backpack on my back

I’m in the process of rebuilding this blog.  Please bear with the mess.  This current look is modified from an existing theme.  I prefer building my own theme so I’m off to do some work.  Be back soon!

After the announcement that the DRC could no longer find funding for us to enter the cavern and are about to close the doors again, I ventured back into one of my dustier volumes and returned to my old Relto. To my complete surprise, there was a new book just sitting there on the shelf. I have no idea how it got there. Ian hadn’t been in a while either so he hadn’t found it and left it there.

Being the act now and later think type of explorer that I am, I, of course, placed my hand on the linking panel and then found myself in a fairly modern city with the feel of a brand new shopping mall. There are dozens of these “shop areas” known as “shells” reserved for future development and it’s my understanding that this is such a new age that these shells are being written even as I write this entry. This is one of the first major projects put together by the Guilds. In fact as I did some research on the age’s name “Ahra Pahts” via Google, I found Maintainer’s Guild and Writers’ Guild log entries and forum discussions on the subject.

I had my camera with me, but like a little kid at the zoo the first time all I wanted to do was run around from place to place. There’s quite a few interesting things about the place, for instance the water channels running along the sidewalk/streets, the central pillar area surrounded by water, what appears to be a water control dam or reservoir in one centralized area, etc. It should be even more interesting as the Writers begin filling up the shells.

One shell is full however and has quite a perplexing puzzler on the front door. Being an Uru explorer means never leaving any button unpressed or knob unturned you know, so of course, I gave it a go. And of course, it is booby trapped and zapped me to Gahreesen and Teledahn and New Mexico and Kadish, etc. as I stare up frozen at the giant red letters flashing above the control box stating “BEGONE!” And of course, I still haven’t gotten in. So, I found some Maintainers and the Writer of the shell and they are giving me hints as to how to get in. No luck yet though…

click to see larger version

From Ricardo Sanchez
VP of Content and Creative Director for GameTap

Quote:

Hi Everybody,

I have some news that some of you have probably not been looking forward to. GameTap has decided to discontinue the operation of Myst Online: Uru Live.

The decision was a very difficult one and was made for business reasons rather than due to any issues regarding the design and vision of the amazing world that Cyan Worlds and Rand Miller have brought to us. Despite the great Myst Online experience coming to a close, Cyan is still a very valued partner of GameTap, we are on excellent terms, and we look forward to continuing our relationship in the future.

Many of you have made good friends while playing Myst Online, so here is the bittersweet part. Although Myst Online: Uru Live will be completely shut down in the near future, the game servers will remain live for the next 60 days. During that time, both newcomers and existing players can continue to experience the amazing world of Myst Online, explore the game’s many Ages, and interact with other players in the game and on the MystOnline.com website and forums. After 60 days, the title will be removed from the GameTap service, though MystOnline.com will remain live and active for fans to continue to share their passion for this important game franchise.

I know this is not the news fans of Myst Online wanted to hear. I want to thank all of you who have been extremely supportive of the game and made this grand experiment in an alternative MMO format so much fun. All of us at GameTap also want to thank you again for your tireless enthusiasm for the title.

There has been a clamor for information about the status of season 2 for some time, and the reason we haven’t announced anything sooner is because we have literally been examining a wide variety of possibilities for maintaining the game, but in the end, we had to bring the exploration of the great cave to a close.

So thanks again for supporting us as we launched this truly unique game. GameTap is still committed to exploring new genres of gameplay and encouraging bold visions. If you haven’t already tried Season 2 of Sam & Max, give it a try, it is as anarchic as one could hope. And I can tell you from first hand experience that the upcoming Grimm is novel and exciting experiment as well.

Ricardo Sanchez
VP of Content and Creative Director for GameTap

On behalf of everyone at Cyan and at GameTap thank you for the many years of loyalty and support for Uru Live.

Thank you
Ryan Warzecha
Cyan Worlds Community Manager

P.S. The Myst / Uru Community will always have a special place in my heart. I will never forget the times (good and bad) I have had with this community. Thank you for allowing me to be apart of a great gathering of friends and family. Thank you for the moments you have given me.

_________________
Ryan (greydragon) Warzecha
Uru Live Community Manager
Cyan Worlds, Inc.

 

Quoted directly from GreyDragon’s announcement on the Uru Live forums.

60 more days…  Then gone.  So why the move to the new servers?  Is there any hope left at all?

I am sorry to say that I don’t think I’m going to be updating this site any time soon. While I finally have a decent computer running that’s capable of playing Uru, the graphics quality is terrible and I can no longer really enjoy the game like I did. I will continue to log on for sparklies or whatever and I look forward to a second season should one arise, but the reality is, the darned thing runs too slow and looks too bad for me to get much out of it. I just really need a new computer and we’re working on that problem as fast as we can. After completing the art for the Archiver I found myself inspired to draw more and I have gone back to drawing and illustrating with a new fervor that I haven’t felt in years. I actually feel I have a real direction now after many years of feeling like just a housewife and mom. So I am trying to earn myself a new computer by doing artwork for folks. It’s a very slow process, but the pay isn’t bad.

Anyway, I do hope to resolve the computer issue eventually and I’ll get right back in as time permits, but for now I’ll just leave the site up as an archive.

By the way, I tried to burn a backup of all my screenshots and my family photos one of the last few times I got that old Gateway to come back on. But when I tried to get the photos and the screenshots from the DVD backup to this computer all the backup files were corrupted. I tried to salvage what I could but only got a handful of family photos and none of my screenshots. In fact, the only images that survived the transfer intact were my scanner scans. That was a very depressing few days of discovery.

In any case, I will say sorry and goodbye for now and ask that you check back every now and then and see if anything has improved and if you’re in the market for a portrait or an illustration as a gift or for a business, please check out my art site:

http://bonniegardiner.bpgisme.com/

Thanks!

~Bonnie

I have to postpone everything…  My Gateway crashed and burned November 5th.  I’ll get back as I can.