Empire Forge Software has posted a new development update for Forge of Legends.

Forge of Legends: Post Mortem

It has been quite some time since the last update was posted on the Forge of Legends project.   I am finally able to share some information.

In the time since I last posted, the single largest factor in delaying work on the game is that I have moved my family twice.   Selling and buying a home turned out to be a bit more than I bargained for.  Moving twice even more so.  I totally stopped coding work during this period.

However, even while I was still coding the game, I noticed a few troubling trends.  Foremost was that when I began coding on FOL years ago, there were precious few examples of the kind of game it is intended to be.  That is, a party-based, turn-based dungeon crawler, old school in every way.  At the time, I wanted a game like that so badly that I decided to make my own!  After years of coding, the market has shifted.  There are more and more games like this out there.  I feel the moment has passed, in essence.

Even when the game was making steady progress, I had outlined such a large feature scope that I was probably doomed never to complete the game.  This in spite of lots of good advice out there about keeping your scope limited!  I knew it was too much, but every feature was just too precious to cut, it seemed to me.  I was designing the game I always wanted to play…

And the post ends with news the game is on now on hold, and to be redesigned.

What happens next?  I haven’t explicitly stated what I now intend for Forge of Legends.  Partly that is because I am not sure.  I will say that I am putting the code down for now, and moving to another project.  There is still a largely complete 2D/3D game engine, however, and a usable level editor.  I think I would be open to making the code for both of these available, given the right kind of person was interested in it.  I have also given some thought to releasing a free, scope-reduced version of the game.

There is also a chance that I could return to the project in the future when the winds have changed.  Who knows?  Never say never, right?

As for me, I do have another project underway.  One of my first and primary efforts is now to design what is minimally viable (see reduce scope above).  I intend to bring it almost to completion before I bug anyone about it.

In the March development update for Forge of Legends we are informed on the development progress made so far this year. Additional some thoughts on the kind of game Forge of Legends are aired.

My focus so far in 2013 has been twofold: items and abilities. In addition to the basic functions of weapons and armor, an item in Forge of Legends can bestow various magical effects on its wearer, as well as grant abilities (depending on the item). For example, a "ring of protection" or a "wand of summon monster." It was therefore natural that I work on the item and ability features at the same time.

I am happy to report that the majority of the equipment system is now complete, as well as much of the mechanics of "abilities" (more on that later) and "effects."

Something else I've been considering is the proliferation of "old school" RPGs. The Coyote recently blogged about this, if I am not mistaken. When I began Forge of Legends some years ago, I was convinced that the old school RPG niche was vast and under-served. Sadly, as a one-man team, it has taken me years of development, and now I see that the RPG market is... crowded? This is something that is now frequently on my mind. I wonder what members of the RPG-gamer community would have to say about this? Am I now in a bad position because my game has missed the window of opportunity?

If you have some thoughts on this and the other questions put forward, let us know.

In this second installment of developer updates for Forge of Legends, it's developer Jeff Sullins, talks about bringing the different parts of the game together leading towards something playable.

The last few months have been busy for Forge of Legends development.  One of my goals has been to bring together the various pieces of the game into something that is playable.  For nearly a year I've had the core game engine, data, and a few scraps of user interface completed.  I've decided it's time to make a push toward joining these pieces together into something I can show to players and testers. 

While I am still a long way from a beta or a true demo, the creation of something I can give to people and that can be "played" is an important milestone.  If nothing else, it gives me concrete coding goals and helps me stay on track.  To avoid any confusion with my progress being called a "demo," I'm referring to it with the less-exciting name "dev snapshot."

When we can, we provide a place for indie developers to showcase their games. One such  developer is Jeff Sullins who is working on Forge of Legends a classic party RPG with turn-based combat. Jeff will provide us with regular articles on the development of his game with this being the first article, an introduction to Forge of Legends.