Illyriad Press – Page 3 – Illyriad – Beneath the Misted Land

GM Cerberus: Behind Illyriad’s Art

We’ve always loved the artwork inside of Illyriad and now, Age of Ascent, the upcoming MMO shooter we’ve been working on. So, who makes all of those pretty pictures, graphics and icons that you see while playing? It’s GM Cerberus, that’s who. We wanted to let him talk about himself so that you, the player, can get to know this superbly creative individual who pops into chat once in a while.

What got you started in art?

I’ve loved creating art from a very young age, I was fortunate enough to be raised by a family of artists; my mother being a singer/writer and my grandmother being a painter. They helped and encouraged me to cultivate my talents. What really got me into art, though, was video games. I loved drawing Samus from Metroid and Mega Man bosses as a kid, and I would occasionally get in trouble in grade school for doodling when I should have been working on school work.

What is it like making art for the specifics of a video game? How is it different than other projects?

It has been a learning experience from the get-go. There are a lot of technical aspects when creating digital art that you don’t have to account for in physical media. Not everyone who views the work I create is viewing it at the same settings I am, for example, there are different resolutions and browsers to take into account. Heck, some people’s monitors aren’t even correctly color calibrated. One of the biggest things, however, is that i’m creating artwork not just for form but for function. Everything I create has a purpose in some game mechanic, and seeing it all in place and functional in-game brings on a sense of self-satisfaction unrivaled by any other project I’ve ever undertaken.

Do you have an estimate of how many pieces of art you’ve made for Illyriad? How about for Age of Ascent so far?

I’ve done upwards of 250-300 “large” pieces that players can view in the tech tree in Illyriad and hundreds of other miscellaneous graphics and doodads that I can’t even begin to put a number on. It would be difficult to put a number on Age of Ascent as well, but I’d be safe in saying it’s over 100 pieces. These numbers can be misleading however, as I’m including something as small as a scout unit or afterburner icon.

Do you have a preference of working on fantasy or sci-fi stuff?

I’m really torn on this, so much that I feel like two different artists when I’m working on the styles. With my fantasy work I feel more at liberty to have them look hand illustrated where with science fiction I feel the need for precision and almost have the work be Trompe l’oeil. With Illyriad most of my work is done using a form of vector illustration and some freehand with a tablet, and on Age of Ascent it’s a lot of photo-manipulation illustration and a bit of drafting. I can’t claim favorites honestly, I’m fortunate enough to have the freedom to explore so many different styles that I love them all.

What is your process like? Do you sketch? Work on paper or all digital?

My process is very traditional in the sense that I start with a very basic sketch to act as a skeleton for the piece, and work up from there. My vector illustrations, for example: I begin by getting a very basic sketch, sometimes I refer to photos I take and chop up to insure I get my angles and proportions correctly, and then I create the dark contour lines. After the contour is complete I move to coloration and then shading to give the piece depth and light. For work with Illyriad and Age of Ascent I don’t really touch paper, everything can be done digitally and it’s very convenient to not have to scan in sketches or attempt to translate what I created on paper to digital media.

How do you create so many pieces of art while still maintaining your sanity?

Who said anything about me being sane? I very much doubt my sanity and it spirals downward daily. Seriously though, as I said before I am fortunate enough to have the privilege of being able to work on a myriad different styles. If I get burnt out on making logos for corporations in Age of Ascent I can switch over to creating freehand military units, isometric machines, blueprints, or vector illustrations. Variety is what keeps me sane, and I have lots of it.

Thanks to Cerberus for taking the time to talk with the blog. Now, get back to work! Those drawings won’t draw themselves!

Player Spotlight: Rill

Another nomination from the community, this month we get to know Rill as our Player Spotlight. A big thank you to those who sent in nominations. Learn more about the Player Spotlight program at our website and nominate players by sending an email to community@illyriad.co.uk. The player who gets the nomination can choose between a t-shirt from our shop or from 1200 Prestige! This time we received a ton of nominations, but the most came in for Rill, a player who is one of the most well-known and helpful players in Illy! /cheer

What brought you to Illyriad and how long have you been playing?

I searched for a long time for Illy before I found it. I perused many lists of MMOs and MMORTs, trying many that I don’t even remember any more. Finally in June 2011 I came across the announcement of Illy’s official launch. I made a new e-mail address, expecting to encounter yet another Evony clone and was pleasantly surprised to discover Illyriad in all its friendly, deep, complex, carefully crafted glory. And so I’ve stuck for almost three years now.

Ryelle, by the way, would like me to mention that she is rather offended that this article is not being written about her. I explained that she hasn’t had an active account in Illyriad for some time and therefore would not qualify for the player spotlight, but she replied that she is merely waiting to restart in the Broken Lands and wishes everyone to know that she thinks of them fondly.

Have you played many other online games or been active in other online communities?

I have been active on specialty bulletin boards and forums since the days of listservs. My first online game was an Evony clone, which I reached in around 2009 by way of an advertisement on the Los Angeles Times website. I had no idea such things existed. How I wish I’d found Illyriad then! But perhaps I appreciate Illy all the more for first having played something a bit different.

I still experiment with other MMOs from time to time — I’m particularly attracted to city-building MMORTs that have resource allocation as a substantial component. Perhaps my background in finance and investment is an influence here, as I mentally estimate the payback period and ROI (return on investment) of upgrading a clay pit vs. a lumberyard or calculating the most beneficial tax rate. (But I am not obsessive at all!)

Any hidden talents or interesting hobbies outside of gaming?

I love pretty much every creative activity involving fiber, from knitting to crocheting to embroidery, quilting and so on. I get very excited about the combination of fiber and color and have been known to hyperventilate in yarn or fabric stores. I am also interested in the history of textile production, both home production and industrial production, and the role that textile production has in broader history.

What keeps you playing Illyriad?

My alliance. The people of Crows Nest (nCrow) have a special place in my heart. They put up with me on days when I’m at my worst and more incredibly are mostly still willing to speak to me the next day. Behind the members of my immediate alliance, I would say there are many, many people in Illyriad who are special to me and whom I love to see every day — or as often as they drop by. And more than people in general, the new players who are discovering Illy for the first time. Probably one of my favorite things in the whole world is to watch new players dig in to the world of Illyriad, experience for the first time the wonder that I experienced.

I would say secondarily to the people of Illy, what keeps me in Illy is the promise of the game. I believe in the vision the developers have laid out for Illyriad and enjoy watching it come to fruition.

What’s your favorite aspect of the game?

Other than the people, and especially new players (by far the best part of Illy), my favorite part of the game is that it’s a sandbox. The game is not defined for us — we define the game within basic game mechanics. And we don’t even all have to be playing the same game! Illy is a big, broad, deep, complex game, and it has room for everyone.

What’s your proudest achievement in game so far?

What I’m proudest of is the everyday stuff. Hopefully encouraging someone when they are down, listening when someone needs to talk. Being a part of the community.

What are you most looking forward to for the future of Illyriad?

I am looking forward to the release of the Broken Lands. I never got the opportunity to be a newb among other newbs in Illy — by the time I got here, many people were fairly well established. I would love to experience an Illy where every morsel of wood, every pebble of stone, every ingot of iron, is weighed carefully. I am also looking forward to the release of the story arc. I love the faction lore and look forward to it coming to life and being shaped by players. (Including of course the inevitable downfall of the puppet of the Council of Illyria, the self-styled King of Illyria, Sigurd. Hail the Undying Flame!)

What area of the game do you think needs the most improvement?

I think what’s most important right now is consistent progress. The developers have identified quite a number of priorities, all important, many of them delightful to some or all players, and I think what is important is that they continue to make incremental improvements. Players have been very patient, and consistent progress, even if slow, is really necessary to restore confidence and enthusiasm.

What advice would you give a new player in Illyriad?

I would say that Illyriad is your game as much as it is anyone’s. You will get a lot of advice, some of it conflicting, from established players (me included). We will tell you how Illyriad “should” be played. And some of that is from our own experience of having tried other ways and failed abysmally! So it’s worth listening to established players. But don’t let that prevent you from playing your game in your way. Write your own story. Remake the world in your image. That’s what a sandbox is for.

Oh, and for the sake of all that’s holy: Upgrade your storehouse!

Check out the new Strategy Monday livestream!

Every 2nd Monday of each month we will be hosting a “Strategy Monday” and will invite players to join GM Rikoo for a discussion on many different topics. We’re starting off small in this first episode, talking about newbies! In the coming streams we’ll talk about deeper strategy tips that range from trading to warfare! Enjoy the videos below!

Watch live video from Luna_Illyriad on TwitchTV

Indie MMO Illyriad becomes Develop Awards finalist

Indie strategy game, Illyriad, has been named a finalist in the Develop Awards for Online Innovation.

Illyriad has previously been applauded for its depth and richness, which mark it as distinct from the many browser city building and war games on the net, but this is the first major award for which the game has been considered.

Founder James Niesewand commented, “Working on Illyriad every day, the team are obviously aware of the levels on innovation in the game. The subtlety and range of strategies available to players are unique in browser strategy games, the quality of the lore has received a lot of praise, while invisibly, behind the scenes, there is a lot of cutting edge work on server-side technologies. But at heart we’re still a low-profile, Indie development team, so we don’t necessarily expect the world to notice what we’re doing. For this to be acknowledged by an award as prestigious as the Develop Awards, for our work to be considered alongside studios like IO or luminaries like Peter Molyneux, is wonderful. Everyone at Illyriad is honoured by the nomination.”

Illyriad’s development team continue to hone leading-edge, plug-in-free HTML5 innovations. At the front-end, our new world map illuminates both world continents in WebGL https://www.illyriad.co.uk/BrokenLands/Map, and at the back end our use of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform allows thousands of concurrent players to interact on a single shard with realtime game state communication via websockets. Our first major content expansion, The Broken Lands, is due later in 2013.

Illyriad can be seen live at illyriad.co.uk , and the full list of Develop Awards finalists can be seen at https://www.develop-online.net/news/44031/Develop-Awards-2013-The-finalists-are

The Illyriad Dark Harvest Tournament is Live

Press Release: October 1, 2012

Illyriad, the acclaimed massively multiplayer online strategy game, launched its 6th server-wide tournament today, entitled Dark Harvest. The tournament marks the celebration of the peaceful druidic Kildarran faction’s “Festival of the Dead” that seeks to honor the lost souls of the dead. In what could only be described as an industrious move, the magical Circle of Five faction have take the opportunity to construct beacons that will attract the wandering souls and harvest them, for unknown purposes.

During this month-long event, players will bind together with their Alliances to compete for control of 37 land squares throughout the expansive world map in order to capture and harvest the souls of the dead. Each week, the 10 “bloodiest” squares, those that have seen the most combat, will be granted a bonus that provides more souls to harvest at that location. Subsequently, the most hotly contested squares will also become the most valuable to hold as the tournament progresses. The Alliances that gather the most souls per region as well as overall will win valuable in-game prizes including:

Hundreds of dollars worth of Prestige, in-game currency
New military units called Skyclad Warriors
A one-of-a-kind tournament sword for use with troops and commanders
An Alliance tournament statue to be placed permanently on the world map in game
Custom-designed, unique medals to be displayed on the player profiles of each member of the winning Alliances

For EACH SQUARE (most souls gathered throughout the month):
1st Place: 40 Skyclad Warriors and a tournament sword to each participating player in that alliance.
2nd Place: 20 Skyclad Warriors to each participating player in that alliance.
3rd Place: 10 Skyclad Warriors to each participating player in that alliance.

For the OVER ALL winners (most souls gathered in total during the month):
1st Place: 6000 Prestige to the Alliance Prestige pool, an Alliance Tournament Statue, and a tournament victor’s Gold Medal for all participating members of the Alliance.
2nd Place: 4000 Prestige to the Alliance Prestige pool, and a tournament victor’s Silver Medal for all participating members of the Alliance.
3rd Place: 2000 Prestige to the Alliance Prestige pool, and a tournament victor’s Bronze Medal for all participating members of the Alliance.

The tournament will come to a close at midnight on October 31. Full details and rules can be found at the Illyriad official forums.

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About Illyriad:

“An epic RTS but with killer lore and an awesome community.” – Massively.com

“I could tell right away that this game was special.” – ThriftyGamer

“Illyriad has a great niche…. There is plenty to do and I would suggest that everyone with a few minutes goes and checks it out.” – Vagary.tv

https://www.illyriad.co.uk/press/Reviews

Illyriad is a browser-based Massively Multiplayer strategy game, in which players take control of cities, engaging in city-building, quests, diplomacy, warfare and trade. Developed by London-based Illyriad Games Ltd., Illyriad went live in 2010 and was officially launched on May 16th 2011.

https://www.illyriad.co.uk/

For further information, please contact: press@illyriad.co.uk

Press assets are available at ftp.illyriad.co.uk , and further assets, quotes, interviews, etc., are available on request.

Illyriad Update Adds Crafting and Advanced Trade

In the largest single release in the game’s history, the game economy of Illyriad, the acclaimed HTML5 massively multiplayer online strategy game, sees a dramatic expansion today, with new commodities, equipment, an expanded gathering system, crafting system and an expanded regional trade system.

The previous 17 resources which could be traded in Illyriad are joined by hundreds of new items, ranging from grapes and wine to rare minerals and magical ingredients. With many commodities available only in specific parts of the game world, and some extremely rare, this opens up the possibility for elaborate player trade and crafting strategies, extending to monopolies and cartels.

“This huge expansion in trade, and the whole crafting system that we are bringing in, opens up new choices for player specialisation. Specialist traders and specialist manufacturers will both have an important place in Illyriad going forward,” explained Illyriad’s founder, James Niesewand. “Illyriad has always been praised for its depth, and this release does add more depth. For example, military players previously had 8 basic troop types to choose from, but with the new equipment produced by crafting there will be thousands of possible troop load-outs, allowing players to customise their soldiers for different missions, terrains and even climates. So, for the military players, yes, there is more depth. But what this update really adds to Illyriad is breadth, allowing players to explore complex trading and manufacturing strategies.”

This update includes:

72 new weapons
53 new armour types
9 new mounts
13 new specialist buildings
More than 50 new special resource types
Dozens of items lootable from animals
187 new technologies to research, ranging from Wine Making, to Faction Markets, to Obsidian Blade

With such a dynamic change to the game, the full impact of the release could take several months to be felt by the players of Illyriad. All of the new buildings, equipment, researches and commodities in the release go live at the end of this week.

—

About Illyriad:

“An epic RTS but with killer lore and an awesome community.” – Massively.com

“I could tell right away that this game was special.” – ThriftyGamer

“Illyriad has a great niche…. There is plenty to do and I would suggest that everyone with a few minutes goes and checks it out.” – Vagary.tv

https://www.illyriad.co.uk/press/Reviews

https://www.illyriad.co.uk/

For further information, please contact: press@illyriad.co.uk

Press assets are available at ftp.illyriad.co.uk , and further assets, quotes, interviews, etc., are available on request.

Illyriad Update Introduces New UI and Alliance Medals

Illyriad, the acclaimed HTML5 massively multiplayer online strategy game, introduces a new user interface, Alliance Medal award system, friends lists and more.

The new Alliance Medal system allows players to design a deeply customizable award from hundreds of unique pieces that can be combined to create thousands of unique design options. Players can then award the medal to a fellow member of their in-game Alliance to be displayed along with a custom title on the player’s profile page. Medals give Illyriad players an opportunity to grant prizes, awards and inter-alliance rankings for their peers in a meaningful and interactive way. Medals are purchased through a new shared Alliance Prestige Pool system that allows players to donate in-game currency into a shared bank for Alliance use.

A refreshed user interface is also now available in game. The re-designed UI gives a cleaner, more user-friendly visual appearance and adds many usability improvements including: additional navigation options, tabbed sidebar settings, a game-wide search tool, new friends list feature and an interactive lore book within the game.

Video with a walk-through of the UI changes and medal designer is available here: https://youtu.be/q8GWVMmhXGk

Illyriad’s latest update, including these and other features, goes live this weekend.

—

About Illyriad:

“An epic RTS but with killer lore and an awesome community.” – Massively.com

“I could tell right away that this game was special.” – ThriftyGamer

“Illyriad has a great niche…. There is plenty to do and I would suggest that everyone with a few minutes goes and checks it out.” – Vagary.tv

https://www.illyriad.co.uk/press/Reviews

https://www.illyriad.co.uk/

For further information, please contact: press@illyriad.co.uk

Press assets are available at ftp.illyriad.co.uk , and further assets, quotes, interviews, etc., are available on request.

Press Release: Illyriad Goes Organic

PRESS RELEASE 23rd APRIL 2012.

Illyriad Goes Organic

From today, acclaimed Free-to-Play Strategy game Illyriad will switch from a randomly generated world biology, to an organic and emergent model.

Simplistic random distributions of animals and troops have been replaced with a coherent, logical model, encompassing different animal habitats, breeding, and migration. The mathematics behind the calculations include over 1,500 variables, and the game database tracks thousands of non-player populations, whose numbers and attitudes will be determined by players’ interactions with them.

“The depth of Illyriad has always been important to us, as developers, just as it has been important to our players, and has been noted by the press,” explains Illyriad’s founder, James Niesewand. “So we wanted the non player populations to behave sensibly, and organically, in response to players’ actions. As an example, animal populations in Illyriad have previously appeared randomly. Now, each pack or herd of animals will be tracked in real time, its population increasing over time, and the pack splitting when the population grows to a certain point. Players will be able to dramatically impact the sizes of animal populations, which will have multiple consequences.”

These changes are not only an evolution in the design of strategy games. They are also an important step in the growth of Illyriad itself, a necessary precursor to an overhauled trade and economic system, and further development of the NPC Factions systems, expected later this year.

Illyriad’s latest release, including organic animal populations, and other features, goes live from today.

—

About Illyriad:
“An epic RTS but with killer lore and an awesome community.” – Massively.com
“I could tell right away that this game was special.” – ThriftyGamer
“Illyriad has a great niche…. There is plenty to do and I would suggest that everyone with a few minutes goes and checks it out.” – Vagary.tv
https://www.illyriad.co.uk/press/Reviews

For further information, please contact: press@illyriad.co.uk
Press assets are available at ftp.illyriad.co.uk , and further assets, quotes, interviews, etc., are available on request.

Illyriad’s celebration of the game’s 2 year anniversary

Illyriad Tournament V in celebration of the game’s 2 year anniversary is now live!

PRESS RELEASE: 23rd FEBRUARY, 2012

Illyriad, the online strategy game, has launched its fifth in-game tournament. The launch of this event coincides with the 2 year anniversary of the game’s first launch date in Alpha. During this in-game event, players will bind together with their Alliances in order to capture and hold territory on 37 land squares spread among the expansive world map. At the end of the tournament, March 21, the total time will be tallied and Alliances ranked based on the total amount of time holding the squares. Competition should be fierce as the potential prizes for winning are quite substantial. The Illyriad development team is proud to team up with sponsors Enjin and Typefrag to provide some amazing prizes that will help foster and grow communities within the game.

Sponsored by:

The first place Alliance will win:

1 year free Ultimate Enjin service package provided by Enjin

This includes:

Enjin guild website, CMS and forum hosting
File storage and gallery for hosting images
Individual user profiles
Membership recruitment system with custom emails
Deep website customization with visual editor
Instant messaging and chat
50 user Mumble server
Custom domain
Premium, fully branded themes
Unlimited site modules
and more!

The first place Alliance will also receive in-game prizes including: an Alliance tournament statue to be placed as a permanent tribute on the world map, 50 Elite Praetorian guards and 50 Scribes of Allembine for each eligible player within the winning Alliance.

The second place Alliance will win:

6 months free TypeFrag Ventrilo or Mumble server hosting (32 person capacity) provided by TypeFrag

The second place Alliance will also receive in-game prizes including: an Alliance tournament statue to be placed as a permanent tribute on the world map, 35 Elite Praetorian guards and 35 Scribes of Allembine for each eligible player within the winning Alliance.

The third place Alliance will win:

6 months free TypeFrag Ventrilo or Mumble server hosting (32 person capacity) provided by TypeFrag

The third place Alliance will also receive in-game prizes including: an Alliance tournament statue to be placed as a permanent tribute on the world map, 20 Elite Praetorian guards and 20 Scribes of Allembine for each eligible player within the winning Alliance.

As well as prizes going to the top 3 overall Alliances, each Alliance that holds an individual map square for the longest period of time over the month will receive: 25 Prestige and 10 Praetorian guards to each eligible player of the square-winning Alliance.

More details on the tournament can be found in the official Illyriad forums and in this video of Illyriad’s developer chat held on Feb. 21.

A comment from Enjin on the sponsorship: “Enjin strives to support all games on our social gaming website platform, and we are thrilled to partner with Illyriad for this tournament. We’re excited to provide the Enjin 1 Year Ultimate prize to the winner. Good luck to everyone in the tournament, and may the best win!”

A comment from TypeFrag on the partnership: “With so many providers of Ventrilo servers available, customer service is becoming the critical aspect for success, and therefore a core business differentiator. TypeFrag handles all aspects of voice communication servers from network maintenance to customer support. This support will enable Illyriad Games Ltd to focus on the success of the tournament and growth of their community.”

About Illyriad:

About Enjin:

Enjin provides top of the line guild website hosting for over 100,000 guilds across thousands of online games. The fully featured, easy-to-use platform lets you create the perfect, customized website for your guild. Voted best by PC Gamer.
https://www.enjin.com/

About TypeFrag:

TypeFrag is the leading provider for voice communication among online gamers. They currently are host to over 50,000 voice servers, servicing millions of social groups, families and guilds worldwide.
https://typefrag.com/

What the Press Say about Illyriad: https://www.illyriad.co.uk/blog/index.php/category/press/

For further information, please contact: press@illyriad.co.uk. Screenshots and logos are available via anonymous login FTP at ftp://ftp.illyriad.co.uk . Interviews and further information is available promptly on request. Journalist accounts are available on request for any journalist writing for a major, relevant magazine or website.

Second Anniversary Funding Round, New Appointments

Please note that all board appointments referenced herein only become effective once filed at Companies’ House in the United Kingdom. Until such time these appointments should be regarded as provisional statements of intent.

Second Anniversary sees completion of successfully fundraising and welcomes new appointments.

PRESS RELEASE: 21st FEBRUARY, 2012

HTML5 browser-based game developer Illyriad Games Limited announced today the successful completion of a fundraising round, and several key additions to the Illyriad team.

“This is the second anniversary of Illyriad first hitting the web as a beta version,” said James Niesewand, CEO and original founder of Illyriad Games Limited. “And so we’re delighted to confirm that we were oversubscribed on our first external fundraising round. This gives us the cash we wanted to accelerate the development of Illyriad, and allows us to bring several key people on board as well as to increase our investment in R&D.”

The funds raised in this round value Illyriad Games Limited at a shade over USD $1.75M.

Following this, Illyriad Games Limited is delighted to welcome several new appointments:

Ben Adams joins the board as Chief Technology Officer & Executive Director Ben has 15 years of development experience as Head of Innovation for two FTSE-100 companies: Sky IQ – part of the BSkyB group – and Experian plc. He specialises in algorithms, user interface design and highly concurrent systems. Ben joined Illyriad in the early development phase to provide expertise in developing the technical architecture, as well as writing the cross-platform Open Web code-base.

Lynn Brunner joins the board as a Non-Executive Director Lynn has 20 years’ experience in customer experience management and marketing, with a strong focus on bringing technology to the art of marketing. She has worked in both the US and the UK, across a broad range of companies, including National Westminster bank, Experian, Coca-Cola and Orange Telecom. She is currently in a SVP role at a consumer goods company in the US, managing marketing and strategic development. She brings her extensive expertise to the table, helping interpret player needs and shaping the Illyriad offering to meet these needs. She is also a strong contributor to the strategic development of the business, helping drive profitable growth.

Alan Dragovic joins the board as a Non-Executive Director Alan has experience as a writer, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. His first career as a securities analyst with UBS took him to Sydney, London, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, then as Vice President of Citibank Global Asset Management, to New York. Timing his transition from banking to publishing before the dot-com down turn Alan established an online and print publishing presence in Latin America, Associated Argentine Press. The flagship magazine, The Traveller’s Guru, had a total print run approaching 1m copies between 2004 and 2009. Alan is currently specializing in free to play browser games as a venture capitalist and advisor, providing Illyriad with an investment banker’s perspective on future development and growth strategies.

Kevin Hassall becomes our full-time Executive Producer Kevin has 15 years’ experience of running production and development projects and programmes of work, focusing on web and games development. During the dotcom boom he was Projects Director for On-line plc (an AIM-listed internet business incubator), and subsequently spent 5 years as Publishing Director on the board of Oxygen Interactive Software Ltd (a privately held game publisher). From March 2012 he brings this experience to Illyriad, driving the delivery of code, art, audio and content updates to our players.

Franck Sidon joins Illyriad as Company Secretary, and Edward Daniel as Legal Counsel.

Emphasising the key role that new technologies will play in the evolution of Illyriad, Niesewand added: “We are also delighted to welcome a number of new development staff to the existing Illyriad team: Simon Hopkin & Richard Hemsley join us on the code development side, the aptly-named James Bell is kickstarting our audio projects, and we’re thrilled to have the renowned game economist Tibike Cosmin on board as game designer.

The ‘Year of The Dragon’ is an immensely exciting time for both the corporation and the Illyriad players themselves, and we can’t wait to see what lies ahead.”

About Illyriad
Illyriad is a browser-based Massively Multiplayer strategy game, in which players take control of cities, engaging in city-building, quests, diplomacy, warfare and trade. Developed by London-based Illyriad Games Ltd., Illyriad went live in 2010 and was officially launched on May 16th 2011

What the Press Say about Illyriad: https://www.illyriad.co.uk/blog/index.php/category/press/

For further information please contact: press@illyriad.co.uk. Screenshots, logos and other art assets are available via anonymous login FTP at ftp://ftp.illyriad.co.uk . Interviews and further information is available promptly on request. Journalist accounts are available on request for any journalist writing for a major, relevant magazine or website.