Datadog

Really digging the gifs you posted. This could be a lot of fun! Looking forward to seeing more!

I'm in favor of finding someone new and not trying to imitate Gary at all.

I personally like VSB between the two, though it might be my personal bias (SQInc definitely caused me more headaches). 1996 to 1997 was kind of a sweet spot for adventure games, existing between the VGA Golden Era and 3D Armageddon where games like "Curse of Monkey Island", "Broken Sword", and "Leisure Suit Larry 7" were walking on blazed trails and weren't afraid to play with large casts of characters, open-world sandboxes, and tongue-in-cheek humor. I think "Vohaul Strikes Back" fits into that sweet spot. When I first joined the team, there was already so much content made for the game. Dozens of characters, enormous maps, massive dialogue trees, etc. Not to mention it was a great team experience. Even back when it was just a proposition on a forum post, VSB carried a very strong spirit for adventure gaming that I respect. *head explodes*

To me, SQ6 feels like the least focused of the series. The other five games all have their center. SQ1 and SQ2 are mainly about the planets. In SQ3, you have the Mallard. SQ4 has the time-pods. SQ5 is about commanding a ship. For the mostpart, SQ6 doesn't have any of that. For half the game, you're just solving puzzles because you keep running into things that you recognize as puzzles. And once you have your own ship, it doesn't open up a new world, you just use it to explore places you've already been to. I honestly believe the game doesn't come into its own until the "inner space" aspect at the end. I always enjoyed that section. I liked that there was an educational angle to being inside a human body and learning about its functions to solve puzzles. It felt like a nice twist to the Space Quest formula, and I wanted to see more of it over visiting retirement homes. Roger could easily spend most of the game in a fully-developed human body sandbox where he travels through blood vessels and solve puzzles in the heart, lungs, assorted glands and other organs. Where the game truly does shine is the dialogue. It is arguably the funniest game in the series. And that Ascend-O-Pad.... how can one elevator be the most entertaining room in the game? SQ6 is hit-and-miss for me. It touches down on a lot of my adventure game pet peeves, but sparkles enough that I keep forgiving it.

It's difficult to put anything into words - especially since he was so much better at it. Even beyond Space Quest, Gary Owens could enrich anything he was a part of. I remember being little and rewatching a VHS dinosaur documentary he hosted over and over again before I ever knew who he was, and my favorite part of the tape was always seeing Gary voice a claymation dinosaur version of himself (I can't find a video, but he was basically a T-Rex with glasses). It's a sad day to lose such a great man and he will be missed. Thanks for all the laughs, Gary. :(

A few years back, I began marathoning entire discographies of classic metal bands for the heck of it. I recall mentioning to Frede that I got really into Black Sabbath and Ozzy's solo albums. Other ones I ran through and began collecting included Led Zepplin, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Megadeth. Before then, I had my symphonic metal phase (Nightwish, Epica), and now my background music is somewhere in between Rolling Stones and Queen. I remember "Brutal Legend" being one of the bigger influence on my musical tastes. After playing that game, I found myself drawn to all these obscure bands whose music accentuated key points through the story. There's nothing quite like storming the enemy stronghold with Dimmu Birgor's "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" or Judas Priest's "One Shot at Glory" as your battle theme.

It might be. The fact that Graham is riding a mattress down a river suggests adventure game logic happened. I really like the trailer, though Graham looks a little too stylized in it for me. The re-imagining of the world looks a little akin to Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies, where all the simple things from the original have now been expanded upon. Seeing him jump around doesn't bother me yet since it could be a cinematic choice rather than a platforming aspect.

On puzzles that could have been taken out or at least given a tune-up... KQ5: Squeezing honey on the ground and putting emeralds in it to catch elves that you didn't know existed. GK2: Putting a flower in the water to trigger a vision (how am I supposed to know this a thing?) PQ1: The vehicle inspection. Every time. Grim Fandango: Lumbago Lemonade. Because throwing up on dominos is the best way to not knock them over? The Riddle of Master Lu: The Monastery; the longest, most patience-testing maze ever devised. Discworld 1 and 2: Complete overhaul.

Yeah, walking into any graveyard, especially in QFG, puts my nerves on red alert. I remember the first time I played Colonel's Bequest. As soon I walked into the graveyard a ghost appeared and I just turned tail and ran. After I saved and went back, she wasn't there, nor could I make her reappear. I got spooked by an easter egg. "Day of the Tentacle" creeped me out at first because it was first LEC game I played and didn't know it was death-free. So thanks to growing up with Sierra games, I had a half-expectation that I might get slaughtered by random guests in the motel. Otherwise, LEC isn't too big on terror. I remember a few creepy scenes from "LOOM" and "Grim Fandango", but that was more atmosphere than anything.

The NPC animations in KQ1, 2, and 3 always freaked me out. Sure, you get a warning about the wolf and even a scary music sting, but the way the wolf jumps out of bed and starts frantically scrambling towards your death is like watching a scene from a Japanese horror movie.

Agreed. If the zombie's Future-Roger, then that scream of his just became ten times more traumatizing.

Maybe Earth looked closer on Google Maps to Jerry, and after flying for several million lightyears, Jerry didn't want to admit his mistake and just kept going.

Both are pretty awesome. I prefer 1 when I'm in an "80's synthesizer" kind of mood, and 2 whenever I get Guns 'N Roses stuck in my head. But I will lean toward 2 for having that scene where the T-1000 walks through the bars. Gives me chills everytime.

Oct 4th? I might be able to make that!

True. As much as I enjoy adventure games, my history with Sonic and Mass Effect has desensitized me to the effects of arcade sequences on some adventurers. Personally, I welcome the AstroChicken challenge whenever I play SQ3. And I don't mind QTE sequences as long as the cut-scene they're attached to is awesome enough to warrant it. But action sequences are one of those grey areas where you just have to consider the needs of certain gamers during the design process. Some people want a "Retry" when they die, others just want to "Skip".

I'm in the "Cautious Optimism" camp. At this point, there's a lot of innovation in gaming, and if they can apply some of that to King's Quest to create a new kind of adventure experience, I'm all for it. I remember in "South Park: The Stick of Truth" that there were several puzzle sections where you could clear a room of enemies without ever engaging in combat just by using your inventory of skills on background objects. And because of how they were designed, the puzzle sections were often more fun and exciting than the battles themselves. It struck me as a very modern way to approach KQ1's violence-optional puzzles.

Yeah, this is true with some, but definitely not all. The comic could probably better represent that if at least one of the people listing off names was a woman. But I don't think it's a gaming or gender-related issue at all. I know lots of friends who, for example, talk on end about how bad-ass their FemShep or Warcraft character is. And when I go to Cons, there's no shortage of women dressed up in "Sailor Moon" or "Soul Caliber"-style costumes. Everybody has their own idea of what they admire in a character, and there's always a handful of very loud people who want to make an issue out of it just as much as there's people who want to celebrate it.

Great art style! Can't wait to see the characters! Also, nice "Star Quest 3" poster in the bedroom. :)

Whoo! Finished it! You'll be happy to know I prioritized this over Moebius. The Good! This was a really fun game! It really comes together in the second half, where I learn who the elders actually are and I couldn't bring myself to take a break. The puzzles are plentiful, the moon logic isn't completely off-world, and I especially like the twists throughout. Even the cheesy romantic subplot with its space-cow-fart-filed heart-shaped balloon keeps it from being another dredge-through-the-jungle adventure. Otherwise, the graphics nail the old-school style, the humor is funny, and its kind of heartwarming. Even the country music at the end is a surprisingly nice fit for the game. The Not-As-Meh A lot of my puzzle solving was either "mix items until something does something" or "look for the slightly unusual pixel in the background". Fortunately, a lot of it fell into place rather quickly once I started backtracking and I'm grateful that the game didn't have any fail-states. Even finding that drill bit as soon as I entered the scene was one of those strange "I shouldn't have been able to find that" moments. Same with "talk to rock" as a puzzle solution (although any seasoned adventurer would be doing that anyway!) Overall: It's a delightful addition to the growing world of interactive Space Quest fan-fiction! There's enough clues to keep the puzzles from being impossible, goofy moments a-plenty, and you can finish it in a few hours. Some SQ fans might take offense to lack of death sequences or the obvious fan-service, but overall, it's a nice job all around. I really enjoyed playing it and I hope to see more from you in the future!

Congrats! I'll give this a go later tonight maybe.

Finally played "Broken Age"... I feel like Tim Schafer should be making animated films. While the puzzles are easy, they really take a backseat to the presentation and story of the game. I really like the world and its characters (and I definitely want to see what happens in Part 2), but much like Schafer's "Brutal Legend", it's like everything except the gameplay is the star. I just keep walking past things and thinking "there should be a puzzle there! Or an inventory item there! I want to do something with that thing because it looks awesome!" Otherwise, I think Pixar or Dreamworks should scoop up Tim Schafer and give free reigns on something already.

I'm hopping back and forth between "Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds" and "Tiny Death Star". I recommend the former; it's fun, has lot of great puzzles, and occasionally asks me if I want to take a break. The other just slowly devours my life while expecting me to pay real money to make it go faster.

I was never a fan of the "right-click to teleport" mechanic myself. It would be awesome if I were playing as Nightcrawler, but otherwise, it's too easy a bad habit to fall into and does detract from the experience. Even Torin's Passage had to disable it for the maze sequence (which is where a run function would have been really nice.)

Turning up the walking speed is good, but a run option is better. I like walking when I'm casually exploring or thinking things through. But just like in real life, I want to break out into a jog when things feel too slow. Even if it's a slow run, it's nice having that extra level of control.

Nice choice of casting! Now I can't unsee it - Tudyk would be awesome as Roger.