Suggestions for improving the game.

[Bratterratt]

I agree with the pause button as well! Lol

Bratterratt

[XxCarateinxX]

I just started the game and I just noticed that when I clicked the link to buy tokens (as those seem pretty vital in this game) my computer warned me that there was a security risk and would not let me proceed to buy tokens.

So.... Since my computer does not like Sandbox Farm's security, I guess I won't be getting tokens, and as such, I don't think I'll be playing this game for long... Seems too hard to get ahead in this game without them, unfortunately.

[Alabama]

Question about the pause button, how would it be deactivated? After all, we don't want people to pause the game every time they log out and have their animals age minimally just while they're playing.

[.Savy.]

I'd like an instant chat, I believe it's run under Java? Something like VHR has, I think that would be great for us to communicate together

[XxCarateinxX]

Perhaps you should make it so that the pause button can only be activated for a certain period of time? A week minimum? That way for instance, if they were on vacation, they activate the button for a week, if they come back after 5 days, they'd still have to wait 2 more days to do anything with their animals? Or change the minimum to something else (3 days for instance). That way they couldn't just keep pausing it over night, unless they wanted to wait another whole week. The pause button can't be deactivated until the time is up.

Since this would be for extended times AWAY, that might work, people would understand what it was for and if they use it, they are aware they can't do anything with their animals for the week because they are all paused......
But for instance, if they selected a month and got back in two weeks, they could email to get the button deactivated....

I don't know.. just throwing that out there.

[Vitani]

Something like Caratein ( welcome to SBF, btw! ) suggested, I think....


If you are going away on vacation or whatever ( even just needing a 'break' from the game ) you could activate pause....But the time limit is tricky, especially if you just want a break...I think a week, minimum, but stretching maybe up to a month, you could perhaps choose a time period and, like suggested, nothing can be done until that time is up, although, it could include, mainly....

Animals won't age
Studs/sales won't go off market...

But, in case you return before the time is up, forums are still able to be used, and in farm messages
Events entered
Sales/etc made...

But no examinations until the pause is up....

Would have the added benefit for people like me who often only examine once a month during annual cleanups...A pause would mean the animals dont age while I'm not 'actively' playing, just working behind the scenes to try and organize it....

But to limit abuse...Maybe there is a pause limit, say...If the options are 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks and 4 weeks....If you choose 1 week, you cannot choose that again for...I dunno, 3 months. If you choose 2 weeks, the option is no longer available for the next 4 months, etc etc......

So you 'pause' the game...Your animals don't age, but the penalty is you cannot examine, once its activated it cannot be deactivated until the time is up, and you are limited to how many times a year you can select each pause period - To make it fair to the players who don't pause...

Maybe even, after a pause, your animals will age each exam you take until they get to the age they would have been without pause - Time to breed, clean up, take a break, etc etc.....But still being fair to all players, and still keeping the game challenging....

Mebbe

[Ferox]

If I was doing a pause button I'd make it a minimum of two weeks, after which time it will stay paused until the person takes an exam. The 'take exam' button will deactivate the pause.

[Misty Glen]

I've played other games that had a pause button or equivalent, and the way they managed this problem was that you could pause for however long or short a time that you liked, but once you deactivated it you wouldn't be able to use it for 1 week. Seemed to work pretty well.

I like the idea of the 'take exam' button deactivating the pause, or at the very least no exams would be able to be taken while the pause is in place. Depending on what exactly the pause button does and doesn't allow you to do may mean there would have to be an alternative available.

Regarding its features, the obvious one to include is to prevent animals from aging. If it's used as a security device (which it is on some games, not sure it's needed here), then it should also prevent animals from being bought, bred, put up for sale or stud, put on contract, or entered in events, as well as prevent any trades from being made or accepted. Should also stop tokens from being spent on anything, be it changing an animal's colour or creating a new variation.

Perhaps there could be a feature to enable you to choose which features the pause has when you activate it, or possibly the pause would have certain set features, and you could choose for it to have additional optional features.

Having the pause button keep animals on sale would be fine, but keeping them on stud would not be a good idea unless a breeding restriction was put in place, eg: the animal would only be able to be bred a certain amount of times per day/week/month. Once this quota is met it would be removed from market, then automatically put back once the time period had expired. This would prevent overbreeding as a result of people underpricing their animals before they leave, or else leaving only to have the market jump significantly while they were gone, as would happen if they were gone for a while.

Forum access and sending/receiving in game messages should still be possible under the pause, unless an optional feature is selected to prevent this, and you should still be able to log in to view your farm even if you can't do anything. In some games the pause is deactivated by the player logging in. Not suitable if it's a security pause, but acceptable if it's just used to pause game play while going away on holidays.

[her]

I definitely like the Stud idea, sounds great!

also noticed that the admin seem overworked, I think that we should be able to "elect" moderators. Mod positions can be volunteer, I think that many players would love to help SBF, me included, no charge! In fact it would be an honor to be a mod, and for those of us who have been on the game for multiple years, we already know everything there is to know to help newbies.

[Alabama]

[MonteCristo]

To me, I see the easiest way to get more people playing would be to first finish making the game. Make the few graphics left that currently have broken links so the game doesn't look like a beta internet game with little interest.

I actually think it would be even cooler, and maybe even easier to make a single image similar to a zoo layout where people can just click on a bear figure to go to the large multiterraform and a the figure of a horse to go to the pasture. Maybe the figures could go from black to color or something like that to indicate that the area has been bought.

Second, I think it would be fairly easy to set up a simple tutorial, as previously mentioned, that would reward you with cash and basic animals for doing tasks. People like reward systems and collecting trophies (see a certain farming game on facebook) so why not have people breed 5, 10, 20 animals and enter in 10, 25, 100 events to get trophies? The game is complicated in the beginning and giving people a reason to come back the 2nd day beyond checking if their overpop/overpop ant bred something cool. By the time they collect a few trophies, they learn the game and see how cool it is. Just looking at the number of people that join per month (a few hundred at least) and the number that stay or even participate in one of my small events ($100 - 1000 entry fee) is abyssmal. I really think if you could keep new players interested for even 2 weeks, they'd get the hang of it and the collector gene will kick on and make them want to keep playing.

Once these easy fixes are made, then start worrying about programming changes to make our lives easier. I think more actives would make this game a lot more fun and interesting - more events, more studs, more things to buy, etc.

[Sipphy]

This is an idea I got after reading the "SBF gets left in the dust" thread, but I thought it would be better to post it here.

I think there should be a convenient way to keep track of the actual values of species', variations, and colors. In games with more players, this is accomplished via the market: just see how much it's selling for. On SBF, that only works for the most popular animals. Thus the more ignored animals continue to be ignored because no realized that they are, in fact, rare; and the less experienced players have no clue how to price their animals. A nice feature would be an automatically updating page of statistics like how many are in the game and on the market. It could also include information such as how many males and females, how many are underage or overage for breeding, how many have been bought/sold this month, population changes, etc.

But if you could just be able to easily compare the numbers in the game, I think it would help with a lot.

[SisKate]

I really support the suggestion on a Warning System for retiring animals, it could be useful so we know to get replacements soon. We can't keep track of every single animal, we all know that

Also - I didn't know animals would be taken off of the market after being up for a certian period of time... how long is that period of time?

Another Suggestion: Farm Brands. I think VHR has them? I mean like, actual pictures that can go at the top of animals pages, if they are born on the farm. Brands can be made permanent or temporary, owner's choice... and can be designed via a template where you can choose and make your own unique brands? I don't really know how making the brands would work, but I think it would be really cool, and special to have.

Thanks for putting this thread here, it's really helpful, and got me to rake my brain for some ideas!

SisKate

[Misty Glen]

I'd like to see the $10mill cap removed from contract prices.

[Vitani]

An undo pregnancy button............


Please please, oh please >.<




May have just lost my best wild cat because what was a male, I thought was female and bred it without looking...Realizing too late I'd bred my threatened variation, past retirement age female...If she poofs giving birth to the inevitable op/op kitten...I think I might cry >.<