by jonathan (12.21.2008)

draw in crop
there is a new tool in the item cropper that allows users to draw

• features five pen sizes and dozens of colors.
• dedicated draw eraser lets the drawings and erasing occur on top of jpg beneath

server switch
massive 6 week project finished, with massive performance upgrade for fraction of price

• migrated from 1 dedicated $350 server to 2 $20 managed scaling servers with 2 $20 db servers for a total of $80 + overages
• server scales php processor and database across huge network, incurring overages if used often rather than reducing site performance or crashing the site server
• detailed processor reports (gpu reports) intimize most cpu intensive files, scripts and errors
• fyrebugdev environment completely separate and does not impact or get impacted by live site

bg thumb/large
all backgrounds are now created at three sizes – 425×350 as well as new 85×70 (1/5th size thumbnail) and 850×700 (double sized)

• all previous backgrounds have been retroactively tripled as well, and copied to the uploaded.fyrebug.com site
• item gallery loading for backgrounds will load much faster, create less server load, and incure fewer cdn charges
• all item galleries changed to show thumbnail in gallery

future plans:

• use in wide/tall engines

subdomains
ability to add any subdomain and point to a separate server
add dedicated subdomain and user database as a client offering

copies to uploaded.fyrebug.com
uploaded.fyrebug.com synces to the cdn for scaling, and now can reside on a separate server

• all logos, uploaded mp3s, generated text files and cropped images now auto-sync to the cdn-based subdomain.
• this will allow fyrebug to scale out in another direction if needed

on-site cache
the pages on fyrebug are now cached and refresh periodically. content can be refreshed on many pages with ajax loaders.

major bug fixes
90% processor usage reduction with new server gpu reports

• related games
• item gallery search, featured bgs
• stray images and files

by jonathan (12.09.2008)

flat file php conversions
conversion of flash-driven php run functions to flat text files. the text files are now located in /uploaded/text/foldername where folder name is the name of the action in the php run (ex. action=flashxgameinfo for each game info text file)

types of flat files so far:

• creates (saved as text files by createtypeid):
  • createtypeinfo
  • enginechoices
• engines (saved as text files by engineid)
  • engineinfo – returns engine swf url
• games (saved as text files by gameid, in subfolders by 1000)
  • flashxgameinfo
  • also uses engineinfo
• f425 (saved as text files by page name)
  • f400control
  • also uses flashxgameinfo

the shell, create and f425 are updated to support these text changes.

admin functions
there are new admin functions to generate new text files if anything changes.

these are on www.fyrebug.com/admin and can be done by:

• creates – all one click
• engines – all one click
• games – done 1000 at a time by offset=
• f425 – not live yet

client stats
new page for stats by client, so far hardcoded like other client pages for sikids userid=15100

www.fyrebug.com/clientstats

note the links on the left nav, you can sort by various stuff. we can use this for real client stats, you can then bump them up if youd like. we can get pageviews for home, play, create, etc in google analytics.

chat
an ajax chat is now live on every display game page as well as a new chat page.

chat page – www.fyrebug.com/chat
shows the chat, driven to in promo units

promotional units:

• 728×90
• f425

future additions in the works

• integrating “who’s online” for an idea of who could be chatting
• saving chat archives
• various format/css changes

holiday
the holidays are mostly launched and ready to go on the live site

graphics:

• promotional header
• 728×90
• f425

holiday page – www.fyrebug.com/holiday
added to leftbar, driven to in promo and has holiday tagged games and site-news

added about 20 xmas clipart as featured items to create, and a holiday category to create and play games.

added medals to database, have six different types of medals

by jonathan (10.24.2008)

The Platform engine has been upgraded to support a variety of new advanced create features.

*Level Choice – choose from one of four level layouts! Current games default to level layout #1, with #2-4 as all new layouts.
*Coin Value – choose how many points you get for each coin
*Power-up Value – choose how many points you get for each powerup you collect
*Enemy Value – get points for each enemy you defeat (current games have 0 points for this)

by jonathan

Fyrebug technology can not only make games, but now your own ecards!

Fyrebug Ecards are now launched with five ecard engines, each of which can be fully customized and sent to anyone – not just fyrebug users!

Get started and try it out – create your own ecard

by jonathan (10.08.2008)

The long-awaited debut of Advanced create is here!

On create, there is now an “advanced” tab that will unlock two new types of customization – in-game text and game parameters.

In-Game Text will let you choose any word you want to appear in the games
Game Parameters will let you choose the number of lives, time limit and much more in each game to make each game a truly unique experience.

You need to have at least 50 points on Fyrebug to unlock Advanced create!