Following the last update from March, we have rolled out a few more user-visible changes this time.
Here is a summarised list of the changes:
The following sections are in-detail explanations of the changes that we've just deployed.
Our front-end web server (nginx) is now using ETags, which basically make sure that browsers won't retrieve the content again if the file already exists in the cache and has the same ETag as the current file on the server, hence increasing page load performance in subsequent requests after the initial one.
The technical reason why we had ETags disabled so far, was that files inside of Nix store paths always have the same modification time and by default, nginx generates the ETag by concatenating the modification time with the file size.
To illustrate this: Let's say we have a file containing the text hello world, which has a size of 11 characters. This would result in the ETag 1-11.
Now let's assume the content of file got changed to adios world, which has the same length. The same ETag (1-11) as the one from the old file would be sent to the browser and the server will respond with an HTTP 304 (Not Modified), causing the browser to load the old file from the cache.
Static files (everything beginning with /static in the URL) are served from Nix store paths, which would mean that we'd always get the same modification time, even after an upgrade. This is obviously not intended and could possibly distort the site, which is why we've disabled it so far.
We've rolled out a patch which addresses the issue by using the hash portion of the Nix store path as the ETag.
Another quite visible change was introduced for mobile phone/tablet users, where we have changed the navigation/layout a bit to make it less frustrating to browse moonID on smaller resolutions (about time, I'd say).
At the moment the mobile view should be treated more like an interim solution, because it's nowwhere near complete and in some cases quite rudimentary, but we do have a full site re-design on our roadmap where we intend to support mobile targets from the get-go.
If you're playing on a lot of game worlds, navigating the My Games menu becomes quite tedious to use after a while, because the list is not sorted in a natural order.
In order to make the menu more convenient to use, we now list game worlds under their appropriate game name and they are also sorted naturally (or more accurately: According to a new rank field in the database table).
So let's say you're playing on a few German MonstersGame and KnightFight worlds, the list was looking like this:
After applying natural sorting, the list now looks like this:
Right now if you want to delete your moonID account, you need to create a ticket and the actual deletion has to be done manually on our side, which is not a very good experience and we think that users should be able to do this for themselves.
However, there are a few things we need to retain by law, for example the purchases made by the user on the account.
While you'll still need to open a support ticket for deleting your account, we now have sufficient tests so that we won't accidentally delete too much information. This allows us to add account deletion within the next few updates.
So far some pages have issued an unnecessary amount of database queries, up to several thousand per request.
We have improved those queries a bit and now almost all pages (only a few internal ones are more demanding) use less than 100 queries. We intend to lower this in future updates, but even getting from a four figure number down to two digits is already a huge improvement.
Unfortunately, a few of the changes come with some fairly complex migrations we need to apply to our database. If everything goes as planned, the downtime will last only for a couple of minutes. If however all hell breaks loose and we need
to revert from database backup, the downtime could be up to an hour.
As usual, we're quite optimistic that everything will go as planned, but in case we're hit by Murphy's law we'd recommend taking a break on Tuesday,
May 21th from 02:00 to 03:00 UTC (that is 4 o'clock to 5 o'clock in German time) if you want to avoid moonID being unavailable.
The reintegration of the moonID toolbar is expected to be completed by Tuesday. We will keep you up to date.
https://bytro.com/2019/05/02/supremacy-1914-now-cross-platform-compatible/
this weekend we are moving our nameservers together, so there may be downtimes on moonID or the games until Monday evening. If everything goes as planned, there should be no downtime. Please post any conspicuous events directly here in the forum.
From April 1st at 10 p.m. until April 22nd at 10 p.m. we offer our Premium Easter Campaign. The premium promotion includes a 50% bonus on the purchase of all moonCoin packages.
Premium Easter Campaign
We wish you a happy Easter!
in the last weeks we have rolled out the moonID backend update and our new hosting infrastructure. This means that the platform is now running on the latest technology and works faster and more secure. We rely on NixOS and remain loyal to our host Hetzner in Falkenstein and Nuremberg. All RedMoon games will have the same infrastructure with the next update.
with a fresh tech and design approach. The highlights are
Join the battle: Supremacy 1914
die beliebten Media2Arts Titel sind wieder zurück in moonID:
Viel Spaß beim Erfinden und Ernten.
From the 19th of December at 10 p.m. (in-game time) until the 10th of January at 10 p.m. (in-game time) we are again offering a holiday Premium special; throughout the special you will receive 50% more Premium currency in each jewel or moonCOIN package purchased. We want to thank you for playing our games and hope you enjoy your holidays and wish you a happy New Year!
Important information and details about the holiday Premium special can be found at Holiday special information.
For over 15 years Stefan AKA RedDevil made our hearts race with games such as IslandAssault, MonstersGame and KnightFight. Thank you RedDevil for all the good times! Unfortunately RedDevil had other responsibilities and firms in the past years that took up nearly all of his time, so he was unable to give RedMoon Studios the attention that it, the games and you players need.
I am Christian AKA cvd (moonID cvd, KFDE13, MGDE24) and was the managing director of RedMoon Studios in 2011. During my time at RedMoon we were able to improve KnightFight and MonstersGame and opened our portal moonid.net. Now Tom, Aszlig, Gerpir, Manu and I will be bringing RedMoon into the next phase.
We have a few things planned for 2019; along with gaming fun we want to improve security, reliability and service. Currently moonID, KnightFight, MonstersGame and our server cluster are being modernized and updated.
We will attempt to carry out the updates with no disruption in service for you players, if there are problems in the next few weeks, we apologize in advance for any inconvenience. We are hard at work! During the update period we will make the update process transparent for you by adding update news on moonid.net, in the game toolbar and in the Facebook forums for the games.
We wish you and your families great holidays and good fights in-game. 2019 will be our year - long live RedMoon Studios!
cvd
The Halloween Premium special is valid from October 22nd at 10:00 p.m. (in-game time) until November 12th at 10:00 p.m. (in-game time). The Premium special involves a 50% increase in the amount of Premium currency credited for each package purchased.
Important notices about the Halloween Premium special:
The Halloween special affects ALL Premium currency packages (e.g. moonCOIN packages, jewel packages, Blood Crystal packages, Platinum packages etc.) that are purchased during the special. Any packages BOUGHT after the 12th of November at 10:00 p.m. (in-game time) will only be credited as normal Premium currency packages.
We cannot credit any “lost Halloween Premium special bonus” for packages bought late or received after the stated Halloween special period of validity. If the payment AND receipt of the packages in your account have not taken place until the 12th of November at 10:00 p.m. (in-game time), we cannot carry out any manual credits to your account. For this reason we strongly suggest that you participate early if you want to take advantage of the Halloween special.
Additionally, we must point out that any bank transfers made from outside of Germany can take several days to complete, especially if the transfers are made from outside of the European Union. As stated above, we cannot carry out a manual credit for any payments received after the Halloween Premium special has expired, so please consider this before making a transfer.
Your RedMoonStudios Team