Laura Bow Remake?

[Unknown,Unknown]

Has there been any attempt to remake the Laura Bow series?  Because of the year 1926 of the 2nd LB and the fact that she worked for the Tribune,  where there any plans to do a LB about Charles Limberg’s 1927 flight?  My understanding is that the Tribune has exclusive rights to the Limberg story. 
In addition, is there any documentation on the file format for SCI.  I have seen a good breakdown of the file format for AGI but not SCI. 
I had Dagger of Amon Ra at one time but I have not come accross a copy of it at Goodwill yet.  I am almost sure I had BeQuest in the Roberta Williams Anthology.  I don’t think I got very far in the game before dying.

[Unknown,Unknown]

Has there been any attempt to remake the Laura Bow series?  Because of the year 1926 of the 2nd LB and the fact that she worked for the Tribune,  where there any plans to do a LB about Charles Limberg’s 1927 flight?  My understanding is that the Tribune had exclusive rights to the Limberg story. 
In addition, is there any documentation on the file format for SCI.  I have seen a good breakdown of the file format for AGI but not SCI.  SCI uses 256 colors and supports movies but thats all I know.
I had Dagger of Amon Ra at one time but I have not come accross a copy of it at Goodwill yet.  I am almost sure I had BeQuest in the Roberta Williams Anthology.  I don’t think I got very far in the game before dying.

[Unknown,Unknown]

my friend and i were talking about the best game we had ever played on the PC… and i said that the greatest game for me and still is had to be, Colonels Bequest!
i was hoping that there would be a remake, same game story but using todays graphics!! would be out of this world!! even use the same music score, cos it was great. loved the music in the intro as the guy on the raft took lillian and laura to the house!! sorry if i have gone on a bit. but a remake should be on the cards

[Unknown,Unknown]

I don’t think Colonel’s Bequest should be remade.  I usually end up liking the older versions more since better graphics don’t really make a better game.  I would like to see more games with that style of gameplay and those mystery elements where it’s like an interactive Clue game.  I like whodunits and the trial and error of solving a mystery.

Infocom made some good mystery games if you ever want to check those out.  They’re text adventures.  Suspect, Witness, and Deadline all involve solving crimes, and they’re my favorites.  Moonmist is another mystery game but I don’t remember much about it except that it may have involved a haunted house.  The crime games are more like a cross between Police Quest and Laura Bow, though.

[Unknown,Unknown]

I agree with Maxor. To me, it doesn’t really matter whether Colonel’s Bequest looks outdated or not, because the graphics are really quite beautiful and they actually add something to the game’s atmosphere – it’s EASILY one of the most atmospheric games I’ve ever played.

Besides, I’m not sure whether remaking any of the classic Sierra games would improve on the originals. Take a classic movie – say, Citizen Kane. Great film, but old. Looks old. Black and white. Quite grainy in places. The sound isn’t all that clear on occasions. Yet nobody in their right mind would ever dream of suggesting that we re-film it, in colour, using digital film stock, and better sound. The same principle applies to classic games like Laura Bow, I think.

[Unknown,Unknown]

The more you guys talk about BeQuest the more I wish I stuck with the game and played it through.  What are some of the things that made it so great!? 
Looking into Dagger of Amon Ra, I can see why these games took years to create.  The dialogue alone would take several pages.  A programmer could set a default response on a case/switch statement but that wouldn’t make for a great game interaction.
I noticed that the image of Laura Bow seems to change throughout LB2.  If you take the face shot, the supprise look, and her in the train they all are very different people.
Another comment.  It is funny that in the days we would always buy the latest technology to run the next Sierra game, but now we try to down grade or hold onto the old technology to run the Sierra games. :  )

[Unknown,Unknown]

i agree with your points.. thinking about it.. your right.. remaking it would spoil the atmosphere the original created. the graphics do add to the game
what was the highest level of completion did u guys get to on the thermometer?

i tried playing LB2 but didnt really get on with it very well.

i think the whole playing experience of the game made it so good. the story is really strong. the characters are great. u have to get to know them throuigh out the game. there is more to the house than meets the eye. the story changes depending were u are when the clock chimes. you can play the game again once u completed it and discover new bits of the story.. there are two different endings. the music is great….. the list goes on

[Unknown,Unknown]

It would be cool if there was a remake, seeing that there are still fans out there but if you think about it, even if a remake was made, the original just still captures that special nostalgia. It was one series that definitely deserved many more sequels.

I loved the whole idea of sneaking around and spying on everyone and their conversations. Having and reviewing your notebook greatly added to the replayability factor. Finding dead bodies kept you at the edge of your chair! Also, the subtle humor really really put the finishing touches to it, not making it TOO serious of a game.

One pun that always made me laugh was when Laura breaks the dagger case in the Egyptian room. It then says, “Congratulations, Laura. You’ve just cracked the case of the Dagger of Amon Ra!” 😛

[Unknown,Unknown]

I agree totaly,LB2 was a PHENOMENALLY, amazing fun game!A remake would most likely suck!NOTHING,and I mean NOTHING compares to the older SIERRA,classic adventure games!!!!!!.Sneaking around in a museum at night,1920’s era,priceless!It almost brings me to tears that we’ll never see games like that again,even todays flashier graphics dont cut it for me.Sierra’s cartoonish graphics in the older games are, and will always be my favorite.

[Unknown,Unknown]

i cant believe there are so many people who remember this game series…i did think i was the only one..none of my friends here in england remember it!!

[basecamp8,mxCoder]

I am attempting to mirror the animation of Sierra games in Excel.  I have been able to load a 24bit bitmap into the cells of Excel as a background.  Then I blit the background with a series of animated egos(sprites) that are also cells in Excel.  Using a priority map I can place the ego behind a fence.  Here is the code for loading a 24 bit image into Excel.  The other code is too much to show here.

Sub openbinfile()
    Dim testdata As Byte
    Dim mypix As pix
    Dim datasize As Long
    Dim lsb As Byte
    Dim msb As Byte
    Dim hres As Long
    Dim vres As Long
    Dim blkByte As Byte
    Dim bufferbites As Long
    Dim temp As Long
    Dim strFile As String

    ‘Clear data from spreadsheet
    ‘Cells.Select
    ‘Selection.ClearContents
   
    ‘Select 24-bit bitmap file to display
    With Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen)
        .AllowMultiSelect = False
        If .Show = -1 Then
            strFile = .SelectedItems(1)
        Else
            Exit Sub
        End If
    End With

    ‘Open bmp file for reading
    Open strFile For Binary Access Read As #2

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
   
    ‘Select upper left cell
    Range(“L52”).Select
   
    ‘Get horizontal resolution
    Seek #2, 19
    Get #2, , lsb
    Get #2, , msb
    hres = CLng(msb) * 256 + lsb
   
    ‘Get vertical resolution
    Seek #2, 23
    Get #2, , lsb
    Get #2, , msb
    vres = CLng(msb) * 256 + lsb
   
    ‘Calculate buffer size.  Rows are padded to be
    ‘multiples of 4 bytes with zeros
    bufferbites = hres * 3 ‘Each pixel is three bytes (RGB)
   
    ‘Determine what the next 4 byte boundary is
    temp = 0
    While temp < bufferbites
        temp = temp + 4
    Wend
   
    ‘Calculate the number of buffer bytes used for padding
    bufferbites = temp – bufferbites
      
    ‘Get the total length of the file
    datasize = LOF(2)
   
    ‘Draw bitmap
    For y = 0 To vres – 1
        ActiveCell.Offset(1, hres).Activate
        datasize = datasize – bufferbites + 1
        For x = 0 To hres – 1
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, -1).Activate
            datasize = datasize – 3
            Seek #2, datasize
            Get #2, , mypix.Blue
            Get #2, , mypix.Green
            Get #2, , mypix.Red
            ActiveCell.Interior.Color = RGB(mypix.Red, mypix.Green, mypix.Blue)
        Next x
        datasize = datasize – 1
    Next y
   
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
    Close #2 ‘Cleanup by closing file
End Sub

[pb_bergeron,pb_bergeron_gmail_com]

mxCoder,
Have you looked at Microsoft’s XNA Game Development Platform?  It uses the C# language, which is fairly robust and much easier to code than C++.  They have an active forum and lots of sample code to help you get started.

I cannot imagine that it would be much more difficult than trying to create a game using Excel.  I honestly would not have thought it was possible to create a game in Excel – but I could be wrong.  You would need a rendering loop where you update objects/game state and I am not sure you can get that level of control with Excel.

[basecamp8,mxCoder]

Thanks for the information.  I know ANSI C programming but not C# or C++.  I do miss the ability to use dynamic memory allocation (maloc), link list, and recursion in VBA.  VBA gives me the ability to program on any computer. Will the IDE for xbox work for Windows games?

[basecamp8,mxCoder]

It’s amazing how complicated these games are.  Right now it takes 2 minutes in Excel to load a 320 x 190 bitmap.  It takes 36 seconds to move Laura Bow once.  Whats complicated is how to control the priority numbers.  All of this is being done in the speakeasy scene with no added dancers, ziggy, or other npcs.  I need to adjust the ego priority but how do I break up the screen in conjunction with the objects in the room?  As she moves back (up) her priority should decrease but not so much that the piano or mic is in front of her. 
    Then add: scipt, sound, control map, timer sequence, more sprites, multiple ego views plus scaling, triggers… Wow this was much easier in Tomb Raider’s Level Editor.  LOL

[Tony,__]

Hi everybody,
One question:
How can i extract the message files from Laura Bow The Dagger of Amon Ra Floppy and CD Version?
I want to translate the CD version to German.
Want englisch speech and german subtitles/texts etc.
SCI_Viewer can’t extract it
SCI_Companion said it doesn’t support SCI1 Games
and SCI Studio doesn’t show the message sections in Floppy (german) Version!

regards

[rudy_marchant,rudy_marchant_hotmail_com]

You can download the SCI viewer here: http://sciwiki.sierrahelp.com/index.php?title=SCI_Resource_Utilities
Open the Laura Bow folder, and you’ll see all the graphics, music, coding and so on.

[Tony,__]

Great Thank you very much!

Now i can see all text messages.

regards

[Tawmis,]

Using the SCI viewer, you should be able to get in there and see all the text that displays in the game.

[Gil,de_Ondarza]

hello there from Germany, I am also looking and hoping for remakes of both Laura Bow mysterys! KQ 1 – 3 were remade and can be downloaded for free.

let me know if you find something out, also read my post message in the KQ series forum titeled KQ 4 -7.

 

hope for success that LB will be remade. till then greetings Gil 😉

[Author]

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