"we hate quest for glory but please give us muniez because this will be quest for glory's spiritual successor"?
Pretty much. I mean, I guess they don't hate QfG in its entirety and there are parts they love (probably all related to the atmosphere & the story), but they more or less hate the very concept of the game (being an adventure/rpg hybrid). They were totally pressed into it by the executive meddling (yeah, amazingly enough, there are occasions when it actually does help the product). In reality, they always wanted to make just an RPG. Which can be totally seen from the approach they've taken towards the QfG V (if anyone bothers to remember that horror).
So I guess one can say that they want to make a spiritual sequel to the QfG's story and atmosphere. Not sure if that's why the series are remembered, though.
No U.
I'm not a graphix whore but damn... someone kicked my balls and it hurtz.
Nope, old 2d pixel art is still beautiful art to this day, it only got better with the time...I wonder if at some point badly anti-aliasing and polygonized graphics will appear under the banner of "oldSchool 3D art graphics".
Current Progress
The current status? Art is about 85% complete, design is complete, programming is at 50%, writing has just begun. Now that Lori has completed the game design, she is working hard on writing the game dialog. I am also much more available now to work on the other game text. We’ve completed 1,200 “lines” (some of them are really full paragraphs) of a planned 50,000. This will make Hero-U more text-rich than Quest for Glory IV, “the CD-ROM from Hell” according to John Rhys-Davies. John had 6,000 "lines" of narration to read; he told us they were the equivalent of 20,000 lines in an animation script.
We have spent, or have obligations to spend, about $150,000 beyond the initial Kickstarter income. We are still under the original $650,000 budget plan and expect to stay under that. However, obviously the schedule has suffered from the need to stretch out expenditures, team changes (we had to throw away $50,000 of work), and Lori’s and my time spent on other aspects of the business than writing the game. Making a dialogue-based graphic adventure game is neither fast nor easy.
The new Hero-U release date? I can’t promise a specific date, but it will be in 2015, and hopefully in the Summer. We should know much more by January or February.
Much of Divinity's features was already complete when they got to Kickstarter.Dem cheap skanks and $3/bottle Chilean wine.
Besides, a small consideration.
How is this game even "worth" 400k, let alone the fact that they had originally planned a total budget of 650k?
D:OS had a 400k KS too.
Serpent in the Staglands: 10k goal.
WL2, PoE and ToN both have around 1M goals, but they immediately look like they're on an entirely different league.
Double Fine Adventure: 400k
Kung Fury (looks very promising, btw): 400k
Balrum: 50k
I'm sorry but this game looks/feelslike it belongs more to the 10-20k league rather than the 400k+ "pretend-AAA" "clique". Hell, from the trailer it looks like a a shockwave/flash game.
Jesus, 150.000? While I'm angry with them not doing a thousand obvious things and avoided the current situation, they should had slow down the development or something. I not that sure that an indie , niche, no marketing adventure game can make that kind of money back. They are on a tough situation, if they don't release the game, they failed alot of people that are going to be angry (and they would be right as it was their hard earned money) but 150.000 dollars in debt with Europe, Japan and the USA going out in flames? It is a bad, bad, idea. I hope they recover and the game recoup the losses.We have spent, or have obligations to spend, about $150,000 beyond the initial Kickstarter income.
Ouch
Not really a dedication though, QfG are one of my favorite series. I first encountered them when parents bought me my first PC in 1995, and played from first to fourth game non-stop for a couple of months. Of course they were pirated versions, we almost didn't have other ones in Russia back then, and even if we had I sure couldn't afforded it. But it gave me so many hours of joy, that I think of my kickstarter pledge as a "thank you" money and payment for those old pirated games.Brofisting Stainless Veteran for his dedication.
Not really a dedication though, QfG are one of my favorite series. I first encountered them when parents bought me my first PC in 1995, and played from first to fourth game non-stop for a couple of months. Of course they were pirated versions, we almost didn't have other ones in Russia back then, and even if we had I sure couldn't afforded it. But it gave me so many hours of joy, that I think of my kickstarter pledge as a "thank you" money and payment for those old pirated games.Brofisting Stainless Veteran for his dedication.
Not really a dedication though, QfG are one of my favorite series. I first encountered them when parents bought me my first PC in 1995, and played from first to fourth game non-stop for a couple of months. Of course they were pirated versions, we almost didn't have other ones in Russia back then, and even if we had I sure couldn't afforded it. But it gave me so many hours of joy, that I think of my kickstarter pledge as a "thank you" money and payment for those old pirated games.Brofisting Stainless Veteran for his dedication.
Fair enough. I've done that before, too. I don't mind giving some money to the people who actually deserved it (by providing me with entertainment, emotions, or value of any kind)!
Not really a dedication though, QfG are one of my favorite series. I first encountered them when parents bought me my first PC in 1995, and played from first to fourth game non-stop for a couple of months. Of course they were pirated versions, we almost didn't have other ones in Russia back then, and even if we had I sure couldn't afforded it. But it gave me so many hours of joy, that I think of my kickstarter pledge as a "thank you" money and payment for those old pirated games.Brofisting Stainless Veteran for his dedication.
Fair enough. I've done that before, too. I don't mind giving some money to the people who actually deserved it (by providing me with entertainment, emotions, or value of any kind)!
I think you guys have elevated video games to "art' status. Arts patronage!
Err, nope, not at all. I'm too poor to be a patron of anything, anyway. In fair society each person would have been compensated according to his contribution to said society, but since we don't live in it (and probably never will) - I just feel good when I compensate favorite author or developer accordingly because I enjoyed his or her work . That's all.Not really a dedication though, QfG are one of my favorite series. I first encountered them when parents bought me my first PC in 1995, and played from first to fourth game non-stop for a couple of months. Of course they were pirated versions, we almost didn't have other ones in Russia back then, and even if we had I sure couldn't afforded it. But it gave me so many hours of joy, that I think of my kickstarter pledge as a "thank you" money and payment for those old pirated games.Brofisting Stainless Veteran for his dedication.
Fair enough. I've done that before, too. I don't mind giving some money to the people who actually deserved it (by providing me with entertainment, emotions, or value of any kind)!
I think you guys have elevated video games to "art' status. Arts patronage!
In terms of design, we went from a Puzzle/Role-Playing Game to a Role-Playing/Adventure Game. It will have more traditional RPG elements than Quest for Glory. You will be able to equip items that affect your combat and skills. You’ll be able to maneuver in combat. You’ll be able to manipulate the environment like moving barrels or putting down traps in combat.
But where the design really changes is that it is now a complex and multi-layered Adventure Game. You can make friends or enemies with other people. You uncover a mystery about the main character’s past. The things you do in the game directly affect the main character’s future. Choices really matter in this game.
Oh, and we tripled the amount of writing needed for the game in the process.
So here we are, a year behind schedule and no release date in sight. We’re over budget, underpaid, overworked, and understaffed. All we have to show for our efforts is a year-old demo that is not worthy of the game. Hero-U is so much more than that.
And yet, I couldn’t be happier. I know that Hero-U will be the most exciting, beautiful, and creative work we’ve ever done. Every member of the team is working because of a love for what they do. That love will make the game even better.
Creating Hero-U has been an Adventure. It’s been scary and frustrating at times. It’s been beautiful and magical at times. I’m very proud of what we have accomplished along the way. We’ve adapted and evolved the game play and art style to create the game that you will love.
That’s the bottom line. We’re making Hero-U the game that you deserve for all the faith and trust you placed on us by supporting this project. Thank you for your support. We won’t let you down.