"That's right! The long-awaited demo 3 of our main project has been released for download! It includes a cumulative bug fix, a new, completely reworked quest system, a whole new region, the workings of a new quest that will be vital in the main storyline (Quest story courtesy of Spencer, AKA "Game Pro"), some new graphics, a portal system that will allow you fast travel between cities with a portal room, and more!

Unfortunately, due to some large bugs, we have been forced to omit the battle system once again. We hope to be able to release it with Demo 4, along with an economics system, a menu system (in which you can actually select your own answer instead of using the forced one. It will also allow you to access your inventory, your quest log, etc), and possibly even player-owned houses, where you'll be able to store your equipment! We also hope to release a few new areas, and loads of more quests. Demo 4 will take a long time to complete, but it will be as close to a fully-working game we've ever had! Demo 4 may be the second to last demo we have. Once we design all of the targeted technology, we will only have to add more storyline, a few bug fixes, etc.

And yes, in case you're wondering, we have plans for a sequel to Pheonix. The sequel will take on a more dark edge to the whole game. You'll find out why at the end of the first game.

Anyways, go ahead, give it a try! Download it from our website! (http://www.joquanpro.info/downloads.html) Be sure to let us know what you think!"

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That was taken from the official forum announcement. As you can see, we have big plans for the next few demos, and a sequel ALREADY?? Doesn't seem possible, but we're getting that close to being able to finish the game up. The thing that will take the longest will be actually designing all of the maps and things like that. It took me several months to finish the new area in demo 3, and it's not that much, other than a city. :P Anyways, I hope to be bringing on a few more members of our team to help out. Our Silverlight development has been postponed, unfortunately, due to lack of funds and team members. :( Ancient Palace is nearing its 1.0 beta release, I plan on working on a few more levels, working with the menu system a little, and then releasing it.

If you want to help the team out with our projects, feel free to do so. :) We have fun, even though we're all voluntary.

Anyways, thank you for all the support, and please enjoy demo 3, I put some serious hard work and time into it. :)

Well, we are possibly launching browser-based games via Silverlight. If we do this, we can potentially create online games such as RuneScape. (That will be a while after we create some basic other types of games. We may create our first few games so you can do single-player or something like an 8-player multiplayer tournament mode.) This is only a possibility; we're working on preparing it. We're getting Visual Web Developer 2010 Express with Silverlight tools as of now, and we will try working on some games. If they don't work out, we'll go back to free downloadable games.

Wow, this school year was long and hard for me. Today was the last day of school, and when I say the last day of school, I mean it. My school is closing next year. It's sad, but the next school has more opportunities to help me with my career, such as business math and web design, etc. Anyways, now that school's out, I can get back on schedule with Pheonix and Ancient Palace. That's right, Ancient Palace 1.0 is REALLY close to release, and Pheonix demo 3 is at 98% finished. It's going to be an interesting next few months. ;)

Hello again everyone. As some of you know, Ancient Palace is in development. It's nearing its finish for the Beta 1 release, which after that, we will fix any bugs that we hear about from the players. We hope to release 1.0 final in less than 3 betas, but if necessary, we will add more betas. We're working on the official forum/site for Ancient Palace, which you can view here. Rest assured, beta 1 WILL be released before the year ends. ;)

Hello all! It's been over a month since  I've written one of these, so here it goes!

I have been thinking that I should hold an internal studio team, which would operate from my hometown, which would handle the main development of our games, as well as most of the customer support, community management, site management, etc. We'd still have work-from-home team members, but we won't put large responsibilities on them, unless they wish to. However, if they don't keep up, we will have to reduce their responsibility and involvement in the project.

This is not finalized, but I think it would be a very good idea to do this, that way we could keep the development more organized, more on schedule, more efficient, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY grateful to my current team. They have made the studio what is is right now, but like I said, I feel that our internal team would keep it more organized and on schedule, as I realize that many things crop up in real life. Also, recently, I've seen a massive decrease in team activity. There's about two team members who are actually logged onto the forum every once in a while.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE'RE HAVING TROUBLE WITH FINANCES OR ANYTHING! WE ARE STILL ON SCHEDULE WITH PROJECT PHEONIX AND ANCIENT PALACE!

Demo 3 of Project Pheonix could be out within a few months. Since I lost some data because of the stupid engine error, I got behind again, but I'm redoing any lost quests/dialogue/locations, as well as a possible battle system. (Which could add a little more time, but it would be more fun to play this demo, instead of wandering looking for things to do. ;)

2011 is going to be a big year for us, possibly bigger than our "Year of revolution"! We have many things that we plan on doing.

First off, we are really going to delve into Gamini. (In case you didn't hear, it's our newer minigame site) We are going to try to finish Ancient Palace, and quite a few others.

Secondly, we want our community to be able to contribute to the project other than by supporting us and spreading the word. We have launched a new program: the Voluntary QA Team. What it does, is it allows the community to test our games without being on our actual team. If you're interested in it, please go here.

Thirdly, we want to get Dimension Softworks growing fast, so if you'd be so kind to promote it, and let people know that we're looking for staff.

Lastly, we are planning on doubling the size of our studio team, and possibly tripling our Community Management team, if at all possible.

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I have some of my own resolutions. First off, I plan on continuing my education in programming. I am currently learning more JavaScript and I am doing some Visual Basic. I plan on finishing Pt 1 of my JavaScript course this year. (It's about a 300 page book, with examples that can take up to an hour or more to complete. I also have regular school to deal with, so that's a setback.) Then I will move on to Pt 2, which is advanced JS, then onto Pt 3, which is professional JS. I also plan on finishing Pt 1 of Visual Basic. (This book is around 600-700 pages of examples that could take hours) Anyways, after I master these languages, I will move onto C++ and Java. (Same curriculum) It will just give me more possibilities for programming games or software!

Thank you all for a great year, and I hope to see the same support and spirit that I saw, in this upcoming year! :)

Well, I am being a hypocrite by posting this log entry (Read the previous log), but I couldn't hold back any longer! We are going to start the development of a new stealth-based game similar to the gameplay in the Thief series, but rather than being from the first-person perspective, it will be from third-person, similar to the Assassin's Creed franchise. I cannot reveal any story info, as of now, but I am going to say: I'm really exited about this game! Just keep your eyes out for any more clues hidden in our site or forums about this game!

Well, unfortunately, because of some issues I've had with my computers, I haven't had ANY time to work of Project Pheonix Demo Phase 3. :( I was originally hoping to have it out by Christmas. 25 days is not enough time to finish much of the work that I am doing on it.

This Christmas, I am going to run a competition. It will be a story competition. I can't release any more until I start it. Whoever wins, will have a permanent Gold Membership on our forums, and an honorary Christmas medal, called "Christmas Story...maker". (Clever, huh? :P )

If you have been on the forums recently, you probably have seen something about Tony's new project: Project Hawk. If you want to learn more about it, go to the news section on our forum.

Anyways, I will pretty busy during this month, as my birthday is only 4 days away, and I am always busy around December, so I wish you an early Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! I am just here to inform you that I have discontinued the development of Project Pheonix TEMPORARILY. I got a new laptop, so I need to transfer the files from my old one to my new one. I can't seem to find my flash drive, so I haven't gotten around to it. :P Once I transfer the files, I will get back to work and try to develop Demo Phase 3 and release it before Thanksgiving at the latest.


Dimension Softworks still needs more programmers. If you are knowledgeable with any programming languages, please feel free to contact our recruitment department by sending a career request on our Help Out? page.


As some of you may have noticed, we have had a recent spike in members on our official forums. Don't get extremely excited, as we have ruled out 2 of them already as spam-bots. In speaking of the forums, I am going to inform you all that I am still working on our new forums, but the progress was set back. The story goes ;) :

I had Mark set up a forum for me, but he accidentally deleted it, and he couldn't get it to re-upload. So, I went to our forum mod, ford1001, and asked him if he could do it for me. He set one up, and I am currently working on it again, and it should be out before the end of the month, if all goes well.


Happy gaming!
-Jake

We have contacted Dot TK about our forum issue, and they have replied to us, asking what domains we are using. We hope that this will help us with the rest of our issues, so everything will be normal again.

-Jake