drdrslashvohaul

Meanwhile, In Wales... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8484116.stm

To my eternal shame - Dwarf Fortress and Total Extreme Wrestling (not at the same time... although...)

Wow, Soylent Green! You haven't seen one of these in years. Not since the Xenon Food and Drug Administration found it to contain 99% sugar, 1% MDMA... Uses for it? The stuff itself is quite ghastly, but the cup can be used as a bird feeder. If you have a coaster, you can turn it into a makeshift mousetrap. It can impregnate up to 300 invertebrate species on Kalron VI. The straw can be used to both suck AND blow. Legal tender in Detroit.

I think it's performance art. It's like the WWE. The lines between reality and kayfabe are too blurred for those outside the industry to fully comprehend.

How can he possibly think that this behaviour achieves ANYTHING? He must be talented though. I find it difficult enough coming up with 3-minute story lines for an out of touch maniacal games CEO. He lives it.

That is quite a sexist thing to say. But since I assume you mean no malice, perhaps you should think about why that could be construed as offensive. Who gives a damn how Judge Judy or Bertha behave? Is there a specific way women are supposed to be? Meek, polite, not "a bitch"? Why are men not held up to the same standard? Is Barney from How I Met Your Mother "rewarded" for his behaviour? What is the standard by which women should be judged? If a woman wants to say "outrageous" things, why the hell shouldn't she? Why shouldn't a woman in a position of power be condescending and patronising? If a man did any of those things, I doubt you'd be so quick to judge. If you don't like Bertha or Judy, fine (I'm probably with you on that score). But to suggest that this is bad behaviour for women, or that it is somehow "rewarded" pretty much ignores the way that women are disciplined in general through their lives. Women shouldn't be anything other than human beings. The question of whether people in general ought to behave in certain ways is certainly up for debate. But leave gender out of it. It has nothing to do with the issues at hand.

Ah, but you're assuming companies make decisions based on industry-agreed metrics, logic and trust. We all know it's about who you know and whether you can pitch it in the right way.

Women can be whatever they want to be, but I would argue PEOPLE are supposed to be kind, sensitive and caring. Not really a gender issue. ;)

Reviving the series, in technical terms, wouldn't be overly complex. The SQ2 remake shows, for example, that a relatively small team of "amateurs" (and I use that to mean "not getting paid" rather than judging their talent) can put together a game of as much polish as the early 1990s Sierra adventures with a small budget. So, a professional game of that quality should be pretty easy to put together. The potential profit to be made, therefore, relative to investment could be quite good. The problem is, doubling an investment of, say, $100,000 still only nets you 200 grand. Which just isn't worth it to a major developer. When you think of the time it would take to make a decision like that, you'll probably spend more in the bureaucracy getting the game to be greenlit than you would make back on the game. That's even with 10,000 people coughing up $20 each. People do play adventure games, but: a) how much are they willing to pay (each); and b ) is the size of that audience anywhere near the size of audience for other games? The answer is probably "not that much" and "no". Hence the (relative) success of the amateur games that have come out in recent years, and hopefully the small-firm indie successes about to be inflicted upon us (such as Spaceventure!). It's frustrating in a way, but it's also the way that adventure games and adventure gamers can move on. The home brew attitude is actually liberating, and while we might get a number of mediocre games we'll also get some real gems. The internet being the internet, I honestly feel that if there were a genuine market for adventure games someone would have done it and made a decent living out of it by now. Finally, I don't think Sierra (or any company for that matter) owes us anything. We got a lot out of those games. And a small number of people got quite wealthy off them, too. Personally, I'm interested to see what can be done by people with good ideas, and I frankly couldn't care how much they charge, how much effort they put into graphics, or what sort of technology they use/limit themselves to. One of the things that excites me about Spaceventure is that through legal shenanigans we won't be getting Space Quest VII (or V, depending on how you categorise the final two games that weren't produced jointly by Crowe and Murphy). This isn't a reboot, it's a new idea and new series being executed in the style of the old adventure genre. Rather than simply rehashing old ideas or being constrained by fans' rose-tinted expectations, we'll get a new product for a new century. That's the way forward. And if it proves there is a market for this stuff, hopefully it will be the start of something bigger.

In which case, I hope Paul's contribution to the next episode doesn't offend you too much, ey.

Even if he's still in charge of the company or whatever, he needs to withdraw from social media, and (whether honorific or not) give someone else the title of CEO and full control of external communications. He can still run the company, but he cannot be a public face in any way, shape or form. Then he needs to completely shut himself off from making comments outside his office walls and concentrate on rebuilding the reputation of his company by making good games and providing excellent service. Then, and only then, can he even contemplate trying to rebuild his own image. Which, quite frankly, I think is beyond salvation. This is a short way of saying "not bought any of their products, and won't even consider it until he fecks off".

If only women were more passive and meek, none of this would happen. I blame giving them the vote.

To quote the big man himself -- "don't believe the quotes in the article. It was really due to Paul's actions and learning about them from you and all." (link)

This sounds like a Toleman-esque approach to video game creation. I like it.

Without wanting to sound too harsh, you're unlikely to get anyone reliable and/or talented without explaining exactly what it is you plan to do, how you plan to do it. I mean, even something basic like what type of game it is, what your influences are, how you intend to work. Right now, this doesn't say anything. And I don't feel confident about your chances.

Jonathan Frakes.

And realise with a zed (that's right - ZED). What is the world coming to? It's almost like a globalised world in which we can all communicate easily will make these quirks redundant. Well... I won't go down easily. No sir!

The more I see from this guy, the more I realise he's not just some caricature of a bad business man; he's just an evil little shit.

Casual misogyny I can stand, but such terrible, ugly Americanisms shall not be allowed to pass.

There's two kinds of people I can't stand... ;)

Transphobe. ;)

Of course, Collector. I wasn't expecting an academic treatise! Just some pointers. Have played KQ, but never picked up QfG or GK. Will get onto those in due course. Thanks for the succinct and useful post! Conversation over, pending a new thread if deemed necessary. :-p

Really enjoyed Serena's piece, and totally agree that this should be a recurring feature as we get new news on various Kickstarters. Perhaps a segment which looks at some of the other adventure game series? While I played quite a few of them, my knowledge is far more limited than most of you, and I'd like some good recommendations of other quality adventures to procure.

I didn't mean the demo, although that did cause some issues. I was glad the demo came out because it showed that something had been done, and clearly the bare bones of an adventure game engine (2GFAGI?) had been realised. I was more talking about the prototypes during the Kickstarter (which were unlocked each time they raised $100k). The HTML5 ones that, according to some, were going to lead directly to the apocalypse...

To be fair to the guys, they tried releasing imperfect stuff to show their work (the prototypes) and it über backfired. Perhaps swinging between extremes isn't the best policy (;)) but this is uncharted territory for them. Mistakes are bound to be made. I liked the update a lot. Very self-aware and honest. I would hope that we get some more content just to show life. The podcast is a good start. It doesn't have to be game footage. Just the odd message / community-created content. Where's Glans Handerson when you need him?