Datadog

Full game for me as well. I like Telltale's episode format, but those are usually planned ahead of time as mini-adventures with logical beginnings, middles, and ends. A post-dev decision to split up a game usually has awkward breaks that ruin the game's experience in the long run. Instead of a cliffhanger, the player is left with a sad "I guess they ran out of money" feeling. I haven't played Broken Age yet, but "Syberia", "A Vampyre Story", and TT's "Back to the Future" come to mind when I think about how the episodic format has gone wrong in the past.

I played about 20 minutes of "Dear Esther" before looking up an FAQ just to see what I was doing wrong. Turns out it's not so much an adventure game as it is a "walk around and listen to narration" game. So now I'm playing "Grand Theft Auto IV".

The "Ducktales" remake was successful, but nostalgia and a fresh coat of paint alone didn't sell it. The gameplay was updated, new levels were added to flesh out the story, the original cast returned to voice it, and the end result felt like a modern Ducktales with very little hints of remake (although the optional 8-bit soundtrack might give it away.) Hitting the same success with adventure games is trickier because point-n-click gameplay has aged quite differently from platforming. I watched one of my co-workers checking out the "Monkey Island" remake on YouTube, and he couldn't wrap his head around how the player was accomplishing anything since Guybrush just kept standing around and describing things. Adventure game remakes largely appeal to the fans because there's very little you can do to take these games out of the 90's. If I were to choose a style of remake for "Space Quest 1", I'd actually like it in the style of "Uncharted". And not as a shooter or platformer, but as the game it already is - Roger trying to solve puzzles while running for his life and hiding from enemies. Putting the player into Roger's shoes would give the game a little extra momentum that wouldn't feel out of place in today's market.

I finally got around to playing "Serena" myself. I was impressed with the overall production quality - the graphics, music, and writing are all very sharp. But nothing could have prepared me for the chills that came around the halfway point when the whole tone changed. A small, subtle shift in atmosphere is all it took to cross the line into nightmare territory. Now I can't get to sleep. So well done to everyone involved!

I like shows that can handle a variety of sci-fi. "Doctor Who", "Red Dwarf", "Star Trek: TNG" and "Futurama", for example, are all well set for exploring several aspects of science-fiction. With shows like these, you can get robots, time travel, cloning, A.I., aliens, shrink rays and psychic powers all in one show without it being out-of-place (I especially like how "Futurama" manages to keep track of the continuity through all its time travel stories.) "Space Quest" would fall in with this crowd, although most comedy sci-fi probably would. It's usually the dramas like BSG that like to stick with a few ideas so they can expand on them.

Space Quest is more of a great homage to science-fiction. You could argue its where all great science-fiction finds its way, though. It's a series that respects its source material.

Wall-breaking was well and started by the time the Two Guys became characters in their own series and Roger started time-traveling through numbered sequels. :) But I do agree the game is probably the funniest in the series. It's one of the few games where I spent ages exploring all the click events for a few extra laughs. Gary Owen's voice-work is amazing, and the narration has a certain "let's jump the shark and never come down" vibe to it. For all the guff given the story, I still think it's one of the more entertaining games in the Sierra catalogue.

It's the first SIerra title, but there's been attempts at other adventure game movies. "Broken Sword" was optioned a few years back, but there's been no word about it since. And ILM was working on an animated "Curse of Monkey Island" movie.

I agree that it depends on the game I'm playing. Boxed narration is good for unbiased descriptions when a game wants to keep the focus on exploring the world. King's Quest and Laura Bow, for example, work great with boxed narration since it gives the game a nice book-ish feel. Overhead narration seems to better suit games where the player character has a very outspoken personality. Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry could have easily used overhead narration since the existing narrators already seem to share their respective hero's sense of humor. Although I do have a soft spot for turning the narrator into an actual sentient being that lives in the PC's head. :)

"Phantasmagoria" already has the feel of a cheesy, low budget, bargain bin, straight-to-video, late night, B-movie horror flick, and I'm glad someone with a camera and some money realized it. While it's not one of Sierra's finest, it would translate into a movie fairly well. If it's at least slightly above Asylum quality, and nowhere near Uwe Boll quality, I will totally watch this movie. In regards to other Sierra mystery games, I personally feel that Gabriel Knight and Laura Bow would make great TV series. One's "Supernatural" with Schattenjagers, and the other's "Murder She Wrote" in the 20's.

SQ2VGA, yes.

PawDugan had an SQ3 LP with commentary done sometime last year, and he also did a full playthough of SQ2+. Then there's AmayirotAkago who did a full LP of all six SQ games. Also, PushingUpRoses recently started an SQ Retrospective on her channel. I'd post links, but I'm currently confined to computers that block out YouTube.

The same thing happens on the Spoony Experiment. The guy seems to act like he absolutely despises Final Fantasy games, yet if you look around his room in some videos, you'll see nothing but FF action figures, posters, and prop weapons. It's always important to take these big name comedy-critics with a grain of salt. They critique because they love.

That is AMAZING. :D Blockmaster, you've made my year.

I'd have to replay the series with fresh eyes, but my go-to favorite moment was the first time I heard the Narrator impersonating Cedric the Owl in the SQ6 Ascend-o-Pad, and out of nowhere, hearing the line "If you're staying in here, Graham, I'm going out there." Although getting sucked into a black hole in SQ3 and landing in Oakhurst would be a close second. I can't imagine any game studio doing that these days (outside of a Deadpool game, anyway).

My new cartoon is out! This is the last in my long series of Ducktales cartoons dating back to high school. It took almost a year and a half to finish, and it's already opening up to positive reviews. Just a heads-up that it's over 35 minutes, so when you get the time, come check it out and leave a vote if you have an account. And be sure to check out previous episodes if you want to Click here for Scrooge McDuck and Vegeta having a guys' night out!

VSB has quite a bit of hidden goodies that most normal people will never find. For instance, entering certain codes on the safe could return lots of interesting messages. SQInc, not so much. As Troels said, there's an easter egg near the end which grants you a full score. Other than that, the trophies, and the extra endings, all you'd find is the occasional dialogue blurb where I complain about writing dialogue at 3 in the morning.

Thanks for chiming in, Frede. I hope that Jukebox feature helped. I'm not against ripping resources myself. My first two games were comprised almost entirely of downloaded MIDIs and the occasional ripped graphic. And I still use unoriginal music in my cartoons whenever convenient. As long as it remains a non-commercial project and doesn't hamper anything thing else, it's an okay practice for starters. Just as long as you don't bring the practice into a game that already has legitimate musical talent behind it. There is slight problem rising with fans feeling entitled, though. It's common in commercial games where you drop $60 on a game that doesn't deliver to your expectations. Unfortunately, the line between $60 and free is getting blurrier these days as I see people reacting just as strongly towards free indie projects as they would towards "Call of Duty". But I guess it's reasonable given the rise of standards and the number of indie games getting released. Somewhere in there, fan-games are going to had a harder time of it.

I think it's time I got a new camera. Great job with the editing! I didn't expect it would be such a huge video! Very warm and fuzzy all over!

Whose videos did you receive so far?

Nice! I like that they're approaching this is as an original game rather than a fan-game. I also like the apparent features, such as the townspeople calling you names as you walk by, and the animated background while ascending the tower. I'll look forward to this one.

Just sent mine in. Man, I'm glad I don't do vlogs. Took me a dozen tries to stumble through one sendable video where I don't garble my words. Actually, I envy anyone who can talk into a camera for an hour (or even a minute) and still be coherent.

Living in Vancouver, I face a similar situation where I know TONS of voice actors, but any who've actually been in the industry for a few weeks are hesitant to do anything for free. Any voices we get would have to voluntarily come from the community. And a community-voiced game would be ideal anyway.

It'd be easier to make a Shirtless Roger. The girls' 3D models wouldn't accommodate nudity because of the way their shirts are modeled. But Roger was built for clothing swaps, so all I'd have to do is change his shirt to a skin tone, put him in a provocative pose, photoshop some nipples onto him and - GAAAH!!! What am I saying?!? Yes I am. SQInc was going to get one if there was enough support for it, but it's getting harder to find committed volunteers for even VSB. Incidentally, if anyone has a microphone, please send us your best ape voice!

Shirtless Roger...? Did I put an easter egg in there without noticing?