Funkstein is a Senior software developer, who joined the company in 2011, and has since then worked in the Socialites Team. We asked Mark to find out more about his role and what it is exactly that he does around here! Here’s what Mark found out…

What’s your role in Sulake?
My official title is Senior Software Developer, which means that most of my day to day work consists of programming new features for Habbo. In practice this means writing code for things such as how the room hopper teleports you between rooms, creating new user interfaces, adding effects etc.

As a team member, another big part of my job is designing how an idea is transformed into an actual new feature. This includes detailed planning on how the feature will work, what kind of development is required for it, and of course, making sure that the end result is fun!

One of my favourite things to do, is to check out fansites, forums and the Hotels so that I have some idea what’s happening in Habbo :D

How did you come to work for Sulake?
You could say that it was a series of lucky decisions, but the longer answer is that I’ve been interested in games and graphics programming from a very early age and luckily I’ve ended doing something I enjoy a lot!

Before joining Sulake I worked at a mobile games studio, which closed. Luckily we had a recruitment event and a few of the senior staff from Sulake were there looking for developers for Habbo, and the work description matched pretty much my own personal interests and desires, so here I am.

What training/ education/ skills do you need to perform your role?
I’ve worked for a company developing mobile games, in a digital marketing firm and a couple of other tech companies. And I’ve got a bachelor’s degree for some formal qualification.

However, I think the most important training I’ve had has been my graphics-programming hobby. I don’t think you can learn to program just by reading some books and taking a few courses at a university – you need to bang your head against the wall and find out the hard way how to make your programs work and how to design them. So for any aspiring programmers out there, just get on with your own projects. It’s the hard way to learn, but you will prevail in the end!

What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on in your time at Sulake?
I think the coolest project I’ve been working on so far, has been the room hopper. I really like the fact that the idea behind it is so simple – that by placing a Furni in a room you make it part of a network – but it opens up so many possibilities. And I love the fact that it really didn’t require any user interface work, which is always a good sign that it’s part of the core Habbo experience.

How do you plan your work when making a new feature?
Usually the most important thing is to first understand why a new feature is being developed at all. Before actually working on a new feature you need to be able to answer questions like: what problem does the feature solve, why is it fun, what kind of Habbos will enjoy it etc. After you really understand this you can actually start to think about how to implement it.

After this, the designing goes into more detail, and we usually try to break the new feature development into small tasks. This is done in the agile programming way, so we might end up with 30-40 different tasks on post-it notes describing the actual work. After that, it’s just writing the code to actually do those things and fix the bugs that testers will find in your code.

What are you currently working on?
Currently we are working on the first versions of the Hotel View replacement. We already did the community challenge for the Horses and Easter, but more work is happening with that. And then there is this 514 project going on… Stay tuned!

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Mark has worked for Sulake for ten years and is currently a Senior Copywriter. In this revelatory and confusing interview, he talks to himself about the personalities of the new pet Bunnies.

To make it less confusing, I am conducting this interview via time travel, where ‘Morning Mark’ interviewed ‘Afternoon Mark’, and ‘Evening Mark’ wrote it up. It was less confusing to Mark, at least…

Good morning Mark
Hi, good afternoon! How’s it going?

How’s it going?
I asked first.

It’s going okay. Yourself?
It’s going okay also.

I knew that, since I am you.
So what do you want to talk about?

The pet rabbit.
Oh awesome. Like I haven’t talked enough about those big-eared pests. But enough about those guys that I met on the tram this morning, who tried to sell me a half-eaten shoe.

Before we begin, did you leave that half eaten sausage on the kitchen counter last night?
Yes, yes, I did.

I’m going to have to clean it, you know.
Tough.

Okay, so when you were writing the speech for the white rabbit, what were your thoughts?
Well. First of all I did some research into rabbits. Did you know, in Sweden they like to have rabbit show jumping? It’s called Kaninhoppning. They do it in Finland as well, apparently. I then watched Watership Down. I was expecting a lively and upbeat cartoon about rabbits. This was not that kind of film. It was dark, and depressing, and surprisingly gory. I realized if I tried to base the personality of the rabbit on that, the cute and fluffy animal would have some form of PTSD. So I thought a little more, inspired by looming deadlines and the videogame Devil May Cry, and decided that the best personality for the white rabbit would be friendly, kind, a bit poetic and a bit wistful.

Right, that’s all I wanted to know.
So I can go now?

In a minute. Who’s Nazabozho?
Among the Anishinaabe people, Nazabozho is a spirit who is a trickster figure and shapeshifter who often appears in the form of a rabbit.

Who’s Julie?
Ah, not telling. Some Habbos might figure that one out, some won’t!

Oh, you tease! Wasn’t Julie the name of that girl you met at the bus stop three years ago in Lewisham?
No, that was Lee from Steps. At least, that’s who she claimed to be.

Lee from Steps was a man. So what about the other three rabbits, how did they come about?
Well, it was always in the plan to have multiple colours, the white one was released first as it was the first to be made. The other three took a bit more time, due to them having wildly different personalities- they really are like no other pet around, personality wise.

Okay.
Okay? That’s it?

Okay, please continue?
Well first of all I had a plan. The sugar plan. The pink bunny would be written after I had eaten a lot of candy, as it was to be a super happy, manic pixie bunny. The brown bunny was to be written when I was coming down off the sugar rush and I was too tired to do anything, and the black bunny was to be written after I had no sugar left and was a bit grouchy.

Tell me more, please, I am dying to know.
Well, the pink bunny was the most difficult to write. I brainstormed lots of different personality types- air headed bimbo (Heini recommended I watch Legally Blond for reference, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it), then I thought about making the bunny super love obsessed with the owner, but that was just creepy, then I thought about making the bunny super flamboyant and camp, but that read like a cruel stereotype. So I decided on using the manic dream pixie girl persona, someone who is super enthusiastic and loves life, also a bit similar to Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, all about seizing the day and whatnot. Basically, I based the pink bunny on someone I couldn’t be in a room with for longer than three seconds without looking for a window to jump through dramatically.

What about the black bunny?
The black bunny was to be evil, or nasty. My first draft was too nice, my second draft was far, far too nasty- I based it on my German teacher from school. In the end I split the difference.

And what about the brown bunny?
The brown bunny was to be apathetic and bored all the time. He’s a little depressed. I based him, a little, on myself as a teenager, only a little mind you, as I’ve managed to repress most of those memories. Originally, he was going to be very sarcastic, but when I tried him out, he actually sounded pretty nice- the subtle sarcasm didn’t register.

What’s with the Nirvana line? Is it a joke? It’s not very funny.
It’s a joke a girl I once knew told me, about when she was on the bus once, I guess teens don’t use buses anymore; they use the internet or something. Anyway she was on a bus and some kids in front of her were talking about going to see Nirvana in concert, they were trying to brag and one up one another by seeing who was the biggest fan, and one of them said they were going to go see Nirvana in concert the next month. This was in 2002.

Right.
Jokes were different back then, they didn’t have to be funny.

Did you listen to Nirvana when you were a teenager?
No, I listened to Korn and Limp Bizkit. And Bruce Springsteen.

That explains so much, if anything it explains too much.
You know it! Imagine Fred Durst doing a duet with The Boss! It would shatter the universe. I’m going now, it’s almost home time. And my boss is staring at me, which means I’ve got to apologize for something.

Aw man, I’ve got another seven hours…
Well, when you’re interviewed by yourself, watch out, he’s a real piece of work.

Bye, Mark.
Bye, Mark.

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Xeregrinus (that’s his name on Habbo.com) started working for Sulake as a graphic designer in November 2011, and we didn’t scare him off! Before working for Sulake he’s worked in industrial design, print design and done graphics work for mobile platforms. He’s also a keen sportsman. Since he’s the man of the hour, designing the new pet Bunnies, we wanted to ask him a few questions!

How did you start working on the Bunny? Did you make any sketches or work from any reference material?
I started with checking all kinds of references in the Internet – googling every kind of rabbit and bunny I could find. Then I did some hand and tablet drawings and also tried to find out how rabbits and bunnies move in real life by watching online video footage of them. All this to get the right feeling and perspective.

What is the most difficult thing about designing a pet for Habbo?
The most difficult thing about designing a pet in Habbo is making it look natural while keeping in mind the Habbo environment it’s going to be situated in. So it’s all about the right balance.

An early sketch of the bunny.

What’s the process for making a pet in Habbo?
It’s an iterative process with trials and errors. First you begin with rough sketches – hand drawn or whatever suits you – then you build from that into more detailed pixel graphics and animations, while adjusting and revising graphics along the way. You can’t plan everything in advance.

Do you like rabbits in real life?
I like rabbits and wild life in general.

Do you have any funny stories about your real life encounters with rabbits?
No, but I used to be afraid of cows when I was little, for unknown reasons! I think that’s funny, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with rabbits.

Is it true that you were once going to star in a remake of Gymkata?
Nope. (What’s Gymkata?)

So what are you working on now?
I did enjoy the bunny project a lot, but now it’s time to work on something else, time to move on. I might however want to create another pet one day. The feedback from Habbos is encouraging!

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A former Habbo and later a Hobba on Habbo UK, Marion – aka Jet – started working for Sulake in Habbo NL as a Community Manager back in 2006, before moving on to Site Production and becoming a Hotel Manager last year.

Fun fact:
During this interview process I discovered that Marion started hanging out in Habbo a week before I did. I was humbled.

How and when did you find out about Habbo? 
That’s such a long time ago! I was a student at the time, I remember. I think the http://www.habbo.co.uk had just launched and the players seemed to be a little bit older. But maybe I wasn’t really paying attention. Anyway, my boyfriend who was a graphic designer pointed Habbo Hotel out to me. He told me about this massive online hotel, where you can actually walk around, get cool clothes and build rooms. Actually, he called it a giant doll house, if I remember correctly. I was in heaven! I love all that stuff! So, I logged in right away and I was hooked. I remember that having bright colored hair was still a ‘bug/trick’, you only had ‘normal’ hair in the shop. So you had to fool the system to get pink hair. I remember being very proud to know the trick that would dye your hair (only for insiders at the time). I still have bright hair till this day.

What were your early experiences as a Hobba like?
I was sooo excited! I remember my first lessons and even remember the Habbo name of my ‘trainer’ – Don_Beech. I used to spend hours in the hotel, trying to help out. I could do it till the middle of the night sometimes. And, it was great practice for my English. I’ve met so many cool people, too!

How did you come to work for Habbo NL, and what kind of jobs have you done there?
Well, long story short. I finished my studies and kinda moved away from Habbo for a while. Then a friend told me about a Habbo Hotel Netherlands being built,  and that they were looking for ‘testers’. I jumped on this opportunity right away, but didn’t want to be a tester. No, I wanted to work for the Dutch office so I sent Sulake my resume. After a lot of meetings and interviews, I got the job. And the rest is history. That was 8 years ago…

I’ve started as a Customer Service manager, Community Manager and now have been a Site Producer for more than a year.

What changes have you seen in NL community through the years?
Well, Habbo is a Hotel that changes. The features are getting better and better. Even though I’ve noticed that Habbo’s don’t like change all the time. Don’t we all fear change? But, I do think that changes are always good in the end. New features bring new life into a community. I remember the first pets! Wow! That was so exciting. But over the years, Habbos haven’t really changed that much. They all seem to have the same sense of humor :)

What’s the most enjoyable part of the job? 
The excitement that new stuff brings. Habbo really is like a country and news travels so fast. I enjoy watching Habbos pick up our products- spin it around a couple of times- and create these amazing games and events in their rooms. Really, they amaze me every day. I couldn’t do it.

What’s been the most difficult part of your job?
Definitely dealing with players who got their stuff stolen because someone managed to steal their password. It’s sometimes heartbreaking to hear these stories. Even though most players do admit that they might have given away their password, or opened this weird attachment, it still is such a sad situation. We try and give as much guidance to avoid this from happening again, and most of these Habbos get back on their feet.. but still. It makes me angry to know some teens out there get enjoyment out of stripping someone’s account of Furni. And why… it’s so not cool i.m.o. You could use those ‘skills’ for so many better things in life.

What are you currently working on?
I am now working on some exciting new stuff in Habbo.NL, but I can’t talk about it publicly yet. I’m Twittering as much as I can, that’s pretty fun. And we are thinking about how to make Habbo in general even more fun and how to include FB and Hyves and Twitter in all this.

What’s your favourite Habbo pet?
You, of course! Oh no…. erm… I’d have to say the Horse. I like it when it’s wearing the Pegasus Wings.

You can follow Marion on twitter: @MaryElectric

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First off.. the 514 project now has an official name! No longer will it go by its numerical mystery code, from now on, you will know it as… *drum roll please* … Habbo Talents!

And with that reveal, we’d love to give you a peek at the process ahead, what’s happening next, when and how it will all go down… It’s a long post, with loads of information, but you should be a whole lot wiser by the end of it :)

Habbo Talents  – What is it All About?
Habbo Talents is one of the biggest projects to ever be rolled out in Habbo (maybe the biggest)! It’s built around the idea that Habbos come to the Hotel for different reasons, because they enjoy doing different things. Some enjoy certain things more than others, and sometimes they enjoy it so much that they excel at it! We’re thinking room builders, traders, event hosts, help desk owners etc. Different Habbos with different talents.

This idea developed into a so-called ‘talent tree’ with paths branching out in different directions. The thought being that if you really love doing something in Habbo, you could follow a specific path, which eventually would give you some extra talents (tools/abilities) to make what you love doing easier and even more enjoyable! Obviously, if you enjoy more than one thing, you could follow more than one path.

Starting Off With One Path – Habbo Helpers
Since the project is so big, we need to start somewhere, with one path, and then we’ll build from there. Lately there has been a lot of talk about ‘Habbo Helpers’ (this is the official name, but it might be better known to some by its working title, HabboCM), the reason being that this is the first of the Habbo Talents paths to launch. Simply put, it will give Habbos that enjoy helping others a chance to do it in an efficient way that will benefit everyone.

Through a long series of tasks, the path will cover everything from the basics of Habbo, to guiding new members and helping others. It will eventually make those that keep at it, full-fledged Habbo Helpers with access and ability to really make a difference and to help out fellow Habbos for real. Though everyone will be able to enter this path, it will not be an easy one to complete. Becoming an actual Habbo Helper, will take a lot of knowledge, skill, and dedication over time (scroll down to see a mock-up version of the first steps of the path)!

The aim is to give the full-fledged Habbo Helpers the tools they need to pick up help requests that won’t require a moderator’s attention. They would be answering a large variety of smaller “Calls for Help” within certain categories (scroll down to see an early mock-up version). This will in turn free up a lot of time for the moderators and player support, giving them a chance to focus on the bigger cases. Please note that Habbo Helpers will not have the ability to ban or unban others.

Alpha Testing Habbo Helpers
Before we can launch it, we need to test it… vigorously! Since this is something we’ve never done before, and because we truly believe that it could be something amazing, we need to make absolutely sure that it works the way we envision it before we roll it out in all the Hotels.

That’s why we’ll be starting out with a small Alpha test phase during the first week of May, testing some of the most crucial Habbo Helpers features. Alpha will be launched first in Habbo Finland, which is a smaller Hotel, then it’ll expand to Habbo Spain, which is slightly bigger. It will be available to a small group of native speaking Habbos (Finnish & Spanish), selected through a poll that’s open for all. These Habbos will be given the chance to help out with a limited set of issues, giving us the opportunity to see how the help process would work.

After Alpha Comes.. Beta!
Once we have all the information and learning we need from the Alpha phase, we will most likely have some things that need to be improved and perhaps changed, and unfortunately we have no way of knowing exactly how long this might take. However, we’re hoping to be able to roll out a bigger Beta test in the same two Hotels, Finland and Spain, come mid-May. The Beta phase would include most of the Habbo Helpers path (which could still after this point be developed further), and it would allow for all Habbos in the test countries to join. This round would give us an idea of how the process of the path would work, including the introduction flow for new Habbos.

…And After Beta?
Hopefully, Beta won’t take too long, and we can quickly move on to launching the full Habbo Helper path in all the Hotels globally within the month of May! Again, we can’t make any definite promises, because our Magic 8-ball refuses to give us a proper answer to how the tests will go, but everyone is working very hard to make it happen as smooth as humanly possible. Let’s keep our pixel fingers crossed for a quick delivery!

Too Long, Didn’t Read? Here’s a Summary!
If the summary leaves you with questions, consider reading the above after all :)

1. 514 => Habbo Talents,  HabboCM => Habbo Helpers

2. Habbo Helpers is the first path to roll out from the Habbo Talents “tree”.

3. By working your way through the path, you will eventually become a Habbo Helper!

4. Alpha testing starts 1st week of May in Habbo Finland, then moves to Spain the following week.

5. Beta testing will commence in the same two countries once Alpha testing is over, probably mid-May.

6. Once Beta is done, the Habbo Helpers path will roll out in ALL Hotels, hopefully by end of May.

7. The rest of the paths will follow once we see that the Habbo Helpers path works.

– and yes, once it’s out there, everyone (everyone!) can enter the Habbo Helpers path, however, to become a full-fledged Helper will take a lot of dedication, skill and time. So ultimately, it might not be for everyone. However, we have other exciting paths to come, so stay tuned for that :)

So there you have it! Exciting times are ahead, and we’re looking forward to sharing even more details with all of you going forward!

If you have questions about the Habbo Helpers test phases in particular or Habbo Talents in general, don’t be shy to ask Heini and Inka on Twitter, they know everything there is to know about this project!

This post already appeared on official Fansites.

^ An early mock-up of how the Habbo Helpers path might look (click for actual size).

^ An early mock-up of how the Habbo Helpers flow might look.

Filed under: Behind-The-Scenes, General Info, Sneak Peek, Updates

Last week, we told you that Habbo Helpers was entering the very first stage of live testing, first in Finland and then in Spain. I checked in with one of the project managers to see how everything is going so far, and to find out if we’re still on schedule. Here’s what he said!

PS: as a bonus, they gave me a screenshot to show you! It has Finnish text, but it should still give you an idea of how it’s looking so far.

- How is the Habbo Helpers Alpha Phase going in Finland?
All in all, surprisingly smooth! The Hotel has been stable and the feedback from Finnish Habbos has been encouraging.

- What do the Finnish Habbos think so far?
They really like the tool. It’s easy to use and visually clean. The main concern from Habbo Helpers have been that some help requesters have been trying to abuse the system by trolling with all kinds of negative messages. Unfortunately, this was to be expected at the beginning of a new feature such as this one…

- Have there been any hick-ups?
None so far, knock on wood! The team has done a superb job with this feature. Testing something as complex as Habbo Helpers easily leads to some nasty bugs, and so far we’ve avoided them!

- Are we still “on schedule”?
Yes, we are planning to expand the testing to Habbo.ES on Thursday. We’re also looking at already testing the first alpha version of the new Habbo tours in Finland, either late this week or beginning of next week!

So there you have it, our test schedule is still on track, which means, you’re still on track to have the Habbo Helpers program rolled out in your Hotel relatively soon!

Read more about the testing of the Habbo Helpers path, and the Talents program here ››

For Spanish Habbos with questions regarding Spanish Alpha Testing:
Si te conectas a Habbo.es, puedes encontrar más información sobre Habbo Alfas aquí ››

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Habbo Helpers in the Helpers Alpha Library, a room design borrowed from .COM Habbo, Ruby.
Click on the image for actual size!

Filed under: Behind-The-Scenes, General Info, Sneak Peek

It’s been a whole week since we last updated you on the progress of the Habbo Helpers test stage and how it’s all going (time flies!), and now we’re back with another update!

Just like last time, I checked in with the project manager to see how everything is going, and to find out if we’re still on schedule. Here’s what he said this week!

So, what’s been happening since we last spoke?
We started testing the first version of the new Guided Tours in Finland. New Habbos have now an option to take a tour with a Helper. Helpers will show them around Hotel and introduce them to Habbo. With the exception of some Habbos wanting too many tours, the touring has received positive feedback. We’re waiting to hear what new Habbos think of the tours they received!

Is the feedback still positive?
Yeah! It also seems that as the novelty of Helpers has started to wear off, most of the requests are now valid, which is great.

Did anything out of the ordinary happen so far?
After releasing the Guided Tours function, it was heart warming to hear Helpers saying that finally they have enough “work” to do! Apparently it’s quite rewarding to show new Habbos what the Hotel is all about.

Did you decide to make any changes based on the Pilot?
We have been adding small improvements based on the feedback we’ve been getting, like showing that the other Habbo is typing, merging speech bubbles when only one side is writing multiple entries, etc. One thing we know we would like to add, but haven’t had a chance to yet, is an alert sound when you get a new help request.

When will Beta be rolled out and how?
Plan is to have Beta first in Finland and Spain as soon as we’re satisfied with the Alpha test. Get some feedback, clean out bugs and then roll it out globally.

Are we still on schedule for a global launch?
Yes, we are still aiming to roll out Helpers by the end of May!

So there you have it, Habbos! We’re still on track… and next week, we’ll be revealing something entirely new – stay tuned!

Read more about the testing of the Habbo Helpers path, and the Talents program here ››

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SOME LIVE ACTION IMAGES:

“Follow me!”

“Help Is Near”

“What Can We Help You With?”

This might be the last progress report before Habbo Helpers goes live in all Hotels! I checked in with the project manager, and although they experienced some technical challenges in the last week that put them back a bit, he’s still hopeful that the delays won’t be too big. Here’s what he had to say this time!

How is the testing going?
No major changes, we’ve been focusing on finalizing the Habbo Helpers’ path!

What is the latest to be tested?
With the new Habbo Talents, and specifically this Habbo Helpers’ path, we decided that the old Habbo Way needed a bit of a redo! This has been in the works for a while, and finally we got to test it in FI. I really like how it turned out. The new Habbo Way also has a Quiz attached to it and it will all be launched together with the Habbo Helpers globally.

[Linn says: I will fill you in about this later, but see below for a quick sneak peek!]

Did you hit any snags in the last week?
While creating the technical foundation for the Habbo Helpers’ path, we noticed that it won’t really be consistent with how the current Achievements work and how progress happens in levels. So we decided to unify the two. This is all very technical, but bottom line is that you won’t lose any progress, but some of your Achievements will show their score a little differently (cumulative score instead of zeroing on every level).

While we do this upgrade to the databases in preparation for Habbo Helpers, we unfortunately have to take each and every Hotel down one by one for quite a while. The time it takes will depend on the size of the Hotel, bigger Hotels might take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to upgrade. We are doing this Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

After this, we can use Achievements as requirements on all our Habbo Talent paths, starting with the Habbo Helpers. So that every level on the path has a set of Achievements to accomplish.

[Update: All smaller Hotels have been done already in the early morning hours before this post went live, but the bigger Hotels remain and will be upgraded during off-peak hours on Wednesday.]

Exciting stuff! So tell me, have we launched Beta testing yet?
No, but if everything goes well with the Achievement progress unification, we are still looking at launching Beta testing in Finland later this week.

So to wrap this up, it sounds like the global launch might not happen at the end of May after all?
Because we had to figure out the Achievements and all that, we might slip a bit, unfortunately. However, we are all working very hard towards a global launch at some point next week!

A bit of a delay, but not too bad! Looks like we might still see this launch in ALL HOTELS by end of next week. Fingers crossed!

Oh, and because it was briefly mentioned above, below you can see a little sneak peek of the new Habbo Way and how it will look! I’ll do a separate post about that next week – stay tuned!

This post was already published on some official Fansites.

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More info about the new Habbo Way to come!

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As we’re nearing the end of the Quest for the Ancients, and something exciting has happened… we’ve found the Gate of Eternity!

If you’ve gathered all the artefacts, earned all four badges (the first one was given out without an artefact), managed to wear them together in the right order, you will have received the very magical Gate of Eternity…

But what are they??

I put our resident historian on the case, and after some research into the phenomenon, Neja was able to tell me this…

“A long, long time ago, when the Ancients arrived in Habbo, they decided Habbos should be able to go anywhere in the world. Habbos would get to explore and discover wonderful places: forests, seas, jungles and vast lands, full of plants, animals and other Habbos! For this purpose, the Network of the Ancients was built. The Gate of Eternity would take Habbos wherever they wanted to go!

The Ancients were very careful about who were allowed to be the gate guardians. The artefacts had to be handled with care, and the puzzle was not for all. Only those who could solve it, would be granted guardianship of a Gate of Eternity.

Years passed and the Network of the Ancients was used less and less. Some of the Gates of Eternity were shut down and some were forgotten, left in dusty corners of Habbo… Until now! With your help, the magic of the Ancients has returned and the Gates of Eternity are reactivated!

If you’ve been granted a Gate, make sure you create a wonderful place for it – you want your guests from all corners of Habbo to be in awe of the place they arrive to! And remember, this Network of the Ancients is exclusive – reachable only by entering a Gate of Eternity…”

So there you have it Habbos! Go exploring with your Gate of Eternity…

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Fantastic news everybody! Full chat has now been restored to all Habbo sites. The safe chat has been turned off and Habbos can now talk freely like before, however we’ve added several new moderation filters and checks to ensure the safety of Habbos. Habbos should know that even though the safe chat has been removed, the Habbo Way, Safety Policy is still in effect and our commitment to the safety of Habbo remains paramount. A huge thank you goes out to all our Habbos who have supported us through this trying time, and we look forward to welcoming you back to the Hotel and being able to talk with you once again :)

To celebrate we’ve been throwing some parties in the various Habbo sites. The next parties will be held on Monday for Habbo.com and our Nordic sites, the times are below in EEST, and Staff will be in attendance, visiting rooms through the Hotel and hanging out with their fellow Habbos. Even Kitano’s going to be there, even though he’s just back from Holiday and has no idea what’s going on… No change there then.

Event times per Hotel:
Denmark – 11:30 EEST
Norway – 10:00 EEST
Sweden – 13:00 EEST
Habbo.com – 18:00 EEST (that’s 16:00 UK time, 11:00 in New York and Toronto, 6:00 in Los Angeles, 22:00 in Singapore, and 01:00 in Sydney the next morning)

What’s more we’ve got a brand new community challenge live in these Hotels- if enough Habbos log into the site at the same time (500 for Norway, 650 for Denmark, 600 for Sweden and 6000 for .com) , all Habbos that have signed in since the challenge started on Wednesday 1st August until the challenge has been completed will receive a week of Habbo VIP free and a nifty Frank trophy, so this is the perfect time to let your Habbo friends know the good news- the chat is back. Huzzah!

Status

habbo.com got a new build today, which should resolve most of the issues.

• diagonal walking – works as two weeks ago
• walking over high furniture – works, subject for limitations (see next item)
• climbing and dropping – Habbo can climb up 1.25 and drop down up to 4 units. Chairs and beds are exempt, you always have to get to the bottom of chair/bed to climb it. Had to be made this way due to a large number of old furniture using this “feature” (zeppelin, thrones, etc.)
• “ditch” stacking – “fixed” by using old code (more about it later)
• client shows every location as “stackable” – fixed, but will be deployed tomorrow

If you cannot climb some places, chances are first step of your stair is too high. Try lowering it.

If all goes well, these fixes will be deployed to other countries tomorrow morning (Finnish time).

Stacking

To bring back “ditch” stacking, we had to temporary bring back old buggy code that allowed it. This code gets into the way when we try to do anything related to room architecture improvements, so we need to sort it out somehow. Rather then emulating old bugs with ditch corner, coins and song disks, we are going to enable the same tricks but using more “standard” way. Current idea is to have a special “stacking helper” furni. This will be some flat furni with minimal graphic, you can put it on the ground and it’ll enable “advanced stacking” for this tile. Once the job is done, you can pick it up, but your stack will stay.

Now, the question is – what exactly should this furni do? Current plan is following:

• Objects manually put to this location will go to the ground level. This will help hiding wired stacks.
• Objects put to the location via rollers, will keep their “roller” altitude. This way it’ll be possible to stack things into others, as before.
• We can provide some additional functionality via context menu, but what should be it? Moving entire stack or last placed object up/down? Squashing everything to the ground level?

Comment and suggestions are welcome. Just don’t write “it should work as before”, please. I have to remove that code to move further.

This blog post was used to coordinate beta testing of Rentable Spaces. As the feature is released now, we though it could be interesting for everyone to see how it went…

/dmitrym

Welcome to Rentable Spaces Beta!

Please visit group home room (http://www.habbo.com/room/63203746), follow the teleport and rent one of those gray boxes on the floor (for this test, it’ll cost you 1 ducket for 60 minutes, ignore what UI tells you). Once rented, the space allows you to put your furniture inside it. You do not loose ownership of the furniture, you can always pick it up. When rent period ends, the furniture will be returned to you automatically.

Play with it and tell me in comments here how it works for you. I’d be grateful if could abuse it by finding a way to affect room beyond your rented space. Client crashes, lost furnis (will be returned) and visual glitches will do too. There’ll be badges for bug reporters and 1 months of HC to those who find the nastiest bugs.

Oh, and keep in mind – this is work in process.

/dmitrym

Update 2013-07-01 20:25 UTC:

We got our first bugs:

1. Renting the space crashes the client. After re-entering the room space is marked as rented and you can use it.
2. When re-used, spaces render the whole room invalid. I’ve cleaned mess up and changed rent time to 10 hours, will fix it tomorrow.

Thank you, early testers – we have your names in logs. :-)

Update 2013-07-02 9:50 UTC:

Room stuck again after existing rents expired and someone tried to rent same space again. There will be new build in an hour, that should fix this and some other known issues.

Update 2013-07-02 11:10 UTC:

New build installed. We had to clean all existing rents, but the furni should have gone back to original owners. The misplaced puzzle boxes should have returned back to their owner too.

Thanks everyone for the efforts! Looks like there is no reliable way to restrict the visual height of the placed furniture, so this has to be rather part of “contract” when renting the space. We’ll give room owner rights to cancel the rent and eject the misplaced furniture. Please test what other furniture can break the rules. Isaac has found mountain background, anything else?

And yes, the furniture types we know for sure are going to break the rules are disabled. These include rollers / any wired box / magic stack tool / music playing furni / and some other things that can move by itself.

Update 2013-07-03 10:30 UTC:

New build, and starting the (hopefully) final round of testing. Known issues updated. If everything goes well, the beta test will end about this time on Thursday, with badges and HC club to follow shortly.

Update 2013-07-03 13:00 UTC:

Fixed:

• Pucks can be in placed rented space and pushed outside. 
• Background furniture, cloud machine and background toner can be placed in rented space and screw up the room.
• Sound effect furni can be placed into rented space and can potentially become annoying.

Update 2013-07-04 11:50 UTC:

Fixed:

• Beach ball can be in placed rented space and pushed outside.

Known issues

• Graphically tall furni can be placed into rented space and obscure the view for others. This cannot be realistically fixed, and becomes a “policy” issue.
• Some furniture cannot be placed into rented space and gives ”You cannot place this in someone else’s room”. This is intentional.
• Some furniture (black holes, water patch) cannot be placed into rented space and no error message is given. This is semi-intentional and will not be fixed, but please list those if you found one.

The Beta is Over

Thanks everyone! Badges and HC membership for those who found the nastiest bugs will follow shortly.

A New Year, brings a new blog! We decided to kick off 2014 by bringing this blog back to life to give you a look ‘Behind the Pixels’. We’re not going to be talking about local Habbo events or updates, instead we’ll be trying to focus on updates that are global and relevant to all of our users! Excitied? You should be. You can expect a bi-weekly update related to game development, frequent campaign updates from our designers, as well as a monthly update discussing the Habbo Economy.

A look at least year…

As many of you know, 2013 was a pretty busy year for us. We had an overhaul of our entire client interface, based on user feedback. We also introduced Builders Club, Free Flow Chat,

Walking 2.0, and lots of new features to Pocket Habbo. In addition we created a whopping 549 pieces of furniture and 922 new badges – which now means there are over 8000 badges in Habbo.

We know there have been a few hiccups with these updates and changes, but it is because of your continued feedback that we’re able to react and make positive changes to your Habbo experience – Keep it coming!

Upcoming plans

Over the next few weeks, we have some pretty awesome stuff coming to you guys. On top of the exciting quests and events that your local managers are coordinating, we’ve got a brand new range of furni coming. This new furni is something that will finally give room builders the tools they need to make the most of their rooms.

Builders Club

We ran a poll at the beginning of the New Year asking you various questions, focusing around the different categories you all would like added to Builders Club. We received huge number of responses, and here are the global results of that poll. Interesting, hey?

This will be talked about in more detail in the monthly economy update, but we have to be very careful with what we put into the Builders Club Warehouse. We know trading is an important part of Habbo for many of you and we don’t want to ruin that. We currently have over 650 furni in there, but we certainly can see where everyone agree on what they would like to see more of, and will be looking into which of those furni could be added to the warehouse. In  addition to the furni updates for Builders Club, we are working hard on adding alternative payment options and are happy to announce that we will soon be releasing an SMS option for Builders Club!

User Interface

The UI has some more exiting changes coming its way too. Those of you with eagle eyes will have noticed the little changes that were made between different hotel builds, but we’re not done just yet! We’re hoping to have the final changes done soon, things like the navigation and friends toolbar is coming close to the final stages. Here’s what we think the final product is going to look like…what do you think?

Next Issue: In the next issue, we’ll also be discussing the upcoming number verification feature, how and why your data is safe and the upcoming Valentines Campaign!

About the Author

Hi, My names Dom and I am developer here at Sulake! You’ll often find me wandering the hotels on the avatar ‘Macklebee’. Every few weeks I will be posting a new ‘Behind the Pixels’ post, talking to you about what’s up and all the exciting stuff coming in the hotel…We will be sharing more than ever before, so make sure to tune in. This is really important to me – I hope you enjoy! I feel strongly that Habbo is a place where creativity can bloom and I really want you to feel as though you’re a part of it.

By now you’ve probably read your local article discussing the game center leaving Habbo. We opened the game center in October 2012 for game developers, and boy did we have a big amount of interest!

Regular Habbos and up-and-coming game studios started working hard to polish their games and have them published onto the game center for all you Habbos to play. We’d like to thank all those who took the opportunity to create a game for our Habbos.

This decision has come because ultimately we want to improve our user experience. Plus the graphics of some of the games simply did not fit with Habbo. We want to provide the best service to you guys and we know that keeping in tone with Habbos pixelated graphic style is important, so we’re going to stick to what we know best!

The game center will continue to be operational until March 31st, so if you have credits left to spend in a game, make sure you do before that date. Of course, Habbo Stories will continue to be available after this date. (We’ve got some exciting campaigns coming soon from Habbo Stories!)

So, what’s this number verification thing?

A few of you investigative types have delved into the client, found references to a new number verification feature, and have concerns about the security of your number should you opt to provide it. I’m here to put those concerns to bed.

If a player gives us their number through this service, an SMS containing a verification code will be sent to their phone, then they simply enter this code into the client window. Afterwards we store the number in such a way that means even we don’t know what it is, similar to how passwords are stored.

This new feature comes hand in hand with some upcoming changes we’re making to new user registration – we’re not going to force anybody to give us their number and we’re certainly not looking to spam your phones! After the SMS verification, you won’t receive another SMS from us.

On the plus side, being able to verify numbers is a good thing! If we can verify that an account is authentic, then we can offer that account better prices and exclusive deals! There’s even something for you old schoolers.. what was that thing’s name.. the R-O-M?

Last week for the start of our Summer School Q+A we invited you all to ask one of our resident pixel pushers (that’s a pixel artist for those who didn’t know) anything you’ve ever wanted to know regarding the graphic side of Habbo and we’d force out an answer. Yes, even with red hot iron barbs if necessary and let us tell you, we were itching to use those barbs regardless (moody artsy people pffft, you know you have it coming).  Before we delve into this first Q+A though we wanted to quickly give thanks to all of you for your great questions.  So. Thanks!

Now. Lets get into that delving!  Ah, we should warn you though… this answer is coming directly from the mind of one of those artsy people so we make no claim that it actually makes sense.  Even less so considering it’s coming from notMiceElf.  Good luck dear reader.  Should you make it out consciously intact remember to submit a question of your own for the next round of the Q+A!

How do you go about designing furni so that it is consistent with other Habbo furni?  (question posted by closetspace)

Hi closetspace and thanks for the question.  Actually a pretty cool question if you delve into the historical side of things… which… could be “zzzzz” for some so for those who hate that sort of thing in essence what you’re asking about is the Habbo style and that’s really the tl;dr answer.  So. Yep.  Oh, you actually do want more? Well, grab some popcorn… this could get long winded.

The Habbo style is pretty rooted in isometric game art so the foundation for everything from furni to pets and avatars is going to be based around the rules for that kind of artwork.  For example, check out this screenshot of an old isometric Batman game from the 80s.  Sort of has a hint of Habbo in it doesn’t it? 

Those basic isometric rules dictate the point of view for everything within the Habbo rooms.  They’re really a kind of blue print which gives us a running start for keeping things consistent.  From that starting point we delve into the specifics of the Habbo style which is actually the interesting bit.

I think you can look at the Habbo style as if it were divided into three stages.  The first stage is made up of the original Habbo releases where the style was, in a lot of ways, in its infancy.  It’s this stage that gave us the foundational rules for what everything going forward would look like.  Items in this stage were much simpler.  Inner edges (like those on legs of chairs or beds) were often black, most items generally lacked texture, and the colors were also fairly simple.  It’s the kind of stuff, now, that I’d associate with someone who’s just learning the basics.  Ok, don’t misunderstand and start yelling, “You’re dissing oldskool Habbo! FOR SHAME!”, at me.  I’m just digging into the visual history to give a little context!  PUT THE TORCHES AWAY.

As Habbo made more items the pixel prowess of its designers got better (as did our internal tools for making items… thank you dev) and we left stage one and entered stage two.  There’s much better attention being payed to shape, volume and animation in this stage.  You’ll notice that vertical banding on table tops becomes pretty common place in this stage and those inner edges are starting to get color instead of being black.  Additionally the colors being selected are much more interesting from an artistic point of view which just adds to items looking like completed thoughts.  This second stage, for me, is really in full swing by the time we released Alhambra and goes on for about two years or so.

Eventually Habbo switched platforms from shockwave to flash where stage three and the real “modern” style takes over (though admittedly there was some overlap between the second and third stages as we transitioned our tools).  Stage three is characterized, in my mind, by items having more visual impact from better pixel artistry and attention to mood by way of color.  The color ramps (that’s basically a kind of controlled gradient from one color to the next) for drawing are often a bit smoother and don’t seem as abrupt as those in stage one and the first half stage two which adds to items looking a little more 3D and complex.  Items also get a lot more texture and transparency effects (stuff that wasn’t possible before. For example: water patches would never have been able to be made in stage one or two).

It’s a little more apparent if you look at how the rendering of one type of furni has changed throughout each stage.  Like. A bed.  Don’t look at theme so much but how the items are drawn.  The types of textures and complexities given to them.  It’s a pretty cool transition.

Alright. I can tell your eyes are getting droopy and your popcorn has run out which means it’s either time for me to stop with the history or plant some kind of subliminal message.  What we get from all this history though is that the Habbo style is something that’s been in a constant state of change because of individual artists and the platform Habbo was developed for changing.  There’s a core set of “rules” that were formed as we traveled those style stages to this point that we now follow. A few of those rules for example are: black outlines, light goes top left to lower right (this is an odd one… maybe someone will ask about Habbo light sometime), vertical bands for top sheen, small items being slightly larger than real life, ducks are funny.

To a certain degree that long slow change in style and the sheer volume of items (seriously, we have a ton of items) gives us a lot of leeway in keeping things appearing consistent without needing to redraw everything every few years (yeah, I’m looking at you original Area, Iced and Plastic).  In a way it’s like having a bunch of red crayons of slightly varying shades. Chances are that any new red crayon will fit somewhere in the bunch and look like it belongs.  That is, as long as we follow our style rules of course- ie: make a red crayon not a blue one.

So that’s the long way around the Habbo style reason.  But there’s actually a little more to it than “just follow the rules” (see they let me out of my cage, I’ll ramble for as long as I possibly can before I’m pulled back in).  That long history of items I mentioned before also means that, more than likely, we’ve already made something similar and we can go look to it for reference.  The trick there is to copy only what’s needed so items still look fresh.  Sometimes  you’ll see that we take outlines or bits of previous furni and tie it into new furni.  It’s an elegant way to ensure a kind of shared visual communication goes on between furni from past and present (helps keep our crayons red as it were).

So there ya have it.  Our overall Habbo Style and incorporating shared elements between new and old items help keep things looking cohesive.  There’s a whole separate topic concerning keeping items within a line cohesive too but I think I’ve probably bored you enough already :p  Plus I can hear the chains rattling which means it’s time for me to be put back in my art cage. I hope you’ve found the answer as interesting as I do!

We hope you enjoyed last weeks Habbo pixel art Q+A with notMiceElf because we’re continuing this week with another round!  We’ve fueled the guy up on coffee and swedish fish (only the red ones) so we’re hoping to get another gloriously ramble-filled response.  If you’ve got a question you’d like to pose keep an eye out for the poll in game and ask away!  Ok, Q+A time, GO! GO! GO!

How do you begin to transform your vision into pixel art… where do you start first? (question posted by Unposted)

Another great question, thanks Unposted! You’ll be receiving a years supply of marshmallow peeps for your question… huh? Oh. We aren’t giving away peeps. Probably for the better because those things are pretty gross.  Great question regardless.  The process of taking the initial idea to final pixel art can vary a little between artists but we do give gold stars to those that stick to the “certified two step method of furni making”™.  Ok that’s not really the name but the process does consist of two steps.  And it is certified… ok fine it’s not certified!  Sheesh.  Lets just move on shall we?

Step One:

Habbo artists royally freak out.  No, just kidding.  Step one starts with sketching out the idea for an item.  We always start with sketches first because they’re typically faster to produce than a full set of pixel art furni but still give us the ability to look at what the full set might look like and make design decisions early on.  This step can either be done on paper (and later scanned), or digitally.  It’s really up to the artist and what they’re most comfortable with.  The sketches are made so that they are around 2x-4x scale and can be easily utilized later in the process.  This example from the mystics line is 2x.

After the sketches are completed all the artists get together and chat about the items and what they’ll do.  At this point one or two of the artist’s color choices and/or design embellishments are selected to carry through the set (this could take us right back into the previous question about consistency! Or a discussion about obsessive compulsive artists…).  The whole sketch step is really exploratory foundation laying and prep work for step two. The pixel part.

Step Two:

The aforementioned “pixel part” can be completed a few different ways but I’ll first go through the way I prefer our artists use and then briefly talk about the other methods.  There’s not a wrong way here, just one that I believe works better for our finished products and timelines.  Plus, I like to see our artists use the same method I use. Because ego.

Alright, with sketch in hand (on… the computer) the artist can start on the outlines which are like the bone structure of a furni.  Yep. Furni has an exoskeleton.  Really though, the outlines help give a kind of rigid structural support to furni so the meaty insides sit nicely and… I can hear Hannibal Lecter licking his lips… moving on.  The sketch is often scaled to the correct furni size which is either to 50% or 25% if the sketch was at 2x or 4x scale.  Once it’s been scaled the sketch can be set to a low opacity and outlines drawn over it on a new layer (we all use Photoshop).

Or the sketch is set off to the side and used only as reference as the outlines are drawn from scratch.  You might be shouting at your screen, “Well, notMiceElf, that way sounds retarded!  The sketching phase would be pointless if you’re just going to redraw it anyway!”, but I say to you very loud doubters, “nah”.  The sketch is mostly a loose guide and redrawing gives us a very clean base to work from later.  It also gives the artist a chance to fix oddities present the sketch, so that the design falls more in line with the “Habbo look”, and works better in game. The end result has a similarity to the sketch but can also be drastically different because of the correction process.  Furni that has a lot of bits and trinkets (like a skull, book, and potion thing for example) benefits from being redrawn this way because each part can be drawn separately and then combined later for better control over the shape and readability of a design.  Imagine if you drew a table top with loads of stuff on it all in one layer and then you realize you needed to make it longer. “Oh, SHhhhhaving cream!”, you’d say. But if you have everything as separate parts you just fix the underlying table part and move on. Easy as pie. No, cake. Eh, we’ll stick with pie.

The inner rendering for the furni is where the volume and color is added to flesh it out and give it more substance.  Artists select a small set of colors ranging from dark to light which are used to render each element within a furni.  This set of colors is called a color ramp and all those ramps together give us the overall palette.  Pixel artists often employ a technique called “dithering” to bridge multiple colors in their ramp together when they’re dealing with a restricted palette (limited amount of color).  Essentially dithering is a kind of pattern that makes the artwork appear to have more colors than it actually does.  Lots of Habbo furni uses dithering to help render volumes but with newer items we tend to use dithering more for texture rather than bridging colors together.  That’s not to say we use millions of colors per furni though.  Furni is still rendered with a relatively small palette because it’s easier to keep track of what colors are used across a line if it’s a small number.  But you might notice that we’ll opt for adding an extra color or two these days instead of jumping right into dithering.

Items get a final look-over and small edits are made before they’re sliced up (a topic for another time!) for use in the game, but essentially this is the full drawing process!  We’ve reached the end of the amazingly wordy two step process.  Phew.  As I mentioned earlier though, the second step can be done a few different ways, so I’ll briefly lay out the alternatives for you to ponder.  By the way (yes, I fully wrote that out instead of using an acronym), there are furni in the game that were made using both of these alternate methods.  Can you guess which ones?

Variation One:

The first variation starts out the same way as before with scaling the sketched art to size.  From there the artist takes the scaled sketch and uses it as is.  The volumes get cleaned up until it’s all readable and the edges are fixed with black outlines.  This method has a tendency to have random semi transparent pixels and often takes just as long to complete as fully redrawing so it’s not used all that frequently.  In addition the sketch needs to be pretty much perfect for this method to work well so when it is used it’s often used on very simple non-animated items.  You can see from my example that it will take a lot of cleaning up to reach the same level of cleanliness as the examples that used the preferred method.  Interestingly though, this method is how we make the small size furni.  Basically scale the big size, clean up, done!

Variation Two:

The second variation is a little more extreme and it’s barely ever used in Habbo (but you’ll see it used in some NDS games as well as a few other console titles).  It involves making the item in 3D and then exporting a render at size and cleaning it up *shudders*. The example image is pretty crude, but you get the idea. Definitely more work than is needed for most items we make but it’s a pretty neat process!

There’s a pretty interesting (and short) article from SNK about the 3D to 2D process used for the sprites in KOF XII which I fully recommend if you’re interested in that sort of thing.  http://kofaniv.snkplaymore.co.jp/english/info/15th_anniv/2d_dot/creation/index.php

Well, that covers it!  My swedish fish have stopped swimming around my blood stream as has the coffee so I’m calling this one done and done!  I hope you all enjoyed the answer and the small glimpse into the furni production process!  Catch you next week with another mind numbing and most likely overly longwinded Q+A!

It’s that time again! No, it’s not time to change your Habbo babies diapers.  Sheesh.  It’s time for another Summer School Q+A Session with notMiceElf.  We’re still glowing (aha, glow… get it… yeah, you do) from the last Q+A so this one had better draw a smile on our face… and as always, you can submit a question of your own when the question submitting articles appear. So get those questions ready!

How do you make a good GIF? (question posted by shiony)

This question looked so simple at first glance and then I started thinking about how to answer it and spiraled into animation and my brain pretty much flew out of control.  So thanks for giving me a minor headache before my morning coffee could kick in, shiony!  The idea of animation is a bit too meaty for this blog post so I’ll focus more on setting up an animation and then go over a decent way of saving gif files.

First off.  Animation as a process is going to be dependent on the program that you’re using.  Some programs don’t support creating animation so if you’re aim is to animate make sure the program you’re using has support for it!  If you’re just looking to save out a static (non animated) GIF you can skip all the way to the end.  I’ll be using Photoshop but the process is going to be mostly the same from program to program.  I would suggest finding a tutorial that breaks down the specifics for the program you’re actually using though.  General info only gets you so far :p  Ok, on we go…

Animation:

Animation is all fake. Yep.  It’s an Illusion whoooo *waves hands around*.  I’m sure you’ve been told this a thousand and one times already, but, animation is a sequence of static images with slightly different content.  Each one of those static images is called a frame.  When viewed in quick succession we interpret the changes from frame to frame as motion.  The amount of frames we see in a second is called the frames per second (technical, I know) or fps (you gamer types are saying, “hey, that’s the acronym for first person shooter!”, but animators had it first, so there) but you can sort of forget this concept because with gifs the fps is more about setting a delay per frame vs a standard x frames per second.

First thing we need to do is make a new file. The size doesn’t really matter (stop laughing) as long as it fits what you’re animating, but smaller is generally better for pixel animations.  The resolution of your image, on the other hand, is something you’ll have to pay attention to.  Pixel art should be made using a resolution 72 pixels per inch.  Don’t even question it or seek an explanation for why it has to be that number.  It’s law.  Obey.

The next thing we need is an animation timeline.  In Photoshop the timeline can be found under the “Window” menu and then “Timeline”.  In older versions of Photoshop it’s listed as “Animation” instead of “Timeline”.

Once the Timeline is opened choose to make your animation frame based.  The frame method is pretty common for other pixel animation programs and is easier to understand for beginners than the newer tween type timelines.  Plus, frame based animation is classic.

In order to make an animation you’ll first need to draw (or have previously created) some animation frames so that you can string them together.  Every frame of your animation should be a new layer in your layer palette. Whether it’s pixel art or hand drawn the concepts are the same.  You’re aiming to draw images so that when linked together their motion has a good flow and reads clearly.  This explanation is so rudimentary that it’s actually making me cry a little so if you’re at all interested in real animation you should find a good book (or, yah know, youtube it) on the subject.  There’s a set of 12 principles that Disney Animators have based their work on for ages.  Well worth a look.

As a little tip, there’s a simple way to test the movement between frames using a technique called “onion skinning”  which lets you see several frames at once.  Photoshop doesn’t support this outright either. Joy.  In order to get something similar to the onion skin on Photoshop you’ll have to turn down the opacity of the layers under your current drawing so you can see them as you drawn new frames.  In traditional animation animators used a light box to see through their drawings… and this is just an emulation of that technique.

Alright, when you have your drawings ready take a look at your animation timeline.  Clicking the “new frame” icon at the bottom of the animation timeline will make frames for your animation and you’ll need one frame for each of your art layers.  With one of the animation frames selected go to the layers palette and hide all the layers but the ones you want visible for that frame.  In my example you can see that I’ve got a grey background layer and an art layer visible in the first frame.  Hiding layers can be done by clicking small eye icon on the left of the thumbnail.  Do that same process for every frame in your animation.  Nothing like good old repetition to get the blood flowing…right?

Modifying the “delay” for an animation frame will change how long, in milliseconds, the frame is shown for before going to the next frame.  You’ll need to find a delay per frame that looks smooth with your animation.  Animations that are too slow will appear less seamless and show individual frames more while those that are too fast don’t have enough emphasis and could suffer from frame skipping.  Browsers will often forgo frame delays under a certain speed too… so it’s a good idea to check your animation on a few different browsers to see that it’s working the way you want it to.

The loop feature will let your animation loop infinitely or by a set amount.  Most gifs you’ll see around the internet are infinitely looping.  And that covers the animation portion. Phew.  Are you still breathing? *poke poke*

Saving Your File:

Something to remember about the GIF format is that it’s only an 8bit format so it has a max of 256 colors.  Pixels either have color or are fully transparent (this counts as a color :p).  GIF’s don’t have the capacity for semi transparent pixels like a 24bit image does.  If you’ve ever tried to save GIF with more colors than the maximum allowed (like a photo) you’ll see a color reduction as the colors get compressed to fit into the 8bit palette.  You’ll need to be considerate of that max color count when you’re making images (this is where dithering and restricted palette pixel art excels!).  Don’t fret though because 256 colors is still pretty high.

In Photoshop you’re going to use the “Save for Web” option from the “File” menu and then select the GIF format.  The type of palette mode (Selective, Perceptual, Adaptive, Restrictive)… really doesn’t matter.  Very simply, the palette mode gives preference to certain types of colors over others when reducing the colors to fit into the restricted 8bit palette.  You can test them out and see which you like (we tend to use Selective for any gifs we make). Any kind of automatic dither options should be avoided for pixel art and aren’t all that good anyway.  If you’ve payed attention to your color count while you were drawing you’ll never need this option anyway.  Same can be said for the transparency dither. Ew.  There should be bumper stickers with the phrase “Just say no to transparency dither” inscribed on them.

If you’re using a program that forces a gif to save using the windows palette or something other than the four listed above… drop kick that program into the trash bin and get another one.  Programs that do this often auto-dither to try to approximate the look of the original palette.  You’ll get images that have really oddly color pixels in them when saving this way.  It looks horrible.  Really horrible.  As in, my eyes are bleeding horrible.

For the color amount, if you didn’t use all 256 colors you’ll only see the amount that you did use up, so don’t freak if you see a lower amount.  The matte option is a color that is added to semi-transparent pixels so that they become fully opaque and is mostly used to match those semi transparent colors to the color of a web page.  For example, if I have a shadow that is a transparent black, a white matte color will make that color a light grey in my final image.  If you choose no matte color the pixels below certain transparency will be removed while those above will be fully opaque.  Realistically though, if you’re making straight pixel art you should never have semi-transparent pixels.

Any option for web snapping means the colors in your palette will be shifted to match the standard web colors from like 1985 (which are pretty ugly).  You can avoid this option like the plague.  Please.

And, that’s it!  Not too bad right?  If you’re on another program other than Photoshop you’ll probably have a “Save As” option and a gif file format.  A lot of the features like palette type, colors amount, and dithering are pretty common across many programs so it should still be relevant.  Certainly any pixel specific program will have these options for your GIF needs!  Best of luck GIF-ing around the internet!

It’s here!! *drum roll* & *crashing gong sound*

The New Habbo Web Beta has been unleashed on the general public in .COM. This is a very proud moment for our community as we get to be the first to catch a glimpse into the future of Habbo.
New ways to view your profile, badges, friends and creations are only the beginning. Our development and design teams have been really inspired by your past feedback and are asking for more! Read the FAQ’s below and check out the new web at:

https://beta.habbo.com/

Q: Why a New Web?

A: Whether you’re on a mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer, Habbo’s new scalable and cool looking web will streamline the experience for everyone, giving your rooms and creations lots more visibility through sharing!

Q: What is Beta?

A: Beta means that what you see now is a work in progress. We’re working round the clock to fine tune the tools and features that will be added as we go along. We’re looking forward to receiving feedback from you to ensure the most awesomely Habbtastic experience.

Q: What to expect from the future Web?

A: Fierce and fabulous stuff such as:

-Exciting feeds about your friend’s activities and community updates.

-Ability to share your creations outside Habbo.

-Customizing your profile page to make it ever so “you”.

-Managing your friends and groups.

-Access to credit pages.

-Fun tools to help you get creative and boost your notoriety.

Q: What can I do on the New Web?

A: We’ll be continuously making changes and improvements to the Web but you can already start trying out cool stuff such as:

-Browse the news promos  (some articles will still open in the old web).

-Make selfies.

-Profile pages (currently display basic info, lots more coming).

-Like your friends creations.

-See notifications about who liked your creations.

-Move to and from Hotel easily.

This means you can take part in competitions, check out other Habbo’s profiles and find out who’s been checking yours!

Remember though, this is only the start.  A lot of what the future holds depends on you, so get involved!

Q: How do I get involved?

A: By joining our upcoming Habbo Web Beta polls and feedback activities. Stay tuned!

Bubbling in beta for many months and the time has finally arrived… the shiny new Habbo Web is ready for the catwalk!

As well as the ability to easily view your profile, badges, and friends, our highly talented developers and designers have worked through all our ideas and feedback to produce a whole range of new and exciting tools.

• Modern look-and-feel
• Smooth Web-to-Client transition
• News & updates accessible before login
• Access to private messages and minimails offline
• Optimised for mobile and tablet viewing
  …PLUS tons more exciting features coming soon!

Try it out!

Go take a look at all the shiny new things:

• Shop HC, BC, rares, bundles and credits in the entirely redesigned HabboMall section (used to be Credits)
• Explore all of Stories on the web, now called Creations
• See if you have any new private messages on the Messaging page
• Check out ideas on how to play, or brush up on your Habbo Way, in the brand new Playing Habbo section

You can find out more about all the exciting new features and what else you can expect in the FAQ below.

More stuff to come!

Some pages that required more intensive development are still ‘works in progress’. We hope to have them ready to go in a few weeks, but in the mean time you will be redirected to the old web for certain pages. Don’t worry – all your activities are still safe, including credit purchase transactions!

This project has been in the pipeline for a while so we are thrilled to finally let you get your hands on it! This is a very proud moment for all of us – in Finland, Madrid and London – as we can show you the first glimpses of the jam-packed future of Habbo.

Happy exploring,

Habbo Staff

Q: Why a new Habbo Web?

A: After almost five years since the last refresh, we felt now was the perfect opportunity for a responsive web makeover! This exciting new web comes with a modern look-and-feel, plus a ton of awesome new features and tools for you to express and share your creativity.

Q: What to expect from the new Habbo Web?

You can expect a whole list of fierce and fabulous new features such as:

• Modern look-and-feel
• Awesome tools to help you express + share your creativity inside and outside of Habbo!
• Optimised viewing for mobile and tablet
• Smooth Web-to-Hotel transition
• Make selfies, selfies and more selfies!
• News & updates accessible before login
• Private messages and minimails accessible offline
  …PLUS tons more exciting features coming soon!

Q: Why doesn’t the client open in a popup window, like it used to?

 A: We wanted to improve the transition from web to Hotel and make it a more seamless. If you prefer the old way, you can simply right-click the ‘Go to Hotel’ link in the right hand of the page and select “Open in new window”.

Q: Why do some pages, like news, take me to the old web?

A: Some pages that required more intensive development are still ‘works in progress’. We hope to have them ready to go in a few weeks, but in the mean time all your activities are still safe!

Q: What happens with the stuff I bought to customize my homepage in the current Habbo Web?

A: We have taken your requests into account and are looking into how we can offer the best possible solution. Until then, you can see your homepage here: ex.habbo.com

Q: Where’s my group home page?

A: We’ll add group home pages to the new web later. Until then, your group page is available on the old website – just change www to ex in the URL (so it starts with ex.habbo.com).

Q: Where can I select another avatar, manage my friends or change my email / security questions / profile visibility settings?

A: You can change your password on the new web, but to access any other settings, you need to log in at ex.habbo.com. Whatever changes you make in the settings there will be reflected in the new habbo.com as well. We’re working hard to make all the settings available in the new web.

Q: What happened to Stories?

A: All the old Stories content is now on the web: selfie editor, competitions, pixel art upload, all your previous art etc. Just click Community and you’ll see a page called Creations.

Q: Where can I view my profile?
A: You can view all your badges, rooms, groups, friends, and creations by clicking your avatar name in the top right and choosing View my public profile.

As many of you probably know all too well, Habboween is very nearly here. This year, something big, bad and positively apocalyptic is coming to Habbo… That’s right; its the HABBOCALYPSE!

We stole some time from a few of our lovely designers to talk about the furni they’ve been working on, what they’re proud of, the design process and what they’re most excited about for this Habboween. So, without further ado, please welcome Kukuyit, MrCroissant and Sparkaro!

From left to right – Kukuyit, MrCroissant and Sparkaro

Q: So, firstly, How are you guys:

Kukuyit’s Corrupted Kitty full animation loop!

Sparkaro: “Really good.”

Kukuyit: “Meow! Just kidding – good, thanks.”

MrCroissant: “Fine, thanks!”

The infamous Evil Raider WITH Afro Duck!

Q: Can one of you tell us a bit about some of the ideas that the design team had for the Habboween 2015, before Apocalypse was chosen? 

Sparkaro: “I initially liked the idea of a nuclear apocalypse, like where cities have been abandoned or destroyed as a result of nuclear war with the ever-present threat of radiation and mutant creatures (like three eyed ducks).

Then there were a few ideas that focused on the theme of darkness, such as shadows, ghosts and demons. For me that sounded really interesting and seemed like an opportunity to get uber creative with our designs. I enjoyed thinking about how we’d characterise the evil presence, whilst incorporating traditional apocalyptic themes. For example, I loved the idea of including the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and putting a twist on that somehow.”

Q: What was your favourite furni to make and why? 

MrCroissant’s final version of The Habbocalypse Horseman of Famine

Sparkaro: “I loved working on the Evil Raider (a friend of Demonic Frank) with his fiery green afro hairdo. I had fun working on the animations for it, like his pet duck that occasionally pops out from the afro and who has styled himself in a similar fashion to his owner, hehe.”

Kukuyit: “I really enjoyed working on the Corrupted Kitty the most – no Halloween is complete without a classic black cat. It’s one of the more time-consuming furni to make since it has so many layers of animation. But it was totally worth it in the end!” 

MrCroissant: “Without a doubt, I’m most proud of the Four Horsemen LTDs I made. It was so much fun creating the animations and giving each of them a different personality, whilst maintaining a cohesive look. Also, working on the character-based stuff is my favourite part of the job, and is what I tend to focus on in my personal art projects too.”

Q: What furni do you think Habbos are going to be most excited for? 

MrCroissant: “Well, really, I hope the Habbos enjoy the entire furni line! It has come together really nicely. However, there is a certain ‘secret’ furni that I think Habbos who love “something completely different” will enjoy the most!

Kukuyit: “I think Habbos are going to love the furni that can only be acquired in a special way. You definitely need to use a different kind of perspective…That’s all I’m saying about it!”

MrCroissant’s preliminary sketches of the Four Horsemen of the Habbocalypse

Q: Can you give us any hints about the ‘game-changing’ feature everyone’s been talking about? 

Sparkaro: “Well, I’m super hyped because it will add a whole new element to Habbo that’s different from anything we’ve ever had before. So, I hope that Habbos have a tonne of fun with it! I can’t reveal anything specific yet…but I’ve been designing stuff for the new feature and it’s been really, really exciting to be part of the whole production process!” 

MrCroissant: “I totally am; it’s exciting because it adds a lot to the game. Habbos will also be able to get a great feeling of progression and discovery at the same time with this new ‘game-changer’. I can really see this changing things (for the better) in the future!”

Kukuyit: “I’m really excited about the new feature too! It required a mega amount of work from everyone in the company; design, marketing, development, engagement and other support to get it finished for Habboween. We’re anxious to see what Habbos make of it, particularly the creative ones!

SO. LOTS to look forward to!

Give us a shout on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with #Habbocalypse and tell us what you think about this blog post!

Habbo Staff