News: July 1999

July 29, 1999 16:18 EST
Impressions News Flash

What do you mean, where is yesterdays news..?
Oh, that news…would you believe I fell asleep on the couch?

Any road, Impression’s Itchy tells us about a two page screenshot in CGW 9/99 and drops a tantalising hint on the beta…

Oh, there is a small chance I won’t be able to update the news tomorrow as my phone will be disconnected. Next I hope to get hold of an ISDN modem before Saturday to be able to get back on-line soonest <G>

Angel Jayhawk


July 27, 1999 15:38 EST
By Now My Fingers Bleed…

New floors, new bathroom, and part of the new fence. We also threw away close to 6m3 of old floors, old bathroom, and old fences.
Four more days before we move.

The travelers to the Court of Tut-Ankh-Amun are on a gazelle hunt.

Angel Jayhawk


July 26, 1999 16:22 EST
The House That Menkaure Build

Some new ideas on the evolving and devolving of houses have popped up on the forum posted by one of our Caesar 3 regulars.

Then we have a few people that can’t wait for Impression’s next game

Angel Jayhawk


July 24, 1999 17:31 EST
Ancient Armies of the Middle East

Angel Jayhawk filling in here, while Angel Reck’s on holiday and Angel Alexander I is looking for the keys of his apartment.

With all this talk going on about the military aspect of the game (battering rams and catapults!) I just wanted to mention a little tome of wisdom used by our very own warlord Terratheon. Ancient Armies of the Middle East, an Osprey Men-at-Arms publication, contains a large section on the Egyptian armies and their enemies, which include Hittites and Hyksos.

Angel Jayhawk


July 23, 1999 03:15 EST
Processions

The ideas continue to flood in for Impressions to read in the forum. Here’s a post by Innovandora, pondering upon the nature of the processions at the end of the scenario:

We’ve been told that each scenario end’s with that generation of our lineage dying, and then being treated to a funeral parade showing off our possessions as they’re being carted off to be locked up in our tomb where we’ll have a happy afterlife. I do hope we’re treated to watching them walk through our city which we’ve built and are able to mouse around during their walk.

I’m hoping accomplishments are included too. Particularly, it’d be cool to have the veterans of each successful campaign also come out marching for our funeral, accompanied by war drums. This would be a real pay-off for the war mongers –their goal could be to get insanely long parades of just veteran soldiers marching along at the end of a scenario. They could take repeated screenshots and concatenate them together, just to show off on the net.

The rest of the post is in this thread.

That’s it for me for the next couple of weeks – I’m off on holiday. Angels Jayhawk and Alexander I will be filling the hole while I’m away. See you all in a fortnight!

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 22, 1999 03:10 EST
New screenshots

I’m sure that by now everybody knows that the Pharaoh Heaven forum is the place to be to get all the latest news and information about Pharaoh. Well, today is no exception – Innovandora, one of our regulars, has found some more screenshots on the net. If you’re interested (and who wouldn’t be), then check them out here.

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 20, 1999 16:40 EST
Naughty Nilometers

Speculation continues in the forum about the nature of the “Nilometer” mentioned by the Alex Rodberg interview a few days back. Perhaps the following suggestion by Incontinentia is close to the mark:

I imagine what you’d need to do is both build the steps/scale along the Nile bank, AND train/assign a group of scribes to keep records and keep track of your river station.

ie. measuring steps themselves without someone to keep track of them won’t be enough.

Wonder also if we assign a group of scribes to keep track of the calendar, to predict by Osiris’ sighting when the flooding will begin. Kind of hard to run the game engine without a calendar, however, so I imagine that’ll be provided.

There’s more about Nilometers here.

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 19, 1999 12:50 EST
Return of the rodent

Lock up the hamster treats! Keep the children away from the bars of the cage! A small golden hamster has returned to Pharaoh Heaven. Actually, I won’t be here for as long as usual – Friday will be my last update for a few weeks because I’m heading off to Grand Cayman early on Saturday morning. Don’t worry though, Angel Alexander I and Angel Jayhawk will be doing the news rota, so you won’t miss anything.

Back to matters Egyptian, and there’s a thread in the forum asking about trade and the economy. So, if you’ve got thoughts about that, then why not put in a special appearance?

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 18, 1999 14:07 EST
What Makes A New Game A Good Game?

Summer seems to be keeping people away from the forums and, probably, calls them out to the Great Outdoors.
Just a few of the faithfull are visiting and posting and we thank you for your dedication.

Those that are visiting are currently discussing the challenges of a new game in the interview thread. Some interesting ideas on unlocking scenarios an difficulty levels are presented.

Angel Jayhawk


July 17, 1999 16:57 EST
Measuring The Nile

You might have read it in the interview with Alex R. but it seems our lives will be governed by the Nilometer. Some of our forumers are discussing them here.

Apart from that I’m not the only one moving. Our friend ET Flavius is too…

Angel Jayhawk


July 16, 1999 16:48 EST
Getting Ready For My Own Move

Aell I’m ready to spend two weeks renovating/redecorating, and another to unpack and put in the finishing touches to my new place.
However, I’ll do my best to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the forums both here and at Caesar 3 Heaven.

For today we have some more forum input on the interview with Alex Rodberg and we have some questions and remarks on resource management.

Angel Jayhawk


July 15, 1999 15:28 EST
Interview With A Marketing Weasel

Alex Rodberg, Impression’s Brand Manager, tells us some more about the game we’re all waiting for. You can read about apothecaries, oracles for Min, senet houses and nilometers right here.
Comments can be posted in the forum.

Angel Jayhawk


July 14, 1999 14:30 EST
Egyptian Temple Takes A Hike

Al-Khargah. The 2600 year old temple of Hibis in the Al Khargah oasis will be moved about half a mile. Rising groundwater is damaging this temple built to honour the sun god Amon. It will be the greatest move of a temple since they moved Ramses II’s memorial at Abu Simbel.

Just thought I’d mention this bit I saw in today’s newspaper.

The Downloads thread in the forum is also discussing moves and those have nothing to do with Egypt.

Angel Jayhawk


July 13, 1999 15:17 EST
Updated Pre-Release FAQ

He only put it up three days ago, but today the first update of the Pre-Release FAQ has been uploaded. So point your mouse here and click…

In keeping with the Tut-Ankh-Amun story and the illustration above the poll I added a picture of the king’s canopic jars. You can see the larger version in the forum.

Angel Jayhawk


July 12, 1999 15:38 EST
Essential Elephants

Pachyderms are here to stay. Or are they? At least we have a post by an avid elephant fan…right here.

Innovandora, one of our regular contributors poses another interesting idea on the randomness of the game.

Angel Jayhawk


July 10, 1999 09:45 EST
FAQ section added

There’s a brand new section in Pharaoh Heaven today – the FAQ section. But why do we need an FAQ section for a game that won’t be released for several months? Well, it’s currently home to Innovandora’s pre-release FAQ, which contains all the information that has hitherto been released about Pharaoh, and is a resource that all first-timers should check out. Don’t take my word for it though…why not take a look for yourself?

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 8, 1999 05:45 EST
Sphinx jinx

The forum is getting very excited about the Sphinx at the moment. Here’s why:

Some people believe that the Sphinx is believed to be older than the Egyptians them selves, because there is flooding on it all the way up to the head, and they believe that the desert around there was once a lot of jungles. Also scientist believe that all people came from an island, and when the ice age went away, it flooded the island and they all left. That would explian the similarities between the South American and Latin Amercan and Egypt. On that island people would be set aside just to figure out out to build momumentall structures, then some people took it with them when they left, and some decided not to.

That’s Gray Wolf getting all controversial about the age of the aforementioned lion-like structure near the Giza pyramids. Seems like he’s been taking a leaf out of Graham Hancock, who presented a TV programme here in the UK (and who has written a few books on the subject) and contends that the Sphinx was built in something like 10,500 BC.   Interesting theory – to see what everyone else thinks about it and to put your own thoughts, click here.

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 7, 1999 08:20 EST
Magazine mention

Pharaoh got a mention in the current issue of PC Zone here in the UK (the one with a pic of the Horned Reaper from DK2 on the cover). It was given a full page preview article which, overall, was pretty unrevelatory – it was basically a short reprise of stuff that we know about anyway, and there were a few screenshots in there (once again though, nothing new). Still, the article gave a good impression of Pharaoh, and made it clear that the writer was looking forward to it hitting the shelves.

Good to see that the gaming press are picking up on Pharaoh. Remember, if you see any mention of Pharaoh or Pharaoh Heaven anywhere on the Net, then I want to hear about it so that I can add it to the previews page.

Gamestats are running another contest for you lucky punters out there this week. Seems like JT had too many unclaimed prizes sitting around in the office and decided to give some away. As usual, the link is behind the pic.

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 6, 1999 06:00 EST
Abu Simbel

Here’s the latest picture posted by Angel Jayhawk in the Pharaoh Heaven forum demonstrating the wonders of ancient Egypt. This time, it’s the temple of Abu Simbel built by Ramses II (the Great). The 2 figures you see here sit on the left hand side of the doorway (there are 2 more on the other side), and are 60 feet (18m) high. The temple was rediscovered in 1813 by the Swiss explorer Louis Burckhardt and first entered on 1st August 1817 by the famous Egyptologist Giovanni Belzoni. In the 1960s, the whole temple was moved away from the rising waters of the Nile brick by brick and rebuilt at a higher level, complete with a reinforced concrete dome to protect it.

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 5, 1999 15:34 EST
Want a job, guv’nor?

Have you ever wanted to work for Impressions? If so, there’s a vacancy available which is waiting to be filled. Here’s the blurb from their site.

Impressions Games Seeks In-House Tester

Mature, detail-oriented individual sought by Impressions Games for temporary full-time testing position. Responsible for testing, evaluation, reporting on and failure analysis of strategy games. Must be able to articulate testing work in a clear, precise, and constructive manner. Windows experience and a strong interest in PC games is essential. Professional game testing experience a plus. Please note that the position requires the applicant to work in-house at our Cambridge, MA site.

Go to our “Employment Opportunities at Impressions” page for more information.

Sounds like an opportunity not to be missed – getting paid for playing games? Wow! ;).

Angel Reckless Rodent


July 4, 1999 14:12 EST
No News Is Good News?

A quiet day on the forum again, it seems that most of our visitors read but don’t write…however, they do keep visiting as we are steadily approaching the 20k hits mark.

The longest thread on the forum, the Barge Journey is reaching the “sprite limit” as ET Flavius put it. The question is, will the story continue..?

Angel Jayhawk


July 3, 1999 14:27 EST
The Sphinx’ Head

The exact age of the Sphinx remains a mystery. In answer to Incontinetia’s question about current (alternative) theories, I posted one of the more controversial in the pyramid thread.

Some speculation started on the beta testing, probably triggered by the current poll.
Have you filled in our poll yet?

I just had a quick peek at Heaven Central where Angel Alexander is having fun again. I also noticed that we have a neglected corner in Heaven. A corner where goblins and wizards rule.
Have you ever been to Majesty Heaven?

Angel Jayhawk


July 2, 1999 14:43 EST
Pyramids and Invasions

Pyramids are forever on the mind of our forumers. Now I know Sierra and Impressions promise us the opportunity to build them, but there are still a lot of questions and suggestions going round, right here.

Apart from that invasions seem to be on the tip of our tongues. There’s a bit on it in the screenshot thread, but the thread that was meant to be used can be found here.

It seems Angel Alexander was exposed to the trials and tribulations of a high-school movie, not the Mummy.
I don’t know how he survived but he did…

Angel Jayhawk


July 1, 1999 15:03 EST
So You Want To Be A Beta-Tester? Or Don’t You?

The new poll is asking you precisely this question.
My answer?
“I’d love to, but the question would be: When?”
It would be a choice between playing the game or being an angel…

It seems the Mummy(hawk?) ate Angel Alexander as the HGS Main News is still not updated. Could this be the end of our favourite news purveyor?

The forum travelers have moved down the Nile and are planning a visit to Abu Simbel. As soon as they’ve caught their breath after some godly encounters.
No idea what this is all about?
Then read up on the Barge Trip.

Angel Jayhawk