*ALL PHYSICAL COPIES ARE SOLD OUT*: REALMS OF QUEST V (Digital version is available)

[Ghislain]

I'm following your progress but I'm more of the silent reader type I imagine that there are a lot more of this type here lurking around...

I don't even play these type of games but I want a copy of this!

Ditto
Will definitely add this to my collection, at any cost (well, almost ).

Sorry about the silence from me. I don't frequent the site as often as I would like. I'm certainly interested in a physical version of the game. I'd absolutely love to get a collection that includes all the Realms games.

Heather

I thank you all for the encouraging words. No apologies necessary! I was wondering a little bit if my creative decisions might have caused things to become somewhat silent here, but I shouldn't try to worry too much

I will definitely buy it It is a one-of-a-kind game for the Vic and the portraits are just getting more and more sumptuous. I admire your dedication and determination!

There seems to be plenty of platform agnostic retro rpg enthusiasts outside our little circle of Vic 20 fandom, so I really hope you can manage to get the word out via twitter and facebook groups.

Well thank you! I think I am getting better at doing graphics (see my latest portraits). And yes, I definitely want to reach an audience that is not necessarily VIC-20 users. In fact, the ESC key (which in the emulator is the same as the RUN/STOP key) is explicitly programmed to exit many menus.

[ops]

Here's a collage of the recent graphics work that I've been working on as well!

Incredible art work!

[Ghislain]

Incredible art work!

Thank you!

After struggling with conceiving how Lord Bane (the ruler of Rivaria) would look and be like, I decided that the main monarch would be the Grand Empress of Greater Rivaria, Lady Carmilla Bane instead. Here's a portrait of her's that appears in a cut scene sequence.

[Ghislain]

Here's another full screen image, this time of a major villain that appears in a cut scene in the game.

[GreyGhost]

i'm in for one

[Ghislain]

i'm in for one

Thank you! I hope that this game gets a lot of notice. I really would like to see a review in the likes of Retro Gamer magazine. I was grateful that they printed a mention of Realms of Quest III that was coming soon back in the day. Hopefully, the "Quick Start" option that I will program will make it more user friendly for game reviewers to cover this release this time around.

I worked last night on the double height characters that will be displaying text during the game's introduction cut scene sequence. I figure that since displaying a full screen image on the VIC-20 requires the double height character mode to be turned on, I don't want to switch back and forth between double height and normal height characters when I want to display text during the intro.

I posted the following images on my Twitter (@hitfan2000)

[Ola H]

Looks nice, very readable! I also love the full screen cut scene portraits. It'll be a very large game indeed, in all respects.

Yes, yes, yes - make it easy for reviewers! You really should get a review (preferrably an article!) in Retro Gamer, a magazine I dearly love. There are also tons more Retro/commodore magazines in Poland, Germany, Italy etc. I can't keep track of them all ... But Retro Gamer is certainly the largest one, and probably the only commercial one. Best of luck and keep up the great work

[Ghislain]

Looks nice, very readable! I also love the full screen cut scene portraits. It'll be a very large game indeed, in all respects.

Yes, yes, yes - make it easy for reviewers! You really should get a review (preferrably an article!) in Retro Gamer, a magazine I dearly love. There are also tons more Retro/commodore magazines in Poland, Germany, Italy etc. I can't keep track of them all ... But Retro Gamer is certainly the largest one, and probably the only commercial one. Best of luck and keep up the great work

Thank you!

I can announce now with certainty that the principal development for content (graphics and text) is mostly done and now I can focus on refining said content. Yes, that means that I will probably re-do a lot of the monster graphics, but that shouldn't be too hard to do. I identified about 60 (out of 135) monster images that I could re-do or improve.

Tonight I did about 5 of them. Here are two examples--Cthulhu and Mephistopheles (I made the latter a female this time around, just because I felt like it).

I also really look forward to writing the manual where I include the characteristics of all the monsters like D&D does in their MONSTER MANUALS. For example, a Cthulhu can have 90-720 hit points, has an armor class of -24 (this is 1st edition old school), can do 20 melee attacks per round at 1-100 points of damage per attack. Immune to most magic attacks and can do PERMADEATH (affected player is permanently killed into the void and all the items are destroyed as well!)

[hasseapa]

Of course I am interested in the game, but I would be even more interested in a book on how to make a game like ROQV for Vic!

[Mayhem]

Bit disappointed Double Sided Games are publishing this and not say Psytronik like last time... nothing against them, and obvious choice given you are both in Canada. Does mean the shipping is going to sting. It was a bit to preorder L’Abbaye des Morts last month... and it did put some people off, even in the US. But hey, you can’t please everyone all of the time, just look at Brexit!

[Ghislain]

Of course I am interested in the game, but I would be even more interested in a book on how to make a game like ROQV for Vic!

Oh my. Writing such a book would take longer than the amount of time it takes to do this game, I think

Well, we can let this thread be a testament to how I've worked on the game from start to finish.

I've reworked some more monster graphics, here's some samples:

[Ghislain]

Bit disappointed Double Sided Games are publishing this and not say Psytronik like last time... nothing against them, and obvious choice given you are both in Canada. Does mean the shipping is going to sting. It was a bit to preorder L’Abbaye des Morts last month... and it did put some people off, even in the US. But hey, you can’t please everyone all of the time, just look at Brexit!

It's true, I've decided to go with Double Sided Games. They officially announced it on their website:

https://doublesidedgames.com/realms-of- ... ming-2019/

I think Psytronik has been great to me and I'll always be grateful to them. It's true that a major motivating factor is that they are more local to me (Canada). I was also promised that a printed map would be provided with the game as well as a "feelie" like a metal trinket that is symbolic to this game. It's just going to be a little bit different this time, but I've a good feeling about Double Sided Games. I'm very determined to bring the classic computer roleplaying game experience to VIC-20 users: multiple disks, printed map, printed manual and a metal trinket that brings a certain feeling when you unbox and then play the game.

As for their rationale for doing pre-orders, there is quite a bit of risk involved in printing and producing physical goods for a retrogaming product and it is quite a niche audience (but I'm very determined to grow the audience beyond the core VIC-20 and retrogaming fan base). Pre-orders reduces the amount of that risk. Let's give them a chance and see what they can do. They've promised a January release date for the initial game, Abbaye des morts. And as for myself, others can certainly attest that I've been able to deliver the games that I announce that I'm working on. The current status is that pretty much all of the principal content has been completed as well as 95% of the game engine. It's just a matter of refining said content (I'm in the midst of another monster graphics review) and making sure that the game is not broken by doing a thorough playthrough. And there are other odds and ends regarding features I still want to implement and I need to cobble together that introduction comprised of those full screen images that I've been working on (they're all done, including the double height text).

I'm also hoping to have gamers on Twitch play my game and I can see their reactions, and I will participate with them. There was a Twitch gamer that played Realms IV a few months ago and that was a lot of fun.

[Ghislain]

I'm currently working on the introduction sequence that appears at the start of the game. Here's some screenshots of the text and full screen graphic portraits that appear (and which also acknowledges Double Sided Games). A bit idealistic, but the text regarding the people coming together (of various races, classes and even alignments) to defeat the True Enemy (the existential threat) addresses a crucial mechanic and plot point in the game.

I also quite like the aphorism quoted from Ezra Pound who is certainly a very controversial figure. He did disavow his views as he got older, however. But as they say "trust the art, not the artist." The posters here on Denial will also recognize it as my signature. And my quoting an (in)famous poet or philosopher in the introduction sequence was inspired by the film, _Conan the Barbarian_ that reads “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” - Friedrich Nietzsche.

[Ghislain]

I'm doing a graphics review. I thought I'd share the new version of the LICH that I just did. The first one represents the old one and the second represents the new and improved version.

I think that LICHES ARE AWESOME because they look great and they can drain levels

And my publisher, Double Sided Games has found me a technical resource who will help me with file compression. The number of disk sides will definitely go down from 4 disk sides 3, perhaps even 2.

[Ghislain]

Our very own Darkatx has been doing rough sketches of concepts of what is going to appear on the box cover for this release. One of these are going to be featured on a promotional poster at World Of Commodore 2018 (http://worldofcommodore.ca) where Realms of Quest V will be running on an actual VIC-20 set up at my publisher's booth, http://doublesidedgames.com.

Here's a before and after re-do of the Lurker as I continue my monster graphics review. The latter is more up close and clearer, but I could see how people might prefer the composition of the older one.

And here's a video that shows the introduction sequence that I've been working on: https://twitter.com/hitfan2000/status/1 ... 6652157952