Hmm…like every time, I will put all my updates in one post such as this one. But yes, my every post has a central theme which I discuss elaborately. I’ll put the unnecessary stuff first, and then we shall proceed with our topic of discussion.

Arevan is being beta tested. I divided the testing in three phases. The first phase is purported to catch the primary bugs which can cause the game to crash or not function properly. When the 1st group of testers were done,  the 2nd group started. The second group caught the bugs that were missed by the first group, played the opposite options in the game (unlike the 1st group) to get to a different ending in the game,checked grammatical or spelling mistakes and mainly fine tuned the game. The third phase,which just started yesterday, is supposed to check whether the bug corrections have led to the creation of unknown or unwanted bugs or not. The plan went well so far, but had started with series of disasters. One of the testers blew up his computer for some peculiar tech problems of his machine and had to wait for 5 days before he began testing. The other tester fell ill..and another one struggled to download a large file (that was mainly my fault). Anyway, things got settled then after …but thats the reason why things got a bit delayed. I thought of releasing Arevan on the 25th of September, but I had to extend the time because of these delays and to get the game bug/error free completely. So if things go as planned, Arevan will be released on the 29th of September, 2010.

Regarding the website overhaul,that might not happen anytime soon because I got ditched twice by two different web designers who ’sincerely’ promised to deliver the project on time and never bothered to even call or mail when the deadline passed the date. When I contacted, they took their own sweet time to reply a well written apology letter with no signs of progress. I’m so pissed off with such demonstrations of unprofessional behavior and irresponsibility, that I thought of stopping the site maintenance for now. And moreover with the release of Arevan, I might not find enough time to work on the website back end (as these guys delayed happily without any notice). I thought I’d get the site revamped by the 15th Sept so that I could spend time giving it the finishing touches, but my bad luck.. May be sometime in near future I might be able to do that hopefully…..

Any way, I’d whined enough, so now let’s get to the topic we wanted to discuss. I thought of reminiscing people who really helped me a lot and supported me through thick and thin. Some times their support ranged from verbal assurances during difficult times, some times in forms of suggestions/advice or some times in helping me out with stuff,etc. If it weren’t for these people, I would have never made it to where I am now. So I call them my real life heroes, yes, not one but many . None of their contributions are to be taken in a small way. Each of them enriched my life personally or in terms of my business or professional knowledge. People often get help when they are often recognized, respected or hold a good position in life in some way or the other. But these people helped me when I was a NOBODY. I might get many more people to help me out after I can do something worthwhile with my indie life, but I can never forget what these heroes have done for me. I shall always remain grateful for their support, be it big or small. It would be unfair to put one before the other because all have been equally valuable in my life. So I thought of listing them alphabetically by their names (or usernames) to give each of them my humble respect. If you want me to remove your actual names, please forgive me for putting it up in the first place and just shoot me an email. I just thought to let everyone know that how great you have been, so have put up your real names. Now let me introduce you to MY HEROES OF THE YEAR 2010 -

1) Amanda Fitch (Amaranth)

2) Damien Aldorlea (Indinera)

3) Daniel Neway (John Wizard)

4) Deity (Denis)

5) Delacroix (Bruno Glening)

6) D-Squall (Danniel Silva)

7) Elder Prince

8)Jakub Riedel (Panzerflakes)

9) Liza

10) Niki Hunter (X-Box Sudeki artist)

11)Reverie

12) Sharon Hanlon (Shaz)

13) Tina (Angel_Wings)

14) Vijay Sinha (Keeznah)

15) Yadu Rajiv

16) All my customers who have stayed by my side even when they faced problems or the site was down without much complaints. They always notified me of updates, communicated their problems and offered valuable suggestions. In fact Arevan would have not been possible if they didn’t give me an extensive insight as to what in an RPG makes them like it (in elaborate details).  The Customer Loyalty program was designed especially for them to acknowledge what they mean to my company and me personally.

I’m sad of the fact that I couldn’t put up the names of many many other people who have contributed or supported me at difficult times. To them, I’d like to say - I haven’t forgotten what you’ve done for me, and I can never repay for how you’ve helped me.  I just have no words to express my gratitude for your support…..

In fact I also thought of including names of my friends who haven’t helped me directly any way in my business, but had been by my side whenever I needed them. But I shall reserve that for another topic; it’s better to keep things separate and neat.

And last, but not the least, I’d like to give my sister (Rifle100) a bone-crushing hug for being with me through thick and thin. She had not only helped me in making the maps or beta testing Arevan, but also improved the game with merciless criticism when the essentials went missing. She cannot be thanked, she doesn’t deserves to be thanked…it will be too less compared to her contribution at her age.  She is just what I thank God for to be with…..<3

Edit: I’m tired correcting my typos, so please bear with it