Some of you have no doubt been wondering what is happening with Mysteries of the Ancients. As we thought a public update is in order we decided to write a general news letter on the status of Mysteries of the Ancients at this time.
To begin with development has been slowed by a combination of factors. The issue is to-fold in that the delays have been caused by both personal and professional demands elsewhere. On the personal side there have been three major holidays in a row: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Plus New Years is coming up in a couple of days. As a result we have spent a lot of personal time visiting family, spending time with each other watching holiday specials on TV, going out Christmas shopping, etc. As a result of these other personal commitments we haven't been as active as usual in regards to the USA Games projects we have in the works. That's not to say we've been totally inactive though. One of the things we are working on now is going back to where we should have started in the first place and are writing an outline of the game. We are working on the game's back story and creating an in depth list of every item and enemy creature that will appear in the game. The reason this step is necessary now is that when we originally conceived of the game we never really took the time to write out an outline, to plan what the game should or would be like, and spent most of our time and attention on the technical details of the game engine. Now, the technical part is pretty much out of the way we hit the proverbial blank wall For example, one of the questions frequently asked by our customers is, "what is the point of the ancient scrolls? What is the purpose in collecting them?" The truth is we hadn't thought that far ahead. We just put together some sounds, some game code, music, etc and created a game to test the engine and give our players an idea of the kind of game project we were working on. However, as we hadn't really worked on the specific details what items there would be in the final project, worked out the game's story,and other relevant information we have a game engine with some sample code, but no actual game to speak of. So what we are doing is stepping back, going to write an outline, come up with a newer modified storyline, and then begin coding the game based on that outline. Mysteries of the Ancients RC1, (release candidate 1,) will be a drastic change and deparcher from the prior betas you've seen thus far. Which we're sure will raise a lot of questions that we'll attempt to answer below. Q: How long will the new changes take before Mysteries of the Ancients is released? A: We're not absolutely certain on the amount of time it will take here, but we can say it won't take nearly as long as it took us to write the game engine .We've got a number of advantages on our side including the fact we now have a fully operational and stable game engine which we didn't have three years ago. Plus after all the year end celebrations die down our personal schedules will return to normal and we'll have a lot of free time to focus on game development. Q: Why can't you just build on what you have and make these changes later? A: While we could certainly do that we do not feel its in your or our best interests to do that. There are a couple of reasons why we are doing what we are doing. First, is we truly want to deliver the best product possible, and we're not really doing our best when we just slap together some code, draw x number of maps, and release it for $35. If we do that the game will be cheaply done, and that could and probably would reflect poorly on our future sales .Second, is that developing games is nothing less than a work of art. Like writing a good book, making a movie, or sitting down and painting a master piece its all about personal satisfaction. If the artist isn't happy with his or her work its doubtful they'll continue producing that type of art. So personal satisfaction here counts as much as making a good impression as this will be our first major production title. Q: Are you still planning to release a side-scroller and FPS version of the game? A: Not quite sure yet. One thing we'd personally like to do is develop the FPS version and forgo the side-scroller version altogether. However, as people have preordered this title when it was originally going to be a side-scroller we realize that its not fair to those customers to sell them one type of game and give them another. So we don't feel we can opt out of our prior commitments regarding the side-scroller version. So we'll just have to see. Q: So what is going to be different about this new version of Mysteries of the Ancients? A: We have not finished our outline but here are some things you can expect to change or be updated. Newer and better back story for the game. Updated monsters and enemies. A revised list of items and objects available to collect. All new levels. A greater variety of traps and puzzles. Beyond that you'll just have to wait and see. Sincerely, Thomas Ward USA Games Interactive --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
