Capn_Ascii

I'm officially announcing my upcoming game Cascade Quest, hopefully ready late this year! Details are here:
 
http://www.icefallgames.com/CascadeQuest/
 
The early Space Quest series was probably my biggest inspiration in terms of humor and gameplay for this game. I'm using SCI Companion to develop it, and it runs inside the Unity engine.
 
Please check it out, and follow @icefallgames on twitter for more information and screenshots!
 

Hmm...I think I'll throw my Official Bootleg Astro Chicken Flight Hat into the ring here. Although I'm not sure some of you will like what I have to say this time.
 

Mostly because of this. :mellow: I've seen the various responses in this thread as to why someone would rip/repurpose/alter original resources, but it strikes me as odd that the single *biggest* reason (at least, the biggest one I can think of) doesn't seem to have come up.
 
Maybe the reason they do this sort of thing is because they have no choice.
 
The fact of the matter is, not everyone is an artist. This is a fact that I am intimately familiar with - it's been the source of many a crushed dream and frustrated head-desk on my part over the years. :( I'm something of a dreamer, and there are plenty of ideas floating around inside my armor-plated skull, but thanks to a complete and total lack of artistic talent, I have no way to adequately express them. I can't draw for spit - on a *good* day, my best drawings look like something an 8-year-old did. The closest thing I have to a creative talent is the ability to write - which might be fine for some people, but not for me. <_< I'm a highly audio-visual oriented person who best experiences things viscerally - directly, through the senses - and to me the written word has always come across as half-assed compared to that. It's the difference between actually *seeing* a movie and having someone reading the script of said movie to you - can anyone here honestly say they'd prefer the latter over the former?
 
My point being, I know from first-hand experience the frustration of wanting to create something awesome for other people to enjoy, but not being able to do so due to lack of talent. Once, years ago, I attempted to make my own Space Quest fangame. It wasn't anything fancy - just a short little adventure that was more of a test of my own creative skill than anything else. Since I had no ability to create my own graphical resources, I had two choices: 'borrow' resources from existing games, or make something that didn't require graphics. I chose the latter route, and put together an interactive fiction game (read: old-skool text adventure). Or at least, I *tried* to -like many other would-be fangame authors of that bygone era, I got frustrated and never finished. (Ah, those were the days - a new fangame announcement every few days, and a new cancellation of an existing project just as often. ;) )
 
In my case, the death knell came when I finally realized that it was the game itself that was making me frustrated. Not because it was hard to make, or because I felt overwhelmed - but because the more I worked on it, the more it *mocked* me and my efforts. I could see all these places, characters, and ideas in my head as vividly as if they were real - but every time I tried to put pen to virtual paper to write the corresponding text descriptions, they came up short. Nothing I wrote could make my ideas *exist* in that virtual world the way I wanted them to.To this day, I'm still not sure if it was because I just wasn't that good a writer, or if I *was* good enough but was being overly critical of my own abilities, or if I was just so used to *seeing* things that trying to approximate sight with words felt horribly clumsy and half-assed from my perspective. :unsure: All I knew was that it wasn't working, so I cut my losses and walked away.
 
There are others like me out there - people who have ideas, who *yearn* to create, to share them with others, but who lack the technical skill to make it happen. I've been in their shoes, and I can tell you from experience that it's not a fun place to be. <_< I can understand 100% why someone would resort to stealing graphics, music tracks, and other resources to make a game - because for some folks, it's the only option they really have. The only other choice would be to not try to share their ideas at all - and in my book, that's arguably worse. :(
 
...sorry, didn't mean to go on a rant there. ^_^ I used to do sprite/pixel editing as something of a hobby, and I'm thus well-versed in the art of ripping and reworking graphical resources (and pondering the resulting ethical quandaries). Just a frustrated geek who feels the need to vent. :ph34r:

Short answer: yes. Why? Internet, mostly. There's no real point in trying to stump players with puzzles when they're less than 60 seconds away from hopping on GameFAQs.com and looking up the answer. In that sort of environment, it works better to design more accomodating puzzles that don't disrupt the game's pace.
 
Also, there's the fact that the age of smartphones, social media, and the like has reduced the average IQ of the target audience by bringing an influx of intellectually lazy persons into the computer-using community. But that's a whole 'nother rant.

See, the thing is, they weren't. The reason KQ1 is designed that way is because its direct predecessors - interactive fiction games - were done the same way. Look at games like Zork...basically just glorified scavanger hunts (just like KQ1). Lots of places to explore right away, with the challenge being to figure out how to interact with those areas to accomplish your goals (just like KQ1). 'Enemy' NPCs that show up randomly and without warning to give a sense of danger (just like KQ1). KQ1 was practically a carbon copy of early IF games, but like that genre, Sierra's own game design evolved beyond that design philosophy before long.
 
 
 
Treasure! Another element carried over from the early IF days. Sure it's pointless puzzle-wise, but it's the early adventure game's concept of 100-percent completion. Gotta find 'em all! ...and not lose them to that thieving dwarf. Bastard. :angry:
 
 
It's pronounced "HAY-bah-dee-FAH-que".

See, the thing is, they weren't. The reason KQ1 is designed that way is because its direct predecessors - interactive fiction games - were done the same way. Look at games like Zork...basically just glorified scavanger hunts (just like KQ1). Lots of places to explore right away, with the challenge being to figure out how to interact with those areas to accomplish your goals (just like KQ1). 'Enemy' NPCs that show up randomly and without warning to give a sense of danger (just like KQ1). KQ1 was practically a carbon copy of early IF games, but like that genre, Sierra's own game design evolved beyond that design philosophy before long.
 
 
 
Treasure! Another element carried over from the early IF days. Sure it's pointless puzzle-wise, but it's the early adventure game's concept of 100-percent completion. Gotta find 'em all! ...and not lose them to that thieving dwarf. Bastard. :angry:
 
 
It's pronounced "HAY-bah-dee-FAH-que".

Is Broussard part of the new 3D Realms as well? The guy may have had his moment of fame, but he fell from grace with Duke Forever the only thing he‘s good for now are the comments he leaves on Hardcore Gamer about how point&clicks are totally "gay" (his words, not mine) and tweeting gems like "lol can‘t raise my arm and my speech‘s slurred haha I mighta had a stroke lol" (I wish I was kidding about that one, but sadly I‘m not.)

I‘m tempted about getting the Anthology though. Too bad it‘s $40 now and they don‘t make physical copies, the cover artwork looks absolutely awesome and I‘d gladly cough up some dough for a proper, DRM-free physical copy.

Oh well, I‘ll definitely grab a copy of Bio Menace for free. That one‘s by far my favourite from the old Apogee catalogue. I mean, the protagonist‘s name is Snake Logan.

SNAKE LOGAN.
 
Let that sink in for a while.
 


He has a mullet and a mustache and he wears a garish green shirt.

It also features the most over-the-top gore of all the old 3D Realms sidescrollers, with badly mutilated bodies strewn all over the place. And still the monsters in the game look like something straight out of a Pixar movie. It‘s one of the most apeshit insane things I ever played (and also one of the most unduly forgotten games) and it has a rockin‘ soundtrack. Do yourselves a favour and go play Bio Menace!

Ignoring the more suggestive aspects of this statement for the time being, this does remind me of something. I've been playing with/DMing for a tabletop RPG group (through IRC) for years, a group that started with members of this very community. Well, more accurately, with members of this community's former, pre-Spaceventure-revival incarnation: myself, BLusk, Jeysie, and SlowIdent.
 
None of those folks are still with me playing anymore (something about 'real life' or some crap. Boo!), but back when they were, I actually ran a couple of Space Quest campaigns for them. I stole borrowed a number of d20 gameplay elements, including a bunch of stuff from the Star Wars KOTOR games, and adapted a bunch of SQ material to fit those rules. Things like a list of playable races, feats to replicate Roger's unusual anti-bell-curve luck factor, statistics for SQ technology and equipment, a galactic map (with original game locations laid out on it) for use as reference, etc. I think I still have most of that stuff lying around...

Ignoring the more suggestive aspects of this statement for the time being, this does remind me of something. I've been playing with/DMing for a tabletop RPG group (through IRC) for years, a group that started with members of this very community. Well, more accurately, with members of this community's former, pre-Spaceventure-revival incarnation: myself, BLusk, Jeysie, and SlowIdent.
 
None of those folks are still with me playing anymore (something about 'real life' or some crap. Boo!), but back when they were, I actually ran a couple of Space Quest campaigns for them. I stole borrowed a number of d20 gameplay elements, including a bunch of stuff from the Star Wars KOTOR games, and adapted a bunch of SQ material to fit those rules. Things like a list of playable races, feats to replicate Roger's unusual anti-bell-curve luck factor, statistics for SQ technology and equipment, a galactic map (with original game locations laid out on it) for use as reference, etc. I think I still have most of that stuff lying around...

Ignoring the more suggestive aspects of this statement for the time being, this does remind me of something. I've been playing with/DMing for a tabletop RPG group (through IRC) for years, a group that started with members of this very community. Well, more accurately, with members of this community's former, pre-Spaceventure-revival incarnation: myself, BLusk, Jeysie, and SlowIdent.
 
None of those folks are still with me playing anymore (something about 'real life' or some crap. Boo!), but back when they were, I actually ran a couple of Space Quest campaigns for them. I stole borrowed a number of d20 gameplay elements, including a bunch of stuff from the Star Wars KOTOR games, and adapted a bunch of SQ material to fit those rules. Things like a list of playable races, feats to replicate Roger's unusual anti-bell-curve luck factor, statistics for SQ technology and equipment, a galactic map (with original game locations laid out on it) for use as reference, etc. I think I still have most of that stuff lying around...

You really should, if only to marvel at how positively *ripped* Roger is in that game.  :blink:  For all his pedantic-ness, Vonster completely failed to provide an explaination for how Roger managed to work out while he was asleep, or where that bod went between TLC and SQ3.
 
Also, it's a fine example of the 'classic Sierra' school of design. By which I mean, it's chock full of ridiculously unforseeable, unfair deaths1. Save early, save often.
 
 
 
 
1) First prize goes to the spike-top monster. You'll know that one when you get it.

Ignoring the more suggestive aspects of this statement for the time being, this does remind me of something. I've been playing with/DMing for a tabletop RPG group (through IRC) for years, a group that started with members of this very community. Well, more accurately, with members of this community's former, pre-Spaceventure-revival incarnation: myself, BLusk, Jeysie, and SlowIdent.
 
None of those folks are still with me playing anymore (something about 'real life' or some crap. Boo!), but back when they were, I actually ran a couple of Space Quest campaigns for them. I stole borrowed a number of d20 gameplay elements, including a bunch of stuff from the Star Wars KOTOR games, and adapted a bunch of SQ material to fit those rules. Things like a list of playable races, feats to replicate Roger's unusual anti-bell-curve luck factor, statistics for SQ technology and equipment, a galactic map (with original game locations laid out on it) for use as reference, etc. I think I still have most of that stuff lying around...

You really should, if only to marvel at how positively *ripped* Roger is in that game.  :blink:  For all his pedantic-ness, Vonster completely failed to provide an explaination for how Roger managed to work out while he was asleep, or where that bod went between TLC and SQ3.
 
Also, it's a fine example of the 'classic Sierra' school of design. By which I mean, it's chock full of ridiculously unforseeable, unfair deaths1. Save early, save often.
 
 
 
 
1) First prize goes to the spike-top monster. You'll know that one when you get it.

Ignoring the more suggestive aspects of this statement for the time being, this does remind me of something. I've been playing with/DMing for a tabletop RPG group (through IRC) for years, a group that started with members of this very community. Well, more accurately, with members of this community's former, pre-Spaceventure-revival incarnation: myself, BLusk, Jeysie, and SlowIdent.
 
None of those folks are still with me playing anymore (something about 'real life' or some crap. Boo!), but back when they were, I actually ran a couple of Space Quest campaigns for them. I stole borrowed a number of d20 gameplay elements, including a bunch of stuff from the Star Wars KOTOR games, and adapted a bunch of SQ material to fit those rules. Things like a list of playable races, feats to replicate Roger's unusual anti-bell-curve luck factor, statistics for SQ technology and equipment, a galactic map (with original game locations laid out on it) for use as reference, etc. I think I still have most of that stuff lying around...

Ah, but therin lies the cleverness - he thought of that! I won't spoil anything plot-related for those who haven't played the game, but it basically involves the escape pod's sleep chamber turning his hair blonde as an accidental side-effect, some temporary hair dye to correct the problem, and some applied amnesia causing him to forget the events of TLC entirely, including having been rendered blonde to begin with. Presumably, the dye wears off after SQ3 when his hair starts growing again (presumably, it doesn't while he's in statis), and Roger either writes it off as some sort of natural change or else just doesn't really take much notice of it. :rolleyes:
 
...I didn't say it was the best explaination ever, but at least he made the effort. :P

While I make it a point to *not* choose a favorite SQ game (that's like asking me to choose which child I love the most!), the one I've *played* the most often is SQ6. There's a few reasons for this, but they all ultimately boil down to the same thing: immersion.
 
To me, SQ6 is the game in the series that feels the most 'real', for lack of a better term. The earlier games are all quite good, and even though SQ6 is...less good in ways, it makes up for it by being the one game in the series that best brings the SQ world to life. Why, you ask?
 
--Voice acting. SQ6 was the first SQ game I had that actually had it. :P I didn't get SQ4 until years later. Moreover, the voice acting in SQ6 is far and away superior to SQ4, IMHO1. I particularly like Mr. Hall's portrayal of Roger...it has just the right balance of good-natured likeableness, ignorant oafishness, well-meaning-but-poorly-timed screwupishness, repressed cynicism, and the occasional bit of heroic resolve.
 
--Art style. Personally, I liked the art style of SQ6. The 'cartoonish actors on detailed backgrounds' style really seems to suit the series, for some reason. Also, it's far more high-res, which means more detailed character models and more lively animations for them. SQ5's muddy, low-res digitized actors just don't do it for me. <_<
 
--The story and setting. More than any other SQ game, SQ6 gives us a look at Roger as a *person* instead of as a game character. We see where he lives (and the deplorable conditions therein). We see how he interacts with his co-workers, both on the job and on casual time. We meet one of the few real friends he's ever had, see his interactions with her, and then see the lengths he's willing to go to when she needs his help. All of this can be attributed to the fact that, unlike the other games in the series (which more or less throw Roger right into the middle of Plot), SQ6's plot doesn't really kick in until around the halfway mark...until that point, it's basically a day in the life of Roger Wilco. That may not be everyone's cup of tea, but to a gaming immersionist like myself, it's a golden opportunity to *experience* the game world instead of just casually peek in on it.
 
 
Also, for the record, I rather liked the journy into Innard Space. It was a nice departure from the usual 'space' setting, and yet still entirely appropriate in a science-fictiony sort of way.
 
 
You, sir, are either insane, or a certified masochist. :blink: I save constantly, if for no other reason that you never know when a rogue power outage, system crash, or feline-keyboard intersection might catch you by surprise. Nothing ruins your day like having your progress shot to hell by a random act of God2.
 
 
 
 
1) Probably because they had a more professional setup audio-wise. Also, they didn't use Sierra's own staff for the voice actors. No offense, guys, but stick to your day jobs. ;)
 
2) Or other applicable patron deity.

Ah, but therin lies the cleverness - he thought of that! I won't spoil anything plot-related for those who haven't played the game, but it basically involves the escape pod's sleep chamber turning his hair blonde as an accidental side-effect, some temporary hair dye to correct the problem, and some applied amnesia causing him to forget the events of TLC entirely, including having been rendered blonde to begin with. Presumably, the dye wears off after SQ3 when his hair starts growing again (presumably, it doesn't while he's in statis), and Roger either writes it off as some sort of natural change or else just doesn't really take much notice of it. :rolleyes:
 
...I didn't say it was the best explaination ever, but at least he made the effort. :P

Why not? There can be Einstein-Rosen bridges wormholes to other dimensions. Don't tell me you never watched Sliders?

Hmm. There seems to be a bit of vitrol bubbling up in this thread. I was afraid of this; I still remember some of the same things being thrown around back in the old days. SRS BZNS and all. ;)
 
For what it's worth, I prefer SQ1 VGA. There's a few reasons for this, but by far the biggest one is this one:
Simple fact of the matter is, IMHO, Space Quest didn't really hit its stride writing-wise until SQ3. There's nothing *wrong* with SQ1EGA and SQ2, but like many of the other adventure game greats (especially Sierra's own AGI games), the writing was a bit tame compared to what they started coming up with in later games. Most of the written humor in SQ1EGA and SQ2 is either expospeak gags or dry wit; nothing bad about either of those, but it does make for less 'punchy', laugh-out-loud humor. Right around SQ3 is when the smartassery quotient (towards both the player and the sci-fi material they were mocking) really took off, which is easily the series' strong point. SQ1 VGA, being a later release, incorporated that more developed sense of humor - add Josh "Reward exploration! More random messages! MORE!" Mandel into the mix, and you get a game that gets me laughing as much as SQ4 and SQ5. :lol:
 
Another reason: The music. Good god, the music. :blink: Easily my favorite score in the entire series. The bombastic new version of the SQ theme alone won my heart, and much of the rest of the soundtrack seems to be a loving homage to Star Wars's similar style of orchestral epic-ness. I mean, heck, go back and listen to the end-credits medley, and tell me they're not ripping off A New Hope. But, that's a good thing. ;)
 
As for the art style...I'll admit, I think I like Mark's unique sci-fi designs (not just in SQ1, but in general) more than the raygun gothic look VGA went for. But like someone else said earlier in this thread, it's not unlike someone writing a cover of your favorite song. It's *different*, sure, but not necessarily worse than the original. Just...different.  ;)  I like the occasional foray into 'what if' scenarios, just for the sake of variety.
 
As for the behind-the-scenes aspects of development...I'm not going to get into that. I make it a point to judge games based on their own merit, not because of its pedigree.

Would you like a Blattfruit Pie with that?
 
YES / YES

Out of curiosity that my memory might be spotty (a common occurance), I just went back and re-played the ending sequence of SQ31. The text does explicitly say they came out into a parallel universe.
 
Assuming no time-travel shenanigans were involved, that would put SQ3 occuring in the mid 80s - the Guys would arrive on Earth just in time to pitch SQ1 to Ken. But, given the whole 'black whole futzing with spacetime' thing, there's no real way to be sure. It doesn't really matter much, anyway; since it's a whole different universe, the timeframe relative to ours could be almost anything and it wouldn't change much.
 
 
 
1) Which meant playing the space dogfight sequence again, as SQ3 won't let you save once that part's over. Whoo, glorious green-on-black viewed-entirely-on-radar-screen action!

Not as much as you might think. Beatrice explicitly mentions in SQ5 that Roger defeated the Sariens "a few years back". Assuming Roger had a year or two to attend Starcon Academy priot to the start of SQ5, that means he likely didn't spend more than two or three years in there, tops. So, no wishful thinking that he was out for decades and the previously-unmentioned Star Confederacy arose during the intermittent years. ;)
 
As for the black hole issue, I'm pretty sure that the text in SQ3 says that it sent them to a parallel universe (ours). He's quite obviously back in his home universe by the start of SQ4, so we can assume that whatever trans-dimensional opening he slipped through, he was able to return the same way.
 
Assuming it *is* a parellel universe, that actually makes the explaination for Xenon itself simple - it's the Earth of their universe. That is, their universe got an Earth-like world (and a human-like species) through evolutionary development just like ours did. The difference being that their universe's tech level is light years beyond our own.
 
Variables and constants, indeed.

Perhaps, but they did one thing right - they changed from Sierra's classic verb-centric icons (boo) to a noun-centric interface (yay!). Instead of having a limited selection of actions to apply to everything, you chose the object first, and then got a context-sensitive list of actions to perform on it. That part's important, because it opened the door for all sorts of hilariously specific things you could do to objects (and the resulting funny messages) that would never be possible using generalized actions. It's a brilliant idea; I've always been baffled why more adventure game makers didn't pick up it, instead insisting on classic verb/icon sets (or worse, the dreaded 'one click for everything' interface).
 
 
Or you could take the SQ1 Slots-O-Death route, and just cheat. ;) I forget the actual buttons, but there's a key combo that removes the lid from Dewmi's dice cup, letting you see her dice rolls as well as your own. Because of the way the game works (you're trying to guess how many of a given die face is on the table in total), this makes it extremely easy to win - you can see exactly how many there are, and don't have to guess or risk calling her bluff.
 
 
I beg to differ, good sirrah. At least one major reason for deaths is the potential for laughs. As a good friend of mine whom I'm sure we all know has showcased for us all, dying in cruel and/or ridiculous ways is one of the highlights of adventure gaming, Sierra's games in particular. This is the very reason why Lucas' lack of deaths annoyed me - it took away the ability to have those "Oops, you screwed up, hah hah!" moments. The retry button allows you to have them back, but without the risk of losing actual game progress. Just add an option to remove the 'retry' button for obvious masochists like yourself ;) and everybody's happy.
 
 
Oh, absolutely. Sierra's adventure games were easily some of the most punishing, unmerciful ones ever made - not just in terms of unexpected deaths, but also with regards to classic 'dick moves' like no-win situations (forgot the translator from the Arcada? You're boned, sorry.). Admittedly, though, they were only following the design trends of their time - previous adventure games of the interactive fiction era were just as mean to the player. You were *expected* to die dozens of times - in their mind, death and dead-ends were part of the learning process. Puzzles were solved through trial and error - that's just how it was done in those days. Lucas's no-deaths, no-dead-ends policy was made specifically to *counter* this school of design.
 
Speaking of which, this reminds me of the hairpin puzzle in LSL2. Al was a bit of a dick with that one - the 'puzzle' is specifically *designed* so that you can't solve it unless you have information from a previous 'life'. You have to fish a hairpin out of some food or else Larry chokes on it, but the game doesn't ever tell you the pin is there until *after* it kills you. Looking at the food, the plate, etc. gives no warnings whatsoever. You have to specifically type 'get hairpin', at which point the game is all like "Oh, hey, yeah! There *is* a hairpin in here. Wow, however did you know that?". The sarcasm is palpable. :rolleyes:
 
Incidentally, those of you who *enjoy* that sort of meta-puzzling might want to look into the Zero Escape series. They're basically visual novels with 'room escape' gameplay intermissions, but the plots revolve heavily around meta stuff like that. Especially the second one...

Would you like a Blattfruit Pie with that?
 
YES / YES

Blame the Two Guys for that one. The manual for SQ3 clearly shows Andromeda as a planet as well - indeed, SQ0 bases the look of the place after the pics in said manual. Either the guys decided that Andromeda was a planet in the SQ-niverse ahead of time, or else they themselves were confused about it when they chose their collective name. ;)

Hmm. There seems to be a bit of vitrol bubbling up in this thread. I was afraid of this; I still remember some of the same things being thrown around back in the old days. SRS BZNS and all. ;)
 
For what it's worth, I prefer SQ1 VGA. There's a few reasons for this, but by far the biggest one is this one:
Simple fact of the matter is, IMHO, Space Quest didn't really hit its stride writing-wise until SQ3. There's nothing *wrong* with SQ1EGA and SQ2, but like many of the other adventure game greats (especially Sierra's own AGI games), the writing was a bit tame compared to what they started coming up with in later games. Most of the written humor in SQ1EGA and SQ2 is either expospeak gags or dry wit; nothing bad about either of those, but it does make for less 'punchy', laugh-out-loud humor. Right around SQ3 is when the smartassery quotient (towards both the player and the sci-fi material they were mocking) really took off, which is easily the series' strong point. SQ1 VGA, being a later release, incorporated that more developed sense of humor - add Josh "Reward exploration! More random messages! MORE!" Mandel into the mix, and you get a game that gets me laughing as much as SQ4 and SQ5. :lol:
 
Another reason: The music. Good god, the music. :blink: Easily my favorite score in the entire series. The bombastic new version of the SQ theme alone won my heart, and much of the rest of the soundtrack seems to be a loving homage to Star Wars's similar style of orchestral epic-ness. I mean, heck, go back and listen to the end-credits medley, and tell me they're not ripping off A New Hope. But, that's a good thing. ;)
 
As for the art style...I'll admit, I think I like Mark's unique sci-fi designs (not just in SQ1, but in general) more than the raygun gothic look VGA went for. But like someone else said earlier in this thread, it's not unlike someone writing a cover of your favorite song. It's *different*, sure, but not necessarily worse than the original. Just...different.  ;)  I like the occasional foray into 'what if' scenarios, just for the sake of variety.
 
As for the behind-the-scenes aspects of development...I'm not going to get into that. I make it a point to judge games based on their own merit, not because of its pedigree.