This is a copy of the mailing that is going out to the EIS forum mailing list. I wanted to cross-post it here in case anyone misses it.

EIS and Sylien Entertainment have reached an agreement to begin development of Trade Wars: Tournament, a modern, web-based, graphical remake of classic Trade Wars 2002. Though the design of this game has been ongoing, and many of you have discussed various aspects of it with me on the TW2002 forums in the past, development is just beginning. I hope many of you will join me at the Trade Wars: Tournament website and help us create a new game that is worthy of the classic.

I will personally be focused on this project as lead designer and lead developer. I will be available at the forums (http://forums.tradewars.com) daily to answer questions and listen to feedback from Trade Wars players and gameops. With the support of Sylien Entertainment, I believe that I finally have the resources to create this game according to my vision, and I hope you will join me in the effort. Without the dedicated players and gameops who continue to drive the game today, this opportunity would not have been possible.

Visit http://www.tradewars.com to learn more about TWT.

John Pritchett
EIS

--- Official Press Release ---

5/4/2006 - Classic BBS Game "Trade Wars®" Reborn (Press Release)

For Immediate Release
(Ottawa, Canada) - EIS, the Shawnee, Kansas based developer of Trade Wars 2002, and Sylien Entertainment, an Ottawa, Ontario based developer of next-gen online games, have decided to enter into a formal partnership to remake the classic sci-fi trader, Trade Wars 2002. The Trade Wars franchise, created in 1984, can trace its roots back to the first known space trader game, Star Traders from 1974. Along with other Star Traders variations, Trade Wars 2002 helped pioneer online gaming, and remains a popular online game today, with thousands of active games around the world. It is often cited as an influence among developers in the space trader genre.

Trade Wars: Tournament, the Trade Wars remake, will attempt to retain much of the addictive core gameplay that made the classic such a success. In an effort to reach a more broad modern audience, this classic gameplay will be exposed through a 2D/3D graphical interface style. In addition, a primary design goal is to create a more casual gaming experience than the original, so that players with limited time can still be competitive. And finally, in keeping with the classic game, an optional free version and public hosting will be supported as an alternative to our own high profile StarDock game portal.

Read the remainder of the press release at http://www.sylien.com/news.html

Congratulations JP! My biggest two questions are: Would this mean that there will not be plans for future upgrades to TWGS, (TWGS1.03 and TW3.13 would be considered the final versions) and are helpers and scripting functions going to be compatible with TWT (I would imagine all current helpers would need to be reworked to consider and account for new game functions in TWT vs. TW. Although, would their use still play are part in the new game?) Also a special thanks to Sylien Entertainment!

I actually just addressed these questions over on the TWT forum. If you don't mind jumping in there and checking that out, and post further questions there, that's where my focus is going to be for awhile. I intend to be much more active there than I have been on this forum. I intend to have a dialog with players and gameops about this design before it gets set in stone.

http://forums.tradewars.com

Welcome to the new era. Death to EIS