QFG2 related questions allowed?

[Noone]

If yes, will you give any info on the progress of this project?

Well, hi! :-)

[Stijn]

Yes, QFG2VGA-related questions are allowed. Unfortunately, there's little interesting I can tell about the progress, other than what's been posted on the website a little while back. We're currently in alpha testing stage, meaning the game's basically done, but is checked thoroughly for bugs and other issues and fixed (the big time killer) as we encounter those issues.

[Stijn]

This is not a progress update, but nevertheless an interesting story...I'm sure lots of people know Britney, Chris and I visited Lori and Corey Cole in 2005. We got to view the original games' design documents there, which was simply awesome. (unfortunately, we didn't have time to do more than just browse)

One of the things we bumped into was a concept sketch of a scene that was later cut from the game. We had a little bit of info about that scene prior to seeing the sketch, but it wasn't enough to base anything on. When we saw the sketch, Chris photographed it with our digital camera and one of our artists later resized, edited and colored the sketch. We then used the info we had about the scene to make a basic design and used our own ideas to fill in the many gaps in the original design idea. So now the game contains a new scene that's based on an axed design and axed original concept art.

[Noone]

And you were keeping saying that there'll be mostly no differencies! :-) Now every fan has a reason to download a remake and find this scene in a game :-)

Are you testing the game as a standalone product or also as a second chapter of a series (using saves from the first part)? Are there any special difficulties in testing the game with the saves from the first part?

[Stijn]

The reason we keep saying that is because for most part, it's the same game and none of the things we changed involved story changes. We did add little things here and there, but not enough to add a + to the title.

That said, I usually test the game with imported characters, rather than new ones. Why? Because the fact I can skip the character selection screen and don't have to type my name in. (and only have to allocate 25 points instead of 50) That saves me like 10 seconds. Doesn't seem like much? It makes a difference if you have to start a new game 20 times in a row. :P

Imported characters has worked flawlessly for me so far. Only thing is that imported characters are usually stronger, so when I first tested the game with a new character, I was amazed how weak he was. (we calibrated the game for imported characters at first...dumb)

[Noone]

And what about exporting them to part 3? Have you tested this aspect?

[Stijn]

Yep. Also worked like a charm for all 4 classes.

[Noone]

Will you be recruiting beta-testers for QFG2 like you've done with Al Emmo? QFG2 seems to be quite more difficult task for a beta-tester then Al Emmo was

[Stijn]

Yeah, that's the idea. Maybe we'll have the option of automating the application process some. I didn't really like having to categorise over 400 mails. :

The basic idea is still the same. I guess it'll help if people have some knowledge on QFG2 so they can point out stuff we missed. Good hand-eye coordination for people testing the battle scenes probably won't hurt either. For the most, utmost dedication is the number 1 criterium and the knowledge that testing involves more than getting to play the game early. This one's much more complicated (as far as structure goes) than Al Emmo or any of the KQ projects. And more bug-prone too. More difficult? Heck, yeah.

[PolloDiablo2]

An interesting read! The Quest for Glory-games have been recommended to me a few times, but I haven't been able to locate them for a reasonable price. I'm not sure I would be able to get it to work if I could. A remake would certainly solve that! One more to keep following the news about.

[aegnor]

Have you any other classic adventure games remakes in plans or QfG2 is your last non-commercial project?

[Stijn]

Well, free remakes do take a large amount of time and real life goes on for us as well. It's not 100% certain, but it's probable QFG2VGA will be the last remake-project we'll release.