Silly videos and nostalgia

[Troels Pleimert]

Hi, guys. Long time no see. I don't check in here too often, although really I should. But since I basically checked out of the SQ community ten years ago things have changed considerably. Being a Roger Wilco fan is fun again, with the massive amounts of love showing in the fan efforts of VSB, SQInc and Infamous' SQ2VGA. Plus, not to mention, the fact that the original series is doing quite well on GOG.com.

 

So there's that. And I was getting into a groove of playing the old series anyway, having by chance picked up SQ1VGA from the dust bin in my basement somewhere and giving it a whirl for the hell of it. It's a fun feeling knowing you can save a galaxy before breakfast and without breaking a sweat.

 

Couple all that with the fact that I'm frankly head over heels in love with the social media phenomenon, even making a somewhat dirty living off it. And I figured, if anyone was going to dispense some Two Guys gospel on Google Plus, I wasn't going to wait around for Frans to do it. (Because he was totally going to do it. Yeah, I beat him to it. Totally.)

 

So I guess, while we're on the subject, Frans can finally cross out the section in his About blurb about me quitting the hip scene around 2001. Until I get bored and ditch you guys all over again. But that won't happen for another six months. Maybe five. Seven. Give it seven.

 

Here's the Google+ page I've been maintaining in Roger Wilco's dubious honor: http://gplus.to/rogerwilco

 

And I've been making the mistake of getting on camera and making a fool of myself replaying some of the more infamous sections of the old classics. Yes, they're a total rip-off of the whole TGWTG phenomenon, and I don't care. They're fun to make.

 

 

More to follow.

 

Edit : Also, in case you didn't know, the Space Quest group on Facebook occasionally proves itself to be quite the fun little hangout, populated not only by old farts like me, but also lovable old farts like Josh Mandel and some of the artists at Sierra.

 

So yeah. I'll try to check in here a little more frequently now, and I'll probably end up eating those words because I'm a terrible person. But I'll keep an eye on this thread and look forward to all the derogatory comments sure to follow. Happy trails!

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice! Good to see you around. I'll have to check out these videos. Thanks for sharing them!

[Sledgy]

Suppa duppa!

 

#2 Astro is the most interesting thing :P

 

 

And I'm glad to see you again, man :) And there's really cool good (SQ old-school) humor. IMHO, there wasn't something the same in the SQ fandom many years ago.

[Troels Pleimert]

Thanks. ;) I'm batting around ideas for future episodes, and I'll gladly take suggestions. Because I'm really just winging it; there's no real planning involved, other than quickly writing down a script in Notepad before recording.

 

Edit : Right, that's the last time I try to post with my phone. That made no damn sense. :) What I meant was I'll gladly take suggestions because I'm winging it and i usually don't know what to talk about right up until I hit record. How's that for scatterbrained. :)

[Johnathon]

Nice (Y)

 

Mind if I post a link to your site on mine?

[Troels Pleimert]

Nice (Y)

 

Mind if I post a link to your site on mine?

Not at all. I already linked to yours from the G+ thing a couple of days ago. ;)

[Johnathon]

Cool! ;)

 

And yours is here

[Akril]

Wow...this really is turning out to be an unusually eventful year for a community centered around a series whose last official installment was more than a decade ago.

 

It's great to see you here again, Troels. I'll definitely be adding your site to my bookmarks.

[Datadog]

2012: Year of the Janitor.

 

Space Quest never died. It was just taking a nap.

[Collector]

2012: Year of the Janitor.

 

Space Quest never died. It was just taking a nap.

In the broom closet?

[Troels Pleimert]

2012: Year of the Janitor.

 

Space Quest never died. It was just taking a nap.

In the broom closet?

Where else? ;)

 

Also, hi, Akril! Good to see you again. Great job on the character design for Incinerations! I know you only did early concept art, but I just wanted to show I was paying attention. No, seriously, good to see you again, and thanks for the bookmark.

 

Likewise, Johnathon, thanks for the cool banner!

[Troels Pleimert]

Oh, and thank you for being so attentive that you spelled my last name PLeimert, with two capital letters. That was actually a typo when I created the account and now I can't fix it because I can't edit my name.

[MusicallyInspired]

That was actually a typo when I created the account and now I can't fix it because I can't edit my name.

You're welcome. ;)

 

Though you may have to relogin.

[Troels Pleimert]

Woohoo! Cheers. ;)

[Akril]

Also, hi, Akril! Good to see you again. Great job on the character design for Incinerations! I know you only did early concept art, but I just wanted to show I was paying attention. No, seriously, good to see you again, and thanks for the bookmark.

You're welcome. I don't know if I'll ever make a SQ fangame of any length, but it was great to get a chance to at least do concept art for SQInc. I think I'm happiest with the way Greg's design turned out.

[Troels Pleimert]

I thought the final designs were great, too. And I'll never forgive myself for staring twice at Roger's pulsating pecs.

[Datadog]

don't know if I'll ever make a SQ fangame of any length.

If you ever do, I highly recommend "short". I rather enjoy your "Adventure" series as it is, but I'd love to see more original work from you.

 

And I'll never forgive myself for staring twice at Roger's pulsating pecs.

I stared at them for half the game's development before it suddenly dawned on me one day... Roger has boobs. And forever shall it be since fixing them would take another year worth of re-renders.

[Troels Pleimert]

I stared at them for half the game's development before it suddenly dawned on me one day... Roger has boobs. And forever shall it be since fixing them would take another year worth of re-renders.

What I thought was great was that, yes, Roger has boobs and, yes, the game is very aware. I caught two or three really good, sharp references to Roger being in "better shape" that had me chuckling. And it really makes perfect sense within the context of the SQ universe, that even if Roger buffed up (which he obviously has in SQInc), chances are the universe would hate him so much it'd give him man-boobs to go along with it.

 

don't know if I'll ever make a SQ fangame of any length.

If you ever do, I highly recommend "short".

I had an idea when I read that, and I have to give fair warning before I share it, because it's one of those ideas that's not fully formed and not thought through. It's one of those "wouldn't it be cool" ideas without due considerations to all the heartache we'd be facing down the line.

 

But here's the idea. Instead of all of us doing separate, minor (or major, as has been the case so far) fan games that all take Roger in wildly varying directions, how about pooling our resources to do an episodic adventure, with each of us helming up a part of the story?

 

Wait, hear me out, then you can throw that tomato. What I'm actually proposing is that we build a shared library of Space Quest assets -- characters, vehicles, planets, starry backdrops, music cues -- bits and pieces. Basically everything you need to pile into AGS and start coding away at a Space Quest game. Every game made with this library of assets would of course share the same visual tone and style, so it would make sense that every game made with this library of assets would be connected somehow.

 

My further idea was that we'd all somehow agree on an overarching plot or story arc, then divide it into however many people we end up being on the project. The point of the whole thing is that we're all AGS coders, and we've got all the assets ready to go, so we can basically go off on our own, single-handedly, Photoshop the various elements together into backgrounds and what not, and code up an "episode" of the story - without involving the rest of the team.

 

The sales pitch here is that, okay, let's say we end up being six guys/gals on the project. All six of us know AGS and would be able to knock out a game in a fairly short amount of time, given we have all our ducks in a row, so to speak. We have an overarching plot, divided into six sub-stories. The six sub-stories only have a "beginning" and an "end", e.g. "Roger starts out in a cryogenic freezer. He ends up being tricked into commanding a freighter by a group of insurrects who secretly plot a hostile coup of StarCon Command." Or something. Anyway, anything that happens in between those two events is entirely up to the one guy/gal who gets that 1/6 of the story.

 

That means there's still an element of surprise to the game, even to the developers themselves. I mean, if we're all off working on our own "episode" of the game, at roughly the same time, we'd still be having individual creative control over puzzles, supporting characters, locations and the like. Even the length of the episode would be entirely up to the individual designer. The end product would, in effect, be six downloadable games, all connected by a singular set of art and music assets.

 

Of course, where it all falls down is that we'd all have to agree to a timetable of some sort for when we'd finish episodes, or the plan will just linger forever in the "wouldn't it be cool" sphere of consciousness without actually getting anywhere. Oh, and the whole deciding who's involved process, and what the story would be, and what not. But, in my mind at least, it's an exciting and novel ways for us to concentrate on creating kick-ass content without having to worry about getting team members to do graphics and music (if I were to do a Space Quest fan game on my own, it would suffer very badly in the graphics department).

 

Okay, now you can throw that tomato.

[jocolloman]

This idea reminds me of what Marvel does every few Summers with the X-men. They have something like... 12 (maybe more) X-men comics going at the same time. Every now and then they will have an ULTIMATE story that gets released in various different comics over the Summer. Instead of getting your comic every 4 weeks, part of the story comes out every week as a side story in one of the 12 comics.

[Datadog]

Six years ago, I would have been totally hyped for that idea. Now, I'm sort of all Space Quest'd out. :)

 

The hardest part of doing episodes individually would be maintaining continuity. Everybody has different writing styles and different grasps of story-telling and puzzle-solving. I remember all the inconsistency issues that came with multiple writers on the original version of SQInc. Everyone would turn their simple side-mission into a "save the universe" scenario - and then bring back all their favorite characters and puzzles in the process.

 

Even VSB had a similar problem with pacing because of all the writers. Just look at all the puzzles and locations crammed into the Monolith Burger memory compared to the other two more simplified memories. Even the intro was written by every single person who ever joined the team (and quit shortly after making their contribution to the now 20-minute intro).

 

And you really wouldn't want me in there because I'd just try to commandeer the whole thing and end up pissing off everyone. I'd be all like "No! No Starcon! And no jungle planets! And for this episode, I want to see Roger deliver pizza in a collapsing building in the middle of a meteor shower!" I'd be a total liability. ;)

[Johnathon]

Oh, and thank you for being so attentive that you spelled my last name PLeimert, with two capital letters. That was actually a typo when I created the account and now I can't fix it because I can't edit my name.

Think nothing of it, my good man. :wink:

 

And I'll never forgive myself for staring twice at Roger's pulsating pecs.

I stared at them for half the game's development before it suddenly dawned on me one day... Roger has boobs. And forever shall it be since fixing them would take another year worth of re-renders.

I'll tell you honestly, I didn't even notice that Roger had... moobs ;) until Stellar mentioned it in the adventure. I wonder if your attempt to rectify the situation was quite as necessary as you'd anticipated, Chris.

[Datadog]

Everybody's been mentioning it so far. ;)

 

Although there were many things I was willing to let slide (i.e. Stellar's forehead). For a while there, I wasn't even going to bring up the "uber-gravity" thing. I was just going to put gravity and air in space and leave it at that.

[MusicallyInspired]

I, too, despise StarCon. I rather prefer the nameless space fleet of SQ4 and earlier with the gray uniforms and coloured sleeves of different hues.

[pcj]

I like Troels' idea in theory, but indeed the problem is execution. If each person has sole writing power for each section of the game within the overall plot construct for the mini-series, that would probably be better than writing the whole thing by committee, but quality control would be needed for a consistent feel (if that is what is desired). And as Chris mentioned, we'd probably want some confines so Roger doesn't save the universe every point along the way or keep visiting Monolith Burger.

 

I'm probably slightly less burnt-out than Chris at the moment but would like to see a bit more definition to the idea before committing to anything. Making even a quality 30-minute game is a whole different process than just writing a short story (nothing wrong with short stories, more stuff just goes into creating a game).

[Troels Pleimert]

There's also the added worry that the whole thing would become far too insular, like an inside joke being told to a crowded room, because we'd not only be designing an episode, but also trying to surprise (and, inevitably, upstage) each other.

 

A less nightmarish idea would be a downloadable "fan game starter's kit" with Roger animations and a couple of clip art png's for people to put into their games.