New Release -- December 22nd, 2009

[wolfeden]

You messed up hte plowing and harvesting, put it back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[randolph65584]

Originally Posted by Raul

Hi There,

First, the Bert account was hacked recently and there were some posts made on his behalf, we are researching this issue now.

Second, we just released a new version of FarmTown a while ago. As stated before, we were going to focus mainly on the lost XP/Coins issues which are critical at this point. However, in order to minimize the lost XP/Coins issues, we had to make some changes to the way harvesting/plowing works when you are hired.

Before, when multiple people were hired on a farm, everybody starts clicking randomly on every field, and there are a lot of collisions, people harvesting/plowing on the same fields, as you don't see clearly where other people are working.

The new way is this, if you harvest fields that are close to where your avatar is, then your avatar will be teletransported and will be a very quick transition, it should be as quick or comparable to what it was before, however if you click on a field that is farther away, then you will have to wait until your avatar gets to that field to continue working.

This change will make that on some instances you work slower, on the other hand people get more dispersed while working on a farm, you can actually see them where they are working, and there will be much less collisions between them. This will also add another component to the game, now it's not just blindly clicking on the fields, you have to also consider the position of other players and your chances to avoid collisions and to get more work done. Now, when you click on a field that another player did before you, then you will see a message saying "already done", before, there was no feedback at all.

Of course, we know this release will cause a lot of complains as well, because in order to improve one area we had to change the behaivor on another area which some users will not like it, but compared to the issue of frequent losing more XP and coins, we just decided this was the way to go.

So far we have detected that there are 70% less issues with lost XP/coins that before, and it should improve with time even more.

As a separate note, the cursors on the game have been made larger and they don't get overlapped by other items on the game.

Thanks

--Raul

The problem with losing xp and coins was the users problem, for not being patient, not yours. If you want to make this game better, and are concerned with so many people being harvested on one field, then don't allow multiple hiring. The larger icons for the tools just gets in the way, and keeps people from using it correctly. There are more than a few complaints, the net is rampant with the problem. I fear that if the changes are not renegged, and soon, you are going to lose a lot of users, and very much so with me. I am not going to wait six hours to harvest my farm, I will either have it done before a time out or I will delete all of it.

[ed's farm123]

Originally Posted by Kelsey

The layered crops and plowing over trees were glitches - which we were allowed to take advantage of. I have not tested with my layers or trees, but if we are no longer able to do so, then we must be thankful for the time we were able to take advantage of said glitch and continue on as before.

I have layered crops, just tested, still works

haven't checked out the planting over trees yet. I'll go try that now.

[shaunzy]

I read the pages and understand what Raul is trying to do. But ... there should be a more efficient way to get the plowing done than the New! Improved! way things are going today. I have an old (4 years old!) computer that barely kept up with the plowing and harvesting pre-change. This new "change is for your own good" modification that was done is truly not in my best interest. I do NOT like what's happening.

[MizJenna]

Raul, thank you very much for explaining the situation. No, Im NOT too pleased with how things changed, but I DO understand the reason behind it. I was not one that lost money and points, but one of my dearest friends DID, and I felt so bad for him. Now, he wont worry about that.

I am also one who does NOT like "slobs" working with me LOL .. and this will avoid that. YAY. I always work in a pattern, methodical rows ... I like to be organized (sometimes too much so LOL) and THIS helps with THAT.

I hope it does get better though in the fact that it wasnt showing when someone else already did the work until AFTER you click .. and therefore got messages stating "already done" after doing a lot of work. that is the next glitch I hope is resolved lol but we shall see.

as for the poster who stated that they dont like how they can no longer layer plant and such? well hun, that was a glitch that we were able to take advantage of, and sometimes, we just need to feel lucky we had the chance to use the glitch when we did lol. it was just a matter of time before they fixed that glitch ... so dont complain that you spent money to take advantage of a glitch ... you took the chance to take advantage of a glitch, and spent your own money on it .. its a chance you chose to take. sorry hun.

Thanks again Raul for all the work you do.

[Mitsie47]

I ALWAYS stay in one place and methodically harvest or plow.. I DO NOT go all over the fields. This is a better way to AVOID collision as you put it. Slowing my ability to plow or harvest in order to avoid collision is a moot point for me and therefore a ridiculous adjustment in the game. I can't plow quickly now. I have two farms. I've worked hard to get them and maintain them.. if you don't help me to be able to work hard AND fast as I have been I'll quit this game in a heartbeat. Maybe you are trying to get people to quit so you won't have such a cumbersome game to try to handle?

Your new fix sucks. Major.

Originally Posted by Raul

Hi There,

First, the Bert account was hacked recently and there were some posts made on his behalf, we are researching this issue now.

Second, we just released a new version of FarmTown a while ago. As stated before, we were going to focus mainly on the lost XP/Coins issues which are critical at this point. However, in order to minimize the lost XP/Coins issues, we had to make some changes to the way harvesting/plowing works when you are hired.

Before, when multiple people were hired on a farm, everybody starts clicking randomly on every field, and there are a lot of collisions, people harvesting/plowing on the same fields, as you don't see clearly where other people are working.

The new way is this, if you harvest fields that are close to where your avatar is, then your avatar will be teletransported and will be a very quick transition, it should be as quick or comparable to what it was before, however if you click on a field that is farther away, then you will have to wait until your avatar gets to that field to continue working.

This change will make that on some instances you work slower, on the other hand people get more dispersed while working on a farm, you can actually see them where they are working, and there will be much less collisions between them. This will also add another component to the game, now it's not just blindly clicking on the fields, you have to also consider the position of other players and your chances to avoid collisions and to get more work done. Now, when you click on a field that another player did before you, then you will see a message saying "already done", before, there was no feedback at all.

Of course, we know this release will cause a lot of complains as well, because in order to improve one area we had to change the behaivor on another area which some users will not like it, but compared to the issue of frequent losing more XP and coins, we just decided this was the way to go.

So far we have detected that there are 70% less issues with lost XP/coins that before, and it should improve with time even more.

As a separate note, the cursors on the game have been made larger and they don't get overlapped by other items on the game.

Thanks

--Raul

[bradwill]

I think Farm Town is now in the running with RollerCoaster Kingdom for most botched FB game right now.

[Momma Woods]

I appreciate the fix. But it has slowed down the harvest and plow far too much. I know I may be asking the impossible, but why does this have to apply when there is only one person hired?

[Guldfisk Hansen]

I agree with most of the posts. I do NOT like the new changes. Ive lost lots of xps and coins, but I think I prefer it over this slowliness. I just left a pineapple field, cuz I just couldnt be bothered to work this slowly.
I agree, I also think it would be way better to just limit how many ppl a farmer can hire at one time.
I appreciate all the hard work you developers put into this game though.

[ed's farm123]

Originally Posted by ed's farm123

I have layered crops, just tested, still works

haven't checked out the planting over trees yet. I'll go try that now.

Just went and tested. Still works as it always has. Plant tree on grass, hide trees, go visit a neighbor, come back, plow a vacant slot that does not have a tree on it so (plot cursor) turns green, plow plot with tree hidden. Unhide trees. as I said works with buildings, trees, and flowers.

By the way. My farm is supposed to be linked (says it is) but it isn't, what's the deal here?