Denial

I hope you are still able to find the time to finish it.

Then I will at least find the time to play it
The time to finish it I probably cannot even hope for.

hasseapa wrote:I hope you are still able to find the time to finish it.

Then I will at least find the time to play it
The time to finish it I probably cannot even hope for.

I still continue to work on the game every day -- even if it means that I take 15 minutes to create some content or spend a couple of hours writing code. Considering that I put in so many hours working on it (not to mention that others have contributed their own content), I feel strong motivation to see that this project gets completed.

In the 6 weeks since my last update, I created more cities for the game. Now I have 5 out of 20 cities completed.

Wow, this map... EPIC is the word that comes to mind

Tantalizing map. While I am not much of a RPG-player, I am strongly attracted to RPG-game worlds and maps (since I read The Hobbit as a kid I guess). Some day I really, really woud like to make a retro-CRPG of my own.

Happy to see an update, I was beginning to worry me and my Vic are eagerly waiting.

Well, ALL OF US AND OUR VICs are eagerly waiting...

Thanks all. I had realized that I hadn't posted any updates after a while. But I do conitnue to work on it. The thing is, I find writing text quite harder to do than generating the graphics for the game. I mean, I'm no Richard Garriott, but hopefully the textual content that I'm producing will create a story and atmosphere for the game world.

Here's a sample of a conversation that you will have with one of the monarchs/aristocrats who govern the empire of Greater Rivaria:

Just another update. Believe me, I am still working on this game!

I started working on Realms V in February of this year. I'd say that 60% of the game is done based on the amount of disk space that the current build occupies. Of course, there will be extensive debugging and tweaking of the game content. And not to mention writing the game manual, which is a job in itself -- albeit a very fun part of the game design process.

I'm still bogged down on the city/populace portion of the game. I'd say it takes me about 8 hours of total time to design a city, but I can only find that much free time realistically in a 2 week period. Considering that I've designed 8 cities so far and I have to do 12 more, it will take me another 6 months to finish the city/populace portion of the game at this current pace.

As much as I'm grateful for being gainfully employed in a permanent full time IT job again (the cratering of oil prices in the heart of Canada's oil country kind of put me into a "these were my lost years" situation for quite a while), I had a lot more free time on my hands to work on this game. I'm now starting to see the benefits of long term unemployment.

I find that writing dialogue requires a lot of mental effort on my part and not to mention that I have to make sure that it formats correctly to the screen and so there is testing for that as well. Doing the graphics and programming seems to be less cumbersome because I can do these things even with noise and interruptions. I suppose writing for the manual is a more pleasurable experience for me because I can really delve into the intricacies and the technical aspects of the game -- which is what my passion really lies. I'm admittedly far from being Richard Garriott as far as storytelling goes. I mean, this is the introduction text that I've come up for the game:

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“The Lands of Greater Rivaria, united at last after a long and brutal Civil War are facing a new existential threat. The so-called “Resistance”, composed of the most seditious and foul enemies, headed by a nameless leader is seeking to undermine and overthrow our sovereign, the Most High Honorable Lord Bane and throw us into darkness and chaos.

By reuniting the various pieces, shards and fragments of the legendary Tablet of Uthar, a holy artifact forged by the Gods of Creation that brought law, order and prosperity in Times of Old, we can unite the people into a common and noble cause. We will finally defeat the most nefarious of enemies who seek to subvert and destroy our way of life.

Up to ten worthy adventurers are called upon to report to the royal castle. This is a threat so great that we are even calling upon not only those of various origins, but even those of differing creeds to assemble together, whether they follow the ways of law, balance or even chaos. So long as they swear loyalty to Lord Bane and Greater Rivaria in order to defeat this most imminent peril.

If this grave danger is not overcome, the stability of Greater Rivaria and all that we have worked and fought so hard for is at stake. This is a most desperate hour.”

--Viscount Beaumont, emissary and most trusted advisor to Lord Bane, the Most High.
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Not very good at the moment, but I'm getting a very good friend of mine who is an amateur fantasy writer to revise and improve the above text. However, it does mention that the game supports a party size of 10 players. In retrospect, that is quite ambitious for an 8-bit CRPG, especially considering that I had to stretch the 22*23 screen size that the VIC-20 normally uses to 23*26 characters.

I was anxious about finishing my game by the end of this year but I've come to accept that these types of mega projects take time to do. It will be finished when it is finished.

Thanks for the update! I find your persistence and work discipline impressive (and inspiring!)

Even though I am not a RPG-guy first and foremost, I find it super exciting to see projects such as this for the Vic 20, Nox Archaist for the Apple II, and Unknown Realm for the C64! Yours will probably be the only one that I will buy and play though - after all I am a Vic 20 guy first and foremost

Ola H wrote:Thanks for the update! I find your persistence and work discipline impressive (and inspiring!)

Even though I am not a RPG-guy first and foremost, I find it super exciting to see projects such as this for the Vic 20, Nox Archaist for the Apple II, and Unknown Realm for the C64! Yours will probably be the only one that I will buy and play though - after all I am a Vic 20 guy first and foremost

No problem. I was aware of Unknown Realm already but I've checked out Nox Archaist thanks to your post. It looks very interesting and I've contacted the project director about it.

Today I took a break from working on the city maps and decided to make a modification to the "Legacy" Realms of Quest font which was all capital letters and added lower case letters. The funny thing about working on a font that I had originally worked on 29 years earlier (with a friend on Ultimate Quest for the C64) is that I had to come up with a consistent aesthetic. I hope it looks ok.

Looks good, no issues reading that

Excellent font! Very readable, I will probably use it instead of the default VIC. Thanks for it, and for the huge amount of time, work, and knowledge you are putting in the game design and extras. BTW - the intro is already polished enough to be both intriguing and inviting. Keep up the good work and have a great 2018

This is looking AMAZING! Absolutely fantastic work so far.

Welcome to the friendly forum Antstiller, and thanks for the bump

I thank you all for the good words.

I've been procrastinating more on the various player races of the game. My biggest concern is that I lifted race names from Tolkien (and other fantasy universes), and I wanted to revise these. Not that I expect a bunch of copyright lawyers to come down and read the riot act to somebody who will sell a few printed copies of a game that will pass under most people's radar, but I also wanted my game universe to be more original and organic as well.

I've settled on the following:
Halfeling - I did not want to use Tolkien's "Hobbit" and I also wanted to distinguish it from D&D's "Halfling".
Dayanorien - replaces Tolkien's "Dunedain", ancient proto-humans who come from a far off island.
Wor-Mongar - replaces Tolkien's "Uruk-Hai" - these are Orcs who have been bred for several generations to be supreme warriors.
Zzy-Zzyx - replaces Thomas Covenant's "Ur-Vile". In this game they are an interdimensional species who have been summoned into the game world to help defeat Lord Bane's enemies in the Civil War. They are supremely intelligent and wise, but are completely insane and unpredictable.

And for the rest of the player races, I think it's safe to say they're all from folklore and fall into the public domain.