Server is up again

We knew it might happen one day. Even if our server went down because of the problems at hosting data-center and it wasn't really our fault, it happened anyway. If it's any consolation, it happened for the first time in a long time, everything was fine for over a year while we were working on BB.

And while it only happened once, we still want to move to a better hosting with better hardware. It's possible the game might become more responsive and will work better than before.

You might already know about this things, but I want to write a list of pros and cons of client-server based game.

Cons:

• Server might be down like it happened yesterday. We're working on this problem.
• The game can't be pirated, which is a minus for some players and a plus for others. It's also a big plus for a stable and quick development process.
• You can't use programs like a CheatEngine to get yourself infinite money and the like. We'll try to fix this one by adding optional cheats which will lock out achievements. I've told you about this system before and I'll tell more in the future.
• You need to have an Internet connection. Thankfully, you don't need a very stable connection with a good ping.

Pros:

• Automatic updates. You won't have to download patches or new versions and install them. Just start the game and it will do everything for you.
• Sharing save files between devices. If you play on more than one device, you won't have to manually move save files between them.
• Fixing bugs is a lot easier for everyone. Everything minor like typos and event requirements doesn't even require restarting the game. And even major updates only need restarting the game.
• Logging in with Patreon accounts gives us ample opportunities to reward our Patrons in the game. In the past, pirates were getting access to the game on the same day as our $40 Patrons, while the rest of our Patrons had to wait another week to play. We won't be "punishing" our Patrons for their support anymore.
• Achievement system will let us reward the players for their in-game activity. Achievements will be saved on the server, so people will have to actually achieve something to get them.
• This system makes the game easier to work on for our team. Working on BB by myself was easier _for me_, but there's only so much one person can do. Now everyone on our team can work in parallel in our test server. This multiplies development speed several times over.

We thought about pros and cons in the very beginning of the development and pros outweighed the cons. Fighting privacy wasn't our main goal, but the fact that the game is now a lot harder to crack is a nice bonus. The main part you get a game with a quick development cycle, automatic updates and cloud saving.

We're finishing up 0.3 and starting to work on 0.4. The game should update soon. You'll see the changelog in the next post.