Horse Isle: The Secret Land of Horses

Summary
Horse Isle 1: The Secret Land of Horses was created in 2006 by Joe Durbin, with the aim of creating a horse game geared towards young girls. The game went live on 3 May 2007, after extensive beta-testing undertaken by the Durbins and volunteers.

The main features of the game included being able to catch wild horses, undertake quests given by non-playable characters to earn money, compete in a number of competitions such as showjumping and racing, and chat with friends using the chat feature. Players who paid subscription fees could also own and build ranches, which increased the number of horses they could own, as well as using features such as wells and training pens to water and train all their horses simultaneously.

In 2015, the game experienced a number of DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks. The software platform used by the game, Adobe Flash Player, was no longer supported by web browsers in 2020. In 2020, Horse Isle 1 became the victim of a number of hacks, with the game's data became highly compromised and eventually unplayable, beginning in June and taking place periodically until October of that year, at which point the game was declared unsustainable and was labeled "end-of-life". A workaround was listed to allow players to continue playing beyond without Flash support, despite the game still being considered closed.

Game Design
The game had a 2D, top-down view, with pixel art style graphics. It was developed using Adobe Flash Player and The Firefox browser.

Players needed to create an account to play. Players with a paid account had access to more options.

Horse Isle was designed by Joe and Miranda Durbin, as mentioned in the credits. The credits also attribute others on the team:
 * Emma Salamanca ( Map tiles and pixel art )
 * Melissa Go Salazar ( Flash scenes )
 * Jenny Stout ( Horse and tack art/games )
 * Joe Schwebke ( Music )
 * Autumn Durbin ( Scripts and Quests )
 * Sara Nyberg ( Town/character design )
 * Mary Ahlstrand ( Editing and testing )
 * Robyn Lari ( Quests and pixel art )
 * Jenephyr Milligan ( Scripts and Quests )
 * Julien Correard ( Mini-game music )

Several players were also credited with creating characters, quests, and descriptions.

Gameplay


The player travels to different towns and islands to interact with NPCs and complete quests. In addition to traveling on horseback, they can also use ships to go from island to island, or be transported by certain NPCs. The player does not start with a horse, but can lease or buy one for in-game currency from NPCs or other human players, or catch and tame horses. Dozens of kinds of horses are modeled in the game, located on different isles.

Players earn money by going on quests. There is also an in-game bank, in which players can accrue interest on their accounts. The quests involved tasks like talking to different characters, going to different locations, and answering riddles.

Equipment can be purchased or crafted. Some items can be crafted using other equipment as materials. Different equipment gives the player and their horse different stats bonuses.

Riding Mechanics


The player rides around to different towns, where they can find shops and other buildings. The primary interface is a top-down view. In some of the minigames, like "Simple Jumping", the player's view switches to a side view.

If a wild horse is captured, it may buck the player off until it gains more experience.

Special horse breeds like the Pegasus allow the rider to fly, allowing them to access more areas of the map.

System Requirements & Compatibility

 * Browser with Adobe Flash 8
 * Internet connectivity

Guides

 * Horse Isle New Player Guide
 * Horse Isle Wiki Fandom
 * Horse Isle 101
 * Horse Isle Guide
 * Horseisle Questing Guide
 * SoulPieces' Horse Isle Help