Calik: Hm, I know the whole AGDI team met with the Coles and showed them a build but it must have been before the additions were made. They were probably doing all the backgrounds and just getting the game to work. I remember Erpy mentioning that the combat system took more time than the rest of the game. I'd attribute that to them having mastered point and click programming in their previous games. Cool list and well sourced though. I have no idea why they'd add references to more lands. There is no chance we'll ever see them, perhaps a nod to their current in development game Mages Initiation. The decorations were added partly because more money was added to the game, and because it wouldn't transfer into QFG3 properly anyways (other than via potion) They also added an entirely new thief mission which was extremely well done. Again it added more money to the game.
Willowsby is mentioned in the players guide, Quest For Glory IV and I believe V but I'd have to double check that one. I just saw it in IV though a few hours ago.
As Erpy explains they added the midnight discussions and the story building up between the Hero and kattas to make them more human, and to show their friendship. The hero tells his story of how he made it to Spielburg, and saved the land, while they discuss their hardship and journey to reach Spielburg. It's all pretty well written stuff.
Although they may have missed some clear references about Petalumeir from QFG5 (that suggests the land is actually more a directly related to Petaluma on the American continent, rather than being a city near the Shapeir), they also got the location of the Dragon Smokes wrong(setting them to the east of Spielburg, rather than north of Spielburg as they are in the game, when they should have used the Wolf's Bane Mountains and Peaks as those are the mountain range closer to the eastern edge of Spielburg), and their is a timing issue which they have the Sheema and Shameen travel to Spielburg one year before QFG2, when QFG1EGA states they moved ot Spielburg three years before QFG1 (the quote is missing in the remake as far as I know) and this is supported by quotes in QFG3 and QFG5 (although this timing issue may exist in the old QFG2 game, as several comments made by Sharaf, and Omar the Poet, suggest that the Katta were exiled out of Raseir one year before QFG2). They even got the location of the Med Sea wrong, they say its directly north of Shapeir in QFG2 remake but in QFGV its specifically stated that Shapeir is west of Silmaria (which would place it west of the Med Sea as well!
I've added articles based on several lands mentioned in the fan games, here;
[url=http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Earth_(unofficial]http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Earth_(unofficial[/url])
However when it comes to timeline related issues, the Coles (though its said Lori at least, and Corey on certain games) wrote all or most of the text in each game (depending on the game). QFG4, its hintbook, and old phone hint service were largely written by Corey and Lori. But even still, with their involvement there are several conflicting dates mentioned in the game, and two different timelines!
Good stuff, and I break it down here (if you want to read a discussion on where the official timelines diverge and dates may be inconsistent);
http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/QFG4_Timeline http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Tetralogy_timeline Willowsby is only mentioned in the Player's Guide. Actually Corey Cole hates the mention (as he believes the Hero's past should be left up to each player to create for themselves). Although apparently Paula Spiese had more direct discussion with Lori on the on the creation of the guide than Corey did (Lori was Paula's co-writer). But it is definitely seems to be something Paula invented (if she had direct approval by Lori or not is questionable). But ultimately it was Sierra on-line that authorized the inclusion..
I now there is no reference to it in IV, because I've gone through the entire script piece by piece! In developing the timeline for the game! Check out SciViewer. Awesome program!
You can read Corey Cole's quote on Willowsby on here in the references;
http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Willowsby "And by the way, mentions of "Devon Aidendale" and Willowsby (or Willowdale or whatever the name was) drive me crazy. Devon was just the name Paula Spiese chose for her QG hero, and she used him in the strategy guide she co-wrote with Lori. Those names have no "official place in the canon", except of course they've been enshrined on Wikipedia because they're part of a published book." "We did not name the hero, nor his starting village, for a reason. We wanted every player to imagine their own hero's background so that the player would really become a part of the story. So it's frustrating when I see other people adopt Paula's fantasy as their own. Still, if that makes the game more fun for you, go with it!"
On the other hand, Corey Cole thought "Surria" and "Zurich" weren't official location names either. So its possible he either forgot input he helped on the series, or a he admits its usually Lori that comes up with the nation names.
""...the world of Gloriana is just a renaming of Earth locations. So "Fricana" is "Africa", the "Med Sea" is the Mediterranean, "Spielburg" is somewhere in Germany (probably Bavaria), "Mordavia" is Transylvania, etc. I don't think we gave names to any other Asian locations. What about them? I don't recall either Lori or I having used any of those names in any of the games. In particular, "Inja" is not a name we would have used -- It seems out of style to me. Punjabi is a name we might well have used for India; I just don't think we ever did so. "Surria" I guess is supposed to be a near-anagram of Russia. I also don't think we ever used that. It's reasonable, but doesn't have the "feel" I would want to use for central Asia. That said, if anyone wants to use those names in their fanfic or whatever, sure, go ahead. But I don't think we ever mapped any of those areas onto Gloriana in Quest for Glory.-Corey Cole"
http://www.questforheroes.com/mattsqfgforum/viewtopic.php?t=569 It's interesting bit of trivia that Cole's versions of Gloriana outside of the Sierra games even deviate from the Sierra universe in multiple ways (Spielburg is apparently Siegburg, and Gramarye is Albion, etc);
[url=http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Gloriana_(unofficial)]http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Gloriana_(unofficial)[/url])
Also if anyone is keeping score, all the official games were known for referencing other lands, many of which would never be visited... These references include not only areas based on real earth locations with name changes (often puns), but quite a few references to direct earth locations.
There is a large list here (check the talk page as well), and also on the links within the page;
http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/Gloriana