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[DreamTulip]

A new day, new updates:

A Word from Sara
July 4th, 2008

We want to thank everyone in our community for your overwhelming support of our Founder's Members program and V.I.P. Pass.

Our goal is to be an involved good citizen in our community and so we also want to thank VFKFanForums.com for their support and participation in the Virtual Family Kingdom Founder's Member and V.I.P. Pass program.

We would also like to express our gratitude to VFKGadget.com for their excellent companion program to the Virtual Family Kingdom.

Again, our thanks to all our community and especially our most excellent beta testers for making all of this become a reality. When we all come together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish!

Sara
Virtual Family Kingdom




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A Note from the Developers
July 4th, 2008

With the introduction of our map inspired by our community we have all of the major elements in our new virtual world. Now that we have the structure and major elements in place we are transitioning to Release Candidate One.

Later today, about 5:00 PM Pacific time, just before dusk on the east coast (an excellent time to start a fireworks display), we will open our fireworks game. As you all know, our last minute testing can always reveal some bug which will result in something being delayed, but we are planning on 5:00 PM Pacific time. As you already know, we always strive for something that is new and innovative, and usually a bit beyond our reach!

Over the next two days we will also be adding a lot of new elements which complete our base elements, not the least of these will be the ability to finally sit down and blink.

We will also add IM this weekend, which is the basis for our groups and clubs!

In addition, we will also bid goodbye to the ubiquitous "pink couch" label and the bug in the Audubon Wildlife Adventure game which makes the last question always wrong.

On a more prosaic note, we have also completed the re-factoring of our basic engine again which will make all rooms load significantly quicker. This update is planned for Friday night.

This should be another exciting weekend in our virtual world!

Your Development Team
Virtual Family Kingdom

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Also, we are out of Beta and now in Gamma...


Quest prizes are on home page.

Happy 4th of July

~Dream

-BTW, is it ok to start a new day or is that a mod only job?  Sorry if it is...

[Purpleduck]

-BTW, is it ok to start a new day or is that a mod only job?  Sorry if it is...

Nope, anyone can start threads!  However, as Beta is over, I will change the title of your thread, as Adventure and I have spoken about how we will carry this VFK section of the board forward.

[Adventuredaz]

Interesting LOL - my desk top is on July 4th Gamma my lap top is on July 3rd Beta day 43 

[Purpleduck]

Interesting LOL - my desk top is on July 4th Gamma my lap top is on July 3rd Beta day 43 

LOL, you are just SO into keeping up, now you are keepng "back" too?

[Adventuredaz]

Good news, as of right now - no items were added for sale or removed from sale.   
should this go under new items as a non-event

[Purpleduck]

Good news, as of right now - no items were added for sale or removed from sale.   
should this go under new items as a non-event

ROFL!!  Do you have pics?  Smart azz!

[AmberDaze]

Wait! Wait! I have an event! The purple barrel special was switched to orange (was it always this way?) The orange barrel shows the purple color and the purple barrel shows an orange color, but they both turn out to be orange barrels. But I didn't triple check it b/c I didn't want to end up with 3 orange barrels rofl. 

[Adventuredaz]

They have been mixed up since the first day they were sold but always gave you the oposite of the picture labeled correctly - pictured wrong

- a few map mis-spellings have also been pointed out to the staff desert - dessert, blacksmith - blactsmith

Also home page has not updated off Beta  - including not opened the door to wait list and new registrations. 
- If anyone is not yet in, for one of those reasons - if you are interested I would call to see if they will get you in.  My bet would be they will find a way.

interesting they have given special thanks to certain people for outside projects not surprising but it does leave you wondering   Not they they would need to be any deeper over their head but they could have easily incorporated those projects into their game as part of official development.  Several games have built in forums where they can keep strict control over content if they wish as well if the controls on gadget are inportant enough to be sanctioned, then maybe they should have been added to the game.  just a few  comments LOL

[AmberDaze]

Ah, I wasn't aware...drat, thought I made a discovery. Tiger just answered my question... *sigh sigh* Carry on, nothing to see here... 

[Bugdozer]

Hi,

What exactly has changed to make this Gamma besides the wording on a screen. It is being reported that Gail at VFK (lady that answers the phone) is now saying that the waiting list of people will not open today and will open up sometime next week. So besides the map last night I see nothing that would really indicate we are in a new stage. If I am missing something please let me know.

Bug

[Purpleduck]

Hi,

What exactly has changed to make this Gamma besides the wording on a screen. It is being reported that Gail at VFK (lady that answers the phone) is now saying that the waiting list of people will not open today and will open up sometime next week. So besides the map last night I see nothing that would really indicate we are in a new stage. If I am missing something please let me know.

Bug

Adventure mentioned this also in his last post.  Like almost everything else, they are behind yet again.

[Adventuredaz]

This does not surprise me that there is little difference between yesterday and today - I did think they would open the doors since Beta is done (in theory) Problem is as has been pointed out they really are not done and ready to introduce it to the public (although 50,000 people would be pretty public) 

I think a lot of this is related to things that go back to the beginning with regard to handling and marketing and special thanks going out akwardly.  This is my opinion - and I am by the way satisfied with the development of the game to this point as well as the direction of development.  I also think it's their game and they will decide if they want lava lamps or what type of flags to give and all those details.  however a lot of this Beta Gamma pay to play Opening - not opening is smoke and mirrors.   I don't know if they want the ill effect of it (making unkept promise statements) but I know they want the positive effect of the promises. 

By saying beta is over they were able to meet a goal that they may have promised people (i.e. investors - staff, share holders?) Also it allowed them to sell memberships which could show a revenue stream for the same people. I estimate it brought in around $ 200K

You can argue wheather they have a business plan or if its any good but I am sure they do have one.  Orginization of the development has seemed a little speratic at times but this was probably driven by the promises to money people. 

Staff is saying clothing is being worked on and could be out today or in a few days...clearly this interface is not ready and would be a big reason to not open the doors really.  If they open the game to reviews it would be a poor gamer review most likely. 

I don't want to say I will be surprised to see the forth of July game tonight but...I would not plan my evening around it.  If it opens, someone will post the details I am sure. 


So in short really nothing is changed from yesterday true and a lot of work remains for the staff and developers at VFK.  I think we could make a list a few pages long of what they need to do and work on ... but we do have a game that we can play. BTW I count like 41 know staff in the game so they have a lot of people riding on this.

[littlebelle]

Well You can always stop by my animated clock. If you get bored standing around. I took a pic but it lacks the beating of the beach balls that you can imagine it going tick tock tic tock.

[littlebelle]

 :what:Just wondering what gamma and delta mean.  And I did find it funny that when I read that one person thought the zeta gals will get all excited when we get to Zeta trial.

[Adventuredaz]

:what:Just wondering what gamma and delta mean.  And I did find it funny that when I read that one person thought the zeta gals will get all excited when we get to Zeta trial.

That was a joke poking at the way they have chose to do this.  Usually they would open the doors and call ir RC1 not Gamma.  If I were them I would have dropped that from the load screen in favor of just the load bars and the date for those that need help with if it's today or yesterday   No need to advertise Gamma its not a normal designation for a game that is released for pay to play.  Athough Sociotown charges for beta charging for things that are unfinished comes off wrong to some people.  I have seen people ask for donations to participate in "free" games and I always found that odd but thats me.

As far as what it means each release of programs get some designation Alpha (internal testing) is usually pre-release testing to a small group of people or just developers then they open to a selected group of the public (external testing) this is  Beta. If they continue to want to call it testing they will ofter call it Beta Phase I , Phase II and so on rather then calling it gamma, Delta, epsilon, digamma, Zeta.  There are a lot of ways to go about Beta testing - this was not a standard beta by most peoples standards.  One thing is clear expectations and scheduling and feedback was not always up to that of a standard Beta program - but then one could argue that it was more then VMK did which was true except it was more of a finished program in terms of functionality of the features and games. They did expand a lot after finishing beta.  VFK put a lot of focus on expanding the world and developing pay features rather then working on the common features and functionality and additional games.  We don't really know where they are on some of these things behind the scenes.  They outlined what they are doing and altimately Gold is when charging would generally start not during continued testing and Gold should be soon after you have a RC out.  Much of this is my understanding of how it works and I am sure many know more then I about the process.

[PrincessWendyBird]

OK, I just have to say how impressed I am by some things in this game. I know there are some functional features which need to be added. I also understand that this beta is different from others people have experienced. We have no past experience there, so I guess we are just enjoying watching things grow. I am not just cheerleading here - there are many things I hope will be added/changed and there are some things we have wished they might have done differently. But overall, we have been pleased. I stood in the park for a while this evening just watching VFK_Legend helping players. She was giving titles, changing titles, answering questions, all with a warmth and kindness which really impressed me. I saw some interactions which really made me feel very sure about the kind of people these are. Something I already knew really from several phone calls I have had to make to them. I stood for a while just watching as she helped person after person - it was interesting and also very nice to see. I just wanted to share that because to me this says a lot. I know some will say that these things should have already been taken care of, but I am glad to see them making such an effort to be with their community and fix things. 

Oh, also, Legend did say that they will be adding a delete feature to people's family lists. They originally planned to allow people to delete once a week, but are adding it as a permanent feature. She did joke that they were not expecting so many people to be deleting family members already. 

Hugs and Happy 4th of July everyone! 

[Adventuredaz]

Rofl - that boot from the family is rough. - I think this is questionable - if they will allow adding and removing I say thats fine but limit the goodies to 20 and add the password change feature.

Princess, as I said I am happy with the progress at this time but they clearly are not where they lead us to think they would be today and followed it up with a list of stuff to expect by Monday. I am not upset or mad just makes it difficult to know what to expect.  We used to Bash Yavn pretty good when he missed stuff - doesn't matter just alot of kids have expectations built up so I guess the long nights have not ended for the staff.  It my sound like I am down on them but this is the point where they have to put up - I am still pretty possitive but they will have more scrutiny from a lot of places moving forward. 

The word right now is the game is not up - the team is "working on the waiting list" and then the game will be up - this was regular VFK staff take it for what you want. 

ETA:from hom page added to the developers note
P.S.
For all of our existing Beta testers, we want you to know that we are running behind on including the new fireworks game, but we felt is was important to complete our testing so that all those on the waiting list could be included today.

With any luck, we should still have the game up this evening!

so staff had the correct story

[PrincessWendyBird]

Oh, Add, I wasn't even commenting toward any post here. I think your opinions with the game are spot on. I do expect for them to get things going. Calling a spade a spade is not being down on the game, it is the truth. I think I was just posting in a moment where I had seen some really touching interactions between a developer and some players who I know were kids. I felt really happy at that point to be playing a game where this was happening. I agree they need to start being accountable and the "we are working on it" will only fly so far. 

Oh, and the family boot issue. We are waiting for them to get the delete feature added and we are going to "test" with a mule what happens when you add and delete. We do not plan on placing mules in the family, so we figured it would be a way to find out what happens to items, etc. Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

[Purpleduck]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

[Cawa]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

 

[Happy]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

 

Yes,  (Hugs King!)

[PrincessWendyBird]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

  Well, I was thinking more of the family members I couldn't choose...but this will work.  

[Adventuredaz]

Snap! it was a different developer note all together I posted the ps but forgot the meat

July 4th, 2008

We have just completed testing of our new maps, and everything is working great!

As we have completed our testing, we have updated the registration database to include all of those who are on our waiting list.

To complete your registration and create your character, click on the Register button.

So for all of those who have been so kind and patient on our waiting list, we want to welcome you to Virtual Family Kingdom!

Remember when you are creating your login that your user name can be different from your character name, or they can be the same.

For our existing Beta testers, if you have friends or family who are on the waiting list, please let them know that they can now register. We will also be sending out an email to let those on the waiting list know that they can register now.

We look forward to seeing you in the kingdom, have a great 4th of July!

[littlebelle]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

I was thinking the same thing but for my own hubby

[Purpleduck]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

I was thinking the same thing but for my own hubby

  I wish mine played, so I might have this chance!

[Happy]

Oh, and that family boot feature may come in handy in real life! 

  Hmm.. picturing Wendy's finger hovering over the delete button, holding the "honey do list" against King!!

I was thinking the same thing but for my own hubby

  I wish mine played, so I might have this chance!

Is this where Little Belle's VFK Clock Room comes in to play? (While Wendy has finger over delete button)...King...the clock is ticking....

[Purpleduck]

Hmm.. so this is Gamma?

Seems not only did they not shut off being on overnight (as stated as a perk for VIP).. but it is not single player mode either.  I have been on since 8 this morning, seeing and talking with many players 

[aengus]

By saying beta is over they were able to meet a goal that they may have promised people (i.e. investors - staff, share holders?) Also it allowed them to sell memberships which could show a revenue stream for the same people. I estimate it brought in around $ 200K

Do you really think 4081 people paid out of 18,000 accounts?  Some of the 18,000 have to be in the same family, so the total number of househoulds has to be a significantly less # than that.   

[littlebelle]

Hmm.. so this is Gamma?

Seems not only did they not shut off being on overnight (as stated as a perk for VIP).. but it is not single player mode either.  I have been on since 8 this morning, seeing and talking with many players 

And now you tell us 

[Adventuredaz]

By saying beta is over they were able to meet a goal that they may have promised people (i.e. investors - staff, share holders?) Also it allowed them to sell memberships which could show a revenue stream for the same people. I estimate it brought in around $ 200K

Do you really think 4081 people paid out of 18,000 accounts?  Some of the 18,000 have to be in the same family, so the total number of househoulds has to be a significantly less # than that.   

I base my number on the transaction numbers they gave at purchase which as people I knew purchased ollowed a normal tajectory.  I expect it was around 4,000 accounts paid for - with like an average of 4-5 people in each family group.  I have no real numbers to go off of but I see a lot of hats so 18K sounds about right.   I did not call it good bad or ugly - only that it was probably something they promised investors that they achieved a + side on the balance sheet.

Hmm.. so this is Gamma?

Seems not only did they not shut off being on overnight (as stated as a perk for VIP).. but it is not single player mode either.  I have been on since 8 this morning, seeing and talking with many players   

They did shut down at close and were in single player mode till at least 3:30 am est.  I expected a live tiest - that is what you experienced I am sure but they waited till early morning to do it I guess instead of late night.
I am not clear how the VIP thing will work I think we can only talk to people in our family or group.

[littlebelle]

By saying beta is over they were able to meet a goal that they may have promised people (i.e. investors - staff, share holders?) Also it allowed them to sell memberships which could show a revenue stream for the same people. I estimate it brought in around $ 200K

Do you really think 4081 people paid out of 18,000 accounts?  Some of the 18,000 have to be in the same family, so the total number of househoulds has to be a significantly less # than that.   

Well it depends how it figures out. Because what Add was saying when they registered they got a confimation number. Which we think tells us how many regisiered.

[aengus]

dont you get multiple hats per pay?

and dont forget the # of people that quit in that 18,000 which seems like a signifcant amount of people in that time.

I bet they dont have 10,000 active players right now,  the announcement of the 48 hour sale was also in the middle of one of the biggest vacation weeks also.   Many players simply were not home.    I cant imagine they got more than 1500 people to sign up.

Of course I am making numbers up also ROFL   my guess is no better than yours

[littlebelle]

yes you can add family and all get hats. But the registration number is only for one person.

[Purpleduck]

Hmm.. so this is Gamma?

Seems not only did they not shut off being on overnight (as stated as a perk for VIP).. but it is not single player mode either.  I have been on since 8 this morning, seeing and talking with many players 

And now you tell us 

  Just following your example you set for me gf!

[aengus]

someone just pointed out that the biggest vfk site only has 1600 people on it. 

now we (we being vmk) were their only audience.  they only advertised on vmk fan sites, and on the save vmk site.

so forum people are the majority of their audience its safe to say.  If you can only come up with a couple thousand people on all the sites then I think I would lower my esitmate pretty drastically.

The # of hats can be very misleading

of course  all this is, is another guess ROFL

[funfly]

That 1600 people on the biggest vfk site you state, is that registered only?

Just wondering, because I was guest on lots of sites before I ever registered with one.

I found VMK before I found any forum sites, never became member at forum sites until well after, and then not at all of them.

[Adventuredaz]

someone just pointed out that the biggest vfk site only has 1600 people on it. 

now we (we being vmk) were their only audience.  they only advertised on vmk fan sites, and on the save vmk site.

so forum people are the majority of their audience its safe to say.  If you can only come up with a couple thousand people on all the sites then I think I would lower my esitmate pretty drastically.

The # of hats can be very misleading

of course  all this is, is another guess ROFL

Numbers can be inflated or padded and twisted however.  We know one thing for a fact - We will never get the true number from the true source.  Even the 50 K -  If they had that many pre-registered clearly many (possibly 10's of thousands) were mules - a good share possibly were from registration errors - I know several people that tried once, it did not work and they did it again never to get the other back.  

Gadget boasts 4500 users - yet is this unique downloads - how can he account for that number - and why is it even important.  And as far as forums numbers go - I would not use that as a guage. Also since people are double on my list in the game - are they counting everyone in the game twice?

I would like to see a real time number - but I know I have over 150 people on my friends list most were people I knew from VMK - I still have many that did not join the game as well however.when I visit I may find 15-30 people online - not too different from VMK in my experience - numbers spike when there is something new or quests. Since we don't get a list of instances or how full they are, all I can add is many people are visiting briefly each day and just seeing whats going on if anything is new and are their frinds around.  Where many of us did 8+ hours in VMK most of us may only jump in for an hour here or there and divide our time between this an other games.

In the long run these numbers aren't that important to the users.  (obviously they are important to survival along with sustainability and growth) What is important to the users is that we are entertained, find friends we enjoy and feel the game has an atmosphere that we can enjoy.  There are some other important factors - most of us that have decided we will give the game an oportunity will be happy to see progress with the development - new games, new areas, more events, better function, more customization.  Time will tell, I did not come with high expectations and I try to remain hopefull and realistic. I did not  get any gaurantee from anyone that this would fly or how much speed it needs to pretend it has in order to fly.

[Purpleduck]

Okay Belle, this is "right now", if that's soon enough for you

Again, I am on VFK after hours, and chatting as I did before, with others on the maps and the bird game.. which is what I encountered so early yesterday morning.  So again, appears the VIP perk is not active, as I was able to get on and play despite not being a VIP, and not in a single player version.

[littlebelle]

thanks gf but hubby and I did not get back from the drive in to 2:00 am