloo and Rhakorra was there for me to cheer me up.

[Rhakorra]

I don't think it's a money problem, and if it was then Raz would have organized fund raising or announced it on the theead. Eitherway I dont think its money...Personally someone just need to take a few mental notes and start opening stuff.

You're welcome, Ellen ;3 <3

[VortexAlive]

I agree that the registration needs to be opened. That's a given to have any chance.

As for the old maps? Guys, it wasn't the maps... I was there right before the new maps were released and I can tell you that the old bonfire and old ficho felt pretty empty at times too, maybe not nearly as much as the grounds does now but the point is that things weren't exactly better just because of the old maps. I noticed a huge drop from 2014-2016, the hacking was in the middle of that and caused a fair number of problems too. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that constantly hearing about how 'bad' the new maps are/were and wanting the barren older and far less detailed maps back, even from a player's perspective, just seems/seemed very silly. That's how nostalgia works really, you don't just miss any 1 thing about something old, you miss everything about it and getting only one thing, or a different version of the same thing, only to realize that that alone wont solve any desire would leave you with a "It just doesn't feel the same." feeling, you know?

It's not the fault of any one thing and if we hope to move forward, we all need to come to terms with that and create not the 'old' spark, but a new spark with new life.

[Bloo.]

Registration has been opened. Please do not take this as an opportunity to start making a whole bunch of new accounts. Instead, use it to recruit new members off-site and bring our numbers up!

[Rhakorra]

Registration has been opened. Please do not take this as an opportunity to start making a whole bunch of new accounts. Instead, use it to recruit new members off-site and bring our numbers up!

This is wonderful news!

[LordSuragaha]

I agree that the registration needs to be opened. That's a given to have any chance.

As for the old maps? Guys, it wasn't the maps... I was there right before the new maps were released and I can tell you that the old bonfire and old ficho felt pretty empty at times too, maybe not nearly as much as the grounds does now but the point is that things weren't exactly better just because of the old maps. I noticed a huge drop from 2014-2016, the hacking was in the middle of that and caused a fair number of problems too. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that constantly hearing about how 'bad' the new maps are/were and wanting the barren older and far less detailed maps back, even from a player's perspective, just seems/seemed very silly. That's how nostalgia works really, you don't just miss any 1 thing about something old, you miss everything about it and getting only one thing, or a different version of the same thing, only to realize that that alone wont solve any desire would leave you with a "It just doesn't feel the same." feeling, you know?

It's not the fault of any one thing and if we hope to move forward, we all need to come to terms with that and create not the 'old' spark, but a new spark with new life.

Indeed it isn’t just the old maps but a combination of factors that lead to the decline. I was their as well and saw when numbers started to fall. It’s never been the fault of one thing ever as LaughingWolf and I were saying, but rather a series of events. And again I’m just sharing my experience and personal opinion here, I’m not trying to upset anyone who was involved or criticize anyone personally. I don’t think this is an issue of blaming anyone but rather reflecting on what was done that may have lead to our current circumstances. Throughout these years staff have always had nothing but the best intentions even if things didn’t go as planned or weren’t received well by the community. But yeah, the downfall in my eyes began with the general chat removal. Personally I always thought that it wasn’t worth removing until we had a solution for it, since removing it cold turkey just caused more issues and upset in an already limited community. I do acknowledge that there were problems with it, it was flawed but also valuable to role players especially. Using video clips to advertise for rolepays never really worked as effectively as quickly seeing a roleplay right in the chats. As time passed and the game got older of course older uses left as well, some left out of growing disinterest, some left due to changes etc... but then more things happened to an already limited game with a small population which only added to its eventual decline. These things being the whole random registration, the hacking, the sudden unexpected 2016 patch that overhauled the old maps, the hacking and the addition of the log in screen, no source code updates etc.

Now do I believe that adding all these things back as they were would fix things? No. Why? Simply because times have changed and the “gaming culture” has changed since those times. FH needs to be fixed and a number of those old features would only set the game back more. However, I do believe that if some of those old features could be reworked, refined, and or updated would could get things to get better again. The features I mean most being the registration, a general/global like chat, a log in integrated into and only in the game itself, plus source updates... then we can get somewhere. I do have faith especially as we have xSpirit now that a lot of these old issues could be fixed. Staff throughout the years were only trying to do their best with what they had.

Happy to hear that registration was opened back up at least <3

[Rhakorra]

Well, I think it's great XSpirit is our coder, but coding does take time and lots of energy. Should the Feral Heart Staff open a discussion to have another coder slot? I meant no disrespect as I just don't want anyone to be stressed out

[VortexAlive]

Staff throughout the years were only trying to do their best with what they had.

Aye, something I acknowledge fully. c:
Also happy to hear that registration has been opened again!

[A.P.S.]

I was so happy to read it was back up eeeeee! ;w;

My thoughts on it though- I'm glad someone said something. I logged in today and was just saddened over not really having any new messages to read. Used to I'd come back maybe after sleeping or being out and have plenty to read and do, I've actually probably spent more time on the forums than in-game, but now it just feels... Well, dead.

As far as the maps are concerned? I actually like the new ones a lot, though I don't think they're perfect, no map is. I think they all just feel similar? I couldn't tell you by a screenshot in a random location which map is which, with a few exceptions. With the old maps, it was usually pretty clear where was where, regardless of where in the map you were. They were also a heck ton easier to navigate through.

There's also a sense of imagination with the old maps. For those who couldn't or didn't like to download custom maps, people would take what was given and turn it into anything. Maybe I'm wrong and it was just what maps attracted what kinds of roleplayers, but it seemed like Ficho Tunnels was Freddy's Pizzeria, Bonfire Island was Beach City, that random bush in Fluorite Plains was a warrior cat's den, and that's I think another thing that made it special.

The most important thing about the old maps though? The general crowds they attracted. Bonfire was fun to hangout in because of it's silliness and chaotic chat, Ficho was cool to talk in and meet people from various fandoms, and Fluorite felt very... Wholesome? That's the closest word I can think of. It gave a true feeling of what Feral-Heart was in a sense.

Though taking away these beautiful maps might not bring these people back entirely, if it made new folks who joined do the same thing? I think I'd have to be for that. The fact there was no vote kinda makes it worse too. The community had absolutely no say in anything about how the new maps would be handled, though that's the main reason I'd give the update any sort of backlash.


As far as donating to Raz goes, I believe he requested we don't. This post here, though not stating why, would lead me to believe the idea of donations is out of the question: https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=1188.0

But, if it meant supporting, keeping up, or improving the server, me and I believe many others would be willing to donate if they could. Though, it doesn't exactly say donations, I don't know how well such would be taken.


About a new coder and xSpirit, xSpirit is on break, right? With the possibility of not coming back, too? https://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=67044.0 I know it says things like break, at the moment, etc, but the "That said, I might return later." sounds much less certain.

I'd be up for a second coder though, maybe just to even things out. Not only would things get done faster, but there would be less stress on just one person. I don't know how well it could actually work though, I've seen Impressive Title's source code and I'm not sure how two people editing it at once would work, though if it was possible, I'd be up for it even more. But, only given xSpirit is good with it, he may prefer to work by himself on this.


I think I'm done, that was longer than I thought it would be. >.<

[lolzcupcake]

As someone who stopped playing really due to the map change I hate to pop some bubbles. I know I'm just one person right now but I can at least give my fees back to help share both sides.

I'd like to start off with that its not that the new maps are bad, they are lovely, well thought out and have great little gems.
What I hate though is how full of meshes they are. I can't find a spot the doesn't have something in my cameras view blocking my oc or others. The amount of meshes just takes over and I can't think out a good story. Its too busy. While others may love that, I and I'm sure others do not. There isn't a single map to really run away to. Another this is that the amount of details over heat my old laptop, which me and 4 others friends have the same issue. We can't be on more than an hour or our laptops start to heat up. Which sucks cause we aren't in a good place to buy new ones.

I also like to point out these new maps felt very forced upon me. There was no pool that I saw, nothing but "hey new update you have to get or you can't play the game you love ever" so it felt very forced upon me. Now this is just how I feel sorry if that upsets you in anyway. I think dismissing anything about the old maps not being why people left is a little bit of a slap to the face, for me at least.

Again no one is saying the new maps are bad or should be gone, but they should of been given as an add on to the maps already in FH