Al Lowe retires (again), probably due to issues with Paul Trowe

[Shendue]

It looks like Al Lowe's contract with Replay ended and he decided not to renew it:

 

@allowe

 

The interesting part is that he appearently decided to retire due to probable issues with Paul Trowe (what a surprise).

 

Well, i'm sorry about Al Lowe not working anymore on LSL. Paul Trowe shows once again he's probably not the nicest person alive.

[Frede]

This is already known among quite a few of us, but discussing it can't hurt  :)

 

The most important events that led up to Lowe's return to retirement have been covered by Rock, Paper, Shotgun. It's by far the most sober and well-documented account out there, so it's well worth a read. If we see ever see Al at the helm of a game again, it will surely be without Trowe at his side...

[Intendant S]

And that's nowhere near everything that he's done. But, like Frede said, it's the most important stuff. Just be prepared. There's some scary shit there.

[Shendue]

I didn't knew he talked trash of Jane Jensen and Corey Cole as well.

Judging solely by the article you linked, his life seems like a total trainwreck at the moment.

Well, i honestly don't care at all about him, but i'm honestly sorry, as an old Sierra adventures fan, that Al Lowe won't work on LSL ever again.

His reaction to the situation was very cool and gentleman-like. He just corrected the false statements made about himself and basically shrugged it off with class.

[tomimt]

What saddens me the most here is, that there was a real promise in LSL:R, warts and all. Despite it's not a perfect game and at points it feels like a long Kickstarter joke, it still is IMO the best version of Larry 1 out there. Had Al and Josh been able to continue towards LSL:R2 I'm certain there would have been great things to come.

 

In a perfect world Trowe could have been just the thing that was needed to get Larry as a series back to those who know and love it. But now, after all is said and done, I can only shake my head. 

[Intendant S]

I agree with you, Tomimt. Despite certain issues (the animation being the big one), the game was pretty good. I really did enjoy the writing. And it had so much potential to continue the series. Unfortunately, Paul's behaviour soured any chance, at least in the short-term, for any future Larry games.

[shoptroll]

I really hope this means the whole debacle is pretty much over even if it means there will be less popcorn consumption from watching Paul implode (I still feel bad for anyone who caught up in this).  I don't think I've seen anything like this since the bizarre incident with one of the Gizmondo founders back in 2006.

 

I'm glad Al finally got out of there.  After the incidents in October, I was surprised he didn't leave at the time, but it sounds like he needed to complete his contract before leaving.  Given Paul's behavior, I wouldn't be surprised if there would've been a breach of contract lawsuit or something if Al had terminated his involvement early.  It also makes me think that Josh left in July because his contract was up at the time as well. 

 

It's also frustrating to read that Replay might still be able to license the IP from Codemasters without Al's involvement.  I know Paul was saying something about a "surprise" in January, and I really hope he's not arrogant enough to try and continue remaking Larry games without Al or Josh.  Or if he is, I hope it backfires horribly on him.  No Al, no sale.

 

One of the things I always felt that was weird with Replay was how it felt like Paul was trying to force his way into the limelight in many of the interviews or videos.  It's great that he was able to set everything up for Al, but I always felt like as the CEO or Executive Producer or whatever of a company you're better off staying behind the scenes and making sure everything is running smoothly.  Also it sounds like he was pushing for a Larry 4 which I think is just one of those things that doesn't need to exist (like Star Wars prequels or Matrix sequels) and would completely ruin one of the central gags in Larry 5.

 

Also, did many of the Sierra alum actually know Paul from the old days?  I know it wasn't the biggest company but from the bits I've managed to find on MobyGames indicate that most of his work at Sierra was in QA or as a Production Assistant on several of the FMV games.  How does someone go from low-level development roles to CEO of a retro-revival studio?

 

Oh, and what of the Fester Mudd team?  I've been meaning to pick that up but Replay never really seemed to care much for publicizing it :(   Now that Al and Josh aren't at Replay I really don't want to buy the game as long as Replay is seeing some of the money.

 

Anyways, If people haven't already, it might be a nice thing to send Al an email.  He's always been good about reading fan mail and I'm sure it would mean a lot to him if people dropped him a line.

 

I didn't knew he talked trash of Jane Jensen and Corey Cole as well.

He also badmouthed Phoenix Online completely out of the blue when "discussing" Adventure Mob on Corey's facebook feed.  (My speculation is that he's not pleased Phoenix Online continues working on TSL.  Or they've got the KQ license after Telltale failed to do anything with it.)

 

This is already known among quite a few of us, but discussing it can't hurt  :)

 

The most important events that led up to Lowe's return to retirement have been covered by Rock, Paper, Shotgun. It's by far the most sober and well-documented account out there, so it's well worth a read. If we see ever see Al at the helm of a game again, it will surely be without Trowe at his side...

 

RPS is the best.  Really glad to see them reporting on this and going into a lot more depth than some of the other sites.  Not surprising though given some of their associates were well aware of Paul's antics.  While I'd love to know more about how

 

What saddens me the most here is, that there was a real promise in LSL:R, warts and all. Despite it's not a perfect game and at points it feels like a long Kickstarter joke, it still is IMO the best version of Larry 1 out there. Had Al and Josh been able to continue towards LSL:R2 I'm certain there would have been great things to come.

 

In a perfect world Trowe could have been just the thing that was needed to get Larry as a series back to those who know and love it. But now, after all is said and done, I can only shake my head. 

My "perfect" Larry 1 would be something like a hybrid of LSL1 VGA and Reloaded.  The animation (and lack thereof) in certain spots hurts it a lot along with pacing issues that were introduced by the new content.  Some of the new content fell kinda flat with me like Angry Broads (I don't feel Larry has ever deliberately tried to be misogynistic) and the "HIdden Object" gag which I thought went on too long (and seemed out of place).  But I'm still happy Al and Josh had a chance to work with the property once again, even if it really felt like the game could've used a much larger budget.  The new writing was good, they eliminated some frustration (but added more unless the 2.0 patch fixed reloading on the blackjack machines) and the soundtrack was phenomenal (even if I still have a soft spot for Mark Seibert's work).  Really, just an HD version of LSL1VGA would've been enough for me.

[Intendant S]

I, too, really hope that this dies down soon. All of this business is really taking a toll on me and I just want it to end.

 

To answer some of your comments, shoptroll (love the name, btw):

 

The big surprise in January is most likely the Leisure Suit Larry Casino game they've been talking about for months. I'd be extremely surprised that Paul would announce another full-blown PnC remake with both Al and Josh out of the picture. Even if it was done, nobody in the know will support it.

 

I haven't heard anything from the Fester Mudd team in ages. While I was still a member of the forums, there was no talk of a second part even being made let alone published. I did rather enjoy the first part, though, and would love to see more...just not as long as Replay releases it.

 

Just before being kicked off the testing team in October, I got to see a lot of the changes made to version 2.0. If the problem with the gambling save/load problem that you're talking about is the one where it resets your bet when you load, then you should be happy that it was fixed.

[tomimt]

I wouldn't put it past Trowe to try his luck with LSL:R2 Kickstarter, but I do think announcing the casino game is more than likely.

[shoptroll]

I wouldn't be surprised to hear about the casino game either.  Even though I liked the old one back in the day, I didn't see myself getting into any new version if they went ahead with a F2P model even with Al on-board.  The fun of the old game was the no-risk single player and having to interact with other people to get free money.  But a cynical cash grab?  No thanks.

 

Glad to hear the reload bug with the casino games in Reloaded was fixed.  Don't think I'll be diving back into Reloaded any time soon but that will make it certainly less frustrating next time I play.

[tomimt]

Two biggest changes 2.0 brings are the point system and social media integration. Points are a nice addition, I don't know how the social media part works, as I never tried it.

[Frede]

As far as I could tell, social media integration allows you to share your in-game achievements on Facebook and/or Twitter. I haven't used it, though. As a matter of fact, I completely disabled the achivement-popup because it's so obtrusive.

[Fronzel Neekburm]

 

Only got wind of this a few days after the fact. Many a bag of popcorn was consumed that afternoon, let me assure you!

I keep going back to the one question that kind of started it all:
 

"Ask them a hard question. Ask them why they didn't join up with the folks at Replay Games to create Sierra 2.0"

Well, there you have it, folks! There's your answer, right there on a golden fucking plate!

BTW, I noticed the Phoenix-bashing on Corey's wall, but I seem to have missed out on the Jane Jensen-through-the-mud-dragging. Screencaps, anyone? I guess we can't thank Josh enough for not only delivering on the writing, but also for his tireless efforts in damage control. It's all too obvious now that without him delaying this inevitable meltdown for as long as he did, all this shit would most definitely have occurred waaay before the actual game shipped. God only knows how everything would've turned out if that had happened...
 

[Frede]

I don't think Jane was ever attacked directly; the journalist probably read his attack on Phoenix and kinda figured that, well, since Jane is currently working with Phoenix...

 

Things have still gone too far when we're actively discussing who Paul Trowe did not smear, though!

[tomimt]

You rarely see such efficient bridge burning though.

[DrJ]

RPS did a great job on the article. In the end I think Paul is just a very deluded mentally ill person. He had a good thing going, but his actions destroyed it all. I can only feel sorry for him for not realizing that his actions would have an adverse reaction. At this moment I think the "announcement" in January will not happen. A LSL game without Al's support is just not going to happen. 

 

I'm hoping for a new Josh IP game! I'd back that in a heartbeat!!! 

[Irishmile]

If Codemasters was SMART they would beg Josh to make another LSL game keep nFusion to develop it, and publish the beast themselves...  BUT I know that is never going to happen.

 

Way back when I was still attached to do some concept art for the casino game and Al was still involved the Casino game sounded like it was going to be something really really cool...  I still cant talk about it much because I did sign a bunch of Non-disclosures but someday after its either released or buried under layers and layers of development hell I will be able to share what COULD have been.

[drdrslashvohaul]

To quote the big man himself -- "don't believe the quotes in the article. It was really due to Paul's actions and learning about them from you and all." (link)

[Troels Pleimert]

Things have still gone too far when we're actively discussing who Paul Trowe did not smear, though!

This. Very this.

[Decaffeinated Jedi]

At least Paul has been quiet for the past few days. Maybe a little too quiet...

[Frede]

Well, he has written on Twitter that Replay will be doing another episode of Fester Mudd sometime soon. Good luck finding any buyers.

[drdrslashvohaul]

Even if he's still in charge of the company or whatever, he needs to withdraw from social media, and (whether honorific or not) give someone else the title of CEO and full control of external communications. He can still run the company, but he cannot be a public face in any way, shape or form. Then he needs to completely shut himself off from making comments outside his office walls and concentrate on rebuilding the reputation of his company by making good games and providing excellent service.

 

Then, and only then, can he even contemplate trying to rebuild his own image. Which, quite frankly, I think is beyond salvation.

 

This is a short way of saying "not bought any of their products, and won't even consider it until he fecks off".

[Troels Pleimert]

At least Paul has been quiet for the past few days. Maybe a little too quiet...

One can only hope this was mandated by some stern legal advice.

 

He did call us all "trolls." I thought I was the only "Troels" in our midst.

[Intendant S]

Even if he's still in charge of the company or whatever, he needs to withdraw from social media, and (whether honorific or not) give someone else the title of CEO and full control of external communications. He can still run the company, but he cannot be a public face in any way, shape or form. Then he needs to completely shut himself off from making comments outside his office walls and concentrate on rebuilding the reputation of his company by making good games and providing excellent service.

I do believe that Josh tried to keep Paul reigned in.  And it did shut him up for a while.  When he left, all hell broke loose.

[Troels Pleimert]

Then he needs to completely shut himself off from making comments outside his office walls and concentrate on rebuilding the reputation of his company by making good games and providing excellent service.

I think there's a bigger issue being neglected here and that's one of trust. Even if he withdrew completely from the public eye and let someone else steer the ship, just the fact that he has previously dealt in some shady business practices (thinking specifically of the finagling-funds-for-Tom-King scheme here) would make it hard to accept anything coming out of a company where he is employed as kosher.

 

I mean, they'd basically have to make it part of the marketing campaign at this point: "Trowe only packed the boxes! No shady deals were involved in the making of this game!"