Johnathon

Greetings!
 
Seventeen years ago today (November 29, 1995), Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset went live and became the world's first Space Quest fansite.* Since it's never a bad time for navel-gazing, here's a brief history of the early years of the site I wrote back in 2002:
 

Yeah, I know: cool story, bro. The moral, however, is that it's been a blast being part of this community for the past seventeen years. It's grown into something I never could have imagined back in 1995, and on a personal level, it's led to amazing friendships with fellow Space Quest fans around the world.** I've even had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream and co-design my own series of short adventure games as part of this wild ride. You probably heard about that last part, because I haven't shut up about it for the last five months.
 
With the Two Guys back and the SpaceVenture on the horizon, there's never been a better time to be part of the Wilco World Wide Web. Thanks for all the support through the years, folks. It's greatly appreciated!
 
Jess
 
* And quite possibly the world's first adventure gaming fansite. They jury's still out on that.
** Well, mostly Denmark.

Greetings, fellow Space Quest fans! It's that most wonderful time of year again, and as was something of a tradition for me back in the day, that means it's once again time to share...
 

 
...my old Space Quest holiday greeting card! :D
 
 
I made this one a *long* time ago - we're talking more than a decade ago (Wow, have I really been hanging around for that long? :blink: ). The old version had some ugly sci-fi-styled lettering that I didn't care for, so I modified it to look more like the sort of thing you'd see inside a sappy Hallmark card. Other than that, though, it's the same terrible pun I've been throwing around every year. ;)
 
If you ask him nicely, he might give you a great big box of "not getting shot by minions with laser rifles" for Christmas. :)
 
I posted this one on my Devianart account too, along with a few other things1. The only one that'll be of any interest to any of you folks are this one (crappy drawing of Roger), and possibly this other one, because it's kinda sorta vaguely Monkey Island-related. If you squint.
 
 
 
1) I apologize in advance for my lack of artistic ability.

Nice, totally missed that opportunity.

Why not the "Google Plexers"?
 
:)

Why not the "Google Plexers"?
 
:)

Hi, guys. Not much out of me lately, huh? Well, here's something brand new.
 
Google+ opened up the possibility to build "communities." Since the original intention behind the 2GFA Google+ page (http://gplus.to/rogerwilco) was to just post nostalgic screenshots from the Space Quest past and wax romantically about them, I thought I'd graciously give the rest of the world the chance to do likewise. Especially since the focus of the Google+ page has moved on from nostalgia to more current topics (cough-SpaceVenture!-cough).
 
Enough smarm already. Here's the nostalgia channel for all you "Plussers" out there. (God, I hope they come up with a better name for G+ users soon.)
 
https://plus.google.com/communities/108373190608713835984

Check out the discussion on Facebook.
 
I'm planning to be there, and the Space Pope should be able to drag Scott and Mark along. The Coles will also be there. We might even get the Danish contingent of SQ fans to show up this time.

I regret not having watched this sooner. Spectacular!
 
It's basic, but it's right on que. Very witty, funny, and nostalgiac. I particularly appreciate the part at 2:08, when you have Scott spinning on the floor and Mark running in circles! I love it!! (Among other clever parts, like elmo opening fire and astro chicken wanting out.) :lol:
 
Great piece!

Hey everyone, I made an animated short about the Two Guys from Andromeda, it's called "Free Wilco"
I tried to make it with the look and feel of Space Quest 3.
Check it out, let me know what you think :)
 

What....
 
*gets out the pitchforks and torches*
 

I've gotta say, I've browsed over some of the photos in this thread, and this is some pretty intriguing stuff! No - AWESOME! Very impressive work, and while I have never played minecraft before (and still don't have the time and fear trying it b/c I've seen others addicted to it), if I ever do start, it'll be because of this SQ spin off.
 
:y:

The way it was explained to me: Guysfromandromeda.com is for the company GFA LLC, not SpaceVenture itself - we're currently working on tweaks to re-orient that more appropriately. SVRewards.com is the rewards site for the backers who pledged $15 or up ($30 or up for pre-release access) to get access to the diaries/chats/voting. There have been some diaries up, not as many as I would personally like but they've got to spend time actually designing the game I suppose. I know chat is on the way, I set up the page this week and Chris just announced it. Voting is going to be further down the road.
 
The Andromedan Post is for news about not only SpaceVenture but the Sierra community in general.
Like you said, SQ.NET has been around longer than any of the other sites and isn't under GFA "jurisdiction" (I do admin all of these sites, but that's where the control sharing ends). SQN has more of a fan-based/community-operated focus than the other sites.
 
We're taking all of these ideas into consideration when talking about where we need to go with the websites. So keep it up - thanks!

No worries on that front. Even if it had been a snide jab, I'd take no offense. Develop an extremely thick skin working in print journalism, so....
 
I will say the title worked.
 
After all, it's an interesting thought and it is somewhat of an aberration given how active things were during the Kickstarter itself and more so when you compare it to the community that other projects have built up.
 
 
As I recall, I think the SVReward site has had the "community" link coming back the forums here since I first saw the place in July, so it's not completely that people don't know about it. I do think that whoever's handling the community aspect for the Two Guys may not have thought things all the way through. From what I've seen, a significant problem is that everything's so fragmented.
 
You have the SVRewards site, you've got the GfA site, you've got SQ.net (which I know has been around much longer) and you've got the "microsites" like the Andromedan Post (which I just learned about today, actually).
 
So just there you've got potentially four different sites/places where news or other information might pop up with no (immediate) mention on the others.
 
So, yeah. Obviously having an active community is more difficult in that type of situation versus something like DoubleFine where they had an established forum were everyone already knew they could go for discussions/information.
 
Who knows? Maybe it'd have been better to have incorporated the SVRewards site with SQ.net and used forum integration for commenting rather than WordPress. Or maybe that was explored and just wasn't technically or logistically feasible.
 
Bottom line: the lack of a centralized "hub" hurts, in my opinion.
 
But an issue that's just as big, as was touched on earlier and before I showed up, is that there simply isn't a lot to discuss. Hell, the anecdote about Chris' flea problem got 17 responses with a lot of them actually cat related, so...That suggests to me that people are willing to discuss, but it's just not going to happen until there's a steadier flow of things that CAN be discussed.
 
Which ties in to my last point.
 
It's taken papers a while to learn this and it's one of those things that everyone already knows as a matter of common sense, but....We spend a LOT of money commissioning research on how to drive traffic to our publication's webite (for ad impressions, as well as traffic numbers). The big factor to not just getting massive page views but building recurring traffic/community is to have fresh and exclusive content that can't be obtained anywhere else.
 
Obviously, the Two Guys have a lock on the "exclusive content" portion. What needs work is the "fresh" angle. When you know you're only getting something new maybe once or twice a month, you're not going to be hitting the site every day or even once a week. Not saying they need to have updates every day, but if they're serious about building a community, they need much more frequent content updates with material the fosters discussion.
 
Once a fledgling community's there and has things to discuss and debate on their own (as with Wasteland 2) you can ease off on the frequency of updates somewhat.
 
Again, just a few thoughts from my perspective.

Non-canon sources also suggest that the Two Guys are easily fooled by disguises. ;)
 
Jess

One of my favorite aspects of Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island series was the introduction of Morgan LeFlay as a Guybrush Threepwood mega-fan. That seems like a concept ripe for ripping off in a Space Quest fan game.
 
Jess

Well, they didn't write their own appearance in SQ1VGA, and being the "control panel" voices in SQ4 hardly counts as an appearance. But you have a point -- saying they're "always" the victims based on one major appearance (SQ3) is jumping the gun a bit.
 
I don't know; it's just the impression I got. They're not the sorts to get themselves willfully into trouble; they just want to hang out at the beach(dome), sipping fruity drinks, making games. If something gets in the way of that, they need bailing-out.
 
Okay, so I may be reaching. Consider my statement recanted.
 

So that's what this is all about. ;)

Scott and Mark mentioned that the Two Guys from Andromeda will most likely be featured in SpaceVenture. What part in the story do you see them playing?
 
I have a theory that Ace will be sent to their house to unclog their toilet (He first needs to disguise himself using a Twinkie) then ultimately ends up serving them drinks! :P

Yeah, she did a lot more than the artwork, but that's the stuff I'm most impressed with. :) Also, I don't want to hire her. She would then have the option of quitting! Besides, I couldn't afford to pay anyone in anything except for abuse.

You know, Johnathon, I'm totally with you, and I'm glad you brought it up. I do think it's because we haven't got a lot to talk about, and information from the Two Guys -- even for those of us lucky enough to have a direct link to them -- has been a bit stagnant as of late. I know for a fact it's not because they're slagging off; in fact, they're busy as all hell. We also have to remember, back at Sierra, the Guys were used to just being holed up, doing their stuff, with no Twitter or hungry fans beating down their social media doors to hear the latest updates -- apart from the few select annoying fans who e-mailed them constantly (ahem). They were used to just sitting around at Sierra, slaving away at the games, and not really hearing any feedback on their work until the games were released.
 
The SpaceVenture is also still in the conceptual phase with concept art being generated and technical details still being worked out. Once development kicks into high gear, I am sure this "slump" will seem like a distant memory. All we can do is poke the fire and keep it alive so that there will still be interested people around to witness the barrage of awesome that's to come.

Greetings!
 
After four months of hard work, Akril and I are proud to announce the release of Pledge Quest II: Noodle Shop of Horrors. You can head over to the newly-launched PledgeQuest.Net and download it now for Windows, Mac, and Linux!*
 
Here's a screenshot from the opening cinematic that showcases Akril's awesome art on the project:
 


 
I hope you folks enjoy the game; it was a blast working on it. Now, let's spread the word** and rustle up a few more buckazoids for the SpaceVenture stretch goals!
 
Jess
 
* Special thanks to Lunchbox and s_d for all their hard work to provide day-one Mac and Linux support!
** Twitter is being weird and blocking the PledgeQuest.Net domain in tweets, so if you want to share it there, try this Google-shortened URL instead: http://goo.gl/4H7vj

Just an update to follow up on Akril's earlier post...
 
If all goes according to schedule, we plan to release Pledge Quest II: Noodle Shop of Horrors on Monday, October 8.
 
If you'd like to preview our brand-new website, visit PledgeQuest.Net and have a look around. The "Download Pledge Quest II" link isn't active yet, but it will be soon. :)
 
Take care!
 
Jess

Hi, Ushko! *waves feverishly*
 
I still can't believe Chris helped me design a game that took place in Hell. Even if I never get around to making that game, I will treasure the design document forever.

Hi, Datadog! *waves back*
 
Jess

Yeah, as of late, I've been reduced to a lurker in the community. Still watching the boards, though. *waves hi at everybody*

He always was a duck fan.