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A catalog of my experiences as an employee and citizen of Gaia.
Week Thirty-Seven: Assplode
Hey everyone,

This is an unusually late journal entry. As many of my repeat readers are aware, I've been ridiculously busy lately. I've coded all 3 events so far this year, as well as the Last Mimzy promo, while also working on an ongoing project in between, and brainstorming quest stuff, upcoming events, etc.

So I was a little behind last week, and I was beat over the weekend ( especially after a fun St. Patty's Day night wink ), so let's catch up a little today.

I Should Be So Lucky
The St. Patty's Day "Clovers All-Over" event ends today after about a week of me goings nuts trying to get it to work properly. There was some bugginess, which should be mostly fixed if we decide to re-use this gameplay for future events, but all in all for a VERY MINOR event, it went pretty well.

As with every event, we learn a lot every time we do something new. One of the things we learned as well is that if we're going to have an event that happens in all the forums, we really need to allow users to turn it off smile One thing we didn't consider when we created it was how some of the oldbies on Gaia would appreciate that it happened everywhere on the site - like old events.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides of a site of Gaia's size, is that if we have the event happening on EVERY page, it has the tendency of hit our servers and databases tremendously. So we had to cut it down to the landing pages and the forums only while the event was already underway. You learn something new every day (sometimes the hard way!)


On the Horizon
There's a lot of neat stuff coming up including more events, more Quests, etc. We now have another person other than me that's working on Quests, so while I'm swamped with event craps, we'll be working together to make that start happening more. And before I get 203948 PMs/comments about it - we're not even thinking about putting MCs in Quests yet. One step at a time.

I put together a list of ideas I had for the Quest system, and found that I actually had a ton of stuff sitting in my brain. Other people around here have been recognizing the potential of it more and more -- as a way to strengthen our NPCs, to create more gameplay on Gaia, and to add additional functionality to existing features -- and they've come up with a ton of good ideas as well.

So we might meet later this week to go over our plans for the Quest System and what we want our first few non-sponsorship quests to be.

"Why is this Journal entry so short?"
Didn't you read the first section? I'm busy and tired, geez!

"Why aren't there any funny links this time?"
You just don't read do you. :: dies ::






User Comments: [70] Viewing page 0 of 2 · Goto Page: 1 2 »  [add]
Randalf
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:34am
It's alright if it's short, sounds like you've been hecka-busy! Good job on the event, the quest, etc.

Uh....


YOU'RE THE COOLEST! =D


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:36am
What? No random links throughout? Must've been really busy.

Edit: haha biggrin



Retro Robot
Community Member
ladywolf
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:37am
Way to go Fleep! (and all other peeps helping out) Poor you deserves a vacation..tho...it would rather bite for those of us who look forward to reading your journal... gonk
As with everything,you gotta tweak here and there to find out what works,and what works even better.I think you all did a really nice job this weekend doing just that,so kudos to you!
~Pats Fleep on the back~


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:37am
xd Fleep tired?

i can't wait to see what quests you guys come up with. it's good to see you're getting some help with it so you don't get completely crushed by all of it. the event was fun for a little one, the first time i saw the clovers i was really excited. xd



LokiLB
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dBEf-GAEc-18E-BBAf
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:42am
Quote:
One thing we didn't consider when we created it was how some of the oldbies on Gaia would appreciate that it happened everywhere on the site - like old events.
Did you get a chance to read my thread on this? razz

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24692405&page=1

^_^;; I got more responses on that than any other wall of text I've ever written. EDIT: Oh dear it appears a friend of mine revived the thread a while back. Heheh. Excuse to respond to it now >_>

Quote:
I put together a list of ideas I had for the Quest system, and found that I actually had a ton of stuff sitting in my brain. Other people around here have been recognizing the potential of it more and more -- as a way to strengthen our NPCs, to create more gameplay on Gaia, and to add additional functionality to existing features -- and they've come up with a ton of good ideas as well.
It would be great if we could interact with our NPC's via Quests. You know, help them out! ^_^;; Maybe even events where each NPC has their own version of the same quest - I say own version of the *same* quest because a different quest for each person sounds impossible to do! - and we can choose who's quest we wish to do. Whoever gets the most completions for that particular Quest might end up gaining an advantage over the other NPC's; Gambino vs. Those Rich Twins, anyone?

There's definitely a lot of possibilities with the Quest system. I agree biggrin

Oh btw, I thought you guys weren't sposed to do events over the weekend any more? I guess you can't just make St. Patrick's Day magically appear on a Monday though, right?


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:50am
You need more coffee in your liiiffe.



Austierra
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OMFD i k
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:50am
I enjoyed the event overall.

GEWD JOB.

I liked how there wasn't an event forum for a small event so people had no proper palce to wail and moan this time.

(Awwww... No silly picture links.... :[ wink


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 01:59am
Oh no, no funny links gonk



z-bandit
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Dreda
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:12am
The event was short and awesome with 3 items it was the perfect St Patrick's day..event...

So thanks for making each event not too hard, but at the same time confusing for the first 20 minutes that it comes online for some people.. like me sweatdrop


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:15am
Awesome event, soon to be more awesome quests, and as always- awesome journal.
...
Alliteration!!
*ahem*
Anyway, the fact that you're tired just shows you're human.
And a great human at that!



Crystal Kinamoto
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HardDickensCider
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:16am
"Event craps" sounds like a horrible version of montezuma's revenge.

You need a nap, Fleep. Take it!


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:20am
Eh, gaians don't click links anyways. It's one of GD's unspoken rules. D: Sorry that you've been so overworked. But it's nice to have some (nearly) glitch free events. You really seem to be helping the site alot.

*High-fives his non-existant friends* "Ya hear that? He said no MC's in the quest system! Mission accomplished! xd "



Awiergan
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Wooper to Quagsire
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:22am
I can't wait till the next quest. ^w^


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:29am
New quests = yay biggrin . Re-releasing MCs = urgh gonk . But that's just me.



Sorennial
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Sgt.PepperHat
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:33am
-steal-

;-;
-gets Fleep lots of hot coco, a nice chair, and a blanket-
Is your ten weeks of being ultra busy over yet?
-clings sadly to her Fleepzy-



commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:35am
don't steal! D: REVIVE HIM FOR GOODNESS' SAKE! gonk



Shiro Nishida
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penis.gif
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:42am
I shall res the Fleep with my mighty priestess powers! But first, KE me!

Gwad, I am such a Ragnarok looozor. rofl

Rest up!


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:49am
Coolish. whee



chi honda
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lastfighter16
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:57am
Yeah...So many possibilities for the quest sytem....


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 03:02am
Poor Fleep, even your siggy image is tired! xd

No, seriously, thanks for all the work you've done till now :3 I like how this event was, because it wasn't necesary for us to go to an special thread with lots of spam, and we could just relax in our regular threads heart

I can't wait to see the new features and things all the devs and admins are working for!



Nite Lewis
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Druki
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 03:08am
WOO FOR FLEEP! You get 300 Awesome points from Druki just by saying you're working on the Quest system.


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 03:44am
The St. Patty's event was just fantastic! You all did an excellent job with it, such to the point that I am running all over town like a kid... well, collecting clovers xd heart Thanks for all of your hard work!

Best of luck with working on the Quest System.



The Lady of Moof
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The Freezer Pop Queen
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 03:46am
aww. poor fleep! hopefully you'll start getting more time to just chillax..but i highly doubt it. Just try not to stress.

and best of luck.


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 04:06am
Poor fleep. You deserve a break!



Lillita
Community Member
Rayinte
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 04:20am
St. Pat's is one of my favorite holidays and I've been dying for a Clover Pin since St. Pat's '04... so I'm jazzed I only had to wait three years for one. heart

Gonna stockpile them and sleep on them and murmur "precious" in my sleep. Yuss yuss. <3

Heck, I was already pretty impressed by the functionality of the Quest System and its potential--when you mentioned in an earlier entry that the bulk of the difficulty in coding it was being able to track when a user does nearly any action on the site, I thought "whoa, that's gonna rawk."

I can just imagine quests involving using the Item Exchanges, Gift Giving, Profile Commenting... I mean I've been goofing around a bit with the New User Quest on my alternate accounts, and I was really entertained by well, goofing with it. I tried, for example, not changing anything about my avatar during the two Dress Up stages, and it recognized that I didn't change anything by not moving me on to the next step. mrgreen

That, I believe, is pretty darn sneaky. I can't help but wonder if that code can also recognize whether specific items are equipped, and adjust a quest accordingly? If so, that would rock but if not, don't give yourself a headache trying for it. It seems ridiculously complicated, and I apologize for mentioning it. Ideas spawn like weeds in my mind, and I just gotta uproot the daffy things and toss them around sometimes.

*poit* But still, just thinking about it ... I see Nitemare/Angelic quests looming on the horizon... xp


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 04:26am
The event was a lot more than I expected it to be. I figured it'd just be an event forum to chat about the holiday and have that be it. I didn't expect ANY items, but there turned out to be THREE! I was impressed by this event and I did enjoy it a lot.

Great work! 3nodding
--
I'm glad to hear that more steps are being taken with quests (something I've always found very interesting and have been excited about), but can I make one suggestion? I'd prefer it if I wasn't required to spend my gold for a quest, unless I can be reimbursed for it. I hated the fact that I had to spend gold to complete a step in the new user quest. I'm very big on saving my gold.

Please take this into consideration. Thanks.



Nikkic87
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Cid High-Wind
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 04:28am
*opens Fleep's brain* I wonder what other fun things I can find in here. biggrin


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 04:48am
Yay! Fleep isn't dead. Well, permanently, anyway.



Hylarn
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KoNterra
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 05:25am
Great ee-fin job, Fleepy! The event was wonderful. I loved being able to play around in my guild while collecting clovers. :'D I wasn't exactly thrilled with the items, but the selling clovers makes up for it. <33
You guys did absolutly WONDERFUL!

I'm looking foward to see whats happening in the month of april.

Hey looky! Fleep dies, he IS a real person! :'D


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 05:41am
nice work i predicted it would be a clover pin lol ....won 1k
but all and all this is the best event this year and i hope there will be more exciting ones to come good luck with it all



BazThree
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DJ Trouble
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 05:44am
This type of event was nice. I wasn't in the mood to collect a lot of items like I usually am, but the set-up allowed me to do that anyway. I have a ton of the pins because I didn't have to spam the forums or probe anything. Thanks for that, seriously. More events like this, at least for the smaller things, would be very nice. I love the exchange feature too. Not getting stuck with a bunch of items I don't want is a nice change. Like I said, I got a bunch of the pins. That definitely wouldn't have happened if the event was done a different way.

You mention quests, and strengthening the NPC's. The thought of that made my eyes light up. I'd love to see more of the NPC's showing their personalities. If you can do it through quests then more power to you.


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 06:08am
I am looking forwad to quests. :B

And you should relax. No needa rushing.



Packs
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Sheshira
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 07:03am
No problem Fleep...
You're incredibly nice for getting an entry out anyways...

Assploding... >.> I do that sometimes too and it is not nice...
lemme tell you...

Um drink your orange juice m'kay.... ^_^


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 08:35am
the event was great. smile



[jessie]
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Piangster
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 11:41am
Be sure to get yourself some rest when you're tired. Health comes first. wink


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 12:19pm
Hehehehe. One quest should be to get Your own profile up to 1000comments, then you'd get one MC from the first year of gaia
ninja
Haha, it's impossible to accomplish! ^_^
Although i think that having some majorly time consuming Quest for sometihng like "Last Months MC" would be cool, seeing as how then everyone could possibly get at least one MC, and they could choose to get it whenever they disired by completing said Time consuming Quest.



Dwarf Woot
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TarotLies
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 02:52pm
im so excited about these quests surprised


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 03:42pm
The St. Patricks event was really fun! And I noticed the "!" was working, too! Yay! I'd love to see the shamrocks stay in towns, but I'm a dork and like stuff like that.

Poor overworked Fleep! Forget the coffee and go take a nap!



Shine On Crazy Diamond
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Tsukabu Nosoratori
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 08:16pm
*tries to linch you for not having any funny links this time* *fails* *gets thrown in jail*

oh well... sounds like you've been super busy anyways, hope things get less hectic for you!


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 08:58pm
Aww. You are so tired. Its ok.

And as for the quest system. I am looking forward to anything you guys put into it. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I hope that there will be different kinds of quests. (like the difference between watching a trailer and doing stuff for the quest) I can't wait. ^^

And the event was awesome. I know a lot of people complained about it, but I am glad there was an event at all. I absolutely loved it. Thanks!



Foolish Dream
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Darksp
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commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 09:19pm
Yeah! Assistance for Fleep!
Now He can get some sleep!
Great job on the events
I know how a gaian torments
(aren't lymericks or comments cheap?)


commentCommented on: Tue Mar 20, 2007 @ 11:50pm
Poor Fleep.
you know they say the closer you get to your due date the grouchier you get rofl i'm kidding !
just kick back and smile and PUSH!



Scandi the Vampire
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Mawmaocow
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commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 12:20am
Hi Fleep!

Good job on the events. The St. Patty's Day event was really fun. Can't wait to hear about the new events and quests smile .

Take it easy 3nodding ,

Mawmaocow heart

PS:Apparently apple juice wakes a person up more than caffeine.


commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 12:34am
Fleep
Yep, the quest system can tell if you've equipped a specific item rofl
... That is flippin' sweet. When gift giving is working again, I shall send you a DELICIOUS PIE ... or best equivalent. Maybe cheesecake... *ponder*


Anylo, to give you a hand:
This is an unusually late journal entry

I've been ridiculously busy lately.

( especially after a fun St. Patty&#146;s Day night wink )

There was some bugginess ...

we're not even thinking about putting MCs in Quests yet.

"Why is this Journal entry so short?"

"Why aren't there any funny links this time?"

rofl Okay, not all that funny, but still. I'm rather proud of that last one. mrgreen



Rayinte
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Xya
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commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 12:45am
heart


commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 02:57am
Get some rest, Fleep!



Kentucky Fried Pixels
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Lady Nanoha
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commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 03:29am
Wondered what was taking you so long, figured you was sick ^.^

Glad your keeping this up smile every time your late i think you have stopped

if your not, should ask for a bonus for doing this journal, cause i think its the best thing released since it started ^^

(thought once my back wings quest is released, ill change my mind)


commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 06:56am
O: Super-busy.
Keep it up!
:3



Giraffics
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Shrimp_Man
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commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 07:53am
Aww...get some sleep Fleep! (hehehe...that rhymed. whee ) Don't make me team up with some of your fangirls to slip some sleeping pills in your drink!

But in all seriousness, thanks for doing all you are to help make Gaia a better place. ^_^


commentCommented on: Wed Mar 21, 2007 @ 08:02am
I didn't even notice the lack of links until you mentioned them. Though I probably would have after a few minutes.

H-hey wait- HEY DON'T DIE ON US!!!! scream

Poor Fleep D: So exhausted! I give you thumbs up on all your hard work!! -cheesy thumbs up-



Tai Naito
Community Member
User Comments: [70] Viewing page 0 of 2 · Goto Page: 1 2 »  [add]
 
 
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