Any Grimoire news?

[DArtagnan]

It looked good back when I saw it at RPGdot too. It's always looked and sounded good. That's the problem though. It always just "looked" and "sounded" good.

The cynic in me is just waiting for Cleve to find one tiny little nothing problem that means he'll rewrite the damn thing from the start.

The optimist in me hopes he really is going to release it just like Charlie Brown always hopes that Lucy will finally keep the ball on the ground.

So he I go "CHAAAAARRRRGGGGEEEE" We'll just have to see whether I fall on my back or kick that sucker to the moon

BTW, was it Cleve that was the one who wanted all the Asian character classes in the Wizardry series? Like Ninja, Samaria etc…? Just curious because I loved those classes.

Well, it's not the kind of game I'll lose sleep over not seeing.

Besides, I don't feel entitled to anything - despite whatever promises the developer chooses to make in public. It's silly, I'll agree - and he seems quite out of touch with reality in that way - but given the worst case scenario is nothing - and the best case scenario is a great old-school game, I'm quite pleased with just the chance of the latter

Besides, it's not too far removed from the game I'm trying to make myself - so I can appreciate the effort it takes to make something like this, and some inspiration is always nice.

I mean, if Grimoire of all titles gets released - that's one less excuse for me to not get off my ass and get my own game going.

 

[skavenhorde]

Who's talking about entitled? I'm just talking about releasing the damn thing when you say you are going to release it. Not this roller coaster ride of "Here it comes….Oh wait, just kidding."

 

[DArtagnan]

Who's talking about entitled? I'm just talking about releasing the damn thing when you say you are going to release it.

Not to be pedantic, but that's what being entitled is

You're feeling entitled to have the developer keep his promise.

I don't

Hehe, but I can't blame you. It's just that I tend to take developers public "promises" as wishful thinking, rather than a personal promise to me as an individual.

If Cleve had personally told me he would release this game on a certain date, over and over - I'd be more inclined to be a bit annoyed.

 

[skavenhorde]

You're quick on the draw. I was in the middle of editing that a bit. Oh well guess I won't have to now. I really should use the "preview" button from time to time, but normally people aren't so fast when replying and I can edit it a bit.

Sorry, but I disagree 110% It's just wrong to get peoples hopes up and then *poof* nothing. Even though I'll still buy this game if he really does release it, but it also won't stop me from bitching about the way he has teased us over the years.

 

[DArtagnan]

You're quick on the draw. I was in the middle of editing that a bit. Oh well guess I won't have to now. I really should use the "preview" button from time to time, but normally people aren't so fast when replying and I can edit it a bit.

Sorry, but I disagree 110% It's just wrong to get peoples hopes up and then *poof* nothing. Even though I'll still buy this game if he really does release it, but it also won't stop me from bitching about the way he has teased us over the years.

Well, I agree with you, basically.

I won't use the word "wrong" - because I can understand the desire to speak about your work, even if it's utterly unrealistic.

But it's silly to keep this up for long, and now it's just a joke.

But I just can't care, and I don't know why

 

[holeraw]

but given the worst case scenario is nothing - and the best case scenario is a great old-school game, I'm quite pleased with just the chance of the latter

Yeah.
I don't understand why people get so much invested emotionally to something that doesn't exist, or is not available.

I can understand thinking that "this looks promising and I wish it will be released soon" but all this hype is just noise to me.

 

[skavenhorde]

But I just can't care, and I don't know why

It's called apathy. A feeling I know all too well being the stereotypical GenXer.

Seriously, not sure why you don't care. Probably has to do with the fact that he started this in what? 1998? and it's been 12 years now with nothing to show for it, except for being the RPGamers version of Duke Nukem Forever.

Maybe he was just waiting for the good ol' Duke to be released so he could release his and kill both jokes at the same time

Yeah.
I don't understand why people get so much invested emotionally to something that doesn't exist, or is not available.

Tell that to a Christian

Sorry I couldn't help it. , but come on there is a difference between ranting about a game and being truly pissed off. Invested emotionally in real life and on the internet are two entirely different things, imo. Plus, it's a little fun to come up with some bad jokes about the more ludicrous stuff out there.

If you want serious, then fine. I'm looking forward to playing this game finally. I actually really do think he is going to release it this time. Am I setting myself up for disappointment? Of course, but then again I also have somewhere over 300 games that I have in my library that I can play at any time. So is it that big a deal? No, of course not, but I WOULD LIKE to play it one day.

 

[DArtagnan]

It's called apathy. A feeling I know all too well being the stereotypical GenXer.

Seriously, not sure why you don't care. Probably has to do with the fact that he started this in what? 1998? and it's been 12 years now with nothing to show for it, except for being the RPGamers version of Duke Nukem Forever.

Maybe he was just waiting for the good ol' Duke to be released so he could release his and kill both jokes at the same time

It's probably because I used to care too much about games, and got burned too often.

I once spent an entire summer, basically dreaming about Daggerfall - even during the day. I scavenged usenet for the smallest update, read the same previews over and over, listened to the midi music they released, looked at screenshots, and talked endlessly about it to both gamers and non-gamers alike.

The most nerd-like obsession you can imagine - and when the game finally arrived (with strategy guide and what not), I lit candles (no joke) to set the perfect RPG mood, and lost myself in the game for 2-3 days.

When I finally realised how much of that game was one HUGE broken promise, it was basically the beginning of my supremely jaded nature, in terms of the gaming industry.

So, you might say I cared too much - and now I care very little

 

[skavenhorde]

Sounds like my obsession with the Ultima series, but it didn't disappoint me until 7 was released. I dressed up as a sorcerer for Halloween decked out in all my Ultima gamebox goodies. Black robes, Ahnk amulet (it wasn't a necklace damnit ), spellbook tied around my wait with a rope belt and a few other things that I can't remember. Teachers never looked at me the same way ever again

I've been dissapointed by computer games, but never to the extent that you were. If one genre wasn't producing anything good then more than likely another one was. I would go from adventure to rpg to FPS to action.

Most of the games had to have some kind of fantasy theme to them though. Didn't matter what kind of fantasty sci-fi, post-apoc or just your regular old D&D style. As long as it had that I was happy enough. Also I had my miniatures to fall back on and those take up enough of my time. So I was never "that" attached to any given genre, although RPGs are where my true passion lies.

Oh, and I just realized I confused D.W. Bradly with Cleve Blakemore. Can't believe I confused those two, but in some ways they have dissapointed me in the same way. I wanted Dungeon Lords 1 to be what W&W was but better and that never happened. Cleve….well Cleve is Cleve

BTW, what exactly has Cleve done in the past if anything? I see his name mentioned as a game developer, but has he done anything other than developing Griomoire. I believe I read somewhere he did some C64 games. I may be wrong about that though.

 

[holeraw]

BTW, what exactly has Cleve done in the past if anything? I see his name mentioned as a game developer, but has he done anything other than developing Griomoire. I believe I read somewhere he did some C64 games. I may be wrong about that though.

That's what I was wondering about... I have nothing against 'bad jokes', as you said, I'm all for it... I just find it odd that people talk so much about what is effectively absolutely nothing.

 

[DArtagnan]

The screenshots look nice, and Wizardry 7 was pretty good

 

[skavenhorde]

Are you saying he helped with Wiz 7? I checked my Wizardry Ultimate Archives manual before I posted that question and didn't see his name mentioned in the credits. I could have sworn I heard somewhere that he helped with Wizardry, but thought that I just confused him with D.W.

I'm really curious about this. If I dreamed it all up or if I really did read somewhere that he helped with the Wizardry series.

 

[DArtagnan]

Are you saying he helped with Wiz 7? I checked my Wizardry Ultimate Archives manual before I posted that question and didn't see his name mentioned in the credits. I could have sworn I heard somewhere that he helped with Wizardry, but thought that I just confused him with D.W.

I'm really curious about this. If I dreamed it all up or if I really did read somewhere that he helped with the Wizardry series.

No, no - I'm just saying Grimoire is obviously based on Wizardry 7 and games like that.

So, along with the screenshots - there's the promise of a potentially great game.

Meaning it's not ENTIRELY "nothing"

 

[skavenhorde]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Couldn't agree more about the promise of a great game. Which started me off on my whole Charlie Brown comparison

 

[dteowner]

Are you saying he helped with Wiz 7? I checked my Wizardry Ultimate Archives manual before I posted that question and didn't see his name mentioned in the credits. I could have sworn I heard somewhere that he helped with Wizardry, but thought that I just confused him with D.W.

I'm really curious about this. If I dreamed it all up or if I really did read somewhere that he helped with the Wizardry series.

Cleve worked with SirTech on something. I believe Wiz6 was his last involvement, but I don't remember for certain.

 

[skavenhorde]

That's what I thought. My memory isn't the best, but I believe Corwin mentioned something about him having a huge problem with another dev there and going on a rant about how Wizardry 8 was all messed up. Which led me to the conclusion that he had worked on Wizardry.

 

[Corwin]

He did work on the earlier Wiz games.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

This really will be the first complete walkthrough I have ever done for the game. I'm at around the 20% mark right now, no crash or assert yet. Used to get them all the time, especially during combat.

I'm taking notes on things I don't like, for example Little Rosy popping up every 1200 turns in the same area to talk to us again. I'm stopping only where needed to repair something that could impact on game completion. The notes I can work on during the coming gamma test. I've got a bunch that involve things like … first level plant encounters should be tougher in the forest, fire salamander not using breath weapon often enough, etc.

One thing I repaired was water encounters, these piranha were getting four multiple attacks of six bites each, crazy for first level characters. Lots of simple stuff like that has to be playtested and tweaked to adjust it. I think back in 2005 when Corwin's group was testing it, you actually met firebugs in the water, which made no sense at all.

Stuff like this has to be playtested and adjusted, but there are no critical bugs in the game anymore, which is a really good sign. I mean, no crashes at all. So it will be a matter of me knowing when to say … that's it. There's some things less than perfect still in the game, but I'm ready to send it out.

This should finish in December (my walkthrough) and I will start the gamma test in January. That may run a minimum of three months and I will probably have to work more on the game than the 1-2 hours a day I do now. At present I spend my commute on Grimoire and work on my other projects at night when I'm home. Very likely I will work on Grimoire only during the gamma testing to respond to all the playtesting.

 

[HiddenX]

This really will be the first complete walkthrough I have ever done for the game. ...

Are you serious ? after all these years the first *complete* walktrough ?
Do yourself a favour and establish a new test-group of rpg-veterans, let them play for a month, read the reports, fix the bugs and release the game.

I'm a programmer myself, I like to be perfect, I like to avoid bugs, I never call a project "finished" - there's always something that can be done better.
But I'm a realist, too. I have timelines, users who want to *work* with my programs, so I have to release programs even if there are only at 95% of the perfect vision I have on my mind.

 

[Corwin]

Great to hear from you Cleve, especially since all the posts seem to have disappeared from your forums. I remember the firebugs in the water well!! Will the latest version work with Win 7? I hope so, my old beta won't work with it or Vista. It will need 64 bit compatibility also I'd suggest.