April 4, 2002.

In response to a question, Monkey reveals that the Codemasters group working on DE calls itself “Black Studios”. Here’s his post:

Black Studios is the name we gave our internal group ( all the guys on the Dragon Empires Team) for fun. ;)

Prodigy continues:

“Well the lights at my end of the office have been permanently turned off - but thats not why we're called Black Studio..... the reality is far less interesting ;)

Codemasters divided itself up so that instead of a 'team' working on an individual game we would have 'studios' that could potentially work on several games at once.... All these newly created studios were given colours as their names (until they each decided on a new name).

- for example Red Studio is working on thhe next Colin McRae Rally, Yellow Studio is in charge of external development ( such as IGI2, POW, STV:EF, Tyson.. etc etc), Green Studio (which is now called HooDoo) is working on LMA manager and Club Football.... and so on.

We decided that Black Studio was a cool enough name anyway, so we kept it :)

Prodigy

April 21, 2002.

A new Community Liaison Manager, Peter Tyson, posts his first message on the DE message boards. Peter, a New Zealander now based in London, uses the forum name “Calistas”.

Hi from the new Community Liaison Manager!
Hi everyone, I'm the new Community Liaison Manager here.

I've been with Black Studios for a week now, working in the background to get the content to the new improved site organised, get up to speed with the game and to plan for my new role here with Codemasters. We've got lots of exciting things lined up for you all over the coming months and if you check the Forums and the web site regularly you'll be sure not to miss them.

Apart from all my internal tasks, communicating with you the fans is probably the most important thing I will be doing. After all, without the community there is no need for me! So if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch either through the forum or by email petert@codemasters.com and I'll see what I can do.

I'll be floating around the forums regularly so I look forward to chatting to you all in the coming weeks and months :)

Calistas

April 30, 2002.

Screen shots of two dragons are revealed. Avian and Simian. To mixed response.

Quote from the message board:

TobyE
Hi folks,
My name’s Toby and seeing as I’m responsible for the design of the five dragons I think now is a good time for me to step up and make a post to the forum

Not only is it great to see that people have strong opinions about the designs but it’s also quite revealing to have them express their own personal tastes too. No surprises here though, as by it’s nature a fantastical beast should appear as something different inside each persons head. No doubt some people’s hopes will be dashed and others will be realised and hopefully surpassed.

As you know, each Empire is intimately linked with its figurehead dragon. In our planning stages we decided to deliberately avoid what’s perceived as the standard style dragon, which for the most part doesn’t excite us or stand out as being original in any way. We created concepts for a variety of different approaches, including mechanical, elemental, ethereal, Oriental, Aztec, plant and even balloons and kites (we pushed it pretty far!)

We eventually arrived at the animal theme because it was well suited to the game’s botanic feel (wait ‘til you experience the game engine in real time) and provided a deep well of inspiration:

1. The animal theme gives us great opportunity to create dragons that have a consistency of origin but are distinctly different.
2. Because animals are instantly recognisable they are memorable.
3. Additional to the dragons being distinctive in features and colouring, a good silhouette is also very important (flying high / far away). The animal theme is perfect for this. (stubby monkey, skinny bird….)
4. For me, characterisation is the most important thing of all and once again, the animal theme works very well here.
5. The animal theme provides us with a rich inspiration for symbols and motifs.

Coming back to the Empire theme: (Piers has been involved here to some extent and more will be revealed about this in the future [he’s certainly happy with the animal dragons as figureheads of five Empires]) As with the Dragons, the Empires will be distinct from one another in their appearance. If we were to give the Empires numbers (just for now), “Empire 1” is Simian and “Empire 2” is Avian. Although they’re not supposed to be viewed through a progression of difficulty, “Empire 1” is the most tranquil and primitive, with a natural and exotic feel then “2” is a slightly more edgy place, with wooden dwellings built on stilts to honour their quick tempered avian figurehead.
I can tell you that 3,4 and 5 are a significant step up from 1 and 2 and their dragons reflect this through their appearance and temperament (there’s a little twist there too).

As I’ve written above, each Empire is closely related to its dragon. The dragon’s traits will be expressed in varying degrees through atmosphere, carvings, architectural motifs and surface patterns. This will vary in implementation from Empire to Empire and there is also some other influence that will become clear much later.
By and by, if you don’t like the dragon, it’s quite possible that you won’t hang out in that Empire and this is a good thing because it will further the diversity of preferences and beliefs throughout the land.

I can’t really say much more about the dragons at this stage. Once again, It’s very interesting to read the feedback on this. Thanks for these, and no doubt, future comments.

Remember – Most dragons are lizards with wings!

Keep watching the skies

Cheers
Toby

May 14, 2002.

The fourth newsletter is released revealing the wonderful landscapes for the first time.

May 20, 2002.

Dragon Empires was shown in private screenings to industry insiders at E3 however but the forum continues to be guarded in its reponse to the new dragons.

They had originally expected the game to feature traditional dragons and the new fantasy dragons were taking a while to be accepted. The fact that the fantasy dragons were being presented at E3 while the forum was still unsettled about them proved a problem ... but more than that, the website seemed hurried.

The graphics of the monkey dragon used in the top banner of the website was taken from a screen capture during a rain storm and the image was low resolution and had rain streaks.

One of Calistas' earliest responses on the forum was to attempt to defend the site and say it would be updated after E3... but other priorities prevailed and that site design remained until the redesign for E3 the following year.

First in-game DE movie, prepared for E3 is made available to the public. Meets an excited response from the forums.

September 20, 2002.

A limerick competition is announced.

October 22, 2002.

Dragon Empires Stratics portal opens!

October 31, 2002.

French and German versions of the website launched.

November 7, 2002.

Dragon Empires Warcry website is launched.

November 13-14, 2002.

French and German message boards open.

Back to top

January 3, 2003.

A box art survey is released showing five different versions of possible cover art. Discussion on the forums prefer the eventual “winner” of the white background and profiles of the two twins, who are revealed for the first time. The final winner was announced in March.

January 14, 2003.

Calistas awarded Spokesperson of the year at the RPG Vault 2002 awards.

February 12, 2003.

Calistas and DeeDee (Peter and Georgina) were to appear on UK TV on the “Richard and Judy Show” but due to time over-run Cal doesn’t make the cut. Anonymity preserved!

February 25, 2003.

A House of Commons Chat where not_bob asked Calistas “do you have Kittah's that go raaarr!” prompts the Kittah thread on the boards. Probably the longest running joke on the forum and prompting an actual critter to be put in the game.

April 22, 2003.

The April newsletter announces two more races … Shadow and Dragonblood to a certain degree of caution from the community.

May 2, 2003.

In one of the most contentious announcements in the game, the May newsletter announced the introduction of classes in the game:

We never tire of announcing big pieces of news so here is some more. In addition to adding races to the game we have added a loose class system where there are five classes for each race, a total of 15 classes altogether. I know this will be a surprise to many of you but we believe our reasons for this change are sound, so let me explain them to you…

A great deal of disappointment with the decision with heated exchanges on the discussion boards.

May 11, 2003.

Peter, Ted and Phil White attend E3. Again fairly closed, and again a new website is presented. This time to huge applause from the forum. The different headings each time viewing the page was seen as a superb touch.

May 16, 2003.

After much feedback from the forum, the devs announce the “Unbound” class.

Classes and races change
After much feedback and discussion on the boards we have decided to make some changes to the class system. We have added a class called 'Unbound' which is unlocked once a player has been playing Dragon Empires for a while. This class can chose any skill combination at set up and is thus a way for people to experiment and create their own skill templates.

May 30, 2003.

The first installment of “Beginnings”, the story by Rob Adam

June 20, 2003.

Ted Carrington announces a delay to beta in the June newsletter:

Hello everyone,
I am sure you are all eager to hear news of the beta and while I can give you some news unfortunately it won't be the news a lot of you want. Due to some delays beta will not now start till the end of July/start of August. The reason for this delay is as usual that everything about an MMORPG is harder than you think at first.

At first Phase 0 was going to be very simple but we decided this would get very boring very quickly. So we decided to add some more features. When Phase 0 starts it will include weapons and armor sets - simulated classes and races and PvP formal battles.
While this does result in a delay to the beta start it does mean that beta will be more fun from the start and we can get more useful testing done.

So, please be patient with us a little longer and we will keep in touch!

Ted Carron
Producer - Dragon Empires

July 8, 2003.

The first Beta invites are sent out. These are for Beta0 and a very limited number.

July 11, 2003.

Former Realm developer and Dragon Empires lead designer Steve Nichols bids to buy The Realm from Codemasters but he is unsuccessful. The game is sold to Norseman Games, a company headed by longtime Realm player HyJinks. However Steve works with Norseman for a short time on The Realm.

July 17, 2003.

The role playing board “The Greenvale Pivot” is launched.

September 1, 2003.

First map of Fotitude released to generally good reaction though some debate on the placenames.

Back to top

January 9, 2004.

First released screenshots of the Lady and Greenwater empires has everyone drooling.

January 19, 2004.

Cal wins the Spokesperson of the Year at RPG Vault a second time! Go Cal!

January 26, 2004.

The forum is introduced to Satine, a Codemasters QA developer who looks after the forums while Cal was on holidays. Here’s Cal’s introduction:

Welcome to a new moderator, Satine!

Hi all. Two new pieces of news!

First, I'm going to be away for all of February! I'm off to New Zealand to watch my sister get married and to travel around on a nice Holiday.

Secondly, Satine, a developer here with the QA (testing) department will be taking over many of my duties while I'm away. She will be on the boards, doing newsletters etc etc.

We'll get her in here to post an introduction shortly.

Calistas

February 4, 2004.

First round of invites for Beta0.5 go out to much excitement and speculation.

February 10, 2004.

A limited Beta to stress test the servers is held. More info on this when Beta info becomes available.

March 31, 2004.

A new-look website is revealed which has multiple graphics with animation and background music. Well received by the communiy.

April 6, 2004.

Calistas and the Dragon Empires team win even more prizes: Stratics' Annual Golden Cogs for Outstanding Community Relations and Best Beta!

April 7, 2004.

Necatus runs across an image of Peter on an interview site. Anonymity gone!

April 26, 2004.

An image of the Greenwater Empire dragon Fin with twin Kite is released to a highly positive response from the forums. A high-resolution version is made available for use as desktops.

May 6, 2004.

Codemasters prepare for E3 by releasing a website and forums devoted to their E3 presence. Claire of Codies reports E3 events and writes a blog.

May 10-13, 2004.

A huge amount of interest is shown in Dragon Empires at E3 with booth babes and presentations. Kheldon and Zedin from Stratics interviewed Calistas on site with more pics of Cal on show.

Check our Dragon Empires E3 2004 Gallery for pictures of the event!

July 8, 2004.

Codies release shots from the game showing off Kite and Mooneye as they will appear in game. Great new desktops featuring the twins are also released the following day. The screenshots also accompany suggestions that the character models were being polished further.

July 21, 2004.

Peter "Calistas" Tyson stuns everyone on IRC and in the forums by announcing he was leaving Codemasters to return to New Zealand to be married. Sam "Satine" Russell announced to take over the CLM role. Much shock and sadness at the announcement of Peter leaving however a huge amount of support for Sam moving into the role.

The announcement on the news section of the DE website reads:

Letter from Calistas
Hi everyone,

I have some sad news to tell you, on the 23rd of July I will be leaving Dragon Empires to return home to New Zealand. Back at Christmas some of you may recall I got engaged to my partner June and having set a date and a place for the wedding it has become clear we need to be in New Zealand to have any chance of getting everything organised in time.

While I'm sad to be leaving I am pleased to announce the Sam 'Satine' Russell will be taking over in my place. Sam has proven a real asset to development and has done an excellent job of working with beta testers and the community. I'm sure you'll join me in congratulating Sam and will go easy on her while she finds her feet in her new role!

It has been a real pleasure working on Dragon Empires these past two years and I've met a lot of great people, both in the studio and in the community. Even though I am going I am still excited by the game and will make sure to follow it in between sailing and sitting on the beach (jealous yet?!).

I wish everyone the very best and I hope to see you all in-game! I swear, the Greenwater Empire will be mine, all MINEEEeeeee!

Calistas

You can also read the official Press Release here.

July 23, 2004.

Peter Tyson's last day with Codemasters.

Peter "Calistas" Tyson joined Dragon Empires at a time of upheaval. With the original Lead Designer having resigned, the first Community Liaison Manager lasting only a week, a split and confused fanbase coming to grips with sudden changes of direction in the game, Peter faced an unenviable and almost impossible task … to put out the flames, bring back the trust, and pave the way ahead.

And he did it.

Taming such a rebellious forum was no mean feat, however he achieved this by bringing a sense of dignity with humor, fairness with fun.

The Calistas Legacy is that today, more than two years later, we have a strong and supportive community eagerly looking forward to a wonderful game.

It is a community that enjoys each other's company, teases each other mercilessly, earnestly debates issues about Fortitude, and really embodies the fun Peter worked so hard -- yet seemingly so effortlessly -- to bring to us.

The community is also now confident and mature enough in itself to stand by and defend these values.

As Peter moves on, we move forward, with undying thanks for the Calistas Legacy.