We’ve been working away tirelessly over the last couple of weeks trying to get ready for the limited author launch, but as usual, we’ve been facing a few problems that’s led to longer than expected delays. Specifically, we had to “break” quite a few things in order to get the public launch done. We’ve been slowly piecing things back together and completing work on some items that still required it, but it’s a slow process and one that could take a few days longs than expected.

I expect things should be ready by Thursday or Friday, but considering my track record I’m going to say Monday October 10th before authors can log back in with limited access. The limited launch will NOT include the new game engines nor the ability to build your account (publishing, reading, critiquing, updating etc…), but it will include almost all non-game specific features such as the following:

• Account and Profile Management
• Private Messaging
• Player Forums
• Friend and Publishing Partner Management

I will update this list if we can squeeze in some more, and I expect that once the limited release has settled we’ll be allowing the beta-testers access to the new game engines by the 15th of October. If all goes well, the full author launch should be completed by month’s end, with some exciting bonuses and surprises in store for all of our participating authors in the month of November. I wanted to thank everyone again for their patience.

We sent out the paypal payments for those authors who met the payment criteria for receiving everything they were owed up until the end of July. Let us know if you feel you should have been included but did not see your payment. Remember, the requirements are that you have an outstanding balance of at least $25 if your account is level 5-14, or $10 if you are over level 14, your paypay email address has been entered, and you have published at least one item since our last payment run in Mid-August. We have sent out the August earnings reports, but only via Private Message for this month. Emails on the platform have been turned off until the full game engines have been released.

Next Steps, Author Logins

Within the next few days, we will be allowing all existing authors the ability to login to a “limited” SharedReviews. You will only be able to access the following sections:

• Go through the existing account setup wizard. This will be a short wizard that allows you to update your account information and public profile to the new formats. You will also be able to link your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts for easier logins in the future.
• A Limited “Dashboard”, which will be your central page for tracking your game progress in the future. Initially it will only contain your level, accomplishments, and traffic reports. When the full gaming engines are released, many more sections will open up on this page dependent on your level and associated abilities you’ve earned.
• Private Messages: The new private message interfaces will become available, allowing you to view, search, and send private messages on the platform. Email notifications will still be turned off for the time being, so unless a player is online, they may not be notified of any messages you send out.
• Player Forums: The new player forums will be fully available for posting. You’ll be able to use the new rich text editor we have included in that section of the site as well.

Couple of Important Notes:

• Javascript will be required to use the site. If you are using a browser that does not have javascript enabled, or have javascript turned off, the system will log you out. SharedReviews gaming engines will use javascript extensively, but in a way that’s not too hard on your system. If you do not have a browser that supports javascript, we recommend you update your browsers now. The new site design is optimized for IE9, Chrome 12+, FF3.5+, Safari 4+, and Opera 9+. Especially if you are using IE6-7, the site may not behave exactly as it should, so updating your IE to IE9 should be a priority (just for your modern browsing pleasure across all the interwebs).
• The Instant Messaging System will be turned off as well, this will be re-enabled once the full gaming engines have been launched.
• Although it will not be available until the full game engines are launched, there will be a new Player Toolbar located at the top of your browser while logged in. If you use any toolbars that frame the sites you visit, we highly recommend turning them off prior to logging into your account.

We’ll announce the actual date and time for launch in our next blog update.