Mimesis Online from Polish Developer Tannhauser Gate, is a role-playing game that transports you to a far future world where the unexpected and mysterious waits around every corner. An unimaginable catastrophe on a cosmic scale transformed this world, playing havoc with the natural order of things, twisting everything, even time itself, wiping out civilisation as we know it. Universes died, billions upon billions of species vanished, and a new, fragile and barely stable world was born. The beings who survived the catastrophe have tried to rebuild their world, each in their own way, and now live side-by-side but not truely in peace with each other, not truely accepting each other. Nations have emerged, almost completely isolated from each other by nigh-on impenetrable barriers. This is the twisted world of Mimesis Online.

On a regular basis we will feature a developer's diary made by the Mimesis Online development team. In this diary, Artur Jaskólski writes about the game being released soon.

Part 14. "Countdown"

Hi, this is Artur. I'm stepping in for Derek this week while he's away on business. This is my first time writing one of these diary entries; I wrote bits of them before, but never the whole thing, and, well, Derek always started them off for me, so I'm a bit lost as to how to begin. It's not easy you know - just to start off and get your readers interested.

I think I'll start by saying something about the title.

Just in case you haven't heard already, we've set a release date for "Mimesis Online", and now we're counting down the days till the game is going to be out on the net for everyone to play. I guess you can imagine that we're pretty excited about the idea (well, I am, anyway - some of the perfectionists on the team are complaining, but you know what perfectionists are like - always complaining that if they had another year, they'd do this, and change that). But those of us who understand that there comes a time to step back and let your 'baby' out into the world can't wait to see the reaction to the game.

When will the game be released?

December the third, this year. Barring any unforeseen circumstances - anything from an Act of God to someone running through the studio with a couple of huge electromagnets, that's the day you'll be officially able to download "Mimesis Online".
Just in time for St. Nicholas' Day (which, if you're from a country that doesn't celebrate that day, is like a sort of Little Christmas - a good time for giving presents).

We decided to give a present to those people who decide to order and reserve themselves a place in the gameworld now - this is our special preorder scheme. Anyone ordering the game in pre-release will get extra weeks of gameplay for free post-release. There's quite a few people who have already taken advantage of this offer, and it really warmed our hearts to see that we have fans with that kind of faith in us and in "Mimesis Online". I'm sure they won't be disappointed.

So, it's time to take stock before the final countdown. I started the ball rolling, finding investors, bringing the team together, and letting Marcin's ideas be developed by myself and Waldek, and Tomek and others. How do I feel now?

Pretty good. It's been two years and a bit, and we came in on time with almost everything. There's things in "Mimesis Online" that are things I've wanted to see in a game for quite some time - the PvP possibilities and combat in general are things that I'm pretty proud of. We had our delays, like every computer project, and there are some things we resigned from, like putting spoken text in speech bubbles beside characters' heads and some of the more exotic (read: impractical) skills and knowledge's - fashion springs to mind, as does gardening. But I feel the delays weren't too bad, and the most important things are there. The plot, which will slowly be unveiled before your eyes. The missions, all prepped by our game masters. The five PC races - two to be in on the action from the very start, the other three waiting in the wings for their moment in the sun (Derek compared that to the way White Wolf would add new Vampire clans to the world every so often - I guess some of you will know better than me what he meant by that). And the graphics - that's what I'm most proud of, and most satisfied with.

We've worked real hard all the time to come this far. After the premiere, it'll be nice to take a bit of a rest.
Work on "Mimesis Online" is going to continue post-release. We'll be busy making new patches, developing a new PC race, that will join the others - well, it's new but the Beta Testers have already seen in. The beauty of "Mimesis Online" is that it doesn't matter when we add something. It's all designed to be 'painlessly modular'.

When the game is released, I'm taking a week off. I owe that much to my girlfriend Ania, for all her patience during the last two years. I'll hide my cell phone, and just vanish.
Sometimes I envy Tomek and Derek the luxury of not having to have a cell phone.
So, I'm anxiously counting down the days, and looking at the team putting the finishing touches to the work. I can't wait to see your reaction. I'll be waiting to meet you in the gameworld.

All the best.
Artur Jaskólski.