I wanted to write real quick and reassure people that development is continuing on the Tools & Engine, and that I'm still soliciting concept art, 3D models, sound effects, and music to be used in the book.

I'm currently in the process of relocating to Washington, in addition to finishing up my first XNA 3.1 book.  As a result, updates will be a bit slow for the next month, but after June 30th (my relocation date) there will be a website overhaul including several new features, and an increasing number of screenshots and downloads made available. Among the changes to the website will be a new theme & layout, a Media Gallery so people can see concept art, renders, and in-game screenshots, a media player, so people can listen to the various background music and audio tracks, and several web-based and downloadable tools, including:

• NPC Generator
• Item Generator
• Quest Generator
• Dungeon Builder

And speaking of music. Our primary composer for the project, Caglar Sahin, has put together a massive number of songs for the game and I wanted to give those of you who don't follow the forums a chance to listen in.  The following is the opening track played on the title screen.  Cheers!

Level-Grind Online Title Song

With the community website up I'm in need of a good web design!  I am looking for a graphic artist and/or web designer interested in joining the team to define the look and feel for the website, logo, and forums. 

While I cannot pay you, credit will be given for the site design, etc...and your contact information will be made available both here on the website as well as within my book (if interested), as a form of free advertising for a *hopefully* brilliant site design.

All artwork for the website should be provided in Photoshop CS3/4 .PSD files with layers intact.

Additional artwork required for theming of the forums should be provided as PNG's or .PSD files.

If anyone is interested in putting a comp together, I'm looking at possibly a medieval copper/bronze theme. Colors, borders, etc. should resemble an old medieval style blacksmith with warm browns and coppers rather than black.

For logo design, I'm considering something like "Level-Grind Online" as two rows, with the "Online" offset to the right and the 'O' represented as a medieval copper cog.  These are just ideas.  If you've got a good site design in mind I'm fine with that too.

Anyone interested should use the Contact Form in order to send me a link to your portfolio.

Cheers!