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| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016 |
14th of December 2015 |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016 to all from Faraway Studios!
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| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015 |
18th of December 2014 |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015 to all from Faraway Studios!
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| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014 |
16th of December 2013 |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014 to all from Faraway Studios!
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| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013 |
24th of December 2012 |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013 to all from Faraway Studios!
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| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year |
23rd of December 2011 |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Faraway Studios :-)!
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| What happened and what's happening...? (1-5) |
5th of March 2011 |
If you've read the last news update (as I suppose you did), you know that the development of our project has been paused for some time now. We've mentioned the reasons several times already (scroll down if you need a reminder). Unfortunately all those *distractions* (whether concerning the development or the personal lives of several team members) still haven't gone fully away. Nevertheless, we hate them with a passion and we'll fight them with all our might :-)!
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| What happened and what's happening...? (2-5) |
5th of March 2011 |
The project is about to be resurrected. Some of the team members are about to take state exams this year, however in the light of previous problems, these seem almost trivial...
But I suppose you'd probably like to know the current state of the project so let me clue you in: All the 3D models of the characters are done and so is about 70% of character animation. The screenplay is complete. About 30% of the CG videos is rendered. The scenes are 80-90% done (basically all that is left to do are the final renders and the post-production of certain scenes and some small fixes). The music is about 90% done. The sound is being finalized according to the needs of respective chapters, but basically it is 80% done. The voice
acting and the translations are being completed along with the code of the chapters. That's where the problems begin: as far as the global code is concerned, the game is about 80%
done. However, a lot of code is missing in individual chapters. That's where we got burned several times before... That's why from now on we will proceed this way:
We'll have to ask our programmers, whether or not their situation has changed and whether they are interested in and have time to continue with our collaboration. Should the response be negative (we don't think it will however, we know a lot of programmers), there's still the job opening for a new, responsible and trustworthy programmer. We've still got about $2800 set aside for him (or her) to be paid upon finalization of the game code. On the other hand, a part of the code is done already so not the whole amount will be paid, obviously. Should there be no applicants and all the current/previous
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| What happened and what's happening...? (3-5) |
5th of March 2011 |
programmers wouldn't be interested, we are ready even for this eventuality (unlike last time):
The scripting and basic (though stereotypical and boring) programming would be done by the team leader (and though he is nothing short of irritated by this outlook, it seems there's just no other way around it). The more complicated (though more exciting) parts of the code would be done by a certain coder we've already contacted, who would be working for a smaller fee than the one mentioned above.
However if you're a skilled programmer yourself, you can always contact us (just head over to the Contacts section)...
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| What happened and what's happening...? (4-5) |
5th of March 2011 |
Well, so much about the project. But let's talk about something else now. I suppose your attention wasn't caught by the considerable amounts of text in this post but by all the pictures surrounding it... As you may know, our team has been around for quite some time now. All this time we've been working on UIG, our little baby, and two other secrets projects you'll probably never hear about, because unlike UIG they've been permanently cancelled :-) (for various reasons). But mostly thanks to UIG we got to collaborate with other teams on different projects, mostly by outsourcing. So for the first time we'd like to publicly announce something that isn't really well know or talked about: Faraway Studios have started to cooperate with professional commercial teams...
In 2008 we cooperated with the German distributor DTP AG and the Cranberry Productions team on their Black Mirror 2 project. For more information see the game credits or the game manual. We contributed several screens to this game (see the first 3 enclosed screenshots). After that we managed to start a collaboration with an important figure on the Czech game development scene - Karel Papík (ex-CEO of Mindware Studios, ex-chief editor of a gaming magazine etc.).
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| What happened and what's happening...? (5-5) |
5th of March 2011 |
The collaboration focused once again on outsourcing of game graphics of several projects of his team (the next 3 screenshots on this page).
And all that wouldn't be possible without UIG which gives us one more reason to return the favor to the project as well as to our fans and one more reason to our fans to keep their faith in us!
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| Happy new year 2011! |
30th of December 2010 |
Faraway Studios wishes you a Happy new Year 2011 and with a little delay also Merry Christmas and happy holidays :-)!
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| Here we go again :-)! (1-2) |
4th of August 2010 |
There hasn't been an update for quite a long time now. So what does that mean exactly...?! Even though many people tend to think so, the project is neither cancelled or forgotten. Let me just make myself clear one more time: should we ever cancel the project (and that's not happening) we would announce it loud and clear, no hiding and no *playing* with our fans. But the thing is that the project is still up and running so don't be expecting an announcement like that :-).
Some personal issues emerged in the lives of some of our team members and they are slowing down and sometimes even suspending the development process. Like
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| Here we go again :-)! (2-2) |
4th of August 2010 |
now for example, as there has been little to no progress in the past few months (!, yeah sadly). But that doesn't mean that the project has been cancelled, just that it WAS suspended and in a week or two from now it will get back on track. We've covered the reasons several times already (see the Articles section on the left). The project remains free and considering its scope and quality some delays are unfortunately inevitable. Eventually you can see it on other projects with similiar ambitions.
To ease your anxiety we present to you a preview of how the graphics of Until I'm Gone project improved over time. These aren't exactly screenshots from this game (it's a different game that Faraway Studios is helping to develop), but they still reflect quite well the graphic quality you can expect from the UIG project. We hope you enjoy and don't worry: we're gonna finish this! :-)
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| Can we still make it till the end of 2009?!? (1-2) |
28th of November 2009 |
Short answer: NO :-) But let's go through all the reasons one at a time: it has been a very, very long time since our last update. Honestly, there was no time and we didn't really feel like publishing any news. We were glad when we could find some time to continue the development and that's what we did when we had the opportunity. So the release date is put off till 2010. We made a list of the reasons many times before, so if you want to know the details just scroll down a few pages here or click Articles in the menu on the left to get to the developer diaries where everything is explained in detail. Originally, we intended to at least publish a trailer in early December but if we're to publish a trailer it should be a real one with CGI video, voice overs, in-game live footage, music and everything. But as with this news update, we had no time to spend on creating the trailer and we rather focused on the development itself. We could show you the separate pieces, out of context bits of the CGI movies with no sound or fragments of gameplay footage, or at least new screenschots, more music tracks etc. but we don't want to do that... We want to present you with a top notch trailer. We're not sure when that will be, but hope to do that during the first quarter of 2010. I think that's a reasonable deadline. I assure you the trailer will be worth the wait (after all that's why we didn't finish it in time and that's why we don't want to ruin it for you by just releasing some fragments).And how's the project doing in general? Well, the programmer we hired is working but at a
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| Can we still make it till the end of 2009?!? (2-2) |
28th of November 2009 |
slower pace then we had expected (due to some personal problems that one sadly cannot influence). We made a mistake and didnt gave him a deadline, like we wanted before, because we're glad that he's at least moving forward (more or less) at all. That's why we decided to hire another paid programmer. The programmer mentioned earlier, who's currently being paid to work on UIG, really is working. He completed the beta version of another chapter and is currently focusing on getting it to the final phase along with an another older chapter (left over by a past programmer). The global source code is finished, and so this way future programmers will have an easier job. Also 3 more chapters (more or less in beta stages) require just and ONLY the final programmers' touch - all the other components of the chapters (the graphics, characters, animations, the sound, the music etc.) have been ready, ready for years now (!!). Up to now all we've been waiting for is a competent programmer to bring it all to life... (!) As you can see when we said a long time ago that one of the greatest problems of the project are the programmers, we weren't kidding (!). We have some contacts already but we're always looking forward to meeting capable game development enthusiasts...
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| What's going on...(?!) |
11th of June 2009 |
Is the project definitely over? Did we get bored by it? Why the hell are there no updates?! Did UIG go the way of similar projects and simply ended up in development hell? Quite some time has passed since the last update, so what's the holdup? Well, basically, there's no holdup :-) Fortunately. We seldom update the site simply because we prefer to focus on the development itself. Also it's exam time in schools again and most of the team members would prefer not to get kicked out. And that takes some time and energy too. And that's why this site has seen so few updates lately. The development of the project goes on, albeit slowly due to the ongoing problems with the programmers. It seems like not even a monetary fee is good enough for some people, especially if you're a well-off programmer and simply *grow tired* of the project over time. But it seems that a definitive solution is near. Essentially, we've managed to find another programmer... (more people have answered to our ad, so we are trying to choose the right one). We will be informing you continuously, how are the things going.
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| New experienced and payed programmer! (1-2) |
5th of February 2009 |
How to start...? After a long time we are back with a new update. The delay between updates was caused mainly by exams at the university some team members had to take. There is a new year in front of us, which we are looking forward and optimistic to. There are couple of reasons for this but the main reason is, that we are expecting that due to our new experienced programmer, this will be the last year UIG will need for its development! Yeah, finally :-)!
The start of a new year brought with itself also the need to update the whole website and not just the news section. It is still valid, that the completely new website will be launched after the release of UIG. But regardless this we managed to update the current website at least a little bit. You will find, that the texts should be now more readable (the font is brighter) and that a lot of sections received an update. Beyond some small changes, the biggest one worth mentioning is the fact, that the Join Us section, the Gallery section
and the Download section are up-to-date. Especially the Gallery section needed it a lot, because (and its a shame, yeah we know :-) ) not all of the so far released screenshots and visual materials from the game were accessible from this section. You could get to some visual materials from the news section, or could seen them around the internet, but they were not present directly in the gallery section until last week. So if you did not visit our webpage periodically, you might have missed some of them...
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| New experienced and payed programmer! (2-2) |
5th of February 2009 |
Talking about the near future, look forward to our next news, where we should already describe how is our cooperation with the new programmer going on and bringing another chapter of the game (at last, after such a time) to a gold status! And then another chapter, and another, and another, until :-)...
If you are still not sure what programmer I am talking here about and why are we so excited, you probably missed the last news and did not read this...
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| Crucial news from the development! |
23th of December 2008 |
The new Development Diary with the preannounced crucial statement from the development has been released!
All has been said in the development diary. The only thing i would also like to express here is:
The whole crew of Faraway Studios wishes you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year :-)!
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| Lost part of the 5th Developers Diary |
8th of November 2008 |
Do you remember the last dev diary (Click Here)? Were you little disapointed after reading? Did you feel that it was quite chopped...? Well... how to say it :-)... The problem is, that it really was chopped! The dev diary was a long one at that time and we managed to divide it into 2 parts... The bad thing is, that due to beeing busy (not only with the project) and having a lot of work around we somehow forget to release the second part of that diary :-)... Yeah... It really happened. So if you feel you want to see the second part, you can... If you did not read the 1st part, we recommend you to read it first, because the second one is closely connected with it and in order to get a good picture it is better to read it by sequel.
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| New Winter Wallpaper |
5th of October 2008 |
Hello everyone! Firstly I would like to apologize for letting you wait for so long to see here a new update. The main problem was, that our english translator was *bussy* with his own things and work (we do not pay him) during the summer and we we're not too much succesful in kicking him back to his work- to translate *something* for the project :-). That's the main reason you had to wait for so long... The development of the project is going more or less ok (nevertheless it could go faster, but hey, it can always go faster). Within couple of days you can also look forward to another english written development diary of UIG. For now, we would like to smooth up this thing with the so-long-taking english update at least with a new wallpaper. Winter is slowly approaching so we hope you'll enjoy it...PNG version of wallpaper HERE
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| !UPDATED! 5th Developers Diary Released! (1-2) |
6th of July 2008 |
!UPDATED! Read the 5th Development Diary of UIG HERE! Original message:
We are back after a month and we brought with us one exclusive development screen (which does not show any new scene
alright but still we think that it might be quite interesting :-) ). But that's not all, people speaking czech language
(which is our native one) can already read the new 5th developers diary of our project *Until I'm Gone*,
and our translator is working hard to deliver you this interesting view behind the development process in english as soon
as possible. !UPDATED! And it is here!
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| !UPDATED! 5th Developers Diary Released! (2-2) |
6th of July 2008 |
Description of the picture:
Here you can see the same scene in few of it's versions and stages of development.
-In the 1st and 2nd picture you can see 2 versions (in different stages of dev.) which were nevertheless not used in the game
-In the 3rd picture you can see the begging of dev. for the *final* version of the scene
-In the 4th picture, you can have a look at a stage of the final version of the scene which was considered as *final* for a long time...
-And in the 5th picture, you can see the (almost) really final stage of the scene
But still, even this stage has been modified a little bit and the really *final-final-final* stage can be seen here:
http://www.farawaystudios.com/gfx/room5.jpg
!UPDATED! Read the 5th Development Diary of UIG HERE!!UPDATED!
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| Awakening... |
4th of June 2008 |
We keep our promise and more or less on time we're back with some more news. As you might've read last time, the progress of the project had slowed down quite significantly during the past month and a half and the project itself basically went almost into *hibernation*. This was caused by the final school leaving exams that some of the team members (above all the project leader) had to take, and thus these team members, especially the mentioned project leader, had no time to focus on the project. But all of this is finally behind us and starting this month the project has yet again fully awaken from its sleep! You can look forward to seeing the next part of the developer diary soon, as well as some more interesting news and hopefully some more *juicy* stuff too.
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| Long Time No See...! |
30th of April 2008 |
Let's start today with this expression. Or better yet: *Long time no read*. Some of you may be asking why, but it's probably quite clear to the majority - there has been a delay in the current update.
Were you worried about the project? Were you having dark thoughts, head full of topos phrases that surround all the ambitious projects these days? If that was the case then I can safely tell you: fear not! :-) The recent delay in update was caused by one simple fact: some of the team members will be taking their (a bit overrated) school-leaving exams soon. (yes, some of the team members are *that* young). Because of this there's been a slight slowdown in the project's progress (no one wants to risk getting kicked out because of *half-assed preparations*). And that's why the update took so long this time.
The next update as well as the developer diary (for which absence we do apologize) will definitely come out at the end of May, when the exams will be over.
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| !UPDATED! New developer diary in English avaiable! |
2nd of March 2008 |
!UPDATED!
Read the 4th Development Diary of UIG HERE!
*Long time no see*. Unfortunately as most of you will soon find out, past few
weeks have been quite hectic for us, so we decided to focus on the
project instead of writing news updates or the development diary. We
managed to deliver the diary *at the nick of time* but hopefully you
won’t notice it :-). And that’s why you’ve been waiting for an update for
so long. But it wouldn’t be true to say the focus on development was
the sole reason: the last update was so important in our opinion, that
we decided to let it stay on the most prominent place on our site a
little longer. The third and last reason is that we’re strongly
considering changing the frequency of posting updates from 3 to 4
weeks. Why, you ask? We’re currently entering a period when we won’t
have enough time on our hands to spend it on anything else but the *raw*
development process.For example some of our team members will be taking
their school leaving exams etc. It will not slow down the
development too much but its quite probable that beside it all nobody will have
enough *energy* or time to write an update every 2 weeks (3 weeks), that is if
the updates are supposed to give you some info and not just a heap of
vague words . It’s not definitive but if there’s no update in 3 weeks
then you’ll know why and you’ll also know that you only need to wait
one week more :-) However, hopefully we’ll not have to resort to that
or at least the change won’t be too striking. And finally we are getting to
the important news: the new development diary in English is out! Read the 4th Development Diary of UIG HERE!
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| Brand new screenshots from the game! (1-3) |
25th of January 2008 |
Last time we promised you a small compensation for the delay of the project and today we're going to *fulfill* our little promise!
We've decided to release a bunch of completely new never-seen-before screenshots from a quite recent development phase of *Until I'm Gone*. On the screens below you can see *interior* scenes, each one from a different ingame location. On the next page you'll be able to see the same pics but this time with the protagonist on scene. The next screenshot depicts one of the key characters in Pitfall Mountains - Jack Stoney. But enough words, everyone can take a look themselves:
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| Brand new screenshots from the game! (2-3) |
25th of January 2008 |
If you're interested in the current progress and you want to know how are the things going, let us have a quick closer look:
Right now we're focusing on finishing the GUI (graphic user interface) of the game, i.e., various menus, buttons etc. Till now we weren't decided and there have always existed several different versions of practically everything: from the Main Menu to the cursors. But all that's over now! Time has come to make the final decision and choose final candidates for various game elements (the Main Menu, the Dialogue box, the Inventory etc.) from several versions spanning in quality from normal to flashy to simple. And even though we like to change things again and again because we want them as good as they can get, the
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| Brand new screenshots from the game! (3-3) |
25th of January 2008 |
choices will be final. In the end we decided on the more *conservative* look and we got rid of some of the graphical excesses and *psuedo-artistic* cheesiness (well yeah, ok... not everywhere... :-) ).
As for the 3D graphic, the graphic designers moved from creating *ingame* locations to creating the locations that will be used only and only in the CG videos. *Why that?*, I hear you ask. Well, that's because the majority of the *ingame* scenes is already finished and most of them are already in use in the alpha version of the game! The remaining scenes only require *tiny* (yeah, what the **** concretely means the word *tiny*? :-) ) modifications. Well, what more can I say. I hope you like the new screenshots and that you'll keep an eye on our project and maybe even leave a message in the guestbook. Viva la the ONE and FINAL- 2008 :-)!
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| UPDATED! Project delayed to 2008! UPDATED! |
1st of January 2008 |
*UPDATED*:Read here the promised *Reasons behind the delay* in english!*UPDATED*
Yes, you are reading right and if you are visiting this web periodically you might had spot the clues recently... Regrettably the project will be delayed from Q3-Q4 2007 to the new year 2008. Just year 2008, no more accurate date will be given because we want to give the project all the time it deserves to be as long (gameplay) and mainly as high-quality as we want it to be.
However, if you are interested in more exact release dates, we recommend you visiting our webpage regularly in order to get always the newest updates about the progress of UIG, which we will be now releasing more frequently than we did last year.
This time, we had written quite a lot about (not only this) delay a 2+ page text. You will find there a lot of background information and
reasons which stand behind the delay.
What should I add more for now? All you can do now is to look forward to -slowly but surely- filling of progress bar and realize that our progress bar is still filling contrary to other similiar projects! We can simply promise you one thing. Not only regarding the advanced stage of development but also regarding other things (more info in *The reasons behind the delay*) we can promise that this year, will finally be the one!
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| Christmas Eve! |
13th of December 2007 |
Just as last year, just as milions other websites, relatives, friends, Santa Claus and who knows what else, we are here too! And guess what we have with us...(no it isn't the game, sorry :-) )... It keeps bothering you all round these days, and you won't be safe even on our site, ( sorry again :-) ) and ...
Merry Christmas, good mood, lots of happiness and accomplishments and of course a Happy New Year 2008 :-)!
Roman Navratil
Faraway Studios
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