Update: Thursday, February 14, 2013

Week One (and a bit)

2/14/2013

Just over a week has passed since the old version closed, and it has been a very intense week for us. With so many more now roaming the new world, several things have become clearer this week.

We first of all want to send a big thank you for hanging in there through the process and the changes. And on that path, here is a collected list of recent changes made. We hope you like them, and that you’ll stick around to see what more is coming!

Item trade for everyone

Everyone can now trade & give items to each other. This was originally VIP only in the new version, but has now been changed back to being open to everyone. 

Next <> Previous on Show Details page
Once again, you can move between shows directly on the details page for them. This is available both on the upcoming shows for an artist, and also on the upcoming shows for a club.

More Booking Management for Club owners
Club owners can now change ticket price, rider etc. directly on the show details page of the artist.
In addition, the columns of the upcoming shows list of the club are now sortable, meaning you can quickly sort on for example ticket price to find new bookings.

University finder (VIP)
The University Finder is back! You can find it on the Help page, in the Tools section.

Locale Management
There are things to be improved here, and one of them is out. Since a couple of days, you have a new view when looking at your company, called Employments. There, you see all the locales in the company listed, along with how many employees and open positions they have respectively. For any club chain owner or treasurer, this one might save a bunch of torn hairs.

Success rate of Skills
In the old version of the game you had very (freakishly) high chance of succeeding at for example making horoscopes, even if you weren’t very skilled at it. The success rate in the new version was made to better reflect your skill, but as it used to be so much easier this has meant a big drop for many. We have made it a little bit more forgiving again (although not back to the previous levels), and will keep watching to find the right balance.

What else....? There are a few other things too, but that is enough for one CN. Go test and hope you enjoy!

Update: Sunday, February 10, 2013

Community Checkup
2/10/2013

Sssshh... don’t tell anyone I’m here. You see, I’m not entirely sure I’m allowed to do this, but I decided to hijack the spotlight for a minute just to see how you’re all doing? What with the old version being closed and all, I mean.

Is it a relief to not have shows and people split over two different versions anymore, or are you spending most your time feeling as lost as when you were 16 and just stepped out of your mom’s garage for the first time?

If the latter is the case, you might like to know that all three Developers have ears wide open right now (I even saw Jonas try to tape an ear trumpet to his head, I swear..), and that the coming weeks will have full priority on adding what is missing, and to make things smoother and easier to use.

Meanwhile, if you have any big concerns, questions etc, do come by one of the Community Centre threads! There is one each in the English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish and Italian General forums. I will try to scoot around the other forums as much as I can too, but those threads are where I am certain to be found.

Yipes. I better take off. I think I hear them coming!

/Tonya Cullen
(a.k.a. your currently slightly manic Community Manager)

Update: Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Importing relationships revisited
2/6/2013

As of half an hour back or so, importing relationships from the old version now imports the other side of the relationship, i.e the one you've been working on while interacting. This should hopefully remove some of the confusion and frustration you've been feeling.

As for all other urgent matters, we are attacking them one by one, one at a time (well, three at a time to be precise). Please be as patient as you can.

Update: Tuesday, February 05, 2013

What? Already?
2/5/2013

We've now taken the old version of Popmundo offline to see if the servers can handle everyone playing the new version only. If you run into an essential core game problem please report it as a bug and we'll try to take care of it as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding missing features or similar please take a look at the help section and you might find an answer there. You can also visit the forums and partake in the discussions going on about the new version. Don't forget to visit your account details and character settings pages to select the settings which suit you the best. This is especially important for anyone who wants to reduce the number of confirmations and clicks when playing the game or those who want to play using the retro skin. Thanks for reading!

Update: Thursday, January 31, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-31

Brave New World Nearly all of the features from the old version have been implemented in the new version now. At this point, having the old version running alongside the new one is slowing down the continued development of the game. Therefore, early next week we will close down the old version of Popmundo that so many of us know and love. If you have any pressing matters to take care of there which you can't do in the new version we urge you to do so now before it's too late. There are a few things which have yet to make it to the new version, most of these are minor like photo albums & plastic surgery. But there are also a couple of big ones which will make a return to the game when they are ready for the new version. The most obvious ones being crime, the supreme court, competitions, and It's Pop. Criminal features, similar to the ones we've always had, will be added to the new version, but slightly altered to protect the core game better. In the future these will become part of a new and much more advanced crime game within the Popmundo Universe. Before these missing things are properly implemented however, we will focus on making the core game run smoother for everyone and especially for newbies. We will also see some needed changes to the dynamics of some parts of the core game like songs, star quality snuggles, shows etc. The political arena and the effects of zones, polution, day workers etc will also be focused on in the months to come. There is also work to be done to simplify the navigation of the game and reduce the number of clicks in important areas like companies and clubs especially. We're also still missing a proper default skin which isn't all... dull and grey. However, we do hope some of you will enjoy the retro skin that's available if you check out your account settings. We like to think of it as our security blanket for anyone troubled by this new chapter in Popmundo history. Other new stuff we've added this week is item trade for everyone, not just the VIP, artist marketing, and the possibility to move contracts between record studios that you own yourself. There won't only be tweaks and fixes in the near future though. There's also some time reserved for some brand new things which we've been tinkering on forever. A Hall of Fame and a new type of locale or two... but we won't spoil any surprises now. See you on the flip side!

Update: Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-30

Exquisite Sex Criminals Exquisite Sex Criminals put the X in the Tenth Popmundo Festival by playing the best show ever in Popmundo history! Valkyrie came second, and Northern Influence third. We congratulate these worthy winners on scoring a whopping 2-3 levels higher than a regular God Smackingly Glorious show. Thanks to all other contenders who also put on stellar performances to make the Tenth Popmundo Festival such a memorable event. We wish you all a speedy recovery after your intense touring schedules, back stage parties, and excessively loving groupies. Thanks for playing!

Update: Friday, January 25, 2013

Developer News   2013-01-25

Let the Games Begin The start of the Tenth Popmundo Festival is only hours away. Le Petit Cafard is the first band to step up on the stage in Chicago to show the world who's boss. We wish them, and all the other 49 contestants, the best of luck as they get ready to play the best shows Popmundo has ever seen. May the best band win!