Any news out of GAMMA?

[dartnet]

Any thing new to report?

[rob]

At 12:42 PM 5/4/2007, you wrote:

Any thing new to report?

Overall, the show last week (GTS) was quite good. We met with lots of publishers and received verbal agreement from virtually all of them regarding adding a bunch more licensed games to HL. However, nothing was actually signed at the show, so there's nothing to officially announce yet. Once we get licenses inked, we'll be able to make official announcements.

[MPHopcroft]

How much cost (in terms of funds and/or developer time) is involved in all those licenses? I'm very, very happy that interest in HeroLab is exploding. I just hope you have enough people available, incluiodng freelancers, to meet the requirements of what you agree to.

[rob]

At 10:08 PM 5/8/2007, you wrote:

How much cost (in terms of funds and/or developer time) is involved in all those licenses? I'm very, very happy that interest in HeroLab is exploding. I just hope you have enough people available, incluiodng freelancers, to meet the requirements of what you agree to.

It varies widely from one license to another. Different games have wildly varying complexities, which require very different levels of work. In addition, different publishers have widely ranging requirements and can provide different levels of resources to us, and that impacts the development efforts significantly. We're in the midst of getting our initial three licenses developed right now. We're going to be using this experience to accurately project how subsequent licenses will work and gauge the time involved to do them well. To answer your implied question, we've got a large but manageable amount of work right now and it's our intent to keep our commitments within reason. Whether we achieve that goal will be determined over the months to come. :-)

[Giddoen]

ok so like at least 3-4 months have gone by with nothing? The base program is pretty useless as it stands? No offense meant here I think it is a great idea but it is really starting to look like vapor ware????? Can we get some dates or something? It is looking like I dropped hard earned cash on a application I cant use? I really want this program to rock but Gama has come and gone it time to give us the loyal fans something...anything but a wait and see? It is getting old!

Thanks and hope to hear something soon.

Giddoen

[rob]

At 09:27 PM 5/21/2007, you wrote:

ok so like at least 3-4 months have gone by with nothing? The base program is pretty useless as it stands? No offense meant here I think it is a great idea but it is really starting to look like vapor ware????? Can we get some dates or something? It is looking like I dropped hard earned cash on a application I cant use? I really want this program to rock but Gama has come and gone it time to give us the loyal fans something...anything but a wait and see? It is getting old!

We just completed Phase 1 of development on the World of Darkness data files. You'll be able to see the WoD data files in a special preview release that will be available as part of Free RPG Day in June. We still have about two weeks of work left to have the WoD files complete for Vampire, sans changes dictated by White Wolf. Adding Werewolf, Mage, and the rest will likely take an additional few days apiece at this point. Note that these time estimates are NOT calendar times, but the actual amount of work required. The remaining two weeks on the initial WoD files will be spread over the next 6-8 weeks. We're on target for the planned summer release of the WoD data files with Vampire, and we may get additional settings into place for the summer as well.

We spoke with Green Ronin at the GAMA Trade Show a few weeks ago. We nailed down how the visual branding will be done for Mutants & Masterminds, and work is underway on getting prelinary M&M data files created. Our target is late June to have Phase 1 development completed on the M&M data files. After that, it will likely be another couple of weeks of work to have them completed, which will be spread over a 6-ish week period. Our target is to have the M&M data files available in time for GenCon.

We also spoke with Mongoose at GTS and nailed down the visual branding. The Runequest system is quite complex, approaching the level of d20. Consequently, we're working on the Runequest files right now, but we don't expect to have them completed until late summer (i.e. after GenCon). If things go faster than we anticipate, we might make GenCon, but we're not confident that will occur.

We also have verbal agreements from a number of other publishers about developing data files for their games late this year. Nothing has been finalized yet, since these are for licensed properties and we're currently navigating the process of dealing with getting sign-offs from the primary licensor. Since those licensors are huge companies (e.g. movie studios), it's a lengthy process.

At GTS, Hero Lab was officially selected as a finalist for the 2007 Origins Awards. It's in the field of five for Best Gaming Aid or Accessory in 2006. The winner will be voted on and announced at Origins this summer.

A number of other nifty things came out of GTS, but none of them are definitive yet, so there's nothing to concretely report at this time. Once things solidify, we'll make announcements.

That's the quick overview of things. We're on track for a summer release of all three game systems that have thus far been announced.

Thanks, Rob

[Giddoen]

AWESOME! See I knew you could say something!!! thats all we the rabid fans are asking for!!! :-)

Keep up the great work. Now I have hope since I detest D&D but love M&M (funny that huh!) I am soooo looking forward to those data sets!

As a demo monkey for GR I will use these data sets to help organize and run con and local game store events!

Thanks Lone Wolf. You have renewed my faith!

Giddoen

[MPHopcroft]

Are you going to have threads on the forum to update and announce the new licenses that ARE finalized? That would be helpful, even if some of them are two or three years down the road in terms of development time.

[rob]

At 12:05 PM 6/15/2007, you wrote:

Are you going to have threads on the forum to update and announce the new licenses that ARE finalized? That would be helpful, even if some of them are two or three years down the road in terms of development time.

That's a good idea. We'll strive to get that done next week, after we get the release done for Friday.