I'll drop a little note about the music. We have a great selection of musical titles already tucked away for the first part of the game, still a few tracks to go though.

We had deeply considered using another major composers work, and how we could incorporate that into the game. I had actually stumbled across Bakula(Vakula) the Smith, another of Tchaikovski's works. It held many plot elements in kind for Forge, but finding the whole album proved a challenge. Not only that, we did not want to be held hostage by the music it presented. Swan Lake for Loom was chosen for a variety of reasons, and definitely inspired Loom to a degree. We do not need such inspiration.

As far as the Chapter 1 goes, it is the plan of Abisso and myself to release Chapter 1 as a complete (or near complete) comprehensive Chapter. It will be completely playable, and have enough polish to show the public that this project is serious and above all, quality.

Once Chapter 1 is released, we hope to have a tremendous response, as most Loom sequels have been doomed to failure and never gotten to our stage. We expect a tremendous surge of new users on the forums, creative contributions, and more importantly offers to help the project with art and our other needs.

Speaking of which, WE NEED SPRITERS, lol. Things are kind of at a stand still without the assistance of a spriter who could dedicate a few hours to make a few simple interactions, gestures, reactions, and environmental accents. Email, MSN, or PM, I'm happy to hear from you! We want to put any donations towards the excellent backgrounds we're PROUD to have for Loom, we don't want to spend them on frame-by-frame sprites.

Thanks!

[Could use work:]

Wow, thanks for all your thoughts! I'll be going through them one by one with Abisso to get his thoughts on some of what you have said. You're right of course, being too wordy is a curse of mine in any writing form, and we'll be very careful and take our beta testers opinions and edits to heart.

We will be releasing Chapter 1 independantly, and it will be dependent on its response and feedback from the public that will decide if we forego a Full Release in favor of an Episodic format. You all WILL have Chapter 1 before the full game, but there hasnt been a plan to release them chapter by chapter.

Could use work:

• The Gauntlets are too sensitive, I think. It shouldn't be a dexterity game.
  

While I know we keep revisting the GUI topic now and again, I have a feeling that you're not far off from the final version. There is enough variety that we could add to the Difficulties without needing sensitvity. Plus, we could then offer Keyboard support to all Difficulties, and it wouldnt be cheating.

Lastly, WELCOME TO THE BOARD!

I think a little more care could have been put into it. Especially scenes that have animated portions already in place. The Loom village has the smoke raising from the campfires, instead they chose to use stationary screenshots. But, still nice to see.

So, I came across this earlier tonight, and I thought it would be something to share with everyone here. There's no real new spriting or animations, other than perhaps half a dozen single frame shots. But there are some pretty sepia tone photo-shopped collages during the intro. Bobbins/Hetchels house is made of a merge of the Spinning room/Dying hut. Still, a few nice shots, and if you haven't heard the Audio Drama in a while, this is a great way to do it.

From ScummBR:

Part 1:

LOOM Audio Drama 1/2	Small | Large

Part 2:

LOOM Audio Drama 2/2	Small | Large

Apparently its been there for months, I had no idea! No one tells me anything!

And that's it! We officially have completed the Games SEVENTEENTH Background, encompassing two full Guilds!

Yowza! Still a boatload of sprite work to do, but it's amazing to hear about it.

We're going to be holding off on Background production for a little while. Our plan is to make the third Guild a LARGE one, probably around 8 backgrounds, and our background artist is unable to keep producing them at the rate he's been charging.

On the bright side! We've got a lot of work to do for the moment, so we're going to be keeping busy.

Thanks for your kind words there llama. We definitely didn't want a Loom Clone. In the end, it'll be a very true homage.

That is ok! No apologies. We all have a life to live outside of silly (SUPER IMPORTANT) games.

I just wanted to let everyone know that we got the first WIP of the third background in the second guild. It'll be done in two versions, and the second version is going to be amazing. After this, just one back background, and we're ready to build the sprite asset list!

Well, we're at the end of finalizing Chapter 2's plot and storyline. Soon, Dialogue will be next. We've also got the third last background for Chapter 2 completed. Only two more and the second Guild is complete. Exciting!

We're still in need of sprite work, progress on that has been slow this last month, otherwise we're having a lot of fun pursuing the game. I'm glad to see this board has a little more life in it that it has in the last while.

Our plan is still to release a full polished Chapter 1, without voice acting for the moment, probably with a mini-game if we can get to it. After that, I doubt we'll do another proper release until the full game itself is ready. Seems easier that way.

Remanence is not one I came across in my own searches. Thank you very much for the comment .

That was the plan. I'll be making February's next week.

As for questions, we could go with location based ones:
"Alice fell down the rabbit hole and ended up in...?"

Or something else relating to a place. "Paris is the capitol of...?"

We've had a few inquiries already Wonkyth. Its my fault for not closing this topic. But! If needed, I will message you .

[anyone]

I want to make things clear, that I do not want anyone feeling even the slightest bit guilty, or remorseful if they do not donate. We're enjoying making FORGE for ourselves as much as for all of you, .

Well, Happy New Year to everyone here on the forums, registered or not. Its been a while since we've had a formal Update here on the board, so I thought it was time to do so. (That, and one of our members was scared we've stopped working!).

True, progress has been slow in this last 8 weeks. Our lead scripter is busy with his studies, and I recently began new work in mid-November which has dedicated a lot of my focus. Not to mention, Christmas!

But, lets talk FORGE for a bit.

In the last two weeks we've had remarkable outreach from the public, and from old contributors. We've got 5 wonderful new audio tracks, and contacted our artist for THREE more lovely backgrounds for Chapter 2. We've had offers for plot and puzzle help, (You know who you are ), and even an offer for sound effects! Offers for translations are coming in, and while that's a long time away its wonderful to see the support from the public.

On the topic of Donations, the Donations we've received from those on the list have been so tremendously appreciated i truly have no words. The first two Chapter 2 backgrounds were all but entirely paid for by those donations ($160 is what was charged, for the two) and the next three will be in the area of $240. We still have $87 in Donation funds available, it will be insufficient to cover the costs of all three, but I have faith that between now and the completion of the backgrounds, we will see more donations come in.

In the spirit of not sounding preachy, I want to remind everyone here that all of Chapter 1 (And its 13 backgrounds, AND portraits, AND sprites) were all paid for without the help of donations. So be assured, as much as your donations are a cherished gesture to the success of FORGE, the team will ensure its completion one way or another.

Here is to a great 2011!

@Sarioya
Thank you for your text ideas Sarioya, they were most welcome. I've also recieved your PM, I'm emailing a reply shortly.

@Unai
The premise the Gauntlets, is that each Spark contributes a certain certain bridges on the Grid. Without all 8, the grid is incomplete. The bridges each Spark adds is not uniform or symmetrical either, so there may be times when a Schematic is learned two chapters early, or, heaven forbid, if the player looses any random spark the Schematic possibilities are altered.

We've tinkered with elemental, metaphysical, magical, and all sorts of other properties too. I'd like to think the actual theology behind the gauntlets is cemented. But its always exciting to hear creative theories.