Fixing A Prototype

I apologize for the lack of information since we last took down the first Bandology beta. That first beta was released on May 04, 2007 and we shut it down on June 01, 2007 to make lots of changes, fixes, and the like. We were overwhelmed by the positive response and the large audience that played our game (thanks everyone!) Since then, all of the team members either got summer internships or got full-time jobs at various video game companies. We continued to design and work on Bandology in our free time when we could over the summer. So far this fall, all of the team members have been assigned to different semester long projects, so Bandology has remained a side project for most of us. Once January rolls around, the team will be starting fresh and working full time on Bandology once again!

We know we said that we'd be reopening Bandology by October 15, but we quickly realized that there was far more that we needed to fix and adjust before we could re-release it to the public. Instead of giving another date, we'll just follow the Blizzard and Valve method of saying, "It's done when it's done." While we are incredibly happy with the response that we received, there were a number of issues that needed to be resolved as well as a number of features that were hacked together at the last minute simply to kick the game out the door and into the public. We took this summer and this semester as an opportunity to take a step back, look at what we accomplished, and think about what we could have done better, what we could redesign and redo, and very simply, what was broken and needed to be fixed.

To give you an update on just a few of the things that we've been thinking about, here is just a random smattering of ideas and designs that we've been working on:

1. Refined casual games
2. More paths and goals for bands beyond leader boards
3. Different band manager/leader game
4. Better band formation and matchmaking
5. More outfits and instruments

Those are just a few of the features we've been thinking about and working on. We appreciate you all being so patient, and we'll try to do a better job of keeping you all updated.

Rock On!