We haven't got the assayers back because I've been busy with other things. I've explained some of this before, but I'll say it all here.
The catalyst of everything was that I found a critical error in the code. To fix it in the current codebase would have been, in my opinion, more difficult than what I did, which was to rewrite a good portion of the website (the main page and the members area) into a better website framework that automagically solved the problem. It entailed switching to a new server, which was also something that I have been meaning to get around to for a long time. It also solved a lot of other problems that I had been dealing with, which are too numerous to get in to. A lot of things on my to-do list were checked off, and finding the bug just seemed like the best time to knock down all the pin with one throw.
Unfortunately, a few things have not been ported over to the new system yet. The assayers, the change password/email/profile page, and the forgot password links are among them. So far it hasn't been "too" much of a problem, and the only thing that people have really noticed missing is the assayers. Some of the database tables were changed (pertaining to the treasure chest which pertains to the assayers) and I can't just cut and paste the old code over to the new system.
In addition, the assayers weren't initially meant to handle the number of pearls people find. Cashing in one pearl at a time when you have 107,010,912,301 pearls would drive anyone mad. I still haven't figured out how I want to go about doing this, but in the current game it will probably wind up being a page in the member's area where you can cash them in all at once.
I'm also still spending a large portion of my time working on the new game in the hopes that I can get it launched very, very soon. I am not going to make any promises about when that is though. I made that mistake before. At the time I thought I could get it done in the timeframe I gave myself. I was most certainly wrong. A number of different things have happened since then, both in PTW and my personal life, and I just wasn't able to make the progress that I wanted to.
The server switch and the new codebase for the old site / member's area are steps towards PTW2, however they also delayed me working on it even more. I have to choose what to prioritize, and the assayers so far have been low priority. You are still able to find pearls, and possibly prizes inside those pearls, and save them. They are safe in your treasure chest--their value and prizes reserved for you until the system by which you can cash them in is rewritten.
_________________ To find, explore the funds off shore and skirt the shoals of bankruptcy!
|