I am thrilled to be able to announce that I believe it is finally time to begin the countdown to our full-scale promotion of Genesis. Thanks to the hard work, participation, and contributions of many of our members, we are nearly in a position to put in motion the plans that have been years in the making.
Our readiness now is apparent in that:
- IN-GAME:
- The pre-Tutorial has been rewritten to be more friendly, engaging, and enjoyable.
- The Tutorial is now fully instanced.
- The Sparkle Tours are complete.
- Guild councils have responded with activity and willingness to do what is needed in nearly all cases.
- EXTERNAL:
- The revised Genesis Website is nearing completion, featuring hand-drawn graphics by our artist, Denis Loubet and a completely unique and proprietary design.
- Development of the Genesis Client has proceeded with excellent results. The current build features a much improved interface over the fmud client that we currently provide in the PLAY NOW option from our website, and many more features will be added as we reach version 1.0.
- The initial materials needed for promotion have been completed by our artist, Denis Loubet.
- FUNDS:
- The fundraising campaign has been a wonderful success, having nearly reached its goal of 30 participants (only 2 more are needed at the time of this writing) and having raised more than $3,100 for the purposes of securing the resources needed to get us in position to begin promotion.
In preparation for these things, I would like to extend three needs to the the entire Genesis community. This is a very official call to action and participation that I hope everyone will consider.
- Be a part of the promotional taskforce! The initial phase of the promotion itself will involve a very specific task that I am calling on all those who are willing to volunteer to take part in. If you would join me in this effort, I ask you to send me a mail in-game letting me know of your interest and availability. I will then send you the materials and the details of how the promotion is meant to proceed as we approach the appointed time.
- Participate in the Instance Event! In a week or so, I will be running an event (with rewards!) that will be designed to fully test the instancing technology we have developed for the early potential choke-points in the game. More details of this will be posted soon.
- Bolster the community of players! In the month between now and when promotion launches, I would like to see the game really come to life. It is time to start readying your game for visitors. To wait for a few days before promotion to make this appeal would come too late. When these visitors show up, we want them to see a game brimming with life, with activity, with movement, with play. Prepare your guilds. Play as often as you can. Try to see if you can get YOURSELF excited about the game in a new way so that when new faces arrive they can sense your energy and catch some of it themselves. Likewise, begin to think about how your guild will respond should the game suddenly flood with fresh persons. We cannot know what response we will see from the initial promotion. However, if it is what I have envisioned, we will want to have many doors open wide to accept as many as (and more than!) we can handle.
G.