Another Visit from our North Swedish Friends, plus a VERY Big Announcement!

Hi everybody!
Welcome to this week’s extra-exciting news update!

More North Swedish Friends!
Have you ever been to the north of Sweden? In the short summertime, there’s 24-hour daylight but in the depths of the long winter, there’s deep, cold snow and no daylight for months! So we’re left wondering: how can such a harsh landscape create something so cute?! Here are two pretty North Swedish horses who have moved into the stables at Fort Pinta and The Vineyard while they wait for new owners to look after them.

These are the last new horses before some completely new arrivals in just a few short weeks… Are you all busy trying to guess the new breed? We think you’re going to love it!

New little North Swedish cuties: they're going to be even more useful than you might think in the future!

Even more additions to your autumn wardrobe!
In case you didn’t quite shop until you dropped in our recent fall fashion weeks, you’ve now got the chance to grab a few extra goodies: gloves and helmets in red and green from Hats & Gloves in Jarlaheim, as well as cute new pants and jackets in the same colours from The Clothes House, right there by the square.

Did somebody say Dinosaur?
Marcus Thorell is the Game Director at Pixel Tales AB, the company responsible for developing Star Stable Online. Here in this exclusive interview, he answers some questions about the brand new area opening in Jorvik this winter!

Hi Marcus! We’ve heard there’s a new area opening this winter, can you tell us anything about it?
- Hey there! I certainly can! Soon, we’re going to open up the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur! It’s a remote and isolated area in a big, snow-filled crater north of Valedale, and it’s filled with adventure and surprises!

We’d planned to open the area a little earlier, but there’s been a lot of other stuff to develop in the game lately. This does mean however that the area is even more thoroughly polished and has a bunch of surprises to offer! It’s a totally new environment where there’s a cold and everlasting winter, and differs from other areas in that the Valley is mostly unexplored tundra where you experience isolation and the feeling that you’re adventuring through a misty and vast frozen world.

OMG! Dino Valley! Tell us what’s going to happen in there!
- OK, we don’t want to reveal too much but what we can say is that there’s going to be lots of quests to do in the Valley. We’re introducing amongst other things a brand new feature where players get to search for fossils and archaeological treasures!

We can also reveal that it’s not all easy riding in the Valley: horses can be affected by the extreme cold, and of course a chilly horse can’t perform at 100%. Top tip: North Swedish horses are the breed most able to deal with that kind of cold right now in the game!

A whole bunch of new and interesting characters are coming to the game, and through interacting with them players will get to learn all about the Valley’s fascinating history and there’ll be amazing environments to explore. There will also be an important development of the game’s main story in the area, which means that the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur is a vital experience for all of our most immersed players!

An exclusive sneak-peek at our brand new area: the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur!

What do the residents of Jorvik know about the area? Is it totally unknown to them or is there a familiar history?
- Even though the area has been long forgotten, Jorvik’s history buffs are well aware that beyond Valedale lies a barren and forgotten land shrouded in a freezing and everlasting mist. The area is made up of an ancient crater or gigantic proportions and its interior is doomed to an eternal winter, but nobody knows quite why. Heavy snowfall and the dense mist makes visibility almost non-existent and does a good job of hiding the area’s secrets. Even the most daring of explorers will face risks and challenges in the Valley.

The crater was once completely filled with water which formed a huge lake of ice. The water level then dropped and a colossal ice cave was formed under the sealed surface of ice. After the legendarily harsh snowstorms of 1912, the ice collapsed causing the explorers and researchers in the area to retreat. The crater became isolated and forgotten, once again covered with snow, and has remained untouched for almost 100 years. Until now…

What do players need to have done to be able to get into the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur?
- Many players have already completed the quest where you help Nic Stoneground the explorer to fly his balloon to the Valley, and having done this is of course necessary to be able to get there. Also, it’s planned that players need to be at level 15 to be able to access the mission that leads you to the new area. When the new area is released, it’s Elizabeth in Valedale who introduces the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur.

Level 15?! That’s really high!
- Level 15-16 is the max level you can achieve in Star Stable Online right now, so yeah it’s pretty high, but all of our players who’ve come so far in the game still need exciting new challenges to look forward to. There’ll be more and more XP in the game and levelling up will eventually go a little faster than it does today as the game develops. It will always take a lot of time and effort for dedicated players to get all the way to level 15: it’s important that there are still rewards for that effort, and something for players to look forward to.

How big is the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur?
- The geographical area of the Valley is bigger than the whole of the northern Harvest Counties, so it’s BIG! Without revealing too much, the main difference is that the area hasn’t got much civilization, so there are humungous frozen wastelands to explore. (The map in the game hasn’t been updated yet to show how big the Valley really is!)

Finally Marcus, WHEN IS IT COMING?! We can’t wait!
- Well, we’ve said it’s going to be released in winter 2014. It’s still in production and there’s a LOT of hard work going on here at Pixel Tales to make sure all the awesome features we’ve got planned are just right for everyone. After we release the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur, we’re going to develop it even more and include even more cool stuff, so you could say we’ve got a whole lot of exciting stuff planned.

We’ll get back to you all very soon with an official release date.

Thanks so much for talking to us Marcus!
- Thank you! We all really hope that you’re going to love the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur; we’ve loved making it so much and we’re so excited for you all to see it!

Next Week…
Next week in the Star Stable update, Halloween is coming to Jorvik so stay tuned for some spooooooky surprises!

Have a great week!
from your Star Stable team