What's new with blood..

The Blood Weekly Update for 1/06/97. * * * B L O O D G O E S B E T A!! * * *

Blood went into external beta testing last week. The earliest Blood shareware could come out is mid to late February. Depending on the feedback and bug reports we receive from our beta testers, the release date could still be pushed back to make room for level, AI or sound effect changes.

On to the weekly update:

Dan worked on the load and save game code for the beta release. He and Nick also started work on the final interface for loading and saving games. Dan resumed work on AI for burning characters and experimented with code for our AI bots -- all while resisting the urge to play Diablo. He also continued to work on bug fixes and sound placement.

Nick burned the midnight oil to get the beta out, which shipped to testers on January 2nd at 4am. He spent the next day in recovery, and pumping water out of the crawlspace beneath his house. It seems that even on one of the highest hills in the area, the water table still filled up with all the snow and rain lately. Fortunately no damage was done, and with all the rain it is unlikely western Washington will have a drought this summer. Nick is working on the menu and interface code for loading and saving games with Dan.

Craig devoted most of his time to getting the shareware ready for beta testing. He also got a first draft of the game manual ready for the testers. His New Years' resolutions include 1) learning how slice a candle in half with a rapier without putting out the flame and 2) eating more animal crackers.

Jay spent a couple of days preparing the Beta Shareware levels. His work continues on the haunted house, which is now more of a mansion than a home.

Kevin did a few more new sprites and junk for Craig and Jay. He also worked some more on Tchernobog this weekend, who is coming along quite nicely. Kevin finally finished the painting of the player character which will be used in the game as either manual graphics or a splash screen or both.

Lastly, thanks to a few online friends we've discovered a really killer app called "ICQ" from Mirabilis. This is what IRC should have been. Check out http://www.mirabilis.com for the downloadable beta version.

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