Annika was giving Julie a hand feeding the psudeo-quads. Julie and Annika were sitting on the lounge, a bottle in each hand and holding them to the mouths of Tinga, Josh, Cindy and Dax, who were sitting in their bassinets in front of them.
"I noticed we got another courier this morning," Julie was saying.
"Yeah," Annika replied. "The Zaakmunsta shirts and caps arrived. Been packing them up and sending them out to those who ordered them all morning."
"You saved a couple for us I hope."
"Natuarlly. That reminds me, what do you think of keyrings?"
"Keyrings?"
"Yeah."
"Well, whatever you think will sell I guess. Just as long as the charm doesn't fall off all the time. I hate keyrings where the charm is always falling off. you have to try and get it back on the ring then, or loose it."
"Yeah, that sucks. The Zaakmunsta line has been rather popular. I'm thinking of doing similar things with other popular chars, or types of anyway. What do you think of a custom computer kit?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, y'know, wallpapers, cursors, so on, so forth."
"I already have wallpapers available for download."
"Mouse pads?"
"Mmm... maybe. Don't mistake my reluctance for not liking the idea," Julie piped up. "I'm just trying to figure out y'know, 'would I buy that'?"
"A good question to ask," Annika nodded. "We could always do another survey."
"Argh. We keep doing all these surveys... maybe we should give it a break for a couple of months and work with what we have so far. Or have you acted on all the results already?"
"Still acting on them," Annika smiled. "I take your point. How is the game coming anyway? Any exciting new updates I should know about?"
Julie shrugged.
"I made so many plans while I was away, I didn't know where to begin. And it sounds stupid but I had to reaquint myself with the art of programming."
"That doesn't sound stupid. You were away for a year and didn't so any."
"Yeah, but I've been programming for years, it shouldn't... but that's neither here nor there. I'm introducing a new class in the next update."
"Ooh, do tell."
"Paladins."
"Forgive my ignorance..."
"Oh, they're like, holy warriors," Julie replied. "They can like, fight and heal and stuff."
"Okay... well..." Annika frowned. "So they're like a merging of the fighter and the mage?"
"Well... I can see why you would come to that conclusion. They could be seen as a hybrid. But I guess... they're more about protection than damage dealing. I mean, obviously they can do damage. Maybe it's better to describe them as the antithesis of the thief."
"Theives aren't much about damage or protection. They're about sneaking around."
"But they can do damage. Well, all the classes can do damage, just some are better than others. There's a bunch of other classes I want to create too. And races. My next update (the one after the paladin stuff that is), is going to feature a new race."
"Yeah?"
"Pixies," Julie nodded.
"Pixies? What will they be like?"
"Short creatures who can fly around. Well, not too much flying around. Take way too much effort to have them able to fly high. But they'll be fun."
"Sounds like it. Any other plans in the works?"
Julie shrugged again.
"At the moment, more interested in getting the paladin working, and then getting all the paladin-oriented quests and stuff programmed."
"Then it'll be the pixies."
"Yeah. Not sure which is harder, new classes or races."
"You've introduced new classes and races before?"
"Yeah. Originally I had humans, elves and dwarves, fighters, mages, theives and ministrels. I introduced nymphs and cultists not long after I did the Zaakmunsta update."
Annika giggled.
"They seemed popular," Julie replied. "Plus I think that the guys playing the game just want to perv on the nymphs - there are more males playing female nymphs than there are females playing nymphs of either sex. Of course, I believe nymphs are techincally either all female or all neutral gender, but where's the fun in that?"
"Indeed," Annika smiled. "Any other races or classes in the works?"
"Are you kidding? I have tons. Orcs, gnomes, assassins, druids (if I can figure out how to make 'em shapeshift). The list goes on. But I'll stick to one at a time. Get my paladins and pixies settled in. Work out any bugs that might come up even after the updates have gone out. Then start work on the next lot."
"Cool. Oh, you done are you Tinga?"
And the pair's discussion was ended due to babies requirements.