Good evening :)

[Deck13]

Hi,

All right, we're here. Gathered around the monitor, eager to answer all the questions you might have!

[phil1908]

in any case, thanks to be there ;D

[Disco]

I am wondering about the January release of Ankh as stated by bhv(?) software. The price on their site is in Ł (which is good becuase unlike some games made outside my mother tongue I am certain I will get to play this), are there any deals for a USA Ankh release?

[Noone]

Ankh... hmm... that guy that was hanging upside down and buying some crap in the comics "The Inventory" published.... Yeh, twas fun. I've seen your screens and it seems to me that the game is funny enough. Revistroincs, that created The Westerner, now decided to be more mature and more serious (heh - that will be a question to them), and you decided to release a 2.5d (am I right?) comedy adventure... Why? Maybe the more mature and serious setting will turn out to be better? Or are you prepareing a more mature sequel? ;-)

[Disco]

nah, this is full 3D, we at AE got a preview and it looks really nice, and tehe engine has dsome nice tricks to it .

[Deck13]

Hi,

Firstly, yes, it's "bhv" Software! Also, it is up to them to decide about the release date. BUT I can say that the English version of Ankh is 99.9% ready for release, and as far as we can trust our British and U.S. colleagues, the English voices sound great!

Regarding a U.S. release, this is again up to bhv but I can tell you that a release in the U.S. is definitely planned - a boxed product as well as an online release. In that respect we'd love to distribute the game via Telltale Now but there are still some things to be sorted out.

Hope that helps a bit!

[axelkothe]

Hi,

I just wanted to thank you for this wonderful game and I hope the sales meet/met your expectations!?

Axel

[MichaelS]

For those of you who did not see much of the game yet, here we got lots of screenshots, as the german version is out already:

http://www.adventure-eu.com/de/index...d=12&Itemid=51

(Use the PLAY button to watch the slide show)

[Deck13]

Hi Alex,

Regarding the trailer: We might have a little surprise for you tonight

Regarding technology: The game is full 3d, with several special effects, however 3d is mainly used to show close-ups of the characters and for cinematic cut-scenes. Apart from that, it "carefully" supports the classic screen display as we all know it from titles like "Monkey Island".

Regarding the less "mature" setting: Is humor not "mature"? The aim of Ankh is to be entertaining and humorous. It's not been designed to suit children (although it doesn't feature violence and is therefore suitable for all ages) but to appeal to all people who like to smile and laugh!

[Deck13]

Thanks Axel! Your support is very appreciated. Apart from the sales, our biggest aim is make people smile! (and make them buy the sequels )

Other than that, it's still too early to tell how Ankh will perfom in general. First sales have been pleasing however.

[Pavel]

I'm Italian do you know if AnKh will be release in my country and if there will be a localized version?

[Disco]

Ah, that is good to hear, at least if it is an English version and not released in the US for say 6 months, I know I can still play it at least

[Noone]

I've heard a magical word "surprise"... Oh, God, how I like this word :-) Is loading, please wait... Oh, damn... Is waiting, please load! ;-)

And you said about a sequel... Just confess - you planned it, yes? ;-)

[axelkothe]

In that respect we'd love to distribute the game via Telltale Now but there are still some things to be sorted out.

What is your opinion on online distribution, especially for niche genres like adventure games or classic old-school shooters (like R-Type). Will it become the main distribution channel for such games, or will it play only a minor role?

[roamn]

I would have one question. If im not wrong your game is running on ogre3d engine.
How much are you satisfacted with it?
How much "engine" things did you have to pre-set for new?
(Sorry for my english)

[Deck13]

Pavel: I'm not sure yet if there's going to be an Italian version but it's definetly under consideration!

[Deck13]

axelkothe - Regarding online distribution: I'm not sure yet whether this will really "take off" but it sounds like a fantastic alternative for independent developers and genres like the adventure genre. We are keen to participate in this means of distribution.

[Disco]

Apart from that, it "carefully" supports the classic screen display as we all know it from titles like "Monkey Island".

Do you mean to say that Anhk can achieve the classic resolution of 320x200?
That can be interesting and a little nostalgiac

[Deck13]

Roman, I'm passing the keyboard on to Thorsten for this question:

I would have one question. If im not wrong your game is running on ogre3d engine.

That's correct.

How much are you satisfacted with it?

We are very satisfied with it. It's nicely designed and the learning curve is not as steep as one might think when digging through the documentation. The community is very helpful and educated, so there is always someone who is willing to answer questions you might have.

How much "engine" things did you have to pre-set for new?

As far as the rendering engine itself is concerned, it was not necessary to add new features or rewrite parts of it. But as Ogre 'only' provides rendering facilities, many other things had to be built on top of that, like pathfinding, character interaction, collision detection, a higher level animation system, a cutscene system, a conversation system, and so on... so Ogre is really only one part of our framework (albeit a really big one), which we ingeniuosly dubbed Pina (Programming Interface for N Adventures) .

[Deck13]

Actually, you can select the classic 320x240 resolution by manually editing the initialization file Ankh.ini. In fact, we also did that from time to time just to bring back the memories from the "good ol' days".

The default setting is/will be 1024x768 though.

Thorsten