Site Blog

Version 3 Announcement

March 28, 2017 at 5:24 PM
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VERSION 3 - After many months of extensive testing by our most loyal players, we are excited to announce the upcoming release of Egg Cave version 3. It's happening! Version 3 is an all-new Egg Cave, with a totally fresh and new look that loads faster and is (more) compatible with modern mobile devices. Don't worry! We'll be the same game with a familiar but improved look! And we think you'll love it.

On 30 March 2017 beginning at 9:00 AM ECT eggcave.com will go down for maintenance to update the web site. We anticipate that eggcave.com will be inaccessible for up to 9 hours (until 6:00 PM ECT) during this transition. We don't expect to use this full maintenance window (we could be done earlier) but that's what we're projecting. Here is the full maintenance schedule for this transition:

  • 9:00 AM: The site will close. All open trades and auctions will be closed, returning anything held in escrow to your account. All creatures are made safe.
  • 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM: Migration of our critical infrastructure.
  • 12:00 PM (estimated): Your creature images will be loading again.
  • 6:00 PM (latest, possibly earlier): eggcave.com is back online with your creatures ready for adopting and feeding!
  • 6:00 PM - 11:59 PM: Your mail, profile comments, creatures for resurrection (dead creatures), and notifications will be imported from version 2 to version 3.

What you should do to prepare:

  • Double-check and verify your email addresses: verify each email address associated with all of your Egg Cave accounts. Do this for your main and side accounts. Make sure that they are up-to-date and that you have access to each email's login. The #1 reason people lose access to their Egg Cave accounts is because they no longer have access to the associated email address to verify their identity.

Questions

Why will this take so long?

We know, we know! This maintenance will be quite long, the reasons for which are complex. Here's the gist: because Egg Cave's codebase is nearly 8 years old (which in the tech world is like 1 million years), we had to recode everything from the ground up. The most time consuming part of the transition will be importing your data to version 3. We have to do this for everybody, which amounts to hundreds upon hundreds of millions of rows of data.

As much as we would love to tell you that it's possible to import hundreds of millions of rows of data in a few seconds... it's not. It takes time and requires us to feed the new servers your data bit-by-bit in small, incremental steps.

Why will mail, profile comments, creatures for resurrection (dead creatures), and old notifications be imported *after* the site is back online?

For this transition, we had to split our data up into two types: (1) critical data that must exist in order for you to log in and (2) auxiliary user data. Critical data is speedier to import and, once present, the site will be functional for you. Auxiliary data (like notifications) are much larger and require greater time to import.

Essentially, we split the transition into two phases of data migration to have eggcave.com online faster. We can bring the site back online for you to log in and feed while we're importing remaining auxiliary data like notifications.

What will we be moved during this time?

All of your account data and creatures.

Can my creatures become unhappy or die during the transition?

No creatures will be lost or can die during the transition. In fact, when version 3 comes online, we'll make it easy for you by setting everybody's creature happinesses to 100%.

Will there be anything that's not transferred?

Currently open and running trades and auctions will not be transferred to version 3. In version 3, they will need to be re-created. The reason we're doing this is because in version 3, trades and auctions are brand-new and allow you to put both items and creatures in the same lot (i.e. there's no longer separation between "Items Trades" and "Creature Trades").

What about existing EC and items held in escrow for trades and/or auctions?

At 9:00 AM, all Egg Coins and items held in escrow will be returned to your account. You do not have to manually close your trades and auctions -- we'll take care of it for you.

Will I be able to load my creature images during the transition?

At the beginning of the transition, no. However, we estimate that creature images will come back online about 2 hours into the transition before the full site is back online.

A Note on Infrequently Accessed Egg Cave Accounts

Inactive Egg Cave accounts that have not logged in since 21 October 2015 will be REQUIRED on version 3 to set a new password via the account's associated email address. If you do not have access to the account's associated email address, you will permanently lose access to the account if no security questions are present.

This is happening because on 21 October 2015, Egg Cave updated its secure password hashing algorithm and has since maintained backwards compatibility with older encrypted passwords. However, version 3 will not maintain backwards compatibility with the older encryption and will force you to set a new password via the associated email address.

If you have logged in to Egg Cave since 21 October 2015, this does not affect you and no action is required.

Comments: 86

solnyshko • 28 Mar 2017, 5:28 PM

aahh so excited ❤️

purgatory • 28 Mar 2017, 5:32 PM

yeup ❤️ also, does cavecash migrate to v3 too?

arvak • 28 Mar 2017, 5:33 PM

Wow!! This is so exciting. I can't wait for the full launch. 😸

carter • 28 Mar 2017, 5:33 PM

Logged into all my sides just to be safe and ready for the move ^u^

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 5:38 PM

@ammolite Everything transfers.

hashtagnight • 28 Mar 2017, 5:41 PM

Just preparing! I'm so hyped!

metaphor • 28 Mar 2017, 5:43 PM

I changed my email but didn't get the verification link sent to the new address yet?

Ian • 28 Mar 2017, 5:43 PM

@ammolite of course. yes. all data transfers, including all of your purchases!

metaphor • 28 Mar 2017, 5:46 PM

I checked my spam folder, btw. Nothing there.

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 5:48 PM

@metaphor @rix If your account is already activated you don't need to reactivate it.

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 5:49 PM

You just have to make sure you have access to the email address associated with your account.

muppet • 28 Mar 2017, 5:50 PM

Can't wait 😊

lykhaos117 • 28 Mar 2017, 5:50 PM

So glad wall posts will be transferred. My beta testing account had a blank wall. Thank you for the informative blog post! ❤️

ada • 28 Mar 2017, 5:51 PM

No egg cave for my birthday, LOL

elluwah • 28 Mar 2017, 5:53 PM

Just want to say thank you for all the hard work that has gone into making Egg Cave such a great place to be. ❤️ Can't wait for the update!

immortalraven • 28 Mar 2017, 5:58 PM

Aw, man >.< And aw man, goes I need to make more emails cause don't remember the passwords to my side ones I don't think :c Wish they were

immortalraven • 28 Mar 2017, 5:59 PM

linked D; Most go search first for notebook of passwords so I might not have to hopefully ;-;

metaphor • 28 Mar 2017, 6:07 PM

Okay, thanks! I was just making sure my email was in order.^^

armageddondoll • 28 Mar 2017, 6:16 PM

Just checked all my emails for my accounts. I'm so excited to see V3!! ❤️

armageddondoll • 28 Mar 2017, 6:17 PM

One question though, will our CC transfer over or should we put them into vouchers and inventory/strongroom it?

sparklefox • 28 Mar 2017, 6:20 PM

It's happening. IT'S REALLY HAPPENING.

alityria • 28 Mar 2017, 6:20 PM

I'm so excited for V3, but what am I supposed to do meantime of the V3 migration?! *criesinacorner* #toomuchfreetime

alityria • 28 Mar 2017, 6:22 PM

And checked all my emails c: Also is it safer if the items are in the Strongroom instead in the Inventory or doesn't it matter?

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 6:24 PM

@armageddondoll As already mentioned, your CC will transfer as is. All data is being transferred.

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 6:25 PM

@laxerna It doesn't matter where your items are, one place is just as good as the other.

alityria • 28 Mar 2017, 6:27 PM

@Orderedchaos Thank you very much for the reply~❤️

sony • 28 Mar 2017, 6:30 PM

Hope it all goes smoothly, thanks for looking out for us!

raccoon • 28 Mar 2017, 6:46 PM

Super excited! Goodbye v2, Helloooo v3!

jello • 28 Mar 2017, 6:53 PM

Ehm, will the site close regardless of reloading or not?

jello • 28 Mar 2017, 6:56 PM

Because I want a screenshot of Tick Tock the Clock V2's last moments, at 8:01 just to be a rebel

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 7:04 PM

@jellifysh Once maintenance starts the site, including the test site, will go down...

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 7:05 PM

...and you will not be able to access the site until maintenance is over and the site comes back online.

jello • 28 Mar 2017, 7:07 PM

Okay...

silverserpent • 28 Mar 2017, 7:14 PM

This will be interesting.

olimpt • 28 Mar 2017, 7:25 PM

Congrats EC! I remember waiting for the V2 update, the website has come so far!

chocovampire • 28 Mar 2017, 7:30 PM

Yeah more compatible on mobile device! But I personally think it is not very user-friendly

spiritkoi • 28 Mar 2017, 8:20 PM

Lost access to two of my emails, so had to make new ones. xP Everything's all good, and can't wait for V3, though I still like V2.

lucas • 28 Mar 2017, 8:30 PM

Ver3 hype!

shirona • 28 Mar 2017, 8:38 PM

Wish we could use the same e-mail address for our sides as well...

lucas • 28 Mar 2017, 8:40 PM

@demons from what I understood, nope - but if you dont have the required info, you'll lose your access to them

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 8:42 PM

@demons No, they won't be deleted.

lucas • 28 Mar 2017, 8:43 PM

@demons lil' ghost accs! Hehe

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 8:46 PM

@demons We don't delete accounts unless asked for or as part of a punishment for rule breaking.

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 8:49 PM

We have no way of knowing what old accounts someone may or may not have lost access to.

stagfire • 28 Mar 2017, 8:57 PM

I'm almost scared XD Ayee!

brad • 28 Mar 2017, 9:03 PM

After a while of playing around on the test site, I'm super excited for it to go live!

stagfire • 28 Mar 2017, 9:18 PM

@ian @orderedchaos XD Didn't know who to ping. Will quests be added much later, like, in the summer? @o_o Ikr! It's going to be a bit weird!

solaris • 28 Mar 2017, 9:19 PM

I'm looking forward to this!

Orderedchaos • 28 Mar 2017, 9:22 PM

@stagfire At this time we have no solid date for the release of quests. Getting v3 up and running has been our priority.

tash • 28 Mar 2017, 9:33 PM

Exciting!

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