December 2000
DEVELOPER CHAT - JANUARY 6TH
Yes, you read that right! Terra Arcanum will be hosting a chat with the almighty developers over at Troika!
When is this going to happen?
Saturday January 6th 2001, 4 PM Pacific Time (PST). That's 00:00 (12 AM) GMT. If you want to know what time that is for you, check out www.timezoneconverter.com.
And where should you go?
Well, to the semi-official #arcanum IRC channel on server irc.gamesnet.net, of course! For instructions on how to get there, check out our IRC page.
News post made Saturday, December 30, 2000 by Calis
All learned schematic screenshots!
Our Technology section now contains screenshots of ALL the learned schematics in the game! Courtesy of ratster. Thanks ratster!
News post made Saturday, December 30, 2000 by Calis
Prologue: Hourglass Pass
Skorpios sent me a nice piece of fan fiction. This particular piece, titled Prologue: Hourglass Pass, already appeared on the Inn, and is the start of a series about a halfling operative (aptly named Bondsman, agent 007) from Tulla, city of mages...
If you'd like to have your story in our fan fiction archives, send it to me! A few ground rules though:
1. If you don't want us to give out your e-mail address and/or real name at the top of the story, please state so explicitly.
2. We reserve the right to reject submissions of poor quality and/or taste. It doesn't have to be a work of literary genius, but we do like to pretend that we have *some* standards :)
3. By submitting the story, you do NOT give away ANY of your rights as the original writer, however, we do reserve the right to edit it a little before posting. If you don't like what we did to your story, we'll take it down at your request, of course.
News post made Friday, December 29, 2000 by Calis
AI update
Scott "Wartoy" Jacobson, in-house tester for Troika, gave us a little update on the game's AI today on the Inn:
Mr TimCain has been working overtime to bring us new features, and I've been approved to answer some questions about the AI.
Followers will use scrolls, potions and items in their inventories as they see fit. The AI will handle spell combat better and will not heal below a certain percentage of their fatigue, but will instead use items to supplement their skills. Outside of combat they will prefer to use heal skill over anything else. NPC's will also search their inventories and equip the best armor and weapons they posses. As the final nail in the coffin, the devious MrCain has instructed the people of Arcanum to pick up stray items in their spare time to keep their cities beautiful!!
News post made Tuesday, December 26, 2000 by Calis
New greater god - Velorien, the All-Father
The official site has been updated with a new Greater God. Today, Velorien the All-Father takes the stage.
News post made Friday, December 22, 2000 by Calis
Arcanum delayed - late spring release
Here's what Shellman had to say on the Arcanum Inn:
Well, as you may have recalled us mentioning last week, several people from Sierra were down here reviewing the game's status with us and going over things necessary to finalize the game (without sacrificing the quality or the content). They looked carefully at the progress we had been making toward the February release, and included factors like our wishlist of features that we still wanted added, how multi-player was progressing and the feedback coming in from the beta test.
When it came time to make a decision, the choices were obvious: ship a good game in February or an awesome game in late spring. We were all in agreement that we want to give Arcanum all the time it needs to live up to our vision. We are continuing to work at making Arcanum a truly great role playing experience.
To our fans who have been so patient, we can promise that the game will be worth the wait.
No other RPG will come close to offering the depth of Arcanum, the diversity of character options and certainly none will give you a world where magic and technology collide with such awesome force.
Thank you for continuing to support Arcanum and all of us here at Troika!
shellman
News post made Friday, December 22, 2000 by Calis
Arcanum preview at PC GamerWeb
PC GamerWeb cooked up a preview of... you guessed it, Arcanum! It was written by someone who doesn't normally give a rat's behind about RPGs, which makes for an interesting read.
Thanks to VE for the news
News post made Tuesday, December 19, 2000 by Calis
Official Site Update! Yay!
The everspiffy Official Arcanum Site has again been updated with a fearsome addition to the growing Creature Compendium. We're introduced to the moderately vicious Shiverbit Wolf, one of the few animals capable of surviving the harsh tundra of northern Arcanum. Obligatory Article Quote follows:
As with most wolves, the shiverbit possesses magnificent pack hunting capabilities, being both stealthy and fleet of foot. Its crushing jaws are immense, able to tear through bone as if through twigs and it is highly territorial. Yet what truly sets this creature apart from its brethren is its remarkable defense mechanism used to deter natural enemies such as the polar bear, frigidon and yeti. To adapt to its hostile environment, the shiverbit has developed the ability to render its enemies harmless by freezing them solid.
In addition to this most important piece of wisdom, a new picture has been uploaded. So download the screenie as well.
News post made Monday, December 18, 2000 by Xerophyte
Plastic Couch interviews Shellman!
Plastic Couch, one of the least mature Arcanum fans out there (although he's occasionally funny, I'll give him that), got himself an interview with Sharon Shellman (who is Troika's Operations Manager, whatever that means, and also does art). The interview contains no real info whatsoever, but some of you might find it funny.
News post made Monday, December 18, 2000 by Calis
Intelgamer previews Arcanum
Yep, another site whipped up a preview of the game we're all waiting for.
News post made Wednesday, December 13, 2000 by Calis
Tim on healing
Tim Cain, the Troika co-owner we all love, made a post on the Arcanum Inn concerning the healing skill. Here's what he had to say:
The Heal skill has changed a bit since the beta. It now requires the use of bandages (or med kits for techies), and each use of the skill reduces the number of bandages you have. When successful, it returns a random amount of health proportional to your skill. On a critical success, it always heals your maximum amount. When unsuccessful, nothing happens, but bandages are lost. On a critical failure, lots of bandages are lost. The training advantages are now:
Heal Apprentice – heals an extra 50%
Heal Expert – all critical failures are just failures (and do not use extra bandages)
Heal Master – all successes are critical successes (and heal side effects like crippling injuries)
We made these changes because the Heal skill was rarely being used, since it could inflict damage on the target. When we removed that effect, the skill was used constantly, since it had no limit (it used up neither items nor fatigue). So we added the requirement of the bandages (available fairly cheap at most general stores), and now the skill seems balanced with the healing spells and items available.
News post made Wednesday, December 13, 2000 by Calis
Official site update - new god, new screenshot
The official site has been updated, with a new Greater God and a new screenshot of the week. This week's god is Kai'tan, the goddess of Balance.
News post made Monday, December 11, 2000 by Calis
A fan's visit to Troika
Stravaig, one of us Troika fanboys, recently had the chance to visit Troika's offices. He wrote up his experiences in a nice article which he was kind enough to send me. You can find it here.
News post made Monday, December 11, 2000 by Calis
New poll!
Those evil people in the Arcanum IRC channel told me to renew the poll, so I did. The results of the last one were as follows:
The poll question was: Were you selected for the Beta Test?
58.2% of you weren't.
25.3% were (good for you!)
16.4% of you are doofuses who didn't know there was a beta.
Now, I am well aware of the fact that that doesn't add up to 100%, but that's because our server is bad at math.
Anyway, the new poll question is: Are you planning to join a multiplayer clan/guild? and can be found at the bottom of the page, as usual.
News post made Sunday, December 10, 2000 by Calis
Leonard on game genres
IGN.PC has an article on game genres, containing a few comments from Leonard "The Man" Boyarsky, joint CEO of Troika.
Thanks to Dimensions of Arcanum for the news.
News post made Monday, December 4, 2000 by Calis
New Screenshot of the Week
The official site has been updated with a new screenie, showing a sarcophagus...
News post made Monday, December 4, 2000 by Calis
Little preview at QuarterToThree
QuarterToThree, the gaming site that offers the shortest articles possible, has a 60-second preview on the game we're all waiting for. Although no real new info is offered, the screenshots look new, not to mention cool.
News post made Sunday, December 3, 2000 by Calis
Preview at Gamespot
The boys over at Gamespot have posted another preview. The article reveals quite a bit on the storyline early in the game, so don't read this if you want to avoid being spoiled.
News post made Friday, December 1, 2000 by Calis
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