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More New Options in the Ape Apps Account Portal
A few months ago I did a complete revamp of the Ape Apps Account Portal, and now I have expanded the account customization options even further, and also added the beginning back-end for cool things to come. Let's take a look!
Since I first launched the Ape Apps Account system, the two biggest requests I have gotten were a) ability to change e-mail address, and b) ability to change username. I checked off the e-mail address bit on the last update, and now I have come up with a solution for the username bit too, the new Display Name field.
To let users actually change their base username was going to be a lot of work and would also break a lot of older apps that rely on the username staying constant, so I have come up with the next best solution. You can now set your account Display Name. You will still log in to Ape Apps using your registered account username, but over the coming months, your Display Name will start showing up in various apps and games instead of the username. What's more, the display name can have spaces, some special characters, and more.
Note that the individual apps and games will need updated to take advantage of the new display name feature, but you can go ahead and set it up now and it will start showing up in the weeks and months ahead.
Be reasonable with what you pick for a display name!
I generally do not like doing account moderation, but if my hand is forced I will reluctantly need to crack down, so please use common sense when choosing a display name. Kids are on here too.
In addition to the display name, you can now also set an About Me string and a Profile Header Graphic. Currently, the Ape Apps forums (this website) supports an About Me tag, but it is not tied to the overall account. It will soon be replaced by the new global About Me tag from the Accounts Portal, so if you want to customize yours, you need to set it there. This will eventually show up in various places, such as the Ape Apps Launcher and when you select a friend from your friends list in-game.
The Profile Header graphic will also be used in the Launcher and various other places. If you have used Twitter/X and seen the little background header image at the top of people's profiles, you know what it is for.
Finally, I am going to be implementing a user feed into the Ape Apps Launcher, that will show things like unlocked achievements or screenshots taken in-game. When you open the launcher, the home page will now, instead of the all apps listing, show your friends user feed. The feed is based on the ActivityPub/Fediverse specs, and in theory it can be viewed by third party fediverse apps such as Mastodon.
I say "in theory" because it only sort of works right now, based on my testing. Your Ape Apps account address for Fediverse stuff is @{username}@accounts.ape-apps.com. So for example, mine is @bastecklein@accounts.ape-apps.com. So if you log in to something like Mastodon and do a search for that account, it should show something like this:
Some things show up, some don't. I haven't been able to get test posts to show up, but frankly I am not overly concerned with Mastodon or the larger Fediverse outside of Ape Apps, what is important is that the feed is coming for friends lists in the Ape Apps Launcher and that is what this is primarily for. If there is strong interest to get the Mastodon stuff working I will spend more time on it, otherwise I am not going to worry about it too much.
So that is it for this round of Account Portal updates. I am planning a complete revamp of the Ape Apps forum/website at some point that will start tying a lot of the new account features in, and everything is going to be coming to the Launcher as well. So stay tuned for all that, and feel free to check out the new Account Portal updates and update your profile information!
https://accounts.ape-apps.com/
#apeappsaccounts
Since I first launched the Ape Apps Account system, the two biggest requests I have gotten were a) ability to change e-mail address, and b) ability to change username. I checked off the e-mail address bit on the last update, and now I have come up with a solution for the username bit too, the new Display Name field.
To let users actually change their base username was going to be a lot of work and would also break a lot of older apps that rely on the username staying constant, so I have come up with the next best solution. You can now set your account Display Name. You will still log in to Ape Apps using your registered account username, but over the coming months, your Display Name will start showing up in various apps and games instead of the username. What's more, the display name can have spaces, some special characters, and more.
Note that the individual apps and games will need updated to take advantage of the new display name feature, but you can go ahead and set it up now and it will start showing up in the weeks and months ahead.
Be reasonable with what you pick for a display name!
I generally do not like doing account moderation, but if my hand is forced I will reluctantly need to crack down, so please use common sense when choosing a display name. Kids are on here too.
In addition to the display name, you can now also set an About Me string and a Profile Header Graphic. Currently, the Ape Apps forums (this website) supports an About Me tag, but it is not tied to the overall account. It will soon be replaced by the new global About Me tag from the Accounts Portal, so if you want to customize yours, you need to set it there. This will eventually show up in various places, such as the Ape Apps Launcher and when you select a friend from your friends list in-game.
The Profile Header graphic will also be used in the Launcher and various other places. If you have used Twitter/X and seen the little background header image at the top of people's profiles, you know what it is for.
Finally, I am going to be implementing a user feed into the Ape Apps Launcher, that will show things like unlocked achievements or screenshots taken in-game. When you open the launcher, the home page will now, instead of the all apps listing, show your friends user feed. The feed is based on the ActivityPub/Fediverse specs, and in theory it can be viewed by third party fediverse apps such as Mastodon.
I say "in theory" because it only sort of works right now, based on my testing. Your Ape Apps account address for Fediverse stuff is @{username}@accounts.ape-apps.com. So for example, mine is @bastecklein@accounts.ape-apps.com. So if you log in to something like Mastodon and do a search for that account, it should show something like this:
Some things show up, some don't. I haven't been able to get test posts to show up, but frankly I am not overly concerned with Mastodon or the larger Fediverse outside of Ape Apps, what is important is that the feed is coming for friends lists in the Ape Apps Launcher and that is what this is primarily for. If there is strong interest to get the Mastodon stuff working I will spend more time on it, otherwise I am not going to worry about it too much.
So that is it for this round of Account Portal updates. I am planning a complete revamp of the Ape Apps forum/website at some point that will start tying a lot of the new account features in, and everything is going to be coming to the Launcher as well. So stay tuned for all that, and feel free to check out the new Account Portal updates and update your profile information!
https://accounts.ape-apps.com/
#apeappsaccounts
Ape Apps Mailing List Unsubscribe Fixed
Since I finally got the Ape Apps mailing lists working earlier this week, users who subscribed years ago and forgot about it have started suddenly getting emails from Ape Apps. I noticed that some people were using the unsubscribe option over and over and couldn't figure out why, until I noticed that the unsubscribe feature was actually broken on my server 😐
I apologize to anyone impacted by this, I'm really not trying to spam you!
All in-email unsubscribe links should be working now. To verify your mailing list status, just log in to the account portal at the link below and choose which lists you want to be attached to:
https://accounts.ape-apps.com
I apologize to anyone impacted by this, I'm really not trying to spam you!
All in-email unsubscribe links should be working now. To verify your mailing list status, just log in to the account portal at the link below and choose which lists you want to be attached to:
https://accounts.ape-apps.com
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Introducing the Revamped Ape Apps Account Portal
Today I am announcing the release of a complete rewrite of the Ape Apps Account Portal (https://accounts.ape-apps.com/), the online site for managing your Ape Apps Account, avatar, purchases, Gold membership, etc.
The site is now more of an app (it is a fully installable PWA now as well), which was a necessary change for when I eventually integrate it more tightly into the Ape Apps Launcher and Discussions (which will also be superseding both Ape Chat and these forums at some point). The interface is a lot cleaner now and easier to navigate and find things.
All of the existing functions are still available, however you can now also find and accept Promotions that had previously been send out via the Ape Apps mailing list. The new Promotions tab will only show up if you are subscribed to the mailing list, so please update your communications preferences.
The site also has a new email tester, where you can make sure your email address is still valid and can receive messages from the server. This is important, because I plan on allowing an optional two factor email authentication at some point.
Also, you can now change the email address associated with your account, right from within the accounts Portal.
Planned upcoming features are the ability to view and manage your Ape Apps Cloud Sync data, as well as all of your pictures posted via this website, Ape Chat, or Discussions. You will be able to view and manage your friends list, achievements, high scores, and more right from within the Accounts Portal too. I am also working out a way for users to be able to change their username, it's just going to take a bit of work because of the way certain apps were developed (My Colony 1 in particular), but I know it's been requested a lot so it will be coming eventually.
Generally, the Accounts Portal is going to need to gain a lot of the functions that you find in the drop-down menu on this website, since I am eventually going to be de-emphasizing this site and at some point locking out posting completely, since it has become a pretty big annoyance dealing with the constant spam.
So anyway, go ahead and check it out, and let me know what issues you find, because this one is sort of important to get working properly!
https://accounts.ape-apps.com/
#apeappsaccounts
The site is now more of an app (it is a fully installable PWA now as well), which was a necessary change for when I eventually integrate it more tightly into the Ape Apps Launcher and Discussions (which will also be superseding both Ape Chat and these forums at some point). The interface is a lot cleaner now and easier to navigate and find things.
All of the existing functions are still available, however you can now also find and accept Promotions that had previously been send out via the Ape Apps mailing list. The new Promotions tab will only show up if you are subscribed to the mailing list, so please update your communications preferences.
The site also has a new email tester, where you can make sure your email address is still valid and can receive messages from the server. This is important, because I plan on allowing an optional two factor email authentication at some point.
Also, you can now change the email address associated with your account, right from within the accounts Portal.
Planned upcoming features are the ability to view and manage your Ape Apps Cloud Sync data, as well as all of your pictures posted via this website, Ape Chat, or Discussions. You will be able to view and manage your friends list, achievements, high scores, and more right from within the Accounts Portal too. I am also working out a way for users to be able to change their username, it's just going to take a bit of work because of the way certain apps were developed (My Colony 1 in particular), but I know it's been requested a lot so it will be coming eventually.
Generally, the Accounts Portal is going to need to gain a lot of the functions that you find in the drop-down menu on this website, since I am eventually going to be de-emphasizing this site and at some point locking out posting completely, since it has become a pretty big annoyance dealing with the constant spam.
So anyway, go ahead and check it out, and let me know what issues you find, because this one is sort of important to get working properly!
https://accounts.ape-apps.com/
#apeappsaccounts
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Announcing Tiny Level Up Public Multiplayer Beta
Today I am publicly taking the wraps off of a project I have been working on in my spare time over the last year, which is to become the successor engine to the "Level Up" series of RPG games I have created over the years. The new engine is the Tiny Level Up Engine, and it's flagship title is now available for public multiplayer beta testing!
Play Now
This new RPG engine takes my classic Level Up concept to a whole new level. It utilizes the pixel rendering engine I created for the Epic Adventure rewrite, and all game graphics are created using my Pixel Paint app and the .ppp graphic file format. Players can create their own custom characters using the tiny pixel tokens from the My Tokens app.
Tiny Level Up includes pretty much all of the features from the original Level Up engine but morphed into a 2d sidescrolling pixel engine format. All of the story telling elements are there, including dialogs and decision making. However the new engine includes structured quest lines the player can embark on. There are waypoints the player can unlock for fast travel, and unlike the old engine, the player can now go back and revisit areas they have already explored. The engine now includes crafting, so players can create their own equipment, potions, weapons and more using materials they find while adventuring.
Of course, the largest change (other than the fact that it is now an animated 2d sidescrolling adventure VS plain static images) is the inclusion of online real time multiplayer. When you are adventuring in the game, anybody from your Ape Apps friends list can join your party and help you on your quest. This unlocks possibilities, such as having friends help run a new player through the story line, having large epic battles, or just having a fun time clearing out enemies with others. In-game voice chat is included for multiplayer communications.
Tiny Level Up is still in it's early stages. I have been working on the engine off and on for months, and now I am moving over to the phase where it's time to start adding the game content, zones, quests, npcs, items, enemies, etc. During this time though, it would be nice to have some other players check in on the game every once and a while so I can see what is working, what isn't, what needs fixed, what needs balanced, etc. My goal is to have the game ready to release to app stores by mid 2025, so all input at this point will be welcome and appreciated!
You can play the beta now in your browser at this URL: https://player.leveluproleplays.com/tiny.html?beta=1&game=f2eef2f2-b2ed-1ae6-606e-d9a0236e5bc0
If you have any comments or discussion on the new game, you can feel free to reply to this post, and I have also opened up a new channel on Discussions dedicated to Level Up games, which you can find here.
Thanks for checking out the game, and let me know what you think so far!
#tinylevelup #pixelpaint
Play Now
This new RPG engine takes my classic Level Up concept to a whole new level. It utilizes the pixel rendering engine I created for the Epic Adventure rewrite, and all game graphics are created using my Pixel Paint app and the .ppp graphic file format. Players can create their own custom characters using the tiny pixel tokens from the My Tokens app.
Tiny Level Up includes pretty much all of the features from the original Level Up engine but morphed into a 2d sidescrolling pixel engine format. All of the story telling elements are there, including dialogs and decision making. However the new engine includes structured quest lines the player can embark on. There are waypoints the player can unlock for fast travel, and unlike the old engine, the player can now go back and revisit areas they have already explored. The engine now includes crafting, so players can create their own equipment, potions, weapons and more using materials they find while adventuring.
Of course, the largest change (other than the fact that it is now an animated 2d sidescrolling adventure VS plain static images) is the inclusion of online real time multiplayer. When you are adventuring in the game, anybody from your Ape Apps friends list can join your party and help you on your quest. This unlocks possibilities, such as having friends help run a new player through the story line, having large epic battles, or just having a fun time clearing out enemies with others. In-game voice chat is included for multiplayer communications.
Tiny Level Up is still in it's early stages. I have been working on the engine off and on for months, and now I am moving over to the phase where it's time to start adding the game content, zones, quests, npcs, items, enemies, etc. During this time though, it would be nice to have some other players check in on the game every once and a while so I can see what is working, what isn't, what needs fixed, what needs balanced, etc. My goal is to have the game ready to release to app stores by mid 2025, so all input at this point will be welcome and appreciated!
You can play the beta now in your browser at this URL: https://player.leveluproleplays.com/tiny.html?beta=1&game=f2eef2f2-b2ed-1ae6-606e-d9a0236e5bc0
If you have any comments or discussion on the new game, you can feel free to reply to this post, and I have also opened up a new channel on Discussions dedicated to Level Up games, which you can find here.
Thanks for checking out the game, and let me know what you think so far!
#tinylevelup #pixelpaint
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Discontinuing Support for macOS
I wanted to give a heads up for Ape Apps users as we get into 2024 here. I will no longer be releasing any updates or builds for the macOS platform going forward. At this point there are so few Mac users that it is not really worth the extra effort. Users of Ape Apps who are on a Mac system are encouraged to migrate to the Progressive Web App (PWA) version of whatever app or game you are using, since pretty much my entire catalogue is available in PWA form at this point.
For the time being, I will continue to support Windows and Linux for certain applications. Long term I am on the fence with stand-alone Windows releases, I may scale back to only supporting the Windows Store and Steam, but have not decided. Linux will probably have the best support long-term, since it is the easiest system for me to work with.
For the time being, I will continue to support Windows and Linux for certain applications. Long term I am on the fence with stand-alone Windows releases, I may scale back to only supporting the Windows Store and Steam, but have not decided. Linux will probably have the best support long-term, since it is the easiest system for me to work with.
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