Darghul

[Adam P]

When you release the German version of Darghul on the 31st. If I were to buy it along with Teudogar, would later you provide an update for English? I assume you still plan to release it on Oct. 31st.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hi AdamP, I'm sorry but I can't: I'll need about 3 to 4 additional weeks to finish the (German) version of DARGHUL.

I've finished the continuous game world (185 locations, each 255x255 fields - compared to Teudogar's two or three dozen locations, with only 150x150 each); I've made most of the technical changes to the system that were necessary; I've placed about 50 unique magical objects in various locations all over the continent; I've placed keys to these locations and provided people who'll give information about these; I've implemented a Geographer who can give you information about every location (and can even teleport you there); and I've implemented the entire plot (including all game flags, final dialog versions, main characters' npc schedules etc): You can now play the game from start to end (without having to use the cheat/debug mode a single time).

However, I still need to implement a number of spells, fine-tune diverse monsters' combat stats, fill some dungeons, add some of the non-main-character persons to some of the cities, implement a number of sub-plots, do some final testing, and finally set up the ordering systems and the website. I'm sorry I couldn't fishish these things within schedule.

As to the update from the (soon to be released) German version of DARGHUL to the English/German version: Yes, of course; that (and all following updates) will be freely downloadable from the DARGHUL website, just like there are update patches for all existing Teudogar Full Versions on the Teudogar website. Besides, I'll offer at least 10% discount on DARGHUL to all who have purchased Teudogar.

 

[Adam P]

Well, I am looking forward to the release and I know that any delays are only to improve the quality. And I still plan on purchasing both when it's released. Will it also be 15 US Dollars?

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hello AdamP, and thank you! No, DARGHUL will be only $12.50 / EUR 9.99 (Teudogar is $14.95 / EUR 12.50). (This lower price reflects the fact that while DARGHUL has a very large game world, it's still been less development work than Teudogar: Teudogar has been made quite expensive to produce by its high degree of realism and historical accuracy, and all the painstaking reseach that required - things a fantasy RPG like DARGHUL can do without. So DARGHUL can offer a greater quantity of traditional RPG fun at a lower price.)

 

[Elwro]

Hello,

will it be possible to buy Darghul via Western Union? If so, could you estimate the additional cost?

And will there be any discount on Teudogar for those who purchased Darghul first? :D

 

[Adam P]

Since Teudogar is able to be purchased through Western Union with 2.20 dollars shipping so would Darghul, one could assume. Since the package wouldnt be any larger, shipping would be the same.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hello AdamP: Yes, indeed.

Hi Elwro: yes to both.

Western Union: I'll pay the transaction costs - simply deduct them from the send-money amount. (BTW, so far, I actually haven't had a single person making use of this payment option so far.)

Discount: Of course there'll also be a discount on Teudogar for people who've purchased DARGHUL first. However, there'll be a bigger discount for people who purchase both at once (since that saves shipping costs, which are currently costing me a bit more than the $2.20 I charge, and I might also place both Full Versions on a single CDROM: I'd pass on these savings to you).

 

[Elwro]

Great to hear that, thanks for your reply :D

 

[Adam P]

Wolf you should be the role model of companys that sell products through mail, most of them charge an amazing amount more than it cost for shipping and handling, and you arent even charging what it is costing you.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hi AdamP, well, the shipping charge does cover my shipping costs, and since I've got to pay a fee for payment processing anyway, it doesn't make much of a difference to me whether that goes to PayPal, Kagi, CKsoft, or Western Union.

I think it's great if someone wants to buy a Full Version from me. (After all, you could simply keep your money and watch TV instead, or download and play yet another Free Demo Version.) So the least I can do is to make payment as convenient as possible for every customer, according to his or her individual preferences...

 

[Anonymous]

Ahh I see... How the Draghul dev going? If you need any help, I can help... haharha

 

[Wolf Mittag]

It's getting more and more releasable by the day. I've finally completed the entire huge game world, placed all persons into all cities as well as the surrounding villages and smaller locations, completed and assigned all dialogues, set npc schedules, defined merchants and production, set up many wizards who can teach the numerous spells the game offers, programmed geographers, historians and oracles who can give you information on all the game's locations / magical objects / missing keys to locked dungeons etc, programmed temples, filled almost all dungeons with monsters and booty, and so on.

At present, I'm working through a final list of about 400 minor changes that still need to be made to the engine source code, small bugs that still need to be fixed, some magical spells, some changes to NPCs' A.I. to cope with large castles / cities, some changes to combat and the user interface. Then there's a dozen or so of smaller dungeons left that are still lacking monsters and treasures. When all of that's finished, I'll release a Beta, and yes, of course then I could very well use your help in testing that, as well as looking for bugs that I may not have noticed, and giving me feedback in general.

So what's left to do is a pretty small amount of work, compared to what I've already completed. Unfortunately, at present I have not as much time for working on DARGHUL as I'd like to; so the completion of the first final, German 1.00 version may take some weeks more than originally planned, probably until end of January (the English version will follow some weeks later).

 

[Adam P]

Although Darghul is highly anticipated it may be a good thing you are forced to take a break from it, its not exactly healthy spending 20 hrs a day programming

Will Darghul, like teudogar, have a free downloadable version?
I also intend to purchase it as soon as you have it available for purchase, along with Teudogar, when the beta is complete, will you have it available for purchase?

 

[NuZZ]

Ahah, Sounds good.
I should look forward to beta testing then. Oh no wait I cant read german... >_<

 

[Wolf Mittag]

AdamP: free downloadable version: Yes; I like the try-before-you-buy concept, so I'll definitely release a free Demo with a small part of the plot and game world - small part, but since the entire thing is rather large, even that Demo part will be enough to play for quite a while.

When the beta is complete, will you have it available for purchase?: With 'Beta' I mean a version that has successfully passed in-house testing, and is bug-free to the best of my knowledge, but hasn't yet been tested by external testers. I plan to make that available for a week; if anyone reports any bugs I'll fix these (there shouldn't be any major bugs or hardware problems, since Teudogar has already proven the engine's general compatibility); and then I'll release a 1.00 version by the end of that week.
So we're not talking about an extended phase of testing here. I might already accept orders during that "Beta week", but I'd wait with delivery until the end of that week, and deliver official 1.00 versions then. Thank you - I'm really glad you're so enthusiastic about buying the game! (But better download a Demo first, after all, you may not like Darghul - it's quite different from Teudogar in many respects.)

 

[NuZZ]

I dont care, im buy it anyway >_<, Beacause I havent got around to getting toutog... shit i forgot howto spell it, um but I havent done that yet, becuase hmm Im a lil lazy bout doing something liek tht.... I wish I could just teleport to you and give you the money and you could have me teh game, I could then teleport back home and play it, ha, Draghul better have teleportation... (Teleportation has allways facinated me )

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Oh, yes, there's lots of teleportation in DARGHUL - teleportation fields, magical scrolls that'll teleport you to a certain location, pairs of teleportation anchors (using one will teleport you to where the other lies), and even wizards who've entered the transportaion business and will teleport you for money whereever you want...
(I found these features necessary to make the huge game world navigatable. Of course you'll acquire these things only over the course of the game; at the start of the game you have no choice but to walk.)

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, yes, there's lots of teleportation in DARGHUL - teleportation fields, magical scrolls that'll teleport you to a certain location, pairs of teleportation anchors (using one will teleport you to where the other lies), and even wizards who've entered the transportaion business and will teleport you for money whereever you want...
(I found these features necessary to make the huge game world navigatable. Of course you'll acquire these things only over the course of the game; at the start of the game you have no choice but to walk.)

is it correct, that the release date for darghul is 2005?

 

[Adam P]

Wolf:

So what's left to do is a pretty small amount of work, compared to what I've already completed. Unfortunately, at present I have not as much time for working on DARGHUL as I'd like to; so the completion of the first final, German 1.00 version may take some weeks more than originally planned,<b> probably until end of January </b>(the English version will follow some weeks later).

that is referring to 2005

 

[Anonymous]

;p

its the 13th... Can ya try and release it on the 30th? It would be a good birthday prez for me.. (free please, haha)

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hi NuZZ, well, work on DARGHUL doesn't proceed all that fast, because at present I have only limited time available to work on it. Nonetheless I intend to release a first, already fully playable, Beta version in a couple of weeks. Main and sub plots as well as all cities etc are already complete anyway; the only things still missing are some final improvements to the user interface, some spells, furnishing of some still-empty dungeons with monsters and treasures, and fixing a number of minor bugs. Although I'm sorry it won't be possible to release an English version soon enough, I wish you a happy birthday anyway, and thanks for your interest in DARGHUL!

 

[Adam P]

So once again we look forward to October.
I still have intentions to purchase both DARGHUL and Teudogar as soon as DARGHUL is made available for purchase.

In this post you mentioned some 400 minor details needing attention before DARGHUL's release. I assume this number has been reduced dramatically in the past 9 months, despite your daily battle with the mere 24 hours one day has to offer.

My skills in understanding German text is about equal to that of a common household pet. However it seems from the few scattered english similiar words, and German words i do recognize, in your to do list, that there are more than minor changes calling for your attention.

Now, I said all that, to ask this.
Have you decided to expand the game more than originally planned?

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hello AdamP,

well, yes. There were many aspects about the inventory and the combat system that I wasn't happy with, so I decided to do a major overhaul of these systems. I also did some major changes to the bartering system, and the NPC artificial intelligence, plus countless minor improvements of virtually all aspects of the game.
(I've posted a list of features in the "DARGHUL beta testing, forum"-thread, http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4736&start=25.)

The main problem has been a severe lack of time on my part: I usually only have between 1-4 hours per day available for work on DARGHUL. Obviously, that greatly slows down everything.

Second is that the number of minor points to fix is getting down very slowly because the entire thing is so large and complex. There are thousands of functions, hundreds of game world locations, and tens of thousands of possible gaming situations, so there are lots of instances where things will not work as intended. For every two points I fix I usually find yet another new one during subsequent testing...

So in a nutshell, I could say that the game is almost complete, except for a couple of minor points that I still want to fix. (Most people who know me are driven crazy by this answer of mine by now.) Sincerely, if I were a listed company, I'd be tempted to release the game right away. However, being an independent developer, my main focus is on game quality. I want to have archieved a number of features and a certain level of perfection before releasing this game. Unfortunatly, considering how little time I have available per day, I'll probably take until late autumn to release a beta version, and yet later to finally release the game.

My apologies for this slow course of development. I'm offering a notification service: Go to http://www.teudogar.com/email.htm, enter something like "notify me when DARGHUL is released" (or "beta of DARGHUL") and your email address, and I will send you an email when the time has come. (That is, one single email; no commercials, no spam, and I will of course never pass on your email address to anybody else.)

Thank you for your patience!

 

[Naked_Lunch]

When you're done with that, then it's on to Teudogar 2? Right? Right?