Vapourware Unknown Realm: The Siege Perilous - an 8-bit RPG for PC and Commodore 64

[Tweed]

Well, both Grimoire and Eye of the Beholder for the C64 took more than 15 years to finish, so I'm still hopeful. I wouldn't mind if I can get my hands on this 10 years from now—better than never. But I guess the big difference here is that they took people's money and made promises...

I was wondering if they were ever going to finish that, been watching it now and then.

At least the dev for Unknown Realm make funny noises when you poke him.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Realms of Antiquity took 15 years as well but unlike that game I am hearing about Unkown Realm's before it has released! Oh well time to come back in 5 years.

 

[adamantyr]

Realms of Antiquity took 15 years as well but unlike that game I am hearing about Unkown Realm's before it has released! Oh well time to come back in 5 years.

Yeah, RoA was mired in development hell for about 12 of them, as I wrestled with trying to cram too much into the original extremely constrained memory space, which lead to despair and falling off of interest, massive re-design to try and fix the problem, etc.

After I received a free memory card from one of my fellow retro enthusiasts, I decided to use it and started the game over. From there, it was about 3 years from conception to release, with a year of closed beta testing.

 

[Rincewind]

Yeah, the thing is, people vastly underestimate the time and effort required to finish something, to *properly* finish it. I got Gridmonger into a good working state so I could complete a game with it in about 6 months. I thought another 6 would be enough to add polish, documentation, maybe a few nice little extra features, and so on.

Well, it took 2.5 more years in the end (in my spare time, of course, but still).

 

[adamantyr]

Yeah, the thing is, people vastly underestimate the time and effort required to finish something, to *properly* finish it. I got Gridmonger into a good working state so I could complete a game with it in about 6 months. I thought another 6 would be enough to add polish, documentation, maybe a few nice little extra features, and so on.

Well, it took 2.5 more years in the end (in my spare time, of course, but still).

Definitely! The testing phase took longer than I expected, but the feedback was incredible. The game wouldn't be half of what it was without the dedication and perseverance of my testing team.

 

[Viata]

Yeah, the thing is, people vastly underestimate the time and effort required to finish something, to *properly* finish it

Sure, but I think you really know the problem for this very game is not about the time it's taking to finish it, right?

 

[Rincewind]

Yeah, the thing is, people vastly underestimate the time and effort required to finish something, to *properly* finish it

Sure, but I think you really know the problem for this very game is not about the time it's taking to finish it, right?

We don't know for sure, what I see here is a lot of theorising and conjectures. Taken at face value, they are still working on it, but have other priorities.

But then I'm not following their communications closely, so I might be missing something.

In any case, if the game materialises in 2, 5, 10, etc. years from now, I'll be happy.

We have no idea what the guys who did the Eye of the Beholder conversion for the C64 have been doing in all those 17 years... Maybe some of them spent 4-5 years in a rehab center at some point—who knows? Ultimately, it does not matter; the game has been released. The main problem here is mismatched expectations, as I see it.

 

[Acrux]

But then I'm not following their communications closely, so I might be missing something.

And what communications would those be? That's the problem.

 

[Infinitron]

The real problem here isn't that the game is late, it's that your money is the hands of people who are exhibiting symptoms of a personality disorder. Even if they are working on it, two people who have proven to be so detached from reality are unlikely to be making good progress. I mean, imagine a guy like Bruce reacting to constructive remarks about his programming or anything else. Can a person learn anything in this state? How long have they been like this?

 

[Rincewind]

The real problem here isn't that the game is late, it's that your money is the hands of people who are exhibiting symptoms of a personality disorder.

Yeah, I was more reacting to this in the abstract sense; like I said, I wasn't following their communications. The screenshot posted above is worrying, to say the least. That's not how you talk to your "fans".

There's also a difference between 100% hobby projects and taking money to deliver something then disappearing, no doubt.

 

[newtmonkey]

The main problem with Unknown Realm is that the developers used the kickstarter money to pay their living expenses for two years, then stopped updating their kickstarter backers and instead were trying to get everything to subscribe to their "guild" program to get updates. When everyone on kickstarter rightfully flipped out, they turned extremely hostile, and then that's when the insane twitter posts began about how hard indie dev is, how difficult it is to be a woman developer, how many "haters" they have, blah blah blah. They still have released nothing but some screenshots over the years.

These people are grifters, not hard-working indie devs in over their heads taking their time to release a game.

 

[Ladonna]

Yeah, the main problem with this dumpsterfire is there WAS a release date, but it kept getting pushed back, and became extremely vague, with NOTHING to show of the game, anywhere. There hasn't been a new screenshot or video of the game since the kickstarter ended. Even the suckers that signed up for the "special secret fan club" for X amount of dollars a month, that were promised secret footage, only got stuff about their house, cats, etc.

Enjoy your jolly disk.

 

[V_K]

cats

Preposterous. People like that shouldn't be allowed to have cats.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I thought this thread cat-box turd was buried? What we have here is the obligatory NEW YEAR STATEMENT (a check on the calendar box to knock out each year and draw attention to itself) because most have forgotten or don't care about his game anymore (except the backers and maybe some of them wrote it off as a loss and bad dream a long while ago).

Yeah, when they aren't even a little transparent on updates and start taking even more money for whatever is when they really appear to be shitting on everyone and being a con. I grew bored looking at their twitter a long while ago. Killing rats was far more stimulating. Maybe if they focussed on their game more than blogs and how people are ignoring or hating then maybe progress would be made. Even a little note: "knocked out a bug today. Drew a new piece of art. Scripting.. more plot. Etc etc. ". They don't have to have a huge reveal but they are beyond vague. They just insult people and block any questions or criticism. It is like THEY can't handle it or

THEY'RE JUST A SCAM!!!

OK, took my shit. And burying this turd in the rpgcodex shitbox.... again!

Meow!

 

[Tavernking]

I choose to believe it's coming out. I have time I can wait another 5, 10, even 20 years.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Lol. 20 year and I'm almost 70. I really doubt I'll give a crap since I don't have a game this guy has worked on so it won't even be memorable. Just a stanky lingering odor.


20 years.... lol. God no.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Lol. 20 year and I'm almost 70. I really doubt I'll give a crap since I don't have a game this guy has worked on so it won't even be memorable. Just a stanky lingering odor.


20 years.... lol. God no.

What the hell you almost 50 now?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

No one reads my profile.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

No one reads my profile.

Cool it gramps, some of third worlders can't even read.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Eheheheheheeeee.... I'm OLD!!

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

"IMAGINE" acid flashbacks....


Thanks to Kruno reminding me of this old fiasco. Funds spent if frivilous crap, advertising, false promises. Maybe these two took the 80s playbook too much to heart.

 

[Viata]

From: https://reset64-magazine.itch.io/reset64-15

 

[Viata]

Reset64 has reached out to SD on multiple occasions to seek further details around the future of Unkown Realms but unfortunately we have not received a response.

I wasn't following their communications

See, it's not that you are not following their communications, but that there is none. The only time they post something is to complain about imaginary haters.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

This, Lawless Legends, and Skald. Skald at least has an active discord and a demo. Lawless Legends has a demo. This, just nothing unless you count holiday jingle which I don't even know if they did that this year. Like i said, i buried this in the box but somehow the stench was uncovered.

Looking at original post link to ks

The SDG Guild doesn't bring in enough to sustain full time work, but it does help us keep the internet working and the website up (barely)

SumDrunkGuy guild? SDG has put out far more content than these two ever could; albeit SDG drama is a rollercoaster you dare not ride.

 

[Tavernking]

Looks like they're considering dropping the length of the game from 40 hours to 10 hours.