Soon we will be celebrating the 8th birthday since we first revealed Transformice to the world, and I wanted to take this opportunity to sum up briefly what we’ve been going through, and what’s the situation today.

Eight years ago, when Tig and I released our wonky little game on the internet, we clearly had no idea how far it would take us. The game was never meant to welcome millions of players, and we’ve been doing our best to improve it over the years so it could, but it’s always been a bit whacky.
Transformice truly has exceeded all our expectations in every way, but it still has some flaws. From a technical point of view, it is hard to maintain and update, for it wasn’t designed to be such a huge project since the beginning, but moreover, it’s a simple game from a design point of view: a simple gameplay loop, get the cheese, go back to the hole.

We’ve been trying to improve that loop over the years in many different ways: adding more gameplay modes (bootcamp, racing, defilante etc), adding more options for the Shamans, more diversity in the map tools etc, but the fact is that you cannot improve a simple gameplay loop without altering it too much. Adding anything on top of this loop would make it lose its simplicity, and the game would simply become another game. That’s why we’ve been tinkering with events all over the years, it was a way to add different gameplay loops to the game without altering its core feature.

But even with events, and those gameplay additions, the number of players has been decreasing regularly since 2012, as it is normal and expected for a Flash game this size. Very early on, we knew that we couldn’t rely on Transformice forever if we meant to live as a professional videogame studio, and that we needed to produce more games in order to renew the playerbase and increase our experience.

That’s why we allocated resources to make games like Bouboum, Fortoresse, Nekodancer, Celousco and Dead Maze. They’re all different and had very distinct purposes, and we learnt a lot by making them, but as it is often true in the videogame industry, we failed to make any of them profitable. Dead Maze is performing a lot better than the others in that regard, but has costed us so much that it will take many years to break even. It was by far our most ambitious project from the start, and we had high hopes that it would secure our future for the next few years as a videogame studio, but the numbers don’t add up anymore.

We went up to 16 people at once in the studio at Dead Maze’s development peak, some people with temporary work contracts, but now that the game is released and we have some revenue projections, we are forced to let some people go if we are to survive as a company.
We need to undergo some drastic changes over the next few months. Transformice clearly doesn’t have as many players as it used to, and some of our systems are overcomplicated for the remaining number of active users, demanding us too many hours to maintain. We might have to cut some features from the game or forums because we won’t be having the necessary workforce to take care of everything.

The future of Atelier 801 is unclear yet. As you might have noticed with the mini-game Tetris, we have started to shift programming languages, and we are experimenting with HTML5 so all our future games can be played either on browser, mobile or even some consoles. This takes time and suggests that we ditch a lot of our previous experience to re-learn everything, but this is something we learnt the hard way with Dead Maze: Flash is now truly, definitely obsolete.
A few options are now open to us, but whatever we choose, it will have to happen with a very limited workforce.

We want to thank you for sticking with us all these years, and for still being here despite the relative lack of updates from our part. On a personal related note, I’ve been on maternity leave since the beginning of March, and I will soon be returning to the office where I shall try to tackle down all these issues.
If you have any suggestions, comment, or desire about what you would like Atelier 801 to be in the next few years, don’t hesitate to tell us so here.

Thanks!

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[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

A few years ago, we used to do this kind of articles called “Paroles de dev” (= dev talks in French), where we would try to explain what we’re working on, but also our plans for the future, and various ramblings. Not everything listed in the Paroles de Dev articles saw the light of day, but we think it’s a good exercise to keep you in the loop of how we want to improve things. We’ve failed to communicate this clearly in the past few months (years…), but we want to remedy to this today.

Let’s start!

1. The new Community Platform

As you all probably saw, we’ve completely changed the way we handle the social interactions in game. The Friendlist and Tribe interfaces were revamped, but moreover, it’s the whole system behind the scenes that got redone.
The first version of the Community Platform was released in September of 2013, and we’ve tried to improve the system over the years, but we’ve quickly realized that a lot of things could not be scaled the way we wanted them to, and a couple years later, we decided that the whole thing should be replaced, instead of trying to fix something that wasn’t steady enough.
That’s why we started recoding the Platform from scratch, in the beginning of May 2016. There was a huge amount of work to do behind the scenes on the server side, and we rolled out improvements slowly, most of the updates invisible to the players. We’ve had some pauses in the development for more important updates, but it was a work of several months, even if it doesn’t seem like it in game.

Among other things, it allowed us to open our authentication system a bit more, so we could welcome Kongregate players’ accounts without having to ask them to go through the account creation. It allowed the Name Change feature. We’ve cleaned the transaction system, so we can now accept payments from Kongregate accounts (the Kreds system), and we’ll be able to accept payments from a lot of other websites in the future. Once the new Community Platform is bug-free, we plan to launch Transformice on Armor Games with their authentication and transaction system, as well as on other gaming platforms. This will allow us to make Transformice reach new communities and countries, and increase the amount of new players.

Moreover, this new Community Platform allows us to develop new features with a lot more ease than before. Once we are done fixing all the pesky little bugs, we can focus on providing nice additions, like an extended Friendlist, a Tribe Alliance feature, and many other nice things. We keep a big list of your suggestions in our tracking system, so don’t hesitate to tell us on the forums what you would like to see.

2. The Fraise Fragments

Many of you saw in the game files and translations that there was something going on with a new item called Fraise Fragment. We are indeed working on a new way to earn Fraises in game!
Many of you don’t have a way to buy Fraises, and asked for alternative ways to earn some. That is why we investigated potential partners, and found a French company called Vidcoin, that is going to help us to do so.

The system is very simple: in the shop, sometimes, you will see a new little icon appearing:

That means that you can chose to watch an advertisement video of a few seconds, and receive some Fraises in exchange!
Because one Fraise could not be split up with decimals, we decided to introduce the Fraise Fragments, with 100 Fragments making one whole Fraise. For example, watching an ad video can earn you 120 Fraise Fragments, so you will earn 1 Fraise in your Shop, and have 20 Fragments left in your inventory, to use later.

You will only see the little ribbon icon in the shop if there is an ad video available for your country. There is also some time limit between 2 video ads, decided by Vidcoin, so you won’t see the icon every time you open the shop.

We will be rolling out the feature live as soon as the major bugs with the new Community Platform are fixed.

3. Unifying the events system

Transformice is about to celebrate its 7th anniversary, and we’re struggling with the co-development of our other game Dead Maze to add new content to the game so that the events are still meaningful for players. We knew that we could not create a dozen new events every year for the players to enjoy forever, and that at some point, we needed to recycle events. But right now, oldest players have little to nothing to fight for, while the newest players are overwhelmed by the amount of content to unlock.

This is something that we want to fix by introducing a new Adventure Points system. Every Adventure would earn the player Adventure Points, for them to show off in their profile.
We also want to add a Calendar system to show how much you’ve completed each Adventure throughout the years.
This is a very rough sketch of how we see it:

Each Adventure has different completion thresholds. For example, the Valentine Adventure completion can be calculated by the number of Hearts  that you gather. You will earn some Adventure points at 10, 15, 20, 40 and 60 Hearts gathered, and when you reach 60, you’ll get the little red wax seal, to show that you’ve completed the Adventure.
We will try to grant Adventure points retroactively, based on the earning of the various Adventure badges, but it won’t be possible for all of them, and we will probably grant the points slowly throughout the year and not everything at once.
We would like to push a working prototype of this system by the next Adventure, so we will keep you updated.

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The Fashion Squad!

We saw that some of you struggled to make good-looking outfits, whereas some others had a really awesome fashion sense, and distributed their knowledge freely on the forums to everyone that needed it. Today, we want to acknowledge these players, by giving them the means to spread their good taste to the masses!

This new Squad will propose themed outfits, in order to dust old items, arrange new ones, and show you how to combine them. Those outfits will be in the shop for a short amount of time, and you’ll have the possibility to buy the whole package (with a discount!).

If you already have some items or customizations, the price lowers in order to stay fair for everyone.

Once you buy the full outfit, it is automatically saved in your Outfits section. You can also combine each item separately with other elements afterwards!

We will be adding more Fashionistas to the Squad over the time, based on players’ participation on the forums.

Let the fashion show begin!

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We released the name change feature!

Yes! After all this time!

Here is what you need to know about it:

• It’s in “my account” section, “change name” tab. You must have a validated email linked to your account. By clicking “Request validation”, a code will be sent to your email.

• Enter your certification code and validate

• When you have certified your account, the forum will tell you how many strawberries you have and the price to change your nickname (1500 fraises). Verify if your new desired nickname is available and change it!

Voilà! Your new nickname is now validated. Enjoy!

• We allow special characters like “_” or numbers now, and we rose the amount you can put in it (only for the name change for now)
• Your forum profile is updated everytime you purchase strawberries in-game. In order to buy fraises to change your nickname, you’ll just have to buy them directly on the game, then change your nickname on your profile.
• Please keep in mind that if you change your username to an inappropriate nickname (containing insults, racial/homophobic slurs etc…) it will be reverted without being refunded.
• You won’t be able to use any of the old nicknames, even if those are inactive from a long time. However, your nickname being linked to your account, you’ll be able to change into previous ones that you already own.
• You can change your nickname every three months. Choose well!

Have a mice day, folks!

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This celebration commemorates the visit of the three Shaman Queens: The Mechanic, the Mistress of the Wind and the Spiritual Guide, which have gone on a treacherous journey to give gifts to Elisah, the Shaman Goddess. The trip was a dangerous one according to the stories which relate to these distant facts, but the Sacred Cheese Moon would’ve helped the three Queens by guiding them to their final destination.

In this particularly tasty time of the year, all mice celebrate this pilgrimage by swallowing king cakes! Legend says that one of the three Shaman Queens wanted to bring cheese to Elisah and that she mistook it for a king cake slice! How could one ever confuse a slice of cheese with a piece of cake? Well, it is probably indeed just a legend. Or maybe it was a cheese cake?

This year, King Fromagnus received a lot of king cakes from his vicinity. However, after eating more than he should, he suddenly realized that he was no longer able to get up. That’s why you are invited to his castle to bring him slices that are inaccessible to him. In exchange, he will reward you and who knows.. maybe you’ll get the charm! Beware though, it seems like there’s only one per batch…

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

This first adventure is about working together, sharing and loving each other. Why? Because the almighty Cheese Moon wanted so! On this beginning of the year all mice must please their beloved Cheese Moon and to do so, the 12 astrological cheese signs must be reunited!

Did you know that all mice were born under an astrological cheese? Mozzarella, Brie, Emmental (In France we tend to think that the smellier the cheese is, the better it is!)… what are you? To fulfill the Cheese Moon’s wishes you must gather all the astrological cheese. To do so, during an adventure map you can exchange your astrological cheese with an other mouse, but only one, choose wisely! To tell you what cheese amongst the 12 signs is missing, the almighty moon will show you which you have already gathered for her.

In the end, it’s just a pretext for sharing and having fun together, because you must high five other mice to exchange your astrological cheese. And yes, the almighty moon is like that, as much as mice love cheese, she loves them back and instead of asking for sacrifices to honour her presence, she asks for friendship…. and cheese!!!

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To all those who love to play on their smartphone or tablet: we have good news!!

Run for Cheese had a makeover! Here are the new features of version 2, already available on the Play Store and App Store.

• Many new game modes
• New achievements, titles and backgrounds
• You can now unlock a variety of mouse characters which have unique abilities
• New platforms
• New items
• Online features: link your profile to your Atelier801 account to benefit from backup and online ranking!
• Tons of upgrades and adjustments

But wait, that’s not all! THE GAME IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE! Those who wish will be able to get the paid version, which will allow them to enjoy the game without advertisements.

To celebrate this new release, we prepared a surprise for you: if you link your Run for Cheese profile to your account, you will unlock a special badge in Transformice!

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You surprised us in a very pleasant way, that’s why we decided to return you the favor! The results of the Cosplay Contest reserve you some very nice surprises…

You are undoubtedly the prettiest milk cartons in the world!

We had many “milk carton” entries (thank you, thank you, thank you!), one that is just as cool as the other. Impossible to choose… How to have all of you in our top 3? Easy!

Milk cartons get a new title and a special prize! :-D

We have decided to reward all mice who chose to cosplay as a milk carton! You will receive the exclusive “Milky Mouse” title and a lot of other goodies, including a plushie (Transformice mouse), a cheese card and badges!

Below are the “Milky Mouse” winners:

• Areesh
• Chugalug
• Ajpon
• Dominika
• Makinit
• Xmariecx
• Thecheetahlo
• Junior171001

Congratulations!

The Top 3 becomes a Top 5!

The votes were tight… very tight! And that’s for the better!

Why? Because with two participants on the first place and two on the second, we no longer have three winners on the podium, but five!

Here are the long-awaited results:

1st place - Pkmnprincess and Xenguy

They get the rarest title in the game: “Miss Transformice” !
Plus a drawing signed by Melibellule and done with watercolors!
All these will be accompanied by the jackpot: a shaman plushie, a Transformice t-shirt, badges and a cheese card!

2nd place - Rullexxx and Plussh

The “Foxy” title will be awarded to these lovely mice, who also get a Transformice t-shirt, a mouse plushie and a cheese card!

3rd place – Szaloonagabi

Just like the 2nd place, Szaloonagabi wins the “Foxy” title. Also, she gets a cannonball plushie, a Transformice t-shirt and badges!

GG WP!

And last but not least, congratulations to all participants!

All those who sent us a picture of their cosplay will soon receive their “Dauphine” title :-)

You can find all the pictures of the participants on our Facebook page!

Thank you again! It’s super nice to see that our games inspire you. :-)
We already cannot wait for next cosplay contest and are looking forward to seeing you participate as well!

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How’s the crafting going? We have already received a promising amount of entries, each entry just as cool as the previous one. Be quick latecomers, there’s little time remaining! You only have one week left!

Professional procrastinators, motivate yourselves! All participants will receive the “Dauphine” title, for those who manage to get on the podium; they will win a title even more special. The title “Foxy” will be awarded to the 5 best entries and the grand winner of the contest will be awarded with the rarest title in the game – “Miss Transformice!”

In addition, we have decided to make your loots even more unique! Winners will receive a goodie bag filled with more treats and prizes than what was already announced before :-)
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see the preparation of the gifts on the D-day.

Little reminder:
To participate in the cosplay contest, you must create and wear a costume inspired by Transformice. Take a picture of yourself dressed up in your costume and send it to concours@atelier801.com before 1st September.

Hurry up! There’s only one week left!

Winners of the last contest Cosplay:

Who will dethrone them this year?

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[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Since our last cosplay contest was quite successful, we decided to give it another shot this year!

With summer’s arrival, we are in a very artistic mood here… do you feel the same way as we do?

You have until the 1st of September to send us your applications!

Send a picture of yourself in .jpg or .png format to concours@atelier801.com
Don’t forget to mention “cosplay 2015” in the subject of the e-mail. Your nickname must be also included in your message.

There will be great prizes to win:

– 1st: A Transformice plushie and 5 Transformice pin buttons!
– 2nd: A Transformice t-shirt and 5 Transformice pin buttons!
– 3rd: A Transformice mouse pad and 5 Transformice pin buttons!

Speaking of cosplay, if you want to learn new crafting methods that will help you build props or equipment, please follow our streams! We announce them on Twitter, so don’t forget to follow us on social media! On our program: the creation of the 4001 helmet (which is nearly finished!). Ask us all questions that you have on mind and we’ll do our best to answer them as accurately as possible :-)

We are looking forward to seeing your creations!

Surprise us!

We are secretly dreaming of seeing a milk carton cosplay :-D

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[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]