Developer's Desk: Second Anniversary Edition

It is hard to believe that this weekend marks the two year anniversary of Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted being under a new development team. It seems trite to say that time flies, but it really has for us. In this special "Anniversary Editition" of "From the Developer's Desk", I'll be highlighting some of what we feel are the major accomplishments of the last 2 years, as well as giving some hints at what the next year will bring. I'll be telling you more about:

* Vista: We're compatible with Vista and Windows 7
* Dralnok's Doom: An incredible dungeon release plus some hints at future dungeons
* Spread the Word: Our new program designed to give back to those who help get the word out about Istaria on a regular basis
* New Features: Characters may now be moved from Blight to a live server, new characters are now made through the launcher and more
* Customer Loyalty: Our much anticipated program, and how you can participate

First a look back. When Virtrium purchased Istaria, we tackled many challenging problems in rapid succession, but some proved more difficult than others to defeat. Implementing a new and secure billing system, bringing back the Blight shard, and enabling characters to be transfered from the former Unity server were all completed within the first few months of development. As a bit of an aside to anyone with friends who once played on Unity, please continue to let those former players know that we are still offering free transfers from the Unity database to any of the current shards. We continue to have players from Unity return every week, but for many the first question is whether the transfer is still free or not... and it is. While the technical team was busy with these tasks, the design team was busy finishing the confectioner revamp, fixing bugs that had remained for far too long, and adding new content to the "tier one" areas of New Trismus and Lesser Aradoth. They brought back annual festivals to the game, including introducing a brand new festival, Gnomekindle. The whole of Istaria underwent a major change when plot sizes were revamped last summer. Those looking for somewhere to build a home in Istaria report that available plots are much larger. Crafters building on those plots have appreciated how much faster it is to move resources from the field since the cargo disk revamp. Having completed all this, the team turned their focus to developing content for Istaria's brand new dungeon, Dralnok's Doom.

For those who haven't heard the news yet, Dralnok's Doom was a major content update that was added to our live servers this summer. In addition to introducing brand new monsters, the team brought back an old enemy... the Myloc Queen! Content in the dungeon is designed for high level players, what is called tier 6 in game terms, and from reports we've received so far, it has been an exciting addition to the game. Though our active community has already completed the majority of the world building projects on their respective servers, there is still much for returning players to find that will provide a challenge.

But let's get back to the challenges that Virtrium faced, and one of those that took the longest to overcome. Those of you with newer computers have probably guessed what I am talking about now. Yes, the much dreaded, much feared, Vista OS! I'm proud and excited to say that the persistence of our programmers and the testers helping them, has resulted in success!

ISTARIA IS NOW A VISTA COMPATIBLE GAME!

Yes, for those who haven't heard the news, a few short weeks ago we released to the live servers a fully Vista compatible game client, launcher, patcher, you name it. And the good news, for both our customers and our team, is that the game also runs smoothly on Windows 7 from all reports.

While a Vista compatible client was being tested, a number of players created characters on Blight since they couldn't play on the Live shards. Because we allow free, player requested copies of characters from Order/Chaos to Blight, the policy in the past has always been that we do not allow the movement of characters in the other direction (off Blight and on to a live server). Characters on Blight may also have items, skills, spells, etc, available to them that never made it to the live server, and thus it was easier to simply ensure that the testing environment of Blight not end up on a live server by only allowing characters to move to Blight. After carefully considering the needs of our customers, while also ensuring the integrity of the live servers, we've determined a way to allow those who created characters on Blight to move to the live shards. Please note this only applies to characters created on Blight. Characters that were copied to Blight can not be moved back. While we will be handling each request on a case by case basis, if you know of someone who had spent time playing the game on Blight when that was the only option for Vista customers, please let them know that if they submit a support ticket to us, we are now better equipped to determine if a character can be moved off Blight and on to a live shard.

Now that we have looked back at the last two years, let's take some time to look at Istaria now and peek into the future. Earlier this week we announced a new "Spread the Word" program on our forums. We asked you for your thoughts on the program, and many were able to help us tweak the program to better fit your needs and our own. The program has been designed to show our appreciation for those who post regularly about Istaria, thus helping to spread news about the game, as well as letting people know what a great place Istaria is to be. Targeted initially toward bloggers and those who post regularly on forums, the program was expanded to include those who post screenshots and videos about the game. If you feel that you are someone who would like to spend a few moments of their time each week "spreading the word" about Istaria, and would like to earn a free plot slot on your account, please go to http://docs.google.com/View?id=df7564p7_1g7d895gc to find out more. We'd like to thank you for helping us bring more people to the world of Istaria.

The next project which the design team is working on is revamping those areas that are considered to be "tier 2". Many have already noticed that the city of Dalimond underwent changes in a patch at the end of August, but those changes are only the beginning. Dalimond, and all of Lesser Aradoth in fact, is looking so different that recently when one of the members of our customer support team was looking for a particular NPC on our internal test server (Genesis), he commented that he didn't even recognize where he was! When the tier 2 revamp is released, players between level 20 to 40 will find that they have new monsters to fight, new areas to explore, and maybe even a dungeon or two to adventure into. The team is committed to continuing to bring new stories and new challenges to players of all levels and races.

While we know it is important to provide the players with central core stories on which to build their own character's tales of adventure, we also realize that were it not for our committed players, there would be no Istaria in which to tell those stories. Earlier this year we began talking with players about some means of expressing our gratitude for long time players in a way that they could show their commitment to Istaria in game. With your help we developed our Customer Loyalty Program and began the design and technical work that would be required to implement such a program. While the finishing touches aren't quite there yet (I have been assured they will be soon), the team began calling 2008 the "Year of the Phoenix". We designed items around this theme and once the technical side is complete, those items will be available in game. But now that the second year anniversary has arrived, we need your help. We'd like to hear from you about your ideas for what 2009 should be. Remember that your suggestion for "theme of the year" will have to be one that can be interpreted in artistic form (So a theme like "The Year of we conquered Vista" may be accurate, but probably won't translate well into the game world). Please post your suggestions on the Developer's Desk discussion thread. Once we've decided on a theme for 2009, those items will also be made available on our Loyalty Rewards Vendor.

It's been a fantastic two years and although it's been a labor of love, it is a privilege to have been able to grow Istaria. If you're at a restaurant, or a pub tonight, ask for a cup of Klava and raise a glass. They may not have it, but you can be sure that we'll be raising a glass with you - where ever you are in the world. I look forward to seeing you in Istaria for many years to come, and especially at next year's anniversary.

Please visit our forums to discuss this Second Anniversary Developer's Desk.

Yours in Istaria,

Amarie Ancalimon
Istaria Community Manager

Discuss Here!