They Hunger: Lost Souls / Neil Manke

08-09-2011, 08:20 PM

Has anyone heard anything new on They Hunger: Lost Souls and/or the situation with Neil Manke?

There's a talk page here on valve's wiki:
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/w...er:_Lost_Souls about the mod and people are wondering about Manke's health. Last I heard, the project was put on hold due to Manke being "very ill".

On that talk page, they mention some public records site that lists an address for Manke in Manitoba. According to his official website, http://www.blackwidowgames.com, he lives in Kamloops, BC. I found another white/yellow pages type site that lists an address and phone number for him, that is probably more likely to be accurate do to the fact that it refers to the correct city of Kamloops, BC. It's here: http://www.canada411.ca/res/25057956...149336669.html

Someone who has a valve dev community account might want to update that talk page to take care of the incorrect info. Personally, I'm hesitant to just jump in and call up that number to see if he's ok. Although I did talk to him directly once before about his Half-Life 1 mods, though this was many years ago and via e-mail which I'm told doesn't work anymore.

Any thoughts? I hope he's ok.

Since Lost Souls was intended as a comercial release, maybe Valve staff know something more?

08-24-2011, 05:06 PM

I too am wondering what the status of this game is... I loved the original and have been eagerly awaiting this one!

eXoSolid · 09-11-2011, 05:47 AM

someone really needs to get in contact with that guy, great series, but the odd thing is, very ill ? and doesnt let people know whats happening or whats going on with him or the game.
Damn great mods

Nostalgia man · 09-11-2011, 08:16 AM

Why can't manke just hand over development to someone else or a close friend? Usually when your ill of health people stop what they are doing and just give it over to someone else they trust.

BlueWolf72 · 09-11-2011, 09:31 PM

I have not heard from him in years

malek1013 · 09-12-2011, 08:44 AM

The last point of contact I had with him was through "another Half-Life Mod administrator / owner" and apparently everything is behind closed doors. :/

I highly doubt it's in development still.

pnag · 09-15-2011, 02:05 AM

Yeah, I was sure I'd heard it had been cancelled.

Real shame that, "They Hunger" was excellent for the original HL, and the sequel looked amazing based on the previews.

RMJ · 11-14-2011, 08:13 PM

Its really wierd and quite spooky what happened.

Rumors are going around that he is / was ill or now dead.

Its very wierd he wasnt working on this alone? What happened.

One thing is to cancel a project, sure that sucks, but atleast knowing what happened would be nice.

But this silence about what is going on, this is after one the sequel to what most people consinder the best single player mod for Halflife 1.

I really dont understand what happened, but i think its pretty safe to assume its dead. Would be nice if anyone could actully get a hold of someone from the team or Neil manke himself.

11-18-2011, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malek1013

The last point of contact I had with him was through "another Half-Life Mod administrator / owner" and apparently everything is behind closed doors. :/

I highly doubt it's in development still.

I think alot of people are more concerned about his well being than the mod. All I've seen from various websites is reports that he was ill. That was over 6 years ago though.

If the status of They Hunger is "behind closed doors", fine, but someone atleast tell us if he's ok!

11-18-2011, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RMJ

Its very wierd he wasnt working on this alone? What happened.

No he definitely wasn't working on it alone. The Black Widow Games site is still up and running and lists all of those that worked with him. Most of them were in other countries though.

Dr_House01 · 12-05-2011, 11:47 PM

Will follow this post, my best wishes for Neil Manke and I hope we are going to have some good news soon about him and someday maybe for Lost Souls

roman-lenko · 03-07-2012, 10:08 AM

I've recently wrote mail to neil[at]blackwidowgames.com:

Quote:

Good day to all Black Widow Games!

My name is Roman - gamer for a bit, and a your fan for a lot

Don't want to waste your time, but really need to ask you a few questions:

- Is everything OK with Neil Manke? Many people over the internet is telling about his illness and inability to take part in BWG gamedev process and even overall BWG studio closing. Is this true?

- How about BWG plans? Lasp update on your site is dated 2008... :/

- And of course - question about They Hunger: Lost Souls. I've heard - the project is suspended. Is there any release dates or smth to make all the fans happy?

Thanks for you time!

Roman.

But received a MAIL DELIVERY FAILURE as response from their mailserver. So... there is no more Black Widow Games and no more They Hunger Lost Souls

((

prophecy holder · 03-11-2012, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roman-lenko

I've recently wrote mail to neil[at]blackwidowgames.com:

But received a MAIL DELIVERY FAILURE as response from their mailserver. So... there is no more Black Widow Games and no more They Hunger Lost Souls

((

Awww that is sad, at least it's best to know that the mod is finally dead (sometimes you don't need an official word) so we can forget about it and hope for the best for manke.

trek554 · 03-16-2012, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roman-lenko

I've recently wrote mail to neil[at]blackwidowgames.com:

But received a MAIL DELIVERY FAILURE as response from their mailserver. So... there is no more Black Widow Games and no more They Hunger Lost Souls

((

um that mod died back in 2008 and the company died not long after that.

Boff · 03-21-2012, 03:38 PM

big shame.

I put it down to Source being a AAA gaming engine being
1) hard to develop for because you really have to be awesome with the SDK
2) production values have gone up since the original HL game meaning more time and effort are needed for assets and gameplay.
3)Oh and L4D came out in 2008, sort of zombie themed and did a whole bunch of stuff they hunger would have done, aside from eerie single player awseomeness.

08-09-2011, 08:20 PM	#1
Kragg9000 Guest Posts: n/a	They Hunger: Lost Souls / Neil Manke Has anyone heard anything new on They Hunger: Lost Souls and/or the situation with Neil Manke? There's a talk page here on valve's wiki: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/w...er:_Lost_Souls about the mod and people are wondering about Manke's health. Last I heard, the project was put on hold due to Manke being "very ill". On that talk page, they mention some public records site that lists an address for Manke in Manitoba. According to his official website, http://www.blackwidowgames.com, he lives in Kamloops, BC. I found another white/yellow pages type site that lists an address and phone number for him, that is probably more likely to be accurate do to the fact that it refers to the correct city of Kamloops, BC. It's here: http://www.canada411.ca/res/25057956...149336669.html Someone who has a valve dev community account might want to update that talk page to take care of the incorrect info. Personally, I'm hesitant to just jump in and call up that number to see if he's ok. Although I did talk to him directly once before about his Half-Life 1 mods, though this was many years ago and via e-mail which I'm told doesn't work anymore. Any thoughts? I hope he's ok. Since Lost Souls was intended as a comercial release, maybe Valve staff know something more?

08-24-2011, 05:06 PM	#2
Kernel009 Guest Posts: n/a	I too am wondering what the status of this game is... I loved the original and have been eagerly awaiting this one!

09-11-2011, 05:47 AM	#3
eXoSolid Join Date: Jul 2011 Reputation: 23 Posts: 441	someone really needs to get in contact with that guy, great series, but the odd thing is, very ill ? and doesnt let people know whats happening or whats going on with him or the game. Damn great mods

09-11-2011, 08:16 AM	#4
Nostalgia man Join Date: Sep 2011 Reputation: 91 Posts: 649	Why can't manke just hand over development to someone else or a close friend? Usually when your ill of health people stop what they are doing and just give it over to someone else they trust.

09-11-2011, 09:31 PM	#5
BlueWolf72 Join Date: Jul 2009 Reputation: 11 Posts: 218	I have not heard from him in years

09-12-2011, 08:44 AM	#6
malek1013 Join Date: Dec 2009 Reputation: 326 Posts: 1,272	The last point of contact I had with him was through "another Half-Life Mod administrator / owner" and apparently everything is behind closed doors. :/ I highly doubt it's in development still.

09-15-2011, 02:05 AM	#7
pnag Join Date: Nov 2004 Reputation: 88 Posts: 346	Yeah, I was sure I'd heard it had been cancelled. Real shame that, "They Hunger" was excellent for the original HL, and the sequel looked amazing based on the previews.

11-14-2011, 08:13 PM	#8
RMJ Join Date: Jun 2009 Reputation: 20 Posts: 485	Its really wierd and quite spooky what happened. Rumors are going around that he is / was ill or now dead. Its very wierd he wasnt working on this alone? What happened. One thing is to cancel a project, sure that sucks, but atleast knowing what happened would be nice. But this silence about what is going on, this is after one the sequel to what most people consinder the best single player mod for Halflife 1. I really dont understand what happened, but i think its pretty safe to assume its dead. Would be nice if anyone could actully get a hold of someone from the team or Neil manke himself.

12-05-2011, 11:47 PM	#11
Dr_House01 Join Date: Nov 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 284	Will follow this post, my best wishes for Neil Manke and I hope we are going to have some good news soon about him and someday maybe for Lost Souls

03-21-2012, 03:38 PM	#15
Boff Join Date: Aug 2005 Reputation: 3239 Posts: 6,985	big shame. I put it down to Source being a AAA gaming engine being 1) hard to develop for because you really have to be awesome with the SDK 2) production values have gone up since the original HL game meaning more time and effort are needed for assets and gameplay. 3)Oh and L4D came out in 2008, sort of zombie themed and did a whole bunch of stuff they hunger would have done, aside from eerie single player awseomeness.