Grimoire Forever

It's been essentially done for years - Cleve could have easily released 3-5 years ago (and maybe before that - I don't know). It's been a while now so I can't remember the fine details but either just before or just after Corwin, dte and myself were in the beta, he decided to rip out the sound libraries and change them for a different system and so on and so on. The game was complete and pretty much as bug free as anything ever is -- he's just never satisfied (or something).

So, the release has little to do with when it is actually finished (in my opinion) and more to do when Cleve decides he is happy with it - which could easily be never.

On the other hand, the fools that think the game doesn't exist are equally deluded. Personally (and I'm sure corwin disagrees with this), I didn't find it that compelling, so I wouldn't bother waiting.

That I never knew before. All I knew about the game was what you guys posted back at the DOT. I went back to Dot see what was written and I can't believe that the beta was started back in 2001. I knew it had been around for awhile but 2001? I've heard of a perfectionist but come on 2001!!! He could of made Grimoire 1, 2 and maybe 3 by now.

All bets are off!

That was the first beta. There was a second one a couple years ago (the one I was involved in).

I still say the NPC conversations needed work, but it wasn't a game-breaker. Beyond that, I agree with Dhruin that the game could probably ship tomorrow if Cleve would stop tinkering. Reminds me of the old saying:
There comes in a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and finish.

A few more days ? I regard December, 24th as being the first "Christmas day" ...

The game had one game breaking bug in the early part, and one broken quest near the end of the game. Lots of loot hadn't been put in random chests and some NPC dialogue options needed work. That was about it!! Still, I really enjoyed the game.

OK, my memory is a bit off. That could still have been completed in a couple of weeks if he wanted to.

The early game breaker was a real problem; a VITAL plot item kept getting deleted from an NPC's inventory if you initiated a trade with him before getting it. Since the NPC was the first merchant you come across in the game, unless you knew about it, it was game over!!

That could be easy to fix, we discussed this before too...just give the item to someone else.

Yes, but the item was the reward for completing a quest for him!!

And that couldn't be fixed within a few weeks if he wanted?

Maybe he is done with the game but he can't stop playing it to release it.

Well, it's Christmas day here and it hasn't been released, but there's no change on the website!!

Hey, he said "It's coming this time!"

He didn't say which year ( kind of an insider joke of the official Enya forum ) .

I guess when pigs fly then Cleve will release the game. Too bad it looked fun.

We could always threaten to release the beta from here and see if that spurs Cleve into action; people deserve to play this game!!

Grimoire Forever Underway

No, it's not done yet. Coming along nicely, though. I think Corwin's suggestion it be released on April 1st is still a good idea.

I've been working on it every single day for five months. It's come a long ways since I put the new scripting engine in for the NPCs and had the formidable task of redoing all NPC logic in the new script language.

Doing all the game logic for NPCs as scripts according to the original scenario has been a lot of work for one person. About 32 out of the 64 NPCs in the game have more than a thousand lines of scripting now. From complex quests to training they can give us, wishes they grant, context dependent behaviours, etc.

The scripting language has been working great with few qualifiers. It's better than my original byte-code engine, better than Simkin, best thing I have used to do the NPCs.

All the critical logic involved with NPCs is done and the critical bugs involving lost inventory have been fixed. I broke critical and non-critical items into two separate inventories to make sure there is a good separation between the two at all times. The only way a critical item can come out of NPC inventory is if script logic takes it out or it is stolen by one of the thieves in the party.

I have a lot of talk controlled by Charm or Beholden factors, conduct that relies on our amity shared with NPC, Mindread keywords that reveal other branches of discussion, things like that.

So completing it soon is not a hoax.

The original DOS beta has been widely distributed on the internet in the past few months and people seem to enjoy playing that, so I think they'll have a pleasant surprise when they see this current version. Much that was a problem in 1998 is fixed now. Obviously. Including huge things like ... all the artwork, for example. A pretty big "bug" to fix.

I've been rendering a few monsters myself with a cartoonish look to them to fill out a couple of creatures still lacking. They look okay despite being renders.

Great to hear from you again Cleve. If you still need any testing done, give me a call or drop me a PM here. Probably only you and Roger know this game better than I do!!

Hey I would love too as well...I beta tested on eschalon...(listed in the credits)

Let me know if you are looking

So you're a fake?
Damn I was waiting for this game for about 5 days!!
Please don't make it like wizardry 8...it's hugly and boring to death.