Adding more customization options to profiles, etc

okami • 17 October 2022 at 12:49 AM

I remember thinking this when I played on here several years ago, and upon recently returning it's crossed my mind again.

Everyone is able to customize their profiles with text and emoticons, but I think it'd be a great addition if more visual customizations could be added. The thing I'd like to see most is the ability to change the top banner of our profiles; right now everyone has the same banner of a dark forest. I think it'd be really fun if there were more banner options to choose from like an ocean, beach, clouds, desert, etc.

I'm not sure what other visual customizations could be added to profiles, but it'd be really cool if we had the ability to individualize our coves a bit more. 😊

I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts or suggestions about this!


A running list of customization ideas from this thread
• Ability to change the top profile banner to a theme other than the dark forest/cave that is currently featured for everyone
• Ability to customize profile backgrounds (@twinkle 's suggestion)
• Ability to customize the order of the information stats (ex: auctions, joined, last seen) (@heatherm19 's suggestion)
• Ability to add additional information stats such as VEND quests completed (@mightyeglantine 's suggestion)
• A private notepad so users don't have to make notes to self on their profiles (@heatherm19 's suggestion)
• Addition of a showcase section for specific items, etc (@mightyeglantine 's suggestion)
•Ability to change the overall site theme that we specifically see (@snowywinter 's suggestion)

twinkle • 17 October 2022 at 1:00 AM

@bluewolf
Customizing the profile banner and profile background *o*
I love this idea ^^ A spacey vibe for my profile would be neat to have right now for my laika ❤️

lothar • 17 October 2022 at 2:18 AM

@bluewolf
Oh I really love the idea that we can change our banner! Different options to fit my profile pet, that's very nice. And I hope my profile can be more festive on Valentine's Day, New Year, Halloween, Christmas and so on.

heatherm19 • 17 October 2022 at 4:10 AM

While I'm not too invested in this idea, it would be cool to have more options to make our profiles more "ours". Tossing a couple ideas out there:
The ability to custom organize the information stats (joined, last seen, etc). There are many different ways to play here, some users are more active with certain features and less with others... Personally I'd like my trades and auctions to be on the 1st line instead of the 2nd, as I'd prefer more people see those first.

And this one isn't necessarily a visual change, but inspired by visual clutter: I'd love if our accounts had a private sort of 'notepad', only seen by the account holder, where we can put notes and reminders and goals and whatever. I see a lot of "notes to self" in people's profiles (I have a few myself!), stuff that isn't necessarily directed toward others seeing the profile but is instead just a way for the user to keep track of things without having to use an external program. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would prefer my profile-text be more streamlined and look nicer but it's the only real place (besides using creature's descriptions) to put that sort of thing here.

mightyeglantine • 17 October 2022 at 4:35 AM

I always support more customization! I'd definitely love to see a way to further display our creatures, items and travels like some kind of showcase section. I'd also like to be able to reorganize the sections on our profiles, maybe move the bio below the creatures, add a showcase section in there and be able to place it above/below/in-between other sections. Heck! Maybe even add other stats and badges that could be put in the showcase such as number of VEND quests completed or trades done in the same way our total contributions to the SAR center is displayed.

There's so much that can be done to make every single profile feel unique and different from the next. Although I imagine some profiles would be bling'd out to the max which may cause server lagging if it grows too rampant.

snowywinter • 17 October 2022 at 5:30 AM

@bluewolf I actually enjoy how minimalist this site is and appreciate the lack of graphics other than the creatures.
I avoid the forums like the plague on another game I joined because there is a bombardment of stuff. Their avatars, their pets, their awards and achievements, all the forums tools, their signatures, the code for extra items, their top wishlist items, etc. - And I'd probably avoid looking at people's profiles here if much more were added to them. I think the code allows for them to be quite customizable as it is. (There is a generous character limit on it.)

But in the vein of what you're talking about, I do think it would be neat if we could choose site themes. (Like how we have the Autumn, Winter, and Spring themes.) That only we ourselves see, not other players.
I suppose I could get use to it if there was just a small selection of site created themes were available for all profile to be seen. (Though I'd prefer to have the option to only see preferred theme. when feeding.)


I was wishing the other day for us to have the ability for us to have a pop-up when someone visits our profile. (Like the 'You Found a Seed' messages.) Only a small about of text allowed. (Whatever the Wall post limit is.)


@heatherm19 I'm always a HUGE supporter/seeker of this internal notes idea and will comment on it whenever I can. It's so weird having to put things on an egg, or go hunting for 'it' off-site, or comb through messages. I want this SOOOOOO MUCH!
I wouldn't even mind if it had a character limit too. I'd hope it would allow for more than a single note, hopefully at least five or 10 so we could make notes about separate things.


@mightyeglantine I wouldn't mind if they made it an option of the order in which to display creatures or bio, but I prefer the bio being on top. Both for my own display, and it's the first thing I look for on other people's accounts.
I think a lot of people would love to display achievements like Creature Creator/Writer . (Me personally, not so much. I have no desire to add that to my profile, not even in text. I'm proud of it, but I like it just fine when people stumble across that tidbit on their own in the creature description. Until then, I like living under my rock in obscurity - I don't want to be called out against my will in my profile with icons cluttering up the place. - Another game I'm on does that for every tiny little achievement, and I hate it.) Again, would be nice to have a check box if we want to display those or not.

okami • 17 October 2022 at 12:33 PM

@twinkle
Customizing the profile backgrounds would be a great addition too!

@lothar
That’s a great idea to have holiday options for the banners! It would definitely bring a more festive feel to the site 😊

@heatherm19
I love the private notepad idea! I used to keep a lot of notes to self on creature profiles before moving that kind of stuff over to a word document. It’s not a huge pain to have to do that, but I agree it would be a lot more convenient if that stuff could be on the site.

@mightyeglantine
That would be really need if more sections were added that could be organized. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Steam, but on there it’s similar in that you can pick certain sections you want to display (like achievements, games, etc) and then drag them in the order you want the displayed. I agree that some profiles would possibly become very over the top, but my hope is that it’d be okay as long as there’s a set selection of approved customizations. I’ve seen some adoptable sites where you can upload your own images and whatnot, which I could see turning chaotic lol.

@snowywinter
I can definitely see the appeal for maintaining a less cluttered looking profile, but I think there would be a lot of benefits to giving users the option to choose from a list of different customizations. As I said in my original post, the biggest thing I’d like to see is the banners being customizable. I’ve never been a huge fan of the default dark forest banner and would love to change it to something lighter that feels more like me. That would be a small but meaningful change to the profiles. The profile customizations are a lot to think about, but if implemented correctly I think it would be successful. Like I mentioned to mightyeglantine, I think it would be very chaotic if users were able to upload things for their profiles, so I definitely think giving users a predetermined selection of customizations would be the better way to go.
I think that would be really neat if we had the option to choose our own site themes! I was looking back in the forums before I made this topic and noticed one that suggested creating a dark theme for sensitive eyes, which I agree would be beneficial.

ida92 • 17 October 2022 at 1:05 PM

@bluewolf Yes! This sounds great! And taking into account that some people have themed coves this would be a great addition! Clouds for an avian cove, galaxies for a space themed cove, etc.

okami • 17 October 2022 at 11:11 PM

@ida92

Yeah, it would be awesome for themed coves! I bet it would also inspire a lot of users to put together themed coves 😊

mr-blue-bones • 18 October 2022 at 1:17 AM

I would love to be able to change the banner, I find it super boring it's the same for everyone and to me it sticks out most of the time, especially during events and holidays!

snowywinter • 18 October 2022 at 3:56 AM

I had a small thought just a bit ago (and though I'd prefer a small pre-made selection to chose from as a drop down,) what if users got to select from the e-code approved colors for the background of their profiles?
The part around what all the icons and stuff sit on. The part that's between that and the site theme. The margins. Where there was a field to type in the color name somewhere in preferences. (Though I'd really, really hope colors like Lime and Cyan would be excluded. Lovely colors... would just be a bit harsh on the eyes when used to that extent.)

brandi • 19 October 2022 at 3:08 PM

Absolutely on board with more organization/customization options - even if paid, tbh. 😸

okami • 2 December 2022 at 12:15 AM

Thought I'd revive this since the changing of the site theme from fall to winter made me rethink of all this again!

I'm someone who often struggles with seasonal depression and such, and I definitely noticed a mental difference when the site theme changed. Everything is so light now, I feel happier just navigating around the site rn compared to when we had the darker fall theme.

snowywinter • 2 December 2022 at 12:41 AM

@bluewolf Ah ha!
This is one of the threads i was trying to think of to reference in my post to @kataclysm

I'd normally agree... but the computer I'm currently using has the colors super saturated. While I'm getting to see details I never knew existed, almost everything is trying to be a neon and is blazingly bright (not the amount of lumins... just intensity.)
While the fall one is pretty, and I love the detail that went into it, I feel ya on the the mental difference with it.
Blues are my go-to background. Despite what research says about sleep and such, they improve my mood and ability to focus. (The ice blue on eggcave however is harsh on my eyes.)
I'm happy for you though! ^^ ❤️

dragrawr • 2 December 2022 at 12:46 AM

@bluewolf while I appreciate these ideas, I feel like too much customization can be an eyesore and easily confusing. I think being able to choose the site background color could be helpful for players that are sensitive to that sort of thing, like a dark mode perhaps.

My main concern is for those said sensitive people coming upon a profile that is bright yellow and getting triggered visually/overhwhelmed.

Although I personally would love to customize my profile just a biiiiit more, I think that addition could be foreseeable in the future. I also think it could be cute to have "pagedolls" of sorts on profiles that are small and not too obstructive.

okami • 2 December 2022 at 12:46 AM

@snowywinter

I'm definitely not saying a light theme like this should be the permanent way- I'm moreso referencing the idea you previously mentioned about being able to change the overall site theme that each user specifically sees. I'd love the ability to bounce between lighter and darker themes depending on my mood/headache status/etc.

snowywinter • 2 December 2022 at 12:55 AM

@bluewolf Oh, I know, I was just conversing.
It really would be helpful to have the themes in a drop down. And should be as easy, hassle-free as changing our profile creature.

@dragrawr What do you mean by "pagedolls"? I'm trying to figure it out. You mean versions of our profile creature that follow us around? (Sort of like a Gobbler, but always in one place on the page.)

dragrawr • 2 December 2022 at 12:57 AM

@snowywinter No, just on our profile page. It's not likely it would be implemented and is merely a fun idea, haha. It stays in place on the corner of the profile screen, even as you scroll, not other pages

daisycat • 14 December 2022 at 5:50 PM

@bluewolf
I love all of these ideas and have been thinking of the same things myself!

For the user profile banner, I do think it would be nice to have maybe at least ten different designs to choose from, like seasons and landscapes. Holiday banners could be released as each holiday comes. It would be fun to have a birthday themed banner that only displays when it's your birthday (if players check a box that allows it change on their birthday).

I also like the idea of reorganizing or omitting the icons under the banner, and a quest icon being added.

All that being said, I love forests so I do like the current banners. x) And the simple, clean look of the site I actually really appreciate, so I think only a few customization changes could be added. I really like how nothing gets too busy here or takes too long to load and everything is very streamlined and pretty cut and dry. But some small things like banners could be neat. 😊

vivian • 3 June 2023 at 5:11 PM

Thank you for the ping on this one @daisycat !

I love all the ideas you have for themes!!
I think themes for profiles (customizable or even preset) would be really cool! ♡
They'd have to do some sort of coding with it though, and then that means that they can only let people use eggcave images and such ^^;
Really cool ideas , would love to see creative themes by users!

musical_slytherclaw • 16 August 2023 at 12:53 PM

I love these ideas, especially the banner one - I feel like I've been waiting to be able to customise that since forever 😊

bunnyshadow • 16 August 2023 at 3:51 PM

I'm a huge fan of these !

• Ability to add additional information stats such as VEND quests completed
- This would be a good one for those that have been completing vend quests and making it onto the leaderboard.

• A private notepad so users don't have to make notes to self on their profiles
- This would be a good one for notes to self such as which pets to freeze, etc.

• Addition of a showcase section for specific items
- This would be a good idea to prevent user shops with items costing 99 million EC.