November 2015

[Diana]

Hey Winners!

Just a heads, up: It looks like Frankie's just about ready to pack up shop and leave. He has enough stock to last until Wednesday, but after that he'll be gone. Be sure to pick up any last items you want while you can!

[Diana]

Hey Winners!
As expected, Frankie didn't stick around long. He departed last night to find the (witch) doctor to give him the antidote to cure his... condition, and make him himself again.
Don't fret! I'm sure that won't be the last we'll see of that funny little mobster.

Frankie sold the last of his goods before he left, so you can't buy anything, but you can still visit the imprint his shop left behind if you miss it. The Halloween festivities are officially over. We hope you had a great time!

Do you have a ton of extra pumpcoins left? Don't worry! Karen has set up a pawn shop for you to trade in items. Visit Once Upawn a Time to get feathers in exchange for your used goods. You can find the link to the shop under the "shops" menu tab.
To use the shops, click the items' images from the inventory menu to add them to the selling queue and then click "sell" to confirm your selection. To un-queue an item, click its image in the queue.
Note: Items sold to the pawn shop are gone forever! You, or any other user, cannot get them back! Make sure you really want to sell them before you do! It'd be a shame to accidentally sell an exclusive item, or destroy it when a user who wasn't around at the time really wants it...
If you're looking to trade an item, visit the Yard Sale

Alert:
Halloween items in The Lazarus will be removed in one week (November 19th) to make room for the swashbuckling fun that's coming up! Be sure to get them while you can!

[Diana]

Ahoy Mateys!

A plethora of pirate themed items have been added to The Lazarus. This collection of loot is fit for the most fearsome of captains or first mates. From Bandannas to Swords, there's sure to be something for you!

It'll prepare the most novice landlubbers and old salts alike for braving the open seas and finding adventures full of pillaging and treasure hunting!


Be sure to grab these items while you can, they'll only be around for November, then they'll set sail and leave the shop!

[Diana]

Mini

There's a few more items available in The Lazarus! Finish off your pirate-y look with a sharp hook instead of a hand, or some sparkly bracelets!


Today's update...
is an explanation of everything that's been going on behind the scenes the past few days. I'm really excited for it. You guys probably won't notice any of it unless something's wrong.

I spent allllll weekend rebuilding avatar related functions. When I first made the avatar system (a whole year ago, wow!) I didn't make enough layers for things like bracelets or mittens (go in front of the base's hands) or items with weird cases like that and so those kinds of items were impossible. Ryvvi's been super cool and working with me to draw items to get everyone into the treasure hunting spirit, but I realized the bracelet issue and we weren't able to use them. Until now. The image layering and item design system is pretty future-proofed, I believe, at least at the database level, and I'm pretty happy with the changes.
I spent some time lightly optimizing some queries and functions, and extracting and cleaning up the code base. We will be a bit faster now, but, as always, there's still plenty more work to do!

The database was a bit of a mess, some users had extra items that didn't stack and that made it difficult to move things around properly. I went in and combined all user/item entries. If you find an extra item here or there in your inventory, consider it collateral and go ahead and keep it! (or sell it, or trade it, or whatever you want. It's yours.)

I believe I brought everything back up to a working state, but if you come across something that's completely out of the ordinary, please mention it to me! You can PM me directly or post in the help/support forum (please include steps of what you did to produce the error when you do).

NOTE: You WILL have to equip all your items again in order to see the correct avatar previews. They'll be broken image paths until you do so.

[Diana]

Arrrrrr me hearties!

Today is the last day of the treasure hunt! Ryvvi's counting up all of Sparkle Kingdom's missing treasure and it looks like she's got almost all of it!


Friendly reminder:
All the pirate items in The Lazarus will be leaving the shops tomorrow! Be sure to get in on the plundering and plank walking fun before it's too late!