Why We Update
I put some thought this morning as to the purpose of these updates. I think an update:
- Reassures you, our backers, that we are still working on, and committed to, the project.
- Keeps you informed about the project status.
- Shares some cool things (and occasionally an Inside Secret) about Hero-U development.
- Entertains you and/or provides something of value.
- Encourages you to spread the word about the project.
- Occasionally gives me a soapbox to share ideas I think are important.
Current Progress
The current status? Art is about 85% complete, design is complete, programming is at 50%, writing has just begun. Now that Lori has completed the game design, she is working hard on writing the game dialog. I am also much more available now to work on the other game text. We’ve completed 1,200 “lines” (some of them are really full paragraphs) of a planned 50,000. This will make Hero-U more text-rich than Quest for Glory IV, “the CD-ROM from Hell” according to John Rhys-Davies. John had 6,000 "lines" of narration to read; he told us they were the equivalent of 20,000 lines in an animation script.
We have spent, or have obligations to spend, about $150,000 beyond the initial Kickstarter income. We are still under the original $650,000 budget plan and expect to stay under that. However, obviously the schedule has suffered from the need to stretch out expenditures, team changes (we had to throw away $50,000 of work), and Lori’s and my time spent on other aspects of the business than writing the game. Making a dialogue-based graphic adventure game is neither fast nor easy.
The new Hero-U release date? I can’t promise a specific date, but it will be in 2015, and hopefully in the Summer. We should know much more by January or February.
