Welcome back to Dev Watch. Again apologies for the three week silence - the first week there was nothing to report, but last week I merely got caught up in other things.

First up, we have the second of what was the "Community Q&A" and is now "Black Prophecy Behind the Scenes".  This time, the focus was on the QA side of the game - issues like the lifecycle of a bug as well as some detail about the challenges involved in programming an MMO were discussed. There wasn't much to be learned about the game here, but for those interested in the game testing and development process it makes for a good read. Next time around we have the design team talking, which can be expected to cover some game details, as well as the logic that leads to such gameplay decisions.

Then, there was a new commuity update on the forum. This attempted to clear up confusion about the date of a beta test - clarifying that while KK are technically ready to begin some degree of beta testing, they are waiting on discussions, approval and support from their publisher - and a publishing deal itself has not yet been signed. While Snowcrash underlined that KK are ready to begin the testing within days of such a deal being signed, it's probably important to note that this does not mean that beta testing will immediatley follow the contracting of a publisher. The plan to rename the community Q&A to behind the scenes was also discussed here, with it being explained that the sessions were more intended to be a window into the game development process rather than an actual conversation between developers and community members. After a round-up of rather tangential forum topics, plans for the future were mentioned as well. Story details will being being released through a Stellarvox news website at some point in the near future, while the first "developer diary" which should give details about developing the actual game I belive is on its way.

Here at The Prophecy Network, we spoke directly to people who'd worked in the development of Black Prophecy - but not at Reakktor Media. Instead, we landed an exclusive interview with Rocketbox Studios, who produced large quantities of the art assets for Black Prophecy. Markus, CEO of Rocketbox emphasised the efforts that they had gone to to ensure quality is consistent across the different visual elements - large space stations should be just as consistently detailed as small fighters.

Over at Colony of Gamers however, there was an interview with Micheal Marrack, german science fiction author and lead writer for Black Prophecy. Most of the discussion was about the artistic process and Micheal's work, but we also get a taste of the lighter, funnier side of the Black Prophecy story which we haven't previously seen. In addition, we're told that while the story will form a signficant part of the game, there has been an effort to avoid bogging the game down, and that to get the full benefit of the storyline and its little details then players so interested will need to pay attention elsewhere - to incidental side NPCs and to out of game sources, like presumably the Stellarvox site alluded to in the community update.

While not tightly related to Black Prophecy, Reakktor CEO Kirk Lenke has had some things to say to the Neocron community, including  alluding to the fact that external investors have influenced the direction of Black Prophecy.

Thats all for now folks!