PurpleTentacle

I am very glad this is a consideration. A knock on some adventure games (though not really a serious complaint of mine) is how slow you're forced to move around. I loved how you could run in Sierra's QFG games. I also like how Laura Bow runs at the end of Dagger of Amon Ra (makes the action and drama more believable), and I wish you had been given the option to do this whenever you want... but I suppose then her running at the end wouldn't have had the same specialness and therefore wouldn't have resulted in the same heightened suspense.

Here is a variation of a phrase I've seen on size XXL shirts, so it's not necessarily original, but it's cute: "Our food is worth the weight." The saying I've seen on XXL shirts is: "Fast food is worth the weight." Also, I could maybe come up with satires of famous American fast food slogans (eg, "finger lickin' good" "yo quiero Taco Bell" "I'm lovin' it"), but people outside of the U.S. wouldn't get them, right? So that's kind of tricky.

I agree with the comments saying some updates have been wanting. The updates have sometimes been too blasé and fluffy. Also, it's not good idea to call the critical backers "morons" or to say you'd like to swear at them. Pessimism about the project is more than understandable. But the latest update was encouraging! So maybe it's only going to get better from here!

Very sorry about Gary Owens. Please don't try and get some celebrity to replace him just because you think you have to. Find the right voice, whether it's from a well-known person or not. Please don't overdo the "sarcastic" delivery. A big, sarcastic personality could wear thin quickly and kill the whole experience.

To Two Guys and Pope: Almost time for a new update? Please provide more information about the interface, if possible. How has it changed since the demo? Also, could we see more footage of gameplay? Please make this a "meaty" update. :-)

I see what you're saying, Dat. I'm doing all these comments from my iPhone, and it's hard to sometimes be as precise and thorough as I would like. When I speak of feminists, I am talking about what the word "feminist" has come to mean: grievance-mongering and, all too often, misandry. A lot of what I see as problematic is in what's called "third-wave" feminism. I don't see today's feminism as truly being about equality. How about issues of female genital mutilation? Family "honor" killings? Sex-selective abortions? (actually as evil as abortion for almost any reason, for that matter) Child brides? There are serious issues related to women's and girls' rights worldwide. Certainly women often face unique and horrible discrimination and often barbaric treatment. Anyone who cares about equal rights and the well being of our fellow humans, regardless of sex, cares about these issues. These are real issues. But this baloney about the supposed horrible scourge of sexist video games? Give me a break. And the Anita videos? You can't talk about those Anita S (sorry, don't know her last name) videos without talking about the all-out push by so many gaming news sites to promote her and the message. IMO it's not the Anita videos, in and of themselves, that people object to; it's the nonstop forcing down our throats of all this PC nonsense and the pimping of her videos by all these gaming sites. And it's the smearing of anyone who disagrees that people also are sick of. My brother was a semi-pro skateboarder, and I saw the "skateboarding is not a crime" line a lot. That's what I was referencing when I said being male is not a crime. Like skateboarding was, natural guy-ish behavior (though of course not everyone is the same) is being portrayed as something bad or as something that needs correcting. Well, like skaters said, "to hell with it, we are who we are and stop treating us like criminals," I say more men (and those who support them) should push back and reject the political correctness/sensitivity cult. People like Anita are professional grievance mongers. Maybe her tone isn't as strident as others', but she is part of the same feminist movement that thinks that, just because they are offended by or don't like a piece of entertainment, then you shouldn't be able to enjoy it either. They want to get rid of things that make them uncomfortable. I don't buy the, "oh, it's just a discussion to lead to richer characterization or more interesting plots." The hell it is. It is a dangerous, speech-squelching ideology treating groups differently based on the politically correct hierarchy. All this reminds me of something I saw posted by a woman on Twitter in the "thank a feminist" thread: [Thank a feminist if...] ... you can play video games in which 1000 men die and 1 chick has big tits and get called a misogynist #ThankAFeminist

Blackthorne, the behavior of many influential, so-called professional gaming "journalists" has been, in response to those who question the "games are sexist!" message, outrageous, vicious and sometimes libelous. That's where I think more focus should be put, not on some anonymous YouTube commenters. Shouldn't professional journalists be held to a higher standard? There have been plenty of people who have criticized her methods and conclusions. Honestly, I don't think she deserves much attention. This is someone who is complaining about the "sexism" in Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. In a sane world, you would politely say to someone like that, "ok, thanks," and then move on. The implication is that games perpetuate sexism and other bad things and need to change. But there is zero evidence that games do any of that. Feminists want to pathologize being male. So what if some games show jiggly tits and have lots of violent battles? If you don't like it, don't play it. Many guys like boobs and scantily clad women with porn star-like bodies. Deal with it. Sadly, these feminists don't just want more games that appeal to demographics other than "core" gamers (and there are plenty of games like that); they want to do away with male-centric titles and remove content that THEY don't like. And they will use various institutions to coerce and smear and intimidate to ensure that they are not opposed. As for that Anita person? Eh. It's just one part of the larger picture. Luckily, these feminists DO NOT speak for most women, just as the "LGBQQTIDJDJXNblahblah" PC activists do not speak for all gay people. It's not a crime to be male and to like things that guys like.

From what I've seen of the remake, I definitely prefer the original. The makeover's character portraits, voices and animation aren't great. Unfortunately, the makeover does have a relatively cheap feel to it. This is surprising to me, since I thought Activision was involved in making this one. But maybe for people who can't play the original for whatever reason, this will be a good option. I wonder how many people will be willing to pay for an inferior version of a game they've already played or could get for less money, though. If the continuation of the series depends on the success of this remake, then I don't feel too optimistic. But who knows.

Well, the comic makes an excellent point. And the fact that it is true is sad, frankly. If that's the "stupidest thing" that someone's ever seen, then they obviously haven't read the work of Leigh "gamers are dead and anyone who opposes me is a misogynist" Alexander. Reminds me of something a well-known female gamer posted on Twitter: "How massively egotistical do you need to be in order to believe your gender is the only reason you're getting criticism?" Indeed, we see the "sexism" charge leveled at people who choose not to worship in the political correctness cult. But I think the smears are more a discrediting tactic rather than primarily the result of massive egos. That's not to say, though, that big egos don't come into play. Here's influential feminist and "journalist"/self-described powerful megaphone Leigh Alexander threatening a young developer she deems to have strayed from politically correct dogma: http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/832/340/fd0.png

I just came back here and noticed that I'm listed as having started this thread. I didn't create this thread. I guess that's because it was broken off from another thread? Anyway, there has been a lot of talk recently about corruption in gaming journalism and how people pointing out the corruption are being accused by politically correct gender police of hating women or something. The "sexist!" smear is getting thrown around a lot by people who aren't at all happy about opposition to their political ideology. I was pleased to see one of my long-time heroes, Christina Hoff Sommers, step into the fray and post this excellent video: http://youtu.be/9MxqSwzFy5w Her video deserves to be forwarded far and wide. Sommers' video went viral and struck a chord with gamers who appreciate her bringing common sense and facts into the discussion. The politically correct set went into a hair-pulling tizzy over her video, attacking her personally and creating laughably desperate auto-tune song responses. But Sommers should regard their freak-out over her video as a sign that she succeeded. Politically correct warriors may have influence and power as a result of institutionalizing their agenda, whether through "cultural studies" academia, media or government entities, but they don't have common sense or the truth. As people like Sommers show, truth and common sense will win out. It is kind of ironic to see, at a Space Quest forum, of all places, so much concern over what might be deemed politically incorrect. Sad commentary on where we're at. P.S.- Someone asked about the picture next to my name. It's someone I learned about through Al Lowe's twitter feed. I thought the guy described on the tombstone sounded awesome, so I decided to use a picture of him: https://twitter.com/allowe/status/275723604199620609

I don't like the idea that some indie developers ought to have been "consulted" first before the announcement. As for Blackthorne and Infamous Quests, I respect their passion and contributions, but they are far from top tier in terms of quality, even just among lower budget indie teams. There are far better, more appropriate teams for ActiVision to work with. I stress again that I respect Infamous Quests and am sure they will continue to improve. Sometimes the adventure gaming community can feel small or cliquish if we visit only certain forums visited by a regular, relatively small group of people, but there are so many more adventure game fans/designers out there whom we don't hear from as much in these places. If we start suggesting that some people should, in part because they familiar from these forums, have "first dibs" or be given special info access, then it starts feeling a little like a form of cronyism. And that wouldn't be thinking of what's best for the games. As for this news, I think it's great!! Finally the door has opened to creating new, official games using the Sierra IP. This is something I, as a longtime Sierra fan, had been waiting for. This could lead to great things. And, yes, it feels good to see that classic logo come alive again.

Haven't been on here in awhile and haven't heard the latest podcast. Need to get caught up. But what I was talking about earlier was how it would be neat if part operated in a manner similar to the "Johnny Magpie" column that appeared at the end of many InterAction magazines, where the author, who was really an insider, played the role of someone trying to get the scoop for his readers. In other words, the podcaster would represent the listeners hoping to learn new information. Of course, I don't know anyone here (who is Gareth? :-) ), who knows what, or who knows whom, so maybe my idea wouldn't work if the people doing the podcast are also working on the game. And thank you to the person earlier who gave more information about the user interface.

Are the remaining 2/3 expected to be finished faster than the first 1/3 was?

Labeling criticism as good/constructive VS. "ranting" is often just a way to apply loaded terms to opinions you either agree or disagree with. And it is also often used as a way to try to shut up people. We've probably all seen online forums where moderators use the "not constructive enough" excuse when warning critics. Should criticism only be taken seriously if it's offered dispassionately or expressed with sufficient kissing up and/or hedging, so as to try to avoid upsetting fans and developers? If the feedback doesn't come with many specifics, press the person to explain him/herself. People in this thread responded to the original concerns with evidence refuting the original posts. That is a much better way of addressing criticism than the disappointing comments by Blackhthorne I quoted earlier. As I've said, I believe the SpaceVenture scenes we've seen so far look quite nice. But I can understand the concerns raised at the beginning of this thread. Will be interesting to see the project at a more complete stage.

The suggestion in Blackthorne's somewhat disappointing comments (which I quoted above) is that people criticizing in-progress work or the apparent direction of in-progress shouldn't dare to think they know better than the designers and should instead just have faith. No, I don't like that way of dismissing criticism. Not one bit. Opinions related to game environments or scenes, which I believe was what some of the original comments in this thread were about, are subjective. But it's still possible to respond to those criticisms in a substantive way, as other posters here demonstrated. Those kinds of substantive responses are better than just branding critics with negative terms. It's like calling someone a "hater" and brushing them off when they disagree, without really addressing their points.

I didn't realize it was a semi-official outlet. Well, if "grilling" is out of the question, then maybe some gentle prodding for more info could be cool in a back-and-forth. It's fine if he declines to answer. And maybe you already know the answers to what you ask him. But I would have been interested to hear him expand on his thoughts about how the Sierra icon interface is insufficient or not optimal. What are some ideas the team has been throwing around for the SpaceVenture interface? That sort of thing.

OMG yeah you're right. I had forgotten about that. He had left comments on the LSL:R Kickstarter page about it. What a "thank you" he got for his hard work. It's really terrible.

He's a good actor: http://youtu.be/gzWtnyhdn_4 I liked the Dream Phone game short!

I like the podcasts, but I wish you'd press Pope for more info. Grill him when you have him on the show. :-) For example, you let him get away with saying they are looking to update the UI over what we saw in the demo, but there's no follow-up question about this? Or were the recordings for the different podcast participants done at different times?

In the latest podcast Chris Pope says that there will be a run mode. Not sure if we'll only have the run option in certain situations or if we can choose to run whenever we want. Anyone here know how that's going to work?

The new screenshot looks cool. If there are going to be weak areas in this game, I don't think art is going to be one of them. Not much in the latest update. At least from the previous update we now have a better idea, though, of the amount of work left. Hmm, I don't like this way of dismissing criticism. Why are opinions someone doesn't agree with or doesn't want to see given negative connotations through the use of terms like "armchair quarterbacking"? Telling someone, essentially, "Trust them. They know what they're doing and know better than you," is a poor way of addressing criticism. It's like telling someone, "keep your strong opinions to yourself, unless you're offering praise."

They cut out a lot of the original script for this Gabriel Knight redo, so it won't be like the Monkey Island special editions, which I believe had all the original writing left intact. The Gabriel Knight remake feels dumbed down.

In one sense I'm sad to see the state of that forum. There was a lot of good, passionate discussion about the lackluster official cover art and other LSL issues. And it was all erased. But I'm also happy to see yet another sign that a company headed by Trowe is in shambles. On Twitter Paul suggests that he's trying to go back to school. Does that mean Replay is done for the foreseeable future? Hope so. Also looks like he might have used one of those services to get himself a bunch of "fake" Twitter fans to try to make himself look like a popular big shot. I remember he never had more than 900 or so Twitter followers as of last Dec. Fronzel, you mentioned TAHR. He was such an amazing artist and an excellent forum contributor. I hope some indie adventure game developers establish contact with him and try to hire and involve him, at least in some way, in the game art production or marketing art for some upcoming indie adventure titles, not only because he's a brilliant artist but also because he appears to be a fan of the genre. Here's a "tribute" video he did: http://youtu.be/XDD5D4Bhk3Q He is someone I hope remains active in the adventure game community.

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. This is possibly my favorite game ever, and I have the box art as my iPhone lock screen background.

Earlier I hadn't realized that some of the people posting here were actually working on the game. Anyway, Chris Pope seems like a very warm and capable person. Awesome to have someone so accessible, like he is, as the project spokesperson. I applaud him for all he does. But maybe sometimes someone like Troels, who is a very clear writer on here and seems to be in-the-know and probably understands what backers and fans are wanting out of the updates, could read over and make suggestions to Pope's updates before he sends them out. I would tone down the conversational aspect and increase the professionalism and level of substance. That would also include fixing up (less important) things like basic grammar, etc. I don't have perfect grammar (far from it), but I can assure you that, if I were sending out periodic progress reports to thousands of backers, I would have someone else edit my work. Some of the updates have been downright terrible. (See Apr 1 update, for example) Don't write updates like, "well, hey, buddies, it's time for me to write one of these again. Well, where to begin. There's a lot of exciting news coming up. I don't have anything much to share with you now, but maybe this little animation will hold you over for a while. Maybe I'll get permission next time to share more art. Oh, wait till you see it. I know you'll love it. Bye!" Those get old fast and they feel fake, like the writer is hiding what's going or doesn't even know himself or doesn't want to make the effort to write a decent summary. People feel like they're being kept in the dark. Try to have a list in each update of where all the time was spent in the previous month and always say what is upcoming on the development schedule. Doesn't matter if it's dull. And don't worry about telling jokes all the time. And it's okay if you don't put a positive spin on everything. Please, no more updates that feel like this: "I had to send out something because it was that time of the month, so here it is. Have I gotten to 1000 words yet? Thanks so much for your patience. We are working like mad." Have some consistency in the way you are doing the updates and be sure to show progress from update to update. Give us numbers, percentages, etc. When you keep people largely in the dark about a lot, they will start assuming the worst.