Hello guys!
Wow, I didn't expect such a "verbose" feedback, here.
To answer some of your questions:
The game is freeware, and must stay freeware. First of all, I don't want people to have even the slightest suspect that I'm developing it for money. We do have a donations system, but it's very discreet and modest. No huge campaigns, no kickstarters. Of course we have expenses, but they're not even fully covered by the donations. The money received so far mainly helped paying one of the background artists (good pixel-art isn't cheap, unfortunately) and the one still unspent is being kept there in case it's impossible to find enough people to work voluntarily for the completion of the game. If we found such people, the money will be used on the following game in the trilogy, which is Fold.
Of course Disney's ownership of the copyright prevents us from even trying a more direct campaign (be it IndieGogo, Kickstarter, or even Steam Greenlight). Such a campaign would certainly help developing the game faster and more easily. Chapter One has been worked on in our spare time. And this is usually the case for many indie developers who work out of passion: same goes for Indiana Jones and the Fountain Of Youth, for example. I know that for fans it's not easy to understand why it takes 5 or sometimes 10 years for a fan-game to be made, but usually the reason is people can't do that for a living, and if you have a full-time job then it's hard to develop a complex game in the meantime.
For what concerns continuity and faithfulness, we tried to stay 100% true to both Loom and the little info Brian Moriarty (author of Loom) has shared. Forge and Fold had never actually been planned by LucasArts, anyway: they've always just been "ideas" in Brian's brain (sorry for the cacophony!).
So it's not like we're using much copyrighted material. What's interesting about Forge, in my humble opinion, is that in case the legal owner of the copyrights decides to send us a cease&desist, we'd still be able to release the game applying some changes, without revolutionizing it. It wouldn't be the same, but it could be worth making all the same.
On a side note, Brian Moriarty himself replied to our former project-leader's email showing his interest in our project. Which is nice, though the Prof. doesn't have any right to the game, sadly. Check
THIS POST in our Forums for the long version of the story.
Let's hope the interest in a Loom franchise by the new owners is not that relevant, though. I wouldn't like if they sent Mickey to knock at my door with a sawed off shotgun. ;D
As per the length: I think Chapter One shouldn't be much shorter than the entire Loom was; but I can't be completely sure. It also has some replayability value due to the different Proficiency Modes and the Rewards system. The full game will also feature unlockable Minigames.
Last but not least, the game's .exe is safe! And the .tar archive is even safer! Don't be scared. :)
Merry Christmas once again!
-Gabriele
P.S. That Sierra joke was really cool. If I remember correctly, there are several examples of mutual jokes between the two companies. I have to admit I'm a Sierra fan as well.
