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(re: Boat picture (what kind of dog do you have?))
IIRC the dog’s name is Shelby and she’s adorable, but I don’t remember what kind of dog she is.
(re: Like William Shatner’s infamous trekkie convention sketch on SNL…)
As is the fate of all those who don’t keep up with every post on every board, I offer my apologies. I thought since Al just announced it on his daily email that it was brand new.
(re: What about new sequels?) im not sure about GK 3, havent played it. i heard that it was excellent though. the kings quest fan sequel does look great, and also looks to be a true adventure game. i just have doubts about it. same with the space quest and quest for glory fan sequels. great ideas, but i doubt a game will truly ever come from any of those camps. i hope that i am wrong, but i think they are aiming a little too high.
one thing that i am sad about is the announcement of the new nintendo DS and the sony PSP. they are both portable 3d machines. i think the life of 2d games is almost over. although there is hope, the nintendo DS is not the new gameboy, at least thats what nintendo keeps assuring people. so maybe the next gameboy will still have the dedicated 2d hardware.
(re: What about new sequels?) The GBA has a tile-based 2D graphics hardware, which means side-scrollers are the easiest to do. There is absolutely no dedicated 3D hardware in the GBA, although a few tricks can be used. Any 3D must be calculated in software.
As for true 3D adventure games, I’d say Gabriel Knight 3 is one, or am I missing something?
Also, Shenmue is essentially an adventure game (although is blends other genres) and is incredibly beautiful.
Vincent.
(re: What about new sequels?) Sure, the GBA platform has a lot of side-scroller games, or other types of games that aren’t realtime 3D. Is that because those games work better on a small screen? Because the GBA’s processing power is better spent on side-scroller games? Because Nintendo (as opposed to PS2 for example) makes more side-scrollers? I’m not always up on the platform market, but I have a GBA (which I love), and you’re right about the type of games.
As for 2D adventures, large companies won’t touch them anymore. You’re right. And thanks for the insight about the programming side of things. You’re also right that there hasn’t been a true realtime 3D adventure game. Either new “adventure” games debatebly do not fit into the genre, or they use pre-rendered backgrounds.
I agree that there is fun to be had in 2D that doesn’t work as well in 3D. I also think though that there is potential for realtime 3D adventure. Watch for the KQ9 fan game. It should be true to form as an advenure game, while being realtime 3D (though I *think* the camera angles are fixed).
(re: What about new sequels?) i agree. the hardware is the major factor in the change in the game market. i am a programmer who does a lot of graphics stuff and i can tell you there is NO hardware support for 2d graphics anymore on graphics cards. thats not to say that it cant be done, but there isnt direct support. in fact, i just downloaded the new directx sdk, which is microsofts high performance graphics interface, and the documentation comes right out and says that microsoft advises against using directdraw, which was the 2d graphics part of the sdk. you can fake 2d in direct3d, but its not that straight forward, and with development times being as long as they are now, no company wants to end up making its own graphics library. thats what directx and opengl are for, so you dont have to do that. i think that a lot of game companies see this kind of thing and think that they have to make it 3d. with nvidia and ati only pushing 3d, than it must be hard to get approval for a 2d game. im not actually a game programmer ( yet:) ) but i cant imagine a major company approving a 2d game anymore. it needs to be flashy and take advantage of all that the 3d hardware has to offer, or it wont sell i guess. or at least they think it wont. there is one exception, which is the gameboy advance. since the hardware is designed for 2d, thats what is made. its funny how that works since the gameboy is capable of some 3d stuff, but there are very few 3d gameboy games.
its natural that the hardware will advance, and eventually we will see 3d games that look as good as pixar movies, at least i think we will, but some really fun gameplay ideas just dont work in 3d. a lot is going to be lost if 2d games dissapear forever. its actually very sad. i love the 3d mario and zelda games, but i long for another 2d one. and i dont think i have played a TRUE adventure game done in 3d, so i dont know if that would be good or not. i personaly prefer the hand drawn 2d background and stuff over the geometrical worlds of today.
(re: Offer an option to “Show context by default” in the “My Account” menu) Ken,
That’s great news! I’d definitely like to help your man getting the job done. The question is how demanding this would turn out for me. I wouldn’t want to end up having to decide between sacrificing a lot more time than I wanted to and letting you down. I suggest you ask him to e-mail me about to what extent beta-testing is desired.
SK
(re: Like William Shatner’s infamous trekkie convention sketch on SNL…) Alright I moved your post, as this trailer was already announced by someone else. It is fun. I put these posts in the “Fan Games” area even though it’s not strictly a fan game, it’s a “fan” creation and it’s a trailer for a “game.”
Now I’ll wait for the next 3 people to announce this 🙂
(re: What about new sequels?) I was talking to a former Sierra 2D animator this weekend who worked on games such as Larry 7 and Torin’s Passage. He made an interesting point that is relevant here. As Sierra started experimenting in different directions adventure games could go, as I pointed out, they had these games with “full” screen animation such as Larry 7 and Torin’s Passage. Unfortunately, as computer processor power increased to make 2D animation more exciting, that same processor power allowed realtime 3D to happen. This goes along with what I said before – Sierra didn’t have a chance to explore the new directions adventure games could go, because the adventure game suffered when realtime 3D was possible and inevitably, the first thing that made money was shooter games.
So I do agree about your diversification point (I think that point was about the market in general and what kind of games Sierra made, not that diversification ruined Sierra series or changed them), and the points about less quality because of management decisions which were ultimately affected by the market… well, the thing is there are just tons of factors at play here, I’m sure they all contributed.
(re: Offer an option to “Show context by default” in the “My Account” menu) Simon:
My programmer, Milton, has already put a tree-view mode into the code, and is debugging it now. This software spans 400+ sites with more being added every day. Each webmaster can decide what style message board they want, and even change it for different message boards.
Would you like to work directly with him on refining the BBS code? (as an unpaid beta tester?) If so, I’ll put you directly in touch with him.
-Ken W
(re: Kings Quest 7 – Valanice still Queen?) If you’re the King or the Prince, then of course you barge into a place (to assert your manhood and your position!) and announce “I’m King (or Prince) so-and-so of such-and-such a place!”
If you’re the Princess, you do pretty much the same thing, because you assert your eligibility to be married by some handsome Prince.
But if you’re the Queen, well the King has all the power 😉 and you’re already married, so how often do you announce yourself as “Queen so-and-so”? Maybe when you get older you announce yourself as the Queen, but when you’re younger or middle-aged, you say “Lady” because it’s more elegant? More “proper”?
I dunno, just throwing around some ideas.
(re: Offer an option to “Show context by default” in the “My Account” menu) Great! I really do find the overall usability of the site very good, but I’m a control freak. When I’m browsing a message board, I’d best have a permanently displayed treeview where I can see exactly how the discussion went and jump from thread to thread.
Come to think of it… how do you think chances are that a treeview module for thread viewing might ever be implemented to your website software?
I’m always adverse to doing things as others have done them, because I just don’t like that kind of thinking .. but, there are times when it’s the right thing to do. Oh well….
I think there’s nothing wrong with looking at how others approached a situation or solved a problem and learning from them, as long as you don’t end up reinventing the wheel.
(re: Offer an option to “Show context by default” in the “My Account” menu) Good idea. I have another programmer who has been working for me on the message boards. He’s only working part time, so progress has been slow, but steady.
I’ll pass along this comment to him. I agree with you that I’m not happy with how the message boards work. I’ve looked at all the various systems, and each has its flaws. I keep thinking I’ll get some great idea which will revolutionize the whole concept — but, seem to be striking out. I’m always adverse to doing things as others have done them, because I just don’t like that kind of thinking .. but, there are times when it’s the right thing to do. Oh well….
-Ken W
(Like William Shatner’s infamous trekkie convention sketch on SNL…)
…please remember that this is a JOKE! And a funny one at that. Link courtesy of the legendary Al Lowe:
(re: “Derek Karlavaegen”) Alright, so Derek is used in the Companions starting with the very first edition (KQ1 – KQ4), so the character must originate from Spear. When it got around to KQ6, Jane / Roberta decided to use him as the one who wrote the guide.
As for that quote I was talking about, here it is (sorry for any typos, I just got out of bed, but yes, the “add’s” typo is on the actual book)…
First Edition: “The King’s Quest Companion is an interesting blend of fiction and helpful information for playing my games. Anyone interested in reading the story behind King’s Quest or who just needs to be ‘unstuck’ while playing the game will find this book invaluable.”
Second Edition: No quote from Roberta.
Third Edition: “…a wonderful blend of fact and fiction that brings my games to life in an exciting new way. It add’s another fascinating dimension to the entire King’s Quest experience. It is truly a pleasure to read and a must have for anyone hoping to explore the series in greater depth and detail.”
Fourth Edition: Same as Third Edition, without the “add’s” typo.
(re: What about new sequels?) I don’t think that diversification of product had an effect on the quality of the adventure games, as the games were developed by different teams, usually at different sites. Maybe the Police Quest series was harmed by this diversification, but in reality that series started of brilliantly with 1 and 2 and then was pretty average after that anyway.
I think some games were harmed by management forcing them to be finished by certain dates, e.g. Quest for Glory 4. I also think that the management decisions played a big part in what went wrong at Sierra – series that weren’t huge sellers were subsequently canned, even though the games were brilliant.
And as adventure games became less mainstream/popular, the trigger happy management started making more and more tough calls.
I agree with your point about Sierra could’ve remained concentrated on high-quality adventures etc, but I think by that stage Sierra had become so big, and owned so many other companies that they had to try and keep on being a big player.
(re: GK Tourism) Hi Bobby,
Last year I visited Munich, here is a photo of the Dienerstrasse in real life!
(re: The Fun Seeker’s Guide)
That thing is hilarious, especially if you’ve been to Oakhurst and seen how really unimportant the Talking Bear is. It reminds me a little of that “Behind the scenes” slideshow they had on the KQ Collection, which was how I found out i’d been going to the town they made all my favorite games in every year since I was 8.
(re: What about new sequels?) The way I see it, the Golden Age of adventure games lasted from 1987 – 1994. I believe those titles mentioned by Brandon were (and I reckon this is general adventure gamer opinion) of a lower quality than the Sierra product that went before. Thus I believe that where Sierra initiated the Golden Age, they were also the ones who ended it by releasing a whole clump of lower quality products.
Of course, this Golden Age weren’t only dependant on Sierra’s releases. It seems that many companies who were heavily into making and/or publishing adventure games at that stage released their best product during this time period as well. One can take a look at Lucasfilm Games/Lucasarts, Microprose, Revolution, Dynamix, Infogrames, Delphine, etc.
In the end, I reckon the heavy diversification of product that happened at Sierra in the mid ’90s was a huge mistake. But that may just be me. Their core market was still an adventure game market. But because of a loss of focus, their adventure games released in mid ’90s were of a lower quality than those released during the Golden Age. In a sense, I do believe this directly triggered the short-lived surge in popularity of RPGs in the late ’90s, and that of first person shooters thereafter.
I reckon if Sierra remained focussed on producing high quality adventure games (and thus allowing the market to retain a large percentage of gamers who were primarily interested in this type of gaming), instead of diversifying so heavily, the PC games market might actually have looked very different today.
(re: Fan Translated Games)
I’m glad that people are doing this. I’m a huge Resident Evil fan, so to finally be able to play Sweet Home (the inspiration for the series) in English was great. Luckily for me though, most of the games I want to play are released in the US, with the exception of Suikogaiden Vol. 1&2, which will probably never be translated because its a text-based game, requiring a LOT of work.
(re: Kings Quest 7 – Valanice still Queen?)
Maybe Valanice was the Lady of some place before she was a queen and so is a Lady as well, like how Princess Diana was sometimes called Lady Diana.
(re: About Mask of Enternity….)
Sheesh, calm down! Though I agree to a point with what you’re saying about the game, about how KQ did need to change in order to continue, (and personally I did like it) you have to admit that going from a series about 4 people in a world where weapons are almost never used to a game where they’re barely mentioned with a new character who fights the whole time is a bit strange, just as it would be strange if the next Resident Evil game was a pure adventure game with no fighting. It’s kind of a Catch 22, really. In order to have the series be more successful, you need to add fighting to it, something which none of the main characters do, so you can’t use them, and by not using them makes it less interesting to the fans who have made the series successful.
(re: What happend to Lori and Corey Cole?)
Well… if you haven’t done so, you should join Lori’s ‘How To Be a Hero’ group:
http://www.howtobeahero.com Last I saw she’s almost full time involved in that ‘project’.
(re: A silly idea? (game archive)) This is what Frans is doing with the Space Quest games at SpaceQuest.net… though he is actually offering them for download, with a disclaimer. AFAIK, he hasn’t received any flak yet, and his site is well-known.
Ken has stated that he will not allow game uploads here, but he will allow links to sites with the games. In other words, you could create your own archival site with the games, and Ken would allow a link to it.
There are a number of fans with extensive collections of Sierra games, and those who are trying to create such collections. Not just of the games themselves of course, but also all the stuff that comes with the games, boxes, manuals, etc.
The problem becomes, what standard do we adopt to create such an archive? Of different fans I know of including myself who are making such collections, we all have different ways of doing things.
Ken has also talked about creating a physical museum of computer history (that would include Sierra) one day… in my mind, that is where a physical collection of the Sierra games should be made, and should include computers that would allow visitors to play them. I would love to see such a thing happen.
I’ve talked from time to time (somewhat hesitantly) about creating an art book with the stuff I’m gathering for the musem here, that would cover the other side of the equation in a way that everyone can access by having their own copy, such as the concept artwork, box art, those sorts of things, along with memories from the designers / artists. The stories of Sierra, that would allow Sierra to live on by re-telling the stories and showing the images. Both things, a musem for the interactive side and a book for the keepsake side (not everyone can own their own copy of the boxes, the artwork, etc), would be good things.
So it’s not really such a silly idea. It just needs more discussion, more visionaries…
Brandon Klassen, archivist ~ SierraGamers.com admin / dev team ~
