News
Search Options ►Recode : Starting Over
Site Update
Hi all, I am posting to provide an update regarding the recode. Staff realise this is very overdue, and we are thankful for your continued patience and support.
Over the past year, we have been quiet about the status of the recode out of respect for real-life circumstances impacting our main coder, Yasu. Despite our attempts to reach out, we haven’t been able to contact Yasu and no longer have access to the recode files. The work was being done on a private sandbox server without shared access, which is a mistake we didn’t anticipate. It has served as a hard lesson for us, and we are sorry that it’s had to affect you all.
When coding responsibilities shifted unexpectedly, I stepped in to maintain the live site. While I can manage the existing website, a full recode is unfortunately above my skills. Currently, hiring a senior developer or firm to do the recode is out of our budget, as a site of Aywas scale and complexity requires significantly more funding than we have after our current expenses. We don’t have any plans to crowdfund at this time, though it has been discussed. Currently, it just doesn’t feel right to ask more of the community who has been along for the ride with us.
On a more positive note, we've recently connected with a developer who has kindly taken on the recode as a side project and has already helped us with some of Aywas’ many hiccups. They are starting from square one, using our previously established roadmap. The beginning of this roadmap includes mostly backend work, such as the Breeding Control Panel (BCP) Registration and Sessions.
While restarting isn’t ideal, staff will continue to maintain the site within the constraints of the current code while the recode progresses.
We would also like to thank Yasu for his work over the years and wish him all the best.
Note: This was orginally posted in Behind The Curtain 2.0
Posted by Kandria
(#111) on Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:24am
- HispanicAtTheDiscord
(#82448)
-
Posted on: Tue Mar 10, 2026 4:15pm
Pardon my ignorance, but where can I find the roadmap? I'd love to learn more about what the future of the site entails (here till the end!)
- Sunny
(#41814)
-
Posted on: Tue Mar 10, 2026 4:32pm
I think they mean roadmap as in their plans of what to do, etc etc, timing, etc etc - not something visible to the average user.
However, knowing how coding can work and can appear to an average user who knows nothing about coding stuff. Most of the coding is likely to be behind the scenes, where a player won't see anything, other than perhaps a bit more smoother loading pages, that sort of thing. Very little will be seen - so it can appear like there's nothing going on because there's not much visible at all.
Having been around other sites who have had to redo their coding,etc, due to the new stuff such as no more flash, reduced usage of say, javascripts, so forth. The backend's code is usually full of coding that is very outdated - need to remove all that, integrate with the new code, make sure it still works as intended. This is where all the bugs and glitches usually like to show up! :D
It's a long process for a large site like Aywas. Some visual changes have been done already.
A lot of you most likely have used Neopets in the past, when you were much younger... maybe still on it, or stopped playing it because of various reasons...
Right now, Neopets needs to update their backend coding, but they're working on visual coding as well - so the result: they currently have two completely different layouts on various pages. It's a crazy navigating all that, seriously. Not to mention, they have ads all over the site pages, unless you have premium or use a browser (or correct addon) that can deal with blocking those ads.
That is something that Aywas is wanting to AVOID - hence why the focus is so strong on the backend coding. Once that's been (replaced, tssssshhhhh, but things happen) done, it will be MUCH easier to smoothly change the visual stuff, stuff that we all see on the site.
They'll avoid the huge mistakes that Neopets is making right now. Unfortunately, Neopets has money for many people to work on the site, whereas Aywas doesn't.
I'm definitely here till the end of Aywas (which I hope is never happening!) and I will help out however I can. Including explaining why so long without much changes that the average user/player/whoever sees for the past few years. Well, we now know why so long, essentially - lack of a coder really does not help progress things, which is a big WOW to me - but now knowing that and what's happening -
I completely understand and am more than willing to be patient and to be as encouraging as possible for everyone here, including our wonderful behind-the-scenes people!!! :) :)
And of course - if I'm wrong on ANYTHING I said in this post - PLEASE DO correct me - I will not take offense - I prefer correct information! :D :D But as of right now, the above is what I know and understand from my own learned experiences.
- Nazz
(#60039)
-
Posted on: Tue Mar 10, 2026 4:53pm
Crazy update, but appreciated that you're sharing that with us :)
If push comes to shove, I would happily participate in crowdfunding. I love aywas, and I hope it will be revived and have a new wave of post-hibernation appreciation in the future <3
- Retro
(#48459)
-
Posted on: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:25pm
Thank you for keeping us posted, and good luck!
- Authello
(#48184)
-
Posted on: Wed Mar 11, 2026 2:12am
If you do decide on a crowdfunding excursion (I'd be all-in!), a pet species special to funding for it would be really neat! It could be a base that the users themselves color and upload, that way it doesn't affect the current artist team's cues. :) I would absolutely help support through a crowdfunding thingy. I'm sorry things went this way - sometimes life happens, and it's rough. I hope Yasu is well, and I'll be here, lurking in the background as I always have the last few years through thick and thin. I don't post or upload much, but I always check in. I personally would love a way to help support.
- Authello
(#48184)
-
Posted on: Wed Mar 11, 2026 2:13am
(Also fun note, me and Sunny have reflective user IDs!! That's fun, lol!)
- Saturn
(#497)
-
Posted on: Wed Mar 11, 2026 8:25am
I'm disappointed in you, Aywas.
The site's recode files weren't, at minimum, on a private git repo always accessible to select staff like the site owner? That's beyond concerning. This never should have happened. I hope this problem has been eliminated by now and all site admins have thoroughly re-examined all other site workings to identify other single points of failure and are actively taking steps to remedy or mitigate those issues. If this examining hasn't been done, then heavily consider it. If Aywas overlooked something as basic as who has access to fundamental site assets Aywas paid for, you likely have overlooked other major issues as devastating as this (or worse) you might not know you have until it is too late.
That's all I'll say as I have nothing positive to say about the situation. Well, besides appreciating the transparency and I'm glad you've found a new programmer. Those are good.
- Nuga
(#82852)
-
Posted on: Wed Mar 11, 2026 9:15am
I agree with what Saturn there said. On the other hand I do hope this coder is alright (I mean... I hope the reason they won't respond isn't, you know...)
- Panda
(#465)
-
Posted on: Wed Mar 11, 2026 10:11am
Having been around sense beta, it feels so odd to hear that Yasu has been silent for so long. While I hope they find joy where ever they are- it is very problematic to hear they were the only ones with this access.
I'm not going to beat that point in, I feel this loss has done that enough and the courage to openly admit fault is a big one- thank you for that. I hope it was a lesson that only needs to be learned once. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.
Posted on: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:45am
Thank you so much for the update and thank you all for the hard work that you do