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On November 6, 2016, seven former members of TNT - Dragona, snarkie, Mr. Insane, Dirigibles, Soupfaerie, Viola, and Breik - held an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on reddit. For three hours they diligently answered as many questions from users as possible.
Here are some of the highlights:
I've been playing Neopets for 10 years, but when I signed up as a kid, for some reason I decided to put my birthday as like 2013 or something. (Which wasn't even a thing when I joined) so the website still thinks I'm under 13- I won't be able to send Neomail or anything, so if my DP does get found, message me on Reddit! R/neopets: r/neopets is the place to be without fear or scorn by TNT! Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Log in sign up. User account menu. Don't talk about us on Neopets! Posts Discord. Feb 14, 2019 Karina challenges Nathan, Jacob, and Julia to draw Neopets species based on their descriptions on on this episode of Drawfee.
Reminder: Do NOT mention reddit on Neopets!
Site Features
Was there ever any plans to make NQ3? I know there was some kind of text based game called NQ 3D but I think we all can agree that it didn't count ~/u/aintdiego
Never any serious plans, no. NeoQuest II took quite a lot of work, and though it was popular, we didn't want to just make another version that was basically the same thing.
What was the biggest thing you had planned for Neopets that ended up not getting done? ~/u/Darknessflowers
World of Neopia, which was going to be a completely separate environment from the site itself. We spent a long time working on it but a point came where Viacom wanted to shut down prospective development on a bunch of projects. Not just World of Neopia, but a number of other things got canned too. Bad luck.
Anything else you can tell us about it? Was it a website? A 3d game? 2d game? ~/u/Oakfeather
World of Neopia was an isometric virtual space built with a combination of 2D and 3D assets. Gameplay-wise, it was an MMORPG.
Were there ever any plans for Lutari Island after Neopets mobile shut down that never got launched? ~/u/Queer-deer
Not that we know of. It was created for the mobile stuff; we did brainstorm some ideas for what to do with it, but it never became a priority.
EDIT: snarkie sez, 'The idea was to keep it as a paid feature, but add more stuff to it, so that it was kind of a premium bonus.'
What was the story with the Neopets mobile app, the one that had a trailer where we voted on the name? It never surfaced :( ~/u/yogurtisalive
That mobile app was a side project that several employees volunteered for in their spare time; it was just about ready for release when Neopets was purchased by Jumpstart. JS wanted to go in a different direction, so the project was shelved. Just one of those things. :(
Do you guys miss Keyquest as much as I do? (I miss Keyquest a lot.) ~/u/historyandwanderlust
Keyquest was really hard to maintain. It was built by an outside company, with a Java back-end, and there were no Java experts on the team. It required a lot of Viacom magic to keep running. So... that's probably a no?
How were NeoSchools supposed to have worked? ~/u/RetroGameBoy
The idea was that your pet would attend 'classes' and get increases in a new set of stats that sort of didn't do anything? Kind of like the training academy on Mystery Island. It just ended up not being very much fun, sadly.
How come you never released an UC Paintbrush even as an NC item? I remember people were always asking for it, and still are. ~/u/just44fun4
We went back and forth on it constantly. We could have charged quite a bit for it but it also seemed a bit unfair to do so, especially when we said we wouldn't allow any more UCs. Also, taking something away from you and then charging real money to give it back is pretty lame.
So, my question! For a long time, no new species were released, and new brush colors were few and far between. Why is that? Were a lot of ideas scrapped? ~/u/Naudlus
Both new species and paint brush colors became less common because we had a limited number of art hours to spend, and we wanted to be able to put a lot of effort into site events and customization. Also, adding a new species became a huge amount of work after pet customization, so it was always a difficult decision to put in the time necessary to add a whole new species.
When neopets was new and big on the net, it made sense to have strict censorship and rules about giving personal information and leading neofriends offsite to chat because its key demographic were young kids.
I think we can all agree that this is no longer the major demographic, or at the very least, not the demographic that's keeping neo afloat with $$. Neo is no longer popular with young kids, and the longtime players who're still around are the ones who grew up with the site and are now in their 20s or older. Why then, is the censorship and offsite banning still as oppressive and restricting as it was 15 years ago? ~/u/thecopperword
The AMA just ended but I saw this so here's a short answer real quick: we actually had a complete revamp of the rules in the works, specifically relating to those topics you mention. When the site got bought, though, the project got put aside and then everyone working on it left. So... we can't tell you what the status of it is now, but we can say that we were working on it. We just didn't get it done in time.
Plots and Events
Hey TNT, what sort of processes went into writing the various plots through the years? A lot of them seemed like genre pieces or love letters to other bits of media. ~/u/professorwhat
snarkie is writing a longer article about this, to be posted on her tumblr, but for now we'll say this: The different plots often had very different paths to realization. Some of them (e.g. Lost Desert, Tale of Woe) were constrained by what was depicted in the trading card game set corresponding to that plot. Some of them (e.g. Faeries' Ruin) we were pretty much able to make up from scratch, however we wanted. There was a lot of brainstorming story, of figuring out how many puzzles there should be, and a LOT of post-it notes stuck on the whiteboard in the meeting room.
Were there any characters, plots, or site features that changed during their development? What were the earlier versions of these things like? ~/u/macteazle
Seriously, any kind of creative development worth its salt goes through numerous iterations before the public sees it. Occasionally an idea stays pretty much unchanged from its first version, while other stuff gets changed repeatedly up until the last minute (or even removed because it's just not working). In a lot of cases (especially in the major site plots) we were really creating stuff on the fly, in part to respond to what the users liked/disliked about the plot. Mr. Insane still remembers the time he stayed until 9 PM on a Friday night during the Tale of Woe plot, tweaking how the potion mixing puzzle worked while the players were in the middle of doing it. He says that he cackled maniacally at how frustrated the users got.
Can you now tell us how team scores were determined in the Altador Cup? I still don't see how freeloaders were unable to hurt their own team by doing nothing. ~/u/KozmaKangaroo
We don't want to give away details, in case they're still using the same algorithm, but it made sure freeloaders didn't ruin things for their team.
Are there any unresolved story/plot points you could address for us? Like the Oracle (what is it?), or where the Darkest Faerie is... (there's not much space between where Faerieland was and where it landed) ~/u/tyco5
The Oracle was just a character we invented to fill that role. It officially wasn't any Neopet species, but if you look at it, it's basically a Kiko with a weird ghost body.
The Darkest Faerie intentionally broke her and set up Altador to find her, in case we wanted to use that in the future, but then never ended up doing anything with her.
Experiences in the Office
What do you feel was the great triumph of your respective tenures at Neopets? ~/u/GonzoI
Dirigibles: Inventing the word 'crumpetmonger.'
Dragona: I came up with Kiss the Mortog during my first month. It was all downhill from there.
Viola: Finally coming to terms with having helped code the Battledome.
breik: The Altador Cup. Hey, did Meridell ever win?
snarkie: The Faeries' Ruin. We were so happy how stunned people were by us crashing Faerieland into Neopia.
Mr. Insane: .tolp eoW fo elaT ehT.
Soupfaerie: Drawing the Darigan Poogle!
What were your favorite things about Neopets? (On the site, behind-the-scenes, etc.) ~/u/raikiXD
Soupfaerie: The office Halloween contest (where some of us got way too serious about dressing up).
Mr. Insane: The flexible work hours and proximity to my house.
Dirigibles: The bowl of jelly beans in the conference room.
Dragona: All the creative content people sent in, and all messages we got about inspiring people to be a programmer or writer or artist, etc.
Viola: Creative environment and all of my friends.
Reddit Com R Neopets List
snarkie: VIOLA STOLE MY ANSWER. Also, Soupfaerie's answer. Also, telling stories that surprised and amused people.
Breik: TNT
What were your favorite 'puns' or pop culture references items? I always loved 12 Angry Myncis, which inspired my legal gallery, Juris Junk. ~/u/r4wrdinosaur
Our favorite puns/pop culture references were always in plot prizes. We also had tons of inside jokes that came from conversations we had over lunch, that literally nobody would understand, but that's okay. The E-Z Brand™ line of products we put into plot prizes were always a ton of fun to come up with. We intentionally included memes late because people kept asking us why we included memes late.
I would love to know what happened to make you realise that Neopets was going to be a fun/crazy place to work? ~/u/snarhooked
snarkie: My second interview, the receptionist was dressed like a squirrel. Also, my second week there, when the whole company went to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
breik: The MTV holiday party I wasn't supposed to be invited to, but they let me attend anyway. WOOOO, FREE BOOZE
Dragona: When during my second interview, Tigercatcher insisted that I have some cake. Also, the toy box full of Nerf guns.
Mr. Insane: Early on, Borovan would tell us all to stop working so that we could have a Magic: The Gathering tournament. Clearly this was more important than work.
Dirigibles: Daily Simpsons trivia, until I got in trouble for it. *mumbles bitterly* Also, my second week there, when the whole company went to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Viola: It took a while before I realized it was a fun place, because I was sitting near a bunch of crazy people.
Soupfaerie: Getting to know my wonderfully silly cow-orkers. (Everyone else: 'Awwww.')
So many things to ask! Ever since the day I learned about the mass layoff, I've always wondered about the true story. Was it truly unexpected? Was it just coincidence that it coincided with the release of Ghoul Catchers? ~/u/aymekae
None of us were still there when that particular mass layoff happened. (Dirigibles and Soupfaerie are still bitter about the earlier mass layoffs they got caught up in.) And in fact, almost everyone who had worked on Ghoul Catchers had already left the company by the time it was released.
Miscellaneous
I was wondering, what caused Viacom to decide to sell Neopets, and, if you know, why did Jumpstart decide to be the ones to make the purchase? ~/u/20Vivillon
We assume that a bunch of people in suits had important meetings involving charts and numbers and business. Those people all worked in an enormous skyscraper thousands of miles away from us. Jumpstart, we think, wanted to expand their online gaming properties portfolio. (It's possible we've made that up.)
Do you think the old staff team (viacom) should have been allowed interact with users whenever they wanted, eg. on the boards, neomails, battle, etc, and would that have helped save the site with having a closer connection to the users and what they actually wanted? ~/u/dirtside_fanboy
We did have a number of staff who were allowed to interact with players on the boards etc., but we had to limit it because employees need proper training in how to interact with players. Someone might be a brilliant artist or programmer but not necessarily trained in how to properly interact with players.
Did any of you read the Neopian Times, and do you remember any favourite stories or authors? ~/u/Altharis
We used to read the NT all the time! There were a lot of great authors and comics over the years and we don't want to leave anyone out so we'll just say WE LOVE YOU ALL. We are not currently working together on a new project. Do you have a couple million dollars?
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This article was written by: ummy
This page was last updated on August 11, 2018.
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Way back in 1999, a site called Neopets was born and it was an absolute sensation. It had millions of members - kids and adults alike clambering for the latest pets, playing the flash games, and learning the entire world of Neopets. The site grew and like many ongoing franchises do, managed to alienate parts of its old fanbase. The site gained a Pay to Play win mentality with the introduction of Neocash. Old fans found that without sticking their well-earned dollars in, they had a harder time having fun with their Shoyrus and Lupes.
People left, but every once and a while they feel like they need to go back to the old grind of harvesting Neopoints and pricing the items in their shops at a ridiculous amounts.
Or do they?
Many sites have tried to bank on Neopets' success or just tried to use it as a template for success. These sites are typically run better than the massive corporate site and have a more personal touch. They also have a 'cash' shop of sorts but they aren't nearly as obtrusive or as game breaking as in Neopets. For all those who'd like to get back into the world of free virtual pets and the community that comes with it, these sites are for you.
People left, but every once and a while they feel like they need to go back to the old grind of harvesting Neopoints and pricing the items in their shops at a ridiculous amounts.
Or do they?
Many sites have tried to bank on Neopets' success or just tried to use it as a template for success. These sites are typically run better than the massive corporate site and have a more personal touch. They also have a 'cash' shop of sorts but they aren't nearly as obtrusive or as game breaking as in Neopets. For all those who'd like to get back into the world of free virtual pets and the community that comes with it, these sites are for you.
Dragon CaveIt is more than likely you’ve seen this at least once when you’ve gone on a public forum site. At the bottom of someone's profile there is a bunch of eggs or dragons that might look similar to this:
There is usually a frantic message beneath it as well resembling something like:
“PLEASE CLICK ON THESE DRAGONS SO THEY WON’T GET CONSUMPTION LIKE NICOLE KIDMAN IN MOULIN ROGUE!”
Or some other message like that. This site was founded back in 2006 and runs on the idea of stealing a dragons egg from a nest and keeping it as your own, having it hatch to your very own baby dragon. You have to give it enough clicks in a certain amount of time through or the dragon dies, leaving a rather morbid message about how the egg died from lack of care.
“PLEASE CLICK ON THESE DRAGONS SO THEY WON’T GET CONSUMPTION LIKE NICOLE KIDMAN IN MOULIN ROGUE!”
Or some other message like that. This site was founded back in 2006 and runs on the idea of stealing a dragons egg from a nest and keeping it as your own, having it hatch to your very own baby dragon. You have to give it enough clicks in a certain amount of time through or the dragon dies, leaving a rather morbid message about how the egg died from lack of care.
If you get enough clicks however, the dragon grows up! You don’t really get to interact with the dragons other than breeding them once you have at least two in your cave, but it is a fun little site.
It has a very supportive community that is always willing to help newbies by giving them tips as well as clicking on their dragons. On this site, more than any other site on this list, the new player cannot make it entirely on their own. User interaction is key, or at least being on a forum where enough people will give your dragons click so they won’t die a horrific death.
Have fun!
Have fun!
Chicken Smoothie
These little guys have more than likely made their way into your line of vision when scrolling down forums. They are typically little puppies wrapped up in blankets, all cuddled up and ready to grow up.
The site itself has expanded its roster of pets since its creation in 2008 to include cats, bunnies, owls, horses, spiders and various other animals, real or otherwise.
Each of the pets has its own unique design, and they are an absolute joy to see at times. The amount of artistic talent on the site is simply astounding and the artists should really be praised more for the amount of work they do designing some of these pets. Some of the pets might have the same template but the designs are really eye popping.
Each of the pets has its own unique design, and they are an absolute joy to see at times. The amount of artistic talent on the site is simply astounding and the artists should really be praised more for the amount of work they do designing some of these pets. Some of the pets might have the same template but the designs are really eye popping.
Unlike Dragon Cave, Chicken Smoothie has no looming fear of death whenever you check on your pets. They won’t die on you if you don't click on them, but they do grow up. What makes this site similar to Dragon Cave is that there is no direct interaction with the pups, not even breeding. Most of it is decided by staff or by the community at large voting for what design of pup gets to be breed next.
This site is more collection-based than anything else. To collect all of the pups from the previous years might seem like a daunting task, but luckily Chicken Smoothie has a very kind community. You are likely to find someone that is willing to give you a big chunk of duplicates they have from previous years.
Even the rarest of pets can be recovered for newer members, so the task of collecting all of your favorties isn’t impossible, it’s just a matter of patience. Just interact with some of the helpful community in the meantime and you should be fine.
Powerpets
Here’s a familiar sounding name, but I know what you’re thinking.
“Powerpets sounds exactly like Neopets! It’s just like Pokemon and Digimon which both have mon at the end of their names! They are obviously ripping each other off right?! RIGHT!”
Well, it’s a yes and no answer. Yes, Powerpets is similar to Neopets because of the pets at the end of their names. And it’s about raising online, free pets. But it’s different enough to be its own separate entity.
“Powerpets sounds exactly like Neopets! It’s just like Pokemon and Digimon which both have mon at the end of their names! They are obviously ripping each other off right?! RIGHT!”
Well, it’s a yes and no answer. Yes, Powerpets is similar to Neopets because of the pets at the end of their names. And it’s about raising online, free pets. But it’s different enough to be its own separate entity.
The main thing that sets Powerpets apart from Neopets is that it gives you real animals to take care of. Pets available to adopt range from something as normal as a Bulldog to something as outlandish as a Moray Eel. The site is big on real-life animal activisim, and attempts to teach its players the importance of animal rights while doing it in a fun environment.
You can do a lot of things with your pet: feed them, groom them, paint them, explore the world with them, collect random items, play bizzare flash games with them, read to them, and write stories about them. Stories that other users can read!
You can do a lot of things with your pet: feed them, groom them, paint them, explore the world with them, collect random items, play bizzare flash games with them, read to them, and write stories about them. Stories that other users can read!
On Powerpets, there is a system where you can write your own stories about your pets and get them published into real virtual books for the people of the site to read. You don’t get paid for it in real life, but it’s a pretty cool feature. People spend a surprising amount of time and effort on these stories, crafting interesting narratives with their virtual pets. You can even rate and buy the books if you want so you can read them at any time.
All in all, Powerpets is by far the closest you’ll get to Neopets without actually going back to Neopets. It’s educational, fun, and has just as much to do in it as the old multi-colored mutant site did.
Flight Rising
A site that was funded by Kickstarter in March of 2013, Flight Rising is like World of Warcraft fused with Neopets. The site has a rich lore that is told through its encyclopedia, wiki and Youtube videos about the 11 elemental dragons that helped form the earth in three different 'ages'. It involves destruction, tales of hubris, and eventually compromise to save the world from an even bigger threat.
At the beginning of your registration, you pick a Flight, which determines what sort of Lair you have and the eye color of your dragon. You get to pick one dragon at the start as your first-generation dragon, and the site randomly generates another dragon of the opposite gender to be it’s mate. The designs of the dragons are creative and quirky, giving each species their own unique feel.
Each Flight has its own personal forum as well as a public forum for inter-flight discussions about things. The community is simultaneously supportive and competitive with one another. For once every week on Saturday it determines what Flight is “Dominant” in that week, which means that they get little bonuses that the other Flights don’t get. These Flights are still at “War”, but it’s a war for dominance rather than a war of world domination.
There are tons of things to do on the site other than just breeding your dragons (with multiple combinations), you can feed them, dress them up in apparel, you can gather items which you can sell, play games, fight in the coliseium, look for familiars (tiny pets) for your dragons, look around in the auctionhouse for good deals, or just talk to the community.
Like the sites before it, Flight Rising has a very good community with some very kind people. During registration periods, they are more than happy to embrace people into their Flight and will give newbies all of the help they need.
It’s a great community to be a part of, and if you want a site that’s a little more grown up than Neopets and has cool dragons, then check out Flight Rising when it opens up registration again.
R Neopets
Virtual Pets games have been around for quite some time and it looks like they are here to stay if any of these sites have anything to say about it. If you ever feel like going back to Neopets, or really want to take care of some virtual animals, take a look at these sites. Sometimes, it’s worth feeling like a kid again, even if all you’re doing is taking care of some pixelated creature on the screen.