Dynamic groups 🦾 On the fly tokens 🧚 | Behind the scenes | Devlog #6 📢
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 ·Â4 min read
Hello everyone! Maslow here. I hope you’re all doing well. It’s been a week since the last update, and I’m happy to say that Harpy is feeling much more stable now. I want to express my gratitude to all of you who reported issues and bugs. Your feedback has been invaluable in improving the platform.
New release note page
I’ve made some significant changes and updates, and I want to walk you through them. First, I’ve revamped the release note page to make it easier for you to navigate. Now, all the updates are listed by rarity, similar to the color-coding in most RPGs. You can focus on the rare, epic, or legendary updates if you prefer. However, if you’re interested in all the fixes we’ve shipped, you can still find the common and uncommon ones listed too.
Let’s dive into some of the uncommon and above updates:
The Leftovers
We’ve addressed a major issue with the migration process. Previously, there was a bug that caused most group entities not to migrate properly. Rest assured, this issue has been resolved, and groups are now working as intended.
Improved User Experience
We’ve made several small updates to enhance the user experience. Now, the platform remembers the last active characters in the play by post feature, making it more convenient for you. We’ve also fixed the issue where hitting the enter key on mobile would submit a message instead of creating a new line.
Playable Creatures
In chapters, you can now play creatures as well as characters. This new feature adds more versatility to your gameplay and opens up exciting possibilities for your storytelling.
Token Management
You can now use dummy tokens on the fly without creating a dedicated entity. These tokens won’t have character sheets or HP bars, but they provide a convenient option for dropping tokens in your game.
Moving on to the bug fixes and other updates:
Archive Filter
We’ve reintroduced the archive filter on the entities list, allowing you to easily access archived content.
Payment Bug
One of the critical bugs we addressed was related to payment processing. Users were experiencing difficulties with payments, which is obviously not ideal. Rest assured, we’ve fixed this issue promptly.
GM Visibility
Previously, entity links were not visible to GMs. We’ve rectified this issue, and now GMs have full visibility of entity links.
Localization
Thanks to Gr!llo, we have an updated Portuguese translation. We greatly appreciate the community’s participation in making Harpy accessible to a wider audience.
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Now, let’s talk about the most significant feature introduced in the latest release – dynamic group management.
Dynamic groups
With this new feature, you can create and manage dynamic groups in your campaigns. You can name your groups and add any players or entities you want. The significant difference is that these groups are dynamic, meaning that any changes you make to the group’s membership will automatically update their access rights to various pages and content. This feature simplifies access control and ensures that the right players have access to the appropriate content. We highly value this improvement as it enhances gameplay and streamlines group management.
Chat post edit in place
We’ve also refined the post message editing functionality. Previously, when editing a message, a pop-up window appeared. However, this has been replaced with a more user-friendly in-place editing system. We’re continuously working on improving this functionality, and you may see further refinements in the future.
In addition to these updates, we’ve addressed several other bug fixes and improvements, such as fixing broken role play notifications and resolving multiple issues detailed in the release notes.
Upcoming updates
Character sheet datasets
Behind the scenes, I’m diligently working on two projects that are still a work in progress. Firstly, I’m developing the v0 of character sheets, which will incorporate variables. These variables will allow you to define data such as strengths, initiative, and health for character sheets or even population data for places. Initially, these variables can be used in dice rolls and directly in the Codex. These features will enable you to create shortcuts for spells, attacks, and other actions, making gameplay smoother and more efficient.
Build in public
Secondly, the release note page will soon transform into the “Build in Public” page. This addition will include a list of Vlogs to notify you about new updates. Moreover, I plan to provide complete transparency by sharing revenue figures, server costs, and monthly active user statistics. Additionally, I might even include geographic distribution data to give you insights into the user base and our overall self-sustainability objectives. At this stage, Harpy generates around $500 per month, but to become fully self-sustained, we aim to reach $3,000-$4,000 per month. As achieving this goal seems quite optimistic at the moment, I might have to take on external employment, which could potentially alter the frequency of updates. However, by providing this transparent information, you can trust that we remain committed to delivering a reliable and sustainable platform.
That concludes the updates for this release. I hope you find these improvements valuable, and they enhance your experience with Harpy. Thank you for your continued support and feedback. Wishing you all a fantastic week, and I’ll catch you in the next update!
Take care,
Ma
Maslow
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