Happy 4th Cake Day @Gryphonknight! 🍰

[Gryphonknight]

Cake day

SamMe

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@SamMe

I hope you have a wonderful day both IRL, and in-game!

Thanks

The day was very eventful even if most was spent fighting with filing

We did enjoy some delicious pasties^1 we had stashed in the freezer

nevarmaor

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@nevarmaor

Happy cake day @Gryphonknight and may the fourth be with you.

Click for details

The forums are a richer place for your involvement.

Thank you

Gryphonkit, my wife, squeeeeee 'd over the lovely photo of a gryphon, its castle and its knight in shining armor. Now she wants one. Both a gryphon, and a castle full of knights. Though cake is always nice

P.S. She is also a huge Star Wars fan

anc1ent1

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@AncientPirate1

So glad that You still sail the forum seas.

4 years on the forum most certainly makes You an honorary Pirate @Gryphonknight

Cake and Rum for all !!!

Yarr !!!

And if you’re looking for chocolate cake this should work.

Thank you

And for the truly decedent combine all three into a chocolate covered rum cake

@From a different discussion

@zephyr1 said

@Gryphonknight

decedent drink

(https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2nE9jaxPWGs)

sleepyhead

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@sleepyhead

Happy birthday @Gryphonknight ,

I figured this cake would be right up your alley

Also,
Learning bonus

right up your alley/street [literal meaning] | WordReference Forums

And thanks for the tag @SamMe !

Thank you

Both the cake, and the link, got a chuckle, and a thumbs up, from Gryphonkit, my wife

L33tVortex12596

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@L33tVortex12596

Happy day. May every moment count!

Wow!

We have been watching Baking Impossible on Netflix ^1 and

I still have no clue how the dessert in your photo was make!

Looks insanely yummy and insanely geometric

First thought is a pastry chef decided to present their line graph in yummy edible form! Hopefully the smaller red lines mean good news

Harlikwen

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@Harlikwen

That was more fun than it should have been

I Know, Right

Sometimes it can be hard to stop

(teasing)
Though according to Gryphonkit, my wife and occasional proofreader, I do not seem to be trying as hard as I could
(end teasing)

Forum gang

And to the rest of the forum gang, thank you.

I would not still be here without the awesome community ( see notes )

Notes

Click for notes

Forums are awesome

@Gryphonknight

Civil discussion

@dansing

What is this E&P Forum meant for ?!

Click for civil discussion, fan art, bug work arounds, tracking updates, live service game, Super fans, future friends, venting, no spend

@Gryphonknight

I write on the forums because someone answered my questions. I write on the forums because I made some bad decisions, and peer review showed me the way to correct them. If I cannot teach you something on the forums, how can we discuss it? I write on the forums because I might think I know what I am doing, but writing them out, and civilly discussing them, can help show I am moving in the right direction, a dead end, or a wonderful unexpected discover

Fan art

@Gryphonknight

@doubleshot87

And the way intellectual property works is, as long as you do not financially profit from the art you can’t be sued. If you wish to profit, you must ask for permission, and keep a record of it for your protection. As I understand it.

No.

My lawyer wife often advises on this for craft magazines.

They way she typically explains it, the law varies but most fan art falls under derivative works which is specifically forbidden without written consent.

However, most companies see fan art as free advertising and do not aggressively go after artists. Some, coughDisneycough, are more aggressive and hire firms to monitor the internet.

Regardless Small Giant listed this sub-forum as explicit permission

“ Would you like to share your video, fan art, stories, poems, pics or funny experiences related to the game? Feel free to share! <3”

However by posting here you forfeit some of your rights under law, see game TOS and forum TOS.

Bug work around

Community

@Linuxoid

It is foolish to discuss errors and bugs of the game only among ordinary players, ordinary players will not fix errors and bugs!

Often players will

Tell others fixes are pending.

([SOLVED] Game crashing after doing season 2 quest (v24))

The DEVS cannot comment, but Community team passes on bug reports from forum AND support tickets.

Warn others NOT to do something, thus avoiding the bugs ( I do not participate in 4* / 5* tourneys). (Increase emblem drops or 1x Free and 1x 75g Tourney or Run five tourneys- 5* to 1*- EVERY week or still bitter about 1*+20 heroes)

Offer work around like rerolling, crafting battle items, keeping a buffer of 1* / 2* heroes or a buffer of 1* / 2* troops (MASTER THREAD (Solved) - Training Camp Lost food/recruits at withdrawal - #19 by Gryphonknight )

We are not Devs, but we still help each other out!

IP

Usually legal department, and marketing departments, forbid/ ban/ restricts DEVS from replying on the forum.

All the AMAs are vetted before asked (🗨 Upcoming SG Community Team AMA – Submit Your Questions Here! [no game design questions, please])

This is

(I want to get an answer from the developers: WHEN WILL THE BUGS BE FIXED? - #14 by Gryphonknight)

Tracking updates

@Gryphonknight

Tracking bugs on a forum and posting update notes can be a grueling and thankless job. Thanks for making sure our bugs get reported to the exterminators and we are kept on top of the evolution of Empires and Puzzles.

Live service

@Gryphonknight

When the game changes, new users can more easily tell what stayed the same, and what changed ( looking at you costumes )

This is why I love Empires and Puzzles forum

It the institutional memory

@Gryphonknight

Blood, Sweat and Tears

But the biggest advantage of this software is the institutional memory

As long as this forum exists, all the blood, all the sweat and all the tears from this fantastic community will live on

I wish more games had forums

I wish they were as well run, and full of cool people, as this forum

Super Fans

@Gryphonknight

Super Fans

This forum is primary for creating, and managing, early stage, English speaking Super Fans including Whales, Whales+ and Whales++

The Puzzle Combat business plan does not include an official forum to nurture Super Fans ( that is a different freemium game rant )

Future friends

@Gryphonknight

Forum Friends, Part 2

This is a strange love letter to the friends I have found on this forum.

Any list would miss people I have forgotten.

Or have left.

But If you ever smiled after reading something I wrote.

If you ever civilly disagreed with me.

If you ever helped a new forum user learn about the how, or why, of a game mechanic.

If you ever loved the forum as much as I did.

You are a friend.

Even if I am long gone from this forum by the time you first read some of my writing.

A future friend.

Venting

Venting

see Complaint Category in notes

No spend

@dansing

to not participate beyond Ninja Tower 50 & teach SG some kind of a lesson… whatever that meant…!

see No spend trap in notes

Notes

Click for notes

Helping forum

(Be a Regular Hero 🤹 - guide for Regular Forum Users)

Forum organization

(I strongly dislike merged topics - #57 by zephyr1)

Complaint Category

@Gryphonknight

@Rook

I have considered making some kind of Common Complaints thread, however I personally don’t think it will redirect any complaints, or reduce complaining clutter around the Forum.

The only thing that will reduce clutter is a separate category “Feedback”. Buuuut, the problem is most topics eventually get derailed into complaining ( Godwin’s law ) so the reduction is more like -10% than -100%. In practice, this is just not worth the effort moderating it.

If you want to reduce clutter, the best ( that I have actually seen in use on a public forum ) is one or two curated sections of posts or links.

Example:

A “Beginners” category that contains locked, copies of useful posts for beginners. Since all posts are copies, people can still complain in the original posts but not the curated copies. Since all copies are locked, there are no replies six months later that derail into complaints. Since only moderators or staff can post copies, all posts are on topic. Since all posts are edit locked copies, the original poster cannot vandalize the post at a latter date out of frustration.

But MMOs are always changing and old posts become obsolete, especially when new features are added.

I have always wanted to try a “Hot Links” curated category, with just links to interesting topics or replies. Or maybe a “Link of the Day” curated category. Just some way to boost a topic or reply. By having a separate topic for each link, you could see what is interesting people.

However, I have never moderated a forum that was busy enough to warrant anything but a couple of global sticky posts like “Phones click here or HOT, Bugs, Search & FAQ” or “Known Requests - OFFICIAL RESPONSES (24)” or “Known Requests - RESOLVED (6-2)”.

Forums are just messy things because humans are messy. Forums that are neat, tend to be dead forums.

“Moderators are paid and praise and taxed in grief. The pay is too low and the taxes too high!”- Gryphonknight

No spend trap

@Gryphonknight

No Spend Trap

Considering the above ways F2P games are designed to monetize, retain, and engage more players ( see notes )

The only way to get SGG 's Empires and Puzzles game to change, is not to play

Edit: @Petri ( head cat wrangler ), staff, moderators, regulars, users, and everyone who contributes positively to the forum are awesome. One of the best forums on the internet

FIN

FIN