Hello all!

We're currently gearing up for two big events, firstly we're getting ever closer to the start of internal alpha testing, when we can really start to mold and shape the gameplay into something engaging and dynamic! It's really exciting to see the game start to take shape and evolve into something that's fun to play and so we'll be making sure to keep you updated on progress. Secondly the website is starting to come together ready for a launch soon, more information on that will be posted here as it comes in.

Twitter
Just a little reminder to all of you to check out our Twitter feed and make sure to follow us if you're a user. We update there a lot more frequently than we do here, so it's a great way to stay up to date with the latest development news.

Staff
Stubby and Kohan are two recent additions to our team. Stubby is noted for producing palmtrees out of displacements (no, really) and for being an all round solid level designer. Kohan needs no introduction on these forums. So he isn't getting one. He is programming though. I suppose that is an introduction of sorts. Blast.

Media
We've also got a little present for you all in the form of a fantastic piece of reference art (used specifically for getting a feel for the geometry) from Ccarcia3. I should preface this with a note that this was her invention and not based on a particular brief from us. This is not necessarily reflective of the game's art style, it's merely a possibility for a lighter class. Take a look!


Donate
I've been working away on our new website for a couple of weeks now and it's really starting to take shape. I'm currently preparing some frameworks ready for integrating the game with our player management and statistics systems and developing with deeper integration with the new forums in mind. We should have some really nice new features for you all to play with when we launch the new site!

On that note we'd be incredibly grateful if you could spare a small amount of change to help towards our costs, we're currently investing in a new hosting solution which should be a lot more robust and less error prone than our current system (I receive a couple of thousand database connection error alerts a week), providing a much improved forum experience and allowing us to easily scale up for the launch. Any extra donations over our target will be put towards the ongoing costs of development and testing.

We have just over £200 [$330] to raise in order to keep things running smoothly and so any amount is greatly appreciated!

Anyone donating over £5 [$8] will receive a special supporter status on the forum and in game (on release!).

Anyone donating over £15 [$25] will receive the above, along with a mention in the credits and access to a preview version of the game prior to launch!


Have a good weekend!

PS: I'm still working through the email backlog, but I've noticed some from a couple of you. I'll get round to answering them as soon as possible!

PPS: We've just received a fantastic looking application from a concept artist, so watch this spot for more information on that!

PPPS: Any spelling or grammar mistakes, blame Stieffers. I haven't slept since Monday. Not that it's his fault. Hm.

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God.

Neat concpet, reminds me of a race from WoW.

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"I hope Draken and #'s will get picked up by communities that actually deserve them."

gayest race ever

also fucking stop stunning me i'm trying to heal

tempted to donate

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You are now breathing manually.

sounds awesome guys keep up the good work.

and wtf palmtrees? pics or gtfo

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The link was in the post, but in case you missed it: http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...ics_a70001.jpg

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God.

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11:29 p.m. - ☢ AZgAg: did the fgd was moved?

Many thanks to Azgag for donating! You'll receive your status shortly and be added to the release preview list!

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God.

so what happens when 2.0 bombs and sf turns to vaporware?

Does azgag (i always thought that sounded like someone choking on a penis) get his money refunded?

inb4 you'd know what choking on a penis sounds like

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sf_skiff

I'd love to donate but theres something about the new robot art style that kinda irks me.

As with any donation, no, as it's paying for a service actively being used. However if that was to happen (and it seems unlikely, I don't think it's possible for SourceForts to actually die) anyone who was on the preview list would receive the current build as a parting gift.

We'd also almost definitely be open sourcing this if anything went wrong and development stopped, so I can't really see it happening. For all the developers to leave at once is quite improbable, mods don't operate the way development houses do.

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God.