A note from your friendly neighborhood boss-type-guy.

[HR-Trevor]

Lo, folks.

As you all have undoubtedly noticed, I've not been around much since my move. Unfortunately, things here in North Dakota have been more hectic than I'd anticipated. And so, I decided to sit down, take a few minutes and write this post to talk about that.

It's pretty busy around here. I am in a small town called Grafton as I'd mentioned before, and to put it all in a nutshell, my very ambitious brother has practically bought half the town (or so it seems sometimes, anyway) and there are lots of businesses being developed (two pharmacutical companies with more to come later, the restaurant which is operating but undergoing a lot of change, a cigar bar, an internet cafe/book store, a cell phone remanufacturing plant, apartments).

To be honest, this is just the start, there's a ton of other projects just down the road, ranging from a possible hospital, tech school, and a small indoor mall - and this is not to mention the fact he bought what amounts to a full city block in Devil's Lake, ND.

On top of all this, my own apartment is being worked on a bit at a time daily but is still not complete. Though to be fair, they didn't begin working on that until pretty recently, it hasn't taken months to complete. But, for now, I still haven't unpacked most of my stuff, as I'm living at said brother's place until my place is completed.

But, things will settle down. I am hoping my place will be completed early next month, they're throwing in the paint now, and will be putting in the flooring, fixtures, doors, cabinets, etc. soon, and we already have some of the appliances ready to toss in there. It's getting there. I'm also going to be transitioning most of my work-time into a job mostly supporting one or both of the pharmacutical companies once those are completed - and they're getting there pretty quickly now. We're putting together a 40 workstation data processing lab this week.

As far as Haelrahv goes, as my personal life settles down, I'll have more time for the core development both the existing and next generation versions of Haelrahv need. One of the perks of being so busy is also that work equals money, and that's money that is being invested in great part into the game. I've contracted a professional artist to create a detailed world map we will use in our future building endeavors, which seems like a small thing but it's actually very critical, and of such scale and importance that I decided to hire a pro to create it.

I'm also looking into hiring a professional to create a custom game client for us. That will take a lot of time to get done, but real progress is at least beginning to get done. My hope is to get a quality Java client which a) meets all of our needs, to exceed what the Wizard FE offers, and b) to offer a multiplatform solution. A Java client can be used on a Windows PC, a Mac, Linux, whatever. And, it won't need to be installed. If you can access the port from where you are, you can get in sans installation of any software aside from an essentially invisible java applet like the same applets you use to play, say, Yahoo! games.

I'm also working up specs for a new game server. A really nice one, well in excess of our actual needs. What can I say? I love Haelrahv and I love technology.

In terms of development, I have too many goals to even name. But, my initial project is going to be to work on the psi powers that need conversion to the new system, the magic spells that remain for the same (most of these are done, but psi powers are well in need). Adding psi newbie books to the character manager, fixing the occasional bug, etc. And then my next dev turns to skill system related stuff, because we're all anxiously awaiting it.

But, keep in mind life here is still very hectic, and I'm doing all my work (including this post) from a laptop. Unfortunately while I do have the capability to get a lot of code done in a short time with ideal conditions, ideal conditions are hard to come by nowadays, until I get settled in. Working from a laptop while you sit on a couch or on a stool at a bar isn't as convenient or pleasant as it might seem. Oh how I pine to have my desktop system on a decent desk and nothing but blaring music.

Until then, I'll keep plugging, and the staff has done a great job keeping things going and fresh with the events and bits of development here and there. Developmentally speaking, it's been a slow period, and the effect has been felt. But, I think there's some great stuff in our future.

"BTG" Out!
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy