Updates from Ballerium - August 4, 2003

2) Pre-Beta 0-4 features:

a) User registration - now allows players to choose their avatar names.
b) Ladders - players' achievements now kept in a database, allowing us to create ladders showing each player's real-time status in the game, including who's stronger, who completed more quests, etc.
c) Market system - Fixed some critical bugs in the market system which helps balancing.
d) improved quests (some of them now better directing the player)
e) Improved chat system.
f) Improved game stability - server can hold a larger number of players without crashing
g) Pre-Beta setup: Although the 0-4 Pre-beta version of Ballerium is ready for quite some time now, the Beta server installation has not been completed due to unexpected factors not within our control. We hope to be able to deliver better news soon. That being said, the newer pre-beta version will enable many more testers to join in, possibly over a hundred new testers.

3) Redesign.

Some of the game features are currently being redesigned to make the game more fun and more appealing. Included in the redesign is the city system which shows in the new screenshot release at the gallery. The new design will allow closer combats over the city, a better interaction and remuneration by the city and so on. From now on, taking control over a city is done using strategic control points rather than a contract, thus allowing players to steal patronship from one another. Other fields of the gameplay are also being taken care of, such as the game speed, the terrain looks, and so on. Those changes will take effect in the 0-5 Pre-Beta version of the game.
All these changes will have a cost - a certain additional delay in the development is expected on one hand, but on the other hand it may mean that the Beta will be a more fun to play at an earlier stage, and maybe even in just a few months.

That's it for now, more may be added later.