Cosmic Castaway

Hm...Any option to not use my webcam? You'll pardon me if I'm shy.

I suppose it's time for me to break out of my shell and see what this thing is all about...Details regarding times, dates and the necessary software are most appreciated.

Holy smokes Ali, it feels like forever since I checked in over at SMC, and I apologize for that. School and work have pretty much put a damper on any recreational activities lately, and the impending holiday season's only going to intensify that...I'll grab this and send you some feedback ASAP though!

I suppose I can see your point, though it seems like a moot one in my eyes, given how self-aware Space Quest is. If it took itself more seriously, I could understand the concern, but as it is, as long as any inclusion didn't turn into fan-bashing, I think it'd fit. Gotta remember that this is series that has our hero "casually glancing at the title bar" and rescuing his own creators and getting them a job. ;)

This. It's exactly why I thought the mention of Syndrome from The Incredibles was a good one; Mr. Incredible was undoubtedly a hero, but he also was a little self-absorbed. Think of how differently things would have gone had he actually taken the time to put up with the annoying kid who worshipped him. (Hint: We wouldn't have a movie and he still would be boring old Bob Parr. Wait a minute...) Also, a round of applause to you for catching the reference I made! ;)

Why is it conceited to parody one's fans? People are fans of your work, some of them do eccentric things or go to extreme lengths to show their enjoyment of the material...How does it harm anyone to incorporate it into the work itself as long as it fits the universe? Granted, there's a line between being humourous in your depiction and being malicious, but hey, that's life. Anyone remember that old band called ZZ Top? Sorry, that was a little off-topic... According to the flavour material provided with Space Quest 5 (The Galactic Enquirer magazine, for those who are unfamiliar with it), Roger was a celebrity of some renown following the events of Space Quest 1. Clearly he was large enough for a galactic tabloid to feature him in a "Whatever Happened To..." column. Assuming that we can take it the magazine's story as canon, Roger disappeared from the limelight in between Space Quest 1 and 2, which explains why he found a job on Xenon Orbital Station 4. It also says that he disappeared though, and since it was written shortly before the start of SQ5, it implies that no one had seen hide nor hair of him since Vohaul's thugs kidnapped him, and his enrollment in Star Con Academy wasn't exactly breaking news. How Beatrice knew so much about him is anyone's guess, but I have two theories. One, she reads the Galactic Enquirer, and happened to see the article on Roger, which also featured a very large photo of him; and/or two, she's familiar with Xenon's history, which makes sense, seeing as she's an ambassador. As far as number one fan's go, anyone who's old enough to remember the Subspace Channel would agree with me that Roger's number one fan happens to have spots...

I guess it's a good thing I don't remember that line at all then!

Wait, where the heck was that line Johnathon? I certainly don't ever remember hearing that in Space Quest... And I suppose part of the reason why I never understood half the humour was because I tend to interpret things a little too literally. It just doesn't work with Space Quest.

This is the game of a carpenter. I mean, I'm looking forward to this.

What Johnathon said. Figure that any joke that's a sexual or scatological innuendo, or involved four letter words or pop culture flew over my head right up until I was around 16 or 17 and merely reading about Space Quest instead of playing it. I suppose all the dirty humour was part of the reason my mom hated Space Quest, and why my dad never actually explained half the jokes he chuckled at when he played/watched us play.

Right on, Jess. Good explanation about the whole "confederacy" business (leave it to the political scientist to define it, eh?), and props for being another SQ5 and Star Con fan. I never really minded Star Con, I actually thought it was kind of a neat idea. And as for the Star Generator, I always envisioned that as Xenon pulling out all the stops and throwing everything they had at saving their planet; their ships and equipment just happened to be part of the Star Con fleet (hence the triangular patch on Roger's uniform).

Since no one's mentioned it, the first half of Space Quest 5, from the academy through to the Space Bar. Everything about this section just screams Space Quest to me, probably because it was the first Space Quest I ever saw. Go figure how that works. Also, it's one of the few points where Roger actually cleans. Far more than the previous games at any rate. I think its safe to say that SQ5 features more cleaning than all the other games, and as such should recognized.

Looking good! As far as legal issues go, I'm by no means an expert, but I think the issue would largely depend on how you market it. Seeing as the word "Spore" is part of the title, I'm not sure they could ding you over it, but big companies will find a way to do it if they're serious enough.

Honestly? No. I don't care too much if they ever wrap up Space Quest. It's lost its magic over the years, and the more I read and participate in these types of discussions, the more it becomes apparent that Space Quest would never survive in this day and age as a commercial product, not if it intended to stay true to its point-and-click roots. Space Quest started as a parody, and that's why it worked so well. It was simplistic and extremely derivative. If you want to obsess over the story and dissect the characters and all the minutiae, you really wind up looking at the latter half of the series simply because the original entries were little more than common sci-fi tropes and pop culture references mashed together. The later entries attempted to meld that to an actual story, to varying degrees of success. But as this discussion has pointed out, the writers tried to have it both ways, and it didn't work out. Space Quest 6 drives that point home. It attempts to add more layers to the Space Quest formula, and it winds up falling short. The story's convoluted, and it's hard to take it seriously when it starts throwing seemingly important characters at us from nowhere. As much as I'd like to explore a deeper story, Space Quest simply is not the vehicle to do it in, and I'm fine with that. I think the fans have proven time and again that they can write a deeper, more meaningful story than the developers of Space Quest ever could. And that's fine. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy Space Quest. I have many fond memories of playing these games and laughing at their jokes. But I think that Space Quest's time has come and gone, and that happened well before Space Quest 6 was made.

I agree with Jess completely in regards to how the supporting cast is handled far better in SQ5 than SQ6. Additionally, the introduction of the "talk" vs. "command" options means that there's plenty of opportunity to strike up conversations with the crew and learn something about them. I reckon all of the plot holes and convenient assumptions could be part of the reason why there will never be an official Space Quest 7.

Oh, what, that ****ing octopus maze in Lost Chapter wasn't hard enough for you? Sheesh, I'll bet even the world's highest paid dominatrix wouldn't be enough to satisfy you lot. ;)

@ Johnathon and Datadog: Yes, the digits you enter are the degrees. So entering 90 will rotate the lasers 90 degrees. There's three keypads, one for each laser bank, allowing you to choose which ones to rotate.

It's really quite strange reading these lists, because a lot of stuff made perfect "sense" to me at the time. Cleaning the crest in Space Quest 5? Easy, why wouldn't I clean off all the grey pixels? Eating a happy meal at Monolith in SQ3? Sure, I ordered one of everything just for shiggles. The plank in cyberspace? That made perfect sense to me! What didn't make sense were things like the glass in SQ1EGA. That was ridiculous, they expect you to pick up an item that isn't drawn on the screen. And figuring out the correct wording to look at the ground and see it was a pain in the ass. Kiling WD40 in SQ5? My brother and I spent a month trying to puzzle that out, to the point that we glitched ourselves inside the log with her on top of it. It never occurred to us to short out her cloaking device before clogging the exhaust port. And the launch sequence for the shuttle in Space Quest 6...That was just stupid. Not copy protection, just stupid. We wound up calling Sierra's hint line for that one. Made even sillier by the fact that I was a kid who knew the periodic table at age six and who's dad has a background in that sort of thing. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird like that. 'course, I also seem to recall the solutions to just about every puzzle, and I haven't played a Space Quest game in approximately half my lifespan, so...Maybe I just have a good memory and a weird way of looking at things?

Loving the character design.

Love that little collection of heroes from the Sierra games, though I do agree it could do with Devon from QFG. Also, nice work on the Two Guys, the little "2GA" on their belt buckles is a nice touch.

Even though it's "unfinished", I think the wallpaper's pretty cool. Roger's got the perfect facial expression, and the empty space just "fits". Methinks it would work well as is.

^This. True of every Space Quest game for me. That's what I get for playing a series designed for middle-aged people when I was an impressionable young kid.

Yes, because Sierra never did anything with their games that could be considered cartoony. Frankly, I care less about the graphics and more with what they're actually going to be doing with the IPs as far as actual playable titles is concerned. Are they just intent on doing remakes or are we going to see some actual new games come out of this? Mixed feelings on both.

Interesting stuff Troels.I knew that Sierra frequently turned to their own employees for their early adventures in voice overs. I recall being quite surprised to learn that Scott Murphy had voiced Vohaul (and Mustard). Care to shed any more light on which characters were voiced by whom? How about in SQ6? I've always wondered if the voices in 6 were the result of better quality actors or better technology.

Of course. Josh Mandel is the only voice actor in the KQ5 cast I can think of who didn't ham it up. Oh, and the sound quality makes it sound like the actors recorded their lines in Roberta's washroom.