Date: June 15, 1999

Subject: RE: I remember a day when infantry was...

When we finally signed with a publisher, we setup a formal schedule for about the first time (previously we just sort of did a lot of hand waving). According to that schedule (which was setup in like February), we are targetting release in late October. I believe beta was scheduled for something like late August. That said, we have been hoping to get things done a little bit sooner, particularly the beta phase which I am still hoping to have going before the end of July. One of the more important aspects of the beta phase will be testing of the billing system (to some degree) and we are currently behind schedule on that. We may do a pre-beta period in which we let a lot more people in to do volume-testing for a couple weeks before the billing system is complete.

So far, the game is coming along pretty good. I just put in doors and switches last week. This week I am putting in flag-games (similar to subspace -- btw, if you have ideas for a flag-style game that wasn't covered in subspace, let me know). I am very anxious to get to the point where coding is less of the issue and content creation is the primary issue (I really want to try using the tools we've created to make a game style, I am too busy coding now).

After a couple game-types are completed, we will be working on speciality items, things like stealth/cloak/warping/anti-warp/etc/etc. Following that we will be doing the zone-selection user-interface, directory server, and somewhere along the line the billing system needs to be done.

I still need to do cheat-security (I have all the hooks in place, just need to implement them). Web integration needs to be done (ie. high-score charts via the web, stuff like that -- may be looking for somebody to help us with that aspect). Persistent messaging system needs implementing as well as EGN integration.

That pretty much covers the major features that are left, then there will be a lot of polish/enhancement-time needed, this will be mainly during the beta period.

On the non-coding side of things, we have a ton of content creation work that needs doing, everything from artwork to level-designs.

There is no doubt that when we first announced the game we were working on that we were overly optimistic about the amount of time left to complete the product. Certainly the lack of a publisher for the first year or so of the project slowed development. Hopefully we will stay on schedule from here on out.

JeffP