November Update

More work continues to get done. The pace of development can be erratic, so there's still no guarantees as to when something will actually get released.

New Developments - Dialogue has been shifted from a very ugly and unintuitive mess into a more aesthetically-pleasing and versatile pop-up. More dialogue has actually been written into the game. A similar step has been taken for displaying the spoils of battle and character level-ups. The basic interface is up and working for town shops, with the blacksmith in the first town functional. Characters now actually display a different sprite when they are incapacitated in battle. Some changes have also been made to better show monster activity and which character is active. Some basic items can also be used in battle now. Finally, a number of improvements behind the scenes have made the code more efficient, easier to maintain, and more useful for the future. In some spare time, some thinking has also gone into how the overworld map will work outside of the demo context, and how dual-wielding will be handled.

The biggest challenge that remains before the demo's release is some remaining artwork, including a number of battle backgrounds, a handful of monsters, and some character portraits. The status system has not been implemented yet, but a possible structure for this has been planned out; ultimately, if it doesn't work, it could be cut from the demo without a huge impact. World map encounters haven't been made yet, but shouldn't take much work. Ability and item display/use outside of battle also needs to be done, but some planning has already been done for these features as well. Implementing quests is another large step, which hasn't been looked into thoroughly yet. Finally, content needs to be generated for some of the remaining dungeons and towns. After that, it'll just be playtesting and making some finishing touches. By the end of the year? Possible, but unlikely. Spring? Very reasonable.

That's all for now. As always, questions, concerns, and ideas are very welcome.

Demo

More progress has been made. Although there's still a lot of work to be done, releasing a demo of the game seems ever more likely. Dungeons and the status/equipment tabs have been shifted to almost entirely shared interfaces, which means that less repetitive work will need to be done to create the game, and that the chance of bugs persisting is reduced. Two more dungeon maps have been sketched out. More work has been done on the artwork and planning for monsters. Some more character sprites have been drawn. In addition, some additional ideas for quests and areas have been considered.

The next set of updates will likely focus on more fully implementing towns, getting random encounters on the world map, adding new items (mostly accessories and consumables), and generating content for specific towns/dungeons. Quests are still on the horizon.

Due to other responsibilities and the possibility of burning out, progress will likely be slower in the next month or two. But rest assured that, at the very least, a demo will eventually be released. An absolute deadline for the demo's release is June 2008. Contact programmerxiii@gmail.com or talesoftherealm@gmail.com if you want to get a copy of the game demo when it's completed.

As for the demo itself, the following decisions have been made:
- The XP cap is 40,000 - meaning that the maximum level is 15.
- There will be three playable characters.
- There will be two complete dungeons, and the first two floors of a dungeon intended for later in the game.
- The world map will have artificial boundaries enforced, which won't be in the final game. This will restrict demo content to (with a few exceptions) the full-game's content within this area. One terrain type that would exist in this area will be removed for the demo.
- There will be seven quests accessible in the demo, six of which can be completed.
- One demo-only hidden event will be present.

That's all for now; as always, feedback and questions about the game are welcome.

October Update

After a couple months on hiatus, art and code development has begun again. Relative to the progress of the last year, the game is making great strides. A demo by the end of the year may be possible after all.

Portraits and sprites are complete for five of the playable characters. Including bosses and optional monsters, seventeen enemy sprites have been created. Development has been directed towards making the code more modular and efficient. Some framework for special abilities has been made. On the technical side, another important step has been taken - a new way to play music has been worked out, so the disc space taken up by sound files has been reduced to about 20% of its original size.

The next steps are to load equipment when starting the game, coding in shop and town functions, and making the dungeon interface shared. Also, time will continue to be devoted to creating monster and character art.

And now, the first publicly-released screenshot of the game, still in development (click for full detail):

Minor Update

I apologize for not making much progress on the game in the last two months; some major life transitions were taking place.

This weekend has seen some progress in the form of starting the overall world map. All of the major boundaries are in place. Where the actual icons do not actually exist, placeholder tags are in place; so, basically, all of the positions are set for the primary dungeons and towns. Some of the more-detailed icons for towns and other landmarks are already done. In all, it looks like the bitmap will be 1800 x 900 pixels; I think this will be broken down into four 900 x 450 pixel maps, which are linked together on the game screen.

An attempt to make an icon for Garret was made, in the rough style of all of the monsters done so far. The result was something workable, but ultimately not the quality I would like. I'm still looking for a good artist willing to help with the project.

In the coming weeks, I intend to finish the world map bitmap, and also put in all of the additional basic mechanisms to run the game. After that will be a long period of generating content - dungeon maps, event lists, and how special abilities will work. With a real job to focus on, I'm not sure if the summer deadline is realistic. Only time will tell, but rest assured that Tales of the Realm has not been forgotten.

Status Update

Hello all. This site has been created to track the progress of various computer games which are being developed. Some of these games were conceived as early as a couple of years ago, while others are more-recent creations. Right now, I'm the only one working on these games. However, I've been discussing my ideas with others, and hopefully there will be a "team" of people working on these projects at some point. Specifically, I'm looking for an artist. At this point, I'm focusing on programming, character designs, and storyline development. Leave a comment or e-mail TalesOfTheRealm@gmail.com if you're interested in contributing to these games. Now, for an overview of the games and their current progress:

Tales of the Realm I: The Bard's Tale

This game follows the story of a young bard, Garret, who leaves his calm homeland in search of adventure. A number of interesting characters can join him on his quest, as he eventually comes to challenge a mighty wizard-king on the other side of the continent.

I've been working on this one the longest. I came up with an initial list of characters about two years ago, and this list changed and expanded until it became the current cast of ten characters I'm using now. The attributes and skill system also changed dramatically since that time. At this point, coding has begun in Visual Basic. The character and level tables are all in place; there's basic saving and loading; a rudimentary battle interface is up; basic features of the world map, two towns, and one dungeon are in place; two characters can be controlled by the player; some equipment functions are working; there's some monster art and background music. I intend to have a demo version of the game available sometime this summer, which will include three characters, two "dungeons", and all basic features in place.

Tales of the Realm II

This game is the second part of a "trilogy", and involves some of the same characters as the previous game. The story takes place on a different continent, and focuses on the actions of two musketeers as their nation heads towards war. I've just come up with a tentative cast of characters and some basic plot points.

Tales of the Realm III

This game is even sketchier than the previous two. It will be the third and final part of the trilogy that began with The Bard's Tale. I have a list of characters drawn up. Otherwise, I'm not particularly happy with the plot I outlined previously, so I can't give you any details on what I'll finally decide upon. This will depend heavily on how the previous two games go.

Tales of the Realm IV

This game will occur in a similar world / setting as the aforementioned trilogy, but will essentially be separate. I intend to have the story take place long before or after the events of the original three games. The battle system and game functioning will be drastically different from the other games. I've created the cast of seven characters I intend to feature in a good amount of detail, and I've outlined the three acts in which the story will take place.

Wayfarer

It may sound silly at this point, but I intend this game to be my "magnum opus", of sorts. It began with quasi-futuristic game setting I was developing for fun. That setting later became one part of a branching storyline which I imagined - a small piece of an epic puzzle. The game's primary inspiration is Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, re-imagined as a dramatic role-playing game. I am currently in the process of developing the plot, cast of characters, and game mechanics. I've imagined the storyline as a seven-act story, and I'm currently filling in the details of this story. I don't intend to do any actual programming on this one for a while. I'm hoping to learn from my mistakes on a few other games before doing this one in any capacity other than storyline development.

So there you go, folks. A brief taste of what's to come. Check back to this site from time to time for updates on the development of these games - and perhaps some new ones. Feel free to make contact if you have any suggestions, or would like to help in the creation of these games.