Summer (here in the northern hemisphere, of course) is coming to an end, and given that I haven't provided an update in six months, here's all the latest that's going on with BrowserQuests!™
The biggest news isn't good, unfortunately. On July 17th, 2024, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; I became quite jaundiced, went to the Emergency Room and found out that a cancerous tumor is blocking the common bile duct that leads from the pancreas to the small intestine. The news was actually a blessing in disguise, however--pancreatic cancer is normally not found until it's too late--so I have an excellent chance for a full recovery (I'm scheduled for surgery to remove all the cancer on December 3rd). Still, pancreatic cancer is aggressive and deadly so it's a challenging time for me. Browse my CaringBridge page for all the latest!
That said, I'm still pushing forward with BrowserQuests!™ This past summer, I implemented an "Official Player Leaderboard" system that shows the top 50 players in the game on the homepage. I've also been very busy integrating the novelization component of the game into the system; I've developed 37 complete episodes now, which is roughly a third the way into module #7 of the RPG itself. My goal is complete the remaining episodes (to get readers through module #8) by the end of October. Most importantly, I'll still be demoing the game at the upcoming Gamehole Convention here in Madison, Wisconsin October 17-20! Billed as "the largest majority RPG gaming convention in the world" I will be there all four days to demo the game, make contact with players, authors and marketers, and help spread the word. So, if you're able to attend the convention in Madison this October, be sure to stop by my table in the "demo row" and check me out!
Once I've caught up with all the episodes and the RPG show is over, I'll then have a big decision to make: Either start over and rebuild the entire system in WordPress (implementing features--such as a battle grid--that are missing from the original version) or continue with what's already been built and finish the default Sorrow of Sisla campaign. There are certainly pros and cons to both approaches, so if you'd like to weigh in, contact me and let me know!
As always, we thank our players for their continued support of BrowserQuests,™ their willingness to report bugs and other issues as they play and for their kind donations to the platform. We're also continuing to solicit marketers, advertisers and organizations looking to leverage our banner ad system to raise awareness of their own brands and generally support what we're doing (see our "Call for Marketers" page for all the details).