September 2026 Blog: Halloween Festival & Chat
Halloween Festival
By Game Master Em
AAAH! What was that?! Did you see that too? Gosh, I thought I saw a bug; maybe it was just my imagination. Apologies, Starfam! I have been in a spooky mood since June, and now that the best time of year is almost here for real, it seems I am a bit jumpy… Practically-jumping-out-of-my-seat-excited! What has the team been brewing this year? Let me tell you!
First of all - rest assured, we have heard your feedback about tokens disappearing from festivals. Recently, we’ve explored new ways to distribute rewards in festivals, but based on feedback during the Western Festival, we understand this wasn't a great experience for many players. Unfortunately, we were already too far into production to incorporate that into the Halloween Festival, and we apologize if this isn't the experience you were expecting. We have a lot to consider moving forward, and we want to thank you for sharing your feedback so that we may create the best festival experience we can! We still hope you find joy in the spooky things we’ve been cooking up this year!
We were so happy to see your positive response to the darker tone in Machenghast earlier this year. The team loved exploring creepier themes, and what better time to keep doing that than in Halloween - the scariest time of year? Not all content has changed, but something is off. What is really hiding behind the smiles and Kasper's eternal partying…?
Marchenghast was a first stab at a more nuanced, authentic portrayal of witches in Jorvik, and this work continues in Halloween. Three new ghosts have found themselves trapped in Galloper’s Keep, and a witch is among them: Nancy, who might have some things in common with another, now familiar, group of witches. I don’t know what her deal is, but the summoning circle she’s set up is really fun, so I’m not going to question her motives! Like witches, not all ghosts and spirits are the same. Some look more like us humans (now with a gorgeous new ghost shader!), and others take a different shape. I got to borrow an EMF Meter from Dana, the ghost hunter with a passion for uncovering the truth about what is lurking on South Hoof, and I hope my colleagues won’t question that I’m just … double-checking... that they’re not secretly spectral. The agitated ‘soul flames’ tormenting Tom the cat are more obviously ghostly - flaming spheres of burning emotion. They seem to be appeased by us living though, and I swear I am helping out for the good of the Keep, and not just the Mahrman shirt Kasper is offering me if I do well... Promise.
Keen-eyed witches might notice some small changes to the Cauldron and Spellbook this year. Not only are the spells for a bone-rattling getup reworked to be easier to learn, but our programmers have also worked their magic behind the scenes, and this feature is now supported by our brand-new Crafting System! In addition to making the developers' lives easier during Halloween, this also opens the door to expanded crafting in the future, in both new and old places. This is just the first step, and we're well aware of some bulk-requested crafting improvements, so keep an eye out!
Finally, we���ve cast a handful of quality-of-life enchantments this year to improve the experience. Just to name a few: the Keep now has a portal to My Stable, we’ve refined the Pumpkin Hunt quest flow and pumpkin-earning, and Galloper Thompson’s story has gotten some annoying blockers removed so that Star Riders will have an easier time experiencing the full thing, including the final Chapter that was released last year! While you're in the Keep, you will also spot gorgeous updates to beloved islands and portals. The Stable Island now has plenty of space for our new spooky friends: one horse risen from the tomb, and another that howls at the moon; and the Keep’s activity portals have gotten beautiful thematic decorations, so you can easily find your favorite race or trail ride! Oh, and if you remember the small ‘ghostlings’ that appeared as you rode around the Keep last year - they have finally found their voices! Adorable…
We hope that you will enjoy this year’s Halloween Festival as much as we enjoyed working on it. Until next time, I urge you: Hide under hay, wait until day, don’t make a peep, never ever fall asleep…
Behind the Scenes: How We Keep Jorvik’s In-Game Chat Fun, Safe and Welcoming
By Estela (Senior Producer & Localization Lead)
If you’ve ever ridden through Silverglade Village catching up with your club or coordinated a group ride through the open fields of Jorvik, you know that our in-game chat is the heart of our community. Chat isn't just a text box. It’s the main social hub where riding clubs organize, friendships form and events come to life. Because Star Stable Online connects players across many different countries and languages, keeping the chat positive is a major priority and a great responsibility for us.
Beyond following online safety regulations, our main goal is to create a space where players can build friendships and parents can feel confident that their children are exploring a protected world.
Why chat safety matters to us
Creating a safe online environment means actively protecting our community from real-world risks. Whether it's preventing bullying, stopping the sharing of personal private information or blocking inappropriate language and mature topics, we work to keep conversations healthy.
Here is an update on how we manage chat safety, how our safeguards learn, and what we are working on next.
Understanding the big picture
Chat moves fast, especially during peak weekends, events and club rides. To support the chat experience without causing lag, we rely on language systems that evaluate messages across over a thousand subtle details of context and intent.
What this means when you're chatting in-game:
Broader context: Instead of reading one word in isolation, we look at how entire conversations flow in real time. If a recent message breaks a rule, the system temporarily becomes extra sensitive to follow-up messages to prevent people from trying to spell out inappropriate words across multiple lines or through sneaky space patterns.
Smarter context: Analyzing message structure means that inserting extra words or random filler phrases doesn't easily hide the message's meaning. While no setup catches everything 100% of the time, this helps us look past clever tricks (yes, we’ve all seen the creative workarounds!) and focus on true intent.
Fewer false alarms: It’s always frustrating when an innocent message gets caught in the filter. Evaluating conversation context helps us reduce those accidental flags. While it won't be perfect every single time, it helps keep normal chats flowing without getting flagged by mistake.
Real-time chat: This processing happens instantly in the background so chat messages go through without delaying conversations or slowing down your ride.
Adapting as chat evolves
Language is a living thing. It constantly changes, evolves and shifts with new slang, inside jokes and real-world happenings. Balancing moderation across a global community also means handling phrases across many languages.
Because of this, our moderation updates multiple times a day based on how communication happens in Jorvik. Over time, these improvements help us clarify what is allowed and what isn't.
Of course, no solution is perfect. Sometimes a harmless message gets caught by mistake or a message that breaks the rules gets through. Whenever you report a message or we identify an edge case, we review those instances to adjust our guidelines and make better decisions moving forward.
Updated policies and reporting tools
Safety is an ongoing effort, and we are making several updates behind the scenes:
Policy refresh: We have reshaped our chat rules to better reflect real in-game interactions, making guidelines easier to understand. Take a look at our Chat Rules & Guidelines and remember that Sections 12 and 13 of our Terms and Conditions remain a handy guide for overall chat info.
Upgraded reporting: We are revamping our in-game reporting tool to make flagging harmful chat behavior faster and give you clearer categories when sending a report directly to our moderation team. Look out for a preview of this new feature soon.
A team effort
Keeping the chat safe, fast, and fun takes a combined effort from many different people. From the crew working on the tech to those supporting our community, we all work together behind the scenes every day to improve your experience in the game.
Thank you for helping us keep Star Stable Online a fun and welcoming home for every rider!
