Hi from GPF Lith

[GPF Lith]

*opens up a portal to about 7 years ago*

Hi guys, it's been a long time and I'm completely floored that there's still an active Gruntz community out there (I even got 2 new custom levels today!).

I thought I'd drop in, say hi, and give you guys an update on what I've been up to.

After Monolith, I worked at Gas Powered Games where I designed Dungeon Siege II and then I started a company that was purchased by Vivendi. They brought back the "Sierra Online" name and gave it to our company so I guess you could say I worked at Sierra Online.

About a year ago though, I got back to what I love most: Casual games! I now design games for Big Fish Games, and I'm having the time of my life.

If you liked Gruntz, I think you'll love some of the games on our site, and you'll definitely get a kick out of the game I'm working on now. Unfortunately I can't say much about the game I'm working on, but I can at least leave you with three games I'd recommend most from our site:

The first is called Azada:
www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/1689/azada/index.html

The second is Dream Chronicles (there's also a sequel to this):
www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/1748/dream-chronicles/index.html

And the third is Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst:
www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/1305/mystery-case-files-ravenhearst/index.html

It's great to see this community still around. If anyone has any questionz, my e-mail address is:

kevin at ddrseattle dot com

Kevin.

[GooRoo]

My wife is a big fan of Big Fish games ... she has dozenz of them. Maybe now I know what the attraction is ... one of the game Designerz!

[abdalla]

is there a possibility for gruntz2
i hope so

[Gamer]

Sounds like there are plenty of good games out there to try.

I played a few Vivendi games and they were pretty great. I'll have to check out some of the others.

[GPF Lith]

Jun 10, 2008 4:27:42 GMT -8 abdalla said:

is there a possibility for gruntz2
i hope so

That's tough because Monolith still owns the license for Gruntz. I know if I owned a large company and someone asked me for the rights to a license I owned (even if I didn't plan to use it), chances are pretty good the dollarsigns would light up in my eyes and I would ask them how much they were willing to pay for it.

However a Gruntz-like game using a different-enough intellectual property would certainly be possible.

Kevin.

[GooRoo]

Can you tell us what program is used to manipulate the PID (image) filez? If I had such a program, I could correct several of the graphic omissionz/duplicationz in Tilez. Miniature Masterz in particular have several missing (Ground) Tilez and several duplicated (Ground) Tilez which could be used to make such correctionz. But none of the six graphicz programz I have know how to handle PIDz.

[pattymouse]

Hi, Kevin!

Dream Chronicles is a game like gruntz, I love both. I solved the second in nearly two and a half hours. Will there be a Dream Chronicles 3? Please, say yes.....
Best wishes.
Pattymouse

[TurkeySandwich]

Jun 11, 2008 15:47:28 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

Can you tell us what program is used to manipulate the PID (image) filez? If I had such a program, I could correct several of the graphic omissionz/duplicationz in Tilez. Miniature Masterz in particular have several missing (Ground) Tilez and several duplicated (Ground) Tilez which could be used to make such correctionz. But none of the six graphicz programz I have know how to handle PIDz.

I was about to ask that.


Hah, its such a coincidence that I remembered Gruntz less than a week after GPF comes back-ish. In fact in about 2 weeks I'll be not way too busy to try and open up a PID in a HEX editor and figure out how they're encrypted.

[SpaceGoo]

Jun 11, 2008 15:47:28 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

Can you tell us what program is used to manipulate the PID (image) filez? If I had such a program, I could correct several of the graphic omissionz/duplicationz in Tilez. Miniature Masterz in particular have several missing (Ground) Tilez and several duplicated (Ground) Tilez which could be used to make such correctionz. But none of the six graphicz programz I have know how to handle PIDz.

IMO, Monolith put those Tile duplicationz so that people could sort of 'camoflage' other Tilez. In SwordGruntz' GolfChallenge, for example; he took a duplicated sand border piece and disguised it as a Rock, but he could still use the sand border piece because there was still the original Tile he could use for a border.

[SwordGrunt]

Jun 22, 2008 14:18:16 GMT -8 SpaceGoo said:

Jun 11, 2008 15:47:28 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

Can you tell us what program is used to manipulate the PID (image) filez? If I had such a program, I could correct several of the graphic omissionz/duplicationz in Tilez. Miniature Masterz in particular have several missing (Ground) Tilez and several duplicated (Ground) Tilez which could be used to make such correctionz. But none of the six graphicz programz I have know how to handle PIDz.

IMO, Monolith put those Tile duplicationz so that people could sort of 'camoflage' other Tilez. In SwordGruntz' GolfChallenge, for example; he took a duplicated sand border piece and disguised it as a Rock, but he could still use the sand border piece because there was still the original Tile he could use for a border.

Sure... but in that case, the sand border tilez look exactly the same. In this case, they don't... so, if you wanted to give special attributes for a light/dark transition tile, you would choose one that you wouldn't use for every dark section.

[GPF Lith]

Can you tell us what program is used to manipulate the PID (image) filez?

Wow that was a long time ago.

I want to say that PID is just a PCX file with a custom header, but I can't remember for sure. I did write the converter for it (PID was a custom file format), so I can dig through my old Monolith archive and see if I can find anything.

Will there be a Dream Chronicles 3? Please, say yes.....

I'm not sure about that, but if you liked Dream Chronicles, then you will LOVE the game I'm making. Keep your eyes peeled toward the end of the year for more info.

Kevin.