Hi there, I'm very new to HP. I joined less than a week ago, but the more I've browsed the site, I really enjoy it!! That said, here's a list of random ideas I've had. I tried to err on the side of what would be plausible and mostly text-based contents, without being too crazy, so hopefully some of these might be worthwhile?

- Daily login prize, with larger prizes for logging in for a week, two weeks, or one month straight, etc. Incentivizes logging in every day, and doesn't need to be anything fancy.

- In general, an inventory. There don't need to be a ton of items in this game, but I think items could go hand-in-hand with certain simple activities. I would also love GIFT items - these would be a little icon/graphic, almost like an achievement, that can be sent to other players. They don't DO anything, but are a nice way to send someone something nice. Basically, greeting cards. Specially designed ones could be produced for events, or even fan-made ones. Players could collect these if they wanted to. Think a little cake you can send to say happy birthday; a trophy to congratulate an achievement; a bouquet to say thank you... Also, one to say your layout/profile is cool would also be really fun I think.

- A way to "like" individual animals. Likes could potentially have their own leaderboard. Gaining likes could be a new player goal for some. Most importantly, it's a positive way for other players to say "hey, this layout/graphic is so cool!" or "wow, this animal is really accomplished/awarded!" 

- Automatic showcases on the homepage or somewhere. Show me random animals, top rated animals this month, random players, most active, online now, whatever. I think it should be easier to click onto other animals and players. Encourage people to just websurf. I've really enjoyed reading profiles and seeing people's amazing layouts/graphics!

- Ability to click "next" or "previous" on animal pages to automatically see other animals in that stable/kennel/etc. Again, just to encourage more websurfing. I like browsing, but it can be annoying going back and forth on pages.

- Set chat colors in settings, and make the color a toggle that sticks in the chatroom. AKA, I go to settings, insert the colors i like as options, then when I go to chatroom, it's now a dropbox of my options. When I choose one, it stays indefinitely (across sessions/logins) until I change it. I say this because color management seems a little tedious and it clears itself a lot in my experience.

- Sudden events! A lot of gamesites have a version of this: randomly, sometimes pages will load with some special event or surprise. It would be cool if there was a rare chance for you to stumble upon a small amount of money or for an animal to randomly get a small training boost from something silly (aka... "You give Horse a really tasty apple and he/she trains really well today!" 25pts) These sudden events are easy, text-based things that incentivize players to browse around more. Mini contests or suggestion forums could come up with funnier event texts/blurbs, and those could be implemented. Maybe winners of the mascot event or players of the month etc could be allowed to come up with one, or have their animal referenced in one directly. (aka... "Specific-Winner's-Animal comes up to you as if saying hello before running off where it came!") I dunno, this just seems simplistic and a really neat feature you could utilize to honor/humor players in a lot of ways. An event that will reference a completely random animal to try and get the player to try visiting it, just as a way to show you other people's stuff?

- I noticed the birthday club, but I would love if birthdays could be set in settings and the site would show you each player who has a birthday too so you could click directly on them, etc etc... Also means players could get prizes on their birthday, like have the site send them a little something?

- Collections and maybe floaties? Sort of alongside my inventory and gifts suggestions, I think a neat seasonal event could be collections. A collection is a set of however many items: say a Fall Collection has an acorn, fallen leaf, pumpkin, haybale, etc. These items have a chance to randomly appear on pages in some way, potentially as a floaty. Another thing I've seen in other games, a floaty is literally a little icon/graphic that floats around your screen until you click it to receive it. Not sure what it's like to code, and maybe items can be found in another way that remains text-based. Collections could change every year, such that having a previous collection could show how long a player has been around and having them is like an achievement in & of itself! Maybe completed sets could be shown on profiles. And of course, once completed, they'd have a reward. 

- Scavenger hunts: this is a riff on the above idea, but you could potentially make collections like riddles. You post hints on the homesite to each collection item, and players have to find that specific page in order to find the item on it. Because there aren't THAT many pages, scavenger hunts may be more like a once a year thing, I dunno haha

- Very small amounts of money and maybe a RARE chance of training points to random animal, when posting/chatting? Perhaps up to a limit, such at 10 times a day? Forum posts would literally be incentivized, but not in a way that would necessarily break the game. 

- I think animals having a unique silhouette per breed would be really cool, but I imagine that's a LOT to ask HP to make on its own. Instead, maybe animals can at least have auto-generated appearance texts, such as the size and color? It seems theyre normally empty, and I think it'd be nice if at least some ideas were generated there. This could lend itself to people making graphics, because people could use HP's idea as an idea of what the graphic will portray. I just think animals could come with a bit more individuality. 

- What if animals had some level of training stats? Randomly generated, an animal could have a low or high trainability. Low trainability translates to typically less points earned from shows. High trainability means they get more. This adds another level to breeding and lines, because now you also need to try for a pet with decent trainability.

- This is a little crazy I'll admit, but what if animals had a text-based RPG minigame? I mean, say you choose your favorite animal and can go on a ride/walk for the day. There are random options and lots of possible endings, and different prizes. Something short & sweet, but enticing enough to do each day just to see what you could get! ALSO, a way to give the player a way to play with their favorite animals!

- Playing with an animal could slowly fill a heart/happiness meter. Say it takes a two weeks or so to fill an animal's meter: not TOO long, but long enough to show that a full meter is special because the player has played daily for that long. This meter gives the animal's link/name a little badge or heart beside it, and the links are pink text or something? Basically, it's a cosmetic you can earn for your animal to show they're really loved. This would be nice for people who have animals that are memorials to irl pets, people proud of an achievement animal, etc!

- Forum customization? What about avatar frames you get as a prize, and theyre little decorative frames around the player's custom avatar on the forums? Or special badges: mini badges that show up underneath the avatar/name (left-side) on the player's forum posts? They can choose 3 or etc from their settings, based on which they want to show off! These could even be really simple, solid-color badges with plain text on it saying, "winner of x contest 2024" etc, just a cool achievement for people to collect and be proud of in a way.

I mayyy come back later to give more ideas, but I feel like I've seriously gone on... I'd love to know other's thoughts for sure too, that is, if anyone can make it through this post in the first place anyway LOLLL

Daily login prize, with larger prizes for logging in for a week, two weeks, or one month straight, etc. Incentivizes logging in every day, and doesn't need to be anything fancy.

i like this idea