Panumbra Newsletter
No. 6, January 20, 1998, Tuesday
We have great news: we went live! If you have not checked our web site yet, the demo is up and you can play it! Go check it out!
1. Web server problems. We released the demo yesterday, January 19th, at 3:00 p.m. CST (all times are Central US Time zone, Chicago). At the beginning, we had several problems with our web server. First we had Netscape Server, but it was very slow so we had to install Microsoft Internet Information Server instead. Than we realized that the version we installed only allowed 10 connections: people could not connect, or could not download the images. So we upgraded the web server to allow 100000 connections, and since 7:30 p.m. the server was up and running happily!
2. Lag problems. The lag was bad at first. It seemed that the lag got better after we reinstalled the web server. We think the bad lag may had been due to everyone creating characters at the same time. Anyway, the lag improved later on. Most of us had a reasonable delay, a few people complained about bad delays. We will continue to work on improving server performance.
3. Connection problems. Some people could not connect, or could create a character but could not play. These errors may result from having an old or incomplete client version cached in the browser. We suggest you log out completely from Panumbra, clear the cache of the browser, than try to reconnect. If it still does not work, send us a bug report at bugrpt@shareplay.com. Please always indicate what browser you are using, with exact version number. If you had an error please note the error message, the error number (in the title of the error window), the date/time it occurred, and what did you do before it happened. Thank you for your cooperation.
4. Web site updates. I added some new pages to the web site. The play demo page allows you to connect to the demo. I wrote a tutorial that is a lot easier and shorter than the manual, I encourage everyone to read it. And last but not least, I added a link page since we already have two players having their own Panumbra pages. Go check them out!
5. Caves. We still do not have caves, they will be probably ready in the next 1-2 weeks. We will have 2 cave levels, not 4 as I wrote in the last newsletter. I apologize for my mistake.
6. Thank you for all players who applied to be newbie helpers. We are not accepting more newbie helpers at this time, but this opportunity will be open later, at V3 release the latest. Regular helpers will not be on duty yet because they need to be trained first as well, but normally there is someone online who can help you.
7. Keeping demo characters. Someone asked if you can keep your character in later releases. The answer is: yes. Unless something disastrous happens to the database, everyone will be able to keep their characters. We may need to adjust them if something goes out of balance, but if you got to a high level, you will stay a high level. What's more, in the demo you can gain levels a lot faster than in the release version...
These are the news for today. On a private note, I had a lot of fun playing the game yesterday night, and other people seemed to have fun, too. The spirit of the players is joyful and helping. I thank for every player who played and made Panumbra a fun environment. If you have not played yet, go try it!
Thank you for reading our newsletter! Cheers
Marta Gabnai - lead designer
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