October 17, 1997 Dear Adventurer, Welcome to the seventh edition of the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School! It's a little past 9:00 on a Friday night, the entire building is empty except for Chance Thomas (of course), our internet is down, I've been lip-synching audio files all day. It's pretty exciting to see all of our hard work come to life on the screen especially since we've made so many dramatic advances over the years. Our new 'talking heads' aren't just static features with flapping lips anymore. Now facial features match the expression and move in accordance with the mouth. Several people may be talking at a given time so each talking head is displayed on the interface along with the corresponding text. Each character's text will be a different color so you can remember who is who. The new 3D talking heads add a new realistic dimension to character interaction. I could go on but I need to take a break and try to catch everyone up on what's been happening lately with Dragon Fire! A lot of time and energy is going into making the demo ready by Thanksgiving. The demo is a snapshot of what will soon be the full-blown Dragon Fire game with multiplayer action available through the Sierra Internet Gaming System. The Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS) is the way you'll play over the Internet. We're also working on modem and LAN based play. Only a couple of weeks before we go gold with this demo! You're probably metaphorically wadding this letter up and tossing it in the "I'll believe it when I see it" bin right now. If you follow the history of my newsletters you'll know what I mean. It can be quite a challenge to create a demo that will be compelling and create our complete product at the same time. A great game experience can come to a rude halt when a glitch is encountered as most gaming fans are painfully aware, so we are very enthusiastic about creating a game that can be played over and over again, each time being a unique experience and without glitches. If it means we have to push the date back then that is what we will do. Check out our "NEWS" or "MUSIC" page to find out how you can get a copy of the QFG V Soundtrack/Demo. The Producer's Podium - Contributed by Jay Usher I'm very pleased with the progress we've made on the game. Kudos to the art team! I've had the artists on a pretty aggressive schedule up until now. They've done an awesome job in creating the high quality art that you, the end users expect. They're now putting those finishing touches on their work. Most of them will be migrating on to other products in the coming weeks, with the understanding that we could pull them back at any time to polish. A smaller, core art staff will continue to maintain until we ship. Production has stepped up another notch in the last few months for the programming team. Now it's their turn. We're currently implementing multiplayer and of course we'll be tweaking that until we ship. For all you avid Quest for Glory fans out there, we have a new addition to the QFG V programming team! Corey Cole is sitting at the desk between designers Lori Cole and Terry Robinson with "computer-in-hand". We've got him rapidly coding away, putting in that extra touch you know and expect. Now, do you believe we're going all out for you loyal fans? Next, the audio staff has been feverishly lip-synching the voice actor's lines that we recorded last month (Lori Cole and I were very pleased with the results) and the character talkers are amazing! 3D talking heads with facial expressions and head movement give this game an added bonus. You'll get a taste of all this in the Soundtrack/Demo, available next month. I'm sure you'll be impressed with what we've done so far. -Jay- Robin again! Like I said at the web site Chance is really excited about the work that he has done. The rest of the team is pretty excited about it too. So, without further adieu, Chance explains it best. The Conductor's Platform - Contributed by Chance Thomas O baby, what a wild couple of months it has been! Way too many all nighters writing and recording at our Sierra studio, mega recording sessions in Salt Lake City with members of the Utah Symphony, more all nighters mixing here at the studio, an incredible session at an unbelievable mastering facility in Hollywood, photo shoots, television and magazine interviews... if I wasn't so hyped up by the news I'm about to share with you, I'd probably pass out from sheer exhaustion. So what's all the excitement about? How does this grab you - THE QFG5 SOUNDTRACK ALBUM IS FINISHED! I could repeat that for emphasis, but it would be easier just to have you read it again. (Go ahead - I'll wait...) We had our last session on September 24, and two days later I delivered the gold master to QFG5's producer, Jay Usher. It now sits in a Sierra vault, anxiously awaiting its combination with the QFG5 Game Demo, and an expanded version of the Art + Music Kiosk. (If the programming team wasn't so picky about having the world's most killer combat system in the game, you could get a copy today. But they're particular about that sort of thing. As it is, combat will be limited in the demo but not in the full game. They are still hard at work pushing every new technology 'till it screams, and they need about another month to pull their miracle together. Let's try to show 'em a little patience.) Oh, all right, if you refuse to be civil about this, and you absolutely have to hear it NOW, then go to our website at http://www.sierra.com/qg5 and check out the new music pages. If you follow the path of the "Music" and "Soundtrack" buttons, you'll find eight samples from the album waiting to preview or download. We've tossed in a smattering of pictures from the orchestra session, and if you're REALLY into this, we're working on a step by step account of how the whole project came together. That will come later. For all those long suffering Quest For Glory fans who have written to me wondering what ever happened to the "Overture", I have some especially good news. The new "Quest For Glory V Overture" turned out very nicely. And it is truly an Overture, meaning a pretty serious piece of music that provides an overview of key themes you'll encounter throughout the game. It's 4 and 1/2 minutes long, and takes you on quite a journey. There are 9 discrete musical sections, covering 7 different themes, so if you don't particularly care for one section, just stick around and see what happens next! Now, is there anything else I should tell you about the "Overture"? Hmmm... There was something else... What was it...? Oh yeah, now I remember. As I promised in this column long ago, the new "Overture" does include the traditional QFG theme that many of you know and love. Towards the end of the "Overture", after a particularly dark and chaotic passage, you'll hear the traditional theme rise up as if from the ashes of all that has gone before. It begins as a duet between the flute and the violas, grows with the orchestra, raises in intensity with the trumpets, and then explodes into the closing QFG5 triumphant theme. And if you're a careful listener, you'll find a hint of it in the triumphant themes as well. Lori and Corey Cole were both clutching their hearts with an almost patriotic emotion when I played it for them. Hopefully, you'll like it too! Until next time... Chance Well, that's about it for this edition of the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to email them to qfg@sierranet.net. Thank you for being a member of our F.A.C.S. newsletter, and we'll catch you in a few weeks with some more info on Dragon Fire. Until next time, Robin Bradley Web Boy /Quality Assurance Team Dragon Fire Sierra On-Line, Oakhurst.