Bard's Tale IV with Paul Jaquays

[8bitweapon]

This is my interview with Paul Jaquays, a freelance designer / script doctor assigned to work on Bard's Tale IV from 2009:

HI Paul,

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! This interview may be for a website so let me know if there is anything you dont want published. I may make a BT4 site or i may just post it on a bards tale related site.

1) What was the plot?

You controlled the Bardling, an apprentice Bard, and built a party out of pre-created characters in much the way that Baldur's Gate would handle things years later. It started out as the standard issue coming of age story and then developed into a save the kingdom from an evil society in their fortified island refuge. The main characters from the game can be found in the Bard's Tale novel: Castle of Deception by Mercedes Lackey and Josepha Sherman. The cover art by Larry Elmore is pretty much on target for the characters depicted. http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Deception- ... 0671721259 . There were more characters in the mix, but these were the core ones.

2) How far into development was Bards Tale IV?

I came into the project as a sort of "script doctor" after a lot of ground work had been done. Supposedly, it was near the end of the project. There were a lot of adventure locations done and I was supposed to just add the final major adventure node. I ended up touching nearly every location, beefing them up with more interesting encounters.

3) Are there any screen shots we can look at?

Maybe. There's a chance that I have a bunch of the art on ancient Mac of PC disks. If I can find them, I'll share. Otherwise, there also may be some color print outs that I can scan, and very likely some adventure maps.

4) Why was the project shelved?

Jaquays: A) Three reasons that I remember. Cost overruns -- the design of the game required making art for 3 distinctly different views: side view for character and combat encounters, 3D view (classic old school Bard's Tale) for world and adventure site exploration, and an isometric top view of a large walled city. B) The core game never worked reliably. C) The game was also plagued by the departure of key personnel, including the Technical Director. None of these were fatal, but by the time they could be fixed, the game would already look "old". The producer decided that the best thing for the project was to just kill it.

5) Who else was on the development team?

Jaquays: After 17+ years, most of the names escape me. "Chris" was the original producer I worked with. I can probably fill in a last name when I can look at my old docs. Victor Penman was the producer who ultimately made the decision to turn out the lights. Sheryl Knowles was the art director and did a lot of art herself, plus oversaw the work of a number of staff and freelance artists -- all good stuff for the time period. Carolly Hauksdottir was a local free lance artist on the project -- I remember her doing the animated title sequence. Jeff Lee was the associate producer who was my primary contact. Jeff also did first pass design and engine implementation on a lot adventure areas. Victor Brueggeman was game programmer, one of the later additions to the projects (he may also be the only one of the group that I know is actively involved in game development any more) and if I remember correctly, also did engine implementation of the adventure areas. The late Steve Gerber (of Howard the Duck fame) and Dave Arneson (aka "The Father of Roleplaying") numbered amongst my predecessors on the writing/design side.

6) Was there a playable version ever made?

Jaquays: There were working prototypes, but to my knowledge, nothing that could stand alone from the development system.

7) What did EA tell tell you when they gave you the project? I saw on your site that they said you had to use existing graphics only, right? Whats the story there?

Did Interplay have a part in this?

Jaquays: Not to my knowlege. EA owned the IP and did with it what they wanted.

9) Anything else you would like to tell bards Tale fans about the lost episode?

Jaquays: While the Castle of Deception novel features the characters from the lost episode, it really has very little to do with the game itself. Or perhaps, vice versa. The game was being developed for the PC, but if memory serves, Macs were the development machine. Ownership of the game content that I created (but not the characters) was all returned to me at the end of the project by the producer ... but by that time, I was pretty much done designing adventure games.

Do you have any disks etc?

Jaquays: I found a couple letter-size print outs of character art and scanned them at 300 dpi. I've also found one 3.5" DOS disk with art on it, but the files are all .ANM files which is the animation file format of Deluxe Paint Animation ... which will not run on my machine.

Also found some other things that I'll scan for you later in the week, like the original treatment for the game...

Thank you Paul!

Here is a link to images from his Bard's Tale IV design docs etc:
http://www.jaquays.com/cv/rpgmaps_BardsTalePlus.htm

Now..do I recall someone saying I was full of hot air?

[Darendor]

That would have been me. Interesting how it only took you half a decade or so to attempt to rebut my claim.

But, whatever. The only 3 posts by you on this forum are you attempting to generate BTIV hype...

[Grimmoer]

Anybody in here play FortressCraft on the XBox? I am building the BT1 Skara Brae. I wouldn't mind a little help building THIS city!

[8bitweapon]

That would have been me. Interesting how it only took you half a decade or so to attempt to rebut my claim.

But, whatever. The only 3 posts by you on this forum are you attempting to generate BTIV hype...

I wasn't attempting to rebut anything, I was just posting interesting facts about BT4. I didn't know you had made any claims to begin with until you mentioned them in this thread.

Now the facts speak for themselves. BT4 was being developed by two different teams.

[Darendor]

Well at least you're starting to actually participate in discussions about Bard's Tale rather than posting "oh look BTIV here" once every year and a half or so.

[dulsi]

Well at least you're starting to actually participate in discussions about Bard's Tale rather than posting "oh look BTIV here" once every year and a half or so.

He is welcome to post even if he doesn't post often. Please try to keep on the topic of this thread not resort to personal attacks.

[Darendor]

Well at least you're starting to actually participate in discussions about Bard's Tale rather than posting "oh look BTIV here" once every year and a half or so.

He is welcome to post even if he doesn't post often. Please try to keep on the topic of this thread not resort to personal attacks.

Was I talking to you?

[elodman]

Well at least you're starting to actually participate in discussions about Bard's Tale rather than posting "oh look BTIV here" once every year and a half or so.

He is welcome to post even if he doesn't post often. Please try to keep on the topic of this thread not resort to personal attacks.

Was I talking to you?

Yes, you were talking to us.

If u hadn't wanted to, perhaps u would have had to write a PM for the one u intended to talk to.
Everyone posting on a public forum asks for the attention of the possibly already mature and friendly audience with some constructive ideas. And is also evaluated by readers.

("Netiquette, a colloquial portmanteau of network etiquette or Internet etiquette is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from Usenet and mailing lists to blogs and forums. Netiquette in technology is the conduct that is socially acceptable in an online or digital situation. While etiquette is ingrained into culture, etiquette in technology is a fairly recent concept. The rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over the Internet or social networks or devices are different than in person or by audio (such as telephone) or videophone (such as Skype video).It is a social code of network communication.

Communicating with others via Internet without creating misunderstandings in the heat of the moment can be challenging, mainly because facial expressions and body language cannot be interpreted on cyberspace. Therefore, several recommendations to attempt to safeguard against these misunderstandings have been proposed...." - wiki)

And in this case, when we all feel eager about a possible sequel / spin-off / anything, rethinking cannot be harmful.

[Darendor]

Yes, you were talking to us.

a) No, I really wasn't talking to you.

b) You're about 5 months late to this conversation.

c) I call people's bullshit when I detect it. I find it invariably useful in dealing with people who would otherwise try to manipulate and/or scam me. Cynical? Absolutely.


If you'd like to carry on a discourse about communication with me, you could send me a PM any time you'd like and I'd be happy to oblige you.


Any questions?