Adventure Game Studio

We Bring You:
(http://forge.freeiz.com/forum/Themes/forge/images/smflogo.gif)
(https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_SM.gif) (http://forge.freeiz.com/?p=donate)

January 15th, 2010:
Well, Happy New Year to everyone here on the forums, registered or not. Its been a while since we've had a formal Update here on the board, so I thought it was time to do so. (That, and one of our members was scared we've stopped working!).

True, progress has been slow in this last 8 weeks. Our lead scripter is busy with his studies, and I recently began new work in mid-November which has dedicated a lot of my focus. Not to mention, Christmas!

But, lets talk FORGE for a bit.

In the last two weeks we've had remarkable outreach from the public, and from old contributors. We've got 5 wonderful new audio tracks, and contacted our artist for THREE more lovely backgrounds for Chapter 2. We've had offers for plot and puzzle help, (You know who you are ;)), and even an offer for sound effects! Offers for translations are coming in, and while thats a long time away its wonderful to see the support from the public.

On the topic of Donations, the Donations we've received from those on the list have been so tremendously appreciated i truly have no words. The first two Chapter 2 backgrounds were all but entirely paid for by those donations ($160 is what was charged, for the two) and the next three will be in the area of $240. We still have $87 in Donation funds available, it will be insufficient to cover the costs of all three, but I have faith that between now and the completion of the backgrounds, we will see more donations come in.

In the spirit of not sounding preachy, I want to remind everyon here that all of Chapter 1 (And its 13 backgrounds, AND portraits, AND sprites) were all paid for without the help of donations. So be assured, as much as your donations are a cherished gesture to the success of FORGE, the team will ensure its completion one way or another.




December 15th, 2010:

Well, Christmas has been a busy season for everyone, so not as much progress as we'd have liked. After a discussion with Abisso, I've resolved to seek out another individual to help with puzzle and plot developments. If anyone might be interested, please email me directly.


October 22nd, 2010:

First off, a big thank you to all the current names on the Donations listing. It is through the efforts of those people, that the second Guild is coming to life, and Chapter 2 is well under way and our first panorama sized background is simply gorgeous...really it is sexy! A BIG hats off to Matt Walkden our background artist.

Chapter 1 has been completely finalized in terms of Background Art, Plot and Puzzle points, and Dialogue. We're currently in heavy active scripting with the final 10-20 animations to be completed.

FORGE is still going strong, and I'm gratified to share this good news with everyone.

Until next update! Thanks again![/B]


Update: September 15, 2010:
-We have enabled our Donations page. Take a look :).

Update: September 4th, 2010:
-We have just finished our twelfth full color background, which is entirely whats needed for Chapter 1 to be considered complete.
-New full time spriter joined our team in August, bringing our backgrounds to life.
-Full size printable poster (of our box art) will be available in a few weeks, just finishing touches now.
-To ensure the fanbase stays excited and remains hopeful, we will most likely be launching a formal release of Chapter 1, upon completion.
-While art and scripting are in progress, side additions are being worked on. Such as a companion Book of Schematics, and even perhaps a companion Audio Drama.


ABOUT:
We at Quill O' The Wisp (http://forge.freeiz.com/) (our team name), are continuing the story of the Age of the Great Guilds. A time and place where Chaos has been unleashed to the Inside and a small handful of people, each from a unique Guild have the power to stop it. One such character is Rusty, a young Blacksmith first introduced in LOOM.

Through the story of FORGE, Rusty will need to find his way back to the surface, after falling through the earth and into Sable Shaft, home of the Guild of Miners. Dodging encounters with the horrific Dead Ones, Rusty will use the fabled Blacksmith Gauntlets to unleash powerful Schematics through a legendary Drawing technique.

A completed game and a planned release will vary on additional assistance. But realistically we are looking for a Fall 2011 launch, with the team we have now. To anyone (especially BG artists and spriters) that want to lend a hand. Please contact myself, we would love to hear from you.

Note: This game is FREEWARE

We are in active development and have launched our new website and forum.

Home Page
Quill O' The Wisp - Forge Page (http://forge.freeiz.com/)

Demo Download link:
Download here (http://oeo.la/_mkzOC)

Contact:
Da_Duke2000@hotmail.com


Chapter 1 Progress:
Story: 85%
Sprites: 50%
Backgrounds: 95%
Music: 10%
Voice Acting: 0%
Scripting: 5%

About the Demo
The Demo starts with a Loom recap and then moves into some Forge Screen shots with a description of the initial plot. To replay the preview, you can do so from the Tapestry Selection. To learn about the new GUI, use the Tutorial. And to play with the GUI freehand, enter the Mini Game section.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts in the release of this Tech Demo.

Screenshots!

(http://forge.freeiz.com/siteimg/samplebg1.png)   (http://forge.freeiz.com/siteimg/samplebg4.png)

(http://forge.freeiz.com/siteimg/samplebg5.png)   (http://forge.freeiz.com/siteimg/samplebg6.png)

Looks sweet!
And I checked your team on website. Your page sais that music is done by Bosa. If that is Bosa I have a luck to know, these are good news, cause he writes good music  ;).

I wonder, however, is it copyright safe to make a sequel to Lucas Arts game?

Thanks!

Yep, Bosa helped write a few tracks for us initially. As for Copyright, this is a non-profit Fan-Game. I have no intention of asking permission, or attempting a partnership for something potentially commercial *coughSilverLiningcough*.

In a worst case scenario, the project would go deep underground and scared among private circles and exist as an internet myth (I'm kidding of course).

But with the amount of Indy fangames, and Maniac Mansion remakes, and Monkey Island ScummVM edits, I think we're safe. Safe enough anyways.

*Beauty incarnate those backgrounds*

Reminds me how bad do I actually draw..
Anyhow, weird enough of a coincidence, I've been searching for a loom template on the forums just yesterday, and noticed nobody had actually done a sequel. (Only Besh tried to). These are great news!

Also, hope you haven't gone into that whole trouble for just an April's fools prank.
Also, though I'm about to download the demo..is the interface based on mouse gesture module?

The GUI is inspired by, but from what I recall (would have to check with Abisso) not built around the Mouse Gesture system. The GUI went through some MAJOR re-hauls over the last years. Directly from a LOOM clone, to a complicated Spark Sequence + Drawing system.

We are very satisfied with the results.

As for the April fools joke...guess we'll know tomorrow... 8)...

...kidding of course. We're very serious.

Just tried out the demo...now I know absolutely NOTHING about making an AGS game, but I am completely blown away.  This game is going to be absolutely beautiful (please finish it!)...the music, the artwork, and I really enjoyed the minigame.  Very creative idea about using the "schematics"!  Great work so far! 

Hey Duke. Looks great. Sorry I didn't have more time for your project but I'm very glad you've found a scripter more suited for the task! My best wishes.

@joel; Hey joel, that's more than alright. As you can see we turned a real 180 degrees from the original idea of the animated Audio Drama (still a plan for the future though).

@SarahLiz; Thank you! Just remember that the art from the Loom portion of the preview is EXISTING art, that will not be featured in the game. Except perhaps in cut scenes of flashbacks.

We want our game to be as close to 100% original art as we can. Hence our revamped Distaff.

Cool, I have to say even for a technical demo I was really impressed.  You've managed to capture the spirit of Loom while still creating something very original.   ;D

Quote from: Da_Duke2000 on Fri 02/04/2010 02:21:39
Just remember that the art from the Loom portion of the preview is EXISTING art, that will not be featured in the game. Except perhaps in cut scenes of flashbacks.

We want our game to be as close to 100% original art as we can. Hence our revamped Distaff.

Oh I know, I noticed that...at first (before I knew you were just telling the complete story of the first Loom) I was thinking, "hmmm, all these backgrounds are the same...?"  But of course, then I saw your own artwork...and like I said, was blown away.  So incredibly pretty.   :)

Wow these are nice backgrounds...the color balance in those pics are awesome

Outstanding background work. 8)
I haven't seen a 'LucasArtStyle' like this in over 17 years. Bravo!

I noticed these screens weren't featured in the short Tech Demo however I am desperately looking forward to exploring these wonderful environments in the final release.

Question: How long does one background scene take to produce on average and what software was used?

Best wishes and happy forging!
Sparky. :)

Just wanted to say "hi" and "thanks" to everyone. AGS forums is a place I love and care for. I'm not really that famous here, but I've been a member since 2004 and someone might remember me.

Well, that said, I'm proud to be the scripter in this project, and I'm glad to read all those wonderful comments.

For what concerns Besh and his work: well, some years ago, he was in search for people who could help him on his game (not really a Loom sequel, just something "inspired" by it).
I offered to help and we started to discuss a bit. I found his Mouse Gesture System really nice. Basically it's the same as the one you can see in some commercial games, like Black&White and Arx Fatalis.
Unluckily, after a few days of cooperation, Besh had to travel over the Ocean for his studies, from Italy to United States, and told me he decided to abandon the project.

Last year, around July, someone in the Recruit a Team topic asked for help with a "game". It was years since I last worked on a game, and I just wanted to give a hand with the plot and maybe some advice with AGS. After some days of chat, finally that guy (Duke) revealed his intention to do a Loom Sequel. Day after day I became more and more interested and finally I decided to do the scripting job too.

The point is that I suggested the current interface, and schematic-drawing system. Of course I've been inspired by Besh's work, but our system is completely different and I didn't even take a look on the code of the Mouse Gesture System. Let's say something visual like the current system fitted wonderfully in the game, doing visually what Loom did with sounds (notes).

That's all.

Gotta say, this looks great! What sort of length are we looking at?

Brilliant!  ;D

@greenboy
Thank you for noticing. Its very important to me, to keep that true LOOM spirit alive. We want people to feel that they are playing the direct continuation, without any hiccups, or massive 2.5D or 3D overhauls. I'm glad that you feel we succeeded.

@Chicky
We've discussed the "number of hours of gameplay" question at length. Rather than bulk this story up unnecessarily just to fill time, this game will be the length it needs to be to serve its purpose in the Great Guilds Trilogy. Story wise, we hope to have about 4 locational Guilds to visit, with the 5th being a return to the Forge.

With the Rewards section, and the Mini Games, the player will have a much more immersive experience, and I hope will crave to unlock all the little stories and tidbits we'll be putting in there.

But, we WILL be doing FOLD as well, once we're far enough along with development. Its hard not to get so excited and want to work on it too. All the thoughts for the Shepherds GUI. So many possibilities.


@IndieBoy
Thanks ;)

Excellent backgrounds, and nice character art. The music is good but that's still Tschaikovsky I'm hearing :)

I like the dialogue by the scientist; I was less impressed by all the "voiceover" exposition at the beginning, and would opine that this is better represented as dialogue as well. As I recall, LOOM has zero exposition that isn't dialogue.

The idea for the interface is nice, but I found it hard to stay on the line with the cursor; perhaps it is a bit too sensitive?

Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.

For the Loom portion, yes, original music was used. With the exception of the Loom portion, the other music is original.

You're not alone in your opinion of the exposition. Its a long read, and does feel a bit drawn out. The full release will will most likely forgo the LOOM exposition, and leave that up to the player. For the Demo, we wanted to include it as many here who downloaded the demo may have not played LOOM before.

We are aware of the difficulty some are having drawing, and it will surely be addressed. Options for this also include potential keyboard (numpad) support.

Oh, and Radiant, if you can, tell Corby to email me, lol. I haven't heard from him in a while, and he might have something finished for me soon. He hasn't responded to my emails. Thanks!

Nice Project

Please this project terminates, so far has it very beautiful ideas. A worthy successor would be and with ideas with the Minigames is also good

Sorry for my English :)

Great techdemo,
if you can keep up this quality the game will be wonderful.

The control with the gauntlets is a nice idea, hope you can do some nice puzzles with it.

I'm looking forward seeing more of this project.

Did you have time to answer my questions on the previous page too Duke?
Thanks man.

Sparky.

While we await Duke's answer, I'll try to help you, Subspark.

Let's begin saying that 2 of those 3 screenshots ARE actually in the demo. Watch the preview again and you'll spot them.

Secondly... if you're asking how much time does it take to sprite a complete background like the ones we have, well... it depends. Matt0, the artist who did those, needs about one week. But I don't know how many hours does he work on it each day.

By the way, since Duke is the one who stayed in contact with Matt0 during all the development phase, he can probably answer you in more detail.

On average, matt0 has a background for me in about 2-3 weeks. Typically closer to the 3 week range though.

For the complete game we need about 30 more, as an estimate.

We are taking resumes though for more artists, heh.

I'll ask him the specifics of your question and reply when I hear back.

I've seen one or two fan sequels to Loom in production over the years, and I've got to say that from what I've seen so far, this has to be the best-looking sequel-in-progress I've seen by a long shot. The backgrounds are fantastic, and as complex as they are, the colors and art style really hearken back to the look of this game's predecessor.

I've sometimes wondered if a game (or games) based on Brian Moriarty's outlines of the two planned sequels to Loom would ever be completed, official or not. It looks like that is finally going to happen, and it certainly looks like it will be worth the wait.

I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to this game's completion.

You guys answered my questions well. Thanks for your swift response.

Cheers,
Sparky.

Sheer beauty, and from what I can see so far - done with the utmost respect to the original. I wish you nothing but luck!

One thing that did stand out a little was the Rusty sprite's side view - his chin is really blocky, and doesn't seem to match the front view very well. But that might just be me :)

Well, voh... if I'm not mistaken, that Rusty side view you speak about is more or less a revamped version of the original one. That said, I think you're right, he actually is blocky! We'll see if, with the few pixels at his disposal, the artist can improve it.

Thanks for the nice comments! :)

It makes him look distinguished! Lol. You're right of course. Its on the corrections list :).
Thank you for your comment!

The backgrounds you have provided are not "in-game" screenshots (no characters, guis, cursors, etc).  Please update the original post to include at least two in-game shots!  I'll let it slide if you post some art/animations of a few characters and maybe an example of the GUI, etc. :)

** takes off moderator hat, puts on loom-fanboy hat **

Having said that those backgrounds are great and really capture the feel/mood of the original game (one of my favorite games of all time) and I'm really lookin' forward to seeing what you do with this.

I'll make the appropriate edits tonight once I'm home from work. No issue at all. I'm happy to show off some characters :).

Thanks for your post Darth, I remember you posting on my original topic years back, urging me not to make a mess of a Loom Sequel. I hope we haven't disappointed.

If I may provide just a tiny bit of C&C: the video goes too fast for easy reading of the text. In the beginnign it's fine, but later on it moves just too fast, the text disappears before I've read it all.
Now, let me conclude by saying that this is faulous so far! (no "I think it is fabulous.." it just plain is.

Thanks DutchMarco!

To be honest, the text was even faster before Duke asked me to slow it down! Since I'm not a native English user (I'm Italian) and not so much of a fast-reader, I thought "if I can read this, anyone else can". But probably, the fact that I already knew what the text was saying, made me underestimate it's speed.

Critique accepted! ;)

@Darth Mandarb
Edited with new(er) screen shots in the main post.

Wow
I will definitely keep an eye on this  :o
keep up your excellent work  ;D

Looks really interesting! Though I'm not really fond of the fact you have to move your cursor between the lines or start again, since I am kind of a nervous guy. The way of controlling that you have to remember the pattern fits in my opinion better in the loomlikeness. So beside the agility part I like what you guys created. Music sounds good, visuals are great. This game will be a wet dream for most Loom fans!

* Bounces around with excitement "* 

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG WOOOOO

Gosh - this is shaping up to be marvellous, and seamlessly classic and Loom-esque! I just played the demo and I'm very impressed by the clever gauntlets system. I can see how that's going to follow on from Loom's creative puzzling. The backgrounds and the bit of new story you gave away in the preview are spot-on and really have that grand fantasy feel...

I also enjoyed the tutorial dialogue, there's even the gentle sense of humour that I was hoping for.

This is the good kind of fan sequel. Looking forward!

This is looking really good!
Tech demo was awesome ;).

You can't even imagine how important is for me to read such wonderful comments. Thank you Simon, thank you Peder and thanks to all the others.

I'm sure I speak for Duke also, when I say this is the fuel we need to carry on with this project. I'm moved. Truly moved.  :'(

Holy crap am I excited about this :D :D :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

It looks amazing, best of luck with it! :D :D

Wow. Even more fantastic comments. Thank you all.

Backgrounds are coming, spriters are in demand currently though. The receiving of a surprise email of an offer to help would be grand. Wishful thinking? Who knows ;).

Thanks all!

I forgot to give my statement to this, so I will do it now:

This is great and wonderful, it`s like a dream for me. It really looks like the original Loom and seems to be a worthy second part of the planned trilogy. Beautiful graphics and nice gameplay. I`m looking forward to the final version. :)

Great tech demo, I look forward to playing,  and Expert mode seems like at least right now it'll be easier than Looms

Quote from: FireOrange on Sun 02/05/2010 12:10:35
I forgot to give my statement to this, so I will do it now:

This is great and wonderful, it`s like a dream for me. It really looks like the original Loom and seems to be a worthy second part of the planned trilogy. Beautiful graphics and nice gameplay. I`m looking forward to the final version. :)

Thanks FireOrange!

Quote from: TerricMoonborn on Mon 03/05/2010 02:12:13
Great tech demo, I look forward to playing,  and Expert mode seems like at least right now it'll be easier than Looms

You seem to be an expert player... we actually received some complaints about the difficulty levels. Some people found even the Practice one too hard.

On the other hand some people suggested to raise the difficulty.

I suppose the easier solution is the better, in this situation: leave things as they are! ;)
I'm terribly lazy!

I've only tried expert in Loom a few times,   I don't get much farther than the draft of opening.

I actually mainly play Loom on Standard/Normal

I haven't played Loom - although I soon will, thanks to this! - but I played the tech demo and loved the entire idea!

Thinking about what DutchMarco said, I have enough time to read the text, but that's it, not time to appreciate the beautiful pictures that go with the words.

As far as the grip being too hard to draw on, it's all tosh. I got the minigame on expert(or hard or whatever) first try, and it never really seemed as though it would be difficult.

Quote from: wonkyth on Sat 08/05/2010 14:49:59
As far as the grip being too hard to draw on, it's all tosh. I got the minigame on expert(or hard or whatever) first try, and it never really seemed as though it would be difficult.

I found the whole thing hard even on easy, and I have a pretty steady hand. Maybe your mouse speed is set very low. I had trouble and I'm using a desktop. Think how hard it would be if someone was using a laptop's mouse! The game looks like it will be great, but it needs to be easier to stay on the lines.

Thanks for more comments!

In response to Laptop touch-pad users;

We've found that if one hand is used to depress and hold the mouse key, the other hand can be used to gently and slowly work the cursor through in a series of small lines.

Also, for mouse-less people, (or super shakey peoples) keyboard/numbpad support is something we've semi scripted.

From many hours experience sniping people with a crossbow while suffering a laptop, the touchpad is actually not so bad for small precise movements.

Thank you for the comment wonkyth. That, combined with running the game at full screen or 2x-3x helps significantly.

Maybe we could add a usb-mouse in the game-bundle, together with the Forge's t-shirt and poster, and the OST-CD.

Don't you think so, Duke?  ;D

Please submit all inquiries for free peripheral hardware to Abisso^*. ;)

Speaking of poster...

^{*via PM please! - darth}

Poster?!   8)

Quote from: Da_Duke2000 on Fri 14/05/2010 17:54:22
Please submit all inquiries for free peripheral hardware to Abisso^*. ;)

Is there a spam filter in the PM inbox?  ;D

Update: September 4th, 2010:
-We have just finished our twelfth full color background, which is entirely whats needed for Chapter 1 to be considered complete.
-New full time spriter joined our team in August, bringing our backgrounds to life.
-Full size printable poster (of our box art) will be available in a few weeks, just finishing touches now.
-To ensure the fanbase stays excited and remains hopeful, we will most likely be launching a formal release of Chapter 1, upon completion.
-While art and scripting are in progress, side additions are being worked on. Such as a companion Book of Schematics, and even perhaps a companion Audio Drama.

Oh, boy! This project really gets me excited!

oooo I really hope you do do the Audio Drama!

This is GREAT news!

Now pretty please check your image hosting 'cause the screenies in the first post aren't showing up for me!

It would be great if the game were released on CD, but would Lucas Arts allow you to sell it, Considering that is based on the Loom Universe. If you do the whole digitized speech and sound effects make sure you provide captions, especially if there are sound based puzzles. 

Spoiler

I played Loom in normal mode and had trouble at the end because I couldn't distinguish between the different notes well when they didn't light up on my wand like they used to.

[close]

We've no intention to sell the game, as the project is born and will remain FREEWARE. Though, we considered the option to make some CDs but even if we'd sell 'em just at the basic price (the cost of the CD itself) I believe it could be considered as a threat by LucasArts. I'd like to know everyone's opinion about it.

But, since we're on topic, I announce to all of you fans that we created a donation system for the Forge. The reason is that we always had to and still are outsourcing the backgrounds to a paid artist, since we couldn't find anyone neither suitable enough nor willing to join us as a pixel-art background artist. We're currently paying (well, Duke is, actually  :P) about 100 U.S. dollars for EACH background. Chapter 1 alone (out of the 5 we planned for the complete game) is made up by about 20 backgrounds, so, you probably understand how this can be hard to sustain.

Our donation system, however, is different from the common ones, since we guarantee for any donation (independently from the sum given):

- Credits, both in our website and in the finished game, in the closing credits.
- A special request: you have the chance to ask our team to include a special custom animation that you'll be able to see in-game (which means a sneak peak into the story line).
- Bragging rights.

We've not yet decided for a name, but community-ware has been on our mind, since this system allows community to be a crucial part in the game's development, like they were team-members. A big team, or a big family, as I'd like to call it.

Everything's explained on our forum too: http://forge.freeiz.com/forum/index.php/topic,58.0.html

However, we highly hope that some skilled bg artist will join the team for free, as this would be the most desirable and satisfying scenario.

Thanks in advance to you all.

Still looking pretty good. Keep it up :)

Abisso,

the donations system does sound fair to me. That's a lot spent on the backgrounds but it definately pays off - they are really beautiful.

I have played through the tech demo and I am worried... the tolerance for the "cursor path" seems pretty small and I had problems even when trying. I think they could be widened a little to make it a bit easier (if only optional)?
Anyways, I really like how you came up with an interface that has the good old Loom flair while still being new and with a twist.
I hope there's be a fully playable version soon.

Quote from: cianty on Fri 10/09/2010 19:58:29
I have played through the tech demo and I am worried... the tolerance for the "cursor path" seems pretty small and I had problems even when trying. I think they could be widened a little to make it a bit easier (if only optional)?

You're not the first to ask... by the way it seems most of the people who found it difficult to draw the Schematics are either playing in a window, or have a malfunctioning mouse. Don't know if that's your case. Next demo and full game will have keyboard support though.
Are you talking about the Practice level by the way? If you're talking about an harder difficulty level, consider choosing an easier one.

Quote from: cianty on Fri 10/09/2010 19:58:29
Anyways, I really like how you came up with an interface that has the good old Loom flair while still being new and with a twist.
I hope there's be a fully playable version soon.

I feel particularly happy for this remark, since the idea behind the drawing system has been one of the few significant contributions I gave to the game so far (scripting excluded).

As things are now, a fully playable demo of Chapter 1 will surely be ready before the end of the year. I hope to have it ready before the end of November though. From that release, the future of the Forge will depend EITHER on a background artist joining the team OR the donations. We really hope that, when the demo is out, there will be more people offering their help. Otherwise, the project will be in a deadlock (a stall), until one of the two conditions above are satisfied.

Judging from the tech demo and the available screenshots and I can very well imagine you receiving quite some donations for continuing the project - or better yet, a background artist. If Chapter 1 plays nicely, I'm sure people will come...

About the controls: My mouse is not a problem and I did use full screen. Maybe I was just too impatient... I'll wait for Chapter 1 and see how it goes with a bit of practice.

I wish you all the best for the project.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. As Abisso had mentioned, we have plans to revisit and beta test the usability of the Current GUI for players using a Mouse, a Trackpad, and of course numpad support.

Also piggybacking on what Abisso has mentioned, the finished Chapter 1 will involve around 15 backgrounds or so, with the addition of character portraits and the fully artistically stylized menu system. Some of the animations you're bound to see we hope will recreate the days of old with Mark Ferrari and his zany-beyond-reason animations.

Lastly, we do indeed plan to have the finished Chapter 1 done for the years end, and ideally sooner. Progress beyond that will assuredly rely on donation or sponsorship. Chapter 2 will require around 5 new backgrounds. Not too bad I must say!

I cannot wait to share our hard work with everyone here in only a few short months.

Update: September 15, 2010:
-We have enabled our Donations page. Take a look :).
(https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_SM.gif) (http://forge.freeiz.com/?p=donate)

October 22nd, 2010:

First off, a big thank you to all the current names on the Donations listing. It is through the efforts of those people, that the second Guild is coming to life, and Chapter 2 is well under way and our first panorama sized background is simply gorgeous...really it is sexy! A BIG hats off to Matt Walkden our background artist.

Chapter 1 has been completely finalized in terms of Background Art, Plot and Puzzle points, and Dialogue. We're currently in heavy active scripting with the final 10-20 animations to be completed.

FORGE is still going strong, and I'm gratified to share this good news with everyone.

Until next update! Thanks again!

Yay!

Hi!
This game looks good, 80's alike style, like good old games.
But the mouse-Schematicts-cursor-thing is very "hard", even unplayable.
I'd tried for 30 minutes the tutorial and the minigames and i finally abandoned the game: it's too easy loose the Scheme. Irritating.
Not a good impression, despite the very good idea of the gaunlets and schemes.

Keep making and very good demo.

Quote from: daioros on Wed 03/11/2010 21:41:32
Hi!
This game looks good, 80's alike style, like good old games.
But the mouse-Schematicts-cursor-thing is very "hard", even unplayable.
I'd tried for 30 minutes the tutorial and the minigames and i finally abandoned the game: it's too easy loose the Scheme. Irritating.
Not a good impression, despite the very good idea of the gaunlets and schemes.

Keep making and very good demo.

I agree that it is really tough to keep it on there (especially when you use a laptop, like I did when I tried it).

it would be nice to have an options setting to raise the tolerance, that way people without a steady hand or a mouse available can still enjoy the game!

that being my ONLY "complaint" this game looks fantastic, and I cannot wait until it is here!

thanks for all the hard work!

Actually, at the Practice Level, casting is really easy, and most of the people I asked till now found a touchpad makes things even easier. Either using a mouse, a joypad, or a touchpad, by the way, sensitivity settings may keep things harder or easier. A too high sensitivity can make casting almost impossible (and any other operation with the pc as well, I must say :P ).

One thing that must be kept in mind is that casting doesn't have speed requirements. So don't rush it. Take your time. Tutorial was made for this purpose. Always play fullscreen, and if you use a touchpad, remember that you should use buttons to click and use pad surface only to draw (you can lift the finger from the pad's surface without failing the casting).

On the other hand, I'm grateful for all of you giving their opinion, cause if it becomes clear most of the users find the casting system frustrating, I will surely do everything that's in my power to lower the difficulty, at least fro Practice Level.

QuoteIt would be nice to have an options setting to raise the tolerance

There are. Difficulty Levels (Practice, Standard, Expert) raise tolerance actually. You can test them all in the minigames' submenu inside the tech demo.

Quote from: Abisso on Thu 04/11/2010 15:16:20
Actually, at the Practice Level, casting is really easy, and most of the people I asked till now found a touchpad makes things even easier. Either using a mouse, a joypad, or a touchpad, by the way, sensitivity settings may keep things harder or easier. A too high sensitivity can make casting almost impossible (and any other operation with the pc as well, I must say :P ).

One thing that must be kept in mind is that casting doesn't have speed requirements. So don't rush it. Take your time. Tutorial was made for this purpose. Always play fullscreen, and if you use a touchpad, remember that you should use buttons to click and use pad surface only to draw (you can lift the finger from the pad's surface without failing the casting).

On the other hand, I'm grateful for all of you giving their opinion, cause if it becomes clear most of the users find the casting system frustrating, I will surely do everything that's in my power to lower the difficulty, at least fro Practice Level.

QuoteIt would be nice to have an options setting to raise the tolerance

There are. Difficulty Levels (Practice, Standard, Expert) raise tolerance actually. You can test them all in the minigames' submenu inside the tech demo.

It took me about an hour to do the longer ones on Practice mode! All I had to play it on is a laptop which has a pretty bad touch pad, (which could be part of the problem) although there may be others out there with the same issue!

I love the idea, I just rather focus on playing then being precise, I don't mind the harder modes being hard, but I have a hard time even on the easy modes!

unless you changed the demo since I played, I got it when the demo was first released.

it would be nice to have it like so...
Easy - For people with no option but an iffy touch pad (almost impossible to leave the line) possibly for people who want to focus on puzzles
Standard - For people who have an external mouse
Expert - For people looking for a challenge

an alternative, could be, and this is just an idea...
Easy - Shows line, High tolerance
Standard - Shows line, Lower Tolerance
Expert - Does not show lines, Lowest Tolerance

and by show lines, I mean what you have drawn from node to node.


sorry for an ADHD post, and I don't want to sound like I hate the game or the idea, I love it!

thank you for the quick response!

QuoteEasy - Shows line, High tolerance
Standard - Shows line, Lower Tolerance
Expert - Does not show lines, Lowest Tolerance

Things are exactly the way you described them, except for the fact Easy is called Practice. In the tech demo you played, I mean. Try it again and you'll see for yourself.

By the way, keyboard support (using arrows instead of mouse) has been implemented already. This will make things as easy as they can be.

Well that changes my opinion dramatically then!  :=

people like me with a crappy and unpredictable touch pad will use the keyboard, perfect solution, I am sold!

thanks!

Judging by the dark hues of the backgrounds generally, it might benefit your sprites to give them a dark outline.  I notice parts of one of the npc were lost in the background here and there.  Otherwise it looks quite good and I hope you can stick with it until it's complete! :)

Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 05/11/2010 22:11:57
Otherwise it looks quite good and I hope you can stick with it until it's complete! :)

Don't just "hope"... BE PART OF IT!  ;D


P.S. I'm a huge fan of your art. Respect.

Are we still allowed to donate or is it too late?

@ MissCrystalix
Reading this almost made me cry with joy. :).

Thank you immensely for your contribution MissCrystalix. As it stands, we are now in active background making for the second chapter, and have a stunning 480x200 transition screenshot leading to the second Guild, and an incredibly beautiful 640x200 of inside the Guild. Three more need to be completed, and then sprited before Chapter 2 will realistically be ready.

For Chapter One's art to be completed, we need perhaps 20-25 animations left. A NPC here or there, and a few more complex animations. Altogether nothing too complicated. Unfortunately, sound effects are still in its infancy, as is general music. Scripting is coming along well too. Kind motivational words are the fuel Abisso needs ;). The side project I've spoken to you about you'll receive an email about soon. (I've had some real life work issues redirect my priorities for a while).

@ProgZmax
Thanks for your support, we certainly have the drive and progress is made every week. While I'm not the type to use this topic for recruiting, Abisso is right. If you're interested, I'm sure you could lend a great hand.

Update: December 15th, 2010
Well, Christmas has been a busy season for everyone, so not as much progress as we'd have liked. After a discussion with Abisso, I've resolved to seek out another individual to help with puzzle and plot developments. If anyone might be interested, please email me directly.

Looks good so far. Can't wait to play the full game  ;) ;D

I'd say Chapter one is about 20-25% ready, but unfortunately I will have very few moments to script further until February. University, Krishn-mas and personal problems aren't helping me, sadly.

But do not worry, fans, sooner or later we'll make it.

Update: January 15th, 2010:

Well, Happy New Year to everyone here on the forums, registered or not. Its been a while since we've had a formal Update here on the board, so I thought it was time to do so. (That, and one of our members was scared we've stopped working!).

True, progress has been slow in this last 8 weeks. Our lead scripter is busy with his studies, and I recently began new work in mid-November which has dedicated a lot of my focus. Not to mention, Christmas!

But, lets talk FORGE for a bit.

In the last two weeks we've had remarkable outreach from the public, and from old contributors. We've got 5 wonderful new audio tracks, and contacted our artist for THREE more lovely backgrounds for Chapter 2. We've had offers for plot and puzzle help, (You know who you are ;)), and even an offer for sound effects! Offers for translations are coming in, and while that's a long time away its wonderful to see the support from the public.

On the topic of Donations, the Donations we've received from those on the list have been so tremendously appreciated i truly have no words. The first two Chapter 2 backgrounds were all but entirely paid for by those donations ($160 is what was charged, for the two) and the next three will be in the area of $240. We still have $87 in Donation funds available, it will be insufficient to cover the costs of all three, but I have faith that between now and the completion of the backgrounds, we will see more donations come in.

In the spirit of not sounding preachy, I want to remind everyone here that all of Chapter 1 (And its 13 backgrounds, AND portraits, AND sprites) were all paid for without the help of donations. So be assured, as much as your donations are a cherished gesture to the success of FORGE, the team will ensure its completion one way or another.

Here is to a great 2011!

Hey, AGSers, what's up?

Sorry for this short post after so many months, but I'm trying to spread the word in as many forums as possible and time is not on my side.

You can find important news regarding Forge here:

http://forge.freeiz.com/forum/index.php/topic,277.0.html

Please take the time to read, spread the word and try to help the project in any way you can.

Don't let Forge cool down. Forge must stay hot!

Thanks for reading,

Abisso

Shouldn't the link be:
http://forge.freeiz.com/forum/index.php/topic,277.0.html

;)

...will write more after I read that
Aww.. that's a bummer. Yesterday I was browsing that SCUMM gallery Ben wrote about and thought how cool it would be to play the Forge someday. Well, since you're working on it since 2009, waiting a few month for the duke to get his stuff done doesn't sound too bad.
I somehow don't believe that he'll abandon his baby forever (and he even paid for the backgrounds).

So I hope you can assemble the demo and judging from the tech preview, it'll be terrific.

Best of luck!

Thanks for pointing out the link was wrong. I've used the correct one now.

And thanks for your kind words. Btw, Duke's "stuff" is a 3 year long school, so there's no chance at all that he will work on the project like before. But he will help a little here and then.

I just wanted to drop in and say I think your project is fantastic and gorgeous, and I would hate to see it die. If there's anything I can do to help you guys out, let me know.

Hey it's been a while since I last posted here. I hope some of you still has been following our progress on our website though.

Anyway, here's some important news:

First of all we have a new team-member: Valecene. She's a native English speaker, and so she'll cover the role of proofreader; but she's a good concept-artist as well.

Moreover, the website has been revamped a bit, with most of the text revised and even a new domain: forgegame.com (http://forgegame.com)

Progress on the game itself is slow but constant, and things are turning out better than I could have imagined, actually.

We're still looking for skilled artists, anyway, so spread the word, and please support us as much as possible!

Thank you!

EDIT for the administrators: since I'm not the one who started this topic, I'm unable to change its title of course, and sadly this prevents me from showing the correct date of the last update, instead of "Forge: Loom Sequel (Updated Jan 15th, 2011)". Is there a way to solve this without starting a whole new thread, and without asking Duke to change it every time? Unfortunately I've almost completely lost contact with him so that would be difficult to do. Thanks.

Really happy to know this is still going!

Abisso - Check your PMs!