Improved Backend - Extended (#10.2)

In this update, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the new backend.
First of all, I've managed to migrate the majority of the backend to the new infrastructure. All these lockdowns also have something good about them ;)

All gameplay-related code the user interacts with is migrated now to the new much faster infrastructure. There are only some small things like updating NPCs, etc which are still missing (but thease are only tools). However, these will be migrated in the future. As I've already mentioned in my previous post some aspects of the backend, which are not gameplay-related will stay as they are, since there is no reason to migrate them. But this is primarily statistical stuff, user management, and file uploads (the actual ones, not the in-game uploads).

I'm expecting it to be pretty stable now, however, there might still be bugs and server breaking issues. I'm gonna improve this on the way by adding more tests and also by checking all the bugs you guys are reporting.

I've also done some minor quality improvements like a better list of jobs, a button to delete all trashed mails, a function to completely reset the game progress, a improved ssh command and desktop icons which can be rearranged.

But the biggest change in gameplay is the implementation of the first chapter of the story. I've put a lot of work into this, however theres still room for improvement so I look forward to your feedback! Everyone who is already playing automatically gets the new mail from the protagonists. The same applies to new players who will join in the future. I've tried to make the introduction more friendly by guiding new players through the basics like uploading, downloading, softwares, cracking and connecting to other players.

Since all these things are completed now I've set a release date for the next update:

Version 0.22.0 - Monday 14.06.2021 - 7 PM CEST

Again I will send out many invitations to get more feedback and to stresstest the backend even more.

Last but not least, to not forget the last release, I've been monitoring the backend a lot, and the performance is a lot better from the backend side. networking is still an issue. especially when a player is not located in Europe. However I guess there's no real solution other than setting up other instances e.g. in the US, but unfortunately this is currently out of the scope I'm able to handle.

In the next weeks I will continue working on bug fixes in the new backend, and on gameplay-related stuff again. Things like scamming sites on the Black Hat site and Honeypots on the White Hat site, but also a store for selling customized software and tools is something I want to work on next. Also, some kind of Safenet just like in HE will watch user interactions. This will primarily target players in later game phases, e.g. when transferring big amounts of money or other suspicious activity.

That is all for now, stay safe, and thank you all for beeing part of this journey!

And remember there are also social media channels like Twitter and Reddit where sometimes alpha-keys appear so it is a good thing to check them regularly. If you would like to support my work on hackero you can do this by subscribing to my Patreon! This helps me to keep the project alive and cover monthly costs.