11 hours later...

First off, the game is not publicly out yet.

Second, I have it. I have played it for 11 hours.

Third, it is amazing.

Even from someone who built up hype for years upon years, and who has look forward to other games, and never had a game ever live up to my expectations, ever, someone who owns 100+ console games, and around the same for computers, the same person who is usually extremely critical of games.

This game, both lives up to everything you wanted it to be, and will surprise you over and over again.

Instant Classic. Those 12 years were not wasted.


In other news, a new demo has been released, go check out SHFF's page.

LINK

Update: Is this finally it?

In regards to the other news story about the "storm coming", Zack Black has posted something new:

...as the fireball hit the wererat's brown matted hide, it lit up like dry brush on a hot summer day. The beast shrieked and collapsed into a pile of black soot as the hot magic consumed its evil body. The pungent smell of singed hair polluted the otherwise fresh evening breeze. As the orange glow of the fire faded from Bryant's face, he felt a single raindrop hit his cheek. Looking up he could see the dark storm clouds gathering overhead. It was time to head to the tower top.


Time for the next round testing
No, I said... it's time to head to the tower.

This sounds like the news we have all been waiting for.

News from Zack Black

Good marrow all, and happy anniversary to the great DC forum! Well, I really pushed to have the game released today, but sometimes no matter how hard we try there are things beyond our control, and we must accept them. I do have some good news though. There is only one remaining bug, but it is kind of a nasty one. I say this because it is only happening on one Mac that SHFF has (and it is a real crash, not a harmless quirk) so we're having to do some long distance bug tracking and it's a slow process. We do have some tricks up our sleeve though, so with any luck we'll get this thing squashed and... well, you know... Keep those shields ready. The weatherman predicts a storm moving in next week. 8)

Straight from Zack Black, the closest thing to a release date in a while.

Here's some more quotes:

"Though he hinted that it MIGHT be next week."
The weather can be difficult to predict. There is definitely a storm front on the horizon, but wether we'll get thunder and lightning remains to be seen.

Time to keep those fingers crossed.

Anyone remember the "Armory" level from the trailer?

I'm sure some people remember this level, shown in the trailer for Return to Dark Castle:

But, what if it had been done by the original team? How about this?:


I know, don't even try to say "Too much free time".

Anyways, something to distract you from the fact that the game isn't out yet.

Calm Before the Storm update

Zack Black has given us a few more riddles, and clues to the coming news, here are the snippets:

While SHFF has been busy hunting pests, I have not been idle. I decided to try a different approach to perhaps bring the rats out of hiding. After much pondering, I recalled a trick a friend of mine showed me once, when he helped the townspeople of Hamelin. (Rat)


"It's called playing us a merry tune and having us follow along hypnotised. So as I said "
This is one possible interpretation. There is definitely another. (Rat) (Rat) (Rat)


"There are three of them following you now... Which way is the river?"
Lol. Ahem... Ah, but it is neither the river nor the rats that are of interest. I shall say no more, but rather hum quietly to myself as I read the posts.

So, again, take this how you will, and rack your brain for any possible solution to the riddles, and if you find anything, let me know with a comment!

UPDATE:

Zack posted some more hints, along with a "hint.mp3"

"The Pied Piper? He's a pretty cool dude."

Very cool dude. We used to jam together back in the day. (rat)(rat)(rat)(rat)(rat)

"Every one of his posts refers to music. Even when he says he'll hum quietly"

(Whispers nonchalantly and stares at the ceiling...)

LINK - Hint.mp3

"Looking at the file info, it was encoded with Amadeus II, which is my audio editor of choice"

Methinks there will be much amusement over the riddles and secrets in RTDC. ;)

"Maybe Zack Black's so frustrated with the delays and not being able to say anything that he's done slightly mad and this is how he's venting."

This would seem to make the most sense since I did use A(mad)ues to encode the music.

In the end, it looks as though Zack Black has added music, though we don't have a confirmation at this point.

Zack Black: The Calm Before the storm

Last week was a slow week, hmmm...

Take this as you will, it could mean that the game is set for release.... Or it could be, that there is news coming.. Take it as you will, but take it for good news. :)

NEWS! Straight from the source

First off, the picture is a custom level made by Zack Black to show off the level editor.

Also, Zack Black was left us all with some news, so, I will go straight to the quotes.

GAME NEWS:

Here's the latest news: SHFF has very thorough beta testers. DC3 is, and has been, extremely stable for about the last 6 months to a year. SHFF is finding little things like, say you use a morning star in the training to defeat the henchmen then die by running into a wall and restart the training while patting your head and rubbing your tummy AND you're playing on a Friday the 13th, then the training stops working and you have to quit back to the main screen, lol. I'm not knocking them for their hard work, it's great to have people who can find these weird little edge cases we never thought of, but that is what is actually delaying the game at this point. Let me be clear that MSP wants to release ASAP, as in today if it were possible. But they are going to continue to experiment and stress test until they are completely satisfied with it. In the supposed "final" build that was sent to them around the time the trailer was released, they found 13 of these little quirks. I fixed all of them and sent another build a few days ago, in which they uncovered 5 more. All of which were quickly dealt with. I sent them another build last night with all issues solved. They will test it on Monday at the latest.

The release is very close. It's NOT going to take another year. SHFF wants it out as badly as we (you) do. Stay cool all.

Level Editor news:

The level editor will likely be made available as a free download shortly after the game is released. Price is yet to be determined, but likely in the $20 - $30 range. Distribution is initially going to be download only, but SHFF is looking at boxed copies down the road if it sells well.

I think most of you expect that I never answer any of these because I've been hiding in a crack in the Dungeon for the last couple of years. I'm making an effort to play a more active role now.

You can customize wall / floor textures, stairs, backgrounds, just about anything except for items and enemies.

So, I'm sure everyone will be happy with this news. I know I was. :)

Now, as promised, a shout out to everyone that left comments before!

Thayne, you are stoked for Return to Dark Castle. Thanks for leaving a comment!

Izdale, I know you go to the forums and such, but I said I would give a shout out to everyone who left a comment, Thanks!

Freed, I'm right there with you, I can't see how anyone wouldn't be excited for DC3! Tahnks for the comment!

Anonymous, You may not have put a named down, but I'm glad you read this blog, and I'm sorry there isn't more news to share. Thanks for the comment!

Hamishi, Thank you! I'm glad some people are reading this, and Thanks for the comment!