I'm alpha testing (very excited to help out and see the current state), and I was wondering if you're planning on including an overworld like the one ADOM has. It really contributed a lot to the original game, making the world feel fleshed out in a way that the pure dungeon delving rogue-likes out there didn't. I hope it returns. 

Ultimate ADOM: Caverns of Chaos will not have a surface world but be confined to the dungeon setting. But we already have planned more games in the "Ultimate ADOM" line and having a surface world is something that is very high on the priority list. Just not for the first game as it would completely exceed our resources. We have to take this step by step.

Ah, okay -- I understand the resource issue, for sure. Glad to hear that you're planning a series of Ultimate ADOM games. Very exciting, and ambitious!

Actually we spent the past 2.5+ years building a meta engine beneath the current game that will allow us to produce future games much faster. The first one is the hardest and takes the longest as all the rules need to fall into place. Afterwards it will be much easier to create new exciting settings because we only need to add the delta in graphical resources plus actual new game content (maps, stories, quests) but the basic underlying infrastructure (rules, items, monsters) mostly will be in place (except for mentioned new content).

This not only will allow producing more games much faster but also will allow all existing games to grow in parallel (because if we e.g. add Mindcraft for one game, all games in the line can have it).