Beyond Shadowgate Update

[zojoi]

Hi everyone,

I know that many of you have been asking about the status of Beyond Shadowgate, the sequel to Shadowgate. I had been meaning to post on this for some time but I was hesitant to do so until we could announce what we've been working on. Unfortunately, everything in this industry takes longer than I want and we're still a number of months away from doing that as we work to not only get the game into beta but finalize a publisher/PR firm. So, for this lack of communication, I very much apologize. That said, I'll give you the scoop on what's going on with Beyond Shadowgate.

The short answer is that the project was set aside about a year and a half after Shadowgate shipped on Steam. Yes, we are still planning on making the game but, no, I don't know when that will be.

The long answer is a bit more complicated (and revealing) so if you would humor me for a few minutes, perhaps grab a cup of coffee and a comfy seat, I'll explain...

Zojoi is a very small company mostly comprised of contractors/friends that I have known for a long time. Shadowgate Reimagined had a team of ten people working on developing the title for all platforms. Even though I had ported the original Shadowgate nearly a dozen times, developing THIS version of Shadowgate was a dream come true. Everything came together wonderfully and we added as many cool things (and nods to the NES game) as we could!

As soon as we launched the game on Steam, four things happened within a few months of each other:

1. Karl and I started developing the design for Beyond Shadowgate and the artwork for the first dozen or so rooms was being created.
   
2. The programmers were working on a new, more streamlined Command Wheel to the Shadowgate UI as well as a fun quest for Halloween.
   
3. Once that was complete, they moved on to the iOS and Android versions of the game (as promised to our Kickstarter backers). Since we were using Unity, we had hoped this would be straightforward. It wasn't. It took us quite some time to get the iPad version out and even longer to launch on Android devices. By the time this was done, the team had been on Shadowgate for over three years and key members of the team had decided to move on. That's not to say that they don't jump in now and then to look at any issues but that’s about the extent of their time.
   
4. A new team of friends/contractors formed with the desire to make a new 3D first-person adventure. The design for this title happened quickly and soon became the most ambitious project I had ever worked on. We hope to release the trailer for that in a few months, go into Beta in the fall and release at the beginning of next year on PC and then on consoles by years end.

Even though we had to temporarily set aside Beyond Shadowgate, I felt very strongly about supporting the Shadowgate brand (as well as the older MacVenture titles.) After all, Shadowgate has been a part of my life since I helped design it in 1985! So, a while back I worked with my publisher (Reverb) to find a good suitor for bringing Shadowgate and the original 8bit games to consoles. A company called Abstraction Games really impressed me and I signed a deal with them to bring Shadowgate to PS4, XB1 and Switch (out this summer) and the original 8bit games to PS4 and XB1 (out late last year.)

So, that’s where things stand. Again, I apologize for the lack of updates and will definitely be more diligent in the future with those. I very much appreciate y’all being on this journey with us and supporting Zojoi. Finding people as passionate about Shadowgate as much as I am and offering encouragement has meant the world to me!
Yours,

Dave Marsh

P.S. As I mentioned, we’re some months away but if you are interested in Beta testing our new game, please send an email to [e-mail] and let me know if you’ve been a part of a beta test before. It would be good to have some quality testing friends on board when we find ourselves washed up on strange shores as a lilting song carries from one dark wave to the next…

[Sir.Copperfield]

HOLY SMOKES!

First off, Thank you for communicating this.

As a big fan of the ShadowGate series, it pleases my heart, and awakes my gamer spirit in hopes that we will see ShadowGate Beyond.

The ShadowGate Series is a vary rich in story and unique in it's gameplay.

All I ask is, please do this game right. Give it the proper story line it deserves.
Continue with the awesome art style, gameplay, and puzzles.
Don't rush something out just to meet a dateline.
Give it the time and care, that i know you can give it, so we can appreciate this awesome game series.

Thank you for communicating and please continue to do so in the future.
Thank you for all your hard work.
Thank you for bring this game back to life.

[cecilnezuto]

Agreed and I've already put my email in. I still support Zojoi and understand. I imagine they saw something they truly liked in this new game and I am highly intrigued to see what is in store.

One thing us older gamers have is patience, most of us were just concerned that Beyond Shadowgate had perhaps fell victim to what happened with Shadowgate Rising's cancellation, as well as many other beloved titles from various developers.

Very glad to see things have actually been going well for everyone.

[TheGhostGalleon]

Thank you for letting us know! I can't imagine the difficulty in it, but I understand and I'll be ready for it whenever it does come out, and looking forward to any other project.

[deadlyviper78]

As a fan of adventure games first and foremost, I'm super eager to see this upcoming game.

[svenevil]

I just finished Shadowgate today (I was a backer, but my name is not in the credits :-() and saw the "Beyond Shadowgate" ad... to be released in 2016...

Thanks for answering my question even before I asked in the forum.

[zojoi]

Originally posted by svenevil:

I just finished Shadowgate today (I was a backer, but my name is not in the credits :-() and saw the "Beyond Shadowgate" ad... to be released in 2016...

Thanks for answering my question even before I asked in the forum.

Hey Sven, in-game credits were for the $60 backer tier and above.

[svenevil]

Originally posted by zojoi:

Hey Sven, in-game credits were for the $60 backer tier and above.

Thanks for the information!

Btw - the german translation was... not so bad, but FULL of grammar mistakes. I noticed dozens, although I just played through the game once on apprentice level so far.

[Verant]

Sweet! Good luck on the 3D project guys! This was always a special game for me when I was younger.

[Transmental Me]

Dude.... that was over 3 years ago. No news at all for 3 years, Wtf?

Talk about shooting your hype train in the head.

[Transmental Me]

I mean, I'm happy to hear news the thing is still alive, but man... just dropping everyone off in the dump was very irresponsible. We need less of that garbage in the community.

[Sir.Copperfield]

I share your sentiments Ghost. Hopefully, going forward, the dev team should keep us posted every few months.

[zojoi]

Originally posted by Ghost:

I mean, I'm happy to hear news the thing is still alive, but man... just dropping everyone off in the dump was very irresponsible. We need less of that garbage in the community.

Hey Ghost, Well, one of the things I didn't mention was that I was trying for some time to figure out how to get the project moving again - another team, perhaps through a kickstarter, etc. Regardless, sincere apologies for not posting something sooner. I'll be sure to provide consistent updates!

[zojoi]

Originally posted by ᴊᴀᴡᴀ↹ᵗʳᵃᵈᵉʳ:

I share your sentiments Ghost. Hopefully, going forward, the dev team should keep us posted every few months.

Hi Jawa, I'll be sure to do that!

[Dopefisher]

Was Shadowgate 64 considered a sequel of sorts? In any case, really looking forward to another Shadowgate game!

[cecilnezuto]

Yes, it was a sequel to Shadowgate and the original Beyond Shadowgate.