This week we've made another internal upgrade to the RuneScape game engine, which makes it possible for us to do more complex/varied updates in the future.

This time around the interface system has had another overhaul, with a large chunk of the system completely replaced with a more powerful version. We've then had to adjust and retest all the old interfaces to make sure they still work under the new system (a big job!).

One immediate improvement you'll notice with this update is some new 'hot keys' - much like the 'control' key can be used to run. Now, you can use F1 - F12 to open up most of your interfaces, and the 'escape' key will open your inventory. Once you get used to these, we're sure you'll find that it makes doing things much, much quicker.

The keys work like this:

Esc - Inventory
F1 - Combat options
F2 - Your statistics
F3 - Quest Journal
F4 - Equipped interface
F5 - Prayer
F6 - Spellbook
F8 - Friends list
F9 - Ignore list
F10 - Options interface
F11 - Emotes
F12 - Music Player
Control - Run

Most of the other changes that have been made aren't generally things that you'll notice immediately, but there's a surprisingly large amount of work involved in any engine upgrade. Admittedly, it's not the most exciting update in the short term, but it's definitely worth it in the long run!

All this frantic behind the scenes activity finally means we can now get started on some (much requested) updates to some of our main interfaces - updates which weren't previously possible, but now are! In the meantime, though, we've taken the opportunity to fix a few more bugs...

In other news...

The uncharged version of the new dragonfire shield has now been given a +7 strength bonus to match the charged version.

We've fixed the bug with POH costume rooms that was letting players store wizard boots in oak treasure chests even though they couldn't be taken out again. The boots are meant to be stored only in teak or mahogany treasure chests.

Over time, if your stats have been reduced or raised, most of them restore slowly back towards their default levels. However, if you opened an interface such as one of the skill guides or a shop, your stats used to stop restoring until you closed it again. We've now fixed it so that your stats will restore normally even if you have an interface open.

Finally, the pet rock from Fremennik Trials now has to be wielded in both hands, as if it were a two-handed sword. Some of its animations weren't looking very good if you wielded the rock and a shield at the same time.

It went right up to the wire, but the winners have been chosen. As voted for by you, they are:

• Halloween event winner: The Grim Reaper owns a spooky House of Horror, in which he has placed you. Can you pass the traps and scares?
• Halloween reward winner: A Grim Reaper hood
• Halloween emote winner: A zombie hand coming out of the ground

Many thanks to all of you who voted - you have chosen some ghoulishly great options! We promise that the event will be just as exciting as the race for the winner has been.

There may have been two Guaranteed Content polls recently, but they will not be released this frequently in the future. It just happened to be that two subjects suitable for Guaranteed Content polls came up in quick succession.

Ever got frustrated when you couldn't right click and quick bank with Gundai? Ever wondered why the Monks of Entrana have memory loss and search you every time? These are but two small annoyances which have been changed as part of a collection of disparate but subtle alterations to the game - all suggested by you, the players!

In the first of our 'Improvement Project' updates we've bundled together a whole host of little additions to the game that many of you have suggested. Most of these are improvements to existing features, adding new detail or extra benefits. We have identified many more in addition to these, so there will also be a steady flow of them coming out over the coming year.

In the first batch we have additions that range from useful to humorous.

First up, we've rebalanced the crossbows to make them a really appealing option for rangers. This means that your crossbow will fire faster and hit harder. We've also made grapples tradeable at every stage in their construction. It was a bit odd having them untradeable as soon as you add a bit of rope. Onyx bolt tips bought from the TzHaar are also cheaper now. With all these adjustments, we feel that the crossbow is a really viable choice for the discerning ranger.

We've also rejigged the combat selection so now you'll stick to the same fighting style after you log out. This means that when you log in again, you'll automatically use your preferred style - no more defending yourself by hitting someone over the head with a staff when you have plenty of runes!

We have updated the graphics for cyclopes to make them look better than ever. Stop by and visit the Ardougne Zoo and take a look at some of the less common creatures.

Players who have completed Dream Mentor will now be able to bank items without a seal of passage on Lunar Isle. They can now speak to Bird's Eye Jack, left click the booth directly in front of him or right click to use quick-bank. Previously, you were required to have your seal of passage on you before you could access the bank.

Players can now fill all available buckets in their inventory with slime from the ectofuntus temple just north of Port Phasmatys. This change removes the need for multiple clicking to fill each bucket individually.

We've been told that Gundai in the Mage Arena is not nearly as helpful as he could be, so we've added a 'quick bank' option. Similarly, the monks on Entrana have a right-click 'quick sail' option, which gives the monks the right to check you for the usual armour and weapons before you hop aboard their boat.

The dastardly aberrant spectres in the Slayer Tower will be getting less to eat now, as we've added a short warning to the spiky chain that leads to their lair. Hopefully this will save inexperienced adventurers from getting a painfully bad smell assaulting their senses (not to mention their limbs).

The glassblowing interface wasn't pretty enough, and also a bit awkward to use, so we've upgraded it to make it simpler to turn molten glass into useful vials and the like.

To save fletchers standing about looking as if they're doing nothing, we've added an animation to stringing bows. On top of this, you'll save quite a few clicks with the new 'String-all' option!

As impressively mighty as the skeletal wyverns are, we felt their drops didn't really reflect the challenge, so they now drop some more desirable loot.

Gloves of silence (made from the stealthy dark kebbit's fur) can now be inspected to see how they're going after your pickpocketing fingers have been caught a few times. You can also grab some more fur to repair damaged ones, saving you a trip to the fancy dress shop.

For the fashion-conscious among you, Patchy on Mos Le'Harmless has been given a better set of tools, so he'll now combine a black cavalier hat with a highwayman mask, and a black beret with a mime mask. How dashing!

Finally, everyone's favourite pet, a rock, has been made even more exciting! Now you can play fetch, tell it to stay, or even wield it.

We've also identified a number of bugs, which are now fixed. These include:

• The infinity hat has been adjusted due to an issue with players' hairstyles. Certain hair would occasionally appear through the hat, which looked a bit strange.
• Wizard boots have been relocated in the treasure trails chest of your costume room. Up to now, players could store these in the level 1 clue scroll section; however they are obtained from level 2 clue scrolls.
• The rune helm painted with Varrock colours has had its looks adjusted. This is to help differentiate between the gilded full helm and itself. The new looks are now more befitting to such an item.
• A bug was fixed to allow anyone who's been lucky enough to find and catch implings to open the jars containing captured implings around the Catherby area.

There are plenty more wee additions coming up for the future, all of which are designed to make your gaming experience easier, more enjoyable or just entertaining.

Those players who have completed the Dragon Slayer quest will already be able to get anti-dragonbreath shields from the Duke of Lumbridge. Oziach the Master Smith has recently found a way for members to upgrade this shield using a draconic visage - a powerful artefact from a forgotten age that is only occasionally dropped by powerful dragons. Combining the draconic visage with the anti-dragonbreath shield will result in a new type of shield: the dragonfire shield.

The dragonfire shield's power relies on storing dragonfire. The shield absorbs dragonfire just like the anti-dragonbreath shield, but every time it does so its stats become a little more powerful. The shield is also effective against the breath of skeletal wyverns (although it won't store any of it). The stored dragonfire can also be released by operating the shield, slightly reducing the shield's stats but firing a blast of dragonfire at an opponent!

On the topic of dragons, we've also updated Crandor to make it look more like the woeful place it became after Elvarg arrived. You'll also notice that the dungeon connecting Crandor to Karamja has been improved, and Elvarg's lair looks much more like a place a dragon might choose to live.

Summary

Two weeks ago, we added a thread in the Suggestions Forum for Halloween 2007 ideas. Many of you posted, coming up with some ghoulish ones.

We have gathered these ideas, grouped some of our favourites together, and produced options for our second Guaranteed Content poll. Thanks go to the many of you who posted.

You may notice that all of the themes mention the Grim Reaper in some way, which was down to the sheer number of suggestions that involved him. He is obviously popular!

So pick carefully, as the winning votes will be made into this year's Halloween event. We may even include some surprises to keep you on your toes. Visit the poll system to cast your vote!

Although there have been two Guaranteed Content polls recently, they will not be released this frequently. It happened to be that two subjects suitable for this kind of poll came up at once.

After over a week's voting, the next Achievement Diary has gone to... Varrock! It was the runaway winner, and we will begin work on it right away.

Those who have read our Development Diary will know that game additions can take a long time to brief, programme, test, and go through many other stages of development, so please be patient for its release.

Many thanks go to those who voted. The feedback has been positive and the number of votes impressive, meaning we plan to do another Guaranteed Content poll in the near future.

A new bow has made its way to RuneScape from the shadowy dimension of the dark beasts. These dark bows are strange and dangerous weapons, designed to shoot two arrows at a time, even with the most powerful arrows. Its mysterious special attack deals massive damage, which is even more powerful if you use it with dragon arrows.

Dark bows can only be obtained from the dark beasts that lurk along the path to the Light Temple. Although it requires a level 90 Slayer to take on a dark beast, level 60 rangers can use these tradeable dark bows. The dark bow is also the only bow that can fire dragon arrows!

You also now have access to a new cavern where eight more dark beasts lurk, just at the start of the Light Temple path.

Summary

Requirements to use the dark bow:

Level 60 Ranged

Requirements to kill dark beasts:

Started Mourning's Ends Part II
Level 90 Slayer

In other news...

H.A.M. clothing has been added to the items players can store in the armour case in their costume room. Players can now deposit their selection of H.A.M. clothes to free up some bank space.

Players can now see when they have achieved the maximum Kudos from helping out at the Varrock Museum.

The Fountain of Heroes in the Heroes' Guild will no longer recharge amulets of glory in their noted form.

Players can now move compost into all empty buckets in their inventory if they have sufficient compost in the bin. This is to allow players to more easily extract the compost for their Farming needs.

Players who've achieved a high enough magic level to cast Ice Barrage from the Ancient Magick Spellbook will be interested to know that we've fixed the requirements for casting to allow for combination runes. All other Ancient Magick spells already allow players to use combination runes, but it seems this one was missed off.

Players who are short on inventory or bank space can now drop wound up toy mice on free worlds. Prior to this, players could only drop the unwound version.

Today sees the release of a new feature on the RuneScape website: Development Diaries! This new series of articles will take you behind the scenes here at Jagex HQ, so you can all get a better understanding of the work that goes into our regular updates, rather than just seeing the end result.

The first diary takes you through the entire development of the upcoming Impetuous Impulses minigame, but not just a boring step-by-step account: there are some juicy hints about upcoming content, concept artwork to ogle and amusing quotes from our mods, so there should be something in there to interest everyone.

The Development Diaries can be found in the Stories and Letters section of the website, along with Postbag from the Hedge, Players' Gallery and Lores and Histories. We hope you enjoy the diaries!

"Once upon a time in a land far, far away..." Our latest quest takes you into the world of fairy tales, where you'll save a dwarf in distress, tell a bedtime story to a vicious beast and fight a monster so large, well, you'll have to find out...

In Grim Tales you take on Sylas's quest to find some of the most collectible items in RuneScape (well, they're collectible if you're odd like Sylas). Make incredible potions that will drastically change your perspective on the world. Explore your musical talents. Steal gold from the guardian in the sky and flee for your life!

The magic of the Brothers Grimm's tales is vividly brought to life for you to experience for yourself, but you may find that events differ from what you have been told! Be sure to wear your best armour and strongest weapons when you venture forth in search of treasures!

Magic beans, dear friends, magic beans.....

Summary