PurpleTentacle

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.

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. :-)

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 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

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

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.

Not going to happen this way. All that is going to accomplish is that you get the illusion of „progress“ while everything stays the same.
 
No, I just loathe the ignorance and self-importance of people who think that reshaping the world in their image will autimatically make it a better place. Especially if they‘re working from a position that people are thinking like idiots who need to be "educated".
 
I‘m not sure if „you" is supposed to refer to me personally, feeding into the ridiculous notion that I‘m somehow conservative or anti-equality or anti-women. Or even anti-feminism, for that matter. Frede did a good job at pointing out that there‘s both perfectly reasonable feminists and that there are raving lunatics.
 
Maybe you should consider avoiding the Hotline Miami series then. Subtlety certainly isn‘t one of its strengths. You‘ll miss out on a great game with an awesome soundtrack though, but at least you won‘t have to face the lazy tropes or stereotypes that the game is playing with.
 
Reminds me of this:
 

Point taken about the lack of LGBTQ protagonists in games though. (I can come up with two: Moebius and Phantasmagoria 2, possibly three if my theories about BioMenace‘s protagonist turn out to be true. Oh yeah, and then there‘s The Sims). Still, I think it‘s silly to assume that LGBTQ lack the capacity to relate to video game characters that aren‘t explicitly introduced as gay. In turn that would mean that if a company released a game with a LGBTQ lead, then the heterosexual players would avoid this game, because they can‘t identify with the main character. And I don‘t think that‘s the case, unless you‘re talking about homophobic shitheads, but there‘s no helping those either way.
 
I say make the game you want to make, just don‘t make any lazy, half-hearted concessions just to get on the right side of a particular crowd of people. If someone wants to make a game that deals with LGBTQ issues and characters, by all means they must make that! Because you‘re absolutely right when pointing out that there are too few about these games and that variety is the spice of life. On the other hand, what I don‘t want to see is random alterations merely for the sake appeasement. Don‘t say: „There‘s too few characters that the LGBTQ crowd can relate to in Street Fighter, so let‘s make Honda gay and Chun-Li transgender.“ The same goes for including token female characters („Let‘s replace Ken with a new character named Barbie“) or token coloured characters („Let‘s make Guile black“). It‘s lazy, hypocritical and insincere and it doesn‘t amount to anything.
 
Wrong, have a look at page 1, that was because of something PurpleTentacle said. Maybe you should be having this whole discussion with him instead. I‘m probably the last person you want to ask, since (as I wrote time and again) I‘m at least partially sympathetic to the cause. I simply get fed up with people who are convinced that their way is the right way and that everyone else must adhere to their every whims or else they‘re backwards troglodytes who need to be "educated". It‘s odd that you‘re telling me that I‘m having an angry, visceral reaction, while you seem to be the one can‘t get past the idea that there are people out there who might disagree with a PC agenda that they consider to equate to censorship. You might think otherwise, which is fine. We both don't know the real motivation behind the examples I brought up. You see benevolence (a sincere attempt to make video games, therefore the world, a better place), I see malice (instead of actually changing the world for the better, a vocal minority indulges in de facto censorship by pressuring designers into catering to their demands). You agree to disagree and move on.

It's intimidation when highly-damaging smears like "sexist" and "racist" are used to punish those who don't comply with politically correct demands. These are unique, poisonous slurs that stick, whether they are being used fairly or not. Someone posted a link to a EuroGamer review that employs this tactic.
 
To avoid the punishment, content developers will self-censor. In this way, politically correct demands (which favor particular groups over others), and their accompanying threat of harm, chill free expression. People are being bullied into avoiding particular speech because certain other people don't like what is being expressed.
 
Some fancy themselves politically correct warriors for a better world, condemning perceived objectionable racist or sexist material wherever they see it - and some people can find it anywhere! However, the standards are applied differently, depending on the group in question and its status in the latest p.c. hierarchy.
 
One of the reasons political correctness is so dangerous is that it can lead people, not just game developers, to fear speaking openly and honestly. Luckily, enough people are recognizing the insidious and absurd nature of the neverending politically correct grievance mongering and are calling it out for what it is.
 
Game developers, make the games you want to make, the way you want to make them, and don't worry about running afoul of the language police. If they throw a hissy fit, wear it as a badge of honor... and hope enough fair-minded people come to your defense if that happens.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Very pleasantly surprised with Tesla Effect. Am really enjoying it. Definitely recommended. Love the atmosphere.

Oh look out. Here comes the PC police with the big four of BS. (that being "racist", "sexist", "bigot" or "homophobe"), basically if any protected group acts in a way another person doesn't like, why that person should be treated like Hester Prynne and completely excommunicated from the human race. Why? Who cares. We are the PC Police and we have the right to bully and mistreat anyone we want.
 
Alright, let's put it this way. Judge Judy and Berta from Two and a Half Turds act in such a way that they act like they have a complete vendetta against all of humanity. Barney from HIMYM may be manipulative, however, he at least is likable not because he's a sleazebag, but because under it all, he's just the average person trying to succeed more with women. If he went in and said even 10% of the stuff that Judge Judy or Berta said, he wouldn't have a girlfriend or a hook-up, they'd call him a name I can't repeat here (it begins with "A" and ends with "E" and has seven letters) and no one would want to be within fifty miles of him. This has nothing to do with gender, it has to do with overall disposition. Friendliness goes a long way, even in manipulation. You do catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, except apparently with Judge Judy and Berta they're hoping to catch flies with a Durian.
 
Again, especially in 'Murica, we tend to reward behavior when female characters are borderline psychotic. A perfect example of that is in the Leisure Suit Larry series of games, which I contend only have gotten famous because they play on the very real fear that men have regarding women. If a woman had even one of the tortures that happened to Larry happen to her, people would say "HEY! HOW CAN YOU BE SO MISOGYNISTIC?". Some of the death scenes in the series are flat out reprehensible and physically disgusting and people go "ha ha ha. What a loser".
 
 
 

 
See my last post.
 
 
 

 
Take 3: If any man said even 10% of the stuff that "independent" women ever since Roseanne have said, they would not be rewarded for it. They'd be heavily ostracized and the average person would say "What an" (Here's that word again. I'm sorry but no other word seems to fit). trust me, no man could get away with having anywhere near as foul of a disposition as they are, and this is my problem with Beatrice.
 
Beatrice is never nice to Roger. Not once. How can he even put up with that? Is he so desperate for any degree of attention that he'd take someone that quite honestly, would want him dead almost as much as the Arnoid Annihilator from SQ3.
 
Stellar is at least understanding that Roger is trying to better his life. She's only really nasty to him when she has to be or he doesn't get the point. Why exactly he doesn't try to hook up with Stellar and have a child that could, theoretically, be a Time Ripper is anyone's guess.

I really like the new art revealed in the latest update. What do you all think?

That's probably because the guy two posts above yours designed a lot of the animations in TSL but had nothing to do with Moebius ;) 

I helped kickstart Moebius, largely to help the adventure game revival along. I haven't played Moebius yet but didn't really get a good impression of POS's stuff when I played TSL, so I will probably give Moebius a pass as well.

The Silver Lining
 
Since PurpleTentacle developed a deep hatred towards Phoenix over this game, I was curious to see how it compares to Moebius on a purely cosmetic level. I'm still recovering from the shock of finding out that both the protagonist's walking animation and the facial animations in The Silver Lining are somehow far superior to the ones in Moebius. If this is what constitutes "atrocious, amateurish dreck", I dread to see PurpleTentacle's verdict on Moebius.

I really like the new art revealed in the latest update. What do you all think?

I got it to work!!! I wasn't holding the phone sideways. Thanks for the help! This is the greatest thing ever!

I really like the new art revealed in the latest update. What do you all think?

Not sure if this has been discussed, but I believe it is an important consideration.
 
What is something many of us do as soon as we start certain adventure games? Turn up the character's walking speeds, right? Who wants to sit and wait while a character lumbers from one side of the screen to the next, over and over?
 
I was recently playing Moebius (disappointing product from a developer who apparently struggled technically to make the game work, but no need to get into that here), and I found it annoying how slowly the main character walks around and performs many actions. Even in tense scenes, where the character's safety is at risk, he still strolls around as if he hasn't a care in the world.
 
My suggestion for SpaceVenture: definitely give us the option to make the playable character run/jog whenever we want, rather than simply walk.

That's true, but be careful. If you don't watch yourself you may find yourself with a game like Jurassic Park that omits walking entirely, which also prohibits freedom of exploration and that requires a bit of non-linearity, something narrative can't provide. I'm not one to completely follow narrative solely.