crescent-cove-blog
Crescent Cove
Crescent Cove is an in-development virtual pet site with a focus on roleplaying, item mamanagement, collecting, and creativity! Currently in pre-alpha development (70% complete).
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Updated with recent progress and feature fixes! Organized a few things, as well. :>
Development Timeline
This is a development timeline I will be adding to, editing, and reblogging throughout the development process here on Tumblr! I can't say that this post will be updated as often / in as much detail as the devlogs on Crescent Cove (you can view my past devlogs here), but I am hoping to use this post as a more structured overview
If you have any questions about the timeline, the site features, or anything else, feel free to send an ask! I'd love to see people's questions. :>
Bold red text represents a completed feature.
Pre-Alpha (Jan. 2022 - Present)
Currently, registration for the site is completely closed, although you can view any public sections of the site (namely, the forums). If a user already has an account, they can still log into the site and access features as usual.
I am probably about 80% complete with this phase, and hope to be done in 2024.
Core User Features
-> User Signup / Login Pages
-> Basic Account Settings and HTML Profiles
-> Users' most recent login date is updated automatically in the database.
-> Users can logout of their accounts from the Account page.
-> New users are guided to accept the rules and then complete the tutorial.
Forums, Social Features, and Moderation
-> Users can post, comment, edit, and delete posts / threads inside of topics (bumping posts also works).
-> Admins can lock and pin threads inside of topics.
-> Admins can send users warnings, issue suspensions and bans, and review report tickets.
-> Users can report users.
-> Users can block other users.
-> Users can send messages, add friends, and ping one another on the forums.
-> Notification system for said events.
Item and Coveling Inventories
-> Users can view their inventory of items.
-> Need to fix a graphical bug of the inventories.
-> Users can filter their inventory based on item type.
-> Users can view and move items into the storage section of their inventory.
-> Users can move items to their Covelings' inventories.
-> Users can remove items from their Covelings' inventories.
-> Users can equip tools and wearables to their Covelings.
-> Users can give consumables, toys, and other items to their Covelings for various effects.
Site-Wide Features
-> There is a day and night cycle for each 24-hour period, each phase will have a given weather condition.
-> Predicted weather will be forecasted weekly, but can change based on in-game events.
-> Seasons will change with real-life months accordingly: Jan - Apr (Spring), May - Aug (Summer), Sept - Oct (Autumn), Nov - Dec (Winter).
Daily Activities
-> Once a day, users can take on a town quest from Town Hall, which will reward them in Crescents and possibly items.
-> For each main area, a Coveling can be sent to gather materials and resources from that area, for a period of 1 - 4 hours. You can unlock additional slots as your reputation with that area improves.
-> Once a day, users can collect their interest at the bank.
-> Once a day, users can visit a special NPC and get a free item.
Weekly Activities
-> Once a week, a user can send out 1 - 3 pets on a special expedition.
-> Each week, for each area, you can complete quests to improve area reputation, collect items, and currency that will reset at the end of the week.
Marketplace and User Trading
-> Users can make listings on the marketplace, view other users' listings, view offers, and accept trades.
-> Users can visit shops that reset their stock every couple of minutes.
-> Basic system created, just need to populate the shops.
-> Donation Center, the bank, food shop, and toy shop.
-> Users can privately send items to one another.
Alpha Testing (Near Future)
Alpha testing will start after pre-alpha development is complete, bringing on a small group of individuals to test features as they're implemented. I’m not sure how I’ll choose these players or how many there’ll be, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Additionally, this is when I plan to do even more asset and content creation, and fixing bugs, typos, and other mishaps with the help of our alpha testers!
Visual Updates
-> Update visual style of the site, mainly the navigation bar, page content, and buttons, as these are the oldest features.
-> Need to implement better mobile support - developing an app sounds like fun!
-> Add the ability to go into light / dark mode and change between 1 - 3 site themes from the account page.
-> An example of my current design style is shown below, I’d like to do something cute and clean like this, but with a few colors.
World Map
-> A world map will be created to make the exploration of the site more interesting. This will most likely be done with some sort of grid image system.
-> A work-in-progress map can be seen below.
Collections and Alpha-Only Items
-> A collectable system is added with various items: plushies, bestiary, profession / skills trophies, and other event items.
-> Additionally, alpha-only items and Covelings will be released to testers, and additional alpha-only crafted items and loot will be possible to collect.
Daily Activities+
-> Once a day, per Coveling, users can interact with their Coveling to raise their affection level.
-> Once a day, per Coveling, users can take on a Coveling quest, completing which will raise affection level and trigger a random event.
-> Once a day, per Coveling, users can use specialty items to affect relationships between Covelings.
-> Once a day, users can interact with NPCs of different areas and complete daily quests.
Marketplace and User Trading+
-> Users can list their Covelings on the trade market.
-> Users can privately send Covelings to one another.
-> Users can hire other user’s Covelings to do activities for them for a given price (takes the same amount of time or more, though).
-> Users can put unwanted Covelings in the Adoption Center and receive a small amount of Crescents. Other users can adopt these Covelings for an Adoption Ticket.
Adventuring and Battling
-> Covelings can have battle items equipped based on given stats, which functions as a loose class system. They can also unlock class-specific actions.
-> Players can create their adventure party, equip and unequip battle items, and organize the Covelings in the party.
-> There are 2 - 3 adventuring areas for users to explore and fight various enemies and gather items.
-> Users can craft weapons, armor, and other adventuring equipment.
Professions and Skills
-> Each Coveling can have 2+ professions, and also has access to 4 different base skills. These professions and skills are the main source of materials and resources used in crafting and progression.
-> Professions and Skills can now be leveled up and perform specific tasks, in addition to previous features.
-> Additionally, daily and weekly town quests will now include profession-specific requests.
Beta Testing (Distant Future)
This phase will have a larger group of players to help revise current systems and adding the final core features to the site. A lot of this phase will involve balancing gameplay and progression through activities and content.
This is when I’d also like to establish seasonal events, a premium currency / shop system, and user-made items and Coveling skins.
Banner Credit [x]
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Hashing passwords, moderation, and more! Go check it out in the devlog!
Might do some more stuff later tonight, who knows. :P
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Spring Upkeep Tasks
Hey there, everyone! It's been a while, huh? I've been incredibly busy between work and university lately, but I'm happy to say that I still try to work on this project every couple of weeks whenever I have time (and the motivation)!
Read information about this update below...
I've been organizing my current backlog on Trello and trying to get a good grasp on what needs to be done before we can start early testing. There's still a bit of work, as a handful of core features still need to be created, but I'm currently trying to make progress on my backlog of smaller features and adjustments that need to be worked on for content that already exists on the site.
I've also been recently brainstorming the main story I want to present to players, and how important I want their actions to be on the overall experience of the game. It has always been a dream of mine to make Crescent Cove an interactive experience, where the chain of events are directly affected by the choices and work players' contribute to the game. At the same time, I don't want a story that's completely missed out on by new players, so I'm trying to strike a balanced between static quests for each player, and quests / events that require player-engagement and efforts to affect site-wide events. If you have any vague ideas, feel free to send them to me through the Discord server!
Some things I've worked on the last two days include:
Added some long overdue code to avoid JavaScript injections into the HTML code. It took a little while to figure out, but once I had an idea of where to start it became a really simple matter to solve! I'm sure there are better solutions, but this will work for now.
There were some pretty significant bugs on the screen to view a player's characters. Somehow, I updated the database and forgot to update the code that interacts with it! They were pretty easy fixes, just renaming everything and making small changes here and there.
Lastly, I'm really proud of this one: I recently discovered CRON jobs and was able to write one pretty quickly today to update all of the shops every couple of minutes. Before my code was pretty janky and I wasn't a huge fan, haha. Now, I just need to add CRON jobs for other features (such as automating the temp mute/ban system)!
What I need to do now is some testing to make sure everything works with the CRON jobs and operations. I've only been able to test the basic features so far, and it looks good, but I'll need to do some extensive testing in the alpha phase to see if anyone can break the website, especially if it takes very little effort to do so.
Let me know what you think! You can read my devlog entry of the changes I made on the site here! If you have any ideas for story quests, please let me know in the replies as well!
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Spring Upkeep Tasks
Hey there, everyone! It's been a while, huh? I've been incredibly busy between work and university lately, but I'm happy to say that I still try to work on this project every couple of weeks whenever I have time (and the motivation)!
Read information about this update below...
I've been organizing my current backlog on Trello and trying to get a good grasp on what needs to be done before we can start early testing. There's still a bit of work, as a handful of core features still need to be created, but I'm currently trying to make progress on my backlog of smaller features and adjustments that need to be worked on for content that already exists on the site.
I've also been recently brainstorming the main story I want to present to players, and how important I want their actions to be on the overall experience of the game. It has always been a dream of mine to make Crescent Cove an interactive experience, where the chain of events are directly affected by the choices and work players' contribute to the game. At the same time, I don't want a story that's completely missed out on by new players, so I'm trying to strike a balanced between static quests for each player, and quests / events that require player-engagement and efforts to affect site-wide events. If you have any vague ideas, feel free to send them to me through the Discord server!
Some things I've worked on the last two days include:
Added some long overdue code to avoid JavaScript injections into the HTML code. It took a little while to figure out, but once I had an idea of where to start it became a really simple matter to solve! I'm sure there are better solutions, but this will work for now.
There were some pretty significant bugs on the screen to view a player's characters. Somehow, I updated the database and forgot to update the code that interacts with it! They were pretty easy fixes, just renaming everything and making small changes here and there.
Lastly, I'm really proud of this one: I recently discovered CRON jobs and was able to write one pretty quickly today to update all of the shops every couple of minutes. Before my code was pretty janky and I wasn't a huge fan, haha. Now, I just need to add CRON jobs for other features (such as automating the temp mute/ban system)!
What I need to do now is some testing to make sure everything works with the CRON jobs and operations. I've only been able to test the basic features so far, and it looks good, but I'll need to do some extensive testing in the alpha phase to see if anyone can break the website, especially if it takes very little effort to do so.
Let me know what you think! You can read my devlog entry of the changes I made on the site here! If you have any ideas for story quests, please let me know in the replies as well!
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Donation Center NPC, Charity!
Been working on designs for Covelings recently, including NPCs. This is a work-in-progress design for one of the shopkeepers at the Donation Center, Charity! She's a kindhearted and outgoing Coveling who has a special interest in cats. The other Donation Center's shopkeeper, Salem, works the nightshift and we'll see them in the near future!
Charity is also an example of one of the most common Covelings in Crescent Cove! They're currently an unnamed species (I'd love some suggestions if you have any ideas), and have raptor-inspired feet and faces, as well as large tails that are aquatic in nature.
Obviously, none of this is set in stone yet, and I'll probably redesign some things. However, I'm pleased with the idea so far and hope to expand on it more in the future. I also have some ideas for some other Coveling species in Crescent Cove, but I'm focusing on NPCs only for now. Once I get around to NPCs of those other Coveling species, I'll make sure to design and share them here!
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Donation Center NPC, Charity!
Been working on designs for Covelings recently, including NPCs. This is a work-in-progress design for one of the shopkeepers at the Donation Center, Charity! She's a kindhearted and outgoing Coveling who has a special interest in cats. The other Donation Center's shopkeeper, Salem, works the nightshift and we'll see them in the near future!
Charity is also an example of one of the most common Covelings in Crescent Cove! They're currently an unnamed species (I'd love some suggestions if you have any ideas), and have raptor-inspired feet and faces, as well as large tails that are aquatic in nature.
Obviously, none of this is set in stone yet, and I'll probably redesign some things. However, I'm pleased with the idea so far and hope to expand on it more in the future. I also have some ideas for some other Coveling species in Crescent Cove, but I'm focusing on NPCs only for now. Once I get around to NPCs of those other Coveling species, I'll make sure to design and share them here!
#crescent cove#development update#npc#pet site#virtual pet site#browser game#art rpg#digital art#character design
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Basic Moderation System Complete!
Did quite a bit today involving the database and moderation features, pretty pleased with the progress! Just need to implement the code to keep players from posting when muted, logging in while banned, etc. Implementation is complete! ;D
There are more pictures in the devlog, read it for yourself here!
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Updated with recent progress on some of the social features!
Development Timeline
This is a development timeline I will be adding to, editing, and reblogging throughout the development process here on Tumblr! I can't say that this post will be updated as often / in as much detail as the devlogs on Crescent Cove (you can view my past devlogs here), but I am hoping to use this post as a more structured overview
If you have any questions about the timeline, the site features, or anything else, feel free to send an ask! I'd love to see people's questions. :>
Bold red text represents a completed feature.
Pre-Alpha (Jan. 2022 - Present)
Currently, registration for the site is completely closed, although you can view any public sections of the site (namely, the forums). If a user already has an account, they can still log into the site and access features as usual.
I am probably about 80% complete with this phase, and hope to be done this year.
Core User Features
-> User Signup / Login Pages
-> Basic Account Settings and HTML Profiles
-> Users' most recent login date is updated automatically in the database.
-> Users can logout of their accounts from the Account page.
-> New users are prompted to create their first Coveling from a small selection.
Forums, Social Features, and Moderation
-> Users can post, comment, edit, and delete posts / threads inside of topics (bumping posts also works).
-> Admins can lock and pin threads inside of topics.
-> Admins can send users warnings, issue suspensions and bans, and review report tickets.
-> Users can report users.
-> Users can block other users.
-> Users can send messages, add friends, and ping one another on the forums.
-> Notification system for said events.
Item and Coveling Inventories
-> Users can view their inventory of items.
-> Need to fix a graphical bug of the inventories.
-> Users can filter their inventory based on item type.
-> Users can view and move items into the storage section of their inventory.
-> Users can move items to their Covelings' inventories.
-> Users can remove items from their Covelings' inventories.
-> Users can equip tools and wearables to their Covelings.
-> Users can give consumables, toys, and other items to their Covelings for various effects.
Site-Wide Features
-> There is a day and night cycle for each 24-hour period, each phase will have a given weather condition.
-> Predicted weather will be forecasted weekly, but can change based on in-game events.
-> Seasons will change with real-life months accordingly: Jan - Apr (Spring), May - Aug (Summer), Sept - Oct (Autumn), Nov - Dec (Winter).
Daily Activities
-> Once a day, users can take on a town quest from Town Hall, which will reward them in Crescents and possibly items.
-> For each main area, a Coveling can be sent to gather materials and resources from that area, for a period of 1 - 4 hours. You can unlock additional slots as your reputation with that area improves.
-> Once a day, users can collect their interest at the bank.
Weekly Activities
-> Once a week, a user can send out 1 - 3 pets on a special expedition.
-> Each week, for each area, you can complete quests to improve area reputation, collect items, and currency that will reset at the end of the week.
Marketplace and User Trading
-> Users can make listings on the marketplace, view other users' listings, view offers, and accept trades.
-> Users can visit shops that reset their stock every couple of minutes.
-> Basic system created, just need to populate the shops.
-> Donation shop, food shop, and toy shop.
-> Users can privately send items to one another.
Alpha Testing (Near Future)
Alpha testing will start after pre-alpha development is complete, bringing on a small group of individuals to test features as they're implemented. I’m not sure how I’ll choose these players or how many there’ll be, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Additionally, this is when I plan to do even more asset and content creation, and fixing bugs, typos, and other mishaps with the help of our alpha testers!
Visual Updates
-> Update visual style of the site, mainly the navigation bar, page content, and buttons, as these are the oldest features.
-> Need to implement better mobile support - developing an app sounds like fun!
-> Add the ability to go into light / dark mode and change between 1 - 3 site themes. Put this under the account page?
-> An example of my current design style is shown below, I’d like to do something cute and clean like this, but with a few colors.
World Map
-> A world map will be created to make the exploration of the site more interesting. This will most likely be done with some sort of grid image system.
-> A work-in-progress map can be seen below.
Collections and Alpha-Only Items
-> A collectable system is added with various items: plushies, bestiary, profession / skills trophies, and other event items.
-> Additionally, alpha-only items and Covelings will be released to testers, and additional alpha-only crafted items and loot will be possible to collect.
Daily Activities+
-> Once a day, per Coveling, users can interact with their Coveling to raise their affection level.
-> Once a day, per Coveling, users can take on a Coveling quest, completing which will raise affection level and trigger a random event.
-> Once a day, per Coveling, users can use specialty items to affect relationships between Covelings.
Marketplace and User Trading+
-> Users can list their Covelings on the trade market.
-> Users can privately send Covelings to one another.
-> Users can hire other user’s Covelings to do activities for them for a given price (takes the same amount of time or more, though).
-> Users can put unwanted Covelings in the Adoption Center and receive a small amount of Crescents. Other users can adopt these Covelings for an Adoption Ticket.
Adventuring and Battling
-> Covelings can have battle items equipped based on given stats, which functions as a loose class system. They can also unlock class-specific actions.
-> Players can create their adventure party, equip and unequip battle items, and organize the Covelings in the party.
-> There are 2 - 3 adventuring areas for users to explore and fight various enemies and gather items.
-> Users can craft weapons, armor, and other adventuring equipment.
Professions and Skills
-> Each Coveling can have 2+ professions, and also has access to 4 different base skills. These professions and skills are the main source of materials and resources used in crafting and progression.
-> Professions and Skills can now be leveled up and perform specific tasks, in addition to previous features.
-> Additionally, daily and weekly town quests will now include profession-specific requests.
Beta Testing (Distant Future)
This phase will have a larger group of players to help revise current systems and adding the final core features to the site. A lot of this phase will involve balancing gameplay and progression through activities and content.
This is when I’d also like to establish seasonal events, a premium currency / shop system, and user-made items and Coveling skins.
Banner Credit [x]
18 notes
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Basic Moderation System Complete!
Did quite a bit today involving the database and moderation features, pretty pleased with the progress! Just need to implement the code to keep players from posting when muted, logging in while banned, etc. Implementation is complete! ;D
There are more pictures in the devlog, read it for yourself here!
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Plans for 2024
Hi all! Long time no see! I knew starting my master's would take up a lot of time, but it's been way more than I expected, haha. I finally finished my finals this week and have way less work to do, and have been itching to work on the site for a while now.
I've fixed a few bugs with some of the pages (namely the shop page had a syntax error...), as well as went through and catalogued everything that needs to be worked on. There are a handful of little things that need to be fixed, as well as some smaller features I've been putting on the back burner that I want to work on. Namely, I'm planning to make the pages for the moderation system, which has been on my todo list for months now.
I also made a small visual update for the map page since it's been ugly for a long time and I don't have plans to implement the map page properly yet (you can now access the basic shops, as well).
If I have time, I plan to also work on some of the remaining pre-alpha tasks. I'd really love to start working on the day-night cycle, but we'll have to see how that goes as it's something I've never done before!
I also made a post on the devlog on Crescent Cove, which you can take a look at here! (I might add to it later today though~)
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Plans for 2024
Hi all! Long time no see! I knew starting my master's would take up a lot of time, but it's been way more than I expected, haha. I finally finished my finals this week and have way less work to do, and have been itching to work on the site for a while now.
I've fixed a few bugs with some of the pages (namely the shop page had a syntax error...), as well as went through and catalogued everything that needs to be worked on. There are a handful of little things that need to be fixed, as well as some smaller features I've been putting on the back burner that I want to work on. Namely, I'm planning to make the pages for the moderation system, which has been on my todo list for months now.
I also made a small visual update for the map page since it's been ugly for a long time and I don't have plans to implement the map page properly yet (you can now access the basic shops, as well).
If I have time, I plan to also work on some of the remaining pre-alpha tasks. I'd really love to start working on the day-night cycle, but we'll have to see how that goes as it's something I've never done before!
I also made a post on the devlog on Crescent Cove, which you can take a look at here! (I might add to it later today though~)
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Working on a sidebar. Unfortunately, the tabs I was going to use aren't quite working the way I'd like, so I'll have to either find a new way to implement it, or go with a different option for how I'll display information on the sidebar.
We'll have to see!
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Working on a sidebar. Unfortunately, the tabs I was going to use aren't quite working the way I'd like, so I'll have to either find a new way to implement it, or go with a different option for how I'll display information on the sidebar.
We'll have to see!
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Site Themes
Been working on some themes for the site while doing some redesign! A revamp of the site's nav bar and home page has been long overdue, since it was the first thing written way back when. Need to work on the fonts, but I'm pleased so far. I've also been working on making the site a tad more mobile-friendly! >:D
Which is your favorite? I personally really like the "default" one, but the dark theme is really simple and clean to look at! Is there a color combo you'd like to see?
Ignore the half baked banner image, I made it with my laptop's touchpad, haha. Also, everything here is a work-in-progress and will probably change.
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I'm sorry but you could have genuinely done colored blocks or circles instead of literally stealing artwork/assets. It just doesn't look good on you as a developer and a site.
I mean yeah, definitely. If I could go back and change things, I would. I was like 16 (for reference I'm nearly 22 now) when I drew the assets that people pointed out - many assets, both ones on the site and on my private computer that I removed, I don't even remember drawing. I do feel bad about it, and Krisgoat and I have talked and worked everything out, as of a day ago. However, I don't think hiding it is a good way to go about it either, it doesn't sit right with me to just delete and censor anything related to it. We see enough of that in our everyday lives and personally I find it a relief when someone is genuinely like "yeah, I fucked up."
I used to be very, very insecure about my art, and would usually only have 1 - 2 references for a drawing. In hindsight it was obviously bad practice, but I wasn't really involved in the online art community nor had friends or mentors who were artists, I had to learn more or less on my own until I was 19 or so.
CC started out as a Goatlings clone for me to learn off of. I wasn't exactly in the best place at the time, and they were an escape for me. I had thought I had removed everything that was either linked from Goatlings directly (and Flight Rising) or that were heavily referenced. I did this before I started hosting the site, around a year ago.
Clearly, I missed a handful of things. Realizing that was a punch in the gut, and I felt incredibly stupid for overlooking them, especially the mouse plushies. Sometimes, when you work with something for years, without anyone else to give input, you get tunnel vision. That's one of the main reasons I started this blog, and clearly I needed feedback haha.
However, what's done is done, and I'm at peace with it. I can acknowledge my shitty actions in the past, and feel okay knowing I'm not the same person today. I think putting developers up on a pedestal and not allowing people to grow from their mistakes is a toxic mindset that's been made much worse in recent years by the prevalence of social media. Obviously, people make mistakes, all the time. People do shitty things, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're shitty people.
I've already apologized to those who deserved to hear it from me, namely Krisgoat, and have discussed the best ways to move forward in good standing with Goatlings (which are already in progress). I'm much more comfortable with my skills as an artist and developer than I used to be, and this project will continue for myself first and foremost, as this has always been a passion project, and of course it's also for anyone else that weigh my actions and still decide to stick around.
There's a lot of things I could've done instead, certainly, but I can't turn back time. The only thing I can do now is show those who are willing to listen that I'm someone who's respectable and worth their time. There are definitely some people who are going to turn away, and that's fine.
Regardless, Crescent Cove will continue to exist for as long as I can afford to run it, as it has up until now. I'd love nothing more than to share it with others, if they're willing.
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Site Themes
Been working on some themes for the site while doing some redesign! A revamp of the site's nav bar and home page has been long overdue, since it was the first thing written way back when. Need to work on the fonts, but I'm pleased so far. I've also been working on making the site a tad more mobile-friendly! >:D
Which is your favorite? I personally really like the "default" one, but the dark theme is really simple and clean to look at! Is there a color combo you'd like to see?
Ignore the half baked banner image, I made it with my laptop's touchpad, haha. Also, everything here is a work-in-progress and will probably change.
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Little logo I’ve been working on today. Was trying to make it look like some of those nautical logos with a minimalist aesthetic. I think it’s cute! I’m sure I’ll change it in the future but I’m still pleased with the results.
Has some color variations as well because I’m indecisive. :’>
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