News

Season's Greetings

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Created: Sunday, 20 December 2015 03:03

Written by Cironir

Everyone at Dragon's Eye Productions and Catnip Studios wishes you very Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year! We appreciate you tremendously, and we hope your wishes come true in 2016!

There's exciting stuff to do in Furcadia over the Holidays!

The big highlight is that we have the preview version ready for the coming update! Second Dreaming World is currently open for you to try out and help test the new features and 32bit editors! Of course you can also just enjoy the updated maps (have you seen the new Allegria Island yet?) and chill with your friends while the family goes crazy!

We've also recently announced the Winter Festival Contests! Join the friendly competition and share your creativity with the whole community, and win many Golden DragonScales. Use the new 32bit editors to make a cool Dream and Patches, write a cute Furcadia Carol, and color the adorable picture with "New Toys' on it!

Our Holiday "New Toys" Sale is in full force! If you're a lover of all things collectible, you'll love this event! It's also a great opportunity to complete your Digo collection as every single avatar will be 70% off during the holidays!

On December 16th this year, Furcadia had its 19th birthday bash! There were tons of awesome giveaways and everyone had a blast!

There's lots of roleplaying and socializing going on in Furcadia -- Check out the dreams and main maps, greet new players, and perhaps bring back some of your old friends to spend creative time with!

Thanks for being part of our community -- we <3 you & see you in 2016!

New Video Series

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Created: Wednesday, 16 December 2015 10:53

Written by Cironir

We've shown you screenshots, but now we're really showing you! Join Emerald Flame and Majas in the first video of our new series on Update 31a, The Second Dreaming - Part 1. In this series, you'll learn about what's new and how to use it! In today's 30-minute video we're giving you a general overview and talk about the major features of the coming update!

Watch the Video

Editing Dreams

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Created: Sunday, 08 November 2015 07:35

Written by Cironir

Today, we wanted to show you another in-progress glimpse of the new Dream Editor! Designed by Gar, with art by Majas and Muunokhoi, and programmed by Felorin, Farrier, Treeki, and Jeff, it is a great tool to create and maintain your dreams in their full 32-bit glory! One of the new features is that it switches smoothly between small and large size maps (see the switch at the top by the tabs).

(Full size picture)

We'll ship this new Dream Editor with the update so you can dive right into it. We also have plans for enhancements and features to make dream weaving even easier and more efficient. And this just in: Felorin finished work on 38 new DreamSpeak commands, which now enter the testing stage! Woohoo!

Great Balls of Fire

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Created: Friday, 30 October 2015 07:26

Written by Cironir

For the past two months, Rat The Unloved has been working on making the Direhound fly! The sitting and flying frames have new animations, and the laying poses feature small flames flickering around the pawsy feet! Animated 32-bit effects, no dithering!

It's included in our upcoming update! We waited so that we could use the 32-bit animations with translucent effects. It was so worth the wait!

Anyone who got a yearly Direhound avatar will soon receive an extra yearly Direhound on their rewards page, even if the old one expired already! That way you can enjoy the avatar with 32bit flames. Want a Direhound FOR LIFE? They're still available!

Fall 2015 Newsletter!

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Created: Sunday, 25 October 2015 07:15

Written by Cironir

Halloween is just around the corner, and that means it's Wolf Howl time in Furcadia! The updated Festival Dream opened just a few days ago! Not satisfied with just exploring and socializing? How about the Wolf Howl contests? That's right, as every year there are fantastic creativity contests that you can participate in! Whether you're a skilled Dreamweaver, an established (or infamous) cook (really writer!), love pumpkin carving, are great with sounds, there's a category for you to enter. Attractive prizes and fame await!

In the Summer Newsletter we mentioned Update 31a, which is just around the corner now! It's the first of the two major Second Dreaming updates that lay the ground for great things to come. If you haven't checked out our very, very long development video in late spring, or the Summer Newsletter, have a look at those! We'll also need help with the beta testing of the update. If you're interested, keep an eye on our news blog, Facebook, and Twitter!

The main objective of this update, besides laying down the foundation and updating the internal engine of Furcadia, is to get the 32-bit editors into everybody's paws. These editors will give everyone the ability to prepare their Dreams for 32-bit. Yes, the new Lighting included! Backers will also be able to load their new 32-bit Dreams! This update will also feature new Account logins and a new, modern web Character Editor with the ability to save out costumes. Additionally, most of the 6,000+ free default patches (plus some new art!) will be remodeled into 32-bit and included in the install to help you get your Dream ready for 32-bit in time for Update 31b!

As Felorin pointed out the other day, "They say the first 90% of a project takes 90% of the effort, the last 10% takes the other 90%. That's kinda true, only that second 90% is squeezed into even less time!" We're rather excited about the progress made, and we look forward to a possibly turbulent year full of great Furcadia milestones!

To keep you better updated, we've started to post more frequent news in our News Blog. The ones that are related to The Second Dreaming are for Backers and Sponsors only (you still have a little time to become a supporter!), but there will also be general news for everybody! Visit the blog frequently for updates and pictures!

Last but not least, we have started a new sales event where you can win huge prizes! Last month it was a Custom Avatar Space, and this month it is a Gold Sponsorship for Life. What the grand prize for November will be? We'll reveal it soon! Speaking of revealing: The Fireclaw avatar, a very magical tiger, is about to be kindled! The party for its introduction is scheduled for Monday, October 26th, at 7:00 PM Furcadia Time (that's the same as Central Time). Hope to see you there! Oh, and if you have missed it's arrival, the Buggie is here now, too!

That's it for this month! We wish you the very best and that life smiles on you, always.

News on News, and the Vinca!

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Created: Friday, 23 October 2015 02:13

Written by Cironir

Hello there, Ciro here!

Some of you expressed interest in getting more frequent updates on what's going on at the Furcadia HQ! We did a very (very!) long video just before summer that outlined our plans for this year (you can watch it here). We also sent out a newsletter in summer. All of this is still current, so have a look if you missed out before!

To bridge the time between those larger announcements, we'll start to post regular bite-sized News Snacks. Nothing big, really, just little bits of information to keep you in the loop. It's also an opportunity to tell you more about the team and what's going on the other end of the screen, If you have questions or suggestions for what you want to see here, drop me a note!

So, that out of the way, today's delicious News Snack (I like that term, so expect me to overuse it!) concerns the new Vinca! That's right! We told you about the new Allegria Island (pictures soon forthcoming to a blog near you), but we haven't made any noise about the remodelled Vinca yet!

Here's the sneak peek!

(Large picture)

This is just a brief glance at the updated 32-bit Vinca that Emerald Flame and Majas have been working on! It's the Light version of the Vinca! Yep, that means there will also be a Dark side with portals to the more shady maps, but we'll show you that later. You can also see the overhauled 32-bit editor interface here. It isn't completely done, but it's on the way to you! Yes, you'll get the new editors before some of the other updates so that you can prepare your dreams.

That's it for this week, furres!

Summer 2015 Newsletter!

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Created: Saturday, 15 August 2015 04:20

Written by Emerald Flame

Hope everyone is having a great Summer! (Or Winter for our friends Down-under!) :)

Furcadia has been busy celebrating summertime with M'rill's Festival of the Sun. It's still going and you can still play the games, quests and ride the barge in the Festival Grounds! Pretty soon though it will be time for Rameen and a huge Beach Party with Prime Jemmion. These festivals include some 32-bit patches and the new lighting for sneak peeks too!

Our theme this Summer is Mythical Dreaming and we have some awesome contests where you can earn many Golden Dragonscales! The Dream Contest encourages the use of player interactions and Mythical themes. For the art contest you get to design a Mythical Creature! You get a chance to write a Myth for the writing contest. For our social media contest we have a coloring page of the new Mythical Ferian Phoenix coming with the next update. The deadline for contests is the 23rd of August, so get your entries in soon!

In the mean time, the Dev Team has been very busy getting Update 31 - The Second Dreaming: Part 1 ready! This update is in the testing and bug fixes stage and is majorly cool! Not only will it include the new default avatars and default patches in 32-bit, it will give you all the editors to get your own Dreams ready for 32-bit, lighting and double-size! It should also include the sexy new Character Create/Edit with Costumes and Account login. There's new DS and a brand new Allegria Island map too! Behind the scenes we have a complete client, DreamEd and FoxEd overhaul! Exciting stuff, so watch for when Backers can start testing!

If you want all the details of what we've been working on you be sure to watch the Youtube live stream! Its very long but that is because we've been very, very busy and had a lot to show! You can also follow along with news on our other social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Twitchtv, Pinterest, Instagram, and Vine. Make sure you join the Furcadia social media site of your choice so you are in the know!

Our Coders have also been busy making many bug fixes to the CMS, Group Pages, Digo Market and other issues that come in through the ticket system. We really appreciate your feedback and your patience as we get everything working right. Changing the backend on almost every single system we have in Furcadia has created a lot of bugs but if we all work together we shall get them all ironed out!

The Second Dreaming Donations are still open with all their cool prizes at least for awhile yet! However, some of the items we created as new features are starting to appear on Digo Market. You can now get Custom Desctags and monthly Gold Sponsorship on Digo Market! We even have a very special prize this month for one lucky Digo Market customer: a Custom Avatar Space! The Angelcat and Direhound, of course, will never be sold on Digo Market.

Speaking of Digo Market, there are two new Minkins, the cute, magical Kitterkin and the adorable, diminutive Gryfkin! We also have a new Flutterbun, which you can use for free if you have a Lifer Noble Lapine and Lifer Butters and Bats for each gender. We've only put out two new avatars because we've been so busy putting out a whole new set of default avatars and wings which Backers and Sponsors can see in Naia of Second Dreaming World! And announced here first is our next avatar, the Adorapus!

Spring Newsletter!

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Created: Tuesday, 31 March 2015 21:09

Written by Emerald Flame

Happy Spring! This is just a quick Newsletter to let you know what is up as people have been asking! :)

Our big news is that The Second Dreaming donations (Kickstarter and Paypal combined) have reached the 250k funding level which adds the promise of the 32-bit Windows Furcadia client along with all default art being redone in 32-bit! Luckily, we knew this from the beginning and have already been working toward 32-bit along with all the other Second Dreaming features! :)

In celebration of reaching the 250k Goal, we are throwing a big party on Saturday April 4th and you all are invited! We will have a Free Digo Day for a whole week and lots of events in Pineapple Lake Resort. Additionally we will be running a live stream all day hosted by Felorin and Emerald Flame with presentations from all of the DEP staff updating you on their Second Dreaming projects! There are some really exciting new things that haven't been shown before!

You can still donate to the Dark Dreaming, but only for a bit longer. If you have your sights set on one of the rewards, now's the time to get it! We will talk a bit about our ideas for the future of fundraisers at the party on Saturday as well as tell you all about where the current features are at.

In case you haven't seen yet, Jujinka's Spring Festival is up with the awesome Kitterhouse Community Build, Maypole Dancing, Egg Hunt and a quest for a pet dragon egg! So much springtime fun to be had! Besides that, there are also the Spring Contests! The theme this year is 'Seeds of Hope' with contests for Dreams, 32-bit patch items, Palindromes, and an adorable coloring picture featuring Jujinka turning Ferians into Flerians by blessing them with magical seeds! There are many Golden Dragonscales to be won, so be sure to participate!

In avatar news we have a new addition to the Minkins, the hoppity Jerbokin. For Ferians we have a very cute little Hedgen and the adorable Bearling. On the Anthro side we went with a feisty and mischievous Raccoon avatar with a Steampunk flair. Also new this year, we started the Birthday Hoard Gem collection that you can collect from Dragons each month. Once you collect them all, you win Lifer Versions of your choice! You can find all these and fantastically fresh Spring Sales on Digo Market. Remember, although your donations help us build The Second Dreaming, Digo Market keeps the game running day to day!

We hope everyone has a lovely Spring (or Autumn if you are down under) and we hope to see you on Saturday!

~Happy Dreaming from Felorin, Emerald and the Team!

Welcome Koolpin!

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Created: Tuesday, 13 January 2015 22:04

Written by Emerald Flame

Yay! Koolpin has agreed to come help us on The Second Dreaming as a Junior Coder. He's a long time players and volunteer in the Scribes and Bugge Hunters but we really needed his help with Java Script! Be sure to tell him "Thank you" for volunteering his time to help us with all of these awesome new features! Below is a design mock-up by Gar for the new Character Create that Kool will be working on first.

As I said recently said, our whole team has moved into "Crunchmode" and are really on fire! So many very cool new features are being built. We are focusing right now on the editors and interfaces so you might not hear much from us in the next few months while we are working very hard!