No. 7, February 2nd, 1998, Monday
Today is the two weeks anniversary of the release of our demo, and there has been a lot happening during these two weeks. It is time for an update!
1. The response we got from our players by far is very encouraging. We have a lot more players than we thought we would in such a short period of time. We already have over one thousand characters created in the game, and a total of about 700 hours played over the last two weeks. And this is just a demo! Our webboard has about 30 messages daily, and we already have three Panumbra web sites run by players. The atmosphere in the game and on the web board is friendly and helpful.
2. For the request of our players: we are announcing version 2.1! A lot of players expressed that this would be a lot better game only if it would have items. We heard that, and we agree. So we are planning to release an interim version of Panumbra, version 2.1. Basic features included in version 2.1 are: items in their "raw" nature, i.e. finding them and using them, but without buying, selling, and gold. Version 2.1 items would include weapons, armor, potions and magical items. We also include some smaller improvements like character delete, and changes in text messaging. The features in the new release are described in detail on the web site, under the Features section. We plan to release version 2.1 in March, we will keep you updated about the exact date.
3. Caves. The changes we need to make to show caves are larger than we thought, so we decided that we integrate the release of the caves into the version 2.1 release. We hope you still enjoy the mines though, we recently released mines level 5 and 6 with high level monsters, and quite a number of secret areas.
4. This is just a demo, and accordingly, we have bugs and all kinds of difficulties. The server is still unstable. The first week the main problems were the memory leaks, that we fixed. Database operations were causing lags, therefore we added an extra server. Database access is now handled on this server separately and does not cause lags. These fixes speeded up the server significantly. Unfortunately character lock-up errors are likelier on a faster server, and they became the number one common enemy from the second week. When a lock-up happens, the server slows down so much that we have to restart. People usually think that it is lag, but it is not, it is a server crash. Apart from this crashing, lags have not been bad in the last week. Unfortunately the lock-up errors don't happen on the test machine (it is not fast enough) so we have to try to reproduce and debug the problem on the production server, during times players are logged in. We apologize for the inconveniences this may cause, but hopefully we will not have to do it for long.
5. Game balance problems and bugs. We encountered several problems with game balance, a big part of them were due to bugs. We made several adjustments to the experience calculations, which are still likely to change as characters advance more and uncover imbalances. Mine levels are now getting gradually harder instead of big jumps between levels. We had to disable poison due to a bug that makes cave cobras really nasty, until we fix that bug.
6. Helpers group. We are in the process of setting up a group of players who help new players in the game, and get involved with the Panumbra team a little more than average players. The group is still in the early organization stages, but we will hope it will evolve into a strong team in the long run.
7. Web site changes. The web site has been restructured, and new areas were added. The developers' corner became an area for common problems, bugs and recent events, and the technology and team pages have been moved here as well. The Features section has been expanded with a description of version 2.1. The Links page have been renamed to "Players' corner", and currently only has links to unofficial Panumbra pages, but we plan to expand it later. The webboard has two new conferences: Development News (read-only) and the Bugs, problems and how to...'s conference. Since posting a web board message is much easier than maintaining a web site, these conferences will be the most up-to-date source of information on the web site. We also added advertising to the web board, that helps us gaining some more impressions to show our ads on Link Exchange.
At the end of this newsletter, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our players who stand by us even when problems arise. It is very encouraging to know that you appreciate our efforts and support us in hard times, too. Thank you for the trust and understanding you showed by far!
Cheers
Marta Gabnai
and the Panumbra development team
and the Panumbra development team
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