When will QFG II Trial by Fire VGA + final be done?

[ChaosBurnFlame]

Well it is the 2nd day of Christmas....if I do not see qfg2 by Jan 7th (12th day of Christmas)  I will give up hope for a long time.

Well Kwanza started today too.  Maybe the overlaping of 3 holidays will put the beta version in my hand.  Yes no?

What the heck is Kwanza?

You're on the internet....google will always give you the best answer.  It's an African Holiday.

BTW how many people are actually working on this game? And or Who?

I just checked Google.

it's not an African holiday... seeing as it wasn't created in Africa.

it was created in America... in the 70's as a protest to Christmas.

[gamecreator]

Wiki > Google ?

It was founded by Ron Karenga, and first celebrated from December 26, 1966, to January 1, 1967.

And also of possible interest:

Other criticisms center on Karenga's criminal record, including having been convicted and jailed on charges of felonious assault and false imprisonment for the torture of two women. The women were themselves African-American, which some critics, among them Les Kinsolving, feel detract from Karenga's claim that he created Kwanzaa to celebrate and strengthen the unity of black people.

[Quest For Glory Fan]

well to get back on to this topic which looks forgotten, It will be done when it's done and I'm sure we all can't wait. I just reformatted and therefore lost all my characters... time to redo it.

[Kid Dynamite]

Maybe before the new year?  (Please, please, please... )  Also, I would just like to say "hi",  I was thinking the same thing last year, but this year I decided to post.  I have been watching this forum for about a year and a half before my first post, and would like to say that if I am still waiting next year at this time for QFGII that AGDI rocks and I love and appreciate you guys and everything that you have already given all of us adventure game fans.

P.S.  Why not have an Al Emmo forum here?

[Music Head]

Al Emmo has it's own forums over at Himalaya Studies. http://www.himalayaforums.com/forum/. Al Emmo is made by Himalaya not AGDI so it makes sense how it is.

[antonyo]

According to the last news entry, the game is only in alpha stage. It would be very unlikely that it pass from alpha, to beta, to final version in less than 2 days.

But I'm confident 2007 will be the year. Al Emmo is done, AGDI will surely spend some times thinking about their next project but most of the year will/should be spend on QFG2. If I remember correctly, KQ2+ took 2 or 3 months of beta testing and glitches correcting before it was released, QFG2 will definitivly be harder to test. 4 classes, plus the hybrids, plus the skills raising, plus all the possibility the game originaly offered, I'd easily give 6 months of beta testing maybe a little bit more but all in all, this year should be the one. It all depend on how long until the game quit alpha stage and if nothing majorly bad happen to the project or the team.

Some may say "Not another year!" but having waited for 5 years, begining the 6th one now, I can say it's refreshing to finally pin point The year.

[Katta Master]

When will it be done...??

What a question to ask, for people who work as volunteers...

But lets face it you've done such a good job on the first three titles
you've worked on....

+ The adventure game crowd are probably the most obsessive bunch,
that your game would be the equivalent of offering a feast for starving,

And to top it off, remaking probably one of the most cult like followed games in the entire Sierra Stable and the only QFG not made in in VGA thus far...

Phew... I'm glad I'm not in your shoes....

But we the meek, live on the crumbs of the mighty...
i.e We live for project updates, video clips and......Playable Demo's

Why...because it keeps us faithful of course!

At this point your probably just wanting to finish up....
get the testing over and done with and deliver the finished product
and never again work on a free project (but we live in hope....)

You don't want these constant requests of when will it be done...
They're annoying and you've answered them time and time again....

I think the only logical conclusion would be to release a small playable demo and show your work... (Hey it worked for Hero 6...and that was an April Fools...)

Of course you don't need to listen to me...I'm probably the most obsessed fan there is....total bias on my part...  ;)

In the mean time keep those Katta's warm  

KM

[Kid Dynamite]

I didn't mean to come off as impatient.  I'll be happy to wait.  Also, I wasn't sure of the difference between AGDI and Himalaya, I thought that they were more or less the same.  If so, this would be a great place to advertise and market their commercial release.  Actually can someone explain the difference to me?  (Sorry if this has already been covered.)

Thanks.

[Erpy]

AGDI and Himalaya were founded by the same people and some of the people who worked on our projects have been part of both development teams.

AGDI is geared towards the creation of remakes of classic Sierra adventure games that are made available to the public for free.

Himalaya Studios is a development team that makes commercial titles. Our first commercial adventure game, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine, was released at the start of september.

[Kid Dynamite]

O.K. So there is a difference between AGDI and Himalaya?  Erpy said that it was "Our first commercial adventure game."  So I imagine that Erpy is on both teams, cool.  The lines are severly blurred.  Again, I don't quite get the difference, however kudos to both teams for great work.  Well, keep up the good work.

[Erpy]

The senior staff of both teams overlaps.

[Dasilva]

I bet its must feel like you work in a sweat shop when your working on one free game let alone two. (Even though Elmo is out already, for the most part QFG2VGA & Elmo were in full production at the same time.)

So you guys take the time you need to make a superb game, I'm sure everyone is very eager to get their hands on this remake but the wait is well worth it and its not like you don't have any other games to keep you busy. I'm still busy with Viva Piñata and some Gears of War in between replaying Dreamfall: The Longest Journey while playing Titan Quest with my toes, no lie.  ;)

So a big thank you to Britney & Chris (and everyone else involved) for creating this community that continues to grow, and I can't imagine how many moderators you'll need after QFG2VGA is released, people will be pouring in.

[TribeHasSpoken]

I bet its must feel like you work in a sweat shop when your working on one free game let alone two. (Even though Elmo is out already, for the most part QFG2VGA & Elmo were in full production at the same time.)

Al Emmo isn't free, though it is approximately 30% cheaper to get the downloadable version through the Telltale Games website rather than ordering the physical media. The economics major in me hopes that demand for the game is price elastic over this range. The PR guy in me is about to slap the economics major in me for being too technical.

[arganite]

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=1 = KQ1
http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=4 = KQ2

So

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=7 is the QFG link. It works too.
[size=0]Wonder how many people that will fool.[/size]

[ChaosBurnFlame]

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=1 = KQ1
http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=4 = KQ2

So

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=7 is the QFG link. It works too.
[size=0]Wonder how many people that will fool.[/size]

Even if it was there, any version server side would be an Alpha and be in need of tweaking.

Unless you have a few months to spare to debug yourself...

[arganite]

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=1 = KQ1
http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=4 = KQ2

So

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=7 is the QFG link. It works too.
[size=0]Wonder how many people that will fool.[/size]

Even if it was there, any version server side would be an Alpha and be in need of tweaking.

Unless you have a few months to spare to debug yourself...

Did you read all of my quoted post  ;)

[Defiant1]

Al Emmo isn't free, though it is approximately 30% cheaper to get the downloadable version through the Telltale Games website rather than ordering the physical media. The economics major in me hopes that demand for the game is price elastic over this range. The PR guy in me is about to slap the economics major in me for being too technical.[/quote]



Actually, I've noticed that adventure games, particularly anything in the 2d style tend to be VERY price elastic.  And actually, suffer incredibly from positive externalities.  There are so many freeware adventure games floating around that it's become somewhat expected that anything 2d should be freeware.  Even high quality games!  If you watch, many AGS developers that want to market their material are shut down because the community believes it should be free.  Yeah, that's a cool world and everything, but it doesn't make sense.  I'm amazed that so many games have already been created.  Apparently MONEY and TIME are not the only opportunity costs.  Other types of games are less price elastic.  As you can imagine, most of the mainstream FPS's don't suffer as much (when they are new) from high prices.  That's why it's difficult for the adventure game genre to turn a profit, I commend anyone who tries.

Defiant1

P.S. Economics rocks.

[rorshach22]

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=1 = KQ1
http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=4 = KQ2

So

http://www.agdinteractive.com/countdl.p ... oad&game=7 is the QFG link. It works too.
[size=0]Wonder how many people that will fool.[/size]

Even if it was there, any version server side would be an Alpha and be in need of tweaking.

Unless you have a few months to spare to debug yourself...

Aw c'mon CBF...go write a 250 page novel in two days...that should take your mind off it.

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

You can say that again, Defiant1!  In fact someone recently posted in our guestbook that it's a shame making adventure games has become akin to charity work. And that really does feel like the case when there are so many factors fighting against modern adventure games in the Internet age. Adventure game fans are typically also some of the most difficult to please because the majority seems unwilling to support any game which doesn't start out with immensely high production values/costs (read indie titles) unless it's free game or a fan game, as you mentioned. Yet they will still support cheap "cash-in" adventures such as KQ:MOE and LSL:Magna cum Laude widely enough for Sierra to see those games and their 'revised' gameplay forumula as marketable. Then they ask "Why does Sierra continually give us these poor excuses for adventure gaming?"

Combined with the facts that adventures are mostly linear, their replay value is limited, they cost so much to produce while bringing in less profit, and are more time consuming to make, it truly becomes an uphill battle trying to do something innovative while staying true to the roots of the genre, and also trying to make some money in the process.  It's easy to comprehend why companies like LucasArts and Sierra forfeited adventure games in favour of more lucrative genres. The irony is that they're pretty much the only companies who can put the high funding required into such titles, using their marketing campaigns to sell a large number of copies. But that's not going to happen any time soon. So there's really no way around it. Without support of indie titles who have the capability to build bigger companies and thus better games with their profits earned, the adventure genre will always be a struggling one.

[gamecreator]

And yet, games like the sequel to Runaway are released, so I guess there is hope.

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

There has always been hope lingering, but these companies are still small by comparison to Sierra and LucasArts. Most only have the capability of releasing one game every year or so, which is a far cry from the 5+ that Sierra and LucasArts used to publish on a yearly basis in the 1990's.  Adventure gaming won't come back in a huge way with dribs and drabs of games being released as they are now. It also won't come back without new innovative approaches to the game play/design either. But at least the renewed interest from some of the smaller companies is promising and that should be supported.

[Oilers99]

Why would graphic adventure games be so costly to produce? I can't imagine that the programming resources required would be too great (unless you're crazy enough to try a adventure/RPG hybrid like, say, the Quest for Glory series). Design is fairly basic, though it's very difficult to get puzzles exactly right, but it's still not an overly complicated process. Mostly, it's a lot of grunt work about defining what's in the environment, and what happens when you click on it. Art? Yeah, that's about the only thing I can envision being extremely "costly". Am I missing something? Voice acting? Sure, but not every graphic adventure game has to have it.

Part of the reason I'm trying to create a graphic adventure game is because I believe the resources needed to create a quality game in the genre are far less than, say, creating a quality action-adventure game.

[Defiant1]

The thing is with many games that you see today, most of the programming has already been done.  It's a matter of implementing new graphic libraries, and huge texture files, and perhaps some AI revamping, and gameplay changes (Fifa, Madden, NFS, so on).  Plus, perhaps more than anything, the concept for these games have already been created.  Some HUNDREDS of years before their conception.  Perhaps an oversimplification has been made when you say "what happens when you click on it."  Because there is one thing that seperates a good adventure game from the rest is "creativity."  Any musician or author can tell you that creativity doesn't grow out our ears.  When you make an action game, all you need is make a barebone plot, and figure out the execution, and create it. I'm not saying that isn't a walk in the park, else they wouldn't make the big bucks.  My point is that *quality* takes time, whatever direction that may be.  And I should hope it does.  

Defiant1

[Blackthorne519]

Costly?  Why?

People have to live.  This is a job to people.

Salaries... vary between $30,000-$80,000 (US).  Sometimes even more, depending on position.

Artists and animators - 10 person team @ (say the lowest) =$300,000 dollars.

Programmers - 4 @ $50,000 = $200,000

Designer - 1 @ $50,000

Writers/Translators - 3 @ $35,000 = $105,000

Other Expendables = $20,000

TOTAL=$675, 000  (US) production budget.

Again, this is just a simple example off the top of my head with guess numbers.  It's most likely higher.  So it's almost a MILLION to make a game - not ship, advert, distrib... etc.

Bt

[Lambonius]

Costly?  Why?

People have to live.  This is a job to people.

Salaries... vary between $30,000-$80,000 (US).  Sometimes even more, depending on position.

Artists and animators - 10 person team @ (say the lowest) =$300,000 dollars.

Programmers - 4 @ $50,000 = $200,000

Designer - 1 @ $50,000

Writers/Translators - 3 @ $35,000 = $105,000

Other Expendables = $20,000

TOTAL=$675, 000  (US) production budget.

Again, this is just a simple example off the top of my head with guess numbers.  It's most likely higher.  So it's almost a MILLION to make a game - not ship, advert, distrib... etc.

Bt

While that's definitely expensive, I imagine that the teams only get bigger the more complicated the games get.  I would say that most non-adventure games out there (by non-adventure I mean not pure graphic adventures) would cost far more than that, especially if they are high production value system hogs like many of the newest games out nowadays.  It seems to me that with adventure games being some of the cheaper to produce, that it would be worth it to make more of them.  I suppose it all comes down to how many units you can sell, but if the production costs are fairly low (relatively, of course) companies would be able to make better games for less, and then would serve to turn even more of a profit if they could get the same kind sales as other non-adventure games.

The sad truth is that it really comes down to the gamers, not the companies.  A large majority of gamers simply aren't interested in relatively slow-paced games like graphic adventures.  As long as consumer interest is relatively low, companies aren't going to invest in producing those types of games, no matter how much cheaper they might be than big fancy FPS or RPGs like Halo  or Oblivion.