August 2000

We have an INTERVIEW!
Yay! Tim, Leonard and Jason (the three Troika CEO's) took the time to answer a whole load of questions! Check it out here...
News post made Thursday, August 31, 2000 by Calis

Arcanum preview at Games Domain Review
GDR has posted a little preview based on an Arcanum press kit. Not really anything new here, but I'm sure you're going to read it anyway.
News post made Friday, August 25, 2000 by Calis

New UberFAQ
That's right, Jason "Codeguy" Bryant sent me the latest version of his UberFAQ. Here's the Word from the Man:

Hi all,

Well, It's been almost a month since I last updated the UberFAQ. I waited awhile because not much had been added to the boards. However, a couple of things are pretty big, since the release has been pushed back and both a beta and a demo have been announced.

Since things have slowed down at the Inn, I'd say that we've pretty much bled the Developers dry of Arcanum info. Since the beta will be closed and all the participants under NDA, we might not be finding out much new stuff until the demo comes out right before release.

CodeGuy

Also, yesterday was Xerophyte's birthday, but the news script seemed to be inaccessible, so I wasn't able to post it then. Anyway, a late "happy birthday Xerophyte"!
update: Oh yeah, Voodooextreme posted some new screenies yesterday, and I duly copied them to our own archive ...
News post made Friday, August 25, 2000 by Calis

Arcanum at GenCon - CGO
CGO has posted a little article on Sierra CRPG's at GenCon. Gamecenter also mentions Arcanum in this article.
News post made Wednesday, August 23, 2000 by Calis

Official Site Updated... Sorta
Sierra's Arcanum Site has been updated with a screenshot and absolutely nothing else. The screenie in question is actually one we've already seen in Daily Radar's technology feature, making this a week of no new content at the official site. Bad Sierra!
News post made Monday, August 14, 2000 by Xerophyte

Troika License The Arcanum Editor
Our heroes over at Troika have, according to RPG Vault, reached a licensing deal with a company called Fluid Entertainment. Fluid plan on using the evernifty WorldEd to create a landscaping tool for use with the new 3rd edition of the way-too-popular Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying system. Tim Cain explains:

The agreement is actually between Troika and Fluid, although we stayed in constant contact with WotC and Sierra to make sure everyone was happy. The Fluid guys saw the Arcanum editor at E3 and really liked it, so we talked with them about using it in a utility they were going to make for WotC. Several of the Fluid and WotC guys are ex-Interplayers like myself, so I had worked with them in the past and it was easy to arrive at an agreement. As for the exact use they plan to make of it, I know they want to make a tool that lets you lay out dungeons, towns, forests and the like for use with the new 3rd edition D&D rules. Our editor looked very close to what they wanted to make, so by using it they get quite a jumpstart on the utility.

The great thing about this agreement is that it didn't occupy much time at all for us, so it didn't impact the making of Arcanum. But we were happy to help Fluid, and it is kind of cool to be associated with the new D&D system.

Well, yay. It seems this is a good year for D&D.
News post made Monday, August 14, 2000 by Xerophyte

New preview at Gamespot UK
No real new info, but I'm sure you're going to check it out anyway :-)
News post made Monday, August 14, 2000 by Calis

Six new screenshots at VGames
VoodooExtreme reports that VGames, an Israeli gaming site, has six brand new screenshots of the game we all love. I will blatantly rip them for our own archive too, of course :-)
News post made Wednesday, August 9, 2000 by Calis

Leonard on the beta
Leonard Boyarsky, co-owner of Troika, posted this bit on the Arcanum Inn about the beta:

To clear up some misconceptions: One of the reasons we pushed back the ship date was to give Sierra's playtesters (who are doing an excellent job, I might add) adequate time to playtest what has become a massive game, and also to give us sufficient time to fix as many bugs as possible. The number of different ways to play through this game is huge, which equates to more testing.

The reason we are doing the public beta is to get outside feedback on things such as the game system and the overall feel of dialog and character interaction. Alot of times with games the only people who see them before they are released are people who have such an intimate knowledge of the game it is difficult to get perspective on it. And we want your opinions...

Also, we will not be giving out the whole game, but we will be releasing more info on that in the upcoming weeks.

I suppose we should have worded our press release a bit more specifically :0)
News post made Wednesday, August 9, 2000 by Calis

Update At The Official Site
This week, the Official Arcanum Site has seen another update at the Geography section. We're now given info on Roseborough and The Vendigroth Wastes. Here's an excerpt from the latter.

Words cannot describe the terrors of this great desert, which has barred passage to old Tulla for thousands of years; the Vendigroth Wastes are more than the sum of their parts. It might be possible for ordinary men to endure the blinding heat, the waterless expanses which stretch on for miles, or the bleak spires of blasted rock that rise from the dunes like the masts of a great sunken ship; but needless to say, these things do not come alone. There are also savage desert orcs, great brutes which stand half a head taller than their lesser cousins in mountain and plain. There are siren spiders which call men out of their tents in the night, promising unspeakable pleasures in the very voice of irresistible allure; in the morning the footprints of the unhappy victim lead to an empty husk of skin and bone, withered and drained of life.

Sounds inviting, doesn't it? Go read it now.
News post made Tuesday, August 8, 2000 by Xerophyte

Press Release regarding the public beta
As official as it gets, a press release from Sierra's Adam Kahn, yanked from VoodooExtreme:

Sierra Studios and Troika Games today announced a public beta program for their upcoming role-playing game Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura. The public beta will begin in September, and will give gamers access to some of the 19 major environments within the land of Arcanum, along with scores of dungeons and quests to explore. Testers will also be given a private online forum on which to discuss the game with the developers, give feedback and suggestions, and report bugs.

To fully incorporate feedback from the beta program, Arcanum will be released in February of 2001. In addition, Sierra and Troika will release a playable demo of the game this winter.


News post made Monday, August 7, 2000 by Calis

New Preview Up At Eurogamer
A site called Eurogamer have written a new Preview of our beloved Arcanum. No new info, but that has never stopped me from posting :)

News post made Monday, August 7, 2000 by Xerophyte

Release Date Pushed Back, Public Beta Test In September
Previously, the Arcanum release date has always been set as "Autumn 2000, aiming for September". But, sadly, the game has been delayed and is now scheduled for a February release. Here's what Troika Artist/Office Manager Sharon Shellman stated on the Arcanum Inn:

We realize many of you have been concerned about our release schedule for Arcanum, so we want to share with you what's been happening here at Troika. Arcanum IS getting very close to completion, but because of the size of the game and the complexity of our role-playing system, testing it is turning out to be a long and drawn out process.

Our number one commitment is to release a great game that is bug-free and well-balanced, and we want to take the time we need to make sure that happens. Which is why we've gotten together with Sierra and mutually decided to release Arcanum in February, which gives us the extra time we need to polish the game. And as part of this process, we want your help.

We will be conducting a public beta for parts of the game beginning in September. This is a great opportunity for us to get feedback directly from all of you about play balance and other issues. We always believe in supporting our community, and we think that support works both ways. But there's simply no way we could properly do our own testing, as well as get comments from you guys, and still ship our game in time for September. We know this is disappointing, but we think Arcanum is worth the wait.

As you know, we've been working on Arcanum for just over two years. When we first began work, Arcanum was designed with about 10 areas, slightly larger than the original Fallout. As things have progressed, the world has significantly increased in size. There are now 19 major locations (cities/towns) for the PC to visit, in addition to the countless dungeons, ruins, random and placed encounters, and close to 200 quests. This has slowed us down, but, in our opinion, has created an awesome (and huge) game.

In addition to running the beta program, we also plan to release a demo later this year, so in fact you will get to play part of the game before February! :o) With the extra time, we'll also be making sure that we release translated versions of the game at the same time as the English version, and we'll be refining and polishing the World Editor as well.

All of us here appreciate your understanding, and we're working really hard to finish Arcanum. But one thing we won't compromise on is releasing an incomplete game - that's not fair to you, and that's not why we started this company. We know this is a disappointment to many of you, but, in the long run, we think you will be very, very glad that we have chosen to hold off and put the game through its paces prior to releasing it.

shellman"

Well, feck. I can't say I like this very much, but if it's what must be done for a bugless Arcanum then we'll just have to live with it. At least there's a public beta coming up, with all the new and juicy giblets of information and screenies betas bring.

The Great Sierra Beta page is located here, though I have no idea if that's the correct spot for the Arcanum Beta.

News post made Saturday, August 5, 2000 by Xerophyte

Daily Radar Starts Arcanum Feature
True to their word, Daily Radar picked today as the starting day for a series of Arcanum "features", basically a stretched out preview. Today's part of the article details how Technology works in Arcanum. Although the article doesn't really tell us anything new, there's a whole slew of new Schematic screenies, showing everything from the Tesla Rod to the Healing Jacket. Expect them to appear in our screenshot archive when I am less tired than I am now.

News post made Wednesday, August 2, 2000 by Xerophyte

Daily Radar Will Cover Arcanum On Wednesday
Not that this is in any way revolutionary, but gaming site Daily Radar will, according to their Letters section, start covering Arcanum on Wednesday. Yay.

News post made Tuesday, August 1, 2000 by Xerophyte