jfrisby

Most of you probably know, but in case you don't: It was originally Replay's intention to remake all the old Larry games. That's six remakes in a row we're talking about, with the possibility of a new Larry game being released afterwards.
 
What this boils down to is that the cool-sounding name of Chief Creative Officer most likely would have reduced Josh to nothing more than an assembly line worker, cranking out remake after remake, possibly for the next decade or so. It always horrified me beyond belief that from survey results on the Replay forum, most people seemed to be okay with letting all that creative genius go to waste instead of letting the man create something new and exciting from the ground up.
 
No matter what his current situation is, he has earned nothing but the greatest respect from the Sierra fanbase in general and the (former) Replay community in particular and he certainly deserves better than to have his talents squandered on endless remakes.

Just stepping in to add my 2 cents worth and maybe add Paul Troll another twitter fan or 2! I guess its a crime to not hang on every word out of Paul's mouth. At this point, I'm honestly annoyed that I upped my pledge in LSLR to get my image in the game. Thankfully I backed a bunch of other games (like say, SQ and QFI to name a couple) so I know I'll still come out ahead. For what little it is worth, I put a note in the Replay forum that I'm done and unliked the FB page and I'm movin' on a few bucks poorer but with a couple of wonderfully drawn pictures (given the horrid subject matter)! I only hope the downfall is quick enough to keep LSL alive and that it doesn't get dragged down in the undertow. Now back to the broom closet for an old adventurer's nap!

An increase in Twitter followers, eh?
 
I guess people don't want to be late to the party when this batshit insane PR meltdown on legs throws his next misdirected hissy fit. Not that he's got anyone left to vent his anger on, anyway.

I got everyone's back here. Troels can vouch - I weep like a girl when I get nostalgic about my Adventure Games, and when my friends are down.
 
Aside from one persons pointless attacks, everyone here has been very, vert cool and amazingly supportive to each other - both fans and developers. That to me is what is important here. I see all kinds of people posting in here, and I know almost everyone - personally. We're in good company, and the Two Guys are in good company. I personally know how difficult development can be, and getting of the ground as a functioning entity is. But we have support - we are in this together.
 
So, much love to The Two Guys and The Space Pope, and much love to all the supportive peeps who not only give their love, time, and support to projects like SpaceVenture, but to all kinds of Adventure Game projects all over the place. I am proud to be a part of the community, and I'm also the fortunate recipient of a lot of support myself. I never take that for granted. Some people just don't know what they have.
 
 
Bt

Hello everybody,
 
Thank you for all the support. After reading Paul's comment on KS, I was done.
After him banning and deleting ALL the posts that Serena created on the forum, I'm even more done.
 
I've been active in the community for a long time (started all on the QuestStudios forum - hence this nickname). When the Sierra revival started with Leisure Suit Larry, I just couldn't sit by and not try to get involved. I've been grateful to be able to help out and provide my professional help to this project. I still stand behind all the work I've done and I'm happy to have helped bring this game to market. Josh Mandel is an awesome guy and I would work for him or ANYONE at N-Fusion Studios in a heartbeat! All such talented people that have such a great heart for the gaming industry.
 
I know more than I would say on here (I like to remain taking the high road) - but I just want to thank everyone for supporting us (Serena, Irish, Tom & myself) for speaking out against something we believe in. The adventure game community is a tight community and I am proud to be part of it. If anything, this experience has taught me a lot and I'm very grateful for all the people I got to know through this.
 
Thanks everyone.
 
Jeroen
aka Dutchmagic

Well, this is sad more than anything.. Josh did a really great job of repairing the image of Replay for awhile with his updates and by hiding Paul, I didn't know that he'd left Replay (but that explains Paul being off-the-leash).
 
I can only imagine that LSL:R sales are poor to middling, and that's something all adventure game designers are probably going to have to face. Not that surprising Paul is imploding, given that he's probably alone, surrounded by bills and hate, and he's that sort of asshole. Looking forward to hearing stories from Josh in 5-10 years -- and many thanks to the fellow Replay forum folks for the good times, it was fun while it lasted :D

Well, this is sad more than anything.. Josh did a really great job of repairing the image of Replay for awhile with his updates and by hiding Paul, I didn't know that he'd left Replay (but that explains Paul being off-the-leash).
 
I can only imagine that LSL:R sales are poor to middling, and that's something all adventure game designers are probably going to have to face. Not that surprising Paul is imploding, given that he's probably alone, surrounded by bills and hate, and he's that sort of asshole. Looking forward to hearing stories from Josh in 5-10 years -- and many thanks to the fellow Replay forum folks for the good times, it was fun while it lasted :D

Well, this is sad more than anything.. Josh did a really great job of repairing the image of Replay for awhile with his updates and by hiding Paul, I didn't know that he'd left Replay (but that explains Paul being off-the-leash).
 
I can only imagine that LSL:R sales are poor to middling, and that's something all adventure game designers are probably going to have to face. Not that surprising Paul is imploding, given that he's probably alone, surrounded by bills and hate, and he's that sort of asshole. Looking forward to hearing stories from Josh in 5-10 years -- and many thanks to the fellow Replay forum folks for the good times, it was fun while it lasted :D

I would agree on the disagreement on translations. While I assume the little comment about there being no Europeans left who can't speak English was tongue-in-cheek, the fact is that there are a number of people who cannot speak English comfortably enough at a high enough level to fully appreciate the game, even though they would want to back it.
 
550k is a low goal, and seems to be a decent incentive for a relatively large group of people. Then the higher tiers focus on the even larger groups of people.
 
I will, however, wholeheartedly agree on the "wordiness" with a caveat. I think the amount of text in the beginning parts of the project pitch (the bits people are going to be arsed to read) was too much, too complicated and too wordy. I wonder how many people either unconvinced or simply didn't read far enough to become convinced. Also, I appreciated the regular updates because I'm a fan - but a LOT of people have commented on how they felt they were being spammed. This is something to learn from in the future, I think.
 
The caveat - for me, all this works. This doesn't come across as a micro-managed, slick, corporate campaign. It comes across as two incredibly enthusiastic guys (Scott and Mark) being backed by an incredibly enthusiastic fan (Pope) who are really excited to be working together on a new game. The "flaws" are almost its strengths. The almost ADD nature of the whole campaign (if you'll forgive the slightly offensive metaphor) makes it feel more real and more accessible. To me. I can imagine others feel differently.
 
I think this is a little off-topic. But since I know the Pontiff of Crowemurphyism is reading this thread, I'll stick my two cents in. :)

One does not simply walk into Robertaland.

Whatever. The fans will respond to this. If Replay ends up getting Space Quest then it doesn't matter. I will not support it without the Two Guys and neither will many others. He may try to play with words to make it sound awesome, but the best way to combat this is to not support it without the Two Guys. If they don't want to join with Replay then I don't care what they do with Space Quest. It's not Space Quest without them. I'd rather see SQ solely in the hands of 2GFA, myself. I'd also rather see new games anyway. I wouldn't mind if another Space Quest never came out, as long as the Two Guys are still making games.

I'll quote something I just read on AdventureGamers, as it pertains to this topic:
 

Oh, in these Kickstarter days, I think more than a few wives and girlfriends are living alone with someone!

Conspiracy upon conspiracy, eh?
 
I'm not going to - nor am I interested in - drawing conclusions at this point. This is, after all, gossip fuelled by, at best, circumstantial evidence. It would be remiss not to bring it up, however, given that it is clearly a live topic.
 
It was not my intention to sour the Kickstarter thread by posting that someone had posted about someone posting about a rumour that someone had posted about. But if it's going on it's better to discuss it rather than allow rumour and counter rumour to brew under the surface, chock full of healthy innuendo goodness.
 
Whoever it was who split the topic did the right thing. But providing the discussion doesn't get libellous, I do hope it remains an open topic for discussion.
 
I'm a "warts and all" kinda guy. I don't see negative issues as detrimental to any campaign, providing they're dealt with and explained in a mature manner. Indeed, this has been one of the most refreshing thing about the Crowemurphyist machine so far. They have been open about past disagreements, issues with people and the confusion caused by certain mistakes made early in the campaign process. If the world had more people like that we'd have much better and much more trusted products, services and elected representatives.

HOLYSHIT!!! .. They put this on the front page of their Kickstarter page right underneath their pitch video.. words cannot describe how honored this self taught artist from small town WI feels at this moment.. SO COOL!! Now it needs to happen .. just so I can say .. in the smallest way possible I helped out and was involved.

You can use this theme I wrote for the 2GFA podcast somewhere if you like.
 
http://brandonblume.com/music/2guyspodcast.mp3

And here they are.

Sorry to disappoint, but apparently someone got on Kickstarter pretending to be me. I just discovered this today.
 
That said, I did play the original Space Quest games years and years ago and loved them, but the person who posted on Kickstarter isn't me.

I would disagree. I think constructive criticism should always be made. Personally I think that discussion about issues is always the way to go.
 
However (and I think your post was very good, by the way), this is precisely the forum (literally) for making those constructive comments - the Kickstarter comments page probably isn't. And it's good that many people on there are defending the defensible and putting into context other legitimate gripes.
 

I agree. Kickstarter isn't logical, so we shouldn't expect potential customers to be logical either.
 
This isn't a disability charity - we're not degrading anyone by trying to tug the heart strings. This is a nostalgia trip, a comedy adventure, or whatever else it wants to be. Unless the connection is made with the irrational people out there (i.e. human beings), the project won't kick on and get its target funding.
 

This buys into the "irrationality" issues too. People like shiny things. People like videos. We're already sold - we don't need to be sold to again (though, obviously, it would be good if they could convince us to part with a few extra quid). The mass of people in the target audience need to be convinced. That's comedy fans and people who like a good sci-fi story.
 
Well. I'm sure the Pope of Crowemurphyism knows better than me the metrics of what the target audience is and should be. They need to be engaged.

They are asinine and "ridiculous" to the educated fans of Space Quest - but again, we have information and emotional bonds which other people don't and see no reason to educate themselves about it. These are PRECISELY the people who need to be re-engaged with the process. 
The overall point throughout all of this has been that we cannot appeal to rational human beings because we do not have the time or the resources to sit down one-on-one with people and convince them that this is the best thing ever. We need to figure out what "they" want - and we need to get it to them.
 
As I've said throughout - Kickstarter is not rational. There is nothing rational about pledging $100 over market value for a product that may not even get made. We need to stop thinking like fans and start thinking like potential fans. Or, more pressingly, the Crowemurphyists need to. I have faith that they can and will. But time is a factor.

I'll chime in here.. Also, love the project, so my apologies... I've been defending everything on the Kickstarter page, to the best of my abilities, in multiple forums.... I think it's pretty much our duty to hold our tongues, for the most part, on the various issues which may trouble us about the campaign... But I'll write something here.. oh well.
 
... And I will say I rather like a lot of the unwieldy things about this project, just because they remind me of a Space Quest or Sierra game. That's probably not working for everyone, but it's endearing.
 
 
Here's a few thoughts, anyway:
 
- I don't believe tiers can be deleted or edited, once created.. So there's not much to be done there -- but I would hide that spreadsheet.. Or just put a text link, under the FAQ. The tiers are complicated, but I wouldn't point it out with a big graphic.
 
- Might be worth re-editing, or replacing the main pitch video... as that's probably the main sales-driver. Couldn't hurt, at this point.
 
- Think the main page copy is fine. It's not a big negative, even if it is long. Maybe emphasize the "our message" bit with a proper header like the other sections..
 
- Add additional wallpaper resolutions (modern ones), or just eliminate them. (makes things a bit dated, or so many people seem to say).
 
- Podcasts aren't working to sell the project to anyone new. Videos, concept art, polls on what to parody, "details of gameplay style and interface" post, that kind of stuff... might appeal to the uninitiated better.
 
- Like the webcomics. This reminded me of the absurdity of the whole Kickstarter thing, and was nicely self-deprecating. Making fun of Kickstarter works. (Spaceventure might ought to just go full-on sarcastic and mean and hilarious with their fundraising if things don't pick up by the last week..)
 
 
Raising money can be an embarrassing, painful affair... I work in non-profit fundraising (small, local stuff). It can suck -- I'd say the campaign has been pretty dignified up to this point,.. Double Fine sort of lucked into making it look easy... But I'd say go full-on telethon-NPR-pledge-drive, make us cry.. One perfect heart-wrenching letter or video could still swing this completely. Shift the stupid focus away from facts, that people don't read anyway, towards emotions.

Saw somewhere that the Tex Murphy folks were making up fliers and posters and stuff for gaming stores, comic shops... So I thought I'd make a little thing to throw up in random places. Don't know that it'll do anything, but I'll just enjoy confusing people. If anyone feels like making something more counter-friendly for shops... That might work too.
 
So here's a poster that requires a Monolith Burger decoder ring.
Link to a PDF below with 6-per sheet, ideal for sticker paper.
 
 

 
Sheet of 6 x 8.5x11 - http://www.aultenavr.../tgakick-6x.pdf
.PSD - http://www.aultenavry.com/tgakick.psd