The Adventurers' Guild

Okay, I've noticed something strange going on here. And no, I'm not standing in some sewer up to my knees in sewer water underneath Skara Brae, either.

Some guy named Seth claims to be in contact with people who had a hand in developing Bard's Tale IV before what they had done up to a certain point was locked away into the archives of Interplay.

Consider:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bar ... message/25
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bar ... message/44

Consider the second post - "delux paint files"...

First of all, if Bard's Tale IV had been in preproduction, in 1989 the 8 bit market was still viable and the IBM/PC market was still fledgling, so why wouldn't he be able to get ahold of images from the more populate market versions (a la Apple II/C64)?

Second of all, the BTCS takes Deluxe Paint files, so I have to wonder.

What's going on here?

Looks like that version of BT IV was a 16bit project after all.

And I "know" Seth from a C64 remix site. I assume he isn't just making stuff up though I don't know nothing about his claims.

I heard that BT IV was in development back then but didn't see the light of day. Maybe what had become BTCS was the remainder of that project.

Something that occurred tonight while at work was that Michael Cranford did the first two games, and had a planned second sequel called "Castle of Candarr" (beat Destiny Knight and read what happens after you kill Lagoth Zanta).

Apparently, the catalyst of Michael Cranford leaving the programming industry and to pursue his career in theology was a falling out with Brian Fargo from Interplay. Since Mr Fargo had a hand in the first two games (as well as the third), it makes sense to postulate that Michael Cranford had written at least some rudimentary code on his BTIII and this is the version that got promptly shelved.

That's my thought.

I suppose you guys haven't missed out Dragon Wars which was rumoured to have been the planned BT IV at the start of its development. As for Cranford - he picked up the torch again and made the sadly forgotten Centauri Alliance - better known as Bard's Tale in Space. This is a great game, breathing impossible Cranfordesque colorcombinations and hard battles.

As for Brian Fargo - make sure you don't miss out Swords & Serpents for the NES. It's like Bard's Tale, but only dungeon. .-)

Interesting Stuff, thanks for posting.

Maybe someday some of the original dev's will get bored enough and make another related game. We can dream.

I assume you have seen this article.....

"When asked by Cheek's Bard's Tale Page on October 15th, 1999 about the possibility of a Bard's Tale IV, Bill said, “Contraband Entertainment (my company) has a Bard's Tale IV proposal that we're really excited about but EA must first make a decision. It's a slow process and it MUST MAKE MONEY for EA or EA will not pursue it. I've been waiting 10 years to do another Bard's Tale game.”

Sounds like EA killed it, damn you EA.

http://bardstale.poverellomedia.com/beyond.html

Seems like Seth was full of hot air.