We are currently beta testing version 1.5 of The Endless Forest in preparation for the big show next week. If you are interested in seeing the new changes as they happen, be adventurous, download the streaming beta version now!
Introducing: ABIOGENESIS
ABIOGENESIS is the name of our performance system currently under development. This will allow for spectacular, spontaneous, natural and magical events in the Forest.
For your information ‘Abiogenesis’ is a scientific term which means spontaneous generation, the generation of life from non-living matter.
The ABIOGENESIS system will be used in February for the premiere of our live performance series “The Twin Gods Festival” at the STUK arts center in Leuven, Belgium. This performance can be attended both at the venue as well as from your comfortable personal computer.
We’ve made a page with a few screenshots to give you an idea of what’s in store.
The Forest in the Press
We’ve been receiving favorable mentions in the press lately. The Endless Forest seems to appeal to a wide cross-section of the tech culture saavy.
From the hardcore action crowd at PC Gamer (UK):
To the fashionistas of Glamour Magazine (Italy):
To the trendy art crowd at Rhizome.org (USA):
Not to mention the many blog entries out there!
We thank you all for spreading the good word about The Forest! We’ll keep up the good work! 😉
Version 1.5 final released and press round-up
We have released a final version of The Endless Forest 1.5, so please update if you have not already. This version is quite a bit bigger than version 1.0 but that is because there is so much more to see! There is now a beautiful pond in the forest and much more space to run around in. We’ve added more animals that scurry and more plants and flowers. In addition, the Twin Gods are there with you giving impromptu showings of power and spectacle! We hope that you will enjoy this new release. From now until April we are hard at work on version 2.0 which will introduce many, many more activities for deer in the forest.
In other news, during the Artefact festival here in Belgium we received quite a bit of attention from the local press. Here we link to a few articles. They are in Dutch, of course. But even if you don’t understand the language we think you might enjoy seeing/hearing them.
- De Morgen – “Digitale vrede waar het hert blijf stille staan”
- Het Nieuwsblad- “Sssst, mijn hert slaapt”
- We are especially happy with this Radio 1 reportage: Neon – audio interview with Michael.
Version 1.0 beta 5 released
The Endless Forest 1.0 beta 5 is now available! You can get it from our Download page.
Additions in this version include the new “hop” action and the final resting places of graves and idols marking the end of the Ename Tardis exhibition.
Another exciting addition in this version is our first experiments with the live performance mode. When Auriea and Michael are there strange events become commonplace! Expect the unexpected in the forest from now on. 😉
If you’ve not downloaded a new version in awhile you should definitely update to see the new surprises.
For more info see the thread in the forum.
Stag Party!
We staged a party in the Forest last night to celebrate our last beta and the end of the Tardis exhibition. We needed many deer to come into the forest at once to check the integrity of the server and find any last bugs which could occur when many deer play at one time.
It was a great success, we didn’t crash, and everyone had a good time.
For those of you who weren’t there we made video! party1.avi (DivX, 15MB) and party2.avi (DivX, 12MB).
And screenshots, of course:
Version 1.0 Final, released finally =)
We are proud to announce that after extensive testing and bug fixing the public beta period is over and we pronounce The Endless Forest version 1.0 complete!
It is recommended that all players update to this version.
Among the lovely additions is the ability to climb onto The Ruin, to jump spectacularly while running by pressing the keyboard ‘H’ key, and various surprise effects to be played in real-time by Auriea and Michael, your friendly resident divine ones.
Thank you to everyone who helped us with testing, comments and moral support!