Absolutely reasonable Tom. That would, in essence, provide people with what they ordered and have been waiting so long for. I for one would be extatic to at last have such a sidescroller in hand. Hopefully, this decision would allow you to enjoy the creation process of both titles as fully as possible. I have some understanding of what utter hell you've gone through trying to live up to a commitment made in haste so long ago. I sincerely hope things work out well this time around.
On 2/8/12, Thomas Ward <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > As a lot of you are aware a few weeks ago we made a decision to > redesign Mysteries of the Ancients and renamed that game Tomb Hunter: > The Temple of Life. We decided to upgrade to a 3d first-person format, > and as can be expected got a rather mixed response from the gaming > community at large. Some loved the idea, and others were decidedly > upset by the change. So we've been trying to think of a fair solution > that would make both sides happy and would fulfill our obligations to > those who preordered Montezuma's Revenge in 2008. > > What we essentially have been considering is developing two separate > games in tandem. The first would be a side-scroller named Mysteries of > the Ancients, a substitute for Montezuma's Revenge, and the other > would be our 3d FPS game, Temple of Life. As the Tomb Hunter series of > games are intended to be an accessible clone of the Tomb Raider games > I would like them to take on a 3d first-person format to closely > resemble the game play of the Tomb Raider games. So that left us with > the question of what exactly to do with Mysteries of the Ancients. > Well, we have come up with an idea we believe you will like. > > Essentially our solution is to develop a game more closely resembling > the original concept and the game you preordered. Obviously, given the > copyright issues at hand we can't create Montezuma's Revenge per say, > but there are a number of classic video games such as Montezuma's > Revenge, Pitfall, etc that have a decidedly Indiana Jones type theme > to them. So while we can't create Montezuma's Revenge exactly it is > possible to create something that offers the same sort of game play > and to be honest something we should have thought of doing a long time > ago. > > In brief what we have been looking at doing is developing a > side-scroller similar to the Pitfall games where you are in a > Mezo-American jungle exploring caves, ancient temples, and pyramids > looking for treasure and artifacts. A long the way you will encounter > various snakes, giant spiders, skeletons, spirits, etc. There will be > the usual traps you find in such games like lava pits, fire pits, > giant spikes, chasms, poison darts, rolling boulders, quicksand, etc. > Last but not least, it will be a 2d side-scroller with plenty of ropes > and vines to climb on, stone staircases to ascend and descend, ledges > to jump up and grab, etc. So in short many of the things you have come > to know about MOTA will still be there with a slightly different story > and setting. > > One of the major changes I can see here is while the Tomb Hunter games > like Temple of Life will feature a female character, Angela Carter, > we're thinking of using a male character for Mysteries of the > Ancients. As you might expect he'll be the typical Indiana Jones type > character who is a historian, archeologist, and adventurer. Although, > we don't want to copy the Indiana Jones character too closely given > Lucas is a fanatic about copyrights, but we don't believe being able > to find Indiana Jones leather bull whip somewhere in the game is > outright steeling George Lucas's copyrights. In addition to the > classic bull whip we've been thinking of adding some Spanish weapons > and armor to the game since we'd imagine that swords, daggers, knives, > shields, spears, and body armor could possibly be left behind in > various ruins. Plus all of the native Americans that lived in Central > and South America made tools and weapons out of bone and stone. Those > would be easier to find given that iron weapons will rust but stone > weapons are practically impervious to decay as long as they aren't > exposed to the weather. > > That leaves us with one more issue we haven't decided upon, but is > open to discussion. That is the sf element of the game. In Montezuma's > Revenge, for example, it was sort of a combo of ancient weapons and > magic with some decidedly technological traps like electric walls, > vanishing platforms, and things like that. It was a bit strange having > torches, swords, rolling boulders, existing side by side with > technological traps that have no explanation for their existence. > We're thinking of being decidedly low tech for this game as we're not > at all sure that such things should exist in an ancient ruins unless > there is a realistic explanation for their existence the way Lucas did > in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. > > Anyway, we're looking forward to your thoughts. Is this something you > would consider a reasonable compromise for Montezuma's Revenge? > > Thomas Ward > USA Games Interactive > http://www.usagamesinteractive.com > > --- > 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]. > -- Michael Feir Volunteer at The Dam http://www.thedam.org 2011-- Owner of Silver Smiles Join and share the silver lining in your life. Group homepage: http://groups.google.com/group/silver-smiles 2010-- Twitter: mfeir Skype: michael-feir Author of Personal Power: How Accessible Computers Can Enhance Personal Life For Blind People 2006-2008 http://michaelfeir.blogspot.com/2009/01/personal-power.html A Life of Word and Sound 2003-2007 http://michaelfeir.blogspot.com/2009/01/life-of-word-and-sound.html Creator and former editor of Audyssey Magazine 1996-2004 Check out my blog at: http://www.michaelfeir.blogspot.com --- 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].
