Pool of Radiance Article at WotC

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(Originally posted by Darien)

Associate Producer Chuck Yager has written another article on the PoR2: Ruins of Myth Drannor. "The End in Sight" takes a look at the long road behind the development of the game and, (finally), to the end of that road: Myth Drannor!

When we finally had it up a running to the point of commentary, we elicited everyone's feedback and got a lot of criticism right off the bat. Taking these thoughts to heart, Jon and I went back to Stormfront and started cleaning up the game further. Areas needed better descriptions, more quests needed to be added, animations required touching up, and more monster types were born. Around this time, and after many hours of hard work and realizing we would not meet our original release date (not to mention the company being bought and sold a number of times), Jon left the company to pursue other interests and I was left to carry the torch with the help of Garrett Graham (another producer). Together we finished the reviews of the game, got it polished up, and solicited feedback from a wide array of individuals inside the company (and a few outside).

All of that paid off. Today, Pool looks and feel like a great game to me. As I sit here and write this, I just now realize how far we've come and how much was accomplished against daunting odds. Now when we show the game, we get a ton of great feedback . . . from the stunning visuals of the 3D characters, to the beauty of the rendered backgrounds, to the engaging quests and nonlinear feel of the aboveground exploration. The game boasts anywhere from 70-100 hours of play, maybe even a bit longer if you try to explore everything. Having played through the game from start to finish, I can attest to the size and scope of the missions and plot; while not quite as big as some of our competitors' products, Pool is definitely a decent size with tons of hours of fun gameplay waiting to be had.

Read the article.