You Know Your Game Is Too Long When It Takes 17 Years to Play It…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on February 25, 2011

Okay, that’s not exactly the case. Or not even remotely. But I amused myself with the title, and that’s what this blog is all about, really… 😉

Cleve, developer of the legendary vaporware RPG Grimoire has apparently finally played through the entire game, start-to-finish, without cheat codes, for the first time in the seventeen years he’s been working on it.

That is a long time.

Lotta bugs can build up in seventeen years, you know…

Anyway, I need to be very careful about throwing bricks from inside my glass house. I’m actually really, really hoping this game sees the light of day. And then I hope it doesn’t suck. Unfortunately, the likelihood of it sucking is high, only because it would be so ironic after spending so many years in development, and irony can be a real jerk sometimes. At least that’s my working theory, lacking much information on this game other than hearing from people who actually tested it YEARS ago who said it was pretty good back then.

Anyway, good luck Cleve. I hope this game finally sees release this year! Just not at the same time as Frayed Knights, ‘k? Thx.

Filed Under: Game Development, Indie Evangelism - Comments: 16 Comments to Read

Milkman Dan said,

It’s kind of sad that I know Cleve mainly for his rants on Usenet.
Ken said,

With Cleve done with his Grimoire playthrough and Duke Nukem Forever coming out, the End Times must be upon us.
sascha said,

The screenshots look actually very good with nice 2D art on them. And nice 2D art is still better than ugly 3D art. Looking forward to this one.
Calibrator said,

> With Cleve done with his Grimoire playthrough and Duke Nukem Forever coming out, the End Times must be upon us.

Yep, 2012 is coming fast now! 😉
Demiath said,

The more I read about this game, the less convinced I get that it’s actually a real game and not just an elaborate meta-joke about game development in general, RPG fanboyism in particular and Cleve Blakemore’s own ego.

To take just one example, the screenshots on the game’s current website are nice enough but none of them seem to show off something remotely resembling an actual combat situation (what appears to be NPC conversations are as close as you get), which is very suspicious for an old school RPG which is supposed to have been in some kind of playable state for years now.

If my creeping suspicion turns out to be unfounded, so much the better. I could go for another Wizardry-esque first person RPG just about now. Gotta have something to do before Knights of the Chalice 2 comes out, y’know…
skavenhorde said,

@Demiath The beta has been on the net for years: http://www.mediafire.com/?7d0sw1cjcjwk8a5
Color Me Meh said,

Even if (big “if”) this game comes out, I’m not supporting it based on Cleve being a delusional arrogant racist douchebag.
Rampant Coyote said,

I support your right to withhold said support. I didn’t know Cleve Blakemore was the pen name for Charlie Sheen, though… 😉
Charlie Sheen said,

ಠ_ಠ
Xian said,

Unless it is very old school, I have to wonder what changes have been needed to be made on a development cycle that has stretched into that many years. Seventeen years ago I was gaming on a 486 computer running DOS.

I think I remember reading that Duke Nukem Whenever went through at least two engine changes to keep current in it’s extended development.
Rampant Coyote said,

I do understand a little better what makes games like this potentially take a very long time – especially as a part-time venture. And you have to assume there are lulls in development – it’s hard to stay motivated working on the same thing for such a long time. I know, I’ve been there.
skavenhorde said,

When he releases it I will be buying this game in less than a New York Minute. I couldn’t care about a developers own philosophy on life. I care if they made a good game or not. You know silly things like that influence whether or not I buy a game 😉

I’d probably starve if I had to find out someone’s moral fiber every time I purchased something.

ME: Excuse me. What is your stance on America’s fight on terror?

Publishing Exec: The what? I don’t believe we made that game yet?

ME: You know, our invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan? What is your personal opinion on that?

Game Exec: Let me check…..Nope, we haven’t made that yet. Sorry. Maybe it was made by some other company.

ME: Nevermind……
Wavinator said,

Hmmm… Gotta wonder about this. Gaming has become much more cosmopolitan over the years. It’s not very hard to Google Cleve Blakemore and get a sense of the controversy. In fact, until I read Color Me Meh’s comments I only remembered the name Cleve Blakemore in the context of a game designer who was getting trashed for promises that proved to be vaporware. Bigotry wasn’t even on my radar screen. But a quick stroll through the internets opened my eyes. If he’s anything like what I’m reading, how in this more diverse market can that not hurt his sales?
Zynaryx said,

Cleveland Mark Blakemore is probably one of the smartest people on the entire planet. Seriously. Unfortunately he is also probably one of the craziest as well. I predict I will be playing Duke Nukem Forever long before this game is released ever.

I had a crazy cousin who was working on the great american novel for forty years until he died of diabetes so I know about geniuses and end points. They don’t go together very well.
omg said,

Blakemore is just a troll and liar
Dartmouth said,

Cleves entire life is a LARP of some kind apparently. When hes not working on this game hes roleplaying apocalypse hero in his super fortified bunker installation. This insanity if reflected in the game is a treasure and I will buy this game the second it comes out. I could do with a W7 clone that looks like old skool on steroids.