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(re: Animation Tools for Kings Quest VII?) Where did you see “a few Making of Kings Quest VII”?
Also, what do you mean by Animation Tools? That’s very non-specific. In all liklihood, each frame of the animation was drawn as a traditional cartoon cel, and then scanned into the computer. They were probably colored in the computer, and then put into the game using Sierra’s propriety software.(re: re: re: re: KQ4 unreleased cover art) Assuming my memory is correct….
Some of the early Kings Quest box art was done by the artist “David Mann” who specialized in doing paintings for motorcycle magazines (like Easyrider). I can’t see the box cover well enough to say for certain, but it looks like this is a Mann painting.
-Ken W(re: re: re: KQ4 unreleased cover art)
Your right about the adultness of that picture. Thats more like the The Perils of Larry.
(re: re: re: Random Encounters on KQ games)
These may sound like odd question, but while we’re on the subject of encounters whats happens if the Zombies get you without the broach. Also same question about the mummy, and is it posible to so far that you can even get into the kript without the broach? Just somthing I’ve always wondered about. Also is it me or did the miser ghost look like Mr. Howall from from Giligan’s Island.
(re: re: INN Recreation) Darn. I was hoping that the project was shut down because he was out of money. I might have thrown in a couple of dollars to help him — although, someone, somewhere, owns the copyright to INN – which means the project is ultimately doomed. Too bad — I really miss it.
Someday, if I ever get industrious, I’ll see if I can figure who owns INN, and how they would feel about a underground effort to recode it. My belief is that after we sold it to AT&T, they resold it to AOL. I’m not sure that anyone at AOL even knows they own it, although I once heard a rumor that it was then joint ventured with AOL and Electronic Arts, and that some of the code is now running the backend of some of EA’s online games.
-Ken W(re: INN Recreation)
Ken,
Here is a working link for that project. http://fauxinn.cjb.net/
There is a contact address there,mithandrel@hotmail.com
Take care!
(re: re: INN Recreation) Does anyone know the email address of the guy who was trying to clone INN?
He was off to a great start. I liked what I saw… Too bad .. it looks like he shut down the effort.
-Ken W(re: Sierra’s stock chart) I think I have the old stock quotes somewhere in my files.
Unfortunately, I’m currently away from home, but will be there at Christmas. I’ll look then.
Here’s a story from Sierra’s past:
For YEARS, I had a “Beat EA” campaign. The goal was to have Sierra’s stock price pass Electronic Arts’ stock price. At the time the campaign started, we were half their price. It took us several years, but we did pass them – and, paid off by “gifting” every employee of the company 10 shares of Sierra stock.
I always had a ton of respect for Electronic Arts. I wanted our employees focused on studying everything they did, and rising to their level of excellence – specifically in the area of sales force execution. They also pioneered the concept of creating a sports franchise, and selling upgraded versions every year.
In addition to Electronic Arts, our role models were also Microsoft and Disney.
-Ken W(re: re: new picture) One other thought on the picture of Roberta on the website:
I’m experimenting with different pictures on the home page. The picture of me seemed to average about 7 new registered visitors per day. The Sierra logo seemed to bomb – it looked great, but our average new users per day dropped in half. The picture of Roberta seems to be working better, but it’s too soon to say.
Or, of course, the picture has nothing to do with daily sign-ups… I have no idea….
-Ken W(re: new picture) “I have to ask — what kind of coffee does she drink?”
Roberta is absolutely Starbucks-addicted. They know her at the local Starbucks, and already have her drink going while she is still tying up Shelby (our dog) outside.
“A Grande Soy Latte with Sugar-Free Vanilla”
We’re both doing the Atkins diet (and, this drink is legal under the diet). I need it, she doesn’t – but, she is doing it too – just to make it easier on me.
-Ken W
PS We’re currently in Mexico. There’s a local rumor that a Starbucks might be coming. Hopefully it’s true!(re: re: Random Encounters on KQ games)
hee hee, I loved it when Rosella got dragged off by the hair…
(re: Love for Police Quest)
these were really great games. I beat 1, 2 and 4 but never 3. It moves to fast on my old computer and now I can’t find my copy of the game.
(re: Random Encounters on KQ games)
Well in a way the random encounters becme more important to the story (minstral, pan, cupid, the whale and the unicorn) to further the plot. There were also oposition (sharks and the ogar and the cave monster) that would kill you and they randomly apeared the ogar not as much as the others. there’s a few more example of random encounters. I didn’t make the game but i think it evolved into more of a caution and story driver than an hinderence.
(re: Lobby for SQVII) It would seem that Sierra have canned the project twice already so I doubt that they want to spend any more time on it. However a precedent may be set by the forthcoming Larry game… If the console generation of games players take to it, maybe Sierra will consider something for SQ?! Whatever happens, it’ll never be an adventure and so could/will/maybe alienate their previous customers.
Why not ignore Sierra and look to the unofficial SQ7 project. Not sure how it’s going these days but their site is still up at
Link: http://www.sq7.org(http://www.sq7.org) (re: Police Quest Collection ver 2) Hi,
I own the “Collection Series” edition of Police Quest. It’s in a wide box with lift up front flap and has a “over $200 value” graphic on the front right. Games include PQ1,2,3,4 and SWAT.
Anyways, all Sierra did with this – bless their marketing division 🙂 – was throw in the CD and manual from the previous PQ collection (entitled The Police Quest Collection – The 4 Most Wanted) together with the 4*CD set of Police Quest SWAT.
As for the manual, it only covers the first 4 games (obviously given my previous comment!) and is a half letter sized glue bound book of 228 pages.
Was the item sealed properly or made to look like it was sealed (i.e. had been resealed)? Perhaps the seller didn’t know the manual was missing?(re: re: Congratulations!)
Anything new on the videos?
Best greetings from the University of Munich
Florian(re: Police Quest Collection ver 2)
Hi Peter,
That’s the problem when buying through eBay- you can’t guaruntee you’ll get what you want; but you CAN leave a negative reply to the seller, and notify eBay management.
[don’t doubt the fact that there was a manual; the difference between US and European (UK) release is not great)You can get manuals from http://www.replacementdocs.com – this website holds PDF copies of manuals.
I hope some PQ fans that have the collection will read this and will supply you with the exact contents of the original box.
Good luck!
-Eyal
(re: re: An interesting discussion with Roberta)
12 Monkeys is a great movie. I think it’s definitely the same type of movie, maybe not as complex (but maybe that’s just because I’ve seen it a thousand times).
🙂 emily
(re: Police Quest Collection ver 2)
as far as i know, these games were released with copy protection. i have this version of the collection too (got it used at a thrift store) and the copy protection is in place for PQ2 (the only one i’ve played off that CD). i’m glad the code from the PQ1 remake worked for you, others have said that those codes didn’t work for the collection.
the link below has manuals / copy protection for games 2 and 3 for download.
-emily
(re: An interesting discussion with Roberta)
I don’t know if anyone else would agree, but I found “12 Monkeys” to be a pretty stimulating film about Armageddon. I think I would classify this one as a “puzzle film”…sort of a sci-fi meets philosophy meets prophecy. This may be off topic, but the soundtrack for that one was weak. I really do think the score plays a major role in bringing out one’s emotions (Hans Zimmer is one of the greats). I think a game company in Europe recently published or is in the process of publishing a game in which a full-scale orchestra was used for the music. Maybe other people are realizing the positive impact and influence music has on people.
I will definitely have to check out “21 Grams”. I am always looking for ways to exercise the brain.
P.S. Do you need a date? 🙂
(re: The Sierra Pest) Josh, great to see you stop by! Josh is one of the “unlucky” people I’ve contacted and for some reason he agreed to contribute to my idealistic design documents project 🙂 So you know that great things will be coming 🙂
And Daniel, any chance of making an MP3 from that interview tape? Or if you can’t, perhaps making a copy of the tape and sending it to someone who can?(re: An interesting discussion with Roberta)
Sounds like a great movie! This definately made me interested in seeing it.
I think this plot thing is a deep and complicated topic. It’s certainly a fine balance for a writer to make a story surprising and interesting, but still not too obscure. Some directors are amazing at that, which has made them very successful. Like Quentin Tarantino, or – to mention Mulholland Drive again – David Lynch. In Lynch’s case, the plots can involve truly bizarre dreamy sequences that really makes the brain work in the attempt to decipher the deeper messages. It takes great writing to do this and challenge the viewer with surprises without messing up the plot. Another good example of this is the series “24”, which shocks the viewer with new twists in every episode to the point where you can never trust anyone for being the person they appear to be. The fact that this works and not completely alienates the viewers but instead keeps them glued to the screen wanting more hints at some great writing talent.
Isn’t the problem with movie narratives really the same as with adventure games in a way? You must make it possible for the audience to see where the story is going, but you cannot present it so blatantly clear that there is no emotional reward in figuring things out. And it’s nearly impossible to fool the viewer by doing something obvious but disguising it as a clever plot twist. Personally, I’ve recently discovered the wonderful world of anime (Japanese animation) and it’s such a refreshing thing to watch it, simply because there is a tradition of different storytelling in the east that you aren’t used to living on the west hemisphere and watching mostly American and European movies. First of all, the stories are usually much more character-based, with the characters making some sort of emotional journey over the course of the movie. Also, the cultural differences introduces many things that surprises and amazes you. If you’re just going to watch one anime movie, I’d suggest Spirited Away, directed by Hayayo Miyazaki. It’s not a coincidence that this movie won an Academy Award and is the highest grossing movie of all time in Japan. The sheer imagination and beauty of it just sweeps you away into another world, where you never know what to expect. And yet you can relate to it emotionally. Japan is a long, long way ahead of us in the animation department. They have realized that it’s a medium and an artform suitable not only for the kids. You can find virtually any theme and any genre in anime form.
But of course regular movies from the east does these things well too, something that the audience in the west is slowly discovering. Just look at the success of movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, which has not only influenced western filmmakers by their visual style, but also by their storytelling. And Akira Kurosawa will forever be mentioned as one of the most important directors of all time.
So, in summary, if you are looking for something refreshing in movies, look to the east. 🙂
(re: An interesting discussion with Roberta)
mmm. I’ll have to check this movie out. I loved Memento because of the amount of thought I had to put into it.
I think Roberta’s right on about audiences wanting to know where the plot is going. I always think of it as not wanting to feel stupid. If a movie (or a book, or a game) makes me feel like an idiot, I’m not going to enjoy it. I HATED Mullholland Drive because there was nothing for me to grab onto in that movie — I had no idea what was going on at any given time. In the end, I felt like a moron because the movie was entirely unaccessible — something was happening but I was left feeling too stupid to figure it out. But with Memento I caught on and was able to piece things together, even the first time I saw it.
I think it’s the same with a game. If the main character is making connections I can’t make because the story so far hasn’t supported them, I feel stupid. (Kate Walker in Syberia drove me nuts — she kept saying “I don’t need to do that yet” when I told her to pull a lever — she didn’t even know what the lever did! How could she know she didn’t need to pull it yet?) And if the game reaches a conclusion that hasn’t been supported throughout the story, it’s as if the game’s saying “How could you miss that?!” when in reality, the game hasn’t necessarily led me in that direction. It’s much more satisfying if you have an idea of where you’re headed…
-emily
