Topic: The Journey of Iesir

[Daniel Thomas]

The Journey of Iesir

The Journey of Iesir takes place in a land reminiscent of the medieval ages, yet has a story that integrates ideas as old as the legendary Vikings, and as modern as the hippie movement in the 1970's.

The player takes the role of Michael, a wandering playwright among other things, and he sees Iesir and its troubles through the fresh eyes of a stranger, yet he becomes pivotal to the events that unfold in Iesir.   Seeking both adventure and inspiration for his new screenplay, under the guidance of his mysterious Mentor, Mikael seeks out a Viking called Daniel Trondhjemsfjord, who needs help with a task that seems adventurous.  What seems like a simple quest of stealing a old Viking painting soon turns out to be more then Mikael could have ever imagined...

Who is his mysterious Mentor, who has set Mikael on a path that leads him to places he never imagined?  How do the recent viking attacks along the coastline fit into Daniel's past, and Iesir's future?  Why is there a demon-possessed, moose-headed alchemist in town?  The game delivers a rich and detailed plot dealing with some hefty issues along with a a large dollop of humour. The Journey of Iesir is a tale of discovery and change on many levels.


The Journey of Iesir plays like a typical point and click adventure computer game, and hopes to immerse the player in this unique world through its story, character and game play elements. With its combination of drama and humor, the Journey of Iesir will always provide something for the player to look forward to.

Screenshots
(everything is WIP)

We're currently working on Chapter 1 and half of the backgrounds are complete. Much of the graphics and animations have place-holders and you can already starting to get a great feel of the world of Iesir. We produce with high ambitions and aim to get a high quality game that we later might try to pitch to a publisher.


_______________________________________ ___________________


Features
* Fun and quirky puzzles
* Vibrant and fun art in 1024x768 resolution
* Animations that bring the characters to life, full of expressions!
* Living environments with effects to enhance immersion
* Mini-games


Current Team
Daniel "zyndikate" Thomas - Lead artist, Animator & project manager
Dave "CaptainD" Seaman - Writer
Tino "Knoodn" Bensing - Scripting
Santtu Ahola - Programming
Eric "Viking" Galluzzo - Music
Daniel Swearengin - Sound design

With additional help from
Simon Eltz - Animator
Nikolas Sideris - Music
Ryan Timothy - Programmer
Daniel Muller - Animator
Marcus Gaigg - Writer
Geoff Hawthorne "strange visitor" - Script and puzzles


_______________________________________ ___________________

Help Wanted
READ MORE HERE

Contact
zyndikate@hotmail.com

Publicity:
IGM The Journey of Iesir Interview

[ThreeOhFour]

I've been looking forward to hearing more about this, and it looks beautiful.

Congratulations on your work so far!

[mkennedy]

The screenshots look nice, and the hero looks a bit like Stephen Colbert.

[Cyrus]

Cool! It looks a lot like your other project, Piacaroon.

[Gravity]

Looks good. Sounds good. I hope it plays good. Would offer to help with writing but I've never tried comical stuff before. Anyway, good luck with the game!

[Mouth for war]

Whoa! This looks extremely nice Best of luck with your game

[Chicky]

Some very nice games in production at the moment! The art looks wonderful, very CMI.

edit: "It is a painting worth a shipload." - Awesome line, Will there be voice acting?

Also, your writing underneath the screenshots managed to repeat itself without me noticing. It really messed with my head 

[Monk]

a great state of graphical work, i love it! keep up the great work!

[Pinback]

Highly impressive graphics! Looking forward to seeing a demo indeed.

[theo]

Man this looks absolutely balls to the walls drop dead beautiful.

[J.H]

Absolutely amazing. Check your PM's Zyndikate .

[Dualnames]

I like the bluecup reference as per usual 

The graphics are amazing!!

[Mordalles]

those are some stunning visuals! good luck with the project! It looks amazing!

[Ali]

Lovely work, that really makes you want to keep staring at it. Incidentally, is that a picture of Hugo Chavez on the Kaffe roof?

I would so try to pick that up.

[Secret Fawful]

Your art is stunning as always man.

[crowman111]

WOW!

[selmiak]

This looks really cool and I'd love to see some character animations from the game.

[Daniel Thomas]

Wow, thanks everyone, very much appreciated!
Everybody who sent me PM, be patience, I'm not at home right now and it might be a bit slow with replying this week. But Ill get back to everybody.


@Dualnames, ha, thanks for noticing.
@chicky, I would like to hope we will have voiceacting, if we get a publisher I would think its very likely.
@Ali, nop, wont say more then that though.

(fixed some text duplications in original post, sorry about that)

[PuNKKoMmANDO77]

the graphic is AWESOME  :o

[i k a r i]

It certainly looks like something I would pay to play... It is possible to say how much is going to cost right now?!...

I'm still drooling

[Daniel Thomas]

I bring great news! At least I think it is.
After interest from several writer we have found our man, Dave Seaman. You have probably seen him around here, only he's more known as CaptainD. You can find his blog here http://captaind-pc-gaming.blogspot.com .

Other awesome news, Nikolas Sideris and Thomas Regin from North By Sound has offered to help out with the Audio. You all probably know them for their great contribution to adventure games. If not you should head over to their homepage http://www.northbysound.com and listen, you wont regret it!


ikari, it's hard to say, probably up to the publisher if we get one - otherwise it will be something we decide later.

We're still looking for talented animators though, so if you are one or know any..

[Dualnames]

YAY!! CaptainD!!! And Nikolas and Thomas!! Does that get better?

[Ascovel]

Screens look excellent and the crew is full of great talent. Good luck with this!

[CaptainD]

YAY!! CaptainD!!!

Hey James, I like the way you said that as if it was a good thing!  8)

[Darth Mandarb]

I don't usually comment on games in here but I can't not ... this looks freakin' great guys!  Seriously.

I'm assuming the final character won't just be a reversed image for the left/right views?  It's just a nit-picky thing for me but I'd hate to see such graphical beauty tarnished by such a thing.  Granted I'm probably the only person picky (anal) enough to even notice it.

The story sounds intriguing, the visuals are great, the "feel" is polished ... I'm looking forward to this one.

[h3adlin3]

 :o Wow!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Well with Thomas Regin and Nikolas on the audio end I expect to HEAR great things from this game.  Also, I'll just say your artwork has improved CONSIDERABLY since I last saw anything from you, Zyndicate.  I'm quite thoroughly impressed.

So impressed, in fact, that I'm extremely impressed.  Possibly even more than that.

Good luck with this!

[Ryan Timothy]

YAY!! CaptainD!!! And Nikolas and Thomas!! Does that get better?

Well.... there's me! lol I'm sure I amount to some cool points.



It's good to hear the compliments this game is receiving.  I've been doing my very best to add little programming touches to this game to match the quality of the artwork; to give it that professional feel.
Little touches that the average player wouldn't even notice. Those are also the fun ones.

[CaptainD]

It's good to hear the compliments this game is receiving.  I've been doing my very best to add little programming touches to this game to match the quality of the artwork; to give it that professional feel.
Little touches that the average player wouldn't even notice. Those are also the fun ones.

I can say from what I've seen in the beta build so far that those "little touches" really are paying off already.  (Pity a lot of the dialogue's likely to be tripe if I'm writing it... :o)   

You receive the +8 Coat of Coolness!  8) 8)
8)

[Sughly]

Holy... that art is just all kinds of absolute awesome. Nice work! Keep it up (jealousness aside  )

[Lucid]

This is SUPER AWESOME!!! The graphics are perfect and they look like The Curse of the Monkey Island.

[Daniel Thomas]

As always, Thanks for the positive comments, they are appreciated!

It's always hard to the programmers effort on a few screen shots, but I Ryan has made a great job working on our game build.  Not that I thought anyone was thinking anything else though. I would also like to give credits to Marcus who have nailed down the story and a lot of writing, a tremendous work if anyone asks me.

I'm hoping to have a little treat next week to show here! So stay tuned, if interested.

[teemue]

Hi! I'm an animator working as a professional. Would like to help but afraid I don't have time (at least yet) to. I would like to know about the story and writing and dialogue quality though, if they'd prove awesome, I might be up to it. 

The characters look like 3d characters rendered with toon shading - is that true and if so, what software you have used. I'm myself on Maya.

Give me a pm and some demo to check, and some info on the character setup if interested.

[Daniel Thomas]

Great news everyone!
An amazing artist and animator has joined our crew to help out with animations.  His name is Daniel Muller aka 'Dorcan', for you who has been around a long time might have seen him around. To get a little taste of his talent you can check out his demoreel HERE

It looks like we have a complete team now.

[Stupot+]

Impresive work!
Can't wait to play this.

[cianty]

This game looks very promising. I can't wait to try it! The demo reel is also pretty good.

[Sughly]

Yeah that demo reel is pretty impressive. I just tried my hand at that flour sack animation in an animation class today and didn't do half as well  . Looking forward to seeing the characters from the screens at the hands of this talent...

[mylesblasonato]

Hey Zyndicate
I wouldn't expect anything less from you.
When we worked together your art was some of the best I had ever seen.
This game is looking to be awesome

Can't wait,
Cheers,
Myles Blasonato.

[CosmoQueen]

STUNNING, simply stunning. I don't know what else I can say, I'm kinda speechless after seeing those graphics.

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks everyone!
I still have that treat to give/show but it didn't get finished last week. It's coming though!
And Dorcan has done great work on our character and hopefully we can show it soon.

Anyway, everything is going forward in good speed!

[Benjiman33]

It's Really, really, really, REALLY SPLENNDIIDD !!!
I love your backgrounds, they are detailed, precised... and beautiful.
However I don't really like the main character... he's well-done but I don't like the style of his face

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks!
I'm not sure what you mean with the style, but no worries! He's getting a redesign by Dorcan, our animator, and I can say that he's looking much better IMO.
Hopefully I can show him soon.

[Daniel Thomas]

After the tweak and clean-stick and adjusting to new characters the backgrounds is getting a more finished look. And as promised I would show something, so here it is.
So yea, there we go.

The new Mikael(main character) is still getting a beating, so no updates on him yet.

[GreenBoy]

That looks hot.  Love the faces on the hilt by the way.

[cianty]

Incredibly beautiful! :o

[Dualnames]

"Once a Viking, always a Viking"  :

I really like where this is going. Carry on the great work!

[CosmoQueen]

WOOOOOOW!!! That's just so incredible! :o

[Sughly]

Far out, that is just incredible. This artwork is really starting to produce promise of one of the best looking games I will have the pleasure of playing. Look forward to any incoming news for this project...

[Sslaxx]

Definitely a thing of beauty, this game. I hope it plays as well as it looks!

[Daniel Thomas]

Thank you, guys!

So far I don't have any breaking news, we are working and everything is going forward. Dave is writing hilarious dialogues, Ryan is coding some tech and adding content, Nikolas has started on the music, Dorcan has been working on character design of our main character And I'm tweaking all the backgrounds up to standard.

I'm hoping to show the new character when it's done though!

[Iliya]

This one is great!!! Professional work!

[1mal_volltanken]

Great screenshots! Wow!

I'm looking forward to the day, the game is completed!


Greetings
the upfiller

[Ryan Timothy]

Just to let you's all know, we're all still trucking away at this. We had a mild speed bump or two.. CaptainD having a child, me moving into a new house, Zyndikate losing his newest package of whips in the mail (we were all grateful for that!).

I'm actually working on an animation layering system at the moment. Where we can have a separate layer for the head and body to allow for interesting and unique expressions that the character may do while talking. Like putting his hands on his hips while his face is either angry or surprised. Or even just his head occasionally blinking while he stands around.

I'm excited about it. It'll definitely add some life to the animations without Zyndikate having to animate more than he needs to.

I better stop talking now.. I don't want to get in trouble for revealing too much. 

[Ascovel]

Good to hear you're not giving up (not that I was suspecting you are).

Your speed bumps sound like entirely happy ones, so I believe you should now go back to making the game with doubled energy! 

[tzachs]

This looks to me like one of the more promising & ambitious projects around, good luck and I'm eagerly expecting the results.

I'm actually working on an animation layering system at the moment. Where we can have a separate layer for the head and body to allow for interesting and unique expressions that the character may do while talking. Like putting his hands on his hips while his face is either angry or surprised. Or even just his head occasionally blinking while he stands around.

Huh, I exactly began working some time ago on a module that does the exact same thing (for use with my AGS Footballer, so that I would be able to compose characters using different heads, skin color, uniforms etc allowing me for endless amount of characters), I will probably go back to working on it again once I relieve myself of some other projects I'm doing, unless you will release your system, which would save me the trouble. 

CaptainD having a child

Congratulations, CaptainD! Might I suggest naming the child CaptainE?

[Dualnames]

The kid was given the full name of its father tzachs! CaptainDualnames Junior 

On a more serious note, the game of course looks awesome, I'd like to see a playable something of it, or a video. That'd be great.

[Daniel Thomas]

Your speed bumps sound like entirely happy ones, so I believe you should now go back to making the game with doubled energy!

Not for me, I lost my whips! And before anyone gets any funny pictures, they're _mostly_ for motivating everyone to work.

There is a lot of new stuff done, it's just a mater of getting it in the game and working, hopefully we'll have an update soon for anyone interested. But I think I speak for the whole team when I say we're excited about this project and we all have every ambition to see it all the way.

It's always encouraging to see people interested!

[Ryan Timothy]

Huh, I exactly began working some time ago on a module that does the exact same thing [..] I will probably go back to working on it again once I relieve myself of some other projects I'm doing, unless you will release your system, which would save me the trouble. 

Right on. (I keep meaning to play that game ) The biggest issue is that we're using alpha channels for pretty much every sprite, so the thing that makes it more difficult is that we'll have to use a character for the head and body. We could use Calin's alpha blending plugin, but I'm worried about using it for a project like this.

Now if AGS advances before this project is released to have alpha blending, I'll definitely go that route.

Not for me, I lost my whips! And before anyone gets any funny pictures, they're _mostly_ for motivating everyone to work.

Sure... : lol

[barefoot]

WOW great graphics zyndikate...

I could eat my socks...

I'de give my toes to be able to draw/colour like that!!!

Looks a good game...

barefoot

[Unai]

I need a drool emoticon...

[CaptainD]

Of course now we need to have a baby girl in the game so "CaptainE" (actually her name is Phoebe  ) can provide the sound effects.  8)

An enormous amount of work is going into this game which is why it's not going to be finished anytime soon, but it'll definitely be worth it.  If anyone would like to back us financially so we can give up our day jobs and work on it full time, things would go a lot quicker...  :

[icey games]

Is there going to be a demo for this?

Just wondering 

[Jackpumpkinhead]

I am so amazed that I don't know what to say!
Just goes to show that we have been given a truly powerful tool for making games.
It's great to see a group of people use it to it's full potential .

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks guys! You're all too kind.

@Studio3, It's to early to tell. But I don't see why there shouldn't be a demo.

[icey games]

Ok. I just cant wait to play this

[Tarmstorm]

This looks realy interesting, kinda like Curse of Monkey Island, but softer.

[CaptainD]

This looks realy interesting, kinda like Curse of Monkey Island, but softer.

I'm interested to know whether you're talking about just the graphics or the game in general?

I'd say it'll be CoMI but more satirical 

[Tarmstorm]

I meant the graphics, even though I do love me some soft games. 

[Ascovel]

This looks realy interesting, kinda like Curse of Monkey Island, but softer.

Oh no!

Are you trying to make The Journey of Plushy Smoothie, you big softies!? You should rough up the game a little before the release!

[Tarmstorm]

This looks realy interesting, kinda like Curse of Monkey Island, but softer.

Oh no!

Are you trying to make The Journey of Plushy Smoothie, you big softies!? You should rough up the game a little before the release!

More manly chain saw-puzzles?

[CaptainD]

More manly chain saw-puzzles?

Rats, I don't think we have ANY manly chain saw puzzles in the game yet...

[cianty]

More manly chain saw-puzzles?

Rats, I don't think we have ANY manly chain saw puzzles in the game yet...

Damn. And I used to look forward to this game...

[ALPHATT]

looks handsome, remember to avoid pixel hunts like the plauge, consider implementing a highlight system(see: Monkey Island 2: Special Edition or Runaway: Twist of Fate, the thing to remember here is while MI2 doesn't need a highlight feature Runaway 3 does.) and overly messed up logic, best of luck to you. Also, remember, hardcore adventure games are the thing of the past, the core game can be hard, but make sure to place an in game hint system or what Kaptain Brawe did with the core and casual difficulty levels, walkthroughs spoil games, and you really don't want that.

[LeftHandedMatt]

Oh my, the art style of this game is absolutely beautiful. I am beyond envious of your artistic abilities, and really look forward to seeing more of this game.

[CaptainD]

- We hate pixel hunts ourselves 
- Hint system is being developed
- The logic will (hopefully?!?!) make sense to everyone.  We're working hard on making everything make sense - well, at least to us it all makes sense...
- We're trying to make something that will appeal to hardcore adventure gamers as well as more casual gamers - but yeah, it's a tricky balancing act. 

looks handsome, remember to avoid pixel hunts like the plauge, consider implementing a highlight system(see: Monkey Island 2: Special Edition or Runaway: Twist of Fate, the thing to remember here is while MI2 doesn't need a highlight feature Runaway 3 does.) and overly messed up logic, best of luck to you. Also, remember, hardcore adventure games are the thing of the past, the core game can be hard, but make sure to place an in game hint system or what Kaptain Brawe did with the core and casual difficulty levels, walkthroughs spoil games, and you really don't want that.

[ALPHATT]

keep up the good work!

[Iliya]

I spent 30 minutes staring at those 2 screenshots to find something that is not on the right place. I couldn't find one. They are PERFECT! Keep up the good work, guys!

[Ryan Timothy]

And those are the old backgrounds and character art. You should see the new style.

[Nikolas]

And those are the old backgrounds and character art. You should see the new style.

Or listen to the music of the game... 

[J.H]

You guys are taunting us, not fair .

[CaptainD]

You guys are taunting us, not fair .

We prefer to call it "Building Anticipation". 

[Daniel Thomas]

(not ingame screenshot)

Yea, Something like this. Now imagine good music, funny dialogs and atmospheric effects on top of that.

I'm mainly posting to let people now that we're looking for one or two animators again, as our last one disappeared for unknown reasons. One hint was lack of time though. See first page under 'Help wanted'.

So if you're an awesome animator or know somebody who is, let us know!

Thanks!

[cianty]

That's not a game - that's an animated movie!

But you put it there.. "not ingame screenshot". What does that mean? How does the game differ? I guess visually it's not much different only that this exact scene only occurs in a cutscene?

[Daniel Thomas]

Nothing differs really, just wanted to be honest. This is why I didn't update the first post as we don't have everything ingame yet to produce a "screenshot"
The game resolution is 1024x786 though, so its a scrolling room.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Is it meant to be the same character as the in the very first screenshot?
If so, I liked the first one way better. This one looks so... Disney-ish! Disney making a Guybrush Threepwood movie. Yuck, gives me the shivers.

[cianty]

Yep, Disney movie is what I thought but refrained from saying...  :

[chapter11studios]

Is it meant to be the same character as the in the very first screenshot? If so, I liked the first one way better. This one looks so... Disney-ish! Disney making a Guybrush Threepwood movie. Yuck, gives me the shivers.

What's wrong with Disney art? I like this new one, but both are awesome. This game looks phenomenal.

[Anian]

Yep, Disney movie is what I thought but refrained from saying...  :

Well the "no shading" and the colors (which I like btw) plus the new eyes, is what gives it the Disney look (although I'd say it's more of those Disney knockoff cartoons, not actual Disney production), obviously. Don't know if it's good or bad, depends on the tone of the game I guess, the previous style looked more serious.

Still, looking forward to the project.

[ALPHATT]

From a purely technical viewpoint I think the new characters are better, also they are far removed from Disney, although I doubt disney does anything reminiscent of cel animatoon these days. Anyhow, I prefer the previous designs, I have this bad feeling that they just don't fit the overly detailed backgrounds like previous ones. I'd love to see a middleground design. In truth though, I'd be happy with either design.

[markbilly]

I think it looks brilliant! Stick with it

[cianty]

I find the first character looking unique and special whereas the new is rather ... harmless?

[ddq]

I much prefer the new character design. The old one seemed almost bland and inhuman, sort of stiff and untrustworthy. Probably the tiny eyes. The new one has a lot more life in it, though the feminine physique could be toned down a little. If it weren't for the male face, it could pass as a flat-chested woman with those hips.

[Ryan Timothy]

We went through many different character designs for Mikael and landed on this one as being the best, so it's interesting to hear what your thoughts between the two are. It took me a little to get used to the new design, but I definitely prefer it more now.

As for the 'not ingame screenshot' comment, it's mainly because I haven't uploaded a newer release yet with the new character designs and background improvements. Since you guys said we were teasing you, Zyndikate threw it all together in Photoshop. In-game it looks pretty much the same, just with dust particles, animations, fading light beams and such. I feel it looks fabulous, to be honest.

[Daniel Thomas]

Oh, so many opinions, I like it!

As for the new design, we the team landed on this one as it fits the characters personality much better. The old one was way too sarcastic and troublesomed(word?) looking. I feel confident in the new design. (I didn't do the design btw)

Btw, is these opinions directed towards Mikael(the red coat) or both?
Maybe we should throw this into the c&c forum? As so many seems to have an opinion about Mikael.

[Derrick Freeland]

I think the over all style and design of the characters is very well done.  The only problem I see is that they no longer match the environment as well as your first design go-around.  I liked the first design for Mikael.  It was a lot more interesting to look at, and had a bit more personality.

[Darth Mandarb]

Maybe we should throw this into the c&c forum?

Yes.

This got quickly out of hand in here!  Which I understand, the screenshot is amazing!

But please post in the CL if you want these kinds of opinions but to the rest let's stay on target!

[Sughly]

I really love the new direction here guys. I think it looks really clean and full of character. Ducking back and forth between screens for comparison, I think they've just gone from strength to strength. Well done! Apart from Deponia, this is my most anticipated game 

[Kristof]

Stunning visual.

[Arj0n]

Is this going to be released as a commercial or freeware game?
If commercial I'm definitely going to buy it.

Keep up the good work Zyndicate and crew!! 

[cianty]

Is this going to be released as a commercial or freeware game?
If commercial I'm definitely going to buy it.

+1.

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks guys!

The current plan is to finish the pitch demo. We will evnutally try and pitch the game to publishers, and hopefully we will find someone who is interested.

[J.H]

I don't think they look Disney. They look great, maybe a little grittier would've been better but either way they look fine.

[xxx.xxx.xxx]

Hey i am a newbie here and i would like to ask how, and where did you make these artworks ?
I suppose some are hand-drawn and reworked on computer but the style looks very much like ''A New Beginning'', and '' The Whispered World''

Can i find a tutorial of this on the forum  ?

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks J.H.

I can't say I have read any tutorial or made any myself that would really help.
The best thing I could do would be to describe my process:
http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=42073.msg559569#msg559569
But that still doesn't make the art, it's just one way of many to reach the end goal.

But there is a lot of great tutorials in the forums by many talented members, just learn as much as possible.

[xxx.xxx.xxx]

To Zyndikate,

Thank you for your help, i read something about cel-animatoon like it.
Anyways i am just exploring the possibillities here.
You have made some great drawings and nicely reworked them, if i where to make
a game with this AGS, this would be the preferenced style.
Great work and thanks for the info (will be reading a lot i guess  )

[SuperDre]

Man, the first thing I said was 'what the f... is this? this can't be real'....... this looks soooooooooooooooooooo amazing, it almost looks like a real animationmovie..

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks SuperDre!

Since we have got much of our assets ingame I took the opportunity to update the screenshots on the first page.

Still WIP though.

Oh! And we got ourselves a new and awesome animator!

[J.H]

: O Is this real life? Amazing.

[mylesblasonato]

Looking great man!
The new character is definitely better.
You always step up with your graphics skills.

Hope the pitch goes well man:)
Cheers,
Myles Blasonato.

[Daniel Thomas]

Long time no update!
But we're still progressing, even though it might not seem like it.

We are, again, looking for another animator to help out with the animations. You/he/she will be working with Simon who is doing a great work doing some high quality animations.
Here is an example of the animation quality we're looking for:


I know people like to give c&c, but please respect the forum rules and don't post them in production thread.
Instead feel free to send me a PM, it's always appreciated! Thanks!

[vertigoaddict]

EEE! This looks great, I can't wait for the Demo =)

[CaptainD]

EEE! This looks great, I can't wait for the Demo =)

You should see him walking around Daniel's amazing backgrounds... (pity you'll have to put up with my writing, but you can't have everything!!  )

[Sughly]

Holy mother of... just wow. Really cannot wait to see this game in action. Excellent work as always.

[theo]

Seconded. That walk animation is gorgeous. If you somehow manage to keep the overall animation quality that high, you'll blow me away!

[BLUEKNIGHT38]

Wow!!  Awesome looking graphics.  Can't wait to play this one.  Keep up the hardwork.  Wow!!

[Ryan Timothy]

pity you'll have to put up with my writing, but you can't have everything!! 

Or my terrible programming. Haha Of course I kid. This game is coming along nicely.

[Dave Gilbert]

This looks AMAZING, guys.  Can't wait to see it in action.

[Jackpumpkinhead]

Every time this thread is at the top of the list in the forum I pray that it is the first demo release. I don't think I can wait any longer!

[Daniel Thomas]

We got permission from IGM to post this interview we had a couple of months ago:
IGM The Journey of Iesir Interview

I hope someone find it interesting.

[Dualnames]

It is, indeed! Absolutely interesting. I hope production is still alive and well, on this. Or else I'll punch Ryan in the stomach to get him working!

[Sughly]

Yeah definately! Best thing about it was getting to see some new backgrounds for the game through my amazing spy talents*

*I really just stumbled upon them in your portfolio

[Daniel Thomas]

Glad you like it guys!

How dare you look at backgrounds we haven't officially announced, through my portfolio!

[Ryan Timothy]

I hope production is still alive and well, on this. Or else I'll punch Ryan in the stomach to get him working!

Woah, woah, woah.. Woah. Louis! This is NOT MY batman cup!

I guess I'll have to work extra hard to avoid the Dual fist.

[Jackpumpkinhead]

yeah i "stumbled" too!
it looks so great. i know that this is still somewhat long off but i would love to read for a voice part in this

!!!!!!!!!.......Will Work For Free.......!!!!!!!!

[CaptainD]

I guess I'll have to work extra hard to avoid the Dual fist.

I really wish we'd threatened him with Dual sooner... in the last week, Ryan's output has increased drammatically!    (Although we have a theory that his coding output is inversely proportionate to his beer intake...)

[Daniel Thomas]

Hi everyone!
We are looking for someone to help out with scripting, read more HERE if interested!

[Daniel Thomas]

I just want to elaborate as I had some questions about it:
This is not about solving a lot of complicated programing problems. We're mainly looking for someone with a artistic eye who know enough scripting to move the character around, play animations, script cut scenes in a good looking way. All the functions will already be provided by Ryan.

Things like:
Would the character move a little to the left, face the right direction.. Rub his chin. Would this dialogue line need a little pause after to make good comedic timing or natural pace.. Is this scene showing too long, would it feel better if we cut from it faster.

So if you have this artistic eye(like an director) and know how to _script_ in AGS with already created functions. Then you're our man/woman/boy/girl!

I hope that clears out any confusion, thanks!

[Wonkyth]

Soo, tempted to sing up for this!
But it's really been too long since I've used AGS... 

[Daniel Thomas]

Hi everyone!
We found our guy! Tino aka Knoodn will help us with taking this game to the next level.
You might have played his game 'Trevor Daison in outer space' or seen 'UNGA Needs MUMBA'?

Who knows, maybe we will be ready to actual show some gameplay soon.

[Arj0n]

Good news!

UNGA Needs MUMBA... one of my favorites to-be-released-this-year games

[Knoodn]

Thank you zyndikate, for the introduction.
I'm ready for work...

(And thank you Arjon. You know you will be the first to play "UnM".)

[diego]

this is one of my fav AGS incoming project, quite a charming artwork mixing Curse of Monkey Island style and Runaway. Really looking forward to it!

p.s. if you need some guitar work on your tracks, let me know, i'll be glad to help, here's my arrangement of song from Beyond Atlantis - www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDLrud0AjHk

[Ryan Timothy]

We're currently playing around with the animation system I've coded. It uses two layers for the head and body. Used whenever characters talk or want to express a certain gesture/pose. It looks fantastic even though some of the quick gestures and expressions are programming graphics and we're still missing a few other expressions. It really adds a lot of life to this project. I can't wait to see the whole array of gestures completely done and in use.

Now I want to add some random blinking or itching/boredom animations whenever the character is standing around.

[stepsoversnails]

We're currently playing around with the animation system I've coded. It uses two layers for the head and body. Used whenever characters talk or want to express a certain gesture/pose. It looks fantastic even though some of the quick gestures and expressions are programming graphics and we're still missing a few other expressions. It really adds a lot of life to this project. I can't wait to see the whole array of gestures completely done and in use.

Now I want to add some random blinking or itching/boredom animations whenever the character is standing around.

"That's amazing! I always wondered if it were possible to do that with AGS." stepsoversnails says, praying for a module or plugin.

[Sughly]

Show me something new dammit!!

I'm refreshing this damn page every day, and now I'm making demands! A cropped 100x100 of something will do! I beg you! :'(

[CaptainD]

Show me something new dammit!!

I'm refreshing this damn page every day, and now I'm making demands! A cropped 100x100 of something will do! I beg you! :'(

[caelicorn]

This is looking gorgeous! Would love to see some updates!!

[mylesblasonato]

Awesomeness

Cheers,
Myles Blasonato.

[Sughly]

Haha, thanks CaptainD. I actually didnt check back sooner since I didnt actually think my whinging would get me anywhere. But there you go, lesson learnt - whinge more on forums to get my way. Nice piece of chit chat though, lots of character just in there!

[mystinsun]

The game looks AWESOME. If you'll translate it in italian I could help you as voice-actor, if you would!
A demo of my voice(s) is below in my signature

[Darth Mandarb]

mystinsun - please review the forum rules before further posting!

zyndikate - let me know (PM) when you want to post an update and we'll re-open this!

[Daniel Thomas]

I think some updating is in order!
So what's happening, are we still finishing the demo?
Of course we are! We have to since we have a lot of pressure from our publisher who want's it finished by 2012:
http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/the-best-pc-games-of-2012/
(The date is as accurate as the publisher is, so sorry - the given date is not coming from us)
Never the less it's great to be mentioned, especially among so many games with a budget!

Right now everyone is working with dialogs, music, sound, animations and tech - so it's going in the right direction.

We're still looking for an animator though!

[Construed]

Congrats!
I've been dying to see this one!
If i can get finished with the junk I'm working on I'll pitch in!

[cianty]

Publisher: Big Blue Cup? What's up with that?

[Ryan Timothy]

Hasn't everyone heard the good news by now? The reason Chris Jones has been so absent from AGS is because he's the publisher..... Okay, I have no idea why they assumed Big Blue Cup was the publisher. But hey, at least the game got some press. That's good news.

[DrJone.s]

And I thought you specifically had chosen the name bigbluecup for your studios.

[CaptainD]

And I thought you specifically had chosen the name bigbluecup for your studios.

We still haven't managed to decide on a name for ourselves yet...   

[Peder Johnsen+]

Big Blue Cup would be an awesome name for a publisher .
Nice to see some coverage of this game!

Looking forward to get to play a demo!

[Bilbo of Guybrush]

Everything I see so far looks great. I'm very excited to play this thing.
It's been a while since anyone has posted here, so I thought I'd ask if there are any updates on the status of this game.
Still on track for a 2012 release?
Keep up the good work!

[CaptainD]

Nothing much to tell right now other than that we're still working hard getting the pitch demo finished and making sure everything's as perfect as it can be.

[Daniel Thomas]

The Journey of Iesir sure has been a long journey, almost 3 years in the making now If I'm not mistaken.
And we are close to getting this done demo done, with all the art more or less done, dialogs written and acted out in the game, puzzles added and the demo being playable from start to end.


But animations is going slow(although forward), so if you are/know anyone that can help out, let me know!

Here is a background, not new though but I don't think it has been posted in here. The Stumbling Ass:

[Nix]

We are ridiculously excited about this game! Absolutely stunning graphics.

Any word on when we might get a little preview demo or anything we can click about with?

[Edgar_Espaņa]

Well, well, well, this is something quite amazing!

Hopefully soon have it in our hands!

[Chicky]

Fantastic zyndikate! I like the abstract paintings, are we going to get to wear that mop head as a wig?

[CaptainD]

are we going to get to wear that mop head as a wig?

Not quite - but you've very close!

[Eric]

As a merkin?

[Frito Master]

Just got back from the doctor had to have my jaw reattached cause it fell off when I saw these drawings.

Just stunning and so beautiful in every aspect, I am amazed! Nice job!

[Daniel Thomas]

A quick update, we have posted a "help wanted" post HERE for anyone who might be interested!
Hopefully that can give us the extra push to get this demo done.

[JSH]

Nice to see you guys making solid progress! IMO this is probably the most promising AGS game currently in production.

I'm not very surprised, since I know you Daniel from way back when we went to school together, where I quickly learned you are an extremely talented and dedicated guy. I had no doubt you'd do very impressive things in the future.

Well done on assembling a team, keeping them motivated for so long and creating what I'm sure will be a great game I'll buy it!

[Electroshokker]

Looking good!

Graphics are awesome, as ever. Best of luck!

[bosa]

It's good to see that progress continues with this game. With such professional art and design quality, it will be good to see the final release.

[Daniel Thomas]

Thanks guys!
Sorry for just popping in when there is updates.

There should be testing starting soon, so keep an eye out for any updates on that (no need to PM me, we will let you all know when we're ready).

We're still looking for someone to help us out with sound effects, if you're still interested let us know (you can find the wanted post on the first page)

[Daniel Thomas]

We're in the PCgamer The best games of 2013!
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/01/01/2013-preview/3/
You who saw the last years edition can see that they have made a funny note about the publisher. But yes, everything is TBC.

As for production, we have started testing and everything is going well and the testers seem to enjoy the game so far.

[splat44]

Wow! Great new Dan and it good we one of the best! You bet I certain love testing that game!

[Damian]

Wow Just came across this. Looks stunning... am a fan already! Hope the story is great (hope there is the option to skip dialogue - I hate dialogue that cannot be skipped)

[shaun9991]

This game looks absolutely fantastic, looking forward to playing!

[Darth Mandarb]

Damian - the last post in this thread was from over six months ago!  Please review the forum rules before digging up any more threads!

Daniel Thomas - [as much as it pains me] send me a PM when you are ready to post an update and I'll unlock this!