Morning everyone!
Two semi-important updates for this post.

Adoption Center
Welcome back to the adoption center! We have added an extension that allows our adopts to be purchased straight from the website with in-game currency instead of making claims. Since these are live sales (FCFS), we will try our best to keep it stocked as much as we can! Any characters in Shards can also be bought or partially paid for in USD through me (Unless stated otherwise). For now I have stocked it with designs I have held onto for awhile, but I am planning to make a larger batch of chibis soon! https://theaphexcollective.com/adoptions

Changes to Affliction Items
We are pushing a new mechanic of adding afflictions to characters. To make it easier for the user, you now can add your afflictions straight away to your desired character through the inventory menu on their Masterlist page. This will show your items in the affliction section. Stat buffs will only apply when you make artworks that require them (just mentioning the buffs if needed) since adding items does not update your stats live. More info here https://theaphexcollective.com/info/afflictions If you'd like to transition to this new system, make a claim! Be aware if you have items attached in the text section with stat buffs, stats will be removed from the character's main stat list upon conversion. You do not need to update to the new system to use your afflictions, and can still apply items from now on as the affliction text area is still valid for custom afflictions. This update not only makes it easier to add items whenever you'd like, but means we can update their description and attributes in real-time!

Welcome to our New Year update blog!
This is meant to be informative and transparent with our future implementations and changes for Aphex Collective! I have separated the sections below for quick reading depending on what interests you the most. 

New and Upcoming Content

We have quite a few different projects in the work for new content, such as many species sheets 50% complete, lore re-written ready to be pushed, and our interactive stories in the middle of being finished off and polished. We also have 3 site extensions that we are ironing out the bugs, which will be hopefully accessible in the future (more below). 
We have just pushed our newest species visual update, which is Dephx! This is visual, and the info will be refined in the coming days. 
The extensions we are applying to the website are as follows 
Forums
Crafting
Purchasable characters with AC through the website
+More

We are in the process of hiring a new coder to implement these changes! More about these updates will be announced once pushed. We may need to close our submissions to allow these pushes, so downtimes will be announced. 

QoL Updates

Our main focus along with updated visuals will be QoL updates! I would like to eliminate the amount of claims users must make to manage their own characters and inventory, so these mechanics will be at the top of our list to improve your experience on our website. Once these updates are pushed, it allows us more time to work on the content that matters, These are not limited to; attaching pets to your characters, adding afflictions, adding relations, and adding companions. 

These features are our main focus going into 2023, but we have much more planned for the game! 
If you have any questions, feel free to ask on our Discord, or Da. 

The Toto MYo event is now live! You can find some neat bonuses and items during this two-week period relating to the species - Totos! Click the above banner for more information. 

Afternoon Everyone, we hope you are doing well! 

We have some updates involving how companions will work in the game, please read below the specific changes we have made. 

Companion Tab and Card

The companion tab now functions and your companions can now be linked and tracked on your Elyxian character. To link, you can either use a Moonflower, or draw an artwork of the two. More info here. Users who have a companion linked with the old system can keep the old mechanics, but this means it will not be compatible with the new features. Stats will be a permanent buff for old links, but with the new system, the two characters must be drawn together for buffs. 

Bond Points

Bond points have been reworked. They can be passively gained with XP when the two characters are drawn together. This is with the intention to grow their relationship through progression, rather than an alternative XP ladder. 

Tack

Tack and gear will soon be introduced to allow specific buffs for your companion and/or linked Elyxian. More info coming soon. 

Breeds

Some may notice two new categories, Unique and Purebred. Uniques are myos that exist currently and are not affected by any changes.  Purebreds will be soon introduced into the game as game assets, or easier methods to gain mounts that are not individually unique (you will be able to customize their designs once purchased). Purebreds will be accessible with in-game currency (Blessed Coins and Art Coins). You may also be able to obtain these designs through quests and other activities. The cost will vary on their canon rarity. More coming soon! 

The companion training page will now be your new landing page for everything in involving companions! It will be updated as new mechanics are revealed. 

Goth's Haunted House is Now Open !

Click the image above or the image on the homepage to locate this side event.
You will still earn candies, as well as other bonuses by taking part!
Our first reward is a new pet collar. You can view the new plush pets below or on the catalog page.

Welcome one and all to our annual Haunted Eve Event!
We have a bunch of new items this year, as well as some secrets for the month of October, so keep tuned for extra content! In the meantime we have some new items you can earn right away, along with a bunch of new spooky versions of existing pets to collect. Click the banner above to read more about the event. 

Pet Update Part 1/2 : Beta 1.1

Morning everyone (from Australia!). I am excited to finally announce the pet update I have been working on and planning for a few months now. This is part 1 of 2 as the second half revolves around collecting+badges for pets, so that may be slowly added instead of one big content push. In the last year or so since pets were added, we have received a lot of feedback from our community about pets; what new ones people would love to see, players' favourites from each set and which species their character is drawn to. We honestly didn't expect pet's to be as beloved as they are, so now we are focusing on exploring more detailed ways to collect, draw, create and find pets. With this update comes more interaction with pets, customizability, a higher focus on new pet sets and much more! So lets get into the changes - 

Pets on Profile

Pets are now added to your character's profile for all to see! You can set their name, a background of your choice (base card for each species when added), a temperament, a place for your badges, and much more coming! This will allow each pet to truly be unique, and to show off your achievements. This section is maxed at 15 pets per character (for now). You can obtain temperament influencer and cards in the Pet Store to customize your pets. Your badges and more are explained here https://theaphexcollective.com/info/Pet_Catalogue 

Self Discovery Quest

A new quest is available on the self-discovery page for your character's pets! You can read more about it here - https://theaphexcollective.com/info/discovery 

AC/XP Buffs and Art Changes

Pets now have a buff for Ac/Xp gain, found on the calculator. This varies on the complexity and distance the pet is from the FOV. Detailed AC tier is usually given for pets in artworks solely focused on them. This means you can now submit artworks of your pet without needing a main species in the image! 

New Pets

Observant players and Patreon supporters may have noticed a few new pets slip into the catalog during this update! We now have a few "complete" sets in preparation for collection badges.  Complete sets at least need 3C 3UC 2R 1UR 1E. More will be on their way! Patreon supporters have first glance and influence on possible pet additions and colours. 

And of course, I want to thank you all for supporting Elyxium. We hope this update inspires you to explore relationships between your characters and their pets,  to find a set you'd like to complete for pet badges or even a themed pet collection for your character! The way you choose to interact with this update is up to you! 

Hope you all are doing well! Decided it is best to make a news post for a bunch of small updates for those who are not in the Discord group and to explain changes and upcoming additions. None of these updates are game-changing, but you may be interested in the new content added (and coming!). 

Artfight

First off I would love to thank everyone for their involvement in the Artfight event! It got quite hectic near the close date, so we apologize for the lateness of approvals. Congrats to the following user for winning the AF 2022 design raffle. Your design will be uploaded shortly.

New Items

We have a bunch of new items for the store rotation, and a new item that can be purchased in the Treasury. 

Species Update

Lurkers now have updated art and anatomy, as well as two new official bases to use for your designs. You can find these bases at the bottom of the page and are only available in transparent PNG format. 

Trait Update

This is a small notice that the "Mineral Growth" item no longer supports non- gem/metal composites such as wax, bone etc. Any characters with substances that do not align with the updated trait can keep their appearance until the trait is removed or the Character is reborn. You can view in-depth trait details here. 

Future Updates

Now that our character relationships panel is fully functional, we will be slowly adding in the other panels. This may affect the mechanics of some prompts, however, anything with a large rework will be posted in News Updates. Small updates will still be notified in the Discord. Also look out for Random Encounter Quests, as they will begin to pop up when your forage in some areas! This will also be announced on Discord. 

Click the link above to find out more! 

Artfight Event Announcement 

We welcome you to take part in our 2022 Artfight themed event! Users who do not participate in AF can still enter and earn rewards by creating gift art this year. Feel free to look over the guideline and rules to familiarize yourself before the event opens on July 1st. We have a channel in Discord for Artfight profiles, otherwise, the tag function on AF will also offer results!
Due to this event usually being rather busy for our mods we will not be hosting a Monthly Prompt for July. Quests may still appear, so keep an eye out or join our @Quest/Task ping on Discord. 

Above all else, we hope you enjoy this event and have fun taking part in the spirit of sharing art with friends and strangers alike!