Visitors Welcome

A handful of fun stuff has happened over the last month that we want to share with you!

Our big focus right now is keeping hackmud healthy long-term by growing our supporter base. Their backing already helps keep things running, and as that group grows, it directly fuels new development.

Most of our players are visitors: people who drop in, explore a bit, and then drift off until the next time. That's exactly how hackmud is meant to be played. But we've noticed that a lot of visitors don't feel great about it, like they're "doing it wrong." The truth is, visitors are the lifeblood of the game-- and they're also the folks most likely to become supporters.

Login Screen Updates

Our login screen is the first chance to welcome players back and set them up for a good visit. Until now, it didn't do much to make that experience feel rewarding. We've also learned that many players don't really think about how hackmud keeps running and growing, and so we want to celebrate the supporters who make it possible for everyone to keep playing.

We've also seen that a lot of players don't realize that a visiting-style relationship with hackmud is exactly what we want. The game is designed to be a place you can drop into, explore, and step away from. That rhythm of visiting is what keeps the world alive and interesting and also lets players bring what they've learned here back into the spaces they care about.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/attention-economy-called-we-sent-voicemail-kyle-butcher-ivwce/

You'll now see persistent account achievements that highlight your lasting contributions to the world of hackmud-- no matter how long it's been since your last visit.

We've also added a section for major updates and community news, so returning players can quickly catch up on what's changed and what's happening right now.

There's now a list of our top supporters, celebrating some of the donors who make hackmud's ongoing development possible. And if you're wondering why my name's at the front of that list:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/possible-pay-server-bills-using-only-ascii-art-hope-click-sean-mann-ark3c/

And finally, for returning players, we've added a short survey at [c]comcode.survey[/c]. We genuinely don't know what brings people back or what makes a visit worthwhile and we'd love your help figuring that out.

Quarterly Plan

As a non-profit (and just good business sense), we plan and review development on a quarterly cadence. Each quarter, our supporters get the first look at our roadmap and join us for a live Q&A session where we talk about progress, priorities, and upcoming goals. Here's this quarter's plan:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r0etp9lf42Mu5JYvXjWXT-43iEgEmM_DXg9Ichl7_9Y

and the fun LLM summary of the Q&A (errors left for your entertainment):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jqt8IVoTzvtdcfRaquoi5UOoVygv9FC3nwWBzevZQ1Y

We've been doing these sessions for a while, but starting this quarter, we're also making the rest of this year's plans publicly available:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12jPX0lUx-_Ktw4jMaCK7KWYdYB3WKfK_bfr9WWP4Xls

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w4VGjAm0qZE2ridkT7uPQZpjFhqzfES0yOakOr98noM

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19izvYQBEQdBvDeK9iGfiHWXHvMb8zZ6fjyuWUiwdJxg

ICYMI: Lua

In case you missed it, jumpsplat120 did an incredible writeup about their journey re-implementing the Lua language inside hackmud. It's a thoughtful, honest look at what it's like to explore the edges of the system and build something big within it.

https://www.jumpsplat120.com/lua_in_hackmud/

We've moved their post onto the Steam store page reviews section because we think it perfectly captures the spirit of hackmud: how playful curiosity can quietly turn into mastery.

See You at GeekGirlCon

We'll be at GeekGirlCon on November 8th and 9th in the gaming section, running demos and chatting about hackmud! If you're in town, come say hi, try the game, or just hang out.

Thank