RSS Feed Newsletter and User Account Registration

Original Blog Post...
Hello!

Most of you might have noticed that you received a new email yesterday or this morning about user account registration. This is the result of an ongoing process that started the day our Kickstarter ended. For those of you who are not interested in reading the whole thing, here’s the short version:
Basically, Paypal gave us an ultimatum. We had 20 days to deliver the product some of you pre-ordered via our Paypal widget. It is part of their terms of use, and they would force us to refund everyone if we didn’t go through with the transaction.
The problem is that we can only send you the game (or the prototype) when it is ready, not a day before that. Instead of selling you the game, we offered you the chance to subscribe to our alpha/beta test early. This includes registration to our newsletter, input on the game’s early development and access to a prototype version of the game and/or the beta version. This is not a pre-order, just a subscription.
Of course, this makes no difference on your side, you’ll get the prototype and/or the beta as planned. But for Paypal, they need assurance that we will deliver our product, and they need it fast. This is why we rushed this part: we had to create a user account database and a subscription system as soon as possible so we could get your usernames and passwords. Only then would Paypal be satisfied that we delivered something.
Most of this task was handled by Thierry, our newest team member, and KsaRedFx (aka. Red) from CastleStoryOnline.com. Here’s what they have to say about the process:
Thierry:

I have to thank KsaRedFx who offered a lot of his spare time to help us out in the
whole process described below. THANK YOU!
here what we had to do:

Get the castlestory.net domain

The bank transfer took time since it was an international payment, but the guy who owned the domain was nice enough to do all the redirection when we needed it the most, even if he hadn’t yet received the payment.
Create a secure system to save and encrypt the passwords

We have never really worked on encryption before, so it is a rather new discipline for us. We successfully established a secure database for all your personal data, so you can be certain that things are in good hands.
Create a whole new website

We had to put something so you could register your username and password. We had something done the day before we were launching the whole process but we received a lot of complaints saying that the website didn’t look official enough and they were scared it was a scam so we had to redesign the whole thing. We plan on working with a design studio to create a whole template that will be only for the Castle Story website. Creating a website may seem easy but it’s not. Not with that amount of data. We had to create a database that will work with our game for the authentication on multiplayer and that same database is linked to the website that had to be secured.
Importing the data

God, that was a complete mess! Kickstarter has its own way to do it and Paypal too, so we had to manage a way to combine those databases together. Plus, there is some people who got their subscription on Kickstarter and when the Paypal session opened they got multiple ones on that platform too. We had to handle some refunds as well… so yeah, we finally managed to merge the two databases together, but it was complete hell.
Sending email and launching the whole process

Sending 30,000 emails at the same time is impossible by default. Our server lets us send, I think, 100 emails per hour and that’s it. So we had to connect to a system that will allow us to send a much bigger amount without being accused of spamming. So it is not that complicated, but like everything else, when you’ve never done something, you have to learn it first. The script we launched yesterday generated a unique token for every user and sent that token via the email you received in your mailbox. Our email service worked for 5 hours straight, sending thousands upon thousands of emails while we monitored it carefully in case it crashed.

You have questions, we have some answers!


What about the Credit Island names, are they the same as the username I just chose?

No, they are not. Every backer will have a form to fill about that later. The username you registered yesterday is your account username that will be needed for connecting to multiplayer and updating your client.
I bought a package of 2 prototypes and/or 2 betas, what about the second username?

The first prototype you bought includes the beta and is linked to your account, the second one is considered as a gift and you will be able to send that gift to another player. The reason you cannot do it now is because we need to discuss with our distributor about the best way to do it. There is something like 3 ways to do it properly, but we have to choose the one that’s perfect for our situation.
I didn’t receive an email? What should I do?

First, don’t panic, look into your spambox, even if we used a system that allows us to send a large amount of emails at the same time, it is possible that some of them are considered as spam. If not, go to www.castlestory.net and request an email from us.
Can I change my username and/or email address?

You cannot do it right now, our system isn’t developed enough to allow it. We’re working on it, so give us a little time and we’ll get back to you on this subject.

Continue reading...

Indeed! it's insane you got done what you have done so far. and still plan to push out the proto in the next month. but i'm certainly not complaining you guys are doing awesome so far.

Steve, I so knew the one comment was you before I scrolled down to see it was you... so predictable

Epic progress! Can't wait to hear more.

Nice.
And very nicely done Thierry & Red

One more, quick month to go! Thanks for keeping us updated and confident in Sauropod!

nice, nice, nice and I would say... nice!

can't believe there are only 20 days till the prototype release!

wow 20 days would be awesome! haha. yeah Steve I know i'm the same way

Jono, I think the replayability of it will be stellar

I didn't receive a new email yesterday

ha, i signed up before the site came to reminding us to sign up so im all good. just not sure about the backing ks thing on my nick but im not fussed either way

lol, naw, i actually didn't pledge any money, i was just being stupid, It's fun. And thank you, I am very proud of my signature ^_^

I would have donated to vget thre prototype, but I am like broke.