What's up with Mysterious Song?

[oldskool]

I was browsing through some of the old threads from about 4 or 5 years ago and came across a game that was being developed by a few people called "Mysterious Song"...  it looked really good!  What's the status on this, it seemed to me that it was all but done then.  Was it ever released?

[oldskool]

Also noticed the poll about what kind of case to use for it just a few threads down from here..   is it that close?  Are we gonna see this game soon?

[Keranu]

Mysterious Song has gone through development hell with artists coming and going and numerous revisions to the game. Currently the only things that really need finished are the cinemas and tile graphics for the bonus dungeons in the game (as well as one more sprite graphic from me for a mini-game ). We've been stuck at the 90% completion mark for this game too long.

[oldskool]

Without sounding rude or anything like that, what's the hold up?

I think it's great you guys are doing this.  Is this basically just a conversion of the Original version?

[nat]

Yes, with an all-new exclusive dungeon area. The holdup is the artwork for this special area. I was planning on completing this this past year, but real-life commitments have prevented me from doing any work on it in many months. If I can free myself up sometime in the near future I may go back and finish it, but at this stage, my feelings won't be hurt if someone else can do it sooner/quicker.

[nodtveidt]

Actually, the hold-up is the cutscene art, not the exclusive dungeon area. lord_cack completed the extra tiles some time ago, though I'm still waiting for the compilation of the tiles. However, Black Tiger has been missing in action for some time now, and I don't think he's even aware of the deadline. We're waiting on him right now. There are a few other odd details to polish off but they are extremely minor. It would take a grand total of two days to complete the game once all the content is available...it is otherwise completed already.

Another problem is funding. A year and a half ago, when the game was supposed to be finished, we had the funding to send the game to press. Now, my wife and I barely have enough income to handle paying for our home and bills, let alone a $2000 investment in CD pressing. So even if the game development manages to make the deadline, pressing will not happen right away due to lack of funds.

And yes, it's a conversion of the original, with new graphics, a seriously overhauled score, some exclusive in-game content, a bonus minigame, and a gallery of concept art.

[Keranu]

Yeah I definitely see this as being a major overhaul compared to the original. The original had cheesy pillow-shaded style graphics, so lord_cack's tiles really added a high quality 16-bit look to the overworlds. The new cinemas are also fantastic and add much more depth to the story of the game. I still think it's pretty amazing how well the voice acting came out considering the actors were just people off the internet using off the shelf recording equipment and open source audio editing software.

A simple conversion of this game was the original goal back when the project started and could've been released within a year or so after development, but I'm glad we've been able to make what originally came off as a generic looking RPG into something special.

[oldskool]

Is there anything the PCE/TG16 community can do to help with the funding?  I guess that doesnt matter much considering you are waiting on Black Tiger.  Does anyone have a personal home number or anything to get a hold of him to get this thing going again?  Hate to see a project die even though it's so close to being finished!  It's been 4 or 5 years in the making.  The TG16/PCE community is anxiously awaiting a new release.  The last one was when, 2002? 

If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.  I am not a programmer or anything keep in mind.

[Keranu]

Black_Tiger is still around and posting on forums occasionally. He's probably just been very busy, as he's mentioned before, and he pops in the FU forums every now and then to let us know that he has done a little work on the cinemas.

I'm not sure of what help fans can do other than spreading word about Frozen Utopia and, of course, buying our games when they're released .

[termis]

Is there anything the PCE/TG16 community can do to help with the funding?  I guess that doesnt matter much considering you are waiting on Black Tiger.  Does anyone have a personal home number or anything to get a hold of him to get this thing going again?  Hate to see a project die even though it's so close to being finished!  It's been 4 or 5 years in the making.  The TG16/PCE community is anxiously awaiting a new release.  The last one was when, 2002? 

If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.  I am not a programmer or anything keep in mind.

I can't imagine this project dying after so much has already gone into it.  If it takes another year or two, well, so be it.  All the regular TG/PCE folks will still be around...  (well, hopefully, anyway)

[nodtveidt]

I don't want the project to die either. But when you've already invested so much time in something, you want to see it either completed or terminated. It's been in the frying pan too long and is starting to burn. We have many other projects in store, virtually all of which are our own original work, which will never see the light of day if this one doesn't see closure.

[Keranu]

By the way, nod, what's going on with the FU forums? Says they've been under construction for some days now.

[nodtveidt]

I put the forum in maintenance mode to see how long it took people to notice. It was a gauge to see how active the forum really was. Also though, I do have to update the forum script since there are still a few errors left over. The forum software needs a fresh install.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I check the forums everyday....how did I miss this maintenance mode thing??

[nodtveidt]

Probably because you're an admin and can access the forums normally. I've taken it out of maintenance mode now though.