The Broken Hourglass: Game Over

I promised to tell you when I had more news about The Broken Hourglass, so here I am.

I wish it were better news. As you can probably tell by the title, or may already have read in the official announcement on the Planewalker Games website, it's, well, broken. Jason Compton and Wes Weimer (owners of said property) have decided for a variety of reasons not to continue developing The Broken Hourglass.

They plan to let folks play around with it at some point, or, to put it in the official announcement's more formal terms, to:

release the game materials for TBH and the underlying WeiNGINE game code in some open source/open content license model which will permit the ongoing exploration and development of the game as a non-commercial, community project. The exact licenses and scope of this public release have not yet been determined, and there is no specific timetable for this public release to happen. The intention will be to give the greater community the best chance possible to explore the potential of TBH and to honor the efforts of the dozens of people who have been involved with TBH's development over the years.

So this is goodbye, at least as far as The Broken Hourglass is concerned. I’m going to miss the crazy characters, the writing, the brainstorming, and the blogging (Actually, I’m not quitting blogging, just blogging about The Broken Hourglass). So, goodbye gamers. Thanks for reading and for all your encouraging comments and questions throughout the process.

The Broken Hourglass: Paused

It's been a while since that last weaponry update, and I'm afraid there's really not a lot to say, progress-wise, so I've been dragging my feet. At present, The Broken Hourglass is on hold as Jason Compton deals with some difficult real-life stuff.

I can't say I know all of what was and was planned in game, but the situation as I knew it last:

NPC-NPC dialogs: Finished, though (as always) we could use a few more, especially with some pairs. I'm a fan of lots, and lots, and lots of NPC chatter.

Interjections: A good amount..

PC-NPC Dialogs: Sufficient. I'd like to add a couple more, when the pause ends. Nekos, especially, needs more.

Romances: Ioanna's is complete and in-game, Makarios' has, I hear, a solid rough. Two more need to be written, one had a possible writer. Carind is slated to be the second romance for male players. The other romance for women is probably going to be Nekos, though we have, on occasion, debated.

Quests:  An abundance.  Fifty-some finished, everything from simple "Please get my cat out of the tree" types to ornate, curlicued quests with multiple endings and possible side-branches (Oh, former modders just love baroque plotting).
     The Grand Finale: Sadly, needed some rewriting. Some of what I wanted to do proved uncodable, so we need to talk about alternatives.
     One major quest needs some minor tweaking. It got caught between two objectives and the journal entries sometimes reflect one, sometimes the other. Could be worse, but it also could be better; it definitely needs some discussion before it goes anywhere. Most importantly, we need to pick one of the two main objectives and run with it.
      One quest in complete limbo. I think it likely we'd end up writing that one off, since it's non-essential. I can't swear to that, though.

Soundsets: All PC soundsets are written, voiced, and in place (That's actually how I first got started on this, in case anyone was wondering). Minor NPC soundsets (You know, the peasants, thieves, and beggars) are written, some are voiced, none are in-game yet, though I've heard a few and they sound good to me.

Other voicing: Still to be done. I'm not sure whether Jason was planning on full-voicing or first-line, Baldur's Gate-style voicing. Personally, I prefer the latter, but I know some find full-voice more immersive. It may very well come down to budget.

Artwork: The backgrounds are done and are gorgeous; sprites are done. I'm not sure how far along spell-animations got. I believe most were done and in-game. Most items had icons, but some--around twenty?--still needed them. See my earlier post on making weaponry. Also, some new quests spawned new items.

Item-making: I don't know. Almost all the quest items were made (See the grand finale needs some revision for the reason I can't say "all").  Some weapons needed effects added.

The music is done, but you all know that. I've raved and raved about it. I'd link, but I can't find Rob Howard's site these days. He's moved around a bit. One day, I hope you get to hear the full sound track.
   Edit: I think this is one of his pages. Looks like he's been busy!

And, I think that's all....

So--how long would it take the game to be finished if we were to go from here? I don't know. I've never done anything quite like this before. It's doable, definitely.

How long will it take to be finished now, the way things stand? I don't know. I've gotten quite fond of the characters and their city. I think everyone should meet them.

I'll let you know when there's something to know, in any case (Trust me. I'll shout it from the rooftops, and the blog may include some all-cap entries).  Thanks all for your interest and your reading.

Books on Weaponry: Book Review

So a while back, I had to do some work on describing magical weaponry. Not being a weapons person, I had first to go to the library and find some books--and there's a scary lot of them out there, let me tell you, even if you're trying to concentrate on more stone age to medieval weapons and not to look at all the shelves full of modern ways to blow things up Anyway, here are some I found useful and otherwise in my meanderings. I've tried to note which section of the library they were in, in case you're looking for a particular age group:

Warriors' Weapons by Walter Bueh: I needed a Weapons 101 and this turned out to be surprisingly suitable. It did not convince me that weapons were my new passionate interest in life, but I did end up reading past the portions I strictly speaking needed, looking at castle building and sieges, so hurray for Bueh! I think the library had this stashed in Young Adult.

Eyewitness Books Arms & Armor by Michele Byam I love Eyewitness Books (thanks Greg for reminding me of them. I picked up a couple non-weaponry ones just because). They do such an amazing job of packing together information and pictures, lots and lots of really lovely pictures. Again, I found myself moving past the medieval stuff, fascinated to learn that dueling pistols used to come with "Do it yourself" bullet molds. The dueling pistols also came in matched pairs, and the book doesn't say why: Were duelists given two shots? Or were they supposed to supply the challenger with a weapon if he happened to have forgotten to pack his? Now, instead of being Through With Weapons, I have something else to look up! Shelved in the kid's section.

Weapon : A Visual History of Arms and Armor. DK Publishing, Roger Ford
Roger Ford (Contributor), R. G. Grant (Contributor), A. Gilbert (Contributor), Philip Parker (Contributor), R. Holmes (Contributor): This one was a bit of an overload. It's huge, at least as crowded with illustrations as the Eyewitness Arms & Armor, and packed full of information. For my purposes, it was a bit of an overkill, but for people who seriously want a "Weapons 101" covering everything, this is a really, really good place to start. Oh, and it has an awesome section of "strange weaponry" and a really good picture of elephant armor. Shelved in the grown-up section of the library.

Ancient Weaponry: From Clubs to Catapults by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods: By the time I got to Ancient Weaponry, I was winding up my research, so I mostly skimmed it. It merits mention, though, for being the book that told me about the Ancient Greeks molding insults into the bullets they made for slings and thus undoubtedly warranting a much fuller read than I gave it. Shelved in the kids section.

Weapons & Warfare : From the Stone Age to the Space Age Not a bad overview, but bear in mind it is a kids book and covering a ton of territory. A bit redundant if the above books are already in your book pile.

Armour & Weapons by Charles Ffoulkes Um. See, this one was written back in the nineteenth century. It's interesting as an example of a nineteenth century antiquarian's view of things, and I did love his fussing at the beginning that the ancients just didn't understand the importance of their old armor and inconsiderately melted the stuff down when they were through with it,  but.... as a quick research source, it's a bit of a wash. Shelved in the grown-up section.

Arms and Armor (Then and Now) written by Adrian Gilbert, Illustrated by James Field: This one was great because it grouped the weapons by type more than country or century, so all the bows and arrows were together, the staff weapons (a particular area of ignorance on my part) in another, armor in another, and so on. A handy overview from the children's section.

There were a couple of others I skimmed, but really, after these, it was mostly skimming for the odd fact.

The Broken Hourglass: Weapons, a tidbit

I ran across this yesterday:

The ancient Greeks used to manufacture lead bullets for streams. They "sometimes etched insulting messages into the bullet molds; the messages were then imprinted on the bullets. One common message: 'A Nasty Present.'"

from Ancient Warfare by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods

Now, onto typing out the descriptions that I scribbled into my notebook after yesterday's stint. Hopefully, I'll be able to decipher my handwriting!

The Broken Hourglass: Time to do some reading

I think my recent visit to the library should take care of my basic research needs. Now it's time to get serious about the reading!

The Broken Hourglass: Weaponry

Whew! Finally got that initial proofreading done! Yay!

So now it's on to weaponry.  I started Warriors' Weapons by Walter Beuhr this afternoon, and I have a couple of books on hold at the library, thanks to people's suggestions. Hopefully, that will give me the information I need to add a few useful magical weapons to the arsenal.

To clarify a bit on my last post: The base weapons and their damage stats & all are already in game. Someone else took care of that Back in the Beginning.  We need a few more special weapons though, plus a few descriptions need elaborating.

So--it's time for me to figure out what the difference between a glaive and a poleaxe is and why it maters.

Somewhat beside the point, but the bit about copper mining in Bronze-Age Tyrol was quite fascinating, and I was interested in the "Drop water onto stone" method the Stone Age weapon crafters apparently used to make holes in their axes etc for the purpose of fastening them to wooden hafts.

Will this be of use in game?  Who knows? There are ancient mummies running around in a couple of places. Anyway, right now I'm just doing some hasty base-research. Wish me luck!

Oh, and if you know of any  other really fascinating, irresistible books on medieval weaponry, let me know.

The Broken Hourglass: A Look at Elementals

I was about to announce that the proofreading was finished and had, in fact, started some research for the next bit of work I'm doing, but then I found a 70-something page document that still needed work. So--I'm working on that, though I do have a (small) pile of books on weaponry out.

By the way, are any of you weapons lovers or experts? I'm not in charge of the weaponry in general (for which everyone gives thanks), but I am looking to add a few descriptions and specialty items, and would be grateful for any book or web page suggestions sent my way.

----

In the meantime,  here's an in-game excerpt, a book found in the university and (IIRC) one or two other places, modified from the world-design doc, written others, including Corvis, In the Beginning....

Dinopes' Bestiary: Elementals

Elementals are rare, hard to create, and harder to control, being fierce and unpredictable in nature.

The best known are the fire elementals summoned by the sun-priests of Hallilh and used as temporary guards, powerful warriors in battle, or as a display to awe a visiting dignitary. The fact that they are unruly and difficult to control for long makes their extended use impossible. A single elemental may be summoned for a night as an assassin or before large battles. During the War of the Red Rivers, the Tolmiran legions' initial defeats were caused in part by the two or three elementals the Hallihsh horde would summon as a matter of course. They were used to great effect as siege-breakers until the Tolmirans developed countermagics.

As fluid as fire itself, the actual physical appearance of a fire elemental varies. A fire elemental may appear as a simple sphere of flame ten feet in diameter; a man-shaped creature of the same height; or as a jet of flame that can pass under doors, through pipes, between fences, or any other conceivable obstacles.

A weakness of the fire elemental is also that which allows it to survive: flammable materials. A fire elemental in a wooden house will set the floor, walls, furnishings, and ceiling on fire, spreading, growing, and all the while tearing itself apart as it feeds. This suits the lands of Hallilh well, as most buildings are made of sandstone or other inflammable materials, but it also restricts the places the sun priests can use these powerful magics. A fire elemental unleashed in a forest is as dangerous to the summoner as to his foes.

Other forms of elementals can exist, but they are even more rare than those made of fire as the mastery of the magic involved is almost impossible to attain, so there is less information available about their form and character. Presumably, they are similar to the fire elementals in their ability to vary their form, and, like fire elementals, share the weakness of their formative elements.

The Broken Hourglass: Numbers

510,870 words
2748586 characters
881 scripts
31 subdirectories 

In case you were wondering.

The Broken Hourglass: These Are the People in Your Neighborhood

Thought I'd post a couple more profiles from The Broken Hourglass neighborhood.

Mind once took care of the less-legal side of things in the Industrial District. He kept the riffraff in line, made sure no one was hurt (too much), and made a tidy profit all at the same time.

Then he vanished.

Now he's back, and he wants control again. Will you help him? Right now, the entire city is in chaos. Someone who can keep things in order might be just what the city needs, even if he takes a bit off the top for his own purposes. Of course, there are other candidates for the job, but none of them, as Mind will point out, have his experience.

The Mnemoi Like their compatriots in the Enclave, the Mnemoi are skilled at manipulating memories. Unlike them, they are willing to market their skills. For a reasonable fee, they will give you the skills and memories of a mountain climber or a researcher, without you having to take the time or effort to learn these things on your own. Pretty useful in the current crisis, wouldn't you say?

Better yet, you might be able to sell some of your own memories, get the sanguil you need to buy that lovely suit of armor Nekos has been asking for.

It's quite safe.

Really.

The Broken Hourglass: Proofreading Count

Just finished reading a minor quest that made me smile.

I have sixteen more quests to read on this run through.

Two are very long. Three are very short. I have no idea about the rest.

Anyway, just popping in to let you know that, yes, I'm still at it.

Off for dinner and some sunshine, then... We shall see!

One of these days, I'll do another "People in the neighborhood" post. After all, the big advantage of proofreading this way is that I know more of the neighborhood. So, anyone interested in another such post?

The Broken Hourglass: Revision Continues

The exigencies of events(1) have kept me from blogging about this for a while.

I'm still at the proofreading with several quests to go, plus the atmosphere stuff.

It is interesting. I know the rough outline of the major quests, since I had to know it to write anything at all--The events ought, after all, to affect things--but I had never even read summaries for some of the minor stuff, so it's fun seeing what people came up with.

You can tell most of the writers were modders first; everyone has had a great time coming up with multiple solutions to even minor problems. One of the FedEx quests has six possible outcomes.

I know this because the other part of what I'm doing is making an elaborate chart of quest-ending conditions. This should help in the final revision and, also, should help future modders when the game is released. At least, I hope Jason plans on releasing the chart!

So far, I've only reread a couple of my own quests. I always find it harder to edit my own stuff, since I've seen it so many times I end up blind to the errors. Also, there's always the temptation to tweak the quest just a little here, or a little there, and I don't think Jason wants plot changes at this point!

Anyway, that's what is (still)  happening at this end of things.

(1) This is just a fancy way of saying "stuff happened." It comes from my least favorite Andre Norton novel, and I've been wanting to use it for ages. It's not a particularly good explanation, but at least it's elegantly put. Or something.

The Broken Hourglass: Tiny Update

Not a whole lot of stuff to say about The Broken Hourglass today. I'm still proofreading. It takes a surprising amount of time even for short quests. There are all the possible lines of dialog to read, plus any item descriptions, plus any stringhead tags or special spell descriptions.  And this is only the first proofread, the one to make sure things are consistent and to fix really glaring comma errors.

Someone is still going to have to go back through the whole thing with a fine-toothed comb when we're finished and fix all the remaining comma problems, grammar glitches, and whatnot. Preferably, it would be several someones, but we haven't got that many people, and I'm assuming you all want to see the game before the century is out.

Now, off to read "Look Up in the Sky."  It's another of the quests I have not read yet, so I'm looking forward to finding out what it's about.

By the way, I don't know how much you'll see of the quest titles when we're finished. Certainly they won't show up in the game; I don't know if we're keeping the separate folders or not. Right now, they're handy for prefixing, coding, and proofreading purposes.

The Broken Hourglass: Proofreading

So no great big exciting news. Work on The Broken Hourglass continues to continue. Right now, mostly we're working on revision and overhaul.

Jason's fixing the endgame and doing a ton of checking on items. Theoretically the focus is on the finale, but of course everyone carries weapons and various Cool Named Gear, and then that gets checked and then he says "Oh, there are better ways of doing it" and then he's back at item-making.

Wes Weimer came out of retirement (Retirement from the game, that is. I wouldn't really describe a teaching job as "retirement" in the broader sense) to do some engine adjustment.

Paul is working on making combat more exciting.

Me? I'm reading through the quests, more or less in alphabetical order, doing quick edits and making notes. It's interesting--there are a lot of quests I have not read, some I haven't even seen summaries of--and very time-consuming. Like most things, it's taking more time than I planned. It's small stuff, mostly, but it needs doing. For example, fairly early on, an emperor was changed to an empress. The first quests still call her a him. And so it goes.

How many quests are there? That depends on how you define "quest": Some are definitely Quests with a capital "Q," long, sprawling, multi-part creations that are spread out over any number of files. Others are short encounters with very basic results and choices. They all have dialog, though, and it all needs proofreading.

There's some further writing ahead, but right now, I'm heading back into initial proofreading work.

Til next time!

The Broken Hourglass: Technology Tangles, a trivial post

Technology is wonderful: The people working on The Broken Hourglass are from all over the place. Thanks to Instant Messenger and Skype, we can talk easily, and thanks to Google Docs, we can share files and edit with only a very slight time lag (It does slow down my computer).

Technology is terrible: Recently, it took 45 minutes to upload two simple files. For some reason, Google Docs didn't like the file format, so there was a long round of "Can you see it now?" "What about now?"

In other news: A recent quest up entirely too tangled and needed serious revision, so neither the elegant code nor the revised less-elegant-but-workable code will be in there. Instead, the quest has been turned inside out, thoroughly shaken, and given a new form. Revision is wonderful/revision is terrible: It usually results in a much tighter, more focused piece. It's also hard. Worth it, and part of the process, but hard.


End of trivial post. 

The Broken Hourglass: These are the people in your neighborhood

I thought this time I'd give you a couple of character sketches for today's entry. This may or may not become a regular practice.  Characters featured in the "neighborhood" posts are non-joinables of varying degrees of importance.  So, for today, here are two--one from inside the law, one from out.

When the world went mad on Wasteland Day, Zeriya kept her head. She also kept her people together, working to make sure they and their families had food and felt as safe as anyone could in the city. With their loyalty ensured, she was able to move in on the nearby, smaller gangs, taking them over one by one, parlaying a minor counterfeiting gang into a major power. Now she is the head of the largest gang in Mal Nassrin, the first Fey to reach such prominence.

She has two goals: To keep her new-found power and to be remembered.

You may need her help some day, so don't call her crazy.

And at the other end of the spectrum, there is:

Leonika had just recently been transferred to Mal Nassrin. Officially, it was a promotion.  Unofficially?  No one wants to go to Mal Nassrin. It's a dead end, a place where nothing ever happens, and the guard knows this. Leonika had just started working on the lax discipline she found at her new assignment when the Umbrella went up. Now, she has her hands full.

Morale is at an all-time low. The city council is not communicating. Half her troops are outside the of the barrier, and the other half have deserted or died in the chaos. She doesn't have much patience with interruptions, so choose your words with care.

The Broken Hourglass: Small Update

Hm. I keep planning a "proper post" on The Broken Hourglass and  ending up not making any post at all. Since many of my earlier posts are "improper," I shall revert to that mode for the moment.

The latest work on the game consisted of me coding an elegant series of exchanges between the PC and a group of NPCs, getting them all set up and feeling quite happy about them--and then realizing that they weren't going to work after all, since it relied on each NPC having one and one only of the 4 items being swapped, and under certain conditions, any given NPC might have two or more of said items, at which point, the player wouldn't be able to get at any of the extra items without bloodshed.

So, I grumpily went back in and started recoding. The original elegant exchange setup is still there, but I've added a whole tangle of additional code and some additional conversation and really ought to pull that original code out entirely, but it does work, and it took me so long to set it up in the first place that I'm stalling.

Such is the coding life.

The Broken Hourglass: A Brief , Unnofficial Look at the NPCs (Part Three)

And the third part of the three-part overview of the joinable-NPC's in The Broken Hourglass, this time looking at Tuhan, Ruvanet, and Sanelon.  Again, a quick search over at  the the Planewalker Games main site will turn up more for some. All NPC portraits are by Jelina Jovovic.

And so, on to part three:

Ruvanet  Angennosis an ex-soldier with a run of bad luck. He joined the army as soon as he could, only to find himself mustered out a few years later when he was injured too severely for the army healers to fix. Now, with one withered arm, he works as a general-purpose mage in Mal Nassrin's suburbs. He's also the neighborhood peace-maker, helping smooth over the quarrels too small to take to the judicial system.

Sanelon Batsakis is a healer accessible to even the poorest of the poor--provided they are willing to pay his price, usually in the form of some one-time service. He is an expert at knowing just how far people can be pushed, and was doing quite well in Mal Nassrin's criminal world up to the time things fell apart. Now, he's lost most of his power base and must fight to get it back.

Like Carind, he loves Mal Nassrin, and he is furious that someone has come in and damaged his city.

When most people say they will try anything, they mean things like sushi or sky-diving. Tuhan really means he will try anything, anything at all. An Illuminated who has chosen to reject stabilization, he is first seen allied with the PC's enemies. Asked about this, he is unapologetic, pointing out that that was then, and this is now, and isn't it time to try doing something heroic?

And that concludes this writer's look at the nine joinable NPCs. And, no, there is no party limit.

The Broken Hourglass: A Brief , Unnofficial Look at the NPCs (Part Two)

And the second of the three-part overview of the joinable-NPC's in The Broken Hourglass, this time at Makarios, Nekos, and Redethe.. Again, a quick search over at  the the Planewalker Games main site will turn up more for some. All NPC portraits are by Jelina Jovovic.

And so, on to part two:

Makarios is fey. Brought up on the rougher side of the city, he's enjoyed life as a low-level troublemaker, not planning for tomorrow--there is little point, after all, if you're fey. The Mal Nassrin troubles make him realize that there may be more to life than hassling the authorities, and for once, he's willing to work at something other than annoying the authorities (Though Carind is still a fair target).

Nekos has been fighting in the Arena since his early teens. His tenure has seen the rise of the star system. When the PC meets him, he is staging extra fights at the Arena, encouraging people to stay calm and avoid rioting. As far as he's concerned, that is the best way he can serve the city.

Nekos is warm and outgoing, always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. Whether he always chooses wisely is another matter entirely.

Redethe Hektor came to the city to investigate possible economic contributions to the Empire as a whole. As she is only too happy to tell her audience, she's reached her position due solely to her own talent, coming from an unknown family and impressing her superiors enough that, ultimately, the Empress created the post of Imperial Economist for her.

In the course of this rise, she's done a bit of everything: She started as a soldier, managed a mine, took over the oversight of the Eastern Fleet, battled pirates, and balanced ledgers. It's anyone's guess whether or not she would be working to save the city if she were not trapped there too, but she was, and she is.

The Broken Hourglass: A Brief , Unnofficial Look at the NPCs (Part One)

I thought I'd give a really quick overview of the joinable NPC's in The Broken Hourglass, starting with Carind, Ioanna, and Halima. Several of the characters have larger introductions over on the Planewalker Games main site--a look under "characters" or a search by name should dig them up.

All NPC portraits are by Jelina Jovovic.

Those of you who get this via reader may want to come look at the main site: This post is more formatted than most so that NPC portrait and character sketch are side-by-side, and feed tends to play havoc with formatting. And so, on to part one:

Carind Velanati has been in charge of keeping track Mal Nassrin's busy criminal element. She loves the city and takes her job extremely seriously. Two things frustrate her: She failed to see any warning signs leading up to Mal Nassrin's current predicament, and she has never yet managed to prove Sanelon guilty of anything.

Halima Phaenon left Mal Nassrin years ago to train as an Adept at the Island of Argoniss. Now enjoying the traditional break between schooling and return to the Isle, she finds herself unfamiliar with her home city. She was away from her family when the disaster struck and is eager to find whoever is behind it and make him pay.
Though she is well-trained in the use of magic, she is not experienced using it in real world situations.

Ioanna works as a spy ("Or 'secret agent,' if you prefer something classier."). She came to the city to see what was going on and stayed to help sort things out. The PC is not her first choice of solution, but seems the best option under the circumstances

If she's asked about her past, Ioanna will answer readily, though a careful listener will soon notice that not all of her stories match. Asked about this, she will laugh and ask what you expect.

The Broken Hourglass: Questing Continues

Writing and coding have gotten very intertwined around one another this quest. I'm moving back and forth between the two, doing the both at once, and am very aware of the possibilities as I work.  As with all writing, it is a matter of learning while I work, watching while one plot twists around another, and each element affects the next. So I'm checking and cross-checking both code and writing as I think "Hmm...but what if the player visits her first, and him next...but what if they go over there first instead?"

The most complicated, fiddly bit, of course, is the finale. I don't want people reaching the finale before they've figured out (or at least come close to figuring out) what is going on, but I also don't want to make the player run endless errands long after he or she knows what the truth is just because the code doesn't account for the possibility of figuring it out earlier.

I think I'll have the first full draft done tomorrow, but after that, I get to play-test it from all possible directions to see what happens, and adjust it accordingly.That, of course, is the advantage of doing most of the coding myself now: Changing things is relatively simple matter of going in and tweaking rather than a matter of emailing back and forth and risking misunderstanding (as happened between Paul & me early on with the outside guards). The drawback, of course, is that I lose the feedback--an outside reader can be extremely useful; I keep a head full of voices, but they don't catch every angle. Hopefully there will be people who can read and play through these quests at some point before release. Someone needs to point out the blindingly obvious ahead of time.

The characters stayed chatty for the first bit, bless them, but now, having said their say, they seem content to put their feet up and rest. "We told you what you needed to know," they say. "You know what we did and why we did it, and you know who we are. It's up to you to work out the details."  And so I circle, alter, tweak, and revise, moving closer and closer to the end.

(Yes, I'm having fun!)