Announcer: You are listening to WNDN, the voice of central New Mexico. For the next hour we present a special interview with Ellen Wilds, a member of the La Casa Design Team, explaining the transition for gamers from playing MOUL to those making their way through the age her team is creating. Our interviewer is Dr. James Timothy of UNM. We hope you enjoy the show.

JT: Good morning. My guest today is Ellen Wilds of Maryland, a pivotal force in creating La Casa, an age beyond those in MOUL. Ellen, we were all sorry to see the Cavern closed on April 11. How have you been handling the issue?

Ellen: Thank you, Dr. Timothy, for inviting me on the show. As for the Cavern, well, it has been hard on all of us, of course. I am the founder of Myss Terrie's bevin, one very big happy international family. We dedicated ourselves to helping everyone find their way through URU, to make friends and have a bevin that genuinely cared about all of its members. We stay connected now through our online forum. We wait for the day when we can all get together again in the Cavern, but until then I am keeping busy.

JT: We know that your team has been working hard to create La Casa and the Friends of the Fissure story.

Ellen: Yes, that has been my major project. I came up with the concept last fall, long before we knew that GameTap was going to discontinue hosting MOUL. I had heard from many explorers who were unhappy with the founding of guilds.

JT: Unhappy?

Ellen: Some felt that the guilds had been part of the destruction of D'ni and therefore feared that history might repeat itself. Others were devoted to Yeesha, and felt that to support the guilds was to violate the trust they felt Yeesha had placed in them. The third group were those who just did not want to be in a guild -- didn't want the structure, the politics or the work. The Cavern should be big enough to encompass all points of view.

JT: And in which of those three groups are you?

Ellen: I had some misgivings about the concept of guilds. As an historian I am familiar with guilds in human history as monopolistic organizations, where knowledge is developed but not shared. Historically, guilds were all about power and control. I am happy to say that none of this is true of the guilds founded for the D'ni explorers. In addition to adopting modern democratic structure, they have been open, friendly, sharing and caring. I am myself a member of Guild of Writers. I have found my guild-mates are very supportive, with wonderful suggestions and useful critiques.

JT: So you are creating La Casa within the GoW?

Ellen: I have a development journal on the GoW forum and our artist Atheni33 is also a GoW member. Since La Casa is being created through the skills and tools we already have I have not done much work through the guild itself, but I let them know about our progress and am happy to receive their advice and encouragement.

JT: What specific tools are you using for La Casa?

Ellen: (she laughs) Not unlike those of the very first Myst game, although even more static. We are using HTML coded pages with images, many with embedded links to move to other pages with other images. So far most of the graphics are my creation and are -- I admit -- a bit clunky. Atheni33 will be tweeking the graphics, but is wisely waiting until the writers have gotten all the ideas in place. No point in working for hours on an image, only to have me write something that contradicts the art.

JT: So this is still in development, then.

Ellen: Very much so. We ask that our visitors be patient while we build the site.

JT: Do you have time-table for the development?

Ellen: (she laughs) I wish, but we are all real life people with real life lives. La Casa is strictly non-profit and must be created as time allows. At present, the best we can offer is story content, characters and some wonderfully evocative images in the books on La Casa's library shelves. The Cleft Road and La Casa form the first part of the project. We are hoping that in future our skills will develop to the point where we can offer true 3D worlds.

JT: So La Casa is not exactly "an age" in the URU sense of the word.

Ellen: No, it isn't. It is a surface story based on the first question I had when I played URU as a solo game. I wanted to know what was on the other side of the fence -- there, in New Mexico. I wondered what the locals thought about the Cleft and the thousands of explorers coming in from all over the world to disappear below ground.

JT: And La Casa is the answer.

Ellen: It is an answer. As an historian I have studied tribal American culture. After watching the Hillerman mysteries on PBS I started reading up on the Navajo in particular. Once I realized that the Cleft was in the middle of Navajo country I tried to see the area as the Navajo might.

JT: And what makes the Navajo point of view different from other tribes in the area?

Ellen: We would call them superstitious, but these are their beliefs -- that places associated with death are to be avoided. The Cleft is certainly associated with death, from rumors they may have heard about the destruction of the D'ni and the burial of Gehn's wife Keta in the Cleft. In recent times the locals would have heard of the deaths of John Loftin, Elias Zandi, Phil Henderson -- even though he turned up alive -- and most tragically, the two girls in May 2007. The Navajo also view all high places and unusual rock formations as sacred, and the mountain above the Cleft would certainly qualify. If anyone had passed by to see bahro on top of the volcano, that would have clinched it. No traditional Navajo would go near the Cleft, now or ever.

JT: And how do you see this affecting the URU story?

Ellen: As a writer, I wanted to know why the Cavern was not discovered until the late 1980s. Even if the Navajo would not have searched the site, the invading Europeans and other tribes would have. Yet when each of us entered the Cleft, all the things there were just as Anna -- and later Yeesha -- had left them. It just didn't seem plausible, so in La Casa I wrote an explanation.

JT: And what was that?

Ellen: Ah, Dr. Timothy --

JT: Please call me Jim.

Ellen: Okay, Jim. I want people to read what we have written for La Casa to find the answers. We have a library that is rapidly filling with books. Some of these are animated gifs that move through pages of images. Others are texts where the reader "turns the pages" by means of a device in the top left of each page or in some cases by clicking on the page itself. In the library a visitor will find our characters' journals which cover life at La Casa in the late 20th century as well as a research book done by an archeology professor studying the artifacts of the area going back several centuries, thus explaining the archaeological information available before the Cavern was discovered.. Our botonist, Sophrosyne, has provided a Book of D'ni Herbology, which document her botanical discoveries in the D'ni ages. There are several volumes of our D'ni Knowledge Series, produced by DRC as part of their early fund-raising efforts.

JT: I believe that your archeologist was Dr. Richard Donnelly. He was my mentor at UNM.

Ellen: I know. The research notes mention you and your finds in 1967.

JT: And what did the research notes conclude -- in the context of your story?

Ellen: We concluded it to be a matter of instancing.

JT: Ah, a very-URU concept. Perhaps you could explain "instancing" for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the concept.

Ellen: Certainly, Jim. The D'ni were able to create separate instances of the same place. This means that people see the same site but are in different phases or realities of that place. That is why for some of us it is always raining in that one place in the desert, but never shows up in the National Weather Service reports for the area.

JT: I look forward to reading the book.

Ellen: It is on the bookshelf -- Dr. Donnelly's Research Notes.

JT: What else might visitors to your website find?

Ellen: I am endeavoring to hide enticing goodies -- some might call them "easter eggs" within the site. There are some characters and plot elements that will not be developed until much later, but I want to give folks a glimpse of what is to come.

JT: Such as?

Ellen: La Casa's story mentions KoHama niD'ni, the former Margaret Donnelly, but she is a shy person and has not been seen. Nor should she be. She is the mystery that the player should be attempting to solve because it is only through her that the player will reach the next level of the story.

JT: Another age?

Ellen: Yes. Right now we do not possess the technical skills to make a ages like those created by Cyan. I am hoping that in time the design team will be able to make dynamic ages with puzzles and scenery, the whole 3D package with cut scenes, full interactivity.

JT: What is your premise to add new ages?

Ellen: La Casa was inhabited long before the arrival of Elias Zandi and the DRC. In our story, Zandi and Loftin, and later Watson, tried to purchase La Casa from its owner, KoHama, and she said no. Elias then befriended her, and over the next few months they become very close.

JT: Close? As in lovers?

Ellen: No one is saying how close. KoHama is very reticent to speak on that matter, but it is possible, of course.

JT: And Elias gave her access to the Cavern?

Ellen: That is how we are writing it, yes. During the early exploration, before the creation of the DRC, it is possible that our characters may have taken linking books from the Cavern and hidden them at La Casa. Therefore the goal of the visitor to La Casa is to find those books.

JT: Which will only appear when you are ready.

Ellen: Exactly. La Casa gives the team a chance to write, to create characters, dialog and plot, while we are working on our technical skills and ideas for ages.

JT: Is Refuge one of those ages?

Ellen: Yes, it is. Refuge is the age that KoHama protects. In the story, she and Elias shared Refuge as a get-away place, somewhere they could be alone. After his death, KoHama was so upset that she set her affairs in order here in New Mexico and then linked to Refuge, where she remained until October 2007.

JT: So this will be a habitable age?

Ellen: Wait and see.

JT: Is La Casa open to everyone?

Ellen: Absolutely. Anyone may come to the website and move through the story. We have books to read, visionary dreams, pretty dresses for ladies to wear, and more interviews like this one. The house is being built a little at a time, so there is usually something new to find on each visit. Most of the progress, though, is in the library.

JT: Is the website open to other design teams?

Ellen: We have placed invites at the Guild of Writers and on Myss Terrie's forum to contact us with story ideas. If the material can be connected in some way, we will include it. Those who are creating linear stories can place them on the book shelf in La Casa's library. Those who are working on a non-linear story can put a linking book or other entry point at La Casa, and that will link either to their website or to a sub-folder of my site. During this long and indefinite period when we can not explore our beloved Cavern we of La Casa want to give folks much of the same feel, the same excitement of exploring and finding the unexpected. The FoF team is very small and yet we have done so much. Time to open the doors and let everyone have a place.

JT: So has working on La Casa given you any insights about what Cyan has done?

Ellen: Absolutely. We are using static images and text, and it is a lot of work to be sure just to make certain that all the links work. I can only imagine what it takes to create a dynamic world with 3D graphics and independent movement for hundreds of explorers online simultaneously. Just managing non-linear story-telling is a challenge when most of one's experience is in linear stories -- novels, movies, television. Giving visitors to La Casa the freedom to move around, to learn the story from a variety of sources -- yes, lots of insight, lots of respect.

JT: We wish you and your team well. Good luck.

Ellen: Thank you. I look forward to seeing you at La Casa soon.

Announcer: You are listening to WNDN, the voice of central New Mexico, with the music of Spirit Rock from the CD Wind Riders. Stay tuned for news and weather on the hour.