As of January 2, 2020 here's what's new and happening at Play Buddy:
We've been busier than Santa's Elves this past quarter! Can you believe it? Another year has come and gone, and 2020 is freshly upon us. Would you agree it has been a bit of a bumpy ride? But before I get ahead of myself, let's take a quick trip back down memory lane so that I can wish you and yours...
Happy Halloween! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
And HAPPY HOLIDAYS for all the other special days I was remiss in mentioning. :-)
So now back to that whole 'busy' business... yup, it's that time of year that we release and announce the ANNUAL MASS UPDATE. Yay! Fun! Hoorah and huzzah!
Our veteran Play Buddians are familiar with this yearly routine, but for those who're new, this is a tradition where we update ALL the Buddies and the Play Buddy App with bug fixes and improvements. And for those who're curious (or are having trouble falling asleep and need a good sleep aide), I list all the specifics of this update here. So without any further ado (and if you want to save the next bit for bedtime reading, go ahead and scroll past for the rest of the newsletter):
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MASS UPDATE NOTES
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*Made all Buddies compatible with Pogo's New Experience
*Removed obsolete eSellerate and DR components
*Removed obsolete 'name' field from Buddy registration
*Eliminated blocker window issue (MARCH)
*Added custom skins to new Buddies
*Made PBA status alphabetical (i.e. Badge followed by GOTM then Update).
*After updating a Buddy, users will now see all associated notes in addition to update note
*Adding 'knows when stuck' intelligence into applicable Buddies (ONGOING)
*Removed code for now non-existent yellow play again buttons
*Removed ticker from individual Buddies; now on PBA only
*Removed unnecessary register option from Buddy help menus
*Miscellaneous back end programming improvements and bug fixes
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END OF MASS UPDATE NOTES
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Now friends, as we say adieu to 2019 and usher in the New Year, let's take a moment to appreciate all we have accomplished together:
*Released 8 new Buddies and 11 HTML5 remakes
*Performed dozens of bug fixes/improvements AND 3 mass updates!
*Collected 147 HOGs (48 Big City, 48 Undiscovered, 27 Claire, 24 Sherlock)
*Farmed 365 days worth each of Crossword Cove and Trivial Pursuit solutions
Phew! Now, as if all THAT wasn't enough, those aren't the only major changes that have been happening of late, am I right? How about that New Pogo Experience?! Love it or hate it, it has finally debuted and -thankfully- so has compatibility amongst all the Buddies. While we are sad that Pogo is probably retiring their classic site along with so many games in March, we are hopeful they will continue to re-release all our old favorites in the coming months. And you can count on us to continue releasing the associated new Buddies. Speaking of new releases, here's what's NEW this past quarter:
Newest Buddies
So. Many. New. Buddies within such a short time! Ready? Here goes: Anagrams Buddy, Paranormal Buddy, Freecell Buddy (HD remake), Jigsaw Treasure Hunter Buddy (HD remake), Crazy Cake Buddy (HD remake), Winter Wonderland Buddy AND ALL made new and compatible with our new eCommerce platform/registration server and the new Pogo Experience. How does Mark do it all? Your guess is as good as mine (my guess is MAGIC). And you know that's not all...
Coming Soonish
As mentioned above, you can expect another MASS UPDATE in March when the NEW POGO EXPERIENCE likely goes live permanently, and takes Classic Pogo and all the remaining old Flash games with it.
Snowbird Solitaire Buddy - Pogo (new) Various HD/HTML5 Buddies - Pogo (new) Improve existing Buddies - All Gamesites (updates)
(Bug fixes, improvements, and customer requests)
Last but not least, we would like to say CHEERS! If it weren't for you - our loyal and appreciated Buddy family - there would be no us and none of the above would have occurred. So on behalf of Mark and I, we sincerely THANK YOU for your past patronage and we look forward to growing, improving, and earning your continued patronage in 2020.
And, as always, we love to hear your feedback, be it positive, constructive criticism, or somewhere in between so feel free to give us a holler. Adios until next quarter!