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Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Kcekce G. on 22/11/24, 01:43pm »

Definitely the OG Jimmy should still be involved as a consultant, if the platform gets another owner. Since the way HM was till now was PERFECT and we know who's behind that;) The platform could include more options for donation and tasty payed features - but HM at no means deserves to be just closed. Honestly, it breaks my heart, I find myself elaborately explaining to my BF and my flatmate why am I crying for a gaming platform, as stupid as it may sound. And I'm a tough 42 yo woman, lived through death of the most loved ones and shit.

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Nils on 22/11/24, 01:09pm »

It's cold now and not much sun, I often feel like throwing away important things at this time of the year.
Could you please make us a favor and wait until the summer, maybe you could change your mind or a solution will be found.
If the owner changed, a lot could change. I think it is important not only to keep the site, but also that its creator is motivated to continue to keep it successful.

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Matthias M. on 22/11/24, 01:04pm »

Quote from: Kcekce G. on 22/11/24, 12:43pm

Jimmy, you couldn't be more wrong about it Whoever criticized your platform as "outdated" may be honest, but lacking taste in the same time. HM is the ONLY enjoyable platform for online boardgaming for me since the first time I tried looking for such a place to begin with - and it is still now the best! Year 2016 the first result for that search was again BGA, but it was so appalling I continued browsing until I found HM. TBH I was looking for a platform to play Carcassonne online, but HM was inviting enough for me to stay there and try new games. You don't appreciate your own achievements fairly. It might be a niche platform, but it's still beautiful, funny, cozy and perfectly doing it's job - and it's something that when it's about to be closed people feel like losing a home or a friend. You don't get that from BGA, if it closed at some point players would just look for other sites to play the games. HM has a soul and a heart, it's a world of itself where one can still be a child, aspiring to get smarter. Just open your eyes and stop being so modest - it's a jewel in between the platforms around.

Full agreement!!
Happy meeple and its very special soul furthermore have helped various people through sometimes very dark times! It's a massive loss.

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Nils on 22/11/24, 01:01pm »

design should first and foremost satisfy visitors, not designers)
that's what it was invented for

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Matthias M. on 22/11/24, 12:53pm »

Technical problems could be solved (what's the matter?), monetary might be solved as well...

Killing Happy Meeple kills a part of the soul of most of the players here.

And yes, this 2000-like design is the most important thing. Happy Meeple is neat, calm and cozy. And you can play alone if you want.
Everything is remarkably attuned and elaborate, just the right portion of everything.
One quasi sees the efforts made and the detailed work done.

Maybe a handful additional games and a little change in monetarization (which is, at the moment, very player-friendly and fits into the whole masterpiece of detailed construction).
With respect to some graphical issues I must admit, I'm also no design guy. Most of my own webpages look notably more angular and spare then Happy Meeple does. Its design looks appropriate and professional.

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Nils on 22/11/24, 12:49pm »

Quote from: Jimmy V. on 22/11/24, 12:01pm

Over the years though, I heard quite a few (honest) people tell me that HM felt outdated (like a website from 2000). Not being a design guy, I failed to understand what was exactly wrong and how to correct it but I was pretty certain that they were right. It was probably simple things like shadows and rounded corners, or the font. But I never really delved into the issue.

I think it's cool what you did. It's cool to be different, not to chase trends. Especially when so many people appreciate it, statistics of visitors and the number of games is impressive.
One of the value of this unique site, that it was not created by a designer who was chasing trends.
There are many people who prefer an old car to a modern faceless one, do not want to have a large TV in the middle of the car and pay a monthly subscription for the seat heating and GPS function.
It may not have as many visitors as Google but many of them did not end up here by chance, it was their conscious choice and they play here for many years.

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Kcekce G. on 22/11/24, 12:43pm »

Jimmy, you couldn't be more wrong about it

Whoever criticized your platform as "outdated" may be honest, but lacking taste in the same time. HM is the ONLY enjoyable platform for online boardgaming for me since the first time I tried looking for such a place to begin with - and it is still now the best! Year 2016 the first result for that search was again BGA, but it was so appalling I continued browsing until I found HM. TBH I was looking for a platform to play Carcassonne online, but HM was inviting enough for me to stay there and try new games. You don't appreciate your own achievements fairly. It might be a niche platform, but it's still beautiful, funny, cozy and perfectly doing it's job - and it's something that when it's about to be closed people feel like losing a home or a friend. You don't get that from BGA, if it closed at some point players would just look for other sites to play the games. HM has a soul and a heart, it's a world of itself where one can still be a child, aspiring to get smarter. Just open your eyes and stop being so modest - it's a jewel in between the platforms around.

Happy Meeple community / Re: Bad news - Good news

« Last post by Jimmy V. on 22/11/24, 12:01pm »

I am sorry that so many of you are angry at me for not letting you know about the situation ahead of time. Of course, that was an option I considered. I honestly think that there was very little chance that a viable solution could come up. The problem was not only a problem of money, it was also a complex technical problem.

Many of you compare BGA and Happy Meeple, saying HM was more cozy, etc. Of course, that's what you think as many of you decided to go to HM rather than BGA. Over the years though, I heard quite a few (honest) people tell me that HM felt outdated (like a website from 2000). Not being a design guy, I failed to understand what was exactly wrong and how to correct it but I was pretty certain that they were right. It was probably simple things like shadows and rounded corners, or the font. But I never really delved into the issue.

Regarding BGA criticism, I think you are being too harsh. I created a test account a few days ago and was quite impressed with the way they were explaining new players what the options were and what they exactly meant. I think they did a fantastic job on that. I have also played quite a few games on BGA myself and was also impressed with many of their tutorials. To be honest, I was always proud of my tutorials here and felt a bit disappointed that they had managed to do a good job at that too. For a long time, HM was the only platform with tutorials. People who really know the game and love it decide to take on the task of designing these tutorials and that's probably why they are so good. I should add that in the last few years, it is noticeable that they hired designers. The last iteration of the platform is really neat and is a noticeable improvement on the previous years, and even on last year.

BGA offers many more options than HM. We always kept things standardised here, not offering any game variant for example. BGA lets you play with more than 2 players. It also offers asynchronous (turn by turn) play which is a more relaxed way of playing (for example, one move per day) than real-time play. They offer game variants. Most importantly they let you play blockbusters like Ticket To Ride or Catan.

So please be patient with BGA, they have a lot to offer. And the interface is not as daunting as it may seem especially after they improved it so much.

Finally, let me suggest you a few games that Happy Meeple players may particularly like. Most are quick-playing:

- Ticket To Ride (a must)
- Can't Stop (Push your luck that I should have put on HM but stupidly discarded)
- On Tour (another contender for HM)
- Patchwork (best-seller)
- Welcome (best-seller, Flip and Write, excellent)
- Splendor (best-seller, engine building)
- Chakra (could have been on HM)
- Azul (best-seller)
- Forest Shuffle (excellent but a slightly more complex)
- Sea Salt & Paper
- Lucky Numbers (simple like Finito)
- Kingdomino (best-seller, simple rules)
- Faraway (new and good, award-winning, quick engine-building)
- Akropolis (award-winning)
- Jaipur (quite good, mid complexity)
- Century spice road (quick engine-building)
- Diamant (oldie but goodie, good with many people)

I will update this list as new suggestions come up.