"Hey! The fight is on!...Where are those guys?! No good, half blind skeletons! I told them to keep their good eye on the door!" --General Stormclaw

  Any day now, millions of Wizards will be crashing their way through the doors and completing the preview quests that allows them to learn some of the secrets of Celestia.

The upcoming world of Celestia is inspired by Atlantis, and young Wizards will encounter new adventures and quests deep under the sea. Celestia will officially open later this year, but starting soon players can undertake new quests to discover the secrets of this new world and begin to unlock the story behind Celestia.

Are you up to the challenge?

  This is the July installment of my Book of the Month Club. These books have been suggested by a fellow Librarian from Earth, her name is Kit Ward-Crixell and she is a librarian in New Braunfels, Texas, USA.

This time our chosen book is a Marleybone themed book! The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents written by Terry Pratchett.

Pratchett, a master of fantasy, sets this children’s book in Discworld, the same universe as his Watch and Witches novels for adults.

It tells the story of Maurice, a mercenary cat, and a group of intelligent rats, who make money by first infesting a town and then leaving when their “piper,” a young boy named Keith, is paid to get rid of them. Things go wrong in a town called Bad Blintz, and soon everyone, including the reader, is facing the kind of moral dilemmas wrapped in satire that Pratchett is known for. Some scary scenes mean this is probably a choice for older or not easily frightened kids.

Look for this book in your school or local library and enjoy reading, young Wizards!

  Question: Can I run Wizard101 on a Mac?

Answer:Wizard101 can run on a Mac with the use of a program called CrossOverGames, but we do not support Wizard101 on the Mac.

You can find more information about Wizard101 and CrossOverGames at CrossOverGames

Question: Will there ever be a bigger friends list?

Answer: As many of you know, Wizard101 launched with an unlimited Friends list. As the population grew, we realized that an unlimited Friends list was just too much information to load, and was causing some players to take a long time to load or transition between zones. As a result, we dialed the maximum back to 100. Based on your feedback, it looks like we might have to expand it, but we also need to consider the impact this will have on our databases and your load times.

Many young Wizards seek information about what it takes to become a game designer.

If you’re serious about exploring this industry, there are three schools that specialize in various aspects of video game development. Most companies, including our own, require employees to hold a degree, preferably in their field of employment, and some of the staff at KingsIsle come from these three schools.

Digipen: http://www.digipen.edu
FullSail: http://www.fullsail.edu
GuildHall: http://guildhall.smu.edu

For those of you who like to learn, there's a FREE book about programming with a FREE language called Python. "Invent with Python" was written to be understandable by kids as young as 10 to 12 years old, although it is great for anyone of any age who has never programmed before. For more on this free book, visit Invent with Python.

New!
Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.For more information about Scratch see this website: Scratch

Just keep writing down and refining your ideas, look for new ways to do something that currently exists, and continue to expand your knowledge of math, physics, geometry and history, all of which play a vital role in making and designing a video game.

Best of luck, young Wizards. I hope you will all continue to enjoy your adventures in Wizard City and beyond, and keep creating!