Stat-Based Competition System

The addition of a stats-based competition system represents an exciting evolution for our traditional text-based sim game. By assigning and developing stats to reflect the unique abilities of each animal, this system enriches gameplay, introduces strategic depth, and fosters long-term engagement.

This approach allows players to train, compete, and breed their animals in meaningful ways that enhance immersion and offer new opportunities for creativity and personalization. Whether focusing on excelling in specific events or creating balanced, versatile animals, players are empowered to shape their experience like never before.

The system not only elevates the competitive aspect of the game but also integrates seamlessly with existing mechanics, ensuring flexibility for both new and seasoned players. By combining stat-driven competitions, dynamic events, and a rewarding progression system, this update breathes fresh life into the game, keeping it engaging and relevant for the community. For players who enjoy the current system, it will still be fully available, so you won't need to learn the new one unless you want to explore it.

The Stats

Introduce a stats-based competition system where horses and dogs gain stats reflecting their key abilities:

• • Horse Stats: Speed, Agility, Stamina, Grace, Strength.

• • Dog Stats: Speed, Agility, Stamina, Focus, Strength.

Events are judged using tailored formulas emphasizing relevant stats for each competition. To keep results dynamic and exciting, a Random Adjustment element introduces unpredictability, simulating real-life factors like mistakes or penalties. Over time, additional events can be added to sustain player interest and enhance gameplay.

Increasing Stats

The stats system integrates seamlessly with the existing points-based mechanic:

• • Animals gain stats based on their accumulated show points (e.g., 1 stat point for every 100,000 regular points).

• • Players can allocate earned stats to specific skills, customizing their animals’ strengths.

• • Flexibility is key: players can engage with this new system or stick to traditional showing methods.

This adds complexity to breeding, showing, and training, creating fresh opportunities for strategic decision-making.

Breeding Mechanics

Introduce depth to breeding with a formula for passing stats from parents to offspring:

1. Parent Contribution: Average the stats of both parents.
2. Random Adjustment: Add variance (e.g., -2 to 3) for unpredictability.
3. Generation Modifier: Subtract a small amount (1-2 points) from inherited stats to encourage training and growth over the animal's lifetime.

Event Examples and Scoring Formulas

Tailor events to highlight specific stats for both horses and dogs. For example:

Horse Events

• • Show Jumping: (Agility × 2) (Speed × 1.5) − (Random Penalty: 1-6 for knocked rails).

• • Race: (Speed × 3) − (Stamina ÷ 2) (Dice Roll: 1-6).

• • Dressage: (Grace × 2) (Agility × 1) (Random Judge Bonus: 0-10).

• • Cross-Country: (Stamina × 2) (Speed × 1.5) (Agility × 1) − (Obstacle Faults × 3).

Dog Events

• • Agility Trials: (Agility x 2) + (Speed x 1.5) (Focus x 1) - (Mistakes x 3)

• • Flyball: (Speed × 2.5) (Focus × 1.5) − (Errors × 5)

• • Weight Pulling: (Strength × 3) (Stamina ÷ 2) − (Mistakes × 5)

Competition Levels and Stat Ranges

Competition levels based on total stats:

• • Beginner: 10-25 stats.

• • Intermediate: 26-50 stats.

• • Advanced: 51-75 stats.

• • Elite: 76 stats.

Reward System

Animals who place well in events earn HPD winnings for the owner, offering a fair and engaging way for new players to generate income. This system emphasizes in-game engagement over real-world financial investments, making the game more accessible.

Benefits to the Game

1. 1.  
2. Enhanced Player Engagement Players work toward meaningful goals by improving their animals' stats. Players become more invested in their animals' development, keeping them engaged longer.

3. Strategic Depth By introducing stats players can strategize how to train or prepare their animals for specific events. For example, a player might focus on agility to excel in jumping competitions or endurance for long-distance races. This adds an extra layer of thought and planning to the game.

4. Dynamic Competition Stats allow for detailed comparisons between animals in competitions, making outcomes feel more dynamic and fair. Players can compete to have the "best" animal in a specific category, adding to the rankings/achievement system.

5. Replayability With a stats system, players may want to replay the game to explore different training strategies, improve their lines further, or try to win competitions with new stat combinations. This can greatly increase the longevity of the game.

6. Personalization Stats customization empowers players to shape their animals’ development, creating a more personalized and immersive experience.

7. Revenue Opportunities A stats-based system could unlock additional revenue for the game. This feature enhances the game's depth and appeal while avoiding the pay-to-win scenarios that might alienate players.

Thank you for making it to the end. Please share your thoughts on a feature like this—your input is invaluable and I want to hear it! ♥ trig

I never have an issue with not enough to do here as is. But anyone who knows me, knows I have a MASSIVE Hoard of different breeds all over the place. So i have lots of training and breedings to do every week. Plus, I train for a couple players on a weekly basis that also have a huge Hoard of animals.

I'm definitely team Set In My Ways but I would be open to something optional that doesn't force players into anything new that could also benefit the game's growth long term. I've never played Howrse but this does sound a bit like Furry Paws stat based training model. I didn't really have the attention span for it (which is why when I rediscovered HP I stopped playing Furry Paws altogether. :D)

And I also have plenty to keep me busy here as I keep two breeds per account and switch my breed specialty mid week. So I pretty much log on every single day to train. But I can understand how the current HP may be a bit too slow paced for some. I'm basically a socially anxious turtle so I think HP is perfect as is. =)

Trig that makes sense, but yes does sound a bit like Howrse and i didn't like the way that was played. so i am unsure how well it will be received.  My question is this something that could be a trial?  or be to expensive to implement for a short time?  

I am all for figuring out how to gain extra money thou. 

I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone. Robin Williams

I never played on the other sim games, it was pretty much HL to HP for me.  So, I think it's a great idea, I find myself bored at times with the simplicity of the game, and I think this gives it an extra edge to the game.  And Trig says its optional. 

@ Trig - I read your reply. I think what you are proposing is a great idea! It's not going to change the game at all.. It's going to add a new element. I like that it would all still be text based! I'm excited about the idea! I hope the HP team will consider the extras I think would add to the game play as well. I can imagine it.. A lot of us old HL players remember the sudden switch on HL and it was very drastic and that's why you're getting so much push back.. I think once others actually see what it really is.. They will like the changes. I hope our horses will still be able to earn points from auto shows and be able to enter the new shows on top of that at the same time! It will give us more to do. :-)

This is by no means what it has to look like but here is a rough example of what an animal page could looked with stats added as well as the method to add the earned stat increases. If you are a player that doesn't want to worry about stats, they would just sit there/be hidden if that option was built into the programming. No cartoon equipment, no change to the current Farrier/Vet schedule, no health meter, no extra training icons, simply text to display information.

Now for the Competition page; it would look exactly like our show pages with the information being displayed as text. The only piece I didn't add to this mockup was the competition level.

Ok. I read over the initial post proposal within an hour or two of trig posting it last night, have periodically checked back to read the feedback, and didn't want to be quick to reply without giving it some serious thought, seeing how others felt, etc. I conferred with BV and Koni, sent it to Sam for her feedback, and now I feel prepared enough in what my thoughts/feelings are to reply. I'm also going to do it with two separate hats...player hat blitz and big cheese admin hat blitz.

First, player hat blitz's thoughts/response:

I agree with the others that have said that this sounds like Howrse. I've passively played Howrse since -checks account- Feb 2011. And when I say passive, I mean, kept to myself, kinda mucked about with it, didn't really interact with anyone, mainly would go on, train some QH (my chosen breed), and participate in whatever the current game event is. As of this past summer I've finally made a few friends, joined some teams (how I made said friends), but I'd still call myself a somewhat passive player, just a bit more focused on what I do than before. While I clearly enjoy Howrse enough to have stuck with it that long in some capacity, even having played so long, there's a lot I don't understand, know about, or find confusing and end up at least monthly having to Google what something means, how to do something, etc. I feel like it's a completely different style of game than HP (or oldschool HL) is, and always has been, and I can 100% agree with those who've expressed on here that they tried it and didn't like it because it was confusing.

As well as you spelled out your idea, trig, that's also how I initially felt reading your post...it felt like it required a lot of thinking to understand how it would work, what game play would look like, etc. Which I already have with Howrse, and another game I play that someone else on this thread mentioned, Equination.

Equination's a stricktly Thoroughbred racing sim game. I've been playing that one since its original inception when I was in grade 11 or 12 in like 2004 lol (it died for a year or two when the game crashed and it had to have a complete overhaul). Equination is another one I kinda play passively, very much keep to myself. It's also one that requires a lot of strategy to sort out which grade of race to enter your horse in based on their stats, previous race results, etc. Honestly I've thought about stopping playing it because I never seem to do well at it, but at this point I've played it so long I can't seem to let it go lol. Owner used to be a jockey up here in Canada, so she's tried to make it as realistic to actual horse racing as she can (which is kinda what makes it so unique).

Also y'all think HP's upgrades are pricey in RLD? Equination has 2 tiers of upgrade. 1st tier upgrades (the lower of the two) it's $40.25 USD for a 6-month and $75 USD for a year. 2nd tier upgrades are $56.25 USD for a 6-month and $100 USD for a year. They don't offer 1-month options, lowest is 3-month. Which is completey bonkers, but the upgrade tiers dictate how many stalls max you can have for your horses, so people will pay. You also can't transfer horses between your accounts unless both are upgraded. 

So yeah. Player-hat Blitz's tl;dr is that it sounds a lot more complicated than HP is generally intended to be and was intended to be by Sam back in 2009 and that big of a shift in premise gives off similar big vibes to HL going cartoon. Not meaning that as an insult because I have yet to meet someone who's said "I LOVED when HL went cartoon!", just to compare how big of a change it would be.

Now, Admin-hat Blitz would like to weigh in:

I know I've been accused more than I can count on one hand that I automatically shoot down any idea that involves something I don't know how to code. I want to preface my response by saying that what I say below has nothing to do with the fact that I confidently know what you're describing is something that's so beyond my abilities it's hilarious. 

That out of the way, at this point, this suggestion for a stat-based competition system is not something HP would go forward with looking to implement, and here is why:

As player-hat Blitz pointed out, this would be a huge change up there with HL cartooning (sorry...I don't know of another similar huge change to be able to give another example). Contrary to what was said at the start of the original post that the change "integrates seamlessly with existing mechanics", what is being suggested would not at all be a simple change to the existing game framework. When I texted Sam a link to this forum post for her feedback, I also wanted to confirm with her, who knows a lot more about programming and the site code than I do being as she was one of its creators, that I was correct on that assessment, and she said (direct quote): "I mean it fundamentally changes the game". It would be a massive undertaking that would require the change of the majority of the site's code to (in theory) make it work. 

The subsequent suggestion that this idea be something players could essentially opt in or out of would make any change be even more complex, if it were even possible to do that. I myself am not familiar with a game that allows players to opt in or out of a core piece of the game like that, so I'm honestly not even sure if we hypothetically did change the game to add the stat-based competition system that an opt in/out option is even theoretically possible. 

Especially if many people on HP are indifferent or not in favour of this new system being brought in, it's just not something Sam (or myself) are willing to make the huge change to and alienate the majority of our current players between its potential complexity once completed, and what would likely be many bugs as it was implemented. 

I do want to thank you though, trig, for putting forth this idea. I can tell you put a lot of thought into it as a potential avenue to better HP and entice players to both stay and also join, and I do honestly appreciate your efforts on it. It shows that, while you might not be satisfied with the game (and/or staff) currently, you haven't thrown in the towel on us yet and are trying to help move us forward. So thank you ♥

Admin-hat Blitz would still like to say something, but not specifically about this suggestion:

I was going to add it here, but it made this post way too long, so please see it here:

https://horsephenomena.com/viewpost.php?id=312443

After joining Howrse, I still struggle to see the similarities as I'm currently stuck doing all kind of care tasks and adding items to the dang cartoon horse. Maybe when I make it through all this I will see what you guys are talking about. So far, I'm gathering that I've chosen too similar terminology and that has come to haunt me. I won't lie, it's disheartening to keep hearing the same blanket statement with no other explaination or examples give to identifiy the dislikes.

While yes, this would have been a large programming project, I would still argue that it wouldn't fit into the current gameplay. I say this because I started on this journey with the intent to use it for training contests. Similar to Prism, those players that do want to participate can and those that don't can keep on trucking like normal. That's why I would love some feedback on where people get lost so I can lay out this in a different way for that type of thing. Is it the math? Are 5 stats too many to keep track of? Please share!

And just to clarify, opting out/being optional is simply ignoring the stats on the page, not an actual built in feature. Prime example of something HP currently has that I don't care for are the puzzle activities in the forum. The puzzles still exists for players that do enjoy them and I choose to ignore them. Everyone is happy.

All of this is to say, I will be anxiously waiting for the results of the survey to see what else is proposed to revitalize the game.

After explaining it a bit Trig;  I would be a different aspect of thr game. Just unsure how it could be implemented and I feel like it could be very expensive coding. I understand your frustrated. I'm frustrated the way thr game has been going but I'm frustrated with myself as I don't know what could be fixed. 

Just wondering, Blitz if you can answer this, how expensive would it be to trial a betta game separate from HP... very limited game play with a couple breeds and see if what Trig proposed could work?  Or if other ideas players had could work?  Call it HP 2? I know other games do that Horse Isle is one that comes to mind. 

LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN.

I typed out a reply and HP logged me out when I hit post. -grumbles-

In answer to your question, HP2 TECHNICALLYL did exist over 10 years ago. Sam had an idea for a more in-depth HP that involved genetics and stuff. It never went further than her buying the domain to save it though, and having a single page with a "coming soon" sort of thing when you went to the URL. She killed it as a plan years ago too (along with Animal Phenomena, which was like HP but also had cats!).

What you're describing as a beta-type thing though would involve coding an entire game from scratch I think, and would cost likely thousands of dollars.