It is with a lot of sadness that I'm bringing news from the Eriadain "team". I think you all guessed, the project is dead.
It has been that way now for several months. I am saying "team" because I am now the only one left, since the others left the boat before me. For months now, I kept insisting to some people that Eriadain was still going on, although I hadn't touched the game for days...weeks... and now months.
The reasons ? I started Eriadain when I was 17, right after Ultima IX's release. I am now 21. At this time of life and in 4 years a lot happens. You grow up, change, evolve and so do your interests. Even if you don't, 4 years it's a pretty long time for an amateur game development. As much as I continue to love Ultima as a series, as much as I love the idea behind Eriadain and what we were trying to accomplish, I have to face the fact that working on Eriadain doesn't feel like fun anymore. It felt more like a burden I was carrying because I didn't want to face the bad reactions of calling the project dead. Because I also didn't want to leave 4 years of work uncompleted. Because of personal pride too.
But sometimes you just have to admit defeat and failure. And this is what Eriadain is right now. I am sad to leave my version of Britannia behind, and sad for not being able to bring my vision of Bob White's plot to life. It is kind of funny when you come to think of it. I thought the reason OSI wasn't able to implement that was because of time,financial and engine constraints, and that I, as an amateur, wouldn't be a victim of these constraints. It turned out that the Eriadain team faced the same troubles in some ways : 2 engine changes, and some internal team problems, sometimes because my vision of the game couldn't be understood. Eriadain was never meant to be "U7 in 3D" and I actually liked U9 very much, believe it or not ! But OSI couldn't do it, and neither could I.
I am even more sad for disappointing people who trusted in that project. I am thinking especially of John Watson , former lead designer of U9 who sent me a very moving and encouraging mail, and Richard Garriot, which according to some echoes was aware of the project... and Bob White of course. I am also thinking about the people who were looking forward that game.
But you have to face it, as of today, there aren't many of them left... People who got NWN installed and are also Ultima fans. The Ultima remake community, as lively as it seems only appeals to a niche of fans. U5 Lazarus is now reaching alpha releases and the reactions to it are rather limited compared to what the project was a couple of years ago. Even rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons didn't react much to it. This helped me realize that there wasn't too much point spending so much effort in Eriadain, as great as I hoped it would be. I was not looking for fame and glory of course with such a project, but, heh, you know... you don't make a game with the intention that no one will play it... well, I don't. I also came to see Ultima as a closed book.
If you are looking for an U9 remake, you may still be interested in the U9 Redemption mod for Morrowind founded by U9 former team members. It is not based on the Bob White plot, but they may still have the skills and talent to bring a good game. I am also wishing good luck to any of the Ultima projects right now and hope them better fortune than Eriadain's. As for Eriadain's fate, it will be uploaded some place thanks to someone who offered the necessary 1 GB. I will post the link soon and thank Ken from Lost Sosaria for that. Check out his projects, they might be worth more than a shot :) Eriadain will be uploaded "as if" with its current hak paks, this is why it takes so much place. I could of course fire it up again in the editor and delete what I find to be the unneeded data, but I am afraid of breaking something... that and of course the fact that it would be a painful thing to do. You will notice that although it is far from start, it is also far from finish. Dialogs are 99% placeholders, the story is only half scripted, towns are empty... and there are way too much dungeon maps :) A lot of maps are done though.. and oh well, curious minds with time to lose or interest can check it out. I am not even sure myself of what's in there besides "A lot of work but definitely not enough".
I do not mind if someone wants to pick up Eriadain again, as a totally new project, or as an evolution of what has been currently done. If no one volunteers (which I would understand very much :) ) , I "might" (and only might) pick up the project again, but that won't be before years and when I am finished with my current project.. and it would be a very very very different game. Do not count on it.
It's always a pity to see a project die, especially one that I've been watching (none too closely, to be honest) for a while now. Unfortunately, it seems that most people (myself included) would rather just play it when it comes out, and not bother playing too much attention to the project while it is in development, especially with little information going out. I congratulate you on the effort you made so far, however, and I can understand just what a colossal task that making a module that size is. I would be very interested in taking a look at what you've made, though to be honest I have far too much on my plate already to consider developing it. You raise an interesting point - how many Dragons have NWN? Around the time that NWN was released, I participated in a thread on the Bioware forums about the Ultima remakes, in which MMAzrael's U7 module was shown - it reached over 10 pages, and there did seem to be quite a bit of interest. I still think that for every person that will post that they are showing interest, there will be 5 that do have an interest, but won't post. It is quite a pity to see that the prophecy of the Ultima remakes turning into vapourware is proving true, but the community could only try, hmmm?
In article <cfa2o1$mr...@news.tiscali.fr>, mickm...@hotmail.com says...
(All that stuff removed)
For what it is worth Moa Dragon, I appreciate the time and effort that you guys put into Eriadain during its life. While I am sad that the project will never see the light of completion, it is very important that you only continue to work on such a project as long as your heart is in it. When that is no longer the case, then it is time to stop and walk away.
Also, in comment to your comments about the Lazarus and U9:Reconstruction projects. They are still alive and doing well (Lazarus seems to have more activity right now tho). They have both gotten quite a bit more attention and discussion in one of the Legacy channel- another gathering place for Ultima fans- tho there is little interaction between even tho UDICers who are there, and those who are here.
I wish you the best in your future pursuits. I hope you took the best parts of Eriadain with you, and look forward to playing with the pieces that you guys did get done with.
> It is with a lot of sadness that I'm bringing news > from the Eriadain "team". I think you all guessed, > the project is dead.
<snipped for brevity>
> It's funny, I'm feeling all shaky right now.
(*hugs*)
Well..., perhaps this will keep you feel better: I've also let a project (or two...) die before, so I can understand you very well. I've faced the same dilemma as you are facing: engine constraint, writer's block, move on to aspects of life that seems to be more fruitful (or sometimes... practical) at the time.... It's always a hard decision to euthanize a project, mostly because there are fans who are going to be disappointed (and in one of my cases, the biggest fan was actually my co-designer and it's soooo difficult to let him down...). But you know, happiness claimed, happiness lost, perhaps that's just life. At least we are not financially burdened to do the work, I don't know if that'll help you ease the guilt in some way... :-/.
I did all the stuff you did.... I even tried to keep the Yahoo Group (we use it to exchange ideas, uploading files and keep a record of stuffs) alive longer than I should.... But now, you just have to try really really hard to put a big period to the end of the project and enjoy your life again.
Hope we'll see you more often here and I like the funny/weird websites you've found for us over the years. :-) Live happily. (*hugs*) <== slightly self-serving....
> You raise an interesting point - how many Dragons have NWN?
I do.
I also have a U4 mod (I used the existing U4 mod as a seed). It was was meant to take advantage of the HOTU add-on. The current version does not require a hakpack and I hope to keep it that way.
I have characters (but no dialog), the land mass of Britannia (scaled down), and 90% of towns mapped and populated with placeables.
I lack dungeons, encounters, and lots of scripting.
A couple of things to note : the "Farewell to Friends" bit although never detailed in the leaked bits, was almost written identically in the Eriadain, which is quite a surprise to me. Also, I guessed right in thinking that the "Return to Britannia" cutscene remained unchanged (it unveils some inconsistencies, such as Blackthorne crying.). Finally, the leader of Courage Tribunal was not named Corwin, but Corrigan... Verona, one of the major characters was actually FEMALE (after 4/5 years working with her as a male in mind, it came as a total shock !) , and the Guardian had brilliant speech... just read the Avatar Imprisoned cutscene...
> It is with a lot of sadness that I'm bringing news > from the Eriadain "team". I think you all guessed, > the project is dead.
Ah, that's a shame. It happens to so many projects.. one of the reasons I'm determined to see RotJ through to completion.
Sorry to hear that.
> -Moa Dragon
-- JP Morris - aka DOUG the Eagle (Dragon) -=UDIC=- j...@it-he.org Fun things to do with the Ultima games http://www.it-he.org Reign of the Just - An Ultima clone http://rotj.it-he.org d+++ e+ N+ T++ Om U1234!56!7'!S'!8!9!KAW u++ uC+++ uF+++ uG---- uLB---- uA--- nC+ nR---- nH+++ nP++ nI nPT nS nT wM- wC- y a(YEAR - 1976)
"Mils Michael" <mickm...@hotmail.com> wrote interesting things and brought sad news...
> > Well, at least you manage to START your big projects, unlike a few of > > us...:-P
> > -Ophidian
> The worse thing about it is that I'm not tally excluding giving it back > another try in a few years and finish making myself an utter > fool :)
> -Moa Dragon
Fool? who is a fool?
You are certainly not a fool for trying, you are certainly not a fool for giving up and certainly not a fool for not giving up completely at the same time.
> I also have a U4 mod (I used the existing U4 mod as a seed). It was was > meant to take advantage of the HOTU add-on. The current version does > not require a hakpack and I hope to keep it that way.
Oooh! Another one! Do you happen to have a website with details concerning this project? I'm about to launch a new Ultima News site, and I'm in close collaboration with Dino the Dark Dragon's News Page as well...I'm know for a fact we'd both be thrilled by news of a new project!
> > I also have a U4 mod (I used the existing U4 mod as a seed). It was was > > meant to take advantage of the HOTU add-on. The current version does > > not require a hakpack and I hope to keep it that way.
> Oooh! Another one! Do you happen to have a website with details > concerning this project? I'm about to launch a new Ultima News site, > and I'm in close collaboration with Dino the Dark Dragon's News Page > as well...I'm know for a fact we'd both be thrilled by news of a new > project!
> Cheers, > :) WtFD
Hee hee...this one is addressed to Lost Dragon, since he'd mentioned it!
