After the old volcano at Cyclops erupted Thursday a week ago, robots have seem to have taken a interest in the area. As the area is previously known to be hot spot for robot activities, initially this wasn’t a matter for concern. However, it appears that their presence is increasing at a rather alarming rate.

The eruption have also had some influence on aquatic species, and more fishes are spotted at different locations around Eudoria.

I want to address three different areas of development in this statement. First I want to take a peek on some new stuff never before seen on Calypso, followed by a status report on old pre-VU10 systems not yet available, and finally share my thought and ideas on what FPC’s grand goal and ambitions are.

First Planet Company has some very exciting stuff going on for 2010. In mid February the next addition comes to the Planet Calypso colonists – the preview of the Quest/Mission system! This preview will contain a limited number of missions both for us to show what can be done but also allowing FPC to gather feedback in a controlled environment. A few weeks later we intend to release a large number of additional missions and will continue doing so for future releases to come. Missions will come in various forms, some ranging from assignments or jobs (typical MMO “grind” quests) while others focus on the experience, background and storyline of Planet Calypso. The mission system is a very advanced tool that MindArk has developed allowing for some quite interesting and unique-feeling experiences. Expect the complexity and depth of the missions supplied to increase with each new mission expansion release.

Another new system MindArk has shown FPC is one of the most anticipated systems ever (I think it was first mentioned back in 2005!) – The Vehicles system. We have had the opportunity to race through the Calypso underbrush at 60 km/h, jumping off cliffs and skidding into lakes. I personally believe the vehicle system is a great addition on many levels, from the actual experience of driving around, using it as tool for day to day activities but also from a business standpoint; who will become the Henry Ford of Calypso? Vehicles are expected to arrive during the spring.

Going back to the missing systems from VU 9.4, there are currently a few left that have not yet been re-implemented into the VU10 generation. The first of the missing systems to make a comeback is the Beauty system which will come in the Entropia Platform VU10.8 coming in February. Soon the avatars can get their hair done and make those nip/tucks needed after the Christmas festivities. The system next in line after that is the Mindforce system, which will come with additional powers and a new revised vision on what it is supposed to be; which part it will play in the bigger scope of things from player activity to the economy as a whole. The old system has been analyzed quite a bit and you can expect a better balance and more purpose in the new one. The MA devs also promise us that the basic system allows for adding additional powers quite easily, which I personally think is ideal as it brings FPC the ability to expand this area as time goes by.

When it comes to Taming, Mentoring, Makeup, and Beacons, MindArk has promised all of these will be back before the end of the year. Once FPC gets progress reports we will share them with you.

On a larger scale of things FPC is working on a Quality Enhancement Programme. We believe that quality is the key to achieving great entertainment and a fulfilling experience. We will not cut any corners when it comes to polish and the finishing touches on FPC content. The term quality is a difficult one to describe. The way we see it is to add beautiful vistas, great looking visuals as a whole, add to the Colonist Experience in terms of sense of purpose and belonging, adding much more lore, mythos, and background into the mix. To take Calypso to the next level and to make it feel energetic; as an entity that lives and breathes. The work of increasing the quality has already begun (you will see an updated server area in the 2010|01 release – we look forward to your feedback) and will continue during 2010 and beyond.

A very interesting reflection was when the Real Estate Development programme was launched late last year. It opened up options for estate owners to customize their lands and real estate. The programme has been a huge success. This has in turn allowed us to put more effort in quickly adding to it and advance it. As it looks right now we will probably add a new section and hire staff that will work full time with only the Real Estate Development requests and expand on it to allow more customization – I would like to see the option for an apartment owner to completely redecorate an apartment if desired and a land owner to be able to add villages and towns to their land.

I wish to close this statement by thanking each and every one of you who partake in Planet Calypso. Without you we wouldn’t be here. The last couple of months have been a bit rough and we really appreciate your patience and perseverance during this time. Together we can take Planet Calypso to the next level in every aspect of the word.

Almost all items can be upgraded to new tiers, and the tier system allows for the connection of a number of enhancement chips that can slot into an item. It works like this: you take an item that you want to improve and begin using it. With usage you increase the item’s tier – like when you get normal skill experience. Every new stage (Tier 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 etc) one additional socket slot opens up on the item. For limited items the progress is fully automatic while for unlimited items you need to manually upgrade the tier when it reaches a new stage.

An enhancement chip can be connected to a socket. Chips have different functions (weapon chips may add damage, range, accuracy or durability, while armor chips add defense, and mining finder chips add range or search depth – to name but a few examples) and can be mixed in order for a player to create their own customized version of their favorite item – would you focus on maximizing your damage, or maybe add range and thus creating your own sniper rifle, or maybe be more economical and reduce ammo burn and deterioration? Or a mix – you decide! And if your current mix is unsatisfactory, you can always disconnect and connect other enhancement chips to the slots.

Enhancement chips manufacturing is a new branch in the crafting system. To create the actual enhancement chips, you need blueprints as well as ingredients. Using them, you can create the chips that you can use yourself or sell on to others.

This addition to Planet Calypso will expand the usability of items, making them better and more dynamic than before, making it an easy system even for beginners. It also introduces a high level game to improve the best items to even higher levels, making the enhancement system something for both newcomers as well as veterans.

But really, a thousand words don’t do this justice. Have a look at these teaser images, showing the state of the land before they were touched by the hands of our Senior game designer Justin Sorrell and World architect Magnus Olin. And then have a look at the images after they had worked their magic.

This is, of course, Work In Progress. Fortunately, it’s progressing forward.

Andreas has worked with copywriting and scriptwriting, dramaturgy and game design for the video game industry and helped with the launch of Microsoft’s first generation Xbox by developing one of the earliest first-party titles for Xbox and Xbox Live. He has since worked with publishers such as Sony, Electronic Arts, Dreamworks and Warner on lead brands like Terminator, Battlefield, Mirror’s Edge, Shrek and Midtown Madness.

He led the creative team at Digital Illusions CE AB, known today as Dice EA, on Microsoft’s Midtown Madness and thereby helped create one of the titles that established Xbox Live as a stable platform for online gaming consoles. After Midtown he worked on the Battlefield concept for console, but was offered the task of leading the creative development of Dice EA’s new IP. Andreas directed the title until December 2005 when he left Dice. This title was eventually released in late 2008 under the name Mirror’s Edge.

Between 2006 and 2008 Andreas was the Creative Director at HiQ Interactive, a studio that uses games as a teaching aid. He was involved in training for companies like Volvo AB, Volvo Trucks, Intersport, JC and Astra Zeneca and won an award for best e-learning in 2008.

He started at Grin AB in June 2008 as a story director for Terminator: Salvation for the PS3 and Xbox 360. He was promoted in early 2009 to Creative Director at Grin and worked on a non-advertized title for a Japanese publisher, but left Grin when it went into receivership in June 2009.

Andreas’ main areas of expertise are leadership in creative environments and project management, molding ideas into practical, saleable results, game design and game dramaturgy plus writing scripts and script editing. Apart from video game design, Andreas pursues a parallel career as a novelist and his stories are published in several countries. Two of his novels are currently in production to become feature films.

Also, VU 10.2 is expected to come by the end of October.

And – as a sneak peek, for the Gateway readers, behind the FPC walls – we are currently working with one of several new content systems. One of the first to come is… “quests”, or missions as we call it! I feel very excited about this and other new systems in the pipeline.

See you on Calypso!