New Release -- October 30th, 2020

[Shellgirlmtl]

Originally Posted by Taz D

Raul has posted an update on the migration of Farm Town. Thanks for the update Raul.


Post Release Updates - October 31st, 3:45PM

- Migration Update:

About 2 years ago, July 2017, the migration team started the conversion of the game from Flash to HTML5. The project was by all standards fairly big, we had about 150,000 lines of flash code and more than 6,000 graphics that had to be converted to the new platform.

Our first approach was a manual approach and we spent several months on it but later realized that we will never going to catch up on time, especially since the main team had to continue releasing new features.

The second approach, which is what we are currently doing, was to create the tools to automate the migration process as much as possible. We finished those tools a few months ago and the initial tests were really encouraging.

The conversion of all graphic items to the new format went according to plan, just minor issues that were fixed relatively quickly.

However, the conversion of the flash code to the new programming language was not as smooth, there were lot of areas where the automatic translation did not work out of the box, and that was fine, it was expected in a big project like this, what we did not expect was that fixing some of those areas would actually be time consuming and error prone, it required more profound changes to implement on the new programming language what we had done in flash.

At this point, we are expecting to release the HTML5 version of the game by the end of the year, however, it will be a restricted version, it should include at least all farming tools and main facility functionality, hopefully more than that but it's difficult to know at this point exactly which functionality will be included. However, we think we have cleared the major hurdles already and we are moving fast, we should have the bulk of the functionality of the game migrated and tested in 1 or 2 months after the first version.

We are also planning by the end of November to give access to moderators and other long time players to test the restricted version of the game.

The good news is that the game will definitely be a better game, the graphics in the farm will look better and the farm will display and operate faster. Also, moving forward we are planning to enable access to the game from browsers in tablets as well.

We will provide another update in the next release.

To Raul & Team (Devs & Mods)

This is excellent news... I have been playing this game since Feb 7th, 2009, and I am volunteering my time as a 'long time player to test the restricted version of the game'... I am a Mac user (MacBook Pro) & (MacBook Air), I also have a Mini iPad, so I would be able to test the game on 3 different devices... I also have a 20" iMac Desktop but it is as old as FarmTown is (11 yrs) and I doubt it would be powerful enough to test on it... but, nevertheless, I could always try...

As I said I am willing to lend my time for testing... I am alone (my hubby passed away 5 months ago, not from covid) and because of the covid-19 I rarely go out (I am 67 yrs old) and have all the time in the world... I know most of the ins & outs of the game, tricks etc...

Take Care, Stay Safe... Love this game, hopefully the migration will not cause too much of a headache to the Team, but you ALL are the best so I have full confidence...

Hoping to hear from you soon...

[Kathy813]

While updating graphics during the migration - any chance of improving the look of the brown horse? Just a thought.

And best of luck with the migration!

[lucy poland]

You all are ROCK STARS!! Thank you!

[fremmons]

Thanks, Raul, et al, you have kept me playing this game for over 11 years! I am a 1200 level player, working full-time, and use FT play time to unwind. I look forward to the updates and am excited about the migration!

[peekachoo]

Thanks very much for the update re HTML5, it must be a steep learning curve for you all, but the knowledge that you gain from it will be invaluable. I've been playing since 2009 and I really appreciate that you will be keeping it on Facebook and not moving it elsewhere. Good luck with the rest of the project and stay safe.

[TexasStar]

Raul, Thanks for the Migration Update! I was sure you and the teams were on track to meet the deadline, but I was very interested to understand a little more about the process.

[Farmer_Susan]

As a software developer myself, I loved hearing about the migration process! Thanks for keeping us posted and making us feel like part of it all. I'm really excited about it!

[Tom C]

Where is the thanksgiving stuff

[Taz D]

Originally Posted by Tom C

Where is the thanksgiving stuff

Hi Tom C,
Raul said the following:
1. Thanksgiving items (coming in 1-2 weeks)
Please be patient as they are working hard on the migration.

[smilie224]

Would love to be a part of the test group! Long time player if that helps ;-) Is there a place we can volunteer for it? Or have the players already been decided?