The Quest II

[Sylon / Redshift]

For those of you The Quest fans who had enough patience and interest during the years, I'm starting now an official forum for our upcoming role playing game. It doesn't mean that TQ2 (The Quest II) will be released shortly, it just means that during the development we'll use this forum for posting any news, pictures and all other info about the game. Also you have here the place to make any suggestions. (I can't promise we'll build all suggestions in the game but we'll keep an eye on this forum.) Somebody already started a topic in The Quest's General Discussion thread a few months ago but let's leave that thread for The Quest, and have a new forum for the new game.

Right now the development is slow because our programmer (Elendil) first have to finish our new fantasy card game, but until that I already started to work on TQ2. The story is finished, most of the rules are finished, now I'm working on the graphics. It will be hand-drawn, like all of our previous games, but in a much higher quality and resolution. The graphic engine will be a 2D/3D hybrid, like TQ had, this time with more 3D elements, smoother animations, better lighting effects, etc., while the environment, the items, monsters, spells, plants etc. will all be 2D sprites. The game will run on all iOS devices (iPhone, iPod, iPad), on Mac, on PC and we plan to make an Android version too (this one will be the latest).

The gameplay will be similar to Quest's prequel, Legacy: you will be able to control a party of heroes. But this time (like in TQ) you'll have a main hero too - with a great twist in the story, now you will be with Mersant himself, the governor of the fantasy world of Monares, where all our previous role playing games took place.

Feel free to post anything you want here. I'll post some of the new graphics soon.

[Sylon / Redshift]

So, because about 60% of the game's 2D art are done, I'm posting now some stuff to give a feel of the game and to let you see the difference between TQ and TQ2. : )
First, here goes two of the shop interior screens, in their original resolution: the magic shop and the blacksmith. On the top you always can see TQ's old graphic while on the bottom you can see TQ2's new stuff. Of course the animations of them will also be much better and smoother, but now you can't see them on this picture.
BTW, I also increased the number of shops too: in TQ there was only 5 interior graphics (Inn, Magic Shop, Alchemy Shop, Blacksmith, Tailor) while in TQ2 there will be around 15 (!): Inn, Gambling House, Magic Shop, Alchemy Lab, Blacksmith, Tailor, Herbalist, Witch Lair, Jewelry, Thief Den, Library, Bank, City Fashion, Temple, Cartographer.

So, the Magic Shop:


And the Blacksmith:

[Sylon / Redshift]

Some of the player portraits from TQ and TQ2:


And a teleport from both games, just for an example of the difference in detail and resolution:

[Sylon / Redshift]

And example of the wall textures:


And a classic hollow tree which you can find in any of our previous games too:

[Sylon / Redshift]

And finally two trees. First the oak (sorry but in TQ2 they have such a big size that they can't fit into this picture):


Then an example of a pine tree from both games:

[mangoose]

Woah... All of that looks flipping awesome. Looking forward to seeing them ingame.

[wolf3167]

Agreed!

[abstractcolors215]

This looks absolutely AMAZING! I just want to say that you guys are some of the VERY BEST game creators out there! Looking forward to this game!

[Sylon / Redshift]

Thanks! Making hand-drawn 2D graphics instead of some usual rendered 3D stuff is a hard work, but I always loved the oldschool style so I want to stay to this as close as I can while I try to keep today's standards too in quality, color depth and resolution.
What I have now: more than 200 textures (instead of the 30 of TQ), about 50 character portraits (and more will come of course), 250 different plants (instead of the 60 of TQ), 6 animated interior shop screens (and more will come soon), 150 decoration elements (and more will come soon). Wolf wrote something about the lack of real variation in TQ (mostly in its expansions), so I'm writing all these numbers just to calm him down: TQ2 will have just enough variation. : )
In a few months I'll finish the rest of the decoration elements, portraits and items, so then the whole world of the game will be ready for editing - except the monsters. Monsters will be a very-very huge work in 2D in such a large resolution so I'm still afraid of them. : )

[Prickett]

I am so pumped for this game! It earns my "most anticipated game of 2015" award!

[Carpii]

The Quest TWO?!

Its happening, its finally happening

I cant wait till 2015

[Gaucho]

Can/will the new fantasy card game you are devloping be available to play in TQ2? like the card games at inns in TQ1 (maybe with rewards exchangable between games?)

[Carpii]

> Feel free to post anything you want here

Well, since you asked

Having played Quest on Palm, PocketPC, iPhone and finally iPad, these are my suggestions which I think would make the biggest improvements to the game (based on the assumption it will support expansion packs like TQ1).
Ive 1001 things I'd like to see, but Ive tried to limit it to my top three suggestions.

1) I'd love to see the quest log improved, so that every quest has a 'world-id' attached to it.
You can then tick a box which will hide any quests which don't relate to the current world (ie, its annoying when you're playing an expansion pack, but quest log still shows uncompleted quests from Matras or the base game)

2) Along similar lines, I'd love if it every quest had a coordinate attached.
So when you view the world map it would show a little icon to indicate where you have a quest objective, even if it was just shown at 'region' level

3) Please make the region map show different icons when a square is passable, compared to blocking.
One of the most frustrating things about The Quest is trying to navigate a path through a forest where so many blocks prevent you from passing.
In TQ1, some map squares show as a a tree or a bush icon, but this doesn't tell you whether its a blocking square, so you end up spending a lot of time bumping into stuff trying to find a way around. This isn't much fun and detracts from the actual game IMO.

PS: These new graphics look beautiful!

[wolf3167]

Don't worry Sylon, I can't be calmed down! I'm thinking about the next game 24/7! Joking... Or am I?

[mangoose]

Will there be new/more music for tq2?

[Prickett]

Can you post what some of the paths and grounds look like soon? I had no idea the graphics were going to be this incredible!

[abstractcolors215]

I love the oldschool style! Thats your added touch to these games, it makes them all the more interesting to play! These games immerse me in another world where I'm oblivious to the real world for a while! To me, thats one of the purposes of a game! To take you away for awhile!

[FR0D0 TBAGGiNS]

Sylon, do you draw these yourself? They're absolutely beautiful! Please do keep us updated on the progress, I eagerly await TQ2's arrival! I'm certain, without any doubts, that this will be truly wonderful game.

A suggestion: In TQ, weapons have little variety in appearance other than a change of color. If you haven't already, and are able, could you please make weapons (and any other items) look more unique? Perhaps even add the ability to change your weapon's appearance and rename your weapon.

[Sylon / Redshift]

Gaucho: no, our new card game will be an independent game. But it's loosely based on the game you can play in The Quest's inn. (Of course it will be much more complex, with own storyline, etc.) I'm not sure about the games in TQ2, because there will be gambling houses where you can play with many games - probably one of these will be similar to our new card game, we'll see.

BTW, our new card game has no title yet. This is the only problem which prevents me from starting a new forum for this game too, where I could post pictures and news about its development. So if you really think you have a good idea, a simple, short, hopefully one worded title which fits well to a fantasy card game and which is not used yet by another game, feel free to suggest it. : )

Carpii:
1. The quest log will be improved. Also you will be able to make notes on the map.
2. Quests will have some sort of "indicator". We don't want a yellow arrow above your head to always show you where to go now, because we're hopefully not in kindergarten : ), but definitely you'll have more help during your quests.
3. Okay, there will be difference between passable and blocking squares on the map.

Mangoose: yes, of course TQ2 will have new soundtrack.

Prickett: OK, I'll post some textures soon! Of course the graphics must be better - I'm always trying to be better, this worked in the past and hopefully will work in our future games too. : )

Abstractcolors: thanks! Yes, our goal is to take you away. : ) For me oldschool graphics have a special mood which you can't find in most of the newer games. Simpler graphics leave more place for the imagination, so I'm sort of breaking this rule with TQ2's graphic detail but I still think that 2D art is the best for Games - not for imitating the real world, but for real Games.

Frodo: of course, I'm the one in this small group who most of the time is responsible for the graphics/design/story part of our games. Usually very small groups works like this: one "gamemaker" and one "engine-maker" or "programmer".
As for the weapons: we'll see what we can do. Right now it seems that you will not be able to see your weapon on the action screen in your hand because you will control more people at once, but this could change. But if you simply mean the graphics of the weapon items in your inventory, don't worry, they will look different. : )

[Prickett]

I have some names for the card game. Here it goes. Obscuro, this is Latin for dark age, the time, from what I understand, the quest is set. Obscuro crystalli, Latin for dark age spar (a fight). Bello Obscuri, Latin for dark age battle.

[Sylon / Redshift]

Thanks, Prickett, I'll add these to my "possible titles" list. : ) I can't promise anything right now but the more the better, so just post them when you'll have some more!

Now here goes some floor textures you asked. Please note that all floor textures have 768*768 pixels in size so they simply can't fit into this forum perfectly, their sides will be cut down, but hopefully you still can get a feel how they will look in the game.

First, a mossy brick floor:


Then a stone road:


A large stone floor for dungeons:


A more clear castle floor:


And a mossy stone floor:

[Prickett]

I love it, so eager to play!

[mangoose]

Those graphics look great! And for the card game name maybe "sigil"

[abstractcolors215]

You said, "Simpler graphics leave more place for the imagination..". Exactly! thats one of the reasons I love this game! It lets me use my imagination! Most other games dont do that for me. I do that with reading too! I create the scene in my mind as I read the story!

[Joshua_is_good]

I'm wondering when it's released do you think it will run on iPod 4th gen.
By the way the game is looking like one of the best games I seen in a while keep it up! Can't wait to it's released it will be a while but it will be worth it!