Gore was a collaborated FPS effort by Eyecon, Slam Software, and 4D Rulers. (Whoops, I meant Eyecon was the one from Queensland, not 4D Rulers). Released in mid-2002, it was followed by an immediate panning by reviewers due to its weak single player experience (which was requested by the publisher and tacked on, whereas the multiplayer aspect was the developer's main focus). Gore had built a rather loyal following and 2 years on, many of them are still eager for a sequel, especially utilising the next generation AMP II engine. Unfortunately, Joel Huenink (President of 4D Rulers) has given the reasons why a follow up won't be happening too soon...
"I worked 6-7 days a week, for 12-16 hour days on that (Gore II) demo, paid Zith for some mods, etc. It just didn't quite come together. Between Bens outstanding bugs, and some new one's Zith made, I can't send it out as it stands. ON top of that, it needs tested and its just no fun playing brooklyn with 2 guys, so I can't get a grip on how to tune the gameplay, etc.Then the pricks at the bank repo'd the house the wife and kids were staying in, so I had to get a job and get my child support paid ASAP. I've been busting ass at the new job, which is doing auto body work, (my old trade before making games) and its pretty physical, so I'm pretty well beat at the end of the day and have no motivation left to finish the demo because Ben's shit has been sitting for 6 months untouched. I found some new bugs with the armor which pretty much need ben to fix, and he's dragging ass, so I'm sort of stuck right now.
Sure there are probably things I could do, but I'm pretty well burnt out on games right now. Not saying I'm done or anything rash, but now that I have a "real job" I'm focusing on getting my shit together for a while. I might write a design doc and replan this whole Gore II thing. I might be able to get the rights back from DC, if I can I might go for it, if not I might rework the thing into a new demo with a new name and no IP issues. But for now after working my ass off all day and I've been taking care of my kids a lot, I just don't have time for Gore II. The donations were making it a reality, but they stopped, so I had to get a job, thus Gore II came to a stop. I don't blame anyone, you guys were very generous, and I thank you. Its not over yet, but I need to get a design doc done and start over. Its not like technology wise we're going to be stale in a few months, D3 hasn't even shipped. So I'm taking a bit of a break and rethinking things."
The guys at 4D Rulers have gotta be commended for running on their own steam while trying to juggle so much other issues in life. Here's hoping they can pull off a great Gore II demo and snatch some publisher support! Click here for some work-in-progress screenshots of Gore II, and the link following takes you to Joel's message in the 4D Rulers forum thread.