About 6 p.m. we have a meeting again and discuss what we are updating today for the Alpha game so that our tester have some more stuff to play with. They know our routine already as they have been testers with us for years, so by latest 7p.m. they are hungry for a new update. Once the update is through we are all on the server with the testers to see if there are immediate bugs or crashes to be fixed.
This is about the time where we relax a little and get ourselves a beer for a comfortable evening of testing. We hang out in the alpha game/chat and the Parsec chats. Around 8 – 9 pm we are off home then. All to be done again tomorrow

That was all then. Take care @ all

Apocalyptica

Parsec: http://www.bigpoint.com
Pixeltamer: http://www.pixeltamer.net

After lunch, at about 1.30 pm, I start going over the concept of our game in alpha, making adjustments here and there. Adding stuff, so that the others will freak out once more because I just though of another feature. I do a lot of the game design here. I also write the story behind the game. But everything gets discussed with the other founders of course. Also I work on the concept of the next big update to our Parsec. Being a browser based MMO, updates are crucial to maintain long time gaming pleasure and interest for our gamers. Time to check out the Parsec chat’s again and also play a little our new game in Alpha. This is actually going to be a browser based true 3D action rpg and I am spending far to much time playing it.

By now it is around noon and we decide which one of us is cooking today. We are taking turns and one of us cooks for all. Today it was Caos his turn. He is one of our coders and also founder of our studio. Like usual within minutes of him starting to cook, the whole office will fill up with blue smoke. This time he forgot that there was a bread roll from yesterday still in the oven. He usually burns something as he always darts back to the pc to code just that one line in between cooking. Then forgetting he is cooking and not even noticing when we are all sitting there surrounded by smoke. Today he made homemade Hamburgers. Always a treat and it was well yummy.

Now it is time for my mails. There are tons of them everyday and not just spam. Eeek! Usually that takes me about an hour to do, sometimes more if a lot of action on my part is required. Now that I am not actually programming that much anymore but leading the studio I also have the responsibility of all the paper work that goes along with it. That I do next. One of the not so nice parts in my view, but what has to be done, has to be done.

So after my morning chit chat I browse through the forums to see if there are any bugs reported, questions to be answered and stuff like that. Also go through the alpha testing forum for our current game which is in development. By that time the others are here and we have our first meeting. Going through the bugs, ideas etc from the forums. Also we are discussing the day ahead and which tasks are for us to do today. By that time it is usually around 9 a.m.

So, it is 7 a.m. and my day begins. First of all I turn on my comps and monitors and then go and make some coffee. Works wonders in the morning. Once coffee is done I open my browser and check out how Parsec, our game, is going. Open all the chat channels and say good morning to the early gamers. It’s a nice crowd in the morning. Lot’s of the same faces. There are always a few new gamers as well. So we talk about this and that, help the new gamers get started and stuff. Most of the time, it is a very relaxing start to the day. Also I start up my own fleets in Parsec, as I am still playing it everyday…purely for work purpose of course. I also start up my messengers. I use ICQ and XFire actually. Most of my communication is via messenger or email.