Plan for Greg Szemiot

How long is too long?

I think I've been spending far too long writing the storyline for my teams project Orb... I mean, this has been the public version of the summary for lke half a year:
------------------------------------------
In ages past, the great army of the Kulon nation raged a terrible war with the peoples of this great land of Delphire. They came from shadow, and destroyed everything in their path. Men, women, children, all dead. That was long ago... however, one of their fiercest warriors has just crowned himself ruler and has started a quest for all out control over the people, their land, even their beliefs.

This evil plot calls for the abduction of one of the world's Imanti, the so called 'guardians of the faith'. However, this guardian they abduct on one night has three students, and they will not let him go so easily.

So begins a quest through the land of Delphire, through ancient ruins and thriving towns. Through the frozen wastes and the tropical beaches. As you quest, you find out that your teacher is just the beginning, that much more hangs in the balance. That things are happening here that nobody understands, and that the greatest discovery of this land, has yet to be made.
--------------------------------------------

It's getting draining now, it's been 4 years since the first page of the first version was written, we're on version 8, it's about 60 pages of storyline (with no dialogue or descriptions yet), and we even have two more games in the series on the radar and in the begining stages of writing.

I think I broke rule one of begining game design, start small with your first game. So far, estimates for this game reach 50-60 hours of gameplay, there's over 100 different characters, over 30 detailed and unique areas with over 100 overworld areas connecting them. Combine that with the factor the dev team is aiming for a look that meets or beats Final Fantasy X graphically and I'm going to be working on this game for quite a while.

Still, I'd rather be working to bring people to a whole new world, a place they can get imersed in and never let go. As my UK counterpart James Bond (yes, it's his real name, I've seen his passport) said, "I want people to play Orb, turn the game off, go to sleep, and still be in the world." Given the sheer ammount of time we've put into the storyline and emotion present in ther world... it could happen, and that is truly exciting.

------------------------------------------------

Also... since I'm a firm believer in leaks where people least expect it (and I know a few of our 'fans' check my blog here) I'm going to release a new image for them here: