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(re: re: re: re: re: Shadow of Darkness)
” in combat in QG4 the magic spells charge up faster than they’re supposed to”
How do you know how fast they’re supposed to charge up? Everyone I’ve asked agrees that they’re perfect the way they are now (with the script-level patch).
(re: re: re: re: re: Shadow of Darkness)
I am very pleased with the latest version of NewRisingSun’s patch for QfG 4. The game is now VERY playable. I have not found any more bugs that are speed related. It was the speed bugs that prevented you from being able to play the game. I have not encountered any of the bugs you mentioned (perhaps something with your system?) Also any other bugs will not be fixed by playing it with DOSBox.
One other bug that would be nice to have fixed is the audio error that you get with the Windows version under XP. But, this is beyond the scope of NewRisingSun’s project, though it would be nice if someone could fix this and some of the other interpreter related problems with the Sierra games, such as the Windows version of KQ6 not launching on the NT kernel or the save bug with GK1.
(re: re: re: re: Shadow of Darkness)
Well all the bugs may not be timer related but there is stuff like in QG1 the palette gets corrupted, in QG4 the speech skips or cuts off once in a while, in combat in QG4 the magic spells charge up faster than they’re supposed to… its just better not to get your hands messy with patches and just use a universal fix for all games if you can; now im not putting down your work, i love it. its great stuff, but i think its asking a lot for you to be able to fix every single bug related to faster pcs & newer hardware
(re: Sierra Online 1989-90 Video Catalogue) Brandon/Gang,
Yes the video Eric has listed is one that I own. I think his cover / label might be slightly different, but the content is believed to be the same. I had transfered the video from VHS last year, and was going to upload it to Ken’s site, but he did not want to host such a large file due to bandwidth limitations. I should just go ahead and upload it to my personal site, and provide a link. Let me dig that video file back out and fiddle with the compression again.
Brandon feel free to bid on it and secure another copy for us, don’t worry I won’t bid against you – you go for it. But in answer to your Video Archive question, you are right – once the Interaction project is finished (here in a few months) the videos will be the next to tackle on my list.
-Brad
(re: Sierra Online 1989-90 Video Catalogue) Eriq mentioned on another board that he was planning to upload a copy of the video onto his website at some point.
-emily
(re: QfG4 – Collection version vs. standalone) “I sorta hoped he’d do a QFG4 patch for the disk version too though.”
The last thing I was told was that those timer problems were limited to the CD version; the disk versions supposedly didn’t have those problems (I found that the “slope” problem didn’t occur in the disk version).
I’ve made the experience though that people would rather complain everywhere instead of just telling me what they would like to see. It’s not my job to surf the net chasing clues as to what MIGHT be in need of fixing. 😛“The German version on that same CD is a floppy version, and probably the 1.1 increment is just because of the German translation?”
There’s also an English version 1.1. When you install all of Sierra’s patches for version 1.0, you basically get the same except that the patch does not increase the version number.
-NRS
(re: re: re: Shadow of Darkness)
“however, it does not fix everything;”
What does it not fix? Maybe if people would bother telling me, instead of complaining in various message boards across the net, I could actually fix those games for good.
– NewRisingSun
(re: Sierra Online 1989-90 Video Catalogue) After the Interaction project, one of Brad’s next projects will be that DVD project that’s been discussed before. I know Brad has a number of videos, so it’s possible he has this one.
I will be making a bid on the video, and will be happy to digitize it and spread the joy as soon as I get it – so though I can’t in all fairness ask you not to bid against me – well, you get the idea.
(re: Goofy’s Word Factory – long lost Sierra/Disney game?) Here are some more answers from Al Lowe:
Question: Did you get to do any work for Goofy or were you involved at the time on the other Disney games?
Al Lowe: No. I was working on Winnie and the music for Mickey then. I think I was hired to do the music for Goofy, but never got to it.Question: Do you have any names who might have worked on it?
Al Lowe: No. It was probably one of the “failure” programmers. There were several who would attempt projects, but never finish. But that’s just a guess.Question: Was it made/started simultaneously with the other Disney-games or after them?
Al Lowe: simultaneously(re: Adventure Gaming today) Not to mention Uru: Ages beyond myst- and adventure game based in the Myst story, but more like an ‘old school’ adventure game. Not only did it work, it worked beautifully.
Yessir, I believe adventure games are revving up for a revival sometime soon! ^_^(re: re: Why the hell did anyone want to buy Sierra?) I wasted 2 years of my college life playing Counterstrike incessently
Didn’t we all? 😉 (those of us in that generation, that is)(re: Sierra Online 1989-90 Video Catalogue)
Why not make a copy and distribute to the people on this board.
(re: Sneak Peek CDs)
Hi, my first posting – YIPPEE!!!
Anyway . . .
the really cool thing about the SQ6 demo though, was that it had its own mini-storyline and puzzles that was totally separate from the main game. In other words, in order to get the full SQ6 experience, you also had to get your hands on the demo!
Johann
(re: re: Old games re-release)
Gabriel Knight 3 is still available on store shelves in New Zealand as a Sierra Best Seller in a DVD style box, but none others.
In the last 6 weeks I have managed to buy new off Ebay every single Sierra Talkie game, and at a total cost of only $142 US dollars excluding shipping.
Games I have got in the last 6 weeks new are:
KQ5,KQ6,KQ7,PQ1,PQ2,PQ3,PQ4,PQ1+,SWAT,SWAT2,LSL1+,LSL6,LSL7,GAB1,GAB3,QG4,QG5,LAURABOW2,SQ4,SQ6,MOTHERGOOSECD,FREDDYPHARKAS
The only downside is that you only get the jewel case or DVD case – so its not for collectors only those who want to play the games.
In my opinion thats the best way to do it and just pirate the non talkie ones because the people who made them (like Roberta and Al Lowe) will not profit from them.
(re: Goofy’s Word Factory – long lost Sierra/Disney game?)
I asked Al Lowe and here’s what he sayd:
Al Lowe:
“Goofy’s was begun but didn’t make much progress. At that time, Sierra was much smaller, artists were scarce, and we were about to lose the Disney license. When the programmers didn’t make much progress, the game was scrapped. I believe there were also many arguments with Disney’s staff about exactly how the game should play, something I was careful to avoid with my games. (I just “didn’t get around to showing the games to them” until they were nearly finished. That way, if they wanted changes, it would delay shipping and no one wanted that!)There was never a playable Goofy As far as I know.”
(re: re: re: Source of images)
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the words of support 🙂 Yes, I remember when I first used TSN, it was at something like 2400 baud (I remember how color printers were so hard to come by, and 1GB hard drives were $2000! And there was no way that’d ever fill up… of course now I have almost half a terabyte of stuff).I’d moved on, went to Harvard for my undergrad, and tucked TSN neatly into the back of my mind. As I near graduation though, I’d noticed how lonely my dad seems back at home, and how much he talks about missing TSN (even though it’s been some… 10 years?). So, I thought I’d give this a whirl and see where it went! :p
I’m coding the back-end in C++, and the front-end is being designed in Flash, and the two are being linked together via TCP/IP. Somebody had mentioned trying to purchase the original INN code from AOL, but to be honest I was a bit scared what it might look like 🙂 Realizing that much of it was designed when TCP was in its infancy, and that it was essentially a proprietary network, I was afraid that it would take forever to re-code. In some ways, I guess we have it easier today, because we have a pre-installed network built for us, and a very established protocol (sockets), plus multimedia front-ends like Flash that make graphics, animation, and interactivity a cinch compared to those DOS days…
Indeed, it’s scary about AOL and the patents. It reminds me of something I heard recently, about eBay being sued by a guy who insisted that he “invented” on-line auctions, and the ability to buy something at a fixed price on the Internet (what eBay calls Buy-It-Now). I understand the judge was quite perturbed over the case, but still awarded damages to the inventor. What was really ironic though, is that eBay bought the patents from the guy, after losing the case… Frightening, because if a court showed that the patents were indeed valid, it might prompt eBay to go after similar companies, and just focus on winning legal damages rather than innovating their product.
I had noticed that the trademarks on TSN are all dead, I guess AOL got tired of paying for them. And of course, they do own the copyright for the images and so forth. However, I imagine that the most they’ll ever do is ask me nicely to cease my project, since lawyer’s fees for getting an injunction don’t seem to be justified in shutting down a non-profit site which can’t compete or pose a threat. Besides, as an open-source project, we can always pass FauxINN on to another person who wants to take the legal risks in hosting it, and I’m sure AOL will lose interest eventually.
Well, I should probably get back to working on the server 🙂 If you ever get a chance, especially later, you might want to stop by some time, though… the website address is http://www.fauxinn.com, and I’m hoping to have at least something up and running by June (when all my finals are over!!).
Best regards,
Jason(re: Why the hell did anyone want to buy Sierra?)
When you’re dealing with crooked businessmen and multinational corporations, common sense and logic don’t always apply. Unfortunately, that’s the real world. Study the corporate history of Atari and you’ll see some of the same horrendous decisions that ended up ruining a great company, made by stiff suits who wouldn’t know a quality computer/video game if they were smashed over the head with one. Ken didn’t want things to turn out the way they did, and he certainly didn’t think they would when he made the sale.
If a sad lesson can be learned from Sierra, it’s that sometimes good things can be ruined by people with greedy and dishonest intentions. The american dream becomes the american nightmare.
If you want to learn a positive lesson from Sierra, you can look at from a different perspective and the nightmare becomes a really nice dream – a young couple discover a great idea, they bust their humps turning it into product and building a company, they become rich, and now they’re retired, still relatively young, and boating around somewhere exotic for the next couple of months while the rest of us toil from 9 to 5.
If that sounds good to you, then borrow some money and start your own computer game company. We’ll be happy to purchase your games if they’re good. I’m working to open my own bar – capitalism, ingenuity, hard work, a little luck, mix it up and you have success!
(re: Why wasn’t Space Quest 5 a CD game?) SpaceQuest.net is definitely the best resource of Space Quest information. I’m sure Frans won’t mind if I quote his website to partly answer your question (maybe Ken remembers other things about this time and how SQ5 was developed at Dynamix instead of at Sierra) – this is in the Space Quest 5 section under the Funfacts heading:
Have you ever wondered why Space Quest 5 doesn’t have “voices”? After Space Quest 5 was released they were in fact working on it. Sierra’s Official Hint Book confirms this. It says: “Finally, 14 months after the preliminary design meetings were held, SQ5 was shipped to eager Space Quest fans across the galaxy. But the story doesn’t end there, The Next Mutation will be translated into five languages and converted to a full-voice CD-ROM version as well.” Sean Murphy, an artist on the Space Quest 5 project adds: “I can’t say for certain; I seem to recall that we had actually started work on doing just that [preparing a CD-Rom version of SQ5]. I think that politics and the fact that Dynamix was going through a very rough financial period at that time prevented us from doing any supplemental work on it… I suspect that the management was eager to move on to another “big profit” project instead of spending time and resources for a “gold” version of an already-released game.”
(re: Larry 2 copyright protection) If you go to Al Lowe’s website (allowe.com) and go to Games / Leisure Suit Larry / Clues & Cheats, scroll down to the Larry 2 area and you’ll see a nice new chart of the Larry 2 women and their phone numbers. It’s perfect for printing and probably even clearer than the manual (not to mention that it’s in color), in case you’re playing the version of the game where the cheat doesn’t work.
Another new update in that area is scroll down to Larry 3 and you’ll see Al’s original drawing of the bamboo maze and a short story about how it was programmed.
(re: Why wasn’t Space Quest 5 a CD game?)
I think the reason was that SQ5 didn’t really sell all that well. I recall a majority of Sierra games from the ’91-93 period were being periodically re-released with enhanced audio and speech. When SQ5 came out, it was my understanding it didn’t sell well enough to warrent for the game to be put back in production and manufacturing on CD.
Or I could be wrong. 😉(re: Old games re-release)
This is a question that has boggled my mind for years – why on god”s green earth, when CD technology has led to almost insignificant production costs, do companies like VU feel it unnecessary and unprofitable to re-release classic games? If there isn”t enough demand to justify adding shelf space in a retail store, why don”t the companies offer the games online? Hell, they could even offer them just for download! Perhaps Ken, or another present or former manager, could explain the practical business reasons for not doing this, if there are any. I can”t think of a single one aside from personal politics inside the company – VU management might have beef with the Williams, so they won”t re-release Roberta”s games. Same deal with Al Lowe, etc.
A great exception to this rule is Rockstar Games. They have begun to offer their older games online for free, even with updated game engines so the older games can be played on modern systems without bugs: http://www.rockstargames.com/classics
Why is this the exception instead of the norm?
(re: An interesting discussion with Roberta)
Ken:
If you”re a film buff, you”ve probably already seen Kurosawa”s legendary film Rashomon. The film takes the “puzzle” concept one step further, and sends it over the ledge, by introducing the concept that the narrators, or the sources of information in the film, aren”t reliable. A much more graphic, and some would say pedestrian, book and movie to utilize this concept is “American Psycho”.
A widely-acclaimed Nintendo Gamecube console adventure game was the first game I can remember that incorporates this concept directly into a game – the awkwardly-titled “Eternal Darkness – Sanity”s Requiem”. From Gamespot.com:
“The magic system is great, but probably the most interesting gameplay element in Eternal Darkness is the sanity meter and its accompanying effects. When hearing about the sanity aspect of the game, it”s easy to brush it off as a novelty, but nothing could be further from the truth. In the game, as you come across unsightly manifestations of evil, your character”s sanity meter will start to fall. As your meter begins to dwindle, you”ll be cued to the fact that your character is starting to lose his or her grip on reality when blood begins to run down the walls. However, this is just the precursor to the game”s incredibly inventive insanity effects. If your sanity meter hits rock bottom, your character will really start to lose it. Sometimes you”ll enter a room to find you”re walking on the ceiling, or you”ll be placed in a scenario that doesn”t seem quite right. But the sanity effects aren”t confined to affecting the character onscreen–they will also influence you. Without giving away too much, if some technical issues should arise while playing the game, don”t be too quick to take action…”
Was this ever a concept that was considered at Sierra – actually programming the game to mimic technical problems with the player”s computer? The possibilities, and potential lawsuits, boggle the mind!
(re: Codename: Iceman Sequel)
I don’t know anything else about this than the sequel’s (working) title was “Codename: Phoenix”.
