CmdrFalcon

@PurpleTentacle
 
I'd agree with you, were it not for the fact that this bunch of people you mentioned pumped - literally! - thousands of dollars into the game, worked as moderators for Replay and did all sorts of free labor (artworks, beta testing and such). All that rewarded with a great big "Fuck you!", just because they dared to point out that someone is making a complete ass of himself. (Bear in mind that I consider myself mostly a neural party in this. Yes, I was also thrown out of the forum - presumably because I posted an animated gif of a guy munching on a bag of popcorn (!) - but I was nowhere near as involved in either the forums or the actual game as most of the other banned parties were.) Imagine if you had been the one who basically had given a year of his life to the project. Wouldn't you agree that this goes quite a bit beyond bruised egos and delves into the realm of, shall we say, exploitation?
 

That and, you know,...
 
- threatening Wisecrack with a lawsuit even though they had Al's permission
- causing a shitstorm obout this in the gaming press, claiming that it was Al who wants to sue
- impersonating Josh in one of the updates
- attempting to sabotage other people's kickstarters
- revealing rather intimate details about Scott Murphy's private life in this very forum in some desperate attempt to make himself look good
- leaking other companies' delicate information to the press
- the numerous instances of cyber-bullying
 
and so on and so forth. I agree about the inappropriate and rude part, though.
 
As for news about these recent developments hitting the Steam forums: Since it was the community who is basically responsible for getting this game on Steam in the first place (via the greenlighting process), I'd call it a classic case of poetic justice. Still, I had hoped that this would happen in a somewhat more refined and articulate way. People deserve to know what's going on, but I'm afraid just pasting a link to these forums might do more harm than good. But it looks like it's been removed anyway.
 
Sorry for not letting this topic rest (as I had promised earlier), but like I said a few pages ago: people ought to know why this is a big deal.

I wrote this little thing up in support on my Facebook page. Thought I'd leave it here:

I heard from the horse's ass himself that the 250K units was how many keys he gave out to retailers. I have absolutely no idea on the number actually sold.
 
On a related note, I'm glad to have cut ties with him when I did. As Spikey said, Polyester Paul is death by association. I wouldn't care less if he was vindictive enough to pull my testing credits. I still want my star kept intact, though. I paid good money for it. I know Jeroen sent Al an e-mail and I plan on doing one myself. He needs to "break the chain" and pull free himself. I've got way too much respect for the ol' guy to see anything happen to his good name.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and speculate it's WAY more than 50%. ;)

I could be mistaken, but I get the impression LSL Casino will be more or a straight port of the original rather than a full-blown remake. Mind you there is very limited information available about it currently...
 
Remakes are tricky. On one hand you already the plot, puzzles, characters, locations, etc. You *could* just do a straight makeover, but standards have changed in the past 25 years. A higher resolution alone won't wow anyone. On the surface LSL1R is very close to the original... Now try using every icon and/or item on everything you encounter in every scene (including the "filler" background artwork). More than anything I was impressed by the sheer volume of comedic responses. Sadly most gamers today merely skim the surface, so all the extra effort is lost on them.
 
Even when done right too many people dismiss remakes in favor of anything new (regardless of quality).
 
Something like Casino is far more recent and should be fairly cheap and quick to port to iOS. At a (presumably) lower price point it would likely end up being more profitable than LSL1R. That's the saddest part about the game industry... A game like Madden just needs updated stats and one new feature (that was previously available during the last console generation and then cut). Call of Duty just needs a new sub-title or a higher number attached to the old one. Any 'Ville' game just needs to exist. Adventures & RPGs however require significantly more effort and their sales are often embarrassingly low in comparison :(

I haven't chatted with Josh in a while, but he has definitely left Replay Games. His LinkedIn profile lists him as "formerly" Chief Creative Office at Replay for one year from July 2012 until June 2013. So Josh left Replay 3 or 4 months ago.
 
Since Josh is no longer using Facebook, I am not going to bother him about this; he values his privacy. I'm sure he had good reasons for leaving. He is probably spending time with his family, getting away from it all, and possibly working on a new project on his own. That's all pure speculation on my part.
 
Oh, just for the fun of it (and because she deserves it), I gave Serena a shout-out in my latest Hero-U update - http://www.kickstart...on/posts/628169. She has been a great proponent of indie Kickstarter adventure games. I caught her by surprise. :-)
 
Incidentally, I supported LSL: Reloaded mostly because Adventure Mob did the prototype. Lori and I designed part of an Adventure Mob game in late 2011, so we wanted to support them. Shortly after the Kickstarter, they were thrown under the bus. However, as I understand it, Al and Josh were in on that decision and had good reasons for it. The game would undoubtedly have been different if developed by Adventure Mob rather than N-Fusion. It's impossible to say whether it would have taken longer or less time, and whether it would have been a better or worse game. N-Fusion (and by reflection, Replay Games) are to be congratulated in actually shipping a quality adventure game.

Most of you probably know, but in case you don't: It was originally Replay's intention to remake all the old Larry games. That's six remakes in a row we're talking about, with the possibility of a new Larry game being released afterwards.
 
What this boils down to is that the cool-sounding name of Chief Creative Officer most likely would have reduced Josh to nothing more than an assembly line worker, cranking out remake after remake, possibly for the next decade or so. It always horrified me beyond belief that from survey results on the Replay forum, most people seemed to be okay with letting all that creative genius go to waste instead of letting the man create something new and exciting from the ground up.
 
No matter what his current situation is, he has earned nothing but the greatest respect from the Sierra fanbase in general and the (former) Replay community in particular and he certainly deserves better than to have his talents squandered on endless remakes.

This is also something to keep in mind; nobody will ever remake an entire game (or create an entire fan-game) that was created by Paul Trowe. No one, out of pure love and admiration, will dedicate so much time and effort into such a thing. Something for which no compensation was required; just the sheer joy of doing it and sharing it with others.
 
He'll never have that. He can flap his mouth now, and boast about any successes, financial gook, whatever - but he'll never, ever, ever have that admiration and love. Ever. You can't buy that, you can't swindle that, and you can't fake your way to that.
 
He can claim to want to be "Sierra 2.0" but it'll never happen; he doesn't have the charisma to pull it off. Sure, Sierra was a business, we all know that. And inherent in that are lots of things that can be at conflict with the passions of the heart - but when that fades, and we're here - 20+ years later, still loving these games that made their financial "nut" a long time ago, and yet the love, dedication and devotion remains.
 
We'll still remember and love Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe long after we've all forgotten the name Paul Trowe. In the end, that will be his legacy. Nothing. There will be no legacy. That is kind of sad, if you can think about it from an outside perspective. But we all chose our own paths and we reap what we sow. You can shuffle off this mortal coil so easily - you have to ask yourself "What is it, really, that you want to leave behind? What kind of impression can I make on my fellow man?" I often asked myself this when I was on dialysis, as it seemed like I could be gone any second, and though I've not always been perfect - I have tried my best not to cast a shadow of darkness (Hah!).
 
I don't care what Paul Trowe has done with Leisure Suit Larry; it's honestly irrelevant to SpaceVenture. I don't know if it was really a "success", I don't know how it did financially. If people enjoyed the production of it, and got the joy of making a game, at least it could be a success on that level. However, I don't know if it was a great process making it. Whatever the case, I know there were lots of decent people who did work on that game - and worked hard.
 
But, again, their "sucess" or lack of it has nothing to do with SpaceVenture. SpaceVenture is its own project - and it has it's own needs, its own timeline and its own challenges. Maybe Paul is jealous that they didn't join "Sierra 2.0" but now it's obvious that he was never the right person for that job.
 
So, my friends and colleagues, I don't damn Paul Trowe or Replay Games; the noose of his hanging was fashioned by his own hands, and I don't want to take any joy in someone's bad/self-destructive behavior. I do, however, celebrate The Two Guys From Andromeda (And one Space Pope!) who have become friends and brothers-in-arms over the past few years, and continue my support of them, and I know they'll make a great game, full of adventure, fun, laughs and maybe even a gruesome death or two!!
 
 
Bt

Frogacuda, I think you are missing an important point in your defense of Trowe. It seemed that Paul was trying harm the project.
 
It wasn't just Paul "being himself," as in, "oh, there goes that Paul Trowe again. Never a two-faced, always up-front. Take him or leave him."
 
No, Paul knows he's a higher profile backer than the rest of us and that his words will get more attention. It appeared that he had been waiting eagerly to say, "we did it, and your project is failing. Haha!"
 
When Paul says, "what are they hiding, and why?" he is apparently trying to spread doubts and increase the pile-on of criticism. Seemed he saw them struggling and wanted to kick them when they were down. It was conniving and malicious from someone who pretended to be their friend and a supporter of what they were trying to accomplish.
 
In other words, it wasn't just the objective opinion of a producer who was expressing an informed opinion for the sake of it.
 
That is what rubbed me the wrong way.
 
And that is without even getting into his unprofessional follow-up rants and punishing of his critics.

I'd like to say all of this comes as a shock, but honestly the only real shock is how long it actually took...
 
I'm personally not concerned in the least about SpaceVenture. I have faith in the team and I look forward to a fantastic game - whenever it happens to be ready. What I *AM* concerned about is the backlash received by the dedicated supporters who had the 'audacity' to politely ask Paul to not publicly berate the team in a public forum.
 
I’m sure karma will eventually sort it all out. His uppance will come <insert Larry pun here>. In the meantime, kudos to everyone who spoke out against him.
 
As for Josh, I had the chance to talk to him back in July and even at that point he mentioned that he wouldn’t be involved in LSL2R (should it ever come to pass - which I seriously doubt will ever happen now). Reloaded was a labor of love for him and I think he did a fantastic job staying true to the game’s spirit. Even during the Kickstarter though he told Al and Paul that it wasn’t his intention to spend years merely revisiting previous games. He didn’t specifically mention leaving Replay at the time, but it doesn’t surprise me too much either.
 
In my personal opinion (that I’m sure most of you share), Josh is an incredibly talented designer. Sadly his name often gets tacked on as an afterthought since he never had his own ‘headliner’ series back at Sierra. He definitely deserves more props than he typically gets though. It saddens me that Paul will probably get most of the spotlight on this project - not for reviving a legacy, but for being a professional jerk. Meanwhile the talented and dedicated people who actually deserve it are cast in the shadows.
 
So a great big thank you to Josh, Al, all the dedicated fans & supporters, Replay Games, N-Fusion, and anyone else I forgot to mention who isn’t named Paul Trowe.

I'd like to say all of this comes as a shock, but honestly the only real shock is how long it actually took...
 
I'm personally not concerned in the least about SpaceVenture. I have faith in the team and I look forward to a fantastic game - whenever it happens to be ready. What I *AM* concerned about is the backlash received by the dedicated supporters who had the 'audacity' to politely ask Paul to not publicly berate the team in a public forum.
 
I’m sure karma will eventually sort it all out. His uppance will come <insert Larry pun here>. In the meantime, kudos to everyone who spoke out against him.
 
As for Josh, I had the chance to talk to him back in July and even at that point he mentioned that he wouldn’t be involved in LSL2R (should it ever come to pass - which I seriously doubt will ever happen now). Reloaded was a labor of love for him and I think he did a fantastic job staying true to the game’s spirit. Even during the Kickstarter though he told Al and Paul that it wasn’t his intention to spend years merely revisiting previous games. He didn’t specifically mention leaving Replay at the time, but it doesn’t surprise me too much either.
 
In my personal opinion (that I’m sure most of you share), Josh is an incredibly talented designer. Sadly his name often gets tacked on as an afterthought since he never had his own ‘headliner’ series back at Sierra. He definitely deserves more props than he typically gets though. It saddens me that Paul will probably get most of the spotlight on this project - not for reviving a legacy, but for being a professional jerk. Meanwhile the talented and dedicated people who actually deserve it are cast in the shadows.
 
So a great big thank you to Josh, Al, all the dedicated fans & supporters, Replay Games, N-Fusion, and anyone else I forgot to mention who isn’t named Paul Trowe.

I'd like to say all of this comes as a shock, but honestly the only real shock is how long it actually took...
 
I'm personally not concerned in the least about SpaceVenture. I have faith in the team and I look forward to a fantastic game - whenever it happens to be ready. What I *AM* concerned about is the backlash received by the dedicated supporters who had the 'audacity' to politely ask Paul to not publicly berate the team in a public forum.
 
I’m sure karma will eventually sort it all out. His uppance will come <insert Larry pun here>. In the meantime, kudos to everyone who spoke out against him.
 
As for Josh, I had the chance to talk to him back in July and even at that point he mentioned that he wouldn’t be involved in LSL2R (should it ever come to pass - which I seriously doubt will ever happen now). Reloaded was a labor of love for him and I think he did a fantastic job staying true to the game’s spirit. Even during the Kickstarter though he told Al and Paul that it wasn’t his intention to spend years merely revisiting previous games. He didn’t specifically mention leaving Replay at the time, but it doesn’t surprise me too much either.
 
In my personal opinion (that I’m sure most of you share), Josh is an incredibly talented designer. Sadly his name often gets tacked on as an afterthought since he never had his own ‘headliner’ series back at Sierra. He definitely deserves more props than he typically gets though. It saddens me that Paul will probably get most of the spotlight on this project - not for reviving a legacy, but for being a professional jerk. Meanwhile the talented and dedicated people who actually deserve it are cast in the shadows.
 
So a great big thank you to Josh, Al, all the dedicated fans & supporters, Replay Games, N-Fusion, and anyone else I forgot to mention who isn’t named Paul Trowe.

I'd like to say all of this comes as a shock, but honestly the only real shock is how long it actually took...
 
I'm personally not concerned in the least about SpaceVenture. I have faith in the team and I look forward to a fantastic game - whenever it happens to be ready. What I *AM* concerned about is the backlash received by the dedicated supporters who had the 'audacity' to politely ask Paul to not publicly berate the team in a public forum.
 
I’m sure karma will eventually sort it all out. His uppance will come <insert Larry pun here>. In the meantime, kudos to everyone who spoke out against him.
 
As for Josh, I had the chance to talk to him back in July and even at that point he mentioned that he wouldn’t be involved in LSL2R (should it ever come to pass - which I seriously doubt will ever happen now). Reloaded was a labor of love for him and I think he did a fantastic job staying true to the game’s spirit. Even during the Kickstarter though he told Al and Paul that it wasn’t his intention to spend years merely revisiting previous games. He didn’t specifically mention leaving Replay at the time, but it doesn’t surprise me too much either.
 
In my personal opinion (that I’m sure most of you share), Josh is an incredibly talented designer. Sadly his name often gets tacked on as an afterthought since he never had his own ‘headliner’ series back at Sierra. He definitely deserves more props than he typically gets though. It saddens me that Paul will probably get most of the spotlight on this project - not for reviving a legacy, but for being a professional jerk. Meanwhile the talented and dedicated people who actually deserve it are cast in the shadows.
 
So a great big thank you to Josh, Al, all the dedicated fans & supporters, Replay Games, N-Fusion, and anyone else I forgot to mention who isn’t named Paul Trowe.