s promised, here is the official Book II development update:
The game is coming along very well. We had an early alpha test in September which resulted in over 100 fixes/suggestions. The month of October has been spent preparing the game to be submitted to the 2010 Independent Game Festival (entry deadline is November 1). That means we didn't get a lot of late game content done, but we did apply a whole bunch of "bling" to the make the game look and sound its best!
In terms of engine development, everything is essentially in place and working. Just a couple of minor tasks still exist in the "ToDo" list for programming. Sound and music has come a long way as part of the October bling makeover. As for game content, we are still behind where we are scheduled to be (we are about three months behind where we thought we'd be with content now) but we are making great advances daily. With programming and polish mostly out of the way, we are moving full-steam ahead with content.
The big question is: will Book II make it out before the end of 2009? Honestly it is looking a bit doubtful, but we are not forecasting any kind of significant delay. Our next big internal test is scheduled for early December, and we hope that leads into the semi-public beta test a few weeks after that. If all goes well, a January release is certainly possible! :D Besides, after the chaos of the holidays, that would be a perfect time to sit down with a good old-fashion RPG and burn away the rest of the winter months!
More info to come!