HISTORICAL GOLDEN GATE: 1849 GAME ANNOUNCED

BERKELEY, CA, June 25, 1999 – Skotos Tech today announced its second interactive fiction game, Golden Gate: 1849. Lisa Eichler, an amateur San Francisco historian and long-time designer and graphic artist, has been hired to develop this historical game.

"History is mostly undeveloped in the world of interactive fiction," said Lisa Eichler, "despite the fact that it’s been widely popular in other genres. Take a look at Age of Empires or Civilization—two of the best-selling strategy games around. The players are there."

Golden Gate: 1849 portrays the city of San Francisco during the great California Gold Rush. It is a time of heroes and villains—of fortunes lost and regained—when San Francisco was the nexus of the Far West, a breeding ground for hope and greed in equal quantities. It presents the end of one way of life and the beginning of another when brave pioneers created a civilization from nothing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

In Golden Gate: 1849 players take the roles of immigrants. Some will come to San Francisco seeking gold while others will be searching to find a new way of life—or to escape an old one. As players arrive the city of San Francisco will slowly change and evolve. Historically researched events will occur on a daily basis. At first players will solely be concerned with survival, but they will ultimately compete for political and economic control of the City by the Bay.

"Golden Gate: 1849 really opens up a range of possibilities," said Lisa Eichler. "We can create interactive fiction games set anytime anywhere. If we want to portray Pompeii’s last day or the rise of Rome, we can do it. We can offer unique insights into history by simulating past events and allowing players to interact with them."

As with Skotos’ other games, Golden Gate: 1849 is built upon the Skotos StoryBuilder Server, a powerful online game engine. It creates a virtual reality that is as much about socialization as competition. Thousands of social verbs and adverbs make meaningful interaction possible. StoryBuilding resources allow for the creation of clans and guilds; in-game discussions will be augmented by out-of-game interactions at web sites, chats, bulletin boards, and club houses.

Lisa Eichler, the game designer responsible for Golden Gate: 1849, has participated in traditional pen-and-paper role-playing games for over twenty years. One of her most recent professional projects was the Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition Pack, a supplement produced for Chaosium Inc. This collection of newspaper articles, postcards, and other props immersed readers in the world of the Eastern United States in 1933.

The initial Golden Gate: 1849 game is to be released in Late 2000 as a Grand Theatre.

ABOUT SKOTOS TECH

Skotos Tech is an online game company committed to creating a community of storytellers and players. Skotos offers tools that allow storytellers to concentrate on the plot, character, and detail of the worlds they build. Skotos provide an environment that allows players to explore these worlds, share their accomplishments, and possibly become storytellers themselves. Skotos Tech is located in Berkeley, California. It was incorporated in 1999 and plans for initial release of its virtual worlds in Fall 2000. More information is available at http://www.skotos.net.