Nah, not really.

But it's called "Loom" and it's been around for a while, so probably most of you already now about it. It's a sci-fi short movie directed by Luke Scott. Who's that guy with a familiar surname, you ask?

Ridley: Luke, I am your father!

That should explain it all. And it can explain the technical and financial resources that made the movie possible.
Anyway, the 20 mins required to watch it are worth being spent. Not a masterpiece in my opinion: I'd rather call it a waste of potential than an awesome premise, but still the visuals are great and the story is... ok.

It apparently has been shot with a new technique which, if I remember correctly, needs a proper device and setting to be enjoyed at its fullest. But for now, a Youtube video will do.

Here it is (watching in high res definitely recommended).

LOOM 4K Short Film [HD]: From Luke Scott, Ridley Scott & RED Camera	Small | Large

Heya!

Thank you for making the board a bit more lively. This section has been created exactly for general talk, but there's not really much going on.

Unfortunately I can't say I've ever heard about this one until you mentioned it. So I took a quick peek and it sounds interesting. The premise reminds me a bit of "Children of Men" (don't be scared, it has nothing to do with Schwarzenegger's "Junior"!) but what matters is how the plot evolves.

I think I'll give it a go. But not RIGHT now. Later.

[fan]

Heya, glad to know actually. You'd be surprised of how important feedback actually is, especially when it comes to fan-games. I'd say at least 50% of the fuel for this Forge-machine is you people. After all there's no point in being a sender, if there's no receiver.

That being said, I'm not surprised that, despite the relatively high number of unique visitors everyday, only a few actively participate in the Forums. They're so boring! I have to admit it, I'm a bad entertainer and I don't write often. I'm not a social guy (have you seen any Social Networks button around here?).
But I work in the shadows, and maybe that's more important. Or creepier, at least. I'd say both. Yeah.

Thank you so much for the excitement!

Hello Weavers.

I've missed some of the monthly updates, and I apologize, but this one won't be longer because of that. As a matter of fact, there isn't much to say: we're still into the 2nd stage of betatesting, and though most of the reports made by testers in this stage are improvements instead of bugs, they're still worth looking into. Some of the testers are doing a great job, and of that we all have to be grateful.

Other than that, there are two news:

1. It's a secret, but very good news. All I want to say until the fact becomes more certain, is that it's about a person that's helping me out on certain aspects of the game.

2. The bad news: as most of you probably know already, Disney acquired Lucas (not George himself, but almost). As some of you probably know, Lucasarts has been shut down, including all the employees. I'm not sure how and if these two facts will influence Forge, but they might.

Anyway the game is improving day after day, and especially if news n.1 becomes reality, not only Chapter One but the whole Forge will see the light of day sooner or later.

Thanks for reading.
-Gabriele "Abisso"

Hi there, thanks for signing in and for the enthusiasm.

As a matter of fact I'm a Linux (Kubuntu) user as well, so I totally understand your interest for a port. The AGS engine has been ported to Linux, but when I started using the engine it wasn't stable and reliable and so I stick with the Windows version to prevent possible issues. At the moment I'm coding through a Virtualized WinXP machine.

I really doubt that I'll do a porting of the Ch.1 Demo, but I totally want to do one for the complete game. Thanks to the community, now it's possible to make ports for Linux and I/OS with minor tweaking.

As per the license, no, the project is not open source. It might become in the future, but the incoming demo will be released with a fairly restrictive license: CC-BY-ND-NC. It's the most restrictive Creative Commons available, and the reasons for my choice are multiple; but the main one is that I haven't had enough time to consider the whole license matter and so I decided to pick the only one that allows me to change my mind later.
Still, for those of you that are unfamiliar with it, CC-BY-ND-NC allows sharing for free as long as you attribute the work and don't make derivative works.

Topic locked, as the beta-stage 2.0 has already begun.

Definitely interested. It's a shame that Linux isn't supported, but since I have all Forge's stuff in a folder shared between Kubuntu and a virtualized WinXP, I think I'll give it a go all the same.
It also doesn't look as versatile as Dropbox is, but 50GB... wow.

Thanks for sharing Guvna.

[In any case, I expect those who are still interested to confirm their presence by email or PM. Failing to do so will result in an exclusion from the test.]

I've decided to admit all of you to the testing, since one of the previous tester resigned. We are now 11 testers (excluding me). My plan was to have 10 testers, but leaving just one of you out would have been silly.

I've sent a confirmation email to all of you, to the address you signed in on the boards. In case you prefer to receive official communication to another address, please answer that email clearly indicating your request or send me a PM. In any case, I expect those who are still interested to confirm their presence by email or PM. Failing to do so will result in an exclusion from the test.

You've been granted the Beta-Tester status as well, which allows you inside the Betatesting discussion sub-board. Please use the following days before the test begins to get acquainted to the guidelines. It wouldn't be bad if you also read some of the previous tester's reports to get an idea of how things work.

2nd Beta-stage will begin on the 7th of April. I'll reveal who are the chosen candidates some days before, and give them the Beta-Tester status which grants access to the Beta-testing discussion private topic.
You will find info and guidelines there.

Thanks for all the offers. Since some of the previous beta-tester won't stay onto the next stage, and since some of you probably won't confirm their presence, I think I will give all of you a chance to beta-test.

I can't still announce the date of the next beta though, and I've learnt at my expense that making announcements is not a wise thing until your 99% certain you can stay true to your word.

@viscosity: actually I had given you an opportunity during the previous beta-stage, but you never answered (or received) my email. No problem though, and now you're perfectly on time.

[wasted]

Hello everyone!

Time for yet another update. February has been a short and slow month. Bug-fixing, sfx-engineering and website migration. Oh, did I mention that we'll soon be hosted at a (hopefully) better host? I think this is great news, and I would have loved to announce this update after the migration had taken place, but it's almost mid-March already so I couldn't wait anymore.

Moving a website is not that simple and we're still working on it, but it should be a matter of days.

I'm also considering an internationalization of the website and other small changes which, I believe, will improve the users' experience.

On the bug-fixing front, there are a couple of nasty bugs that are stealing a lot of my time, but I'm confident they will be fixed. Most of the other fixes have been done already and will be tested in the next phase.

On the sfx-engineering front, sadly I have to announce that for the third time a sfx-engineer has offered to help and changed its mind shortly after. I'm puzzled and a bit angry for this kind of behaviour (which is common, and not just for the sfx field).
Is it so difficult to understand that if you offer to help you have to be sure you will at least give a little contribution before receding?
Every time this happens I have to write emails and wrap up recruitment requests. Then I have to wait for replies. And all this time is stolen from other areas of the development, and, to put it bluntly, wasted.

So please, as I clearly wrote in the Guidelines for Contributors, think twice before you offer your help. If you're not 100% sure about this, don't do it: you will only slow down progress, otherwise.

I plan to begin the 2nd testing stage before the end of March, anyway, so in case you're interested in beta-testing, SIGN UP HERE before it's too late.

I apologize for the tone of this update, but I'm a bit stressed by lack of free time and frustrated by the fact I had to abandon some interesting activities and dedicate more time to profitable ones. In this situation, wasting time is something I can't afford.
Don't worry though, I have no intention of abandoning Forge. Even if it's not profitable, it's way more than just an "interesting activity" for me. It's more like a part of me.

Thanks to all of you for your patience and support.

You can sign up HERE but please read the first post in that thread before posting.

Welcome aboard!

I didn't expect a detailed answer from you Alex (cause I know you well enough), but I'm glad you confirm your intention to join the testing team.

[Don't forget being a beta-tester is a position of high responsibility, and not just a way to take a peek to the game before the official release. You're supposed to play with a notepad and a pen next to you all the time, writing down bugs, suggestions, typos, etc. and in such a way that they can be identified easily.]

The first beta-stage for this demo is almost complete, and though I still haven't announced the exact date for the next one, it's time to open subscriptions again.

Those of you who have tested in the first stage and still have the Beta-Tester status are confirmed, of course, and don't need to post here. The other who had been confirmed as testers but had their status removed still need to post here for confirmation though.

The following people have precedence over the ones who'll volunteer in this thread:

-Alex (he volunteered for beta some days after the first recruitment had been closed)
-Vormaen (he enrolled for the first stage but didn't make it in time)

This rules will be taken into consideration to choose the beta-testers:

1. Donors come first.
2. Members with the best curriculum come first.
3. Members with a high post count come first.
4. First come, first served.

As you can see I've added the "curriculum" point, so please don't just post saying "count me in". Add info about yourself, your past experiences and such. Add links that prove your point too.

Don't forget being a beta-tester is a position of high responsibility, and not just a way to take a peek to the game before the official release. You're supposed to play with a notepad and a pen next to you all the time, writing down bugs, suggestions, typos, etc. and in such a way that they can be identified easily.

All the beta-testers will get proper credits, of course.

And after this warm up... get ready... set... go!

Subscriptions are open again!

Wow, this is really encouraging, lol!

Anyway, let's see how things go, and in the worst case scenario I'll change some names, remove all copyrighted material (which is maybe 5% of the entire game) and release the game as a generically "Loom inspired" one".

This would be a defeat somehow, but would also create the conditions to do a better game in less time (since I'd be able to crowdfund it without any risk).

@Aladdin: I won't I promise!

The most hilarious thing is one of my first adventure games is "Mickey Mauser: the Wrath of the Rat" (no kidding). Seems infringing Disney's copyright is in my DNA.