-LOCKED - December Development Update #63!
Posted on 2023-12-08 22:16:18

Event Updates



Mantis Shop

We did a small shop update. One of the retired Advent Calendar sets is now available to purchase in Tier 3 of the Mantis Shop. We have also added a very cool Snowy Desert background to enrich this update with a unique colour palette!

Snowy Desert
Snowy Desert
(New! Tier 2)
Albino Serval
Albino Serval
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Rudolph the Lost Reindeer
Rudolph the Lost Reindeer
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Albino Porcupine
Albino Porcupine
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Albino Wolf Puppy
Albino Wolf Puppy
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Cape Snow Bush
Cape Snow Bush
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Chilly Wind
Chilly Wind
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Canary Island Pine
Canary Island Pine
Advent Set 3 Retirement
Snowy Forest
Snowy Forest
Advent Set 3 Retirement


New Combo Base: Esker

We are giving you a new base to breed, starting at midnight on December 9th (12am Lioden time).

The main requirement for this base is that it can be bred during Wet Season only (the parents must breed during Wet Season, the cub does not need to be born during Wet Season!).



Factor 1: Esker, Ragdoll, Reindeer
Factor 2: Esker, Arctic, Aufeis, Glacial, Ice

Like any combo base, to get it you must meet the requirements and breed a Factor 1 base to a Factor 2 base.

The genetics for Esker are Cream Medium Countershaded Special and it is tied to Blue skin.

Winter Breeding Challenge

This challenge is repeated from last year, so if you already know it from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, you can skip ahead to the new rewards! :D

All the albino love this month has inspired us to create a community challenge with extra personal goals to achieve!

We give you the Albino Cub Challenge!

Community Goal: breed 2000 total Albino cubs!
Personal Goal: breed 3 Albino cubs!

The challenge begins at midnight on December 11th (12am Lioden time)!

Where can I access the information about this challenge?
The Gorilla Enclave will provide all information, as well as an extra small area on the sidebar panel on your layout! We also have an Albino Cub Challenge wiki page dedicated to this challenge.




What are the rewards?
Community Rewards: 5% chance for a Snowflake-based cub to be born to Albino x any parent, 5% chance for a Hoarfrost-based cub to be born to Interstellar x any parent, 5% chance for a Rime-based cub to be born to Orchid x any parent, and 5% chance for an Esker-based cub to be born to Reindeer x any parent for the rest of December when the 2000 Albino cub goal is hit! The Gorilla Enclave will also ask for more Albino-based cubs for their quests.
Personal Rewards: A special title ("Special Snowflake"), the "Albino Cub Challenge" achievement, a background and mutated Albino Cub decor based on your king's karma at the time of completing the 3 Albino cub goal, a Sculpted Ice Armour decor set, an Albino Dwarf Cub decor, a Hoarfrost Markings applicator, a Rime Markings applicator, and an Esker Markings applicator!

What is the time limit?
The challenge and its in-game rewards end on December 31st 11:59pm Lioden time.
The sooner you guys complete the goal, the longer you can enjoy the in-game rewards, as the 5% chance for a combo-based cub to be born to Reindeer + any parent pairing expires on December 31st 11:59pm Lioden time! This means that the only way to breed the Snowflake, Hoarfrost, Rime, and Esker bases after the challenge ends is to breed their factor bases together during wet season, or additionally, day or night time.

Of course, the achievement and title you receive are permanent! The background items you receive will also last until their uses are gone, as with all other backgrounds and decors.

Will this repeat next year?
Yes! We will add or replace rewards, change combo bases, etc., but we think the Snowflake base will always be its core, and we may add something fresh as an extra every year.

What are the background rewards?
You will only receive one background for completing the personal goal, and the background you receive depends upon the karma your king has at the time that you claim your rewards!


Challenge: Winter [Cub Cave]
Evil Karma Reward

Challenge: Winter [Pelt Cave]
Neutral Karma Reward

Challenge: Winter [Fur Cave]
Good Karma Reward


There's also a universal personal reward set, regardless of your pride leader's karma.

Sculpted Ice Armour [Back]
Sculpted Ice Armour [Back]
Sculpted Ice Armour [Front]
Sculpted Ice Armour [Front]
Sculpted Ice Armour [Gauntlets]
Sculpted Ice Armour [Gauntlets]


What are the karma thresholds for receiving backgrounds?
The karma thresholds are the same for these backgrounds as they are for your eyes changing in Explore.

Evil: -400 or lower karma
Neutral: between -399 and +399 karma
Good: +400 or higher karma

New Personal Rewards in 2023
Esker Markings applicator!

- Esker Dinictis
- Esker Frosty Roan
- Esker Indri
- Esker Snuggle

New Karma Rewards
- Albino Primal Cub: Evil Karma
Albino Leopon Cub: Neutral Karma
Albino Tigon Cub: Good Karma

New Universal Personal Reward
Albino Dwarf Cub

Note: The Mistletoe base from 2022 does not apply to the challenge, so there is no bonus for breeding it!

Esker Note: Esker markings will become visible in-game once the Winter Breeding Challenge starts!


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Monkey Business Update


Our background artist has drawn some lovely, important places for your lions to visit!
Pics de Sindou
Pics de Sindou
Pungo Adongo
Pungo Adongo
Ituri Huts
Ituri Huts


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New Raffle-Exclusive Base!


It's been a long while since we've added a raffle-exclusive base! It's a bit toned down, like Lilac, but natural in colour. The name and design comes from the infraorder of even-toed hoofed horn-bearers! You can try your luck with the first Pecora release from today's raffle lioness!



The genetics for Pecora are Cream Medium Countershaded Special and it is tied to Dark skin.


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Quality of Life Updates


* Added training status to replace hunger for grown beetles in the Mound overviews
* Added hunger/training status to Unsorted Beetles
* Sub navigation of the Battle Beetles has been streamlined and unified across the pages
* Feeding cubs to 100% gives a small survival bar boost (2 - 5%)
* In the Cub Sex Changer item menu, the current sex of the cub (M or F) is listed beside their name
* Browse your customised "Recent Activity" and "Recent Topics" feed, up to 500 most recent topics displayed in each
* Den descriptions can now be viewed on mobile
* Minor tweak to the "aging up" notice on Den page to be clearer
* Crafting has gained a couple of new filters:
— You can now hide recipes that are unavailable due to event crafting (they will still show up if the current event matches but a higher tier is needed to craft)
— You can now filter by the crafted item type, options being "Show All", "Applicators", "Backgrounds", "Decorations"

Gifting Cave

Several members expressed their desire to send gifts to the Lioden Moderators over the December event. Unfortunately due to the anonymous nature of the moderators, this isn't easy to do.

The Gifting Cave now allows you to gift moderators. This is completely voluntary and not expected, but it is available for those of you who want to gift a little something special to the mods. None of the gifts will go to the admins, as they are publicly known.

This is a bit experimental this year, it will return next year if it's successful - or we may have some tweaks.

Currency will be divided in a weighted ratio amongst trainees and longer term moderators, and will be as even as possible. Any currency that remains and cannot be distributed evenly will be stored to be gifted the following year.

Items will be distributed as evenly as possible by item category, and again, any remainders will be saved for the following year.

Taking part in the Gifting Cave does not contribute towards the event bar, but does contribute towards your personal goals (number of gifts given, the 888 gifts challenge).

You cannot poop on the mods (booo!). Custom decors are also excluded from the Gifting Cave.


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Raffle Lioness


Congrats to the winner of last week's raffle lioness!
A new Pecora lady with Dark Brown Margay, Outlaw Mottled Fissures, and the sixth Flowering Lake Bisina background is up for impressing in the Special Lioness area linked here!


Tags!
Shad has added 17 new tags this month in the Event ➜ December and Miscellaneous ➜ NPCs categories!

Poll Results - Thank you all for voting on last week's poll! It seems many of you love the idea our art team came up with, and would like to see these fish/gecko/frog morphs released in the Flood Pit. We're taking notes!

NEW POLL - Lioden... in VR??? What do you think of this madness?!


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Next Update: Community Update - December 15th!
Next Development Update: January 12th!!




Where's the official raffle and Friday comic?
Community raffles and Friday doodles are only released on community updates. This is a development update, so no raffle or doodle will be released this week, sorry!

Important Note: Work on the Spirited pose and site update are both ongoing, and will still take some more time. We appreciate everyone's patience thus far!



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Casey (Quitting) (#166301)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 07:57:10
I'm sorry if this is intruding, but it's been on my mind for awhile, and I think it's pretty fair... But maybe running two websites isn't the best option for the integrity of each game. Either that or I feel like the staffing needs to be doubled, if not tripled, and communication could improve a TON.



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Dreamimimi (#410698)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 07:59:23
Wow, it looks like the bomb has finally explode.



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jester [im autistic]
☘️ | 🇵🇸 (#187561)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 08:33:12
I also know they are a bit reluctant to show WIP sketches now, after site users bothering Xylax constantly about Tigon progress in 2019, but I think it's a bit telling they didn't show any new WIP for Male Pose in this while mentioning it's 'still coming'. Unfortunately, a lot of players also share this sentiment. It's getting rarer and rarer to see someone defend staff nowadays when main chat is talking about how disappointed they are. Even players who joined in the last year know how bad it is. And it is entirely their own doing, as any time from 2018-2023 when male pose was asked about, it was said to be "still coming" or "in progress", but it had no work done on it that entire time period.

Also, another thing I would like to see staff address is the horrific color inconsistencies in game. Every Gold decor has a different look, every plant is a different shade of green, every rock is a different brown, none of it matches. This thread goes into detail about it, including screenshots of how everything seems to look a billion times more cohesive with a colorblind filter placed on it, including the bases that are weirdly pink for where they are, like Sphinx, Solaris, even Xylax claiming Esker is made of complementary colors when it's a dusty nude pink and a bright, almost eyeburning, blue. Even controversial base placements make way more sense after looking at the bases with a colorblind filter on, including things like Green being in Gold, Reptile eyes being such an eye burning green, and more.



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Auris (#229394)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 08:36:24
What can be done to get us some honest, regular and constant communication between staff and players? What can we do? Things seriously cannot go on like this, they have been this way for a while and it's not sustainable and healthy.
The last time players spoke up loudly wanting some proper communication, we got an amazing newspost detailing the progress of old promises, honesty, and overall amazing communication.......... but we've gone back to the old pattern since. I was really excited to see that May update and yet it was a one and done occurance. Even more, the thread that inspired that dev update was locked for "negativity" and moved to the moderator board so we can't even see it anymore.
This isn't sustainable, we NEED changes, we need communication and clarity and not have to pry them out of your hands. Again, I understand negative criticism being hard to process emotionally. I really do get it. But negative criticism, and also importantly, positive feedback as well needs to be taken into account, the players need to be listened to fully. Please, I'm BEGGING, we want to enjoy Lioden without having to temper expectations knowing that exciting new promises can just be cancelled for the hell of it, we understand you are all people too and we understand delays and how promises can not always be carried out. Please, tell us what is going on and listen to our feedback fairly.



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Dreamimimi (#410698)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 09:01:41
I'm afraid the team will block this topic as well



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🦩 Flamingo (MAIN)
🦩 (#364513)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 09:23:00
They wouldn't dare. If they do this, they will only be making their feelings towards the players clear. The more people open up here, the more people will be encouraged to share an opinion as well. We haven't seen this in a while and that's why things are the way they are. Fear will not stop the truth and I'm very relieved to know that I wasn't the only one who noticed all this.



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🦩 Flamingo (MAIN)
🦩 (#364513)


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Posted on
2023-12-11 10:39:35
At least, until next week.



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~Guardian Iris~
(She/Her) (#398130)


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Posted on
2023-12-12 06:02:49
what does being a new universal personal mean?



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katie 🍃 (#106445)

Warrior
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Posted on
2023-12-12 10:11:56
I'm the writer of the thread that led to the news post Auris mentioned, and I'm incredibly disappointed not only in staff's handling of my thread but also the fact that nothing has changed. First of all, the thread was locked for "venting", when normally if a conversation derails on a thread the derailing comments are simply deleted and a mod steps in to give a warning. Then, it was moved to the moderator board where no one is able to even view it anymore, which is especially odd and concerning since locked threads are typically still viewable.

And nothing has changed. Remember when we were told regular development and art streams would be happening? I believe we got a single art stream and nothing since. They've sort of improved on communicating male pose's progress, but it's still just an occasional "It's still in progress! It's a lot of files!". Maybe it would be less files if staff listened to the community and stopped pumping out ridiculous amounts of applicator bases and decor that hardly anyone uses?

And now the breed-only base back, the only thing the breed-only community had to look forward to since BO specials were paused FOR said base pack, was "paused" with no announcement.

Polls are still being used for silly little questions that have 0 actual impact on the game, instead of polling on things that actually matter. They could've polled on the breed only base pack before cancelling it, in fact. I have a suggestion here to poll regarding male pose release with or without decor, and they have yet to poll on that despite it sitting at over 180 supports and 0 no supports.

It's insane to me that all we've been asking for, for YEARS, is consistent communication and we can't even get that. It actually seems like staff is getting more and more unprofessional, especially in responses. It feels like they respond to constructive criticism, which we make because we LOVE this game and want to see it improve, with bitterness and anger.

At this point, I've lost hope. Nothing has changed in the multiple years that these glaring issues have been present. I thought my thread had made a difference, since it got a news post response, but it seems they just wanted us to forget for a while. And it worked! Until now. The cycle repeats itself constantly. Staff seems to have lost all passion, and so will its community when they're constantly treated this way.



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Fuego (#41825)


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Posted on
2023-12-12 12:16:08
It is extremely exhausting dealing with the emotional whiplash from staff on pretty much a monthly basis at this point. Straight up, actions and comments on this site now give the vibe as though criticism isn't at all welcome, or isn't welcome from a select group of individuals, so you just mute or ignore the problem/thread/post and act like it doesn't exist. The fact that the only feedback that was considered for such a large decision was via chat is hilarious. I don't utilize chat all that much, but I guess now every 10 minutes I should be posting something akin to a development suggestion so it's actually seen?

I personally don't recall any backlash with the announced BO pack, in chat or otherwise, and sure maybe I wasn't paying attention in chat, but all I can recall specifically is users concerned about the amount of continuously new applicable bases vs actual site development and years-old promised updates. That's not the same thing. But are staff just taking bits and pieces from conversations and reworking into a narrative that fits what works for them or their schedule?

I'm a much older player, and not just in terms of account age, but I feel like relations have definitely soured between staff and playerbase more recently. Airing grievances is a very normal and expected outcome of game development. And if staff thinks the users are getting too toxic, "garbage in, garbage out" as we say at my job. The negativity at the top is just feeding more negativity at the bottom, and it's a vicious cycle. Alternately, the May 2023 dev update was, I think, a perfect example of kum-ba-yah, but I haven't seen much of that since. Ya'll just really need to decide who you're making the game for? Whatever it is just be honest.



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❉ Centauri ❉ (#200376)

Cursed
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Posted on
2023-12-12 12:35:45
with respect to updates, I remember having talked about this with some friends privately because I never expressed such thoughts for fear of retaliation. But here I am again, this time with my main account, expressing what I think.

I wouldn't mind at all if new, less important updates that don't really add to the gaming experience, such as new combos, new app bases, new decors, were paused for a period of time in order to focus on things that have already been promised but are still being delayed to this day. The community, in general, would appreciate that. There might be some uproar about it, but here it's about filtering the criticism that I had mentioned before.



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Edited on 12/12/23 @ 12:36:17 by ※ Centauri ※ (#200376)

Rosia (#239452)

Heavenly
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Posted on
2023-12-12 12:54:21
I would like to add that I am actively archiving this entire thread and its comments on the wayback machine just in case. Do the right thing, staff.



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howl (#211330)

Usual
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Posted on
2023-12-12 15:05:54
it’s very interesting to come back to this game and still see 20-30 year olds upset about fictional lion pixels… lol



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Dreamimimi (#410698)


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Posted on
2023-12-12 18:30:17
"Look how different I am from all of you ☝🏽🤓"

It's not about pixels, it's about a community tired of being constantly IGNORED.



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Kam 🐾 (Quitting) (#166463)

Protector
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Posted on
2023-12-12 23:48:45
Our community is tired of being ignored, and being given promises that get dropped without a word. We deserve the right to be upset about a game that we care about!

It should be regular practice to communicate with your community, so duh, we mad.



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Edited on 12/12/23 @ 23:50:03 by Kam 🐾 Side Account (#166463)



Topic is locked




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