Grimoire is going to be released this year. It may not seem like it right now but it is happening.
I had a look at the preview of Bradley's Wizards and Warriors at Activision now. It simply looks awesome, the best RPG I have seen in production since Lands of Lore (the first one). I am not trying to compete with Bradley but I am competing with Sir-Tech for certain. I think Sir-Tech is trying desperately to get Wiz 8 out this year and they have even less resources at hand than I do they have so depleted themselves. I bet that I am doing better at this point than Ontario and probably have something closer to a release candidate than those evil Canadians. You gotta admit, this is getting to be high satire ala Doctor Strangelove, with all three development teams (if you call me and Shams a team) trying to close and ship their products this year and everybody staggering to the finish line spitting up blood. Even D.W. has had a rough row trying to find somebody with the brains to publish his sure-fire hit.
We're all Wizardry-style spinoffs or clones and everybody involved is reaching for that market share of the turn-based RPG genre. You've got the complete losers at Hurl-Dreck fielding their money-pit nightmare, against their former employee (most brilliant RPG games designer in the industry) ... and bringing up the rear, the original dark horse - me! It is funny and kind of exciting watching to see who publishes the best game. You've got treachery, lust, betrayal, cross-dressers, revenge, ambition, colorful characters and a final showdown ... this stuff is rich soap opera drama, let's face it. I notice that no enterprising journalist has yet caught the vibe and foreseen what an incredibly interesting deathmatch is emerging here.
I still believe that Grimoire is going to be a better turn-based RPG than Wizardry 8 and much more satisfying all around. Even if I only sell ten copies, just knowing I put together a better game than Sir-Tech is going to make my millennium.
The razor is at the bone now. I've spent 5 years of my life hacking at this crazy game. Luckily for me I am actually stronger and better off than when I started because my fortunes have really soared in the local consulting industry in Australia. Everything I have touched has turned to gold since I left Sir-Tech software in 1994. At this point it is all about pride, payback and artistic excellence for me. Grimoire will be the best thing I have ever written out of the 200+ games I have authored since 1981.