pcj

Hey everyone! We just got Cluck Yegger in Escape From The Planet of the Poultroid published up on Steam Greenlight. We would absolutely love it if you guys would vote yes to have the game greenlit. Any help spreading the word would be amazing as well.
 
Visit: http://cluckyegger.com
 
Thanks!
 
 

Mr Speaker, I endorse the Right Honourable Member for Tulsa's words on this matter.

Maybe it was the particular selection (creating lots of bathroom humor) or the fact I wasn't getting drunk at the same time but I felt like it was something that worked as a short joke (a game based on the Pope's bladder exploding) that was stretched to fill 30 minutes and it just got repetitive.
 
I was also for some reason expecting art sketches or something, that would be a cool extra feature I guess.

Suppose people should know this is a thing, or whatever.
 

 
http://backseatdesigners.com/open-crowd-source/

Speaking of, I went on the Internet and I found this:
 
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/the-old-gentlemen-to-do-space-quest

Now, Scott and Mark may no longer be as young as they once were, but that's just damn rude.

I'm wary, but meh, I've joined. There are more admins in the group, after all. I can't see it hurting anything. At least it's a positive statement to make.
 
I did quit Sierra Gamers and Sierra Chest because of those massive flamefests, but truth be told, the impulse to do so had been there for a while. Nostalgia is often spoken of as a good feeling, but in my experience, it's also responsible for a lot of vitriol and miscomprehension.
 
No, a game published by a major studio in 2015 is never going to boast VGA graphics and a point'n'click interface. Said major studio will never "give" or "lend" its valuable IP to the original designers. Ken Williams was a shrewd businessman, not Santa Claus. Addressing someone as "Sir Knight" and referring to your social sphere as "Daventry" will never be anything but extremely awkward. And so on. On a more superficial level, I've also found it tiring to have to scroll through the same questions asked by newcomers who are seemingly unable to stay informed. There's no excuse for a "fan" of Space Quest to have missed SpaceVenture at this point. Am I being too harsh? Quite possibly. But I do think a Sierra-related group that looks forward is a breath of fresh air. I always make a point out of reminding people that Sierra never looked backward. 
 
That said, all things above considered, I did turn down a friend request from Ryan in the aftermath of those incidents. It's no different than Ben Lindelof and Benjamin Penney who aren't my cup of tea at all. I have been able to gather that the feeling is mutual, so it's not something that bothers me, but why pretend people like that are my "friends" just because of one shared interest?
 
I have little doubt Ryan regrets some of his antics. I've been there. But it's a little too son after telling everyone they should "fuck off and die". People probably didn't really feel like chatting with me after the infamous SpaceQuest.Net hack or some of the other crap that went on back then anyway. Some people mellow. We'll see, but till then, I don't mind giving him the benefit of the doubt with something like this.

He added me to the group, but I have not yet accepted. It is Ryan Nicotera, after all. If you have not been aware he has caused enough problems to get banned from the Sierra Gamers and Sierra Chest groups.

Just don't know if we would be able to get him...

Hey all...
 
I haven't been active much lately but some of you may remember me from the old days. ("Hey guys! I'm legit!")
 
I've been making t-shirts designs and posting them on Redbubble for a couple year now and just recently have been inspired to make a few related to our favourite adventure series. If anyone's interested, feel free to take a look. 
 
Expressions of Roger: http://www.redbubble.com/people/dopefish/works/14738934-expressions-of-roger
Astro Chicken Fan Club: http://www.redbubble.com/people/dopefish/works/14808023-astro-chicken-fan-club
Pixelated Coarsegold Mountains: http://www.redbubble.com/people/dopefish/works/14808039-pixelated-coarsegold-mountains-v2
I Lost My Shirt At Tiny's Used Spaceships: http://www.redbubble.com/people/dopefish/works/14825710-i-lost-my-shirt-at-tinys-used-spaceships
Genetix Promotional Wear: http://www.redbubble.com/people/dopefish/works/14835977-genetix-promotional-wear
 
If people like these (or at least don't hate them), I do plan on making more and I'll post them here if that's the case. Also, if anyone has any requests or customisations they'd like to see, let me know.   :-)
 
Thanks!
 
 
Chris Geroux (Dopefish)

I am amazed. I am friggin amazed at the fact that this thread has been revived, with actually a new theory. Wow. *applauses* The shoulder! Why didn't I think of that earlier? I never tried many things on the shoulder, and yes, it might be triggered Under certain circumstances. I am so excited for this. I think this might still be in the game! You might call me crazy, but in the past, I posted on an old thread, (can't recall WHICH) the fact that I seem to remember hearing the narrator say this in-game. The first thing that I thought, the first time, when I heard that line in the RESOURCE.Aud, was timepod, Xenon. I might be wrong on the Xenon part, but I am pretty sure I did hear this line in the time pod! I think, and it's just a theory, that it's a rare occasion thing, where you need to look at Roger's shoulder multiple times tp trigger it. Or it is random, because I'm pretty sure I triggered it first try once... I'm going to research on that. It would be ironic if someone finds how to trigger it, after all this time, and that it's actually still in-game.
 
- BlockMaster

Incidentally, troflip, author of SCI Companion (a tool used to create SCI0 games), is making an update to his tool so that we will finally be able to make VGA SCI games! ALSO, he's working hard on a decompiler which will allow us to examine SQ4's or any SCI game (up to SCI1.1) scripts so we can discover just how to trigger this event. Or even re-enable it if it's not already. :) :)
 
http://sciprogramming.com/community for more details.

OKAY

So I've been scouring the game's resource files with SCI Viewer. I discovered something a little extra, though not at all helpful to actually get this thing triggered (at least not yet). I looked at the disassembled script, the messages resource, and the heap resource for the Time Pod room. According to the heap file, this is the frog's instance:
instance frog of Sq4Feature {     x               = $0     y               = $0     z               = $0     heading         = $0     noun            = $0     modNum          = $ffff        ; -1     nsTop           = $b7        ; 183, setMark     nsLeft          = $1b        ; 27, mode     nsBottom        = $bd        ; 189, open     nsRight         = $3e        ; 62, '>', replay     sightAngle      = $6789        ; 26505     actions         = $0     onMeCheck       = $6789        ; 26505     approachX       = $0     approachY       = $0     approachDist    = $0     _approachVerbs  = $0     lookStr         = $25        ; 37, '%', message     doVerb() } Notice the nsTop, nsLeft, nsBottom, and nsRight values. Being familiar with SCI0 code conventions, these are values for a bounding box on the screen. In this case it seems to be for a click event. Here's a picture of the area the bounding box encloses, which happens to be Roger's left shoulder when sitting in the Time Pod, which makes sense given the content of the message itself:
 

 
So what interaction is it? At first glance it seems to definitely not be use, look, or talk as none of those trigger it. Indeed, looking, using, or talking to Roger's shoulders yields generic responses for the entire pod. No inventory object I've tried works either. Everything else is greyed out (lick, smell, walk). At first I thought that Blocky here was correct and that it was probably an interaction for one of the greyed out icons. Yet, in the heap resource the message is tied to an identifier called "lookStr" (presumably "Look String"), which logically would mean that it is only triggered by looking at it. But it obviously isn't. This leads me to believe that it only triggers under certain circumstances. So what are those circumstances?
 
I thought it might be illuminating to boot up the beta version of SQ4 and see if I can somehow find a way to trigger it. Unfortunately, the Blue Frog line isn't in the beta version. However, it is in the disk versions. Sadly, the debug mode was removed from all SCI1+ final releases. I'm going to continue to dig into the script and heap files, though, and see if I can spot some condition under which it triggers.

Eh, maybe to us personally, but SQ doesn't have the community today that KQ has - look at the Phoenix Online forums, even back in their "Silver Age" versus here. Not much activity round these parts even back then. And it's not like there weren't similar things going on - the SQ7 group shut down about the same time TSL was going through its own cease-and-desist throes, which eventually reversed, supposedly thanks to their fans... And saying it's SQ ignores the following that games like QFG, GK, or even PQ has...
 
My intent is not to dump on any specific community. Perhaps SQ just appeals to a different type of person than KQ - the underdog.
 
My opinion as a programmer is that AGI/SCI, as well as Ken's ability to keep developers produce a number of quality games for years, are the true "crown jewels" of Sierra. Without an engine that could let storytellers do what they wanted or a producer that pushed them to succeed, I don't see how Sierra could have been successful. It's only once Ken was pushed out by Cendant that we saw Sierra fall. I don't feel that SQ could have happened at that time without Sierra. SQ helped diversify Sierra's portfolio and probably helped make it a bigger name, but there was Sierra before there was SQ. Ken was the one that let Scott learn how to program and develop his own game after hiring him for random projects. That wouldn't have happened later, or likely at another game company.

Greetings!
 
As you may have seen elsewhere on social media, several members of the Space Quest/adventure gaming fan community participated in the recent Adventure Jam event and created an original point-and-click adventure in just two short weeks.

The end result is Late Last Nite, an adventure in excess -- available for download now! I'd provide some details on the plot, but I hate to spoil the surprises. Let's just say that things get weird.
 

 
As for the familiar faces who worked on the project, there's Akril, Datadog, drdrslashvohaul, Frede, Resulka, Troels, and me.

We invite you to play the game and let us know what you think! Oh, and if you feel inclined, leave a rating for us on Late Last Nite's Game Jolt page.

Take care!

Jess

I agree that Polysorbate is one of the best parts in the whole series, I put it second only to the Galaxy Galleria...
I also really like the DeepShip86, but then I think the game really falls off after that. I don't like the Information Superhighway section
and I don't like Inside Stellar either...
 
It's a game I sometimes really feel like I want to play again, but then I remember that it all kind of goes off the boil midway through
and I don't want to get disappointed all over again after the great beginning and then not having a great ending to look forward to, lol.

I just saw a screenshot of a location in the game that puts the "ugh, why no details?" argument to shame. This thing is packed. Worry ye not, gents.

Eh, maybe to us personally, but SQ doesn't have the community today that KQ has - look at the Phoenix Online forums, even back in their "Silver Age" versus here. Not much activity round these parts even back then. And it's not like there weren't similar things going on - the SQ7 group shut down about the same time TSL was going through its own cease-and-desist throes, which eventually reversed, supposedly thanks to their fans... And saying it's SQ ignores the following that games like QFG, GK, or even PQ has...
 
My intent is not to dump on any specific community. Perhaps SQ just appeals to a different type of person than KQ - the underdog.
 
My opinion as a programmer is that AGI/SCI, as well as Ken's ability to keep developers produce a number of quality games for years, are the true "crown jewels" of Sierra. Without an engine that could let storytellers do what they wanted or a producer that pushed them to succeed, I don't see how Sierra could have been successful. It's only once Ken was pushed out by Cendant that we saw Sierra fall. I don't feel that SQ could have happened at that time without Sierra. SQ helped diversify Sierra's portfolio and probably helped make it a bigger name, but there was Sierra before there was SQ. Ken was the one that let Scott learn how to program and develop his own game after hiring him for random projects. That wouldn't have happened later, or likely at another game company.

Eh, maybe to us personally, but SQ doesn't have the community today that KQ has - look at the Phoenix Online forums, even back in their "Silver Age" versus here. Not much activity round these parts even back then. And it's not like there weren't similar things going on - the SQ7 group shut down about the same time TSL was going through its own cease-and-desist throes, which eventually reversed, supposedly thanks to their fans... And saying it's SQ ignores the following that games like QFG, GK, or even PQ has...
 
My intent is not to dump on any specific community. Perhaps SQ just appeals to a different type of person than KQ - the underdog.
 
My opinion as a programmer is that AGI/SCI, as well as Ken's ability to keep developers produce a number of quality games for years, are the true "crown jewels" of Sierra. Without an engine that could let storytellers do what they wanted or a producer that pushed them to succeed, I don't see how Sierra could have been successful. It's only once Ken was pushed out by Cendant that we saw Sierra fall. I don't feel that SQ could have happened at that time without Sierra. SQ helped diversify Sierra's portfolio and probably helped make it a bigger name, but there was Sierra before there was SQ. Ken was the one that let Scott learn how to program and develop his own game after hiring him for random projects. That wouldn't have happened later, or likely at another game company.

Eh, maybe to us personally, but SQ doesn't have the community today that KQ has - look at the Phoenix Online forums, even back in their "Silver Age" versus here. Not much activity round these parts even back then. And it's not like there weren't similar things going on - the SQ7 group shut down about the same time TSL was going through its own cease-and-desist throes, which eventually reversed, supposedly thanks to their fans... And saying it's SQ ignores the following that games like QFG, GK, or even PQ has...
 
My intent is not to dump on any specific community. Perhaps SQ just appeals to a different type of person than KQ - the underdog.
 
My opinion as a programmer is that AGI/SCI, as well as Ken's ability to keep developers produce a number of quality games for years, are the true "crown jewels" of Sierra. Without an engine that could let storytellers do what they wanted or a producer that pushed them to succeed, I don't see how Sierra could have been successful. It's only once Ken was pushed out by Cendant that we saw Sierra fall. I don't feel that SQ could have happened at that time without Sierra. SQ helped diversify Sierra's portfolio and probably helped make it a bigger name, but there was Sierra before there was SQ. Ken was the one that let Scott learn how to program and develop his own game after hiring him for random projects. That wouldn't have happened later, or likely at another game company.

I don't think Scott thinks that people are trying to "improve" the original. I think it's more that it's lazy, and serves very little artistic purpose. Unless you take it and do something genuinely different with a well-known story.
 
Much like song cover, or movie re-makes. Unless you're adding something, why bother? When you're doing something on the cheap and hoping to cash in on name value, that's not so great. :)
 
In the case of SQ1VGA, I'm not sure what artistic merit it really has. But that's always in the eye of the beholder.
 
-------------------------
 
As for "vibe" - that's always difficult to pinpoint. Because if it were, you wouldn't use a term like "vibe". :)
 
However, SQ1's art style is completely out of sync with the rest of the series. With the other games, changes in the style (of the first 4, certainly) seemed to be based more on technological improvements rather than massive swings in the way the game was put together. SQ1VGA is noticeably nothing like the original (which is pretty obvious given the change in resolution), but it's nothing like SQ4 or SQ5 (which, while different, do at least feel like they were made within the same tradition).
 
That, and quite frankly SQ1VGA always felt "cheap". There was always something lacking in charm and detail with the game (in my opinion). I played the original 6 before I played the VGA version of SQ1, and it was very obviously an inferior quality product. Perhaps if I were to seriously go back to it, I would appreciate some of the writing nuances. But honestly - Mark Crowe is a much better artist in the first five than whoever was in charge of SQ1VGA.
 
That's the "vibe" in a nutshell. "Cheap". There's something very flimsy and plastic about it. Which is not a criticism that can be levelled at SQ5 or SQ6, despite their different aesthetics.

Just a brief announcement to say that I finally got around to uploading a plain HTML verison of this story.

Just don't know if we would be able to get him...

Just don't know if we would be able to get him...

Just don't know if we would be able to get him...