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Feedback Wanted - Moving away from the term "Appaloosa"
  • AmmitAmmit
    MessagePosts: 13,180
    When this game was created 20 years ago appaloosa was the most commonly used term to talk about horses with the LP gene. That's why "Appaloosa Project" whose goal was genetic research into LP, used it in their name. It's why PATN1 is still called Appaloosa Pattern-1 by UC Davis, and why so many scientific papers use the term.

    As the world is becoming less US centric, the genetic discourse is moving away from using appaloosa as a color term and instead moving towards LP Spotted. It is time to start doing the same with the game.

    I have two options for how to update the color naming system.

    1) Name Swap
    "Appaloosa" in the name becomes "LP Spotted". "Bay Appaloosa" becomes "Bay LP Spotted". This is the cleanest, most straight forward way to do this and I think will cause the least amount of confusion.

    Note I will not be using Leopard Spotted because "leopard" is it's own pattern name and that will cause confusion.

    2) Variant Names
    We use names based on a horses LP and PATN1 status. Note this is likely to cause mislabels as the game can see the genetic code only but not what the actual image looks like. I think this will be more confusing in the long run for people but it is something that is possible to do.

    LP/any -/- Bay Varnish or Bay Snowflake (non varnishing solid LP horses would also be called varnish)
    LP/- PATN1/- Bay Blanket
    LP/LP PATN1/- Bay Snowcap
    LP/- PATN1/PATN1 Bay Leopard
    LP/LP PATN1/PATN1 Bay Few Spot


    Please let me know do you prefer option one or two.

    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

    she/her


    image
    Thanked by 1cinnabae
  • VisionsVisions
    MessagePosts: 2,937
    I do not like option 1. I really like option 2.
    Visions-Banner-3

    image

    Thanked by 1cinnabae
  • WhiteValleyWhiteValley
    MessagePosts: 11,218
    I prefer Option 1. As you say, option 2 is confusing.
    id 60847
    If life gives you lemons, then you won't get scurvy!
    image
    White-Valley-2
  • ChesapeakeFarmChesapeakeFarm
    MessagePosts: 246
    I actually like option 2 better as it is more descriptive of the genetics and also how they are grouped in the breed clubs. But I am also fine with 1 as it essentially isn't changing anything except swapping one word for two others.
    ID 66147
    Life is short, wear fun socks!
    No licenses, but I have a red pony addiction.

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    Thanked by 1MackZ
  • annismyrphannismyrph
    MessagePosts: 8,694
    I prefer Option 2.. As a Snowflake App Breeder in game, I think in the long run it will be easier to differentiate between the horses.
    Anni9

    image
  • DarkFrostDarkFrost
    MessagePosts: 1,486
    I do not like Option 1, but I do like the descriptions for groups of genes in Option 2 (actually love the differentiator in the name for the PATN1 and LP).
    Post edited by DarkFrost at 2026-08-17 08:15:19
    HJ1: 266615
    Licenced for Watercolour, Chinchilla, Diamond Phantom Sparkle, Ice 2, Nacre
  • BarNERanchBarNERanch
    MessagePosts: 995
    I prefer option 2.
    ID: 83716
  • FiddlerFiddler
    MessagePosts: 7,499
    Option 2
    More cool new names..
    But they’re all appies to me
    I am Fiddler, my pronouns are she/her
    and my game number is 276934

    image
  • kgstablekgstable
    MessagePosts: 4,423
    I prefer option 2, but if it becomes too complicated, I'm indifferent to option 1
    Licenses: Watercolor, Nacre, Splash M, Wrong Warp, Phantom Autumn/Lace/Diamond Sparkle/Web/Hearts/Shamrock/Muddy Puddles/Roses/Critter Tracks/Jellyfish/Birdtracks, Paintbrush Cool, Paintbrush Prism, Plaid, Shatterglass, Inkspot, Toner, Mushroom, DFP2, Onyx, Platinum, Ice 6, Ice 17

    KG-Stable-Banner-1b
  • cinnabaecinnabae
    MessagePosts: 6,980
    I don't have an enormous stake in this, as I only breed for the "Appaloosa" genes in certain ways, and that's primarily with Snowflake, but - I like Option 1 for simplicity's sake, and it aligns with the use of "White Spotted" in the current set of color name possibilities. It also sounds like this may be easier on the backend in that there would be fewer bugs/typos.

    However, if there was a way for players to regenerate the horse's image to get those to align with the new color name conventions based on their genes, I think that would make things fair. If that were feasible, would the process for players in this scenario look similar to when the Chinchilla gene was updated, and players could refresh their horse's image to update the image for Red Eye and to remove the Fantasy Gene tag from the horse's page?

    That all being said, and no matter what the answer to my question above is, I wouldn't be upset with either Option being implemented, and in fact would be excited (and grateful!) for yet another update to make the game up-to-date on current scientific and industry standards! :)
    Post edited by cinnabae at 2026-08-17 08:27:12
    - cinnabae


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  • AmmitAmmit
    MessagePosts: 13,180
    Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am going to make an attempt to implement the name variations with the STRONG warning that I may need to swap it to LP Spotted. It is possible using those names just won't work very well and will cause all sorts of confusion.
    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

    she/her


    image
    Thanked by 3cinnabae kgstable Visions
  • AmmitAmmit
    MessagePosts: 13,180
    cinnabae - Refreshing the horse image would update the name just like it did with Chinchilla tags.
    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

    she/her


    image
    Thanked by 1cinnabae
  • AmmitAmmit
    MessagePosts: 13,180
    Some examples of what I am seeing with testing:
    image
    Silver Black Blanket

    image
    Buckskin Leopard

    image
    Brown Varnish -Mislableled

    image
    White Spotted Chocolate Palomino Dun Blanket -Mislabeled

    image
    Bay Varnish

    image
    Liver Red Dun Blanket -Mislabeled

    image
    Black Varnish

    image
    Brown Varnish -Mislabeled

    image
    Bay Leopard -Mislabeled

    image
    Amber Champagne Fewspot -Mislabeled

    image
    Bay Snowcap -Mislabeled

    image
    Bay Splash Snowflake Varnish


    This is not looking super promising. There is far more mislabeled names than I am comfortable with. The reason I did not do them originally is because of the weak correlation between PATN1 and blanket size in the game. I will give it another round tomorrow.
    Post edited by Ammit at 2026-08-17 09:58:15
    Need to contact me? Read this first.

    I sometimes get busy and miss things. If your private message, question, etc. gets missed please ping me so I can follow up with you. I am also always happy to explain or clarify. (HAJ does not have a customer service email, please send me a forum message! )

    she/her


    image
    Thanked by 1Visions
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