Three Cards to 11:30

Hello Everyone!

Aaron here with a long overdue update on the TCM project. I know there's been a lot of speculation - and I've wanted to keep everyone in the loop - but we wanted to get a little closer to release before we came out with new information. Despite not meeting our hoped-for release dates, things are still very much on track. Rest assured that we're as eager as you to get this thing finished and shipped!

There are two primary reasons for the delay: (1) it's hard to be productive through the holiday season, and (2) we've given the game a bit of an overhaul, and here's why:

Back in October, we cobbled together a rough demo and sent it to several publishers and online sites. After everyone played the demo, we collected the feedback, which turned out to be mostly very positive. The adventure game people, especially, said the story was very intruiguing and they were eager to see more of it. However, there were some concerns about the scale and difficulty of the gameplay.

Chris and I talked it over and came up with some ideas that would greatly enhance the game experience. Unfortunately, it required a fairly big time investment. But, as things are finally coming together in their finished form, it's obvious that we made the right decision.

Here's where we are: This week, we finish the "game shell", so you can create your player, select a difficulty level, play the game, track your progress, replay, etc. - basically everything not directly related to the in-game content. All the in-game locations are finished and ready to test. Gameplay content is about 95% finished. We have rough cuts of all (80+) cinematics and we're about three weeks from having final versions.

So...trying to be as realistic as possible, I think we'll have a finished game sometime in February. And, most importantly, the game will be as good as it can be. I think Chris and I were so excited to get a new game out, we were trying to rush it. Now we're taking our time to make sure that it's done right.

And, really, releasing three months late is NOTHING in this business. (Grey Matter, anyone...?)

Best wishes for a wonderful 2009!

Aaron
Fantastic to hear from you. I know I don't speak for myself when I say "we" are very excited that the project is coming closer to fruition.

Thank you for the update!
As always, keeping the faith!

Jen
Awesome! Something to warm the soul in Feb, now I can totally put up with the bitter bitter cold.
Thanks for the update... Still Can't Wait... :D

AC wrote:And, really, releasing three months late is NOTHING in this business. (Grey Matter, anyone...?)
LMAO, that's too funny... Just like with any game from you guys though, I'm sure Grey Matter is going to be worth the wait as well...

Always better to have Quality over Quantity... Though if you have Both, you truly have an excellent game... I think Pandora alone speaks true of that {as do the other Tex Games, PD just happens to be my personal favorite}...
The Paved Straight Road, Won't Always Get You Farther Than The Winding Dirt Road...


Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...

*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...
True, three months is a really short time. And I, for one, appreciate ANYONE in that particular business who're willing to NOT rush into a release date deadline.

Some great games have been ruined that way, or, like Final Fantasy 7, become less than they could have been.

I'm certain it was the right choice! And looking forward to the game with glee!

-Fred
Pirates, vampires, zombies, ninjas, ghouls, aliens, goblins, monsters, robots, sorcerers, undead, werewolves, demons, mutated dinosaur-cyborgs and those pesky phone salesmen! The shotgun is a one-size-fits-all solution!
thanks for the long awaited update. It is important the game is not rushed as you only get one stab at it.
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
Great to hear some news. So the gameplay is difficult, well, we are accustomed to be challenged! Thanks for your work.
Great news, after a cold feeling in last weeks, this is the right warm up HYPE.
Can I pre-pay it :?:
I'm just glad to hear that it is not cancelled.

I think doing the game right is probably a good philosophy to follow, considering this game could either make or break the return of the tex series.

Good luck AC & CJ
Matt
PLEASE BRING TEX BACK
i guess the guys that made the Tex Murphy games are the only ones with the earned authority to make jokes about Gray Matter and Jane Jensen :mrgreen:
But seriously, great news and i think none of us mind the waiting.
Jones, Conners, Jensen . Man, for fans of the few, true storybased games 2009 will be a blast.
:D
yay!
Travis Jacobs

"You might not sound so idiotic if there were at least something excitable in my post to begin with..." --Baf
VonGlower wrote:i guess the guys that made the Tex Murphy games are the only ones with the earned authority to make jokes about Gray Matter and Jane Jensen :mrgreen:
But seriously, great news and i think none of us mind the waiting.
Jones, Conners, Jensen . Man, for fans of the few, true storybased games 2009 will be a blast.
:D
I think everyone can make jokes about Gray Matter and its release schedule. It's capable of matching Duke Nukem Forever. I for one have no belief the game will be out this year.
lotus_j wrote:
I think everyone can make jokes about Gray Matter and its release schedule.
I guess that actually the smiley behind my statement showed that this was not a serious statement by myself, right?

lotus_j wrote: It's capable of matching Duke Nukem Forever. I for one have no belief the game will be out this year.
I´d rather say it´s capable of matching A Vampyre Story. It was a long way for AVS and it will have been a long way for Gray Matter too.
I´m not so sure that dtp won´t be able to hold the 2009 date. Let´s keep on following the (pretty interesting) monthly Gray Matter blog and let´s see what happens in the very next months as far as concrete new infos go- this might show the direction in terms of how far Gray Matter is away.
Listen, i'm really very excited about the new game, just like everybody else...

But it's pretty obvious, that the guy who's falling down on the Three Cards Box Shot is taken directly from Cyans Myst Cover from the early 90's... don't you think that could get you into copyright problems?

Image

Image

just thinking... otherwise than that it looks great! can't wait for it!