Hello, we'd like to make everyone aware of some changes we've been going through at Guild Software. Waylon, who's been with us doing artwork and various code since 1998, is leaving the company to pursue other interests. We've known about this, and seen this coming for some time, and it's very amicable on all sides. He's a bit burnt out on space games and wants to take on a new project, and he also wants to move away from Milwaukee. This was not a money problem of any sort, he just needs a change of pace and a change of scenery, and that's quite understandable.

For those of you who are now saying "Oh No! They're going from four developers down to three! They're DOOMED!", relax. None of us are very concerned about this change, or any negative impacts it may have on our company. We do not anticipate an impact on overall productivity. Waylon left us with a fair amount of new art content, which we'll be integrating over the next few months. We're also in discussions with a few people over possible positions here at Guild Software. If anything, we hope to grow the company by perhaps two to three more employees by the end of the year. Ray, Andy and myself (John) are still solidly dedicated to the game, and very excited about the direction we're taking. You'll be seeing some of our reasons for excitement appearing in the near future.

You may have also noticed that we've been rather "quiet" lately. Both on our own boards, as well as in the greater gaming community. We've done no interviews or press for some months, and have been keeping a relatively low profile since the beginning of the year. Basically, we've been planning a number of major new changes (which have been touched on, here and there, in the sporadic In Progress posts). We want these changes to be solidly defined and get the basics in place, and then begin to announce our directions and advancements over the coming months. We are shooting to fix many of what we consider to be the major "problems" with our game ("why are we here and what are we doing?"), as well as add a number of very cool enhancements. The nature of these changes will be made public with the new Wiki Design, which is still in development (sorry it's taking so long). I (John) have personally been very quiet lately, and I will continue to be until I get our direction mapped out a little further. But I think (or hope, at least) that you will find our plans worth the wait.

So, to recap, Waylon "Vlad" Brinck is leaving the company. This is sad, and we're all sorry to see him go, but we wish him the best. Guild Software, Inc is still strong, happy and healthy, and looking forward to adding a lot of cool stuff to our game over the coming year. We thank you for your patience with us so far, and we hope you'll stick around to see what we have in store.

John "Incarnate" Bergman
Managing Director
Guild Software, Inc.