Monolith_Pig

I haven't seen that much Comic Sans since I tried 3D Movie Maker back in the day. It now feels like my eyes are melting.

...and now we've really done it. Great work everyone.

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Can not put this into words right now. Very happy! Your thoughts and feelings?

So, what do we do now?

FUCKIN' AY! :D
 
*pops something fizzy*

There's nothing like coming home from a suckawith day @ work, logging onto your computer and searching up tgakick.com, to find that the kickstarter campaign for Ace Hardway is funded up to $499,000 (approx), and then refreshing the page and seeing that it has jumped over the $500,000 goal. It's the kind of uplift and joy likable to smelling the fresh laminated box of a new SQ installment that has just hit the shelves at Costco. :)

Chat Log on #sq:
 
[16:21] <pcj_2> $493k!
[16:21] <pcj_2> daaaah
[16:21] <pcj_2> not yet not yet
[16:21] <pcj_2> twitchy trigger fingers :P
[16:21] <mjomble> new!
[16:21] <Jarikith_> Premature Exclaimation.. a sad syndrom indeed.
[16:22] <Dave2> -0.01
[16:22] <Dave2> !
[16:22] <Dat_Engineer> GAAAAAH
[16:22] <pcj_2> damn
[16:22] <Dat_Engineer> WE NEEDED THAT PENNY
[16:22] <pcj_2> a penny saved is a penny earned.
[16:22] <Dave2> -20 :(
[16:22] <Jarikith_> 493K!
[16:22] <Dave2> $493k!
[16:22] <pcj_2> ooooold
[16:22] <Dave2> -0.04 :(
[16:23] <pcj_2> wth
[16:23] <mjomble> goooold!
[16:23] <Jarikith_> I'm afraid you're too slow Dave2.
[16:23] <Dave2> I have a feeling we might make this one
[16:23] <pcj_2> why would you drop pennies
[16:23] <pcj_2> that would take more time than it's worth
[16:23] <mjomble> Not if you're employed as a penny dropper
[16:23] <pcj_2> 494k!
[16:24] <Dave2> +$899!
[16:24] <Jarikith_> Wow. Big jump there.
[16:24] <mjomble> 500K! ...crap, too early
[16:24] <MusiclyInspired> $5k left already??
[16:25] <Jarikith_> Just think of baseball mjomble, that will help.
[16:25] <pcj_2> 5661 actually
[16:25] <Dat_Engineer> Holy shit
[16:25] <nockgeneer> what was that about 2 hours....
[16:25] <MusiclyInspired> still it was $7k a minute ago
[16:25] <pcj_2> oh
[16:25] <nockgeneer> quote pcj: ooooolllllldddd
[16:26] <nockgeneer> 265!
[16:26] <MusiclyInspired> geez
[16:27] == SQHistorian [~troels@ubik-shakespeare.com] has quit [Quit: Lost terminal]
[16:27] * mjomble thinks about baseballs pledging money
[16:28] <MusiclyInspired> At this rate, it doesn't matter if all 3 $10k backers back out. We'll still raise it before the deadline if it keeps steady
[16:28] <pcj_2> *backs out*
[16:28] <Dat_Engineer> -100,000!!! Kidding.
[16:28] <mjomble> Sister's watching America's Top Model in the other room and I just heard someone say "Kickstart"
[16:28] <MusiclyInspired> seems to be stuck at $5546 left
[16:28] <pcj_2> OHHHH KICKSTART
[16:28] <MusiclyInspired> *$5446
[16:28] <pcj_2> wait, they watch America's Top Model in Estonia?
[16:29] <mjomble> Indeed
[16:29] <pcj_2> crazy
[16:29] <nockgeneer> still it's 4000 in 15 minutes
[16:29] <nockgeneer> o.O
[16:29] <mjomble> We've also had a couple other American shows on TV
[16:29] <pcj_2> you have TV? :o
[16:29] <Dat_Engineer> Place your bets
[16:29] <Dat_Engineer> 500K at 4:50PM
[16:29] <Dat_Engineer> or 1650 EST
[16:29] <pcj_2> is that in Denmark?
[16:30] <pcj_2> 500k before the hour is up :)
[16:30] <nockgeneer> EST is US/Canada, that's 2250 CEST
[16:31] <pcj_2> that rhymes with incest
[16:31] <Dat_Engineer> 494,715
[16:31] <nockgeneer> Okay, Denmark time then
[16:31] <mjomble> pcj_2: Yeap, we still have TV for backwards compatibility
[16:31] <nockgeneer> mjoble: lol
[16:31] <nockgeneer> awesome comeback
[16:31] <pcj_2> not really
[16:31] <Dave2> Denmark is in CEST with most of the rest of western Europe.
[16:31] <pcj_2> pretty standard actually
[16:32] <pcj_2> heheh you said denmark is incest
[16:32] <Dave2> $495k!
[16:32] <Jarikith_> 495K!
[16:32] <pcj_2> yaaaaay
[16:32] <pcj_2> 99%
[16:32] <MusiclyInspired> Is there goign to be a live stream towards the deadline?
[16:32] <Jarikith_> *shakes a fist* You win this time Dave2!
[16:32] <mjomble> ooooldish
[16:32] <pcj_2> i dont think we're going to make it guys
[16:33] <pcj_2> holy shit
[16:33] <Dat_Engineer> Suddenly my feet feel very very cold
[16:33] <pcj_2> $499819
[16:33] <Jarikith_> OMG!
[16:33] <Dat_Engineer> WHAT THE HELL
[16:33] <pcj_2> DO IT NOW
[16:33] <nockgeneer> What just happened...
[16:33] <pcj_2> PUSH THE BUTTONS
[16:33] <pcj_2> PUSH ALL THE BUTTONS
[16:33] <nockgeneer> * Jason is confuzzled
[16:33] <mjomble> lolwut
[16:33] <Dave2> 499k!
[16:33] <asdfasdf> whoa
[16:33] <Dat_Engineer> EVERYONE PLEDGE $10 MORE
[16:34] <mjomble> 497K! 497K! 498K! oooold
[16:34] <Arthur_D> 500
[16:34] <asdfasdf> done
[16:34] <mjomble> EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe
[16:34] <Dave2> 500!
[16:34] <pcj_2> $500k!
[16:34] <SkyeFyre> WHOGWRHFASgsda
[16:34] <pcj_2> DING DING DING DING
[16:34] <Jarikith_> And all the people in the village rejoiced!
[16:34] <MusiclyInspired> WE DID IT
[16:34] <asdfasdf> FUNDED, BITCHES!
[16:34] * mjomble plays "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!"
[16:34] <MusiclyInspired> LOCKED IN
[16:34] <Dat_Engineer> Comment explosion on the KS page :D
[16:34] <nockgeneer> YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
[16:34] <Dave2> $502k!
[16:34] <pcj_2> *explodes*
[16:34] <Dave2> the fuck just happened?
[16:34] <MusiclyInspired> The $10k pledgers are stuck with it!
[16:34] <Dat_Engineer> AND WE DID IT ALL WITHOUT [redacted]
[16:35] <pcj_2> or with [redacted]
[16:35] <pcj_2> because he's stuck now
[16:35] <MusiclyInspired> $503k soon!
[16:35] <asdfasdf> Dat_Engineer: lol
[16:35] <asdfasdf> was thinking the same thing
[16:35] <pcj_2> that was Joe Cassara apparently btw
[16:35] <Dat_Engineer> IT'S STILL GOING UP
[16:35] <Dat_Engineer> 503K
[16:35] <pcj_2> -15
[16:36] <asdfasdf> MusiclyInspired: btw your SQ4 medley is awesome
[16:36] <MusiclyInspired> thank you keyboard man
[16:36] <pcj_2> ooooooold
[16:36] <mjomble>
[16:36] <Dat_Engineer> If I wasn't at work right now I would blast the SQ4 theme at full volume
[16:36] <MusiclyInspired> hehe
[16:36] <Dat_Engineer> Or the SQ6 theme
[16:36] <asdfasdf> do you have any more SQ covers?
[16:36] <Dat_Engineer> Either one works
[16:36] <MusiclyInspired> the closing SQ4 theme
[16:36] <MusiclyInspired> No but I plan to
[16:36] <asdfasdf> >:D
[16:36] <pcj_2> heh, all the cool stuff happens when Troels is offline
[16:36] <MusiclyInspired> I'm so happy
[16:36] <Dat_Engineer> Time for those stretch goals amirite MusiclyInspired? :D
[16:37] <MusiclyInspired> :D
[16:37] == SQHistorian [~troels@ubik-shakespeare.com] has joined #sq
[16:37] <mjomble> WOOOO
[16:37] <Dat_Engineer> SQHISTORIAN YOU ARE FUCKING LATE
[16:37] <Dat_Engineer> LIVE IN SHAME

Can not put this into words right now. Very happy! Your thoughts and feelings?

Can not put this into words right now. Very happy! Your thoughts and feelings?

Agree with both of you. It really is pretty much irrelevant whether Paul Trowe and/or his group are "really" "guilty" of the things their accused of. What's most important is that the Two Guys get their project funded.
 
Getting the SQ IP is irrelevant too. Without a company to do anything with it, it seems rather pointless. And if it doesn't go to the Two Guys (or at least the Two Guys aren't employed to create the new game) there's more than enough people who will make damn sure everyone knows that it's not really SQ.
 
Basically, it will backfire majorly on Paul if these rumours have substance - and it will be pointless for Paul to acquire the SQ IP unless he enters sincere dialogue with the Crowemurphyists.

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.

You live on your own with a wife? :) (Yes, I have clearly picked up on the main take-home message from that presentation...)

Hey guys! First off, thanks for all your support in all of this. It means a lot to everyone involved that the community is so passionate about everything going on. It is important to me personally that you understand a few things from my end.
 
I am 100% a massive fan of Sierra and especially the Space Quest series, as you might already know if you listened to the interview. I will not deny that some of you guys could run circles around me in your knowledge of Space Quest and it's universe! I also want to make it clear that I do feel lucky every day of my life getting to work with a couple of guys that I have idolized all these years.. but in saying that.. as we rednecks say here in the south, this ain't my first rodeo. And I didn't get pulled on with these guys because of being in the right place at the right time.
 
I work one on one with people in the entertainment industry as a social media publicist. I also work as a producer on certain projects. I work mostly with people involved in Movies/TV or the Video Game area of the entertainment industry. My job is to help create excitement around things and I know I am blessed beyond belief to work from home and do this type of work for a living. As far as who I work with, I'm not gonna name drop here, partly because I can't, but mostly because.. well whats the point? As far as video games go I will tell you that I work with or have worked with people of Blizzard, Valve, Disney, and yes... even Vivendi. I encourage you to learn more about me.. hopefully it won't bore you too much. I will say, I'm not Christopher John Pope(the sex offender) from Savannah Georgia!!! Just for the record! >.> But I say google away if you'd like.
 
Scott and Mark spent a lot of time talking with me, as well as talking with each other about me. They checked me out just like I encourage you to before choosing to work with me. After many many hours of talking, a company was formed “Guys From Andromeda LLC”. It is a legitimate business, please feel free to check the public records on that. We have and are hiring people to help with the game(s) that are being planned. Some involved are ex-Sierra employees, but ALL others are space quest fans! That point was something I requested from those guys before we began down this road. It is VERY important to me that everything is up on the table with you guys.
 
And in saying that... heck, I'm just super excited to see adventure games making a come back! Being involved means the world to me, which is why I hope everyone knows that I am making it a mission to keep all the fans informed on things that are going on. As a kid it was my dream to work for Sierra as I'm sure a lot of yours, which is another reason why I want to make sure everyone knows I am an advocate for the fans. I think we can all agree that in order for Scott and Mark to make things successful, there needs to be someone to manage all the fan interactions, right? The fact that so many people are so passionate about all this is the same reason why Scott and Mark having some help manage things is so important. I also want to say, that I do realize I am only one person. I can miss things, so thank you all for pointing things out!
 
Please continue to think positive! I have no ill will for anyone that’s trying to bring back adventure games! I don't care if my name should become mud with the community, if it means that I can play the kind of games I grew up playing with my kids, I say bring it on :)
 
Anyone who has worked to see adventure games come back into this world is okay in my book, despite anything that is said about me. Scott and Mark have read this thread, but for the most part I have asked them to PLEASE keep plugging away at what they are brewing up for everyone! But I promise you this, if you guys want them to reply to this thread, I can ask them to do it.. or if you would rather them keep plugging away so that they can bring you something really cool and exciting within the next few days then let me know.
 
I promise to let them, as Scott says “make a game that they would want to play” and not control their creative vision. But I also promise to relay feedback to them constantly. This game will be made with the original Two Guys working together... not the Two Guys and Chris Pope. Myself, I just want to see another fun hilarious game made by two of my heroes from back in the day. I can already tell you, their chemistry is still there!! You won't be disappointed!
 
Please feel free to let me know your thoughts and feelings. I have no problem discussing most things publicly. But you can also email me at Chris AT guysfromandromeda DOT com. And upon request, I'll even Skype or have a phone call with you if you'd like.
 
Thanks guys!
 
Chris Pope

Oh, hells no.
 
In all seriousness, deleting stuff like this, "covering it up", or trying to pretend things didn't happen is absolutely the wrong way to go. With social media, any comment you make on it is in the public domain. Johnathon summed it up perfectly, in my opinion. While we may not be aware of all the facts, the minute you publish your comments you make it fair game. In my opinion. Even if a lot of that speculation can be hurtful or potentially down-right libellous.
 
As I said, having read over some of the comments over previous years, I would dare to suggest that there has been a lot of bitching, squabbling and less than gentlemanly behaviour from all sides.
 
But then it would appear, and this is just an hypothesis, that these guys are humans and may be fallible. But this is unconfirmed by official sources.

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.

Evidentally, this is getting quite ugly indeed. The best thing we can do is to stay positive and keep the discussion here clean, as well as keeping this subject away from the Kickstarter page.
 
Now, I don't want to draw any conclusions myself, but it is fairly obvious that something fishy has been, and is, going on, and no matter who the perpetrators are, they should face some consequences.
 
Till then, let's show them - no matter who they are - that we are the better people...

Here's an episode of the Computer Chronicles from 1992 that features a mini-review of Space Quest IV. The whole show is rather interesting, but too bad SQIV got so little air-time, and that audio is only on the left!
 
And did you know? In Windows 3.1, if a program crashes, it can be removed separately and not take down the whole system like in 3.0. Thanks, Paul Schindler, for giving me a funny Win 3.1 BSOD to view.
 
http://archive.org/details/episode_946

While the positivity on here is admirable, I'm not quite so optimistic. I'm not saying it won't happen, maybe call me a very cautious optimist. Today was a slow day (6,464) in terms of the average daily pledges we need to reach the goal. And while a surge in pledges is almost sure to happen at the end, it's still a bit improbable it will be enough to lift the project, if it does not reach near the averages it needs to, to reach the goal. Republique was something of an anomaly, which had not been precedented or replicated yet, so I wish people would stop using it as "proof" that this will make it. For one Republique had a professional advertising company behind it, as well, it had a lot more specifics and even gameplay footage in it's pitch. For the numbers side of things, consider:
As of 9:15pm (pst), we are at 283,611 of 500,000
 
We need 216,389 in 9 days (no longer 10, as it will skew the average) so we need an average of $24,043 per day.
 
To compensate for the anticipated 'surge', consider:
Final surge statistics (final 3 days):
 
low: Jane Jenson
1 - 14,352
2 - 22,605
3 - 28,983
Total - 65,940
avg: 21,980
 
mid: Larry
1 - 29,382
2 - 36,083
3 - 31,233
Total - 96,698
avg: 32,232
 
high: Republique
1 - 53,064
2 - 84,882
3 - 118,491
Total - 256,437
avg: 85,479
 
In terms of probability statistics you could argue a lot of things, different audiences (# of adventure genre fans, vs stealth 3d fans), visibility to public, current pledgers ability to raise pledges, concurrent campaigns competing (ie. Tex Murphy, some backers may overlap but certainly they will be pledging more for one vs the other), etc, but..... these numbers will at least give us a good low to high range for this surge, to actually quantify an estimate rather than refer to it as some mythological, subjective term to just compensate for anything we may be lacking by the time we reach those last 3 days.
 
Let's average those 3 totals to get: 139,691 (estimated surge value, keep in mind the Republique high skews the average a bit), the last 3 days will need to avg. 46,563 / day
 
For that to be sufficient we need to have a total of 360,309 in 6 days, (subtract 'current' total), which is 76,698 in addition to what we have, that's an avg. 12,783 / day, which seems doable, certainly better than 24,043, however also relies on a much larger 'surge' than both Larry and Morpheus.
 
Sorry if thats mind numbing, and it's a complete guesstimation and most likely will not occur this way, but I think gives us some kind of projection of what we need to accomplish in the next 9 days. It's daunting for sure, not completely out of the rhealm of possibility, but the last 2 days have seen a 6k average, which certainly will not help us reach that 12.7K average we need to hedge our bets on a 140k est. surge. And personally I'd like to see this greatly exceed 500k, however at this point I'd be happy if we just made the minimum.
If anyone sees anything wrong w/ the math here, it's basic averaging, let me know. Or if someone has a better way to make a projection or estimation, please share. I'm really hoping we can do this!

It's a fair question to ask, in my opinion. It may never come to it, but it would be interesting to know if the possibility has been considered.
 
Consider everything.
 
I doubt we'll get an answer until after the kickstarter has finished anyway. It would be ridiculous to even entertain the idea in public until they know one way or the other whether the campaign has been successful.
 
HOWEVER, the fear that it might not be successful should be a spur to get others to up their pledges and/or try and spread the word. It's a long weekend here in England, so hopefully I'll be able to do SOMETHING (even if it is minor in the grand scheme of things).

http://gizmodo.com/5913515/your-favorite-cartoon-characters-reading-the-star-wars-screenplay-will-blow-your-mind

As I said in the rumour thread, it seems Mark also recognised that the prototypes have not necessarily worked in the favour. That being said, it would be disastrous to stop doing them now.
 
The best they can do really is to polish it more and more, things I'd like to see for next prototype would be:
Better pathfinding Inventory New room I also think it might be worth considering releasing the next as a stand alone executable, if technically feasible within the limited time, in order to demonstrate that it can be done.

I was at the Star Trek Experience when it was hosted at the Las Vegas Hilton. The casino area around the STE was called Space Quest and you could buy merchandise that bore the Las Vegas Hilton Space Quest logo. I bought a mug and sent it to Mark. Hopefully, he still has it. 
Troels is right. It's best to stay away from stuff that can get you sued.
 
Also market-wise, it may be better to create a new IP anyway. The SQ brand has a bit of baggage and fans have certain expectations for any products that bear the name. In addition, historically, sequels tend to have an attach rate of 70%, which means if episode 1 had $1,000,000 worth of unit sales, a sequel would only generate $700,000. There are execptions, but only a magical few.
 
There is also the unknown risk of what Activision plans to do with the brand. If they make a new game under the brand and it does not live up to the awesomeness of the games by the two guys, a new SQ game by Mark and Scott would have an uphill battle.
 
In this circumstance I think it's far better to use the marquis value of the creators' name and reputation to create a new IP. "From the creators of..." This is something they will always own. But this also comes with some risks, like for example, how many people know the whole two guys saga enough to want to buy their games. I think it's pretty high, but that's seat of the pants.
 
Creating a new brand is easier if you know there is a pent up demand for it.

Hey all, Paul did an awesome job with LSL Come Again. How cool is it that Al and Josh are gonna rock our world and tickle our Larry funnybone. How awesome is that!!!!
 
As for me doing the music for SpaceVenture, let's get this baby funded first, then we can talk music. I just pledged at the level where I get a real buckazoid coin. You, dear fans, are more awesome than me. Show your love for the Two Guys! Make this happen! Make me stop using exclamation points!!!

Damn Rome, damn their numerals and damn you!