For the past three months I've been busy night and day on an awesome new Places system, to replace Dwellings. We're getting very close to being ready to release the new system, and start converting old Dwellings into new Places. In anticipation of the launch, I've made some new Forums just for Places, which you can see here. Have fun with those!

Thank you all for your support with the laptop issue. That's now sorted and there's a working dev machine. Things have been somewhat hectic so there are not many major, visible changes to speak of, but here's what's been going on:

Puzzle Combat
Another 40 monsters or so need targets, then this is complete. Combat on the Island can now take place under a non-compulsory 'lights-out' puzzle system where players can pause to strategize about their next most intelligent move based on the monster's status. We've heard you in the combat thread, cheers for all your feedback. Buffing and HP algorithms are being tweaked a bit to see what can be done about fights, but bear in mind that you may be experiencing a Pocket Protector effect when you're suddenly thrashed -- you've gone for something with defense too high for you. This is a new combat system; give yourself a bit of time to accustom yourself to it (and forget how easy you used to have it).

Watcher Content
Keep your eyes out for another chapter of The Watcher plot sometime in the near future. ;)

Petitions System
Plans for an improved petition system to better serve you lot and make the mods' jobs easier are being drafted up. We try our hardest to keep Petitions from falling through the cracks or languishing. It does happen sometimes with the current system, however, and we're looking to change that. Planned features: a means of flagging petitions as public, so players don't double-report the same bug; titles on the petitions, better organization, better alerts when things are marked Urgent, and lots more.

Bugfixes and Tweaks
Props to Beeps -- we've finally got around to taking a look at some of his suggested bugfixes and tweaks, then gone ahead and implemented them. No more 'CavemanJoe has been slain, a Titan by 0' read-outs in the Daily News, no more Titan kills without req payout, no more accidentally buying a second stake when you've just bought one, and so on. Additionally, it's now possible to take bulk lessons at Maiko's. We're looking at implementing the same (based on Beeps' code) at Cuthbert's. Hats off, gang, you'll probably owe him a pint by the end of the year.

Merchandise
Orders have slowed down at a bit over halfway to what we need to get everything ordered and off the ground to ship. Fancy a mug or handsome nickel keychain? Or do you just want to make everyone around you loathesomely jealous of your entirely dapper threads? Come on and have a look, then: http://merch.improbableisland.com/

Combat Updates
Combat in any browser game is always going to be a bit of a slog, but there are updates underway to try to perk up the Island's battle system and make it more interesting for everyone, whether you're a newcomer to the game or a seasoned titan killin', insult slingin' veteran. One of the current battle modules will be replaced soon by a new and improved and (hopefully) vastly more interesting module. There's been discussion about how to make combat on the Island generally more interesting, and there are exciting things being tossed around -- players will have to get cleverer and the monsters may have to, too. More on that as it develops!

Merchandise
The merch shop is live for preorders at merch.improbableisland.com. There are four designs up, and we're almost halfway to being able to order and ship. (Thank you guys so much for your support.) By popular demand, the first shirt features the New Day design. Supplies are limited for posters and tees, so if you like a design, you should pounce while you have the chance.

Dusting Some Stuff Off
Scrapbots are going to be dusted off and inspected for possible rejiggering. Also up for another eventual look are Mounts and Mount Accessories, though this is lower priority. Season One and Pilot veterans may also remember and recognize Glory if and when it's reintroduced in the near future.

WCG: 400 Years
We've passed the 400 year mark in runtime on the World Community Grid. FOUR HUNDRED YEARS YOU GUYS, OH MY GOD. Four hundred years ago, the newspaper had JUST BEEN INVENTED. Four hundred years ago, we had only recently figured out the difference between magnetism in lodestones and static electricity in bits of rubbing amber. Four hundred years ago, the word 'bestiality' had just entered the English lexicon in the sense we know it today and GUYS SERIOUSLY, imagine what will happen in another four hundred years! (Try not to get sad about it because of what we're doing to the environment!) That's a really long time! Thank you and congratulations to everyone who helped pass that mark. If you're not sure what the WCG is all about, click here!

Okay folks, it's Wednesday the 20th of April, and time for our weekly Monday Update.  Damn I'm punctual.

Mementos
Roleplayers get to use our Item system to make presents for each other, that show up in players' Inventories and act like real game items.  They don't do anything in-game - they're just a tool to help you tell your story.  Since the last Monday Update, I had the idea, wrote the engine, released it, made two addon extensions, and re-jiggered the price to a flat-rate rather than a pre-character cost.  The first addon was Dwellings interaction - go into a particular Room with a particular Memento, and more text will be shown.  The second addon was a feel-good thing - in her book, Jane McGonigal talks about how it'd be awesome if she got a "+1" in doing whatever she was doing at the time - instant feedback is one of the things that make games more fun than real life.  So, you can now attach stats to Mementos - have a +1 Creativity, or such.

Time and Weather
After months and months of work, the new Time & Weather system is live, altering flavour text and graphics in line with the Island's weather and time.  I haven't had this universally-positive of a response to any other module I've ever released. :)

Enquirer Upgrade
In preparation for launching our Merchandise Shop and merging Labs into the Enquirer, I upgraded the Enquirer to the latest Geeklog version and make it all pretty-like.

Stories and Missions
Stern and Punishment is a new plot point that has the player delivering messages and solving ciphers.  What is Corporal Punishment's secret?  You'll have to wait to find out, but not too long...
Jill Baker, Fellow Noob is a plot point for new players, in which you show a fellow Rookie how to fight.  It's like a reverse tutorial.  We'll be seeing more of Jill soon.

New Items
Cookies are a delicious gift for new players.  They're available in the Hunter's Lodge at 25 Supporter Points each, or you can buy a pack of 20 or 50 and have a chance to get a hidden prize!

Global Banter
The new Global Banter chat is still very much experimental, and I've got some ideas to make it better.  We shall see how this turns out.