Advent Calendar 2024: What's Changing This Year

Hey everyone,

As we head into another holiday season, I wanted to talk openly about some changes we're making to the Advent Calendar this year.

The Short Version

This year, you'll still be able to visit Melody's cottage every day, but instead of getting brand new items every single day, we're mixing things up. Some days will have new items, and every day you'll be able to choose two previous years from our Advent archive and receive a random vintage item from each. We've got items going all the way back to 2009, so there's a lot to explore.

Why We're Making This Change

I'll be honest with you: we're a much smaller team than we used to be. Our illustration resources are more limited, and we've had to think hard about where those resources make the biggest impact.

For years, we've been creating 25-75 new items every December just for the Advent Calendar. And here's the thing—most of those items immediately become nearly worthless because every active user receives one, or they become prohibitively expensive (looking at you, books) because people hoard them. It's a lot of creative energy for items that don't really add much to the economy or gameplay.

We'd rather put that illustration time toward things that have more lasting impact: new pets (like an upcoming new color), new features, and content that creates more interesting gameplay. For example, we're working on a garden revamp right now with seeds that can grow into multiple different versions and you can use items from the site to water/push along — the kind of feature that adds depth and replayability rather than just more items to sit in inventories.

The Bigger Picture

Subeta is now over 20 years old. That's wild to think about, and I'm incredibly grateful this community has kept the site alive this long. But being around for 20 years also means we've accumulated 20 years of traditions and expectations, and not all of them are sustainable for a team our current size, or for the size of our user base.

We have to make choices about where to focus, and sometimes that means changing things we've always done. It's not about cutting corners—it's about being realistic so we can keep Subeta running and actually improving rather than just maintaining traditions on fumes.

What You're Getting

• New items on select days throughout December
• The ability to pick 2 different years from our vintage collection each day
• A random item from each year you select
• Access to items from 2009-2023 that you might have missed or want more of

I know change is hard, especially with holiday traditions. But I think there's something kind of fun about digging through 15 years of Advent history and seeing what you get. And honestly, some of those older items are genuinely cool and deserve another chance to circulate.

Thanks for understanding, and as always thanks for being part of Subeta 💖 I hope you all have excellent Holidays!

As someone who missed out on a couple years, I love this idea. Thank you for all the amazing work!

I really love this approach! As I've gotten older, I've run out of Things to ask for when the holidays/birthdays roll around. I'd rather get consumable things and experiences than more things that just become clutter. And this opens up the opportunity to get some old achievement items and books/foods for our pets, which was really nice in Morostide too!

I love being able to choose from 2 years of Lumi past! I think it is a perfect balance of some new items and getting to pick some old ones! <3

I missed the last two Luminiaires so I am looking forward to collecting past items I have missed. Thank you for still including some new items throughout December.

I like this way of reintroducing older items :)

I've been really enjoying all the access to older items, it makes completing collections feel more achievable. I like the idea!

I missed out on most of the older items so I love this idea! Always happy to get some older stuff off my wishlist :D Thank you!

I like the chance of getting the items from previous years that do more than one thing. Wearable/edibles.

"most of those items immediately become nearly worthless because every active user receives one, or they become prohibitively expensive (looking at you, books) "

You look at your game in the very eye here.

"Subeta is now over 20 years old. That's wild to think about,"

This is the same time the Raruto parody is... funny, subeta and Raruto are age buddies, lol.

" And honestly, some of those older items are genuinely cool and deserve another chance to circulate."

When I checked the "not read yet" list book and spot the melody's ones, I always though "well, those will get release in december,,, right?" Yes they are, I am very patient person, than you very much.

I would appreciate new ornaments though... there's nothing in the main post about it, so I'm un doubt if there will be not, or if there will be yes.

I think this is a really creative solution that is still pretty fun! getting a new item everyday sounds fun in theory, but in the past I have ended up not wanting everything I got from Melody anyway. getting these old items still feels like we're keeping with lumi tradition. I would rather the creative energy of the team go into more exciting items.

And that's the other thing... we've been doing this for a long time, and coming up with ~50 new items for melody to give out every year has really become a struggle 😭

Thank you so much for still pouring your heart and soul into this game. This is an amazing way to pay homage to the journey its been on.

Can't wait to collect items we have all missed over the years!

I really like this honestly! Usually I only really have a use for maybe half the Melody items, so I have no complaints. It seems extremely reasonable with the team being so much smaller. Thank you guys so much for continuing to keep the site going!

the way i zoomed in on this immediately Pleeeease tell me we're gonna learn more about this soon

I love the recent focus on re-releasing old items! New items are always appreciated too, but I do feel like we're pretty well saturated on all the holiday themes, so I definitely agree with shifting the focus for new art.

i was a little bummed at first but honestly the reasons you laid out keith make a lot of sense and I'm excited to still be getting some new items + opportunities for older items as well!!

Somebody's gonna freak out over the garden revamp XD

Honestly, this is a good thing. Luminaire on here is so much more than just getting free items from Melody. Users spreading love and kindness is worth so much more.

Absolutely understandable! Both creatively and resource-wise. I've loved the theme of rereleasing previous items; it's great for returning users and putting extras in circulation. (Especially when it comes to Melody items, I don't like selling them because they feel more like "gifts". :'))

I love that you guys are still releasing new items in any capacity! It's so special to me that the site is still running, and it's exciting to see that you guys have visions for the future.

I genuinely appreciate the decision to introduce new items a bit more thoughtfully. Collecting is such a core part of the game, and it seems like there's been a real effort to rebalance this in recent years. As a kid, it felt so overwhelming to keep up with that I didn't really bother trying. Now I'm having a lot of fun making progress on my collections and it's awesome to have this chance to catch up on all the years I missed. It's nice to see you taking steps to improve the experience not just for the players but for you and the staff :3 This is actually pretty exciting! take care <3