Hello, I thought I should be more proactive in explaining what I'm working on, so this thread will serve that purpose for the time being.

My focus recently has been to refactor the codebase to latest PHP, with latest PSR conformity and best practices. The database software has been updated, the code has been changed to front-controller pattern rather than loose PHP files, as is the done thing these days.

The code diff between the live branch and the development branch is 46 commits, 1,000 files changed. It's a big one, but it's needed to make it a triviality to add actual game features going forward.

I've also transitioned us to using Docker containers, to make it easier to bring up multiple versions of the game for testing. We haven't switched to it yet as it needs a lot of smoke testing.

I've removed all references to jQuery, which is a minor thing, but it should be a performance boost. Login sessions are managed with Redis instead of legacy method, which again should allow better horizontal scaling.

The ideal situation when this lands in a week or so, is that you barely notice a difference, but everything will have changed underneath.

After that, there will be new game features and visible changes added quite frequently. I'll elaborate on what the roadmap is in this thread, once I've had a chance to decide it.

Hopefully you will be pleased with the rate of progress going forward; I've been using AI to help do the painful dog work of refactoring hundreds of files. I just fundamentally didn't have time in my life to sit for two full weekends doing glorified search & replace to keep things up to spec. Now it's all done, and takes minutes.

It really is a revelation, and I can see how some people get carried away with it, but it can be used for good as well as evil. lol

Cyber uses AI to help update code, I use AI to translate his technical speak into plain English for us laymans:

TL;DR: This update is less about new content today and more about making future features faster and easier to build.

More specifically:

Updated old code to modern standards → Makes the game easier to maintain, more secure, and much easier to add new features without breaking stuff.

Database upgraded → Should improve reliability, speed, and reduce weird bugs/data issues.

Moved to a modern app structure (“front controller”) → Mostly invisible to players, but makes future development cleaner and less buggy.

1,000 files changed / ma**ive refactor → This is a major backend overhaul, not a small patch; short-term bugs possible, long-term benefits likely.

Docker containers added → Makes testing safer and easier, reducing the chance of updates breaking the live game.

Removed jQuery → Minor performance boost and cleaner frontend code.

Login sessions moved to Redis → Better stability, fewer random logouts, and improved performance during busy periods.

Thanks, I need to learn brevity 

I vote for gear presets and more inventory space(buyable if necessary), world builder and consumables as well as a way of creating more rare items than we can atm.  

Well, that's the Dockerisation sorted out. Seems to be broadly working and it should've fixed some things due to newer game code, but let me know if you see any issues.