Update:Behind the Scenes - August (2007)

August will begin with a new feature we're sure you'll all love: Clan Chat! You'll be able to set up your own chat channel that you and your clan-mates can use to keep in touch with each other, as well as being able to rank the members in your chat channel, control who can talk, and much, much more. It's an entirely new feature for RuneScape, but we have no doubt that you'll all take to it like fish to water.

Other updates this month include a few more of our small improvement projects. You’ll be seeing better examine descriptions on some items (which should help establish where they come from) and also some graphical changes, making potentially dangerous game areas LOOK more dangerous.

The second improvement project this month concentrates on some old friends. Ever grow tired of the selection of haircuts and base-outfits in the game? Ever wondered what those odd silver arm guards are that some people have? Ever been jealous of Romeo's great hair? Well, you too can have the “foppish” look and all sorts of other styles besides, when later this month we release a player kit update. During the first week or so of launch we will make all costume, haircut and arm guard changes totally free, just so you can have a bit of fun without it denting your pocket.

We will also be adding some information to the world select screen about “themed” servers. As you all know, it’s often much more fun to train and play minigames with other people, especially those team-based events like Trouble Brewing. Because of this, we decided that we would add a new column to the world select screen highlighting those worlds with associated activities. Naturally, you’ll still be able to play the content anywhere you like, but if you want to find people with similar ideas, then you’ll know where to look.

August's game updates will be complete with perhaps the most intense update of the year as we take a peek into the past... and into the God Wars Dungeon. For many centuries, legions of unique creatures lay frozen in time, locked in a battle that began back in the Third Age of RuneScape. Recent tectonic movement in the Wilderness has caused hot springs to surface in the dungeon, thawing the occupants, with potentially devastating effects. Inside their icy tomb, relics from the most destructive period of history have defrosted and resumed their grisly battle... Incredible loot, ancient boss-monsters, extinct species and one of the most graphically intensive updates of the year will leave you begging for a nice simple goblin* to kill. Don’t worry! There are even some of them in there, with the rest of the Bandos army. Yes, we said army. Oh, and Armadyl, too. Remember him? You soon will when one of his avian troops swoops down and disembowels you. Believe us.

We'll also be adding the usual website extras like the Postbag from the Hedge and the Players' Gallery, as well as a brand new Development Diary.

That’s all folks!

* No goblins were harmed during the writing of this Behind the Scenes document. Well, maybe a few. But they did call us names.