So when I posted a while back that work started on that day, well, looks like I lied. Not on purpose, though. The situation in Texas was something I could just not get through to do any useful work. It is really too bad, as I had the time to do work there, but circumstances are sometimes beyond our control.

I really don't know when I will get to the serious work here, but hopefully it won't be too long. If you are not one of the site's old guard and want to know when the beta is up and running, go ahead and sign up and post something in the forum to that effect. Thanks!

Today marks the start of a long road. I hope it will not be too long before changes will be noticeable, however. If you are interested, I plan on allowing participation and feedback of users in the new design. I am going to post my notes on my ideas for what I want to do, and have a place where you can reply and let me know what you think and possibly give me ideas I can use to make the new design even better.

In the meantime, the current aspect of the site will still function as normal - you'll still be able to fight monsters and do the arena and such. That will probably never go away, but it will eventually be relegated to a legacy side of the site.

My biggest issues are that I am only one person (I seriously need programming help), and that my current Internet here in Texas is VERY slow (~100Kbps). This will hinder me, but not stop me. I have been here in Texas for three weeks and I am ready to start doing something more productive. I look forward to it, and I hope you do, too.

The Awesome Theory is currently in the midst of a significant restructuring project. Just today I have made some changes you might notice. Chiefly, I have started the process of killing off the current incarnation of the rank system. A new rank system will eventually take its place, but it will be based on your progress in the game part of the site and not care about Axioms or forum posts or the like.

So then, I suppose you want to know what this restructuring will consist of? Lucky you, as I am happy to at least partially spill the beans.

The most significant change will be with how the site is logically arranged. Currently, the social aspects of the site and the game aspects of the site are completely interwoven, leading to situations where you might be answering a question of the day, see a monster and be led off on a trail of fighting and killings things, perhaps never to come back to that original question. I call this the "Ooh, Shiny!" effect. Frankly, I don't think this makes much sense.

The new design will separate those functions. The site will have a social area, which will include questions of the day, battle voting, axioms, the forum, and the like. The game area will contain everything pertaining to fighting and killing monsters and other users and such. These two areas will maintain the same overall style of the site, but will likely have differing designs.

Further, the entire nature of the game aspect of the site is going to change, and change radically. Instead of mindless monster killing to get more powerful, a clear purpose and goal will be installed. Also, instead of having your own personal avatar fighting monsters, you will create a party of up to 4 people to take on monsters. Obviously, this change is major and will precipitate many more changes.

Equipment will be simplified to make managing it for 4 characters easier. The class system will be overhauled to allow for 15+ ultimate class destinations instead of just 3. The battle system will remain turn-based, but will add a quasi real time element as well as more strategic components. The stat and attribute system will be reworked and the damage formula totally redone. There will be elemental attacks and defenses and different resource types. Class and Attribute points will go away, replaced by master points that will perform the function of both.

All that, really, is just the start, just the tip of the iceberg if you will. Many of those aspects I have thoroughly planned out and only need to implement them. Others are more like nebulous ideas in my head. All will happen in some shape or form. Here is a glimpse of the future:

You'll start by viewing an initial plot depiction, and then be allowed to create up to 4 characters

Anyone who has been coming here a while will probably notice that traffic has been way down lately. There are very few regular visitors left, and the occasional visitors are visiting further and further apart.

I don't really know what caused this signficant downturn. The Awesome Theory has had downturns before from which it recovered, but none this bad. I fear that before long, no one, save myself, will be using the site more than once in a great while.

This saddens me, and in some ways makes me want to call it quits, let AT fade into the sunset. I have always drawn my inspiration to make the site bigger and better from my users - the more people visited the site, the more I wanted to make it more awesome. Now, with fewer and fewer users, my inspiration and motivation has hit a valley.

This is not the end of AT, however, and I doubt it will ever end. My costs are relatively low, and even if I do not perform new development for the site, it can run as is ad infintum. That is not my plan, though.

For those who do not know, I am in the military, and the military has determined that I must retrain into a new job. As a result of that, I must go away to school for three month and then move to a new base in Georgia. I leave for training at the beginning of February and until then, much of my free time will be monopolized by preparing my house to be sold while I am gone to my training in Texas.

Once I get to my training, I should have lots of free time, and I expect to use a good chunk of it reviving this website - which will include significant changes, perhaps even including a new look. I am not sure right now. I hope that the time away from hardcore development (I may still do little things in the interim), will refresh me for the work ahead.

The biggest thing I will likely do in the interim is write my own picture management application to replace the one that broke when I upgraded to phpBB3. The reasoning here is that it will help out my family website as well as AT.

In conclusion, AT is not going away now, nor anytime in the near future. When active development continues and AT returns in full shiny awesome glory, a news email will go out to everyone. In the meantime, continue to come by or not as you will, you are welcome to, of course. I will still fix bugs and problems you encounter. Thank you for your support and understanding. If you have any questions or comments, post them in the forum.