If you use the same engine for Book III as Book II, the content should be enormous correct?

Will Book III take a lot less time to create?

Book 3 is supposed to use the Book 2 engine, but that may change once lots of players get to play Book 2. It depends upon what players think of the new game engine and what they want added.

I think Book III should run on an updated engine, like Book II did.

Book III will run on a slightly modified Book II engine. The biggest delay in getting Book II out has been that we implemented so many new features. With Book III we are planning on just a few new features to be able to get the game out sooner than Book II.

Then we will be talking about releasing a few tools for you guys to make you own adventures, an updated Book I Platinum Edition (if there is still interest) and of course we will be creating a new engine for the new game not related to Eschalon.

Gosh BW, sounds like this little hobby of yours may turn into a real job!

Oh we will be. The unused teleport platform, the smithy lever, and the mysterious lighthouse boat have made an impression.

And then of course there's the widget...

The conspiracies are endless!

Personally, I kind of thought that might be the case. That happens a lot - for example, there was a quantum leap in Bungie's game engine between Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal, but Marathon Infinity (aka. Marathon 3) used basically the same Marathon 2 engine with only a few additions/modifications.

I've been thinking for a while that Eschalon: Book I is your 'proof of concept' game - there's a lot of stuff in there (e.g. certain spells) that you don't even need or get to use in Book I. I'm guessing that Book II is probably going to be a lot closer the game that you originally envisioned in the first place.

Which is not to say there isn't stuff some of us will want to see in Book III if it doesn't turn up in Book II (e.g. sailing/boating, riding steeds, etc.), but let's save that until after we get a chance to play Book II and we start a "Book III Wish List" thread!


I can only speak for me but, boy! am I interested!!!

Even if the 'Book I Platinum Edition' only includes Ash Island, and doesn't get out to Western Thaermore, I'm still totally psyched for it!

That would really excite me. I hope that's not just gonna be the talking; that could keep the game alive for much longer; great stuff. The girls will join as well. So yes, please do it.

Perhaps a little early for feature requests, but one thing I would like to see in book III is more flexibility in screen resolution (i.e. the ability to handle sizes from 640x480 upwards, by downsampling higher-resolution tilesets and offering widescreen support, the norm now, by relocating UI elements from the top/bottom to the side of the screen).

Another cool feature would be the ability to import data from Book I/II allowing these games to be replayed with whatever improvments Book III offers - perhaps even combine Books I-III into an epic campaign. *dreams wistfully*

I see those two very hard.

1) I think that "downsampling" will bring more problems than solutions.
2) I think that if you import your old character from Book I or II you'll gain a lot of advantage in Book III.

The only game I can remember now which had two different resolutions was The Sims, and I have a couple things to add here.
1) When playing at 800x600 the tiles weren't downsampled, they were kept at their original size and the gameplay area itself was smaller.
2) The UI was wider at 1024x768, but it was easier work there because it was only horizontal.

There are plenty of games out there that have multiple, scaling resolutions... but they're mostly of the 3D variety. I think one of the biggest issues with doing that on Eschalon's isometric engine is that things could possibly get really ugly when downsampled. IRRC, BW's talked about issues with that in the past when attempting to create multiple resolution options with the Eschalon engine. To put it in brutally simple terms: Multi-res = New engine = not gonna happen with this series.

I don't really see any issues with EB:1 on a resolution standpoint. It scales quite nicely in full screen on my 20" widescreen LCD. It would be nice to be able to scale it up in a window, but that's like getting heated and cooled seats in your car: it's a luxury item, but certainly not necessary. The increased resolution of Book II means things will look sharper... which I certainly won't complain about. However, I wouldn't expect much more on the resolution front from Book III, BW has already mentioned that it will be using a slightly modified Book II engine... so it's doubtful he'll have all of the graphics re-rendered for other resolutions at this point.

AW wasn't talking about importing your character... he was basically referring to re-making the first two games with whatever features Book III ends up having. The biggest issue I see with that is it would require a complete rebalancing of the game, as things like new spells and skills could possibly "mess everything up."

Of course, should BW get a working toolkit for Book III so that peeps can make their own games... an enterprising fan could possibly make that a reality. 0_o

I didn't understand that one well. Sorry AW! I thought you were talking about the character. About that thing, perhaps a Book III player will make a total conversion which will let you play Book I with Book III's engine (or perhaps a group of several players).

Also, I think a 1024x768 resolution is the best balance between appearance and compatibility, and I don't see a reason to add multi-res to it.

It would be nice to have a new game just built on the old engine just in the fact you can really spend all your time just developing content...

What i think would be neat is if it was done like Ultima where its the same world updated in time....god that would rock...seeing a small town that is now a thriving metropolis...

Or a fledgling religion that ahs spread across the land in a future game...

Basilisk, you know I'm going to be pushing you for the next trillogy of Eschalon.

Wow, best news ever. This game's perfect for an edtor. I can see myself spending so many hours on creating and playing other people's adventures!