Unfortunately, The SQ7.org project is being put "on-hold" for the indefinite future.

I know that this is the last thing that you'd want to hear, particularly after what CUC did to the original SQ7 project, but the current legal environment doesn't leave us much choice. Vivendi has decided that we need to either shut down, or sign over the work of the community to be used by them however they want.

As many of you know, the SQ7.org project has been arguing with Vivendi for the last few years about exactly how to resolve the SQ7 situation. Vivendi doesn't have any interest in preserving the series- They've turned down every offer we've sent, and their lawyers have made it clear that their objectives are to remain in control, even if that means never releasing another game.

I'd like to thank the many people who have stayed with us for the last 7 years as we've worked on the project. We've all invested our time, hopes, and dreams in SQ7. Some of the most fun I've had in the last 7 years has involved Space Quest, from our first team meeting with Josh, Diane and Liz at Johnny Rockets to go over the community-submitted plot ideas, through the week-long cram-sessions to make proposals that Vivendi might accept, we've all put a lot of ourselves into Space Quest. With a community that's survived for so long, and so powerfully, I'm certain we'll be able to see Roger rise again.

Space Quest 7 is about 85% complete, depending on how you measure- The engine works, and has played through a test-game we build for it. The background Artwork is nearly all rendered, and the story is complete. We were able to expand the original storyline that Josh gave us, and flesh it out to include over 10 different locations, across three acts. We've worked with some of the best and most talented designers, artists, and composers that I've ever had the pleasure to know, and their work has made SQ7 far superior to many titles released in the last 5 years.

We'd still like to release Space Quest 7 in the future, and we're continually looking for ways to do so. We've sent Vivendi proposal after proposal- We've offered to make the games commercially, or non-commercially, with their help or without it, but they aren't interested in moving forward, unless we give them the complete copyright to all of Space Quest 7.

This isn't an acceptable arrangement for a great many reasons, not least of which is that we've promised we wouldn't. It's a bit of an open-secret that many of the people who have worked on SQ7 have credits elsewhere in the game industry, and we've promised that the SQ7 work would never fall into the hands of a commercial game studio- Particularly Vivendi.

We can't simply change the name of the character to "Bob Wingbat", and release while avoiding their trademarks. Space Quest 7 is heavily woven around the planets and existing characters that make the series so enthralling- We've build our game to extend the legacy, and trying to untangle that now wouldn't be fair to the game, or the people who would play it. Secondly, this wouldn't help our legal situation. In the recent discussions involving the book "Peter and the Starcatchers", which is an unofficial sequel to Peter Pan, it was argued that even though the names and places were changed, it was it's intent to be a sequel, and so it fell under the legal code as a "derived work".

My advice to any aspiring fan game creators is to avoid any press at all cost. Avoid announcing if you can. Don't publicly recruit, if you can avoid it. Part of the reason that SQ7 has always tried to avoid interviews has been to stay under the radar- We'd been offered print interviews in PC Gamer and others, but we wanted to avoid getting well known enough that Vivendi would have to act.

Other fan games that were being developed took a different approach. For better or worse, they went bigger, faster. This had huge advantages in increasing the speed of development, but by getting mainstream publicity, they had the effect of forcing Vivendi to respond.

It is my personal belief that Vivendi has no interest in shutting projects down. For the most part, they're businessmen, and their primary job is protecting their investments. They've paid a lot of money for the Sierra back-catalog, however indirectly, and they don't want to allow anything which has the potential to damage it.

What we can say, is that we're making a difference.

The continued development of the Sq7 project, and the SQ community were primary motivators behind the recent release of the SQ collections, and licensing the old Space Quest games to Gametap. In part, this act had the effect of renewing the trademarks on Roger Wilco and crew, which stopped an attempt we were making to legally obtain them, but more, Vivendi has been shown that we still care, and we're still willing to fight.

We sent a 60-page proposal to Vivendi, with the theme of returning the games to "prominence and profitability." We pitched the idea of professionally remaking the games in the early Sierra catalog, and bringing them to new platforms. As we did, we started to talk about the idea of starting a professional game studio, with the goal of making a wide variety of games in the adventure genre and others. We received some interest, but ultimately Vivendi is more interested in protecting what they have, then risking anything at all for the chance to make the titles worth more.

For now, Vivendi seems to think that's safest to do nothing- To let Roger and his crew rest, slumbering in the night. We couldn't disagree more.

In May, Matt and I signed the paperwork to formally create Darkened Sky Studios. Demonstrating the power and flexibility of the Slage engine, we are nearing completion on its first commercial project - a re-release of the storied online collectible card game, Chron X.

With "Chron X 2" and perhaps a few other projects under our belt, coupled with my recent credit on Take Two Boston's "BioShock", we're working to gain experience, enhance the engine, make industry contacts, and in short, build a brand Vivendi can't ignore when we next come knocking.

I'm sure that given time, another fan team will create another Space Quest title, and release it without any fanfare. I wish them luck, and good fortune. I know that Roger will see his last romp through the cosmos, and that the world will see him again. With any luck, we may have the chance to build a Space Quest game commercially down the line, or come to an agreement that Vivendi can accept.

Leslie Balfour once said to remember Roger settling down with Bea, and raising a family some place quiet. I prefer to think that someplace out there, he's picking up every slimly mold infested piece of junk he can fit in his pockets, knowing he'll need them all for his next adventure.

Colin "For now." Davis
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