Troels Pleimert

If you guys can't get Gary Owens, I'll refire my ambition to narrate that game.

One guy says no -- the other guy says, "Maybe; I'll check." While we wait, I will be TAKING ALL BETS! I ALSO OFFER VIDEO POKER!

I agree, but not because of: Bullshit. :D LSL6 was a better game, in my opinion, only because it was funnier. And I liked the spa setting better than the cruise liner. And I liked the graphics better, too. But LSL7 deserves a million pats on the back for figuring out a way to reintroduce a parser to a point-and-click adventure game and actually making it work! I wish more games had used LSL7's interface. Imagine a Space Quest game using LSL7's interface! Scott would be pissing himself at the prospect. (And, nope, before you ask -- sorry, SpaceVenture will not be using a similar interface. SpaceVenture is point-and-click only.)

I'm amazed -- and thoroughly grateful -- at how I am still learning something new from this forum to this day!

I think we can pretty much definitively discard the "drumming up investor interest" conspiracy theory. More likely, it is to remind people that the project is still out there and active -- and, for those that weren't looking in their direction back in 2012, that the project actually exists. As for courting publishers, let's just say that's not really an option, either. I know that particular bird never rose from the ashes, if you catch my drift.

Thank you! I enjoy those the most. :) Tom King (aka DadsNewBF) does those. He both writes them (with two other dudes) and plays Chuck. Thanks! I wish I had more cover tunes to put on the show. Most of them seem to have gotten lost through the ages. I remember there used to be lots of them lying around. Announcement: By the way, I suppose this is as good a place as any to remind people: Next episode won't come out today (Wed. Sep. 17), but tomorrow (Thur. Sep. 18). It's a day later than usual, but that's because there's a lot of guest spots and, therefore, A LOT of mixing to get through.

Woah, nice!

Milliways, though technically a restaurant, seems like a nice place. Can't beat the entertainment, surely. Of course, this is not to be confused with Millward's, which is just a keg of illicit booze and a few lawn chairs set up in drdrslashvohaul's garage.

Starting download!

That one's gonna be hard to explain to any (future) spouse.

By the way, next week's episode is going to focus on the three retro fan games: "Space Quest 0: Replicated", "Space Quest: The Lost Chapter" and "Space Quest: Decision of the Elders." If any of you have any glorious stories to tell or memories of these games, let me know. If your contribution is in by the weekend, it'll go on the show.

You can't get an open spore in the game itself. So that must've either been part of an earlier design, or Mark just drew it in case Scott wanted to write something snarky about having picked up a useless object. Could you post the graphic of it here?

Pardon the very obvious plug, but Frederik Olsen and I had a chat about the Sierra reunion here: http://backseatdesigners.podbean.com/e/episode-1-sierra-is-back-yay/ Also, just so you think I'm not just plugging my own stuff, here's Joe from the "Upper Memory Block" podcast talking about the same thing: http://umbcast.com/episode-55-sierra-revival/ And here's Some Guy's "Point And Click Times" episode on it: http://www.pointandclicktimes.com/point-and-click-times-podcast-sierra-reaction/

Hahaha, I *love* Coktel Wilco! :D

Don't believe anything you read in the Companion. ;)

For all the rumors of how shitty SQ7 was going to be, one thing is really sad: that Leslie never got her chance to be in the spotlight. She contributed a bunch to SQ6 (the "in space, no one can hear you clean" line was hers!) and she really had a killer sense of humor. And she was really good to us fans. I found her on Facebook a while back, but I haven't heard from her in a long time.

Cheers, man! The 16th episode -- on "whether Roger is a hero or not" -- is up now, and I accidentally added the link in the wrong topic. I'm such a fantastic guy.

Hey, thanks a lot for the input, suejak! Of course, I'm of the completely opposite position, but I promise to read your letter out in full in the next episode. :) For those of you not in the know of what's going on, suejak was responding to the latest episode which asked the question, "Is Roger Wilco a hero?" Check it out here: http://spacequesthistorian.com/2014/08/24/episode-16-roger-as-a-hero/ (where you can actually watch guest commentator Daniel Stacey (a.k.a. Cadbury Wookie) give his opinions). Or just listen right here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/techjives/2014-08-20-SQ-HISTORIAN_Episode16-RogerAsAHero.mp3

I think it all boils down to whether we get to experience the story without being forced to endure QTE sequences or other quick reaction type stuff. Adventure games have always played with the formula -- take Loom, for example. That game barely had an interface, no inventory and no dialogue trees, yet it told a compelling story and is considered a classic game to this day. The question, as far as I'm concerned, is not about whether we get to use our mouse to point and click at things, but whether we'll be allowed to explore a world at our own pace and immerse ourselves in the story. As far as modern day adventure games go, anyway. We have to take into account that the new Sierra isn't just about rebooting franchises or updating the adventure game legacy. Hell, they're doing a new Geometry Wars, for chrissakes. And back in the day they were releasing things like Thexder, Red Baron and Lode Runner. Also, on the subject of graphics: the low res thing is not a matter of what works best. Some contemporary games in the 320x200 days were damn near unplayable for not being able to make out what the hell was on the screen. Simon The Sorceror II, anyone?

Blackthorne and some other geeks were talking on Twitter about a Mario Kart type game with Sierra characters. Just thought I'd mention that.

Williams could do other things than being manic. But, yes, I see what you're saying that he might not have been the perfect fit. I did always imagine Roger having a kind of high voice; not shrill, but not like Williams' lilting, deep, cozy timbre oh god I miss that man.

The option to have both text and speech were removed for some reason before release. No one knows why. I've joked with Scott a few times about it; he has no idea why they would take it out. Some of the dialogue appears a little different in the text boxes, but it's nothing distracting. You don't have to go all the way to the bargain bin to activate the text+speech glitch, however. You can do it during the game's intro. When the Narrator goes, "We rejoin our friend and semi-hero Roger Wilco ... (etc.)", press Space and choose to skip the intro. There! The rest of the game has text+speech. Another way is to download what's known as the "NewRisingSun patch" which does a number of things. Not only does it enable text+speech, it also uses the original artwork from the disk version, it fixes the timer bugs, and it contains a time code to the "room removed for legal reasons" so you can actually go there without having to hack the game files. You can download that puppy here: http://www.spacequest.net/archives/sq4/patches/ Or ... you can just play the game through ScummVM. That also fixes the timer bugs and lets you enable text+speech.

There will be no Space Quest without The Two Guys From Andromeda.

I've never been much of a tattoo guy (don't mind 'em on others, but I figure I'm creepy enough without having ink as well) ... but if I was going to go for a Sierra-related tattoo, I might get a time pod on me somewhere. Or Vohaul's heart pump on my chest.

Ah, it may also have just been something that was "installed" on the Super Computer next to LSL4 ... and when they had to remove Stunt Flyer from the bargain bin for memory reasons, it didn't make sense to have it on this screen, either. Just speculatin' out my ass here.