Revisited: Houses

State Of Houses

Houses were introduced a while ago to appeal to the "non killing covens". They're a place where you can get together socially without the game benefits that a coven gives you. Due to the way they were setup, you could only join a few, and they were not as fluid as I would have hoped them to be. But today, after much thinking and designing, I have come up with a new house system.

New House System

Houses have been completely rebuilt from the ground up. The internal structure has been completely changed to allow for all the new features and fixes.

House Directory
The house directory has been updated along with the new houses. The layout has been updated, and now the list of houses now incorporate a new house  VIP feature that'll be explained in a minute. Finally, the member count is added to the house lists too.

House Changes
What's great about the new structure I created, is that it gives a lot more freedom. Which allows you to join and create more houses than before. Everyone can be part (or own) up to a total of 5 houses, VIP members can enjoy being a member of up to 10 houses, and VIP+ members can join up to 20. You can now own more than 1 house if you'd like, but each owning house counts towards your house total cap.

House staff members now have access to even more. Including accepting & kicking members, editing the welcome pages, moderating the forum and the chat, and editing other members titles and colours. Each house can have up to 5 staff members, and VIP houses can have up to 20.

The house chat and forum has been updated to the latest versions, and now (hopefully) work as they should. The house RP forum works exactly in the same way as the coven RP forums.

There is now (just like with the covens) a formal invite feature, so you can quickly and easily invite other players to join your family house.

Social Page Update

The social page has had a little facelift to go with this update. Firstly, there is a new section on the right dedicated to houses. This box will list all the houses you're a member of, and next to the name of each house is a shortcut to the chat and the forum. (The name lists will also be coloured if the house is VIP).

House VIP
The house VIP features have also been updated a little. These now include:

- Upload family avatar image
- Coloured house name on all lists and player profiles
- Coloured member titles
- HTML/CSS allowed on the apply & home page
- Ability to have up to 20 staff members
- Mass blood letter all members (subject to approval)

The house avatar is shown at the top of the house page, as well as in the house directory.

Compatibility
The main issue with building a new structure to make something better is the old system is never going to be completely compatible. And unfortunately, the new house system isn't compatible with the old one at all. BUT! Because I'm so nice and all, I've spent a few hours creating a migration tool. Which allows you to transfer the majority of your house' content, into a new house (bringing the members along with it). You'll see a green link on the your social page (house owners only) where you can find out how to migrate your house.

Other updates

There have been loads of other updates, quests and fixes made since the last blog post, all of which are listed on the game updates page. One of the most shocking is mass coven blood letters. You'd never thought you see that happen, did you?

Please report any bugs or feedback on this thread. You can also see a more in-depth guide on the migration system on that thread also.

Enjoy,
Ash