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Dev Tracker

A chronological record of developer forum posts and site updates.
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Sandsurge: Stripes icon visual error
Feb 24, 2024, 10:22:32
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
Thank you for the report. The two undertide icons with the symbols not breaking out of the box have been replaced. It may take a cache clear for the changes to show up.
Wind Ancient in time for MistJam?
Feb 23, 2024, 15:16:17
There will not be a new Ancient in time for Mistral Jamboree.
Status Update
Feb 23, 2024, 07:26:34
Site Status | By Aequorin
We've provided some additional clarifications based on community feedback regarding yesterday's Rules & Policies updates.
Rules & Policies Updates Clarification?
Feb 23, 2024, 07:22:40
Forum Post | Help Center | By Aequorin
Hello everyone! We've provided some additional clarification for players on yesterday's updates. We hope this information helps!
Aequorin wrote on 2024-02-23 07:16:06:
There's been some confusion regarding the example at the end of this policy update. The purpose of the bulleted example was to differentiate between themes in art and media and outright religious imagery. We are removing this example as it has led players to believe we also made an unannounced update to our Dragon and Username policy. That is not the case.

A reference for players going forward: This update is only about religious images and icons. If the religious image or icon isn't allowed in a skin or accent, it shouldn't be posted on our site.

We are locking this thread because it's a discussion about rules and policies, but you are always welcome to submit your feedback or questions about them directly to us through Contact Us. Thank you!
Updates, Moderation, & Misinformation
Feb 23, 2024, 07:16:06
Good morning everyone! We have a couple clarifications to add to this thread based on your feedback and questions sent to us through Contact Us.

We want to be clear that the goal of these Rules & Policy updates is primarily to empower Support to make these edits when appropriate to safeguard the members of our community.

With that said, on to the clarifications!


Aequorin wrote on 2024-02-22 07:53:19:
Religious Images & Iconography

Players are permitted to share their personal religious identity, affiliation, or choice in their Clan biography, forum signature, or when introducing themselves. Do not report players to Support as violating our Terms of Use or Rules & Policies for simply sharing this information.

Religious imagery is already not allowed for skins and accents as we do not want real-world religious imagery, iconography, etc on our site or directly tied to our brand/IP.

As of the time of this post, we are expanding โ€œno religious imageryโ€ to be applied site-wide. When we say religious imagery, we specifically mean images and icons internationally recognized as or registered symbols of organized religions.

This also includes images depicting desecration, deconstruction, or political speech towards organized religions.

Themes that have been adopted into sci-fi or fantasy media (such as alchemy, wizardry, celestial, or abyssal themes, etc) do not fall under this definition at this time.

Example:
  • Feathered wings and halos = OKAY
  • Named angels or saints = NOT OKAY


There's been some confusion regarding the example at the end of this policy update. The purpose of the bulleted example was to differentiate between themes in art and media and outright religious imagery. We are removing this example as it has led players to believe we also made an unannounced update to our Dragon and Username policy. That is not the case.

A reference for players going forward: This update is only about religious images and icons. If the religious image or icon isn't allowed in a skin or accent, it shouldn't be posted on our site.


Aequorin wrote on 2024-02-22 07:53:19:
Do not broadcast, advertise, or otherwise highlight or call attention to your age.

OKAY: Mentioning in a discussion youโ€™re in school, when you were last in school, events you remember experiencing, etc.


NOT OKAY:
  • โ€œHi! My name is [name] and Iโ€™m 13 years old/a minor!โ€
  • โ€œPLEASE REMEMBER I AM A MINORโ€
  • โ€œDNI. I AM A MINOR.โ€

We understand the impulse to post disclaimers and context about your interactions with others and to communicate that certain topics would be inappropriate to share or discuss with you in advance. The reason why we do not want our minor players to widely advertise their age group is for safe-guarding purposes. When you post disclaimers like the examples above, you are also broadcasting your age to people with malicious intent. This is compounded by an observed tendency of individuals to overshare about their living situations, their personal relationships, and their medical history on our site in general.

This is a case where the risks vastly outweigh the benefits to your experience online and we have found it necessary to formalize this issue in our Rules & Policies.


Generally speaking, it's not the best idea to share exact ages and dates of birth online. This update is focused primarily on safe-guarding minors and ensuring Support is empowered to make necessary edits. Even then, we're not going to penalize players for mentioning they're (for example) in school. Sharing that you're in school in an organic conversation is significantly different from posting in bold letters that you're (for example) 13 years old on your static Clan Profile page or forum signature.

For our adult players who've reached out to us with questions, there are no issues with stating you're an adult. The one caveat here is if the lack of a note that you're an adult should somehow become confirmation that an individual is a minor.

And we just want to remind everyone, no one is required to publicly share their age/date of birth on our site or online in general. As we noted here:
Aequorin wrote on 2024-02-22 07:53:19:
Topics inappropriate for adults to discuss with minors are already prohibited on our website.



We hope this information helps. As always, players are welcome to share their feedback or submit questions to us about rules and policies through Contact Us.


Undertide Gene Expansion
Feb 22, 2024, 12:41:37
Fawkesian wrote on 2024-02-22 12:24:08:
bulrush wrote on 2024-02-22 12:12:53:
the new rules update makes it sound like exact age or drawing attention to being a minor is only what's disallowed now, i imagine its not a crazy deal for adults but if so i'll remove my own age marker from my profile.
that's another thing i would like to see clarified! the headline for that section ("do not broadcast, advertise, or otherwise highlight or call attention to your age") implies that this applies to all users regardless of age, but then all of the examples pertain to minors. also, some of the wording (" [...] we do not want our minor players to widely advertise their age group") makes it seem like it's specific to younger users.

@Fawkesian, @bulrush, generally speaking, it's not the best idea to put exact dates and exact ages out on the internet. It's part of why we removed the birthday markers awhile back on Clan Profile pages. This section is something we can definitely revisit, but for now we needed to empower Support to make these edits when appropriate to safeguard the members of our community.
Octopus and Ring Genes Not Obtainable
Feb 22, 2024, 12:33:09
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
Thank you for the report. They should now be available!
Undertide Gene Expansion
Feb 22, 2024, 11:39:07
Forum Post | Announcements & News | By Undel
Fun fact: Undertides now have more genes available to them than a modern dragon does. (due to the ancient-exclusives and line-breakers!)
Status Update
Feb 22, 2024, 11:34:35
Site Status | By Undel
There is a new Gene Error report thread available for reporting technical anc consistency errors with the genes released in today's Undertide update. This thread will close April 7th.
Undertide Gene Expansion
Feb 22, 2024, 11:30:41
Forum Post | Announcements & News | By Undel
A Pistachio Green and Grey Undertide with a pink face curls on the right of the image. It has the gentle gradient streaks of the Varnish gene, and has the Blossom gene as well, which covers it in small pink and light aqua flowers. Seashells and sand are in the background. The overlaid text reads Undertide Gene Expansion, New Genes, Parchments, and Marketplace Adjustments!

Undertide dragons get a new coat of paint in today's update





Undertide Parallel Genes
58 Additional genes are now available on for Undertide dragons! A gene catalogue of all available Undertide genes has been added to the encyclopedia.
Primary Undertide Gene: Chrysocolla Secondary Undertide Gene: Malachite Primary Undertide Gene: Clown Secondary Undertide Gene: Eye Spots
Primary Undertide Gene: Fern Secondary Undertide Gene: Paisley Primary Undertide Gene: Flaunt Secondary Undertide Gene: Flair
Primary Undertide Gene: Ground Secondary Undertide Gene: Fissure Primary Undertide Gene: Harlequin Secondary Undertide Gene: Jester
Primary Undertide Gene: Jaguar Secondary Undertide Gene: Rosette Primary Undertide Gene: Jupiter Secondary Undertide Gene: Saturn
Primary Undertide Gene: Metallic Secondary Undertide Gene: Alloy Primary Undertide Gene: Orb Secondary Undertide Gene: Weaver
Primary Undertide Gene: Petals Secondary Undertide Gene: Butterfly Primary Undertide Gene: Piebald Secondary Undertide Gene: Paint
Primary Undertide Gene: Starmap Secondary Undertide Gene: Constellation Primary Undertide Gene: Stitched Secondary Undertide Gene: Patchwork
Primary Undertide Gene: Tapir Secondary Undertide Gene: Striation Primary Undertide Gene: Tiger Secondary Undertide Gene: Stripes
Primary Undertide Gene: Varnish Secondary Undertide Gene: Lacquer Primary Undertide Gene: Wrought Secondary Undertide Gene: Spire

Tertiary Undertide Gene: Angler Tertiary Undertide Gene: Blossom Tertiary Undertide Gene: Branches Tertiary Undertide Gene: Contour Tertiary Undertide Gene: Crest Tertiary Undertide Gene: Fans Tertiary Undertide Gene: Firebreather Tertiary Undertide Gene: Firefly Tertiary Undertide Gene: Keel Tertiary Undertide Gene: Koi Tertiary Undertide Gene: Medusa Tertiary Undertide Gene: Opal Tertiary Undertide Gene: Porcupine Tertiary Undertide Gene: Scales Tertiary Undertide Gene: Shark Tertiary Undertide Gene: Smirch Tertiary Undertide Gene: Smoke Tertiary Undertide Gene: Spines Tertiary Undertide Gene: Stinger Tertiary Undertide Gene: Thorns Tertiary Undertide Gene: Topcoat


Undertide Parallel Genes
...and this guy.
Tertiary Undertide Gene: Jellyfish


If you encounter any errors in the Undertide genes released in today's update, please report them in this thread and we will address them in a timely manner. This thread is the genes from this expansion only. Both consistency and technical errors may be reported. This thread will close April 7, 2024.







Gene Art Error Updates:
All reported errors in the previously available gene error threads have been brought up-to-date with corrections for reported issues and closed out in preparation for universal modern and ancient technical gene error threads, and future new-release focus threads.


Corrected Gene Error Threads 2023:
  • The gene error thread for Confirmed Gene Errors (universal) 2023 has been corrected and brought completely up-to-date. This thread has been closed out.
  • The gene error thread for Aberration Errors has been corrected and brought completely up-to-date. This thread has been closed out.
  • The gene error thread for Auraboa Errors has been corrected and brought completely up-to-date. This thread has been closed out.
  • The gene error thread for Aether Errors has been corrected and brought completely up-to-date. This thread has been closed out.
  • The gene error thread for Sandsurge Errors has been corrected and brought completely up-to-date. This thread has been closed out.






Ancient Gene Parchments
As Ancients begin to share more and more Ancient-exclusive genes, we wanted to provide a solution to duplicate genes generated from site-activities such as Coliseum, Swipp, Baldwin, Arlo, and Avery.

These trade-in items can be used at Glass and Gloss' Genuine Genes to trade for any type of Ancient that has that gene available. Ie: Swipp won't have 4 different "Tertiary Gene: Branches" trades, but will have one universal "Ancient Gene Parchment: Branches" trade. This item could then be used to trade in for any of the 4 breeds that have Branches available at Glass and Gloss.

The following items have been added:
Ancient Gene Parchment: Angler Ancient Gene Parchment: Arc Ancient Gene Parchment: Batty Ancient Gene Parchment: Beetle Ancient Gene Parchment: Blossom Ancient Gene Parchment: Branches Ancient Gene Parchment: Candy Ancient Gene Parchment: Candycane Ancient Gene Parchment: Carnivore Ancient Gene Parchment: Diamond Ancient Gene Parchment: Featherbeard Ancient Gene Parchment: Flutter Ancient Gene Parchment: Icing Ancient Gene Parchment: Loop Ancient Gene Parchment: Mandibles Ancient Gene Parchment: Marlin Ancient Gene Parchment: Mucous Ancient Gene Parchment: Nudibranch Ancient Gene Parchment: Octopus Ancient Gene Parchment: Phantom Ancient Gene Parchment: Polypore Ancient Gene Parchment: Porcupine Ancient Gene Parchment: Rings Ancient Gene Parchment: Sailfish Ancient Gene Parchment: Scorpion Ancient Gene Parchment: Scuttle Ancient Gene Parchment: Shark Ancient Gene Parchment: Skeletal Ancient Gene Parchment: Spade Ancient Gene Parchment: Spirit Ancient Gene Parchment: Squiggle Ancient Gene Parchment: Sugarplum Ancient Gene Parchment: Weathered






Marketplace Changes
Alongside today's content update, we have implemented changes to how the Marketplace functions:

The Genes section has been split in two tabs; there are now dedicated tabs for items related to Ancient breed dragons, and items related to Modern breed dragons.

A screenshot of the Marketplace interface. The main highlight is that there are two new tabs present. Apparel, Familiars, and Specialty tabs precede the new Modern Genes and Ancient genes tabs. These new tabs each have an icon that look like a stylized letter M and A.

It should now be easier to locate the item you're looking for. The sorting and filtering options have also been adjusted to work within these new tabs and their constraints.

Secondly, we modified the stocking behavior to account for this split. Due to the now vast array of genetic items, it seemed appropriate that they should be treated both visually and technically separate in this feature.

Meaning: Ancient gene items and Modern gene items will no longer compete against one another for placement in the stocking logic. You are likely now to see more options more often for each category because the Marketplace is treating them as unique sets of merchandise.





Ancient Gene Bloat:
We want to acknowledge once more the sheer amount of items that ancient genes present and how they are negatively impacting player experience by being difficult to acquire and search for. We apologize for this, and are working to improve these issues.

A few solutions are already in place. We wanted to communicate that these solutions are not where we are stopping with better availability and searchability when it comes to our genes.
  • Glass and Gloss's shop has to helped address the multiple copies of genes appearing across site-earned activities by allowing the trade in of the modern version for the Ancient.
  • New naming conventions have helped to isolate modern and ancient genes in the game database and auction house searches.
  • Today's update has provided separated modern and ancient marketplace tabs, with separate stocking rules.
  • Today's update has consolidated ancient-exclusive genes earned from site activities into Ancient gene parchments that may be traded at Glass and Gloss.


Plans for the future:
Our engineering team is currently hard at work on the Skin System Revamp, Coliseum PVP, backend improvements, and wrapping up the refactors for the last stray areas of the site operating on our legacy code. After the skin system revamp has been completed, gene availability improvements are at the top of our engineering priority list for 2024.

We will improving filtering across the site for easier targeted searches, and looking at ways to reduce the size of some of the dropdowns that have grown unwieldly.

Thank you for your patience as we work to address these issues. We are excited for what 2024 will bring!





Trickmurk Circus Skin Contest
The eleventh annual Trickmurk Circus will begin on February 25, 2024, and we're running a skin and accent contest in celebration. Tonight is the last day to get your entries in! Click here for more information.
Trickmurk Circus Banner





Additional Updates
Is Fiona... Transgender?
Feb 22, 2024, 11:18:55
If you're wondering why this thread is suddenly at the top of the forum again, it's because transphobia was posted here and now it is gone.
Undertide Expansion Gene Errors
Feb 22, 2024, 10:49:51
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
Please check the known issues and working-as-intended sections before making a report!

This thread is to track any gene errors that occur with the Undertide Gene Expansion. This thread is for the newly released Undertide genes only, and does not encompass previously released genes.

In this thread, players may report any errors they encounter with the new genes. These can be technical errors, or consistency issues. This thread is intended to focus on these potential errors so that they can be addressed swiftly

We define technical errors as things such as: pattern bleed, pixellation, halo effects, inconsistencies within the same breed, color swatch errors, genes being uploaded in place of other genes, misaligned templates, missing artwork, gaps, missing pixels along a seam, missing line art, stray pixels, patterns that bleed outside the silouette, etc.


We define consistency/style differences as differences between an existing gene and its counterparts on other breeds that may differ. Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it's an oversight. If a style difference is brought up, we will confirm it as working as intended, or report it as an error and complete the change within a 45-day time limit.


Please report any errors you encounter and we will do our best to correct them in a timely manner. This thread will close out 45 days after release, on April 7th, 2024. After this time, players may report technical issues with these and other gene errors in the Modern Gene Error Backlog Thread, or the Ancient Gene Error Backlog Thread, but further consistency issues will not be accepted for review and will be considered working as intended.




Note that it may take a short while for the site's internal image cache to reflect the corrected image assets.

Corrected Issues
  • P: Ground - (All Undertide) The second layer of shadow should have shown both the cracks and the dimensionality of the dragon. Technical error. Fixed.
  • P: Fern - (All Undertide) The snout fade was missing on this gene. Technical error. Fixed.
  • P: Flaunt - (All Undertide) The gradients and belly fades were adjusted for consistency. Consistency issue. Fixed.
  • P: Jaguar - (All Undertide) There was a small gradient bleed that extended under the chin. Technical issue. Fixed.
  • P: Jaguar - (All Undertide) The spot density and sizing on Undertide was less varied and less dense than with modern dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Jupiter - (Undertide M, F) The stripes were less dense and gradients had less stripe coverage than with modern dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Metallic - (All Undertide) The deep shadow alternate hue reflection needed to be slightly reduced. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Orb - (All Undertide) The dark marking width was thickened. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Petals - (All Undertide) The gradient coverage needed to be expanded and marking width made thicker. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Starmap - (All Undertide) The constellation lines needed their opacity increased & Larger โ€œtwinkleโ€ stars made more present. Consistency error. FIxed.
  • P: Starmap - (Undertide H, M) The mouth was missing the interior mouth color and the gradient on the tongue. Note: Some breeds like mirror have a single interior mouth color (this is present on basic) while some have one that changes based on the color. Undertide has a varied mouth color, and will match things like Veilspun in this regard. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Stitched - (All Undertide) The stitched lines need to be a bit thicker to match other instances of the gene. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • P: Tapir - (All Undertide) The stripes were thinner than those on modern dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Alloy - (All Undertide) The deep shadow alternate hue reflection needed to be slightly reduced. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Butterfly - (All Undertide) The gradient coverage needed to be expanded and marking width made thicker. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Constellation - (All Undertide) The constellation lines needed their opacity checked & Larger โ€œtwinkleโ€ stars made more present. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S Eye Spots - (All Undertide) The head frills were missing the markings that most breeds with facial crests or frills have. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Fissure - (All Undertide) The second layer of shadow should have shown both the cracks and the dimensionality of the dragon. Technical error. Fixed.
  • S: Flair - (All Undertide) The gradients and belly fades were adjusted for consistency. Consistency issue. Fixed.
  • S Jester - (Undertide F) A mini stripe was added to the lower half of the wing. The space available on the wing and the fact that it's folded prevent a full expression of the slimmer stripe pattern. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S Patchwork - (All Undertide) The stitched lines need to be a bit thicker to match other instances of the gene. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Paint - (All Undertide) The colored portions were missing from the ear fins of the dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Rosette - (All Undertide) The spot density and sizing on Undertide was less varied and less dense than with modern dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Saturn - (Undertide M, F) The stripes were less dense and gradients had less stripe coverage than with modern dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Spire - (All Undertide) The pointy diamond pattern should have been in the arc of the head fins. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Striation - (All Undertide) The stripes were thinner than those on modern dragons. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • S: Weaver - (All Undertide) The dark marking width was thickened. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • T: Blossom - (All Undertide) The center gradients on each flower were too large, resulting in flowers that are 50/50 coverage rather than 75/25 coverage of each color per flower. Technical error. Fixed.
  • T: Blossom - (H Undertide) The hatchling flower size needed to be increased. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • T: Blossom - (Undertide M) There was color bleed on two flowers in the Undertide M pose upper wing. Technical error. Fixed.
  • T: Branches - (M Undertide) The perspective on the far horn did not match then angle of the dragon's head. Technical issue. Fixed.
  • T: Contour - The markings needed to be thickened. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • T: Firefly - (All Undertide) The glow around the fireflies was intensified. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • T: Jellyfish - (H Undertide) The sparkles were the incorrect color. Technical error. Fixed.
  • T: Scales - (F Undertide) The scales on the left side of the belly did not match the length of those on the right. Technical error. Fixed.
  • T: Smirch - (All Undertide) The faded gradient opacity need to be more opaque. Consistency error. Fixed
  • T: Spines - (F Undertide) The spines along the tail peeking out between the fins were following the side and not the spine. Fixed.
  • T: Stinger - (M Undertide) The perspective of the facial crests could be adjusted to read better. Consistency error. Fixed.
  • T: Topcoat - (F Undertide) The far eyebrow ridge should not have been colored in. Technical error. Fixed
  • T: Topcoat - (M Undertide) The head frills were missing the accent color along the edge. Technical error. Fixed.
  • T: Topcoat - (Undertide F, H) The accent color on the wing arm was added to match the M pose and Auraboa. Technical error. Fixed.


Known Issues


Investigating (Not sure if issue or not)


Working as intended
  • Multi-Gaze & Line-Breaking Tertiaries: Sadly, the multi gaze and line breaking tertiary issue is a technical limitation. Eyes must always layer over the primary, secondary, and tertiary genes, and they are not contextually aware of what is below them and able to alter their shape to accommodate. This is a limitation with all of our dragons that have line breaking tertiaries.
  • Metallic & Alloy - The shine intensity is considered to be within acceptable range for the gene.
  • Harlequin - The Mask/no mask across the poses is intended. Every breed (except mirror, which has a special colored face plate unique to the breed across many genes.) has the two adult poses having one marking set or the other, with the hatchling matching one or the other adult. This is considered a feature of the gene.
  • Medusa - This gene having a mixture of snake species (including some with hoods) is considered a feature of the gene and is working as intended. We do not consider the pose choices for the snakes to be a gene error.
  • Ground/Fissure - The cracked ground effect sizing is considered to be within acceptable range of the gene and is consistent with the thickness of the Undertide base line art.
  • Shark - The tail going behind the front wing but in front of the back wing is considered correct.
  • Porcupine - The accent stripe coverage at the tips of the spines is considered correct. Though it does not match the Banescale, it does match the Auraboa. Banescale and Auraboa are ineligible for consistency changes and will remain as-they-are. Because Undertide matches an established example, (and there's already other ancients that have this ported the same ways as Auraboa/Undertide in our future content), and neither example is unattractive, we're saying that the one that matches Auraboa is correct for consistency.
  • Flecks - flecks having the highlights of lighter colors reach pure white is not considered an error and is consistent with the gene on other breeds.
  • Firefly - The size of the fireflies on Undertide are within the acceptable variance range of the gene.
  • Branches - The shadows on branches are considered working as intended.
  • Spire - The diamond pattern not being present in the "arm" and "leg" fins is intended, as we considered them too spaced out to show a visual arc.
  • Firebreather - The line width is considered to be within acceptable range for the gene and is considered working as intended.
  • Crest - The placement of the "armpit" feathers is considered working as intended.
  • Starmap Constellation - The gradient distribution is considered working as intended.
  • Metallic Alloy - The Undertide had variable colored mouth webbing, and this is intended to match metallic alloy.
  • Stitched Patchwork - Fabric patches may have pattern or no pattern and is considered working as intended.
  • Scales - The Scales hug the bellies of the Undertides. While the hatchling and the M are able to connect with the "back leg" fins, the F pose has fins that are too high up to both connect and follow the belly.




I will be deleting reports that are not relevant to the Undertide Gene Expansion new release, reports that have been corrected, reports are not considered an issue, duplicate reports, and discussion or chatter as I encounter/investigate them to keep the thread current with gene reports only.


This thread is accepting reports on the following genes only:
Status Update
Feb 22, 2024, 09:10:36
Site Status | By Kaepora
The Marketplace has separated Modern and Ancient tabs and stocking rules. More information available in today's update!
Status Update
Feb 22, 2024, 08:58:41
Site Status | By Undel
Ancient Gene Parchments are currently being implemented as trade-in items for ancient-exclusive genes earned through site activities. More information available in today's update.
Status Update
Feb 22, 2024, 08:19:46
Site Status | By Aequorin
We have an update for our community today that covers new updates to our Rules & Policies, online safe-guarding, misinformation, and moderation.
Updates, Moderation, & Misinformation
Feb 22, 2024, 08:12:42
Moderation & Misinformation

Over the past few years weโ€™ve observed an increasing number of tickets, threads, and questions that appear to be based on off-site discussions and misinformation. This misinformation can lead to anxiety, panic, or otherwise mislead players.

When we say โ€˜misinformationโ€™ we donโ€™t mean players whoโ€™ve recently had their accounts closed and are publicly downplaying the reasons for the closure. We understand that losing your account for Terms of Use violations can be both upsetting and embarrassing; itโ€™s normal to want to save faceโ€”even if it does have the unintended effect of alarming other players who donโ€™t, wonโ€™t, and canโ€™t have the full picture.

What we mean when we say โ€˜misinformationโ€™ are false claims, false attributions, or manipulating screenshots in image editing software like Photoshop as โ€œproofโ€. Whether or not the person posting them to our site or social media channels (that weโ€™re active in!) is doing so maliciously or because they sincerely believe what theyโ€™ve heard, the end goal of misinformation is panic in our community and fomenting distrust between community and staff.

Of late, misinformation has ranged from claims that we donโ€™t allow appeals, to claims we close accounts for having too many IPs, for moving, for gifting to family, or that confessing your multiple accounts allows you to keep your main account (it doesnโ€™t).



Privacy & Minimization

Letโ€™s first address the minimization that can occur when an active or high profile account is closed. We do not discuss account actions, penalties, details of any account with third parties, including publicly on social mediaโ€”even if the player is posting a version of events that donโ€™t quite reflect the activity data revealed in our logs.

This means the community at large is only going to hear one side of the story and for that reason, we would encourage you to take them with the metaphorical grain of salt. Over the years, weโ€™ve been open about the fact we canโ€™t and wonโ€™t respond to these versions of events. This is effectively public knowledge that some have chosen to take advantage of over the years.

Thereโ€™s one caveat to this policy: If the player takes the extra step of editing an image or screenshot (their closure message or Support response, etc) to claim we said something that we didnโ€™t say. Because that requires effort, intent, and an active choice to mislead. Altering an image to support your false claim runs dangerously close to crossing the line into disinformation, defamation, and/or libel.

With minimization addressed, letโ€™s look at some of the misinformation thatโ€™s been brought to our attention.

Misinformation: No Appeals Allowed

This is something we see frequently claimed on social media and in tickets: That we donโ€™t allow players to appeal.

We were confused for a bit by this claim, because while the feedback seemed sincere itโ€™s also completely wrong. We suspect that this is based on a misunderstanding about what an appeal actually is, and weโ€™re going to clear that up today.

An appeal is when a player submits a ticket to us stating that they believe the penalty is wrong, provide any context they believe is relevant, and that they would like the logs reviewed once more. In other words, when you submit your ticket about your account penalty (anywhere from an Account Warning to an account closure), you have initiated the appeal process.

An appeal can be successful or an appeal can be unsuccessful.


The case is then reviewed. The player activity logs are reviewed by a second and sometimes third team member, the case is discussed, and finally a determination is made.

An appeal is not a guarantee that the penalty will be lifted or your account reinstated. In other words, appealing your account penalty does not guarantee that the penalty will be reversed.

There are very few circumstances where an appeal will not be considered. These are cases where the individual themselves is banned from returning to the site or theyโ€™ve committed an especially egregious violation of our Terms of Use or Rules & Policies: Real life threats, illegal activities, or the promotion, glorification, or referencing of real world fascism.


Misinformation: You canโ€™t share devices or an IP address

Nope. Not true. We know folks will share devices and IP addresses. Younger players and college students access the site from their schoolโ€™s network.

Posting a disclaimer about shared IPs or devices isnโ€™t needed. Investigations focus on the player activity data.

Weโ€™ve had cases where weโ€™ve closed all but one account on an IP because it turns out two roommates were playing and only one was cheating. Weโ€™ve also had cases where the player put quite a bit of effort into maintaining VPNs, disclaimers on their Clan Profile, having conversations between their alt accounts in private messages, etc.

In other words, your friends, family, and roommates can play, share an IP, share a device. You can gift and you can trade. What matters is that everyone is playing the game for themselves.



Misinformation: Too many IP addresses will get you banned.

Not true. In a mobile era, in the VPN era, this particular lie is more than a little silly. Many players regularly access the site from their home network, their mobile data, their school network, and their work or a friendโ€™s network throughout the day.


Misinformation: Moving will get you banned.

Also not true, also quite silly, and also intended to stoke outrage and panic.


Misinformation: Buying gems places you above the rules.

No one is above the rules. Gem purchases play no part in the application of penalties and appeal reviews.


Misinformation: Confess your multi-account and you can keep your main account.

We definitely appreciate it when people come forward on their own about violating our Terms of Use, but thereโ€™s no negotiation. Thereโ€™s no keeping your main account and everything thatโ€™s been funneled to it, regardless of when the violation happened. Even if the act of funneling happened years ago, the act of cheating still sets your account up for success with an advantage over rule-abiding players.

A โ€œclean startโ€ means a truly clean start: without everything gained from cheating.


What determines an account closure or if an appeal is successful or not?

Data. Support looks at the history of how your account has interacted on our site across private messages, Crossroads, the Auction House, our forums, your choices in dragon, familiar, and tab names, etc since the date of your accountโ€™s registration.

If we determine the data is consistent with the information in your appeal upon review, your appeal is likely to be successful. However, if your appeal is inconsistent with the data in our logs, your appeal is likely to fail.

For example, Support has processed investigations where on appeal itโ€™s quite clear there are multiple household members individually playing our game. This means that yes, the playersโ€™ appeals proved that multiple individuals in one household were playing our game, gifting, and trading legitimately with each other. So why then was their appeal denied and the closures upheld? Our logs also clearly showed that each household member had their own set of side accounts for the purpose of unfairly enriching their main (aka primary) account.

Weโ€™ve also had countless appeals submitted with blatant falsehoods in them, with altered screenshots, and with long and winding stories that change after each reply from Support. Some even threaten self-harm. Donโ€™t do that. Support is looking right at the player activity data, at the information the player entered onto our website themselves.


Why is this an issue that requires an official post?

Misinformation, regardless of whether or not itโ€™s due to a misunderstanding or maliciousness, results in players being misled. It leads to players feeling anxious about their account for no real reason and fosters a perceived adversarial relationship, where players donโ€™t feel like they can trust us. And we understandโ€”how could you trust us if weโ€™re allegedly going around banning people for logging in on three different IPs in a day and never giving anyone the chance to appeal their penalty?

It also leads to posts in the forums that further spread misinformation and panic. It leads to shocked and then angry players learning in the Helpdesk that they arenโ€™t going to keep their primary account. It leads to players assuming that because we didnโ€™t restore access to their account that they didnโ€™t get their chance to appeal. This is often followed by repeated and sometimes obsessive follow-ups on their original ticket, new ticket submissions, or post to social media; all in an attempt to harass or wear down our employees, manipulate the community, or stir the community up to pressure us into restoring their account despite what the records show. Sometimes the repeated appeal issue even reaches a point where we have no choice but to suspend that individualโ€™s access to our Helpdesk so that Support can actually process other tickets.

The only thing misinformation has accomplished is pulling Support, myself, and other team members from other tickets and tasks in order to investigate behavior, claims, and repeated appeals. While itโ€™s not the cause of all delays, misinformation of late has led to tickets and appeals ranging from obsessive to outright abusive. Itโ€™s contributed to Support burnout. What misinformation has not and will not lead to is a softening of our rules on multiple accounts and behavior.

What you can expect and what you can do

Depending on how itโ€™s framed, misinformation posted to our site may receive an official response or it may be moderated. If we come across misinformation on social media platforms weโ€™re present and active on, we may address it on that platform.

Okay, thatโ€™s slightly inaccurateโ€”Iโ€™ll likely be the one addressing it on my staff persona account. So donโ€™t be surprised if you get a reblog or response from me with a correction if youโ€™re posting misinformation.

And while we donโ€™t currently utilize the available software suites available to businesses that scan social media for brand mentions, you should know that misinformation posted to our established tags on social media is seen by our team and considered fair game for clarifications.

Weโ€™ll also be updating our Support articles in the near future, Account Penalties Explained and Can I Have More Than One Account? For the former, weโ€™ll be adding clarifications as to what an appeal is. For the latter, we will be updating this article with additional scenarios pulled from actual instances of multiple account/cheating behavior.

And none of this is to say that we think weโ€™re perfect and we don't make mistakes. Weโ€™re human. We make mistakes. All weโ€™re encouraging from our community is some skepticism when a claim is made on social media. Generally speaking onlineโ€“meaning not specific to Flight Rising!โ€“if someone or a post seems too outrageous and lacks verifiable evidence to support the claims made, thatโ€™s when you want to exercise skepticism and wait for more information. To quote Jonathan Swiftโ€™s The Examiner: Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.

Youโ€™re always welcome to submit a ticket with a question or bring misinformation to our attention through Contact Usโ€”especially if the individual posting the misinformation is taking extra steps to prevent us from seeing and responding to their incorrect claims about us, our policies, or our site. Weโ€™d much rather clarify misinformation than let it fester.

We hope the information in this post, thread, helps clarify confusion from misinformation and our moderation policies. Thank you for reading through, we appreciate you.
Updates, Moderation, & Misinformation
Feb 22, 2024, 08:01:46
Safe-Guarding & Human Rights Causes

Over the last few years, Flight Rising has tried to sustain some space for players to share limited content about humanitarian or human rights causes they feel passionate about as an exception to our Religion & Politics policy.

We donโ€™t feel comfortable entirely removing these topics from our site. Exceptions are handled on a case-by-case basis, often privately. As long as the content posted by the player doesnโ€™t contain inflammatory or revolutionary rhetoric or slogans and doesnโ€™t contain links to fundraisers or other calls-to-action, we typically leave the content up. Any threads on these topics are locked, not removed, as noted at the bottom of our Religion & Politics policy.

Quote:
We do not consider human rights movements to be matters of religion or politics; however, as weโ€™ve noted above, we are simply not equipped to moderate these topics. Threads or discussions about them will be moderated (most likely locked) but the player will not be penalized; the exception to this is if a player repeatedly posts about them after moderation has occurred, they have already been asked to stop, and the player does not stop.

Flight Rising is a 2D dragon breeding virtual pet game that hosts a robust game community. We are also aware of the fact that game communities are often targeted for recruitment (PDF warning!) and radicalization. While this phenomenon is infrequent, our Support team has had to remove accounts that were behaving in ways consistent with recruitment and radicalization over the years. Larger companies are able to dedicate entire Trust & Safety teams to this kind of community safe-guarding, and it is our belief that every online platform should be accounting for this.

Our existing rules and policies are part of our continuous safe-guarding efforts, as well as any additional steps we take to mitigate potential problems in advance, like the compromise mentioned above and described below.

We also have to balance all of the above with the fact that there are ongoing active measures across the internet on many events, conflicts, and suffering around the world. And this is all on top of the fact thereโ€™s a real possibility that racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, professional trolls/disinformation agents, etc could find a backdoor entrance to our community through the existing exception.


Inflammatory Rhetoric & Political Slogans

We do not have the luxury of a large team or resources to dedicate towards vetting all usages of any given slogan or campaign for current events or human rights issues and the intent of the individual posting them. We are a small team of US-based game developers who are in no way qualified or equipped to moderate these topics on our corner of the internet.

Some examples of rhetoric or slogans we will remove are listed below. This list includes but is not limited to:
  • ACAB/1312
    • The โ€˜Bโ€™ can be used to mean name-calling or profanity.
    • Many of our players are younger, may have law enforcement in their families, and may not be in a position to have this be a topic of discussion in their lives.
  • โ€œBlue Lives Matter/All Lives Matterโ€
    • These were created to diminish a specific human rights campaign.
    • โ€œBlue livesโ€ refers to a profession, which is entered into voluntarily.
  • MAGA or โ€œMake America Great Againโ€
    • This is a political slogan.
  • โ€œFrom the River to the Seaโ€
  • โ€œBetter Togetherโ€
    • This is a political slogan.
  • โ€œOur Best Days Still Lie Aheadโ€
    • This is a political slogan.

Some examples of human rights or humanitarian causes we leave up in player/dragon biographies or forum signatures are listed below. This list includes but is not limited to:
  • BLM or โ€œBlack Lives Matterโ€
    • Because this phrase means โ€œBlack lives matter, too.โ€
  • โ€œLand Backโ€
  • โ€œFree Palestineโ€
  • โ€œTrans Rights Are Human Rightsโ€


Going Forward

Our moderation policies and decisions are driven by safe-guarding. They are not a personal commentary, company statement, or editorial on any given cause, current event, or situation.

We have remained consistent in our removal of fundraising links and calls to action related to current events that link offsite under the following policy, and will continue to do so.

Quote:
Flight Rising cannot guarantee or verify the identity or legitimacy of any given personal fundraiser.
This means that in order to protect our community from those who would engage in scams for 'real world' currency, crowd-funding and similar personal fundraising sites are not allowed.

and

Quote:
This policy also includes but is not limited to posting โ€œcalls to actionโ€ for campaigns or the purpose of proselytizing for a religion in forum threads, clan profiles, dragon biographies, forum signatures, etc.


We would like to continue making limited space for these human rights causes. We understand that it's important to part of our community that they feel they can use the spaces where they feel heard and have a voice, but we can only do that with boundaries in place. We are a video game company and we are a video game website. We canโ€™t and we wonโ€™t accommodate discussions, fundraisers, and inflammatory rhetoric or slogans related to a variety of non-video game topics or causes on our website.

When we moderate content posted by players on our website, we are not placing a value judgment on a specific issue, topic or a call to action. To reiterate: Moderation should not be misconstrued as a company statement of our beliefs on a specific issue.

This is our notification to you that we are safe-guarding our community when we remove content like unverified fundraisers, charities, or rhetoric and slogans that may serve as a flashpoint or lead to targeted harassment of you, the community, our employees, or our website.


What you can expect

We reserve the right to uniformly enforce our rules, policies, and terms.

We reserve the right to remove content from our website as we see fit for safety and security reasons.

  • Calls-to-action posted in the forums or topics focused on humanitarian or human rights issues will be locked under our Religion & Politics policy, specifically the section regarding Human Rights at the end of the article.
  • Links to fundraisers and links to charity organizations will be removed as we are not able to vet every fundraiser or charity.
  • Inflammatory rhetoric, slogans, and/or language will be removed.

The first time any of the above content is locked or removed, there will either be a post in the thread explaining the lock or a notification message that details the content removed with an explanation and a request not to post the content again on our site will be sent to the player via our private message system. Subsequent locks or removals will lead to escalating account penalties as laid out in our Account Penalties Explained article.

We understand that the above information may concern some of you that we are indifferent to suffering. We are not. Civilians and childrenโ€”peopleโ€”should not be made to suffer for the greed and cruelty of authoritarians, bigots, and terrorists.

Our focus is on what we can directly impact, and what we can control is our own website. And here, our priority is safe-guarding our community. Itโ€™s our day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year responsibility. Moderation is performed with this priority in mind. We can only continue to allow the above exception so long as it does not create an undue moderation burden on our team. This includes but isnโ€™t limited to the deliberate spread of misinformation panicking our community, defamatory or libelous claims being posted and shared about us or our policies and our values both on and off our website, etc.

Speaking of moderationโ€ฆ
Updates, Moderation, & Misinformation
Feb 22, 2024, 07:53:19
Hello everyone! We have some updates to our Rules & Policies to announce today, as well as some clarifications regarding moderation, account penalties, and misinformation.

Buckle in, this is a long read. Due to its size, we've formatted this update to be read in sections, so you can take a break if you need to. Thereโ€™s a lot of information to digest in this update that directly addresses multiple player concerns. We do not recommend skimming this. Context is critically important and weโ€™ve tried to provide you with that where and whenever we can.

Table of Contents



Rules & Policies Updates

Today weโ€™re going to be touching on issues surrounding religious images, AI images/writing, cross-site trading, and certain types of profile or forum signature disclaimers.


Religious Images & Iconography

Players are permitted to share their personal religious identity, affiliation, or choice in their Clan biography, forum signature, or when introducing themselves. Do not report players to Support as violating our Terms of Use or Rules & Policies for simply sharing this information.

Religious imagery is already not allowed for skins and accents as we do not want real-world religious imagery, iconography, etc on our site or directly tied to our brand/IP.

As of the time of this post, we are expanding โ€œno religious imageryโ€ to be applied site-wide. When we say religious imagery, we specifically mean images and icons internationally recognized as or registered symbols of organized religions.

This also includes images depicting desecration, deconstruction, or political speech towards organized religions.

Themes that have been adopted into sci-fi or fantasy media (such as alchemy, wizardry, celestial, or abyssal themes, feathered wings, halos, horns, etc) do not fall under this definition at this time.

Example:
  • Feathered wings and halos = OKAY
  • Named angels or saints = NOT OKAY
(Please see this post below for more information regarding this edit!)


What you can expect

We would appreciate it if players with these images in their Clan or dragon biographies, forum signatures, art, etc would take initiative at this time and remove them from our site. We will not act right away on reports that are submitted today. Weโ€™d like to give our players with this content time to remove it themselves, on their own terms. The first time Support removes the images, your account will not be actioned under our Rules & Policies. You will receive a private message notifying you of the removal and education of our policies. Continued posting of these images after Support confirms that the private educational message was received by you will lead to account penalties/actions.


AI Images, Writing, & Videos

Images, writing, and videos created by prompting generative artificial intelligence programs are not allowed on Flight Rising.

We do not consider the images, writing, and videos made through prompting AI programs to be art.
These models did not acquire consent from the artists whose work they were trained on.

We cannot support AI image generators that are trained on stolen work. Artwork (images, writing, and videos) posted to our site should be work of your own creation or art youโ€™ve commissioned from a real person and artist.

If you have AI images or are using AI to generate creative writing, images, or videos as a service, please stop posting them to our site and begin removing the images or writing right away.


What You Can Expect

Players will be given time and a chance to remove these images from our site of their own accord. The first time Support has to remove AI imagery will most likely only lead to a notification and an educational message; subsequent removals or attempts to sell AI images or writing on our site will lead to escalating account penalties as described in our Account Penalties Explained article.


Cross-Site Trading

Effective immediately, all cross-site trades must include each trading partnerโ€™s username on the other website and what the trade is for in either the private message or Crossroads message text.

The first reason is that some players try to cover their Terms of Use violating trades by claiming theyโ€™re a cross-site trade.

The second reason is the concerning rise in behavior where an individual will register an account on our site for the purpose of cross-site trading. They then make gem purchases and once the trades are concluded, they then issue chargebacks, often claiming credit card fraud.

When this happens, we contact the other site and let them know that a trade between our games was potentially fraudulent. If the chargebacks are successful, we will confirm with the other game that the trades were fraudulent and that we will be reversing the trade on our end. We also notify the other game because credit card fraud is a crime and individuals who choose to defraud small businesses are not the type of person we want in our communities.

While we have the receipts that show it was in fact the registered individual and account holder making these purchases, these investigations pull Support off tickets for extended periods of time and, depending on the total number of gems involved, can also lead to all of their trading partners temporarily losing access to their accounts while we investigate.

We also want to encourage players to take care when engaging in cross-site trades with individuals who arenโ€™t already active members of both communities. Thereโ€™s a possibility that their choice to engage in fraudulent activity could lead to your trade being reversed or even temporarily losing access to your account during an investigation.


What You Can Expect

As of todayโ€™s date, cross-site trades without information about the other pet site, your account name on that site, and details about the trade will be considered suspect should either account come under investigation for any reason.


Do not broadcast, advertise, or otherwise highlight or call attention to your age.

OKAY: Mentioning in a discussion youโ€™re in school, when you were last in school, events you remember experiencing, etc.


NOT OKAY:
  • โ€œHi! My name is [name] and Iโ€™m 13 years old/a minor!โ€
  • โ€œPLEASE REMEMBER I AM A MINORโ€
  • โ€œDNI. I AM A MINOR.โ€

We understand the impulse to post disclaimers and context about your interactions with others and to communicate that certain topics would be inappropriate to share or discuss with you in advance. The reason why we do not want our minor players to widely advertise their age group is for safe-guarding purposes. When you post disclaimers like the examples above, you are also broadcasting your age to people with malicious intent. This is compounded by an observed tendency of individuals to overshare about their living situations, their personal relationships, and their medical history on our site in general.

This is a case where the risks vastly outweigh the benefits to your experience online and we have found it necessary to formalize this issue in our Rules & Policies.


Remember that the following applies to your time on our site:
  • You are not obligated to interact with anyone.
  • You can block any player you donโ€™t want to interact with at any time.
  • Topics inappropriate for adults to discuss with minors are already prohibited on our website.

If an adult player is reaching out to a minor player about something inappropriate or is offering to be a private shoulder, ear, or confidante in private messages based on information previously disclosed or shared, please report them to us through Contact Us right away. Do not respond or exchange offsite contact information.

What You Can Expect

Players will be given time and a chance to remove these age disclaimers from our site of their own accord. The first time Support has to remove an age disclaimer will most likely only lead to a notification and an educational message; subsequent removals or attempts to post age disclaimers on our site will lead to escalating account penalties as described in our Account Penalties Explained article.
Undertide expansion plans?
Feb 21, 2024, 20:18:10
Now let's play "How many genes are in the Undertide expansion?"

Hint: More than the Aberration expansion. Less than the Auraboa breed release.
Auraboa Gene Error Thread
Feb 21, 2024, 18:31:01
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
The following corrections have gone in tonight:
  • Primary: Fern on all Auraboa was reverted to its prior version.
  • Secondary: Paisley on all Auraboa was reverted to its prior version.
  • Eye: Primal (Nature) on Auraboa H was missing the larger hatchling flower. Fixed.
  • Eye: Common, Uncommon, Unusual, Rare, Pastel, Bright, Multi-gaze (head eye) were missing line art around the edge of the iris. A very thin line was added to finish the eyes without causing major changes. The eye colors and gradients were not changed. Fixed.
  • Tertiary: Scales on Auraboa F was missing the scale pattern on the top of the largest pair of wings that the hatchling and M had. Fixed.
  • Secondary: Affection on Auraboa F was missing the dark gradient on the tip of the lower wing on the lefthand side of the canvas. Fixed.
  • Secondary: Woven on Auraboa F was missing the gradients on its left wing that was present on its right. Fixed.
  • Secondary: Peregrine on Auraboa M was missing the inner hand marking present in the other templates within the breed. Fixed.
  • Tertiary: Capsule on all Auraboa should had the highlight extended up to the empty portion of the "glass". Fixed.
  • Secondary: Hypnotic on Auraboa F & H was missing some of the spots on the wing-hands. Fixed.


All Auraboa gene fixes should be in! I'm closing this thread out for now. We'll be taking future Auraboa gene error reports in a unified ancient techcnical error thread. at the end of February.
Status Update
Feb 21, 2024, 15:16:57
Site Status | By Undel
We have an update on Auraboa Paisley, gene errors threads, and future plans regarding gene corrections and ways they can be better.
Paisley, Gene Errors, and Future Reports
Feb 21, 2024, 15:13:46
Hello everyone, thank you for your feedback about the gene error updates.



Paisley & Blend
  • Based on the time taken for a consistency change to go in, Auraboa Fern/Paisley will be reverted.
  • Sandsurge Blend will also be adjusted to have the crest returned to the prior colors. The blend and fade changes were mainly to address the smooth vs abrupt transitions in the gradient. We were trying to match one of the original templates to have gradient lengths smoother with less chunky edges. The head crests were erroneously adjusted as the templates were effectively made from scratch a second time. The smoother body and large back frill transitions will be preserved, but the complete change in color to the head crest is going to be changed back.
  • The other listed gene and eye type fixes in the last gene error thread (Auraboa) are going to be implemented, but as three months have passed, we have removed some of the larger consistency reports external to the breed itself.


On a personal note, I want to acknowledge that the gene being listed as an error since December, but taking three months to go through is not great. I am truly sorry that the correction did not go in swiftly, especially on something that was not an obvious error and many enjoyed.




Upcoming Changes to How Gene Errors are Handled

Completing the existing breed-specific gene error threads are something we have been working towards for a while now.

As an art team, we need to have the ability to make both technical and consistency changes with our genes. Though we do check our templates and saved-out images, many issues do not come to light until hundreds of eyes are there to see the images in their millions of combinations.

Equally, players need and deserve to not have their dragons radically altered months after release for things that aren't bugs, cleanup, or technical errors. Gene consistency is something that needs a shorter, clearly communicated time limit, after which players can be assured that their dragons will not change.

Addressing the gene reporting system:
  • The error turn-around on genes is a true pain point. We've been working towards getting the outstanding error threads caught up and closed out.
  • The intent to move to a universal modern and ancient error thread for catch-alls on older templates. These universal catch-all threads will have no time limit, and will be for technical errors only.
We define technical errors as things such as: pattern bleed, pixellation, halo effects, inconsistencies within the same breed, color swatch errors, genes being uploaded in place of other genes, misaligned templates, missing artwork, gaps, missing pixels along a seam, missing line art, stray pixels, patterns that bleed outside the silouette, etc.
  • New genes, gene expansions, and breed releases will receive a corresponding sticky thread in bugs to receive reports so that any major changes can go in soon after release. We will refer to these as New-Gene Focus Threads. These temporary, after-release threads would be the ones where both technical and consistency differences could be addressed within a time limit.
We define consistency/style differences as differences between the gene itself on different breeds that make the gene look different. Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it's an oversight. If a style difference is brought up, we will confirm it as working as intended, or report it as an error and complete the change within a 45-day time limit.
  • These New Gene Focus Threads would have a 45-day time limit and will close after this duration. After this occurs, any further errors will need to go to the universal threads, and will have to fall under the technical error category to be addressed. No further consistency-specific changes will be made after the focus-thread is closed. Having a clearly-communicated deadline will allow players a timeline when they can feel confident that their dragons will not radically change, while allowing us an established window during which we can make alterations to our artwork.




Coming VERY Soon:
  1. Auraboa Paisley, Fern, and Sandsurge Blend (crests) will be reverting tonight.
  2. The remaining listed issues in the Auraboa gene thread will be corrected and implemented.
  3. When the Auraboa gene error thread is finished, we'll be closing it out.
  4. After the Auraboa thread is finished, the promised Undertide gene expansion will release as our next content update. It will be paired with our first New Gene Focus Thread and will have a 45 day window. This thread will be exclusively for the Undertide genes that were just released and nothing else.
  5. We will update the status box with the UT focus thread launch, 15 days left warning, and close-out announcement for additional player visibility.
  6. The Universal Modern and Ancient threads for past releases that have technical issues will go up at the end of February. Because non-breed-specific reporting has been unavailable for some time, we fully expect that these are going to be hit hard. Fixes for these will go in as we are able to make time for it. These threads are long-term threads, and do not operate under a time-limit.




We want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we decided how to address this delayed and controversial gene fix. We hope that with our new systems in place, we can more swiftly address gene errors and provide clearer communication to our players. We all love dragons, and want them to look their very best!
Advertising Report Thread 3.0
Feb 21, 2024, 13:45:29
@TheMasterGamer, please try clearing your cache first!
Advertising Report Thread 3.0
Feb 21, 2024, 13:44:28
@tifftac, @Icos, @AutumnFall123, please be sure to send your reports to Hiveworks via tech@thehiveworks.com


Question for everyone elseโ€”has anyone experienced the browser page lockups recently?
Status Update
Feb 21, 2024, 12:39:22
Site Status | By Aequorin
We have a brief update for our community on the progress of the Auraboa lore story.
[Auraboa Lore] Update & Apology
Feb 21, 2024, 12:35:18
Update, February 21, 2024
  1. The content originally cut for length was restored.
  2. The writing team worked on this draft based on player feedback.
  3. This draft underwent a sensitivity read with beta readers.
  4. The writing team made updates based on the beta reader feedback.
  5. There were delays in revisiting the draft due to the 2023 holidays and rolling team outages from illness.
  6. Currently: We are holding for a professional editor and writer to go over the current iteration of the draft instead of having our writing team perform copyedit passes over the base draft.

Thank you for your patience while we continue our work to address your concerns with and feedback on the Auraboa lore story.
Jadecarved Decoy possibly not dropping
Feb 21, 2024, 00:30:09
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
Joxar has quite a bit of spare inventory to manage! Thank you for helping him keep it organized!

Roaming Aries is now a potential drop from the pools, as is Virgo. Scene: Windsinger's Domain has been removed from the crate, as it's not a cycled out item nor a unique recolor.
Auraboa Gene Error Thread
Feb 20, 2024, 23:01:37
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
The following corrections have gone in tonight:
  • Eyes: Primal (Shadow) had the back eye drip added for all Auraboa.
  • Eye: Glowing had the glow radius and intensity adjusted to be more in line with the rest of the glowing eyes.
  • Secondary: Flair on Auraboa F was missing a gradient on the overlapped portion of the right wing. Fixed.
  • Secondary: Myrid on Auraboa F had a swirl that crosses over an overlapping piece of the wing corrected.
  • Secondary: Peregrine on all Auraboa was missing the crest patterning on the head feathers. Fixed.
  • Secondary: Hex on Auraboa F had the hands of the wings colored a different color than those of the arms. Fixed.
  • Primary: Starmap on all Auraboa was a missing horn/claw gradient and needed the constellation lines adjusted. While the gene is semi-abstract with how the lines fall over the dragon, large offsets such as a wing crossing have now been taken into account.
  • Secondary: Constellation While the gene is semi-abstract with how the lines fall over the dragon, large offsets such as a wing crossing have now been taken into account.

A reminder that the Auraboa gene error thread is for Auraboa gene reports only.
Sandsurge Gene Error Thread
Feb 20, 2024, 08:45:40
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
The following corrections have gone in today:
  • Eyes: Primal in Shadow for all Sandsurge now have a second drip for the unseen eye.
  • Primary: Fade for all Sandsurge had the gradient intensity adjusted.
  • Secondary: Blend for all Sandsurge had the gradient intensity adjusted.
  • Primary: Flaunt for all Sandsurge had the gradient intensity across the back adjusted to be more in line with the modern version of the gene.
  • Secondary: Flair for all Sandsurge had the gradient intensity across the back adjusted to be more in line with the modern version of the gene.
  • Tertiary: Runes had the second, brighter color placed on the edges rather than the middle of the runes like the modern variant. Sparkle enhancement. Transparency cleanup along the spines.


All Sandsurge gene fixes should be in! I'm closing this thread out for now. We'll be taking future Sandsurge gene error reports in a unified thread once we close out the remaining Auraboa (and upcoming Undertide Gene Expansion) thread.
Auraboa Gene Error Thread
Feb 18, 2024, 19:15:09
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
The following corrections have gone in tonight:
  • Tertiary: Stained has had the claws filled with the Stained tint in on all Auraboa.
  • Secondary: Striation on all Auraboa was missing an extra gradient color in the upper level of feathers. This extra gradient is present in manes and separated wings such as those of the Skydancer dragons. Fixed.
  • Primary: Flaunt on Auraboa F didn't have all of the markings that were present in the belly colored in. Fixed.
  • Primary: Fern on all Auraboa had the markings adjusted alongside the changes to the Secondary of this gene.
  • Secondary: Paisley on all Auraboa had highlight intensity issues and a lack of patterning on the top portion of the wings that would make it more consistent with other dual-color feathered wings like Coatl and Skydancer. Fixed.
  • Secondary: Basic was briefly overwritten by the Striation fix. This has been reverted.
  • Tertiary: Topcoat on all Auraboa F had the right-side wing coverage reduced, as it should have only covered the wrap-around portion of the wing that had the varied wing color applied to the feathers.
Sandsurge Gene Error Thread
Feb 17, 2024, 19:33:40
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
The following corrections have gone in tonight:
  • Eyes: Glowing had the halo effect adjusted to better match the modern version of the eye.
  • Secondary: Striation on all Sandsurge had more pattern added to the interior fans.
  • Tertiary: Lace on Sandsurge F had pattern bleed into the horns corrected.
  • Tertiary: Stained on all Sandsurge was bleeding into the teeth. This has been corrected.
  • Tertiary: Augment on all Sandsurge was given a new treatment on the line art to correct the color bleed issue.
Event Calendar NotN dates
Feb 17, 2024, 16:58:06
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
This has been corrected. Thank you.
Jadecarved Decoy possibly not dropping
Feb 17, 2024, 16:52:37
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
Nice catch! While all the other bears and mimic bears were included, it looks like the Jadecarved Decoy was accidentally omitted. It has been added into the pool. Thank you for the report.
Aberration Gene Error Thread
Feb 17, 2024, 16:43:55
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
All Aberration gene fixes should be in! I'm closing this thread out for now. We'll be taking future Aberration gene error reports in a unified thread once we close out the remaining Sandsurge and Auraboa threads.
Status Update
Feb 14, 2024, 18:50:38
Site Status | By Undel
The Events Calendar has been updated with events through January 2025.
Aberration Gene Error Thread
Feb 14, 2024, 17:13:54
Forum Post | Bug Report Forums | By Undel
Fixes that went in tonight:
  • Primary Ground - in the color spruce should appear for M Aberrations.
  • Primary Ground - for all Aberrations should have the blue horns returned to the Nightshade color.
  • Secondary Fissure - for all Aberrations should have the blue manes returned to the Nightshade color.
  • Primary Clown - on Aberration F had the missing tooth color restored.
  • Ongoing secondary template updates. See above.
Status Update
Feb 14, 2024, 11:11:49
Site Status | By Aequorin
Dragon Share Theme Week: Love is in the Air!
Love is in the Air 2024
Feb 14, 2024, 06:27:43
Forum Post | Announcements & News | By Undel
Asmo wrote on 2024-02-14 06:16:43:
54804.png

Rosa Cerdae

Where did its roses go from the thumbnail lol

Edit: You know on second hand I think it's supposed to be one of the image changing familiars? It doesn't seem to change currently

It is an image changing familiar! They only showed the first step with our little pop-up tool tips. If you put it on your dragon it should have the other forms.
Love is in the Air 2024
Feb 14, 2024, 06:01:09
Forum Post | Announcements & News | By Undel
The background is the new sweetheart basket scene where only the rose bushes and pink flower bushes are visible. Centered in the foreground is a cockatiel gryphon familiar with multiple wings. Their back is turned towards the viewer, showing off their wings. The pink center pair of wings resembles the classic non-anatomical heart shape. The overlaid text reads: Love is in the Air, Sweet sentiments, sweet friends, and sweet treats for all!

The return of the most lovely seasonal event in today's update!










Love is in the Air
From now until February 21 at 06:00, the following seasonal items will be available, after which time they will cycle out until love is in the air once more~


Sweet treats are dropping from various site activities for all sweet hearts. Our chefs have made sure to use only the finest fillers and substitutes to accommodate all diets.
Meaty Cotton Candy Infested Cotton Candy Fishy Cotton Candy Coneflower Cotton Candy

Sweetheart Noggles and Lovebird Tea Sets are dropping from all enemies in the coliseum for the duration of the event.
Strawberry Noggle Chocolate Noggle Lovebirds Spare Tea Lovebirds Towel
Lovebirds Apron Lovebirds Tea Cups Lovebirds Tea Tray Lovebirds Dried Tea


Enamored Swan is available through Baldwin's Bubbling Brew for a limited time. Alchemists level 3 and above can bring this beautiful bird to life!
Enamored Swan
Charming Swan is available through Fiona for those who have achieved awakened status with their Sweetheart and Enamored Swans! Three corresponding feats are now available at Fiona's Fantastic Familiars.
Charming Swan


Lovebird Landscape is available to alchemists level 6 and above for the duration of this holiday. This recipe features boosted XP for the level of recipe, allowing lower-level alchemists to rapidly gain levels while brewing it! Head on over to Baldwin's Bubbling Brew to create a picturesque scene.
Scene: Lovebird Landscape



Susie's Sweet Sentiments
Susie's Sweet Sentiments is a seasonal shop in the Grand Exchange. Her shop is available for the duration of the Love is in the Air event and contains the following items:
A feathered coatl dragon with pink feathers and lavender spotted skin sits in a wheelchair. Susie crochets with lovebirds flitting around her.

Primary Auraboa Gene: Love Secondary Auraboa Gene: Affection
Blushing Tendertiel Tendertiel Rosa Cerdae Sweetheart Swan
Rose Sweetheart Bouquet Soft Sweetheart Bouquet Prismatic Sweetheart Bouquet Lavender Sweetheart Bouquet
Noir Sweetheart Bouquet Verdant Sweetheart Bouquet Pale Sweetheart Bouquet Sunny Sweetheart Bouquet
Gothic Lovestruck Arrow Gothic Lovestruck Bow Serenity Lovestruck Arrow Serenity Lovestruck Bow
Vineyard Lovestruck Arrow Vineyard Lovestruck Bow Snowfield Lovestruck Arrow Snowfield Lovestruck Bow
Lovely Seraph Anklets Lovely Seraph Armpiece Lovely Seraph Headpiece Lovely Seraph Hip Drape
Lovely Seraph Necklace Lovely Seraph Tail Bangle Lovely Seraph Wing Ornament Lovely Seraph Jewelry
Pastry Chef Hat Pastry Chef Coat Pastry Chef Pan Pastry Chef Apron
Pastry Chef Dessert Tray Love's Herald Heartswirl
Vista: Sweetheart Rose Vista: Lovebirds Scene: Garden Arches Scene: Sweetheart Basket

Sweetheart Basket Scene




Trickmurk Circus Skin Contest
The eleventh annual Trickmurk Circus will begin on February 25, 2024, and we're running a skin and accent contest in celebration Click here for more information!
Trickmurk Circus Banner


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