There's a Reddit interview with HuskyStarcraft available if anyone is interested.  I'm going to read it in the hopes that it will take my mind off of Finger Gaming's mostly positive review of Carcassonne.  It's such a small portion of the article, but it griped about there being no campaign with a story mode.  Seriously?!  If you want a frelling story, go read a book.  I want games!

BTW, Sonder has announced that the last stage of the free wedding competition has begun.  He and his fiance looked disgustingly young and cute in their video.  I figure I might be able to make myself look like a sugar daddy if I get you guys to vote and it doesn't work out. ;)

Tom has stated that DDT's Wiz-War homage, Last Robot Standing, should once again be free of graphical issues.  This probably means that the server has been updated.  Rants about nostalgia aside, I said that I wouldn't mind putting the game back in the featured list.  It's done.  Enjoy playing and speak up if it gets buggy again.

(It's still a good candidate for dual listing in BYOND Casual if you're interested, Tiberath.)

After providing some interesting interviews on his site, EnigmaticGallivanter has begun the (BYOND) Journalism guild.  Chris Gayle, Fugsnarf and Theironx have joined the staff.  Others are welcome to apply for a position or submit articles.  Thus far, it's been a good source of content that you won't find anywhere else. =)

It's unfortunate that the preexisting guilds are not viewed as a welcome outlet, but burnout and a lack of content from the impressive rate of release are the current concerns.  Hopefully, more writers will pick up the slack should it become an issue...  As opposed to all of you who voted against me in the interviewee poll.  There's no hope for you. ;)

Expect more links in Tech Tree whenever posts vaguely related to BYOND Strategy pop up.  What caught my eye this week was EnigmaticGallivanter's interview with Witches' Chess' Devourer Of Souls and Gamemakingdude's interview with Efencea's Tayoko.  Be sure to check the guild out for more!

Mecha Destroyer JD has posted multiple progress reports for his RTS sequel, Ultra Strife.  He has an interface he finds functional, the attack system is finished and the units from Ultimate Strife have been revised.  The game is expected to be playable very soon.

Xeal has announced that eholay is essentially complete and servers will be hosted randomly.  The "Castle ++" description and screenshots reveal that it's a form of base defense game.  Subscriptions for hosting options will be offered through PayPal.

The Magic Man has released the source files of various unfinished projects.  I have not looked at any of the code myself, but one project that I spotted for Tech Tree readers was a hybrid of team action and RTS.  (R.T.S Game?)  There's also a shooter, some RPGs and more.

Efencea alumni Vermolius has been contemplating the creation of a new game using BYOND.  My willingness to mention it in Tech Tree wavered when it was revealed that "Action Avatar Town Defense" project would be more of an action RPG.

However, Toadfish's recent suggestion to implement something reminiscent of Kongregate's Kongai on BYOND led Vermolius to briefly comment that such a project is underway.  Metagames that encourage playing other games have been of interest to me for a while.  I'd be interested whether or not it mimics David Sirlin's card battle.

Geldonyetich is teasing more strategy mechanics with inspiration from the Space Empires franchise.  He even has his options between RPG and strategy mapped out so there's hope he can be swayed...  'Cause that's so important to do when I know damn well I have not had time to play in a persistent world myself for ages. ;)

Tozza is working on a board game, but his blog isn't revealing any details.  What are the mechanics?  Is it too random to be considered a strategy game?  Speak! =)

Dramstud, creator of the formerly-featured Medieval Conquest, has been a rare sight on BYOND.  Bootyboy has revealed that his poker career might be one of the things keeping him away.  Dramstud recently finished 5th in the Venetian DeepStacks tournament in Las Vegas for his third largest payday.  Congratulations. =)

(As for why Medieval Conquest lost its feature status, it's due to the help files being lost on an external server.  Remember to include your help files in your projects, folks!)

I've been taking it easy after some health problems, but I finally starting writing the Grim Prospects rules that will be offered at The Game Crafter.  Once complete, I'm hoping they'll help me lure some players to help test the mining card battle on BYOND.

No StarScurrier progress was made. =(

I did, however, begin designing a side-scrolling shooter with a set number of randomly generated levels.  Players will be able to choose the level order to affect both the mechanics and the narrative.  I'm currently designing the unlockable characters that will be the focus.  The theme is pretty abstract.  It could allow a graphical artist a lot of room to be creative, but I don't have the work-for-hire money.  I might try to make do with an Atari-era retro look for the early version.

Tom Vasel has been offering a plethora of reviews on The Dice Tower's YouTube channel while HD and Husky offered a 2vs2 StarCraft II showmatch. However, I aim for education when I can find it.

Got news? I'm thinking of posting the Gamasutra version of Tech Tree only once every two weeks so there's more solid news to offer. Recently, it's been due to health and slow news weeks, but it might become regular.