Monteverdi

I don't doubt what you're writing, at all. Literary copyrights are renewable in several nations (including the US and UK) up to a limit of 100 years, for example. But I don't recall any nations that have copyrights on audio recordings beyond 70 years, save possibly Italy. It's worth checking into, is all I suggest. The ownership of a given song is *always* known. Even when it's contested under law, the parties contesting it are always known. A copyright attorney knows exactly where this information is held on file, though it is available to the public. Most people just don't bother to seek out the appropriate court records in their nation to find this out--and who can blame them?

About the period music: much of the recorded music from that time is now out of copyright. In the US, the copyright on recorded music is 50 years, so you're safe--if you just want to reproduce those old 78s, or a CD that includes them. In addition, many of the jazz and popular musicians of the late 1920s and early 1930s recorded for labels that long ago went belly up, without having their owners sell assets to any extant companies. As a result, a lot of stuff recorded by the likes of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, Fats Waller, etc, is available on a ton of small labels who haven't paid a cent for it. It's all literally in the US public domain. I looked into this about 20 years ago, when I was still working in public radio management, and we had to decide what things we could play without payment.

This is just an off-the-wall thought, but still: consider either re-recording or using records made in 1930-1932. The mix of styles from 1925 through the 1940s and to modern times isn't bad in the game, but it can't help thinking that there's more original flavor in the music of the period. Would also like to see something I mentioned in a different thread, earlier: some way for the game to flag new Inspirations that appear when you make a Level in a Skill, so they stand out more against the older Inspirations. Nothing more than a slight difference to color, perhaps a dot or a small secondary color band across the card. My wife was grumbling earlier about a general inability to see what Skills are required once you're in the middle of a Caper, so the possibility to click away just to see the active Caper steps might be useful. The Art Deco artwork is excellent, though the anime style seemed a bit out of joint with it. That may just be me, however. I should add that it was all done very well, and the dialog was witty in a fashion I associate with some films of the period, such as the first of the Thin Man series, or screenplays that involved Ryskind,or Wilder. Nice job. A very different kind of "visual novel" game, and I'm all for that.

I just checked A-Sharp's website. The information is that the game will be next on the iPhone and iPod, and "Our goal is to keep King of Dragon Pass’s unique stories and basic game play, but simplify things where possible." I suspect they believe (with some reason) that the giant iPhone/iPod market isn't into simulations with that level of density, so simplification, rather than add-ons, is the order of the day. I've been hoping they'd do a followup title, given that Web-based games now sell well, unlike when they first released KoDP, but they're still pretty gun shy. Perhaps after the iOS version comes out and does well, they'll reconsider.

If KoDP is released for the Apple next year, I hope A Sharp upgrades the PC version for "little extras." It's an extraordinary game.

I don't know if it's mentioned before (other than by myself; and I had a number of comments at the time), but it would be nice--if possible--to receive some sort of incentive reward if you scored highest in any skill in your class at midterms. Nothing major, just a minor perk, with perhaps limited uses, but always a nice little trophy-like object you can keep in your closet. Otherwise, midterms lack any outcome other than realism. I've got nothing against realism, but in a game, it should probably serve some other purpose, as well.

I agree with this--with this proviso: give it as something your character learns from having met and befriended their mentor. That way, students in general won't have it yet, but your character will.

Legate, not to pick nits, but shouldn't your topic under announcement entitled "Warning: Potential Issue with CP2, ...more information as it comes," refer to CP1, instead? I suspect most people will realize this, but some might be inclined to let reading the post slide because CP2 isn't due out for a while. Just a thought.

I've seen it once before, in King of Dragon Pass. That's really where you lead a barbarian tribe, but it has a similar concentration on multiple choices, building stats (this time, of a council), selecting from a wide variety of optional activities over time, perusing a great deal of lore, and dealing with hundreds of mini-plots--some of them linked to places, or people, or objects; others random. It's one of my all-time favorite games. This could easily become another.

A relative of mine had downloaded it illegally from a pirate site. I spoke to her mother about this, but then watched it being played for a while, and decided it looked very good, indeed. So I bought it. Good work deserves support.

How do you mean?

Woe, thanks for the response. That confirms attributes being a major source of the relative difficulty for learning skills.

I've one suggestion that doesn't refer to the game as-it-is. It's something I liked about another text-heavy, options-heavy life sim, King of Dragon Pass. It had many mini-plots, and many of them didn't started with the player's tribe. They might start with another tribe, or an individual, or a traveling group. You might get caught up in one part of something bigger, or become considerably involved in it. So for example, when Phillipe Marchand targets an especially mousy classmate with bullying--I forget her name just at the moment, but I'm sure recall it--you have options to resolve that one instance. But it might make sense, seeing that you tried to protect her, for this classmate to attempt to befriend you, and to involve you in other aspects of her own life. Similarly, other students who draw you into their circle. At the moment, there's one who offers an action to give hard-nosed criticism that adds stress, but might provide insights. That's good, but it would be nice if I got the sense through an event or two that he had a life, as well, and that my character was a peripheral player in it. Am I making any sense, here? In other words, lengthen the events into a series centered around an instructor, a location, a classmate, and give you the occasional bit part that still includes significant choices. You don't save the day, but you do affect the progress of matters a bit.

I see. It's strange how some skills require only one step--all my current character's Glamour skills, for example--while others require as many as 6. Must be due to the way I configured the character's background, which makes a lot of sense. So when it states, ""Needed for next level: 0 of 6," it really means, "Progress to next level: 0 of 6." You may want to consider changing the phrasing of that just for clarity's sake. I assumed the needed part meant I'd reached the 6 already, since I only needed zero more to make that level.

I'm still a bit confused. I looked at at Incantation Phemes, and it states, "Needed for next level: 0 of 6." Presumably this means I can raise it the next time I train it, but that in fact doesn't happen. If I train it, it stays at the same level. I have to train it a second time for it to rise.