Mimesis Online from Polish Developer Tannhauser Gate, is a role-playing game which transports you to a world where the borders between reality and illusion do not exist. 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. For the Universe itself, everything changed and nothing changed - a new order was established, one where entropy rules, without intelligent beings working to hold it back. The beings who survived the catastrophe have tried to rebuild their world, each in their own way. They once again want to enforce on the natural chaos their order, their ways - authority, money, prejudice, cruelty and conviction of their own superiority. Once again, they are showing the unlimited ability of intelligent races to adapt and survive. The forgotten civilisation is waking up and slowly but surely emerging as the "new" civilisation - and how similar it is to the old one.

On a regular basis we will feature a developer's diary made by the Mimesis Online development team. In this diary Derek Handley talks about the upcoming beta and continues the P&P Roleplaying tests that have been performed to see how well a player could get into a world that far removed in time from ours.

Part 7. "Anything but quiet on the eastern front"

Beta, beta, beta...
I'm pretty sure you already know that the Beta Tests are starting this week. The first batch of testers has been selected, and in a couple of days, they'll get their account registration instructions. And the games will begin.
So it's action stations at the studio. We've known that this week would see the Betas start for a couple of weeks, and we've been working on the game for a long time, and we are ready. It's beginning.

Of course, there's still things to be done. There will probably always things to be done, but this week being this particular week makes what has to be done seem ten times more important and twice as 'big', if you see what I mean. From the routine - making backup copies of all the files - to the work that's only connected to the Betas - deciding that a particular creature animation won't be used after all, and writing the letters that will go to the Beta Testers - all our work seems to have taken on an exciting urgency. There'll probably be a couple of nearly sleepless nights for us this week to get everything to the stage we want it to be at.
We could probably get things to a stage suitable for release without those sleepless nights, but the practice with late nights may come in handy later, when the studio switches over to a 24-7 work system - as soon as the Betas get into full swing, there'll have to be game masters here at all times.

Actually, I think game development always involves a burst of intensive work at the end, and, as you are all aware, often some delays. That's because games are creative projects, and the creators always want to do just one more thing before their baby goes out into the big bad world...just one more thing, and then it'll all be perfect. And it's because they are computer projects, and I'm not saying anything bad about computers, but from time to time they can throw you a real curve ball. You know what I mean.

...And Roleplaying
Beta, beta, beta...it seems to be the only thing I write about these days. But I still want to tell you more about the pen-and-paper Beta Tests of the game we did here at the studio and elsewhere.
The group of players that I'm going to write about don't work at the studio - one of them is working on a short story for us, but he doesn't work here full time, and the others have never even been to the studio. I picked them as players because I wanted a group of players who knew nothing about the world, and because I trust them not to give anything away about the game before it's actually released. It was an experiment to see how well a player could get into a world that far removed in time from ours.

I'll skip the whole character creation and introduction to the rules bit, and get straight to the action. The characters are: Nil Gefford, a Human medic and xenomedic; Iridia Devson, a Human cyberweave expert; Desaf, a Hirudon access field navigator; and Jezkirriak Mon Hyel, one of the Voidseer Kin. They are travelling from a neighboring land to Saderton city - the first two are looking for work, the Hirudon is their guide, and the Voidseer is looking for answers...

The morning of 03095692 is a dull, cloudy one. The sun never seems to pierce the sky above Saderton city, but today you could swear that there's no sun in the sky. The oppressive heat is pushing citizens' nerves to their limit, and the sight from the city towers isn't helping. Out to the northeast, smoke is rising from the fields in four places - thick black oily smoke, reddish-tinged at its limits. A sec-res team of Sentinels and Voidseers has been sent out to investigate the source, but the group travelling to Saderton city are already there. They were there when the whole thing started.
They were halfway to the city when all hell broke loose. It was like being caught inside the crater of a volcano. Without a sound, without a warning, four gouts of earth and flame were thrown up high into the air, each no more than seventy metres from them. When the dust settled, they could pick themselves up. Nil Gefford saw to their injuries, his medikit assessing their state, and setting them with appropriate doses of biomesh fluid. Looking around, they could see four deep wounds in the surface of the earth around them. The thick smoke pouring out of the holes was obscuring whatever was down there...

Iridia wanted to move on. 'Inim will hone in on this like lightning, and I didn't come here to play scavenger food.' The other three wanted to know what that was that had nearly killed them, and tried to convince her to stay. It took the argument that information is as valid a currency as any other to win her over. And so they found themselves on the lip of one of the holes, clouds of smoke rising above them. In the depths, the dull red light of weak flames flickered across an incredible scene. The pit was enormous, far bigger than it should have been considering the amount of soil and rock that had been thrown into the air. Dead centre lay a twisted chunk of metal, scattered around it, metal drums, some of which were burning. That explained where the thick smoke was coming from. 'It scans as organic matter and waste', Iridia informed the others. None of them recognized the wreck, none of them had any idea what it could once have been. 'We need to take a closer look', said Nil. Taking the initiative, Desaf stretched out his neural access membranes, and touched the psionic energy field surrounding him. The other three felt a prickling sensation as it enveloped them and began lowering them into the pit. What they couldn't see was that the wall of the pit was broken in one place, broken by a tunnel that had been there before the pit formed. In the darkness, something stirred...

Cliffhanger time.

We're out of time, and I have instructions to write. But I will finish this story next time (unless you ask me not to....).

Take care,
Derek.