This new update is going live Friday (January 22, 2021) in the evening (after West Coast schools are out to not disrupt teachers). Remember, a new update means that if your students play on an installed version (Windows/Google Play on Chromebooks), they will have to download the update before they can play next. If you are in the browser already, it will just magically be the new version.
Now, onward to the patch notes!
To say we're excited here is a bit of an understatement. After six months of hard work, we have a new, natively-running browser version going live! To explain what that means: we've been using a service to "remote desktop" to get you the ability to play in browser: i.e. in browser, you've been playing on a Windows machine in Virginia in an Amazon warehouse. Which is why the mouse has been so slow!
So we've been hard at work, and working with an awesome consultant, getting everything to run properly in the browser (for the nerds: in HTML5). Because we're a 3D and multiplayer game, this is NOT an easy task. As part of this, we've had to also update all our platforms (so it all works together the same), and we've re-tested every single quest in the game multiple times.
Due to some issues between these updates and our Mac install, we decided to go ahead and retire it. Our Mac players can use the new browser version and should actually run into less issues that way. The next time our Mac players open the game, the Launcher will let them know and the "Play the Game" button will become a link to open it in the browser instead.
Students will now be able to "Sign in with Google" if you've imported them with Google Classroom. In the new browser version, this login on the website logs them right into the game, so that's all they'll need!
Arthur has had to quit the track team due to some recent aches and pains. Learn about inherited illnesses, how they start with a simple mutation at the chromosomal level, and why some have persisted for hundreds of years despite their ill effects. We don't want to give way the anchoring phenomenon, but teachers can go check out the Teaching Guide to learn more. This is also our first intentionally anti-racist storyline, investigating misconceptions about certain diseases and race.
Also note, this new storyline replaces our old "Mutations" storyline and is significantly more in-depth. We recommend playing it even if you've already finished the old Mutations storyline!
Replaying Quests. Students can now easily replay completed quests or in-progress assignments! They can go to the Progress Tracker and reset the quest themselves, instead of having to ask you to reassign them.
Find Quests. If your students enjoy Tyto so much that they play it on their own, this new "Find Quest" feature would help them easily find the quest giver of an available quest. It even draws an arrow and leads you directly to them!
Play with Your Classes! On a teacher account, when you go to log in, you will now see that you can log into ANY of your classes, and the Public Server (students do not have access to this). This is so you can go play with your students, if you'd like! Please note that to get assignments you assigned to yourself, you will need to log into the public server.
Furniture Placement Improvement. Your students will enjoy this furniture placing system update too! It's now easier to rotate the furnitures or set it back its original position with the slider. The wall pictures are automatically snapping to the wall, too!
As always, there are minor improvements to user interfaces and bug fixes, to make the experience better!
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Import from Google Classroom or invite students with a class code (they can use "Sign in with" Google or Microsoft).
Choose and assign content which will be delivered to students when they log into the game to play!
