Quite a few amazing things happened:
- I started the "Resurrect ADOM development" crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. As of the moment of this writing we have collected $26.746, which is 55,72% of the total goal. With 29 days left it will be interesting to see if enough funds come together to produce an amazing new version of ADOM. Due to two power pledge drives we also managed to add 12 new corruptions, 13 new items and 4 new monsters to the list of things to be added beyond our initial plans. The greatest challenge for the remaining time is to raise awareness for the campaign even more - every small action (like the invitation to the virtual ADOM resurrection party via Facebook) show that there are dozens and dozens of people who are more than willing to pledge and still haven't noticed the campaign. Spreading the word via newsgroups, forums, blogs, Twitter and Facebook thus still is my top priority in order to reach the potentially thousands of ADOM fans out there that didn't keep in touch to closely over the years and thus are "lost potential".
- Behind the scenes we are preparing a new ADOM release (yes, that's ADOM, not ADOM II) that will hopefully help to raise awareness and get still more supporters into the fold. We hope to have it out at the weekend latest. As the ADOM release will work in some kind of reduced mode after August, 30th, I hope that folks will feel compelled to enter the crowd funding drive at the $25 level at least (which also is the reason for reducing functionality of the release after August, 30th - the $25 level gives you access to the prereleases of ADOM 1.2.0 and to me it doesn't seem fair having to pledge for something of which others can get a free version - but comments are welcome as usual ;-) ).
- ADOM II 0.3.0 also is nearing completion although I got slowed down by the crowd funding campaign (guys and gals, you probably have no idea about how much time this takes up... at least I hadn't). Right now I'm working on finishing the revised graphical look for the splash screens and main screen (Krys is finishing the final images right now and they look totally amazing) and next will be the musical scores by Lucas Dieguez and finally the new installer. Everything else planned for 0.3.0 will be postponed to 0.3.x to finally get the new missile combat stuff out for testing!
- Some statistics: The number of visitors to the blog increased by almost 50% due to the crowd funding campaign attention, while the advertising income decreased by 11% at the same time. Still enough to pay for my hosting costs and stuff but a surprise considering the vastly increased number of visits. Content too boring with all the talk about the crowd funding campaign :-) ?
- Driving the ADOM crowd funding campaign. I really hope that we make the goal as so many people got invested emotionally and I'd by now hate to disappoint them all (as easy as it was in the beginning to say for me "well, let's Fate decide if there is a future for ADOM Classic"... it has stopped being easy). We are right now discussing the possibility of adding tile support to ADOM, so this might become the first major stretch goal to be announced.
- Release ADOM Classic 1.2.0 Prerelease 1.
- Release ADOM II 0.3.0.
And here's the sketch for expert mode:
As far as I am concerned ADOM II is going to be the most beautiful roguelike game ever :-)
And the splash screens also are pure fricking genius... but you'll see them when the new version is out.
I forget the chap's name (sorry), but your designer has done an absolutely amazing job.
ReplyDeleteBoth sketches have button for expert mode? Right now basic and expert mode main screens don't differ that much. Could the basic mode have one button clearly standing out stating "START HERE"? If I'm trying a new game, it is a huge bonus, if I can get the game running as fast as possibly, and see what it is about. At that point I don't like reading manual, because it requires thinking, and I'm not sure if the game deserves that yet.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I really like the graphical style. Feels "homely".
Good luck with the crowd funding campaign!
I wouldn't worry too much about the exclusivity of access to early releases. Most people will approach this as a bonus, not a right, and certainly not something to get jealous over. Crippling this weekend's release in some way would be a huge mistake, I feel, especially after how long we've all waited! This is your chance to show the doubters that the ADOM Resurrection really is happening, and you don't want to poison that in any way.
ReplyDeleteThe designs for the ADOM II screens are really impressive. I absolutely love them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm not really fond of the whole "resurrecting the original ADOM" idea. While I loved ADOM, and still play it occasionally, I really feel that the whole Indiegogo campaign is only taking away the focus from ADOM II.
ADOM II is the future of ADOM, not the original ADOM - that's how I feel.
Please regard the crowd funding campaign as something like the way to have a deserved closure for ADOM. And maybe - if luck shines upon all of us - it might cause the game to continue in some way... but it's too early to guess for that ;-)
DeleteBut I agree with you: ADOM II definitely is the future.
I'm with Darren Grey, absolutely DO NOT go for any sort of "crippling" be it an after the fact expiration or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteScreens look good, but somehow it just feels "off" that there are various Axe icons all over yet not a Sword among them...
Sketches, as I said :-)
DeleteGotcha, just struck me as so odd somehow. Perhaps just that I'm so conditioned to associate Swords with such things and not various axes? Ha!
DeleteTo answer your rethorical question; yes, the content got boring with all the crowd-sourcing stuff. I just realized that this is my first time checking up on the blog in a month, which is very surprising and weird to me in hindsight since I usually have it on a dedicated tab which I check at least once per day. Nowadays it seems to be exclusively dedicated to the ADOM resurrection which, while awesome (yes, I've funded), n my opinion is very much a paranthesis on the side of the development of ADOM II.
ReplyDelete