Fan sequel to Loom in development

[Ghost]

Hello all,

Some of you might remember Lucasarts, or Lucasfilm at the time, special little adventure game called Loom that was released on the PC, Amiga, and Atari ST I think.

I say special because it was a very unique adventure game in comparison to Lucasart's other adventure games at the time; The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as it did a few things very different regarding controls.

In Loom you had no inventory screen, and rather than using objects you used 'drafts' you learned along the way to solve puzzles.

Loom ended with the promise of a sequel called Forge, but unfortunate due to the bad sales this game was never made.

But now a couple of fans have started work on a Forge sequel and it seems pretty interesting so far.

http://forge.freeiz.com/?p=main

[Phantom]

Bad sales?

Loom is the most prototype adventure of all-time.

[Harrison]

I also thought Loom sold really well. I remember it being in the Top 10 best selling games chart in the UK for quite some time.

But anyway... it is great that some fans are attempting a sequel, as like you said, a real one was never made, so it will be interesting to see what they can develop.

[Ghost]

Perhaps I got my knowledge about the sales wrong.

I had the impression that it had been disappointing sales that prevented Brian Moriarty from making his planned sequels like Forge (and Fold I think).
Not that the game like I said was bad.

Edit

Mobygames clears the matter up

Contrary to popular belief, the LOOM sequels were not abandoned because LOOM didn't sell well. LOOM has sold more than half a million copies in various formats since it was published in 1990. The reason the sequels weren't made is because I decided I wanted to work on other things, and nobody else wanted to do them, either.

I find that a rather strange mentality from Mr Moriarty, Loom was sort of his creation and expecting others to take over development because he wanted to do other things, well that is not how it works.

I guess these fans are continuing what Brian had hoped would happen twenty years ago.

[Harrison]

It is a mentality that is difference between a creative and business mind.

For the business mind it made great sense to make a sequel, as fans of the first wanted one, the first sold well so a market was there, and it was a guaranteed brand identity to promote.

For the creative mind though it offers no challenge compared to a completely new project. It is one reason many don't make sequels. A designer or artist hates to keep rehashing old ideas, turning out different new versions based around the same old ideas. They want to generate new concepts and ideas. Something completely different and in new directions. If a designer is happy with the concept and outcome if a first game then they have completed the goal they had in mind. And further versions would just be retreading old ideas. I can easily see why using this point of view he didn't want to continue.

The good sequels will always come for design frustration within the first game in a series. Limitations of time constraints, the ideas and designs not fully fulfilled in the first game, or just being unhappy or not fully convinced that the first game delivered everything they wished. And so the designer is eager to make a sequel to try and expand on the first, to show what he really had in his vision for the game.

[Ghost]

Anyway, I am glad that after all these years there is going to be a sequel.

The new interface sounds as unique and special as the distaff and drafts from the first game.

I do hope that this team will also develop Fold after finishing Forge.