Online Persistent Browser-Based Game Developer

We are looking for a highly skilled PHP-coder to implement new & improved features for our website www.theninja-rpg.com. As the owners, we’ve developed the website in PHP over the last 10 years – the site is built from scratch using a fairly strict OOP code setup. The website itself is a persistent browser-based online game with a very dedicated userbase – it is a role-playing game set in a ninja world, where users advance in levels and skills, interacting with each other across several systems, including but not limited to: battle systems, village systems, war systems, item systems, chat etc. Revenue is generated by allowing users to purchase additional in-game content for real money. The work in question includes various updates and revamps of current features, as well as the implementation of new in-game features. All these updates have been thoroughly detailed by our content team, who are in charge of directing which feature to implement, how they should work, etc. As an example, we need a revamped trading/market-system, where users can trade items between users. The freelancer we’re looking for is a highly professional individual, preferably with some interest in online games in general, as it will be necessary for the individual to familiarize him/herself with our current system. It is expected that the freelancer will regularly interact (via facebook) with the rest of our team (e.g. when bugs occur etc), and the person should therefore also be completely fluent in English in order to avoid misunderstandings. It is extraordinarily important that users are exposed to as few bugs as possible, so all development is performed on a sub-domain ([login to view URL]), and is thoroughly tested before being deployed to the main domain. Finally, it is expected that the coder will stick, within reasonable limits, to the style of coding and syntax currently used, and that all code is properly documented – it exceptionally important that the code is not only functional but also understandable, since it is very likely it will be reviewed and updated in the future as the game advances. The code is managed using a github repository, and deployments are managed using deployhq.com. Knowledge of both services, or similar, are preferred. We currently have a reasonably sized todo list, with work for approximately 1-3 months. This todo list is ever expanding, and therefore it is preferable if the freelancer is interested in working with us again in the future, since at that point he/she will be familiar with our source code.