Monday. Got my coffee (tall latte), checked my mail (also known as 'spam'), listening to my MP3s (currently: a collection of female vocalists from the 90s), and using my pre-ten-o'clock time to browse (news, mostly). Most people on the team (aside from the programmers; they get up early) show up at ten, leaving me a good hour to myself before work begins. On Mondays (and Wednesdays and Fridays) I go to the gym around six, for an hour, hour and a half, and then I go back to the office to answer e-mail, wrap up whatever I was working on, and write...which I rarely get around to doing when there are other people around. The days are crammed with meetings, Mondays especially, and with two big projects on my slate - and a Creative Director position to boot - there's rarely a moment to spare.

I love my job.

Here's Daniel with a question:

I would like to ask ... who will compose the music for TLJ:s. ? The music in original was amazing ... so are Bjørn Arve Lagim and Tor Linløkken in the team again?

We haven't yet decided on the musical direction for TLJ.s, but I can guarantee you that music - sound in general - will be an extremely important part of the game, much more so than in the original. Tor is no longer with Funcom, unfortunately; he is, however, making and selling his own music - check out www.livingdreamtime.org for more information. If you liked the jukebox tracks at the Fringe Café in TLJ, you should definitely get his CD, "Exploring the Water Element".

And here's a very nice mail from Dean:

I have just been reading your Blog. I have to mention how happy i am of your understanding of "what we DONT want", with regard's to action elements of TLJ2. :), i can now relax in the peaceful knowing that another masterpiece awaits.

One other aspect of the game i LOVED was the humour !, you had both myself and my girlfriend at the time in fits of laughter, with one particular anti-social, but oh-so-cool character.

Keep up the good work :)!!!

Thanks, and yeah, absolutely, the action elements in TLJ.s are tailored more to adventure gamers than arcade gamers. The action will be integrated into the game rather than pasted on top of it - as is the case with a lot of adventures - flowing naturally from the story, the characters, the setting, and the (new and improved) interface and GUI. Without the action, we wouldn't be able to tell the story - it's as simple as that.

I certainly don't subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy (we'd still be playing Pac-Man and Space Invaders if programmers, designers, and artists didn't push the envelope or take chances). I want us to evolve - maybe even revolutionise - the genre, and build the best adventure game possible, whilst staying true to the spirit of the TLJ saga and taking the story in the direction it's always been meant to go in.

(I have a feeling I'll be repeating this a lot between now and the day the game's in stores.)

As for the humour, it'll be back. We'll probably be making less with the funny than in the first one, but there will be laugh-out-loud moments.  ¶ 10:49