The Only Interactive Fiction Publisher in the World

"To me, implementing interactive fiction isn't about just writing some fancy prose. It's about taking the reader to another place, a special place, so they can truly become a part of another time and another world." - Howard Sherman.

Pentari: The Apprentice

An Interactive Science Fiction Fantasy Adventure

The next electrifying adventure in the world-famous Pentari series.

Grandmaster Rilan is captured in the night during a jolting assault upon the guild in Lindon itself. The other sorcerers of Lindon are busy assisting the Governor of Lindon so it falls upon you, an untested apprentice with shaky magical skills, to wield the mightiest of magics as you act to save the Kingdom itself. Can you do it?

Shipping May 24th, 2007

Designer's Journal

Wishbringer

All pre-orders of The Apprentice Folio Edition have been shipped and our primary server in Las Vegas is being configured to execute digital deliveries of our latest fantasy adventure starting first thing tomorrow morning -- on my father's birthday.

All digital orders we have received up to and through today will be delivered via email this afternoon.

Release 1 was confirmed ready yesterday with five more tiny refinements and went right into production. Both teams of testers worked overtime and, call it wishful thinking, I think The Apprentice is our most polished premier release yet.

Happy birthday, dad! May you rest in peace now and forever. I'm doing just fine down here though I miss you terribly.

I haven't touched Second Dawn in days thanks to all the last minute additions to and debugging of The Apprentice.

In the past hour I mixed up a Raging Bull to keep me going in a light mood as I drilled through a megabyte or so of story transcripts.

I've got to say that the two teams of play testers are among some of the finest people I have ever known. At least half the members have worked at least as hard as I have today -- the fact that it's Sunday makes this even more meaningful.

One of my testers went in for cancer surgery just yesterday. He sent a bug report before he went into surgery. God bless him. He came out of surgery fine and will come home to find an autographed folio edition of The Apprentice waiting for him.

In the past few minutes I implemented the swimming pool in the Indoor Gardens and the palm trees that ring that pool.

The palms and the pool appeared in the room's description but the player could not separately address these items. I mean, you really don't have to so it wouldn't be the end of the world if they didn't appear as separately accessible items. At the same time, I think it's the presence of those details that add to the immersion process you go through when you find yourself inside any of my interactive fiction titles.

As a philosophical design matter I relegate some things as mere props that really don't deserve and shouldn't get any extra or special attention.

But then again you never can tell what can help you or hurt you in a text adventure game.

For the record -- Release Candidate 4 is in the hands of play testers and the bug reports have slowed down to a tiny trickle.

The Apprentice goes into production tomorrow. With the production department fully activated all pre-orders should ship before the close of business.

Some five or six years ago during one of my many excursions to Las Vegas I discovered the legendary drink known as The Raging Bull.

I think I was stationed at Danny's Blackjack Table at The Venetian in the dead of night chasing down a massive run when I just knew I needed more energy to stay in the game and win more money.

I asked the nearest goddess-like cocktail waitress for a Red Bull but with a kick.

I've enjoyed many, many Raging Bulls since then to the point where Tommy and Tony (the proprietors of the bar on the first floor of our Matawan location) dubbed ME Raging Bull!

For the past few years it's become tradition for them to salute me by shouting "RAGING BULL!" whenever I saunter in to their establishment.

Sometimes I do indeed order vodka and Red Bull (or rum, which I later learned works just as well) in which case they echo my title again -- "RAGING BULL!"

Heck, they proclaim "Raging Bull!" even if I stroll in looking for a bottle of wine. They flatter me. I smile.

A Raging Bull is a truly magical potion. I'll drink one or two or three of them as I write some blog entries or before a romantic interlude with my wife. Sometimes I'll bang out new interactive fiction while under the influence to bring about some truly astonishing results.

What's the point of all this? I have been QUITE a Raging Bull the last few weeks while I was so enchanted by these magical potions.

How else can one explain my magical feat of taking a title from barely ready to alpha to beta to official release in less than a month?

Thanks to many facets of magic there is no doubt that The Apprentice will launch in seven days. We are on Beta Four tonight and all the little kinks are being worked out. Every last detail is being addressed. I could put The Apprentice on sale tonight and feel pretty good about it.

The packaging is ready. The game is damned near perfect and I still have seven days to spare leaving me plenty of time for Second Dawn and bring her to market next month in time for Zork's 30th birthday.

For the past two weeks I've been getting the giggle fits as I write puzzle after puzzle in The Apprentice giving the reader an ample number of opportunities to create and solve different predicaments -- most of which ending in a comical way.

As you make your way through The Apprentice you'll probably end up feeling like a kid again. And if you are a kid you'll feel right at home! <grin>

But this morning I caught myself on the brink of tears as I wrote of the wounded little elephant and her herd caught by merciless hunters upon the plains of Umbra.

I wasn't so much sad at what I was writing as I was overjoyed at knowing how things would ultimately turn out.

But when I implemented the ability of the player to kiss the wounded baby elephant I nearly lost it.

Here's an interesting article about elephants I discovered in the Encyclopedia Britannica which may be of interest:

Pentari: The Apprentice Alpha 5 is being delivered to three teams of play testers today in time for the weekend. This should be the last Alpha version paving the way for a beta version.

Since interactive fiction is just as much a piece of software as it is a fiction book we do need to use some computer lingo from time to time.

For those of you unfamiliar with software development jargon here's a brief run down:

Alpha Version -- A very rough, nearly finished version of the final product. Many bugs and quirks are expected. Last minute additions and modifications are made.

Beta Version -- The title is believed to be complete and relatively bug free. At this point testing is done with the intention of catching program bugs. Additions and changes are seldom made at this point.

Release Candidate -- This is a version we feel is good enough to sell to the public. We expect to find few (if any) bugs and barring any major incidents or discoveries, a release candidate is renamed Release 1.

Release 1 -- The very first version of a released title. Subsequent releases are made only to correct bugs that are discovered after the testing period and are numbered sequentially.

Hmmm this material seems so informative I think I'll move it to our FAQ section. :) Needless to say -- we are on target for a May 24th launch. Let me be more clear...

This was the day my father was born and it shall be the day I launch my latest work to honor his memory.

I will not brook any delays and I commit myself to doing whatever it takes to honor my father's birthday by showing him up in heaven what his son down below is doing.

I've never taken a title from alpha test to beta version to release in three weeks before. Even so I am dauntless. I commit myself to do whatever it takes to see this thing through and deliver the very finest interactive fiction conceivable. Call it a labor of love.

I have every expectation to do him proud and deliver a very enjoyable jaunt through the newly-expanded empire of Pentari.

American customers ordering their folio editions by May 21st will receive their copies the day the game is officially released.

I spent the past three hours tracking down an errant word "to" among thousands and thousands of lines of source code.

My plans to cook dinner were canceled. Leftovers for everybody! I was hot on the trail and nothing would deter me.

On the heels of that bug, 16 more reared their ugly heads. I put them down swiftly and surgically.

Remarkable! An honest-to-goodness rainbow was in the sky! We only had a few seconds to snap some pictures...

Pardon my appearance -- I hadn't left my studio in hours and there was no time for any work in the mirror!

Many great philosophers and wise men have said that there is no such thing as a coincidence. Rainbows may figure prominently in the environs of Malinche going forward.

Alpha test is now under way. There will be bugs to fix, explanations to make and a few rooms to add.

Knowing I was rapidly approaching the end of production for The Apprentice, curiosity urged me to attempt to compile the raw source code for The Apprentice and see what would happen.

Naturally there was a train wreck of error messages. I hadn't finished my latest foray in interactive science fiction so I was expecting some "complaints" from the system.

I knocked out a hundred or so bugs in the course of an hour which left me with errors that all came from the missing areas of this almost-complete text adventure game.

I feel comfortable announcing that The Apprentice will enter initial Alpha testing before May. That gives us ALL of May for serious beta-testing and polishing which makes a June launch all but certain.

And that gives YOU, dear adventurer, all summer to explore every nook and cranny of the cities of Lindon and Umbra upon the continent of Umbra far across the Quondem ocean.

Are we getting close to the finish line? You bet we are. I am proud to unveil the cover art for The Apprentice!

The Apprentice is getting much more of my attention the last couple of weeks. That's not because I'm playing favorites between The Apprentice and Second Dawn in any way; it's only because there is an incredible story unfolding within The Apprentice and I am on fire as I write it.

Ideas for Second Dawn dance in the back of my mind as I write all about the Grand Empress Jootie and set her up for her fall....at your hands.

Ironically enough, The Apprentice may be ready for testing before Second Dawn even though Second Dawn has been in production longer. The Apprentice may enter alpha test at the end of this month.

I just completed the 100th room in The Apprentice. I've entered into a new phase of development as plot twists within the main overarching story show up in my imagination and then implemented in the game.

I'm having a blast just thinking up stuff then throwing it in the mix of this fantasy adventure. The best part is that almost everything that I'm conjuring up makes a whole lot of sense within the bigger picture of the story and the crossover with Pentari: Second Dawn.

All told, well over 200 rooms across both games have been completed. If Second Dawn and The Apprentice were a single work of science fiction I'd be wrapping up now and re-activating my playtesters to get ready to drill for bugs in the story.

But I'm not there yet. There's more game area to complete such as the City of Umbra, Queen Jootie's castle, the evil candy factory and the Jungle Room in the Cabin and the Manna Mines. Plus a few puzzles are kinda dangling there....

I'm done grappling with the logistical nightmare of simultaneous development of two massive interactive fiction titles. I have mastered this talent so now it's time to get fancy.

I've been having a great time writing a science fiction masterpiece spanning two different interactive fiction titles. As a writer, it's almost dream-like to be able to tell the same story from two different perspectives.. As a programmer, it's turning into a nightmare to manage this massive coding project!

Today I began writing the endgame sequence of The Apprentice. The beginning is done, the middle is taking shape nicely but the end of the game has been growing in my mind over the past few days fueled by recent events that have inspired me. Today the idea crystallized before my fingers starting dancing across the keyboard.

Without giving it away let me just say that the apprentice will become a master only after he or she emerges triumphant from a showdown with a mistress of illusion; the Dark Queen of Umbra.

I love writing interactive fiction. I could be locked away in my office, sitting in a comfy chair in Starbucks or eating an omelet at the diner, my fingers dance over the keys and simply channel the thoughts of my wandering mind.

Just today I formulated a new puzzle that will lead you to discover one of the dirty secrets of Umbra. I was driving to the bank at the time. Writing good fiction can happen anywhere. Anytime.

My imagination is truly the engine of all this. As I think of how the story develops I just let my mind wander. As I imagine different turns and twists to the story I'm continually prodding myself with that nagging question "Does this make sense?"

Then as I was implementing a log cabin tucked away in the Cryborne Mountains it occurred to me that science fiction doesn't always have to make sense. This thought didn't as much occur to me as simply slapped me upside the head in the form of a less-than-subtle reminder.

Two of of the twelve books on my nightstand that I am reading at present came together in a Ying-Yang kind of a way.

The Three Musketeers and the Zork Chronicles. At the same time. But not simultaneously. Good Lord what a mix!

Can you imagine Alexandre Dumas making the acquaintance of George Alec Effinger?

(See? Your imagination is at work right now exploring all the possibilities... or lack of them.)

I've read Effinger's the Zork Chronicles, uh, a dozen times now. But I never read Dumas' timeless classic even once. Until now. Sure I saw the bazillion different movie renditions. Some of them were good fun. But I never experienced the original published masterpiece before. What a difference the printed word makes -- whether that word is printed on a page or on a screen.

Back to my point. Dumas wrote a swashbuckling fantasy adventure before the fantasy adventure subgenre of science fiction even formally existed. He wrote a very sensible title that moved people through its capitulation to our deeper feelings as people. Every page of The Three musketeers grips you tightly to keep on reading the story as each and every morsel makes complete and perfect sense yet leaves you asking "what next?".

Effinger wrote a super-fun romp. A science fiction master let loose in the Zork world. Superb. Magic. Drawer forwarding. Glorian. Mirakles. Spike. The Autoexec. All of it. Amazing. That novel was all over the place yet kept the Zork spirit firmly rooted within the heart of the story. With the vending machines, the inuit pies of whale blubber, Shugreth the Unenviable and other curious diversions, the reader is asking the same exact question: "What next?"

That's because when you step into that rustic log cabin nestled in the snowy Cryborne mountains you can very possibly find yourself in a totally unexpected place.

Major Sharpe is Not Fat and Sergeant Harper is Not Dead.

These days it's a foregone conclusion that blogs, newsgroup posts and forum entries need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Especially when members of the kook fringe element of any fan base have something to say.

One among a dozen examples comes to mind with a BBC America show I watched today on TIVO-- Sharpe's Challenge.

I've been a fan of the "Sharpe" series since BBC America premiered the series at the start of this summer. He's been Major Sharpe so far as I'm concerned despite his start at lieutenant and his raise to colonel.

I've caught up to the years of broadcasts these past weeks which culminated in "Sharpe's Challenge" this past weekend.

Last week I was not content to wait for what this last movie chapter in the Sharpe series would reveal so I set about Google.

Major (Now Colonel Sharpe) was reported at one site as being a fat bastard better left in retirement. The kook who made the post went on to say that the BBC was wrong to continue the Sharpe series since Sean Bean has become a tub of lard. Needless to say I was distressed by this.

Until I saw Sharpe's Challenge and saw for myself that Sean Bean was as lean as any man -- even thirty years younger.

(TRUTH ALERT -- Sean Bean is very well preserved and stands up nicely to reprise the role of Major Sharpe. Yes, he's Colonel Sharpe now.)

(TRUTH ALERT - Sergeant Major Harper is ALIVE AND WELL at the very conclusion of the movie. Plain and simple -- it just didn't happen. )

I watched the two parts of Sharpe's Challenge this weekend fully expecting to see Major Sharpe portrayed as a fat bastard Colonel called off his farm in France.

And I poured down a few scotch and sodas as I waited for Sergeant Harper to be cut down in a hail of gunfire.

Major Sharpe and Sergeant Harper are in shape, about their senses and able to kick more ass across the globe of the 19th century world.

Otherwise stated -- The babblings of mentally deficient newsgroup bastards, the meanderings of posts made by forum losers and the blogs of the inept need to be dismissed.

I wonder how Bernard Cornwell, the author of the Sharpe series, handled such babbling. I can already guess how -- he keeps on writing more Sharpe books that continue to be loved by fans the world over.

I'm not ordinarily a huge fan of historical fiction but Bernard Cornwell can truly tell a story.

To hell with all those poor bastards who try and ruin the party for everyone for no good reason.

To keep this blog entry somewhat on topic let me add that the crossover puzzle is totally finished in Second Dawn and halfway done in The Apprentice.

In First Light, the starting point of the Pentari series, the core of the storyline was based in a plot by rogue warriors from across the sea who had undermined the Wizard's Guild of Delphin and manipulated events in such a way so as to bring about the most destructive magics ever created by man.

And then they stole them out from under the Guild and proceeded to conquer Delphin, attempted to massacre the royal family and topple the Empire itself.

Seeing Pentari: First Light through to the end and saving the day was up to you.

Now let's turn our attention back to sentence one of this blog entry. Let's zero in on "rogue warriors from across the sea."

That sea would be the Quondem Ocean. The continent on the other side of that large body of water is called Umbra.

As you will soon learn within The Apprentice, your new neighbors don't like any of this one little bit.

Just west of the Cryborne Mountains is a dusty road. Going one way takes you to the familiar... Lindon. Home. Safety. Warmth.

Even though the introduction to my science fiction masterpiece The Apprentice was written months ago I never did tell you how it starts.

And I still won't. But I will say that within five moves of starting this fantasy adventure epic, fate will transport you to the Cryborne Mountains which is many miles away from Lindon. When you arrive, a dark tunnel will irresistibly beckon you to enter....

I'm taking a break from all the time I've spent in the City of Lindon and have departed to the mountains. Implementation of one mountain in particular began this morning with some astonishing results.

The real kick is that I am implementing a mountain range and a candy factory simultaneously. And I'm having almost too much fun doing so.

If you don't understand what I am saying then you must visit Second Dawn's preview page and read all about it these entertaining parallels and intersections.

I've been distracted from game design for several weeks. I'd like to think I had a good excuse for pushing back Pentari: The Apprentice to this summer. I'm only a man after all. Hear me out and judge for yourself.

Her name is Milana. She taunted me and tantalized me for months before finally stepping forward out of the shadows and into the light. I lost sleep at night as I tossed and turned fitfully thinking of her and wondering when she'd make the first move.

Milana is my daughter and my first child. For the very first time I am a father. As you may have guessed by now her birthday is March 31st.

Authors can never come out and just say something, can they? They always need to add the dimension of the dramatic, a sense of theater even.

Yes gang, I'm a bit sidetracked with my first child (both pre-flight preparation and post-arrival adjusting) but I promise you I will not be deterred much longer from resuming a frenetic pace of writing. I feel a storm of creativity brewing in my mind. I plan to unleash this storm any moment now...

Indeed, a new species of fruit born of the sowing and reaping of the seeds of my mind has emerged.

As an apprentice to the grand sorcerer Rilan you cannot cheat on his final exams and I cannot cheat you either.

Some out there may be wondering if I will simply duplicate the exact same game layout in PSD (Pentari: Second Dawn) and just make some changes in PTA (Pentari: The Apprentice).

NO!

With the exception of the Wizard's Guild of Lindon and an occasional intersection between both stories, each adventure will offer entirely new areas to be explored.

Pentari: The Apprentice will give you the adventure that you've dreamed about your whole life. You're not just going to read your next book of magic and wonder, you will be experiencing it for yourself firsthand.

Your teacher is the supreme master of magic across the Empire. And you will make Grand Enchanter Rilan proud as you, his apprentice, step forth into peril and play a hand in the Kingdom of Pentari's future.