penguinfan

Not long ago, I went on a bit of a diatribe about this subject in a thread about the new Leisure Suit Larry remake. Read that post for the details, but the gist of it is that, the way I see it a game's art style should reflect the game's own style.
 
Leisure Suit Larry games *never* take themselves seriously. From the lovable-loser protagonist who spends each game being a sleazy-yet-oddly-endearing dork to the viciously "you suck" narrator to the ridiculously over-the-top situations, these games were made first and foremost to make the player laugh. Somewhere along the line, Al realized this and changed the art style from 'neutral' (as discussed above, the early Sierra games were defined by an art style that was basically the *lack* of an art style) to the current cartoonishly-exaggerated look. In this case, the goal was to make the games feel 'fun' and lively even when nothing explicitly funny was happening on-screen at the time.
 
The Space Quest games, while also funny, exhibit more of a sarcastic, subdued sense of humor. In SQ, the *in-character* universe is 100% serious - Roger is a normal guy facing deadly situations, and there's not a hint of 'this is funny' to any of it. The humor in SQ comes from its 'out-of-character' aspects - in particular, the snarky narrator and the many references/gags/in-jokes that are transparent to Roger and only funny to us, the players. Because of this, the relatively realistic style of graphics fits the series rather well, at least in my humble1 opinion. Even the later games, while taking on some cartoonish aspects, kept the characters realistically-proportioned and such.
 
Personally, I like the graphical style of Spaceventure - it's more cartoonish than the later SQ games, yet still has some grounding in reality (which makes the sci-fi elements more visually impressive). Any further judgement on my part will have to wait until the game is released and I can see what kind of humor the writers are going for this time - then I'll be able to say whether this particular graphical style suits the game's atmosphere.
 

In my experience, it's *only* used when the game is a 'funny' or highly stylized one that warrants it. Frankly, I can't recall an adventure game in recent memory where the art style struck me as contrived or out-of-place - they always felt like a natural part of the game. If a game warrants a cartoony art style, I say let the game have it - nothing wrong with that at all.
 
Unless you *personally* don't like highly stylized art. In which case, that's your problem to get over. ;)
 
 
1) BOW BEFORE MY INFINITE WISDOM!!!

Obviously too confusingly stated, but look at the quote that I had pulled -- individually Frede *can't* make a difference, but there have been some small number of kickstarter projects (> 0, saw an article about them somewhere) that have managed to catch the eye of a bunch of well-wishers and get thousands of bucks out of a "trivial" tier. So each person who says "I" can't make a difference is kinda right, but collectively all such well-wishers who donated a small amount *would* make a difference. And then I tried to indicate that was a theoretical quibble, and I'm not going to try to talk my representative sample (those of you kind enough to respond) into doing a token donation, since there really isn't much point without reaching the larger masses.
 
To answer your last question, Hero U is indeed being mentioned in lots of other game forums around the world, and has gotten 548 new backers in the previous 3 days. The problem is that the slow time was too slow, so it's a major game of catch-up now. If there are misconceptions still around that are getting in the way (no, not appreciating fantasy is not a "misconception") then they need to be addressed ASAP. The biggest clue I heard in this thread was from Jess, in the facebook-ish vibes he got. I would not touch this project with a 10-foot pole if it were going to be facebook-ish (hate all things facebook, including the pathetic games!) so one of us has to be wrong. Also seems ironic to me, because the Coles have intentionally stayed away from "casual" games because they don't like them either, unlike Jane Jensen who went casual to make a living (and got funds to invest in her "real" game company, so that strategy wasn't bad). So to me this smells like a misconception, and I'm thinking the Coles should address this explicitly, as best they can...

Pretty sure he addressed that in an old podcast (and I know he's aware of it). I'll remind him though.

Hell, why not a video mockumentary? All we need is someone who can convincingly fake a posh British narration voice ... Oh, I have just the candidate in mind! ;)

Speaking of superfans, the Art Collector tier (pick an original painting from a collection of QfG concept art) was sold out for a while but currently has 1 opening

Your support for platform choice is noted & appreciated
 
Meanwhile, wanted to give QfG fans who were concerned about the art a heads-up that the new pitch video may be worth checking out -- has a couple more representative mock screenshots (and is overall a better pitch video, in my opinion). Gameplay questions have already been pretty well addressed by updates.

Not only that, they are listening to PENGUINS!!
 
Corey Cole:
"I have decided to personally commit to bringing Hero-U to Linux. Originally we planned this as part of our first stretch goal, but I came up with a new plan. After Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is complete and on the way to our Windows and Mac users, I will personally port the game to Linux and - with the help of some of our passionate Linux friends - make sure the game is rock solid.
See, there's a little part of my history that 5 or 6 of you might not have heard yet. Before I was a game designer, I was a system programmer. My first job at Sierra was to translate the SCI game engine to the Atari ST and port the first four SCI games to the ST. I'll just put on my software engineer hat for this task."
 
Yaaaaaaaaay!
 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1878147873/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption/posts/344017

I'm getting a little tired of this monologue-ing, but the Andromedan post has a new article relevant to this thread
 
 
Original Quest for Glory artwork offered as rewards
 
http://guysfromandro...red-as-rewards/

And here is the exact link, reddit IAmA still going on for now...
 

Lori and Corey Cole have scheduled an IAmA for today http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA
 
According to Corey, the starting time will be
"6pm EDT on Halloween, which should be 10 pm in England, 11 pm in Central Europe, 3pm here in California, noon on Thursday in Melbourne, and... well just ask Google for "Current time in New York" and they'll tell you when it is. :-)"

The Coles are putting on a google+ hangout for all you googley type people (of which I am not one)
 
http://www.hero-u.net/leaders/spooktacular-start/
 
It appears to be going on now, and again periodically over the next few days through Halloween.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1878147873/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption/posts/335644?ref=activity
 
Yes, this vital update answers key questions such as "will Hero-U be a floor wax or a dessert topping?"
 
It's a Floor Wax AND a Dessert Topping
 
:D

Excerpt from discussion this morning about Hero-U combat approach:
 
speedster:
"DreamFall adventure game had some awkward fighting sequences that I could have done without, but I've enjoyed a range of other "combat" styles -- everything from classic party-based RPG combat (Bard's Tale, Might and Magic, Baldur's Gate II) to FPS (Doom, Hexen, Quake, Unreal...) to army-based strategic combat (Hero's of Might and Magic series) to skills click-fest (Diablo II, WoW) and even a bit of JRPG turn-based combat (Chronocross). The Hero-U combat sounds like a new variant that is more suited than that other stuff for an adventure-game setting -- single character to keep it personal, turn-based to use thinking instead of reflexes, and combining of items and environment along with a portfolio of skills to "solve" battles against monsters rather than just adding up various kinds of points to be "tougher" and overpower the monster with higher points in some attribute (higher damage, more hit points, whatever)."
 
Lori:
"@speedster - precisely! Although in the end, some of the combats in Hero-U will probably boil down to having the right magical doohickey or potion to make a monster vulnerable and then beating them on the head with a stick until they fall over, many of them will take some serious puzzle solving to defeat.
 
Combat won't be as much of an adrenalin rush as it was in QfG or WoW, but it won't be boring, either. No "hit the rat, kill the rat. Hit the next rat, kill the rat, Hit the next rat, kill the rat" kind of tedium. Find a way to block up that stupid rat hole!
 
Sort of the bush of infinite Goblins in QfG1, only this time, you can block their tunnel."

Lori has been hanging out at the comment thread quite a bit lately, and we've been having fun talking with her. Maybe some of you fence-sitters should sign up for a buck just to have a nice time chatting about QfG days and ask a few questions to get a better idea of whether or not the new Hero-U series will include the aspects that you enjoyed.

There has been some discussion of gameplay in the interviews that have been coming out, for example:
 
"We will have an Action Point system so that you can choose between doing a single, powerful action during your "turn" or a couple of smaller actions (such as stab and dodge) or move to improve your tactical position. I won't allow combats to turn into 10-minute marathons, but there will be more choices than in Quest for Glory.
 
The main feature of the Rogue character will be item use – Your Rogue will supplement his basic skills with a variety of items that let him do some unusual actions. We plan to keep the same basic interface for each game in the Hero-U series, but each character type will have a different flavor in combat."
 
http://www.rpgcodex....ent.php?id=8549
 
"For the Rogue, we decided it’s going to be an item-heavy experience. You’ll be working with poisons, traps, learning how to set traps in classes, and running around to get monsters and so on. That’s the point we’re making with the Rogue – he’s a trickster. He’s got to be able to survive even though he’s not the best fighter, and he does it by being smart."
 
http://www.rockpaper...on-going-rogue/
 
"To fight monsters and people both in the catacombs and elsewhere, you'll use a turn-based, "action point"-driven combat system. You can use points to move around, activate special abilities like World of Warcraft-ish poisons, or find ways to trap, split, and disable enemies using what Lori calls 'a thinking person's way of dealing with combat.' "
 
http://kotaku.com/5953028/the-creators-of-quest-for-glory-want-to-make-a-western-version-of-persona

The story sounds sounds pretty cool to me, with alternate paths
 
http://kotaku.com/5953028/the-creators-of-quest-for-glory-want-to-make-a-western-version-of-persona
 
"As you progress, you'll be able to choose whether to play your hero—Shawn O'Connor, a dirt-poor burglar—as a noble rogue or a nasty thief. You can learn how to become a hero, or you can go totally evil and try to take over the thieves guild, Corey said."

I think kicktraq only shows count of people who officially pledged, as opposed to the number of people who have "starred" the project for later consideration. People like Capn_Ascii who like to wait for signs of success would likely show up in the latter type of count.
 
If I'm wrong and you can see people who have starred a project without having pledged yet, please speak up! As far as I know there is NO way to do so, kickstarter even removed showing starred projects in a profile (and hunting down individuals who might have starred a project in order to check, was rather impractical even then).

Thanks for that insight into another question that I had wondered about! Of course if there are too many people who find backing non-winners a psychological put-off, then kickstarter projects all become doomed waiting for that critical mass for appearing successful, but luckily we're not all the same ;)

Well, again, it's a matter of "nobody cares". Joe Average Consumer doesn't even know the difference between a 1080p transfer and a 4K transfer. He doesn't know that the movies on disc aren't as picture-perfect as they could be, and even if he did, he likely wouldn't *care*. All he wants is to watch the movies with his wife and 2.3 kids (man, buying clothes for one-third of a kid is a pain) - he'll be far too busy enjoying the action and the writing and what-not to notice that the screen images aren't quite sharp enough to make his eyes bleed.
 
To be blunt, the sort of super-high-quality, perfectionist version you're envisioning is only going to appeal to cinemaphiles like yourself - people who treat the film as a work of art (to be preserved out of a sense of idealism) rather than an evening's entertainment (to be watched and then accidentally left out on the coffee table for the dog to chew up). The only folks who are going to care enough to make that sort of thing happen are other cinemaphiles themselves - which is exactly what's happened with your Star Wars fan restoration. Personally, I would just shrug and ignore the commercial releases and do whatever you can to help this guy make the perfect version you're after.
 
The only alternative is to try and petition the Lucas people to do it themselves, which is pretty much pointless. Corporate types think in terms of profit, and as I said, they're making plenty of money off the 'good enough for Joe Average' commercial releases - they've got no motivation to 'fix' them. You might - *might* - be able to talk them into doing it in hopes of seeing a potential profit from a pocket demographics, or perhaps as a gesture of good will toward franchise fans, but you will never convince them to do so for the sake of idealism alone.

Yeah, it's a bit of a balancing act.
 
Psychologically, the idea is that the more money the project has *already* been pledged, the more likely people will be to chip in and try to help push it up to the final mark. If someone sees that 5,000 of 50,000 has been pledged, then they think "Oh, this isn't drawing enough support to make it. No sense wasting my time." The same person can check later, see that 40,000 of 50,000 has been pledged, and say "Hey, this one might actually make it! I'm going to throw my hat into the ring and help them squeak across the finish line!" There's a lot of Kickstarters out there that follow this pattern - low initial support, but an avalanche of backers in the last few days as everyone gets off their asses and pledges. Ah, hard deadlines - the great motivator. ;)
 
Unfortunately, as you said, this creates a vicious circle. A project that might actually have a *lot* of potential supporters might well not meet the funding because none of them are pledging. Why? Because none of the *others* are pledging. Everybody is holding back their support because they think it won't matter - and their unwillingness to step forward and pledge causes the same sense of defeatism in all the *other* would-be pledgers of the same mentality. This is pretty much the same reason why a lot of people don't vote.
 
IMHO, what Kickstarter needs is both a "pledge tracker" and a "support tracker". The latter would let people pledge initial idealogical support for a project without actually pledging money (yet); other would-be pledgers would be able to see how popular a given idea is and have a better idea of whether they want to help or not.

Ok that answer I understand: just not a fan of the genre, so it's no skin off your back whether more get made or not. There are plenty of other genres where I'd feel the same way.
 
Do you really know any QfG fans who have not heard of Hero U yet? There have been lots of interviews, including a really long one on adventuregamers.com, one on kotaku, RPS... bunch of threads on game forums, including all the forums from adventure kickstarters, a huge long one on gog, articles on the andromedan post... where would those QfG fans be hiding?

A fellow backer asked a question on another forum
http://www.gog.com/e...e_coming/page16
 

So, to those of you who are a member of the group in question, why would you not want to pledge anything to Hero U?
 
Did the QfG games kinda suck in your opinion, and you'd just as soon the adventure-tainted-by-RPGish-skills die off?
 
Or is it really big-time kickstarter fatigue like some people are speculating ("no no if I log into my kickstarter account again I'll get malnutrition from all the ramen that follows")?
 
Or something else entirely?
 
Note: this is both for curiousity sake and in case there is something in the Hero U campaign that is giving the wrong impression and could be fixed, do not plan to hard-sell to people who respond ;)

A fellow backer asked a question on another forum
http://www.gog.com/e...e_coming/page16
 

So, to those of you who are a member of the group in question, why would you not want to pledge anything to Hero U?
 
Did the QfG games kinda suck in your opinion, and you'd just as soon the adventure-tainted-by-RPGish-skills die off?
 
Or is it really big-time kickstarter fatigue like some people are speculating ("no no if I log into my kickstarter account again I'll get malnutrition from all the ramen that follows")?
 
Or something else entirely?
 
Note: this is both for curiousity sake and in case there is something in the Hero U campaign that is giving the wrong impression and could be fixed, do not plan to hard-sell to people who respond ;)

It's great to see support for Linux, even if I don't use it. You guys are so passionate about your platform of choice that I smile every time that I see a developer promise it.

A lot of things really have me excited about this project. While I understand a lot of people are put off by the fact that Hero-U isn't "Quest for Glory 6" in name, it takes place in the same universe and the Coles have said that characters and events from the QFG series will be alluded to in Hero-U. The University is located in Silmaria, and the Famous Adventurer may or may not make an appearance, and most importantly, THERE"S MEEPS! :D
 
Even if a TRUE QFG6 were to come to fruition, after Dragon Fire "The Hero's" story was concluded so he wouldn't be the protagonist anyway, and I couldn't imagine "QFG6" being much different from what we're getting for Hero-U
 
It seems very similar to a lot of the criticisms SpaceVenture received for not being "Space Quest 7", which even though it's not in the "same universe" in name I know it will FEEL THE SAME. and that's what so many people overlooked, but that's what makes us SUPERFANS and them FANS! :D