Game Interface
Sulkyland works the same way everywhere. Once you’ve got the hang of these few basics, you’ll know how to use any screen in the game, including those you haven’t opened yet.
Three sections: the menu, the list, and the profile
The menu provides access to the entire game. Its entries are grouped by profession—owner, trainer, jockey, breeder, manager, dealer—plus your personal sections. On a narrow screen, it hides, and the button in the top-left corner brings it back.
The list takes up the center: your horses, your races, your messages, depending on the selected entry. This is where you spend most of your time.
The detail page opens when you click on a name in a list—a horse, a race, a player, or a clan. It shows the details for that item, and the X at the top closes it. Depending on the width of your screen, it appears next to the list or replaces it.
The filter, above each list
Every list has a filter. When collapsed, it fits on one line and summarizes the criteria it applies; expand it to select your criteria, then click Filter. The Reset button resets everything to default.
Two things to know, because they might surprise you :
- Your filter is saved. You’ll find it exactly as you left it, even after you log out. This is convenient, but it’s also the first explanation for a list that appears empty or incomplete: check the filter summary before concluding that an item has disappeared.
- Each list has a default filter, which isn’t necessarily “show all.” Your horses, for example, show only active horses: neither foals yet to be born nor retired horses.
The first criterion is almost always sorting: this determines the order of the list.
Acting on multiple items at once
Next to the filter, an action menu applies to a selection. Check the items you’re interested in from the list, then choose the action: you can process ten horses just as quickly as one. The available actions depend on the list.
Action Windows
Some actions open a window on top of the page—registering a horse, selling, or sending a message. You can close it by clicking the X or by selecting Cancel. If you’ve started typing something, the game will ask for confirmation before closing—nothing is lost if you click elsewhere.
Help
The ? button opens the help section at the bottom of the screen. It doesn’t cover the page: you can read and take action at the same time, which is exactly the point. The + and − buttons let you expand or collapse the help window, down to just its title bar, so you can keep it handy.
The help section follows the screen you’re on: it immediately displays the relevant topic. The Search field at the top searches the entire Help system by keywords, and the Table of Contents provides access to the entire Help system. You’ll find the ? button in the header of a help page and at the bottom of an action window: the help remains accessible even when these windows take up the entire screen.
Customize all of this to your liking
In My Account, three settings change the look of the game:
- Graphic Style: the site’s colors, from lightest to darkest.
- Displayed Columns: how many of the three areas appear on the screen. “Automatic” adjusts based on the width available and works for most players. “Top Menu and Floating Cards” replicates the look of previous versions of Sulkyland, with movable cards.
- List display options: a sequence of cards, a sequence of rows in a table, or a table divided into pages with a fixed number of rows. The cards are easier to read on a phone, while the table allows for quick comparisons at a glance on a large screen.
These settings don’t commit you to anything: they only change the display, never the game itself, and you can change them as many times as you like.