July 2000

Official Site Updated
This weeks update to Sierra's Arcanum site brings, apart from the obligatory screenie, new Geography hinkfo. Sections on Dernholm and Black Root have been added. To wet everyone's appetite, here's an excerpt from the latter, detailing the fate of Black Root.

The last memory of the old days is the charred and broken timber which once supported the docks; at low tide the spars still break the surface of the water, dark and rotten, a cruel reminder of the magickal oil that they call Cumbrian Fire. Looking down at them as our ship passed, I could not help but remember my last agonizing vision of Black Root, years before: the harbor an unbroken sheet of evil green flame, and Praetor's demonic oil climbing out of the fire to devour every wooden surface it touched like a savage disease; the once-proud fleet of Black Root all alight and helpless in that burning sea, sails billowing in the hot wind of their own destruction; the sailors climbing higher and higher up the rigging, trying to escape the relentless flames, and finally leaping to their deaths in the hungry waves below; the one gallant captain who still held the helm of her ruined frigate and turned it into the wind, bringing the vessel about to leap like a dying wolf for the throat of the king's flagship; and behind it all the city's waterfront slowly surrendering to the conflagration, the witch-fire clawing higher and higher into the night sky until it seemed that all the world would burn.

Well then, what are you waiting for? Go read it all now!

News post made Monday, July 31, 2000 by Xerophyte

GRAND OPENING!
It Is Done.
Well, almost. Anyway, we are now officially open for business! To celebrate this, we have three brand-new screenshots of the game:

Be sure to send us your comments. I won't be able to reply any time soon though, since I'll be on vacation for the next 10 days, so sending them to Xerophyte or Monkeypunch is your best bet.

News post made Wednesday, July 26, 2000 by Calis

Internal Affairs
First of all, I just wrapped up the screenshots section. We're just about ready to launch.
Secondly, I'll be going on vacation tomorrow, and I won't be back until the 8th of August, so I won't be answering my e-mail, and I won't be here when we post that [cough]interview[/cough].
If you need to e-mail monkeypunch, you have a better chance of reaching him at djmoses@guerrilla.nu, since his computer has been acting up lately.
That's all for now...
News post made Wednesday, July 26, 2000 by Calis

New UberFAQ
Jason "Codeguy" Bryant sent me a new version of his UberFAQ, which now numbers an impressive 565 questions (and answers), taken from various sources including message boards and chats. It's over 300 kb's in size, and is thus not for the bandwidth-impaired.
News post made Tuesday, July 25, 2000 by Calis

Tarantian update
This week's update at the Official Site gives us some new and spiffy Tarantian articles to ogle, as well as a screenshot of the Shocking Staff schematic.
News post made Monday, July 24, 2000 by Xerophyte

First piece of fanfiction.
Stravaig sent me a chat log of an IRC roleplaying session, and I posted it under fan fiction. Check it out...
News post made Friday, July 21, 2000 by Calis

New Geography + an interview
The official Arcanum site got updated with two new geography features. Also, The Daily Telefrag posted an interview with Troika's Operations Manager Sharon Shellman.
News post made Monday, July 17, 2000 by Calis

Arcanum chat last night
The chat last night was very cool. Jonric of RPGVault and Adam Kahn, PR dude at Sierra Studios made sure it all went very smooth. Jonric posted the chat log here.

He also posted a few highlights:

Tim on what’s likely to be added before feature lock: Extra features: NPC control, feedback, and new spells
Leonard on 3D support: IT IS OFFICIAL DU DU DUUUUUUU<
Tim following up: Yes, we work on 3D cards. And we are faster on them too
Leonard on the experience system: Alco, the experience you get for killing vs. talking/puzzle solving varies due to level. Everything is level based in terms of points awarded
what he"s happiest about so far: our dialog/character interaction or maybe the customizability of your character... I can't decide
Jason on the same question: The way the whole game is coming together.
and Tim: I like how scripts ended up. Simple, straight forward, easy to make and easy for me to extend

Almost there...
We're almost there... Most of the design is finished, thanks to the diligent work of Monkeypunch, now all that is left to do is implement the huge amount of content Xerophyte has prepared (oh yeah, I did a tiny bit of that too). Still some work for me to be done, the forum needs to be tweaked, I need to make a news page, install a comment script on the news, and do some stuff I can't remember right now. Woohoo! We're almost there!
News post made Saturday, July 15, 2000 by Calis