I've been coming to check the progress of KQ9 (err, sorry, TSL) for atleast 6 1/2 years (although I believe I originally found it in 1999, I'll just assume it was in the beginning of 2000), and, while there's still no TSL, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
It doesn't look like you'll hit the release date for the 1st 3rd of the full game (winter was the original date), but it does look like we will see that 1st chapter eventually.
I'm actually hopeful, and I look forward to playing it.
Will the 2nd and 3rd chapters get finished? Well, lets hope they don't take as long as the 1st one did to come out!
Just to clarify, this project actually started in October 2000, but there wasn't really any progress made until Cesar overtook responsibility of Project Director in January 2002. It was only from that point forward that the team had an organizational structure, assignments, deadlines, and groups that allowed for team communication. Also, the public website KQ9.org was created in May 2002. Since true development and marketing actually started in 2002, we consider the project to be 4 years old, and not 6+. 8)
Yes, 4 years is a long time to wait, but you also have to take into consideration the magnitude of this game: a 1500+ page script, 9 chapters, hundreds of characters, gigabytes of 2D & 3D artwork, both a live & online voiceover cast, hundreds of songs and all being put into a 3D game engine that's intended for First Person Shooters rather than Adventure Games. So think about the thousands of hours that went into creating all of that, and then multiply it by 5, since in general, about 80% of anything developped is either scrapped or reworked. :-\
Given the fact that none of us are working on this project full-time, and instead have to deal with school, work or both, it's incredible that we could ever make it this far. :) But still, we know you guys want this game to come out as much as we do, so that's why we decided to break it into 3 parts. By "chapters" I'm assuming you mean parts, since Part One: Shadows consists of 3 chapters, and there are a total of 9 chapters in the game. So, to answer your question, yes the other parts will get finished. As for when... :suffer:
Our plan is to have Shadows completed this year, and we will do our best to make this happen. But, now that VU is involved, we can't guarantee any exact release date until after the game passes through them and gets approved.
QuoteYes, 4 years is a long time to wait, but you also have to take into consideration the magnitude of this game: a 1500+ page script, 9 chapters, hundreds of characters, gigabytes of 2D & 3D artwork, both a live & online voiceover cast, hundreds of songs and all being put into a 3D game engine that's intended for First Person Shooters rather than Adventure Games. So think about the thousands of hours that went into creating all of that, and then multiply it by 5, since in general, about 80% of anything developped is either scrapped or reworked.
Yes, I know all these things, that why I predicted (years ago) this game would never be completed. Well, I might be proved partially wrong when part one comes out (assuming it will come out), but I hope the rest of is gets finished.
Good luck.
(PS, the original website had a light-blue look to it, and very few pages/info, and I thought it was earlier than Oct. 2000, but I could be wrong).
The good news is that everything I described in that paragraph is what has already been completed. :) The other parts won't take as long because the entire script is complete, some characters have been recorded for all parts (not just Part One), and the core engine will more or less remain the same for all parts after Part One. In other words, a lot of things will be re-used or already finished once Part One is completed. 8)
The KQ9.org domain didn't exist before April 2002, so I'm not sure what site you're referring to. Do you happen to remember the URL? ???
So, the other parts won't take as long?
That's good. Would it be considerably shorter, or would it take about a year or so for each Part to be finished?
Or, God forbid, would it be longer than that?
They shouldn't, but I can't say exactly how long they'll take right now.
Nope, I don't remember the URL, but I had it bookmarked, and I remember I found it early on like during the creation of the KQ1 remake by Tierra (now AGDI, when they were still working on Royal Quest). It always had a progress screen, and it never moved from 10% I don't think.
Anyway, I'm fuzzy on the dates, but I could've sworn it was real early on, maybe in 2000. O well.
You might be thinking of a KQ9 website with a university domain. (I'm not sure if that was this KQ9 project or not. By the time I discovered it, it was already a "broken link". :P)
I do hope that the first part comes out this year.