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SpaceVenture - Space Quest spiritual successor by Two Guys from Andromeda

Blaine

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I agree with you quite a bit, actually. I find it really hard to believe Molyneux was ever good at anything other than taking credit for the actual talented people working at Bullfrog. Sure, his ideas don't completely suck, but 1 in 10 humans has good ideas. Ideas are all he brings to the table, and his ego more than cancels out any possible benefit to be had.

I wrote something about this months ago, too lazy to find it.
 

Wizfall

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I'm also not sure why the current generation of adventure games are so focused on mobile. Mobile development is shit for adventure games. The casual market does NOT want adventure games - and your game will be buried underneath mountains of other 'quick release' games that are more suited to the that market.
I though the same until i read the release of Broken Sword 1 (and maybe 2) was a huge source of income for Revolution Software.
I don't have a specific amount but what i understood about the interview/article is that it kept the studio alive and was very profitable.
Now it may be an exception and while i have 0 interest in mobile gaming, the market has become big with quite a few people having a high purchasing power.
 

Pyke

The Brotherhood
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I'm also not sure why the current generation of adventure games are so focused on mobile. Mobile development is shit for adventure games. The casual market does NOT want adventure games - and your game will be buried underneath mountains of other 'quick release' games that are more suited to the that market.
I though the same until i read the release of Broken Sword 1 (and maybe 2) was a huge source of income for Revolution Software.
I don't have a specific amount but what i understood about the interview/article is that it kept the studio alive and was very profitable.
Now it may be an exception and while i have 0 interest in mobile gaming, the market has become big with quite a few people having a high purchasing power.

To be honest my opinions on mobile platforms for adventure games are completely based on...absolutely nothing. I can certainly see the appeal in releasing on mobile - especially a re release of an existing title with a following.
I often buy adventure games in the iPad as a way to support the devs, because its just easy to buy them. I think that that ease of use, combined with nostalgia could certainly be used for good!

I'm probably wrong, and I'm definitely not above admitting it!
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I'm also not sure why the current generation of adventure games are so focused on mobile. Mobile development is shit for adventure games. The casual market does NOT want adventure games - and your game will be buried underneath mountains of other 'quick release' games that are more suited to the that market.
I though the same until i read the release of Broken Sword 1 (and maybe 2) was a huge source of income for Revolution Software.
I don't have a specific amount but what i understood about the interview/article is that it kept the studio alive and was very profitable.
Now it may be an exception and while i have 0 interest in mobile gaming, the market has become big with quite a few people having a high purchasing power.

Question is, how many of these are "nostalgia purchases" by people who already played the games on PC? Would it work as well for an entirely new title?
 

Blackthorne

Infamous Quests
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Codex 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
I am also a big proponent of working within limitations or set boundaries. I know that my choice to make Quest For Infamy in a very retro resolution probably alienated my game from a large segment of the gaming audience, but dammit - that was what I and my team wanted to do. We made the game we wanted to - and within those boundaries, we tried to make it the best we could and do interesting things within those confines. It's definitely not for everyone - developers too; some couldn't develop a game using that kind of res and the limitations it brings with it. But I do find that the best developers often work better within a set of boundaries and limitations. It spurs creative solutions for problems, instead of just throwing "4,000 Squidies into a scene" as Pyke said about The Matrix.

I also didn't develop QFI with mobile platforms in mind, but I am working on developing a port for them after the fact here - PC was always my primary concern. I understand WHY people are considering it in development, but I also feel it can sell out the best potential aspects of your game if, from the top, you're compromising for the mobile port, instead of making the mobile platform work for YOU later. I dunno; I guess I was always just concerned in making what I personally considered the best game I could first, instead of the ways I'd make it more accessible to people and platforms who aren't my target audience.

Bt
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
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Codex 2013 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Richard Garriott... Peter Molyneux... Tim Schafer, are all garbagemen now.

It's quite likely that most devs that are shit now were shit in the Golden Era, too, but produced good games out of a lack of design confidence. Garriot's been trying to make bad games all his life, but it wasn't until he realised he didn't need to mimic D&D that things went downhill. Schafer's only good work was on other people's games; Full Throttle and Grim Fandango are very nicely presented, but mediocre adventure games.

I'm prepared to believe that Molyneux has some kind of degenerative mental condition because otherwise I can't understand how he ever even found a job, let alone designed Populous.

The only good-dev-turned-evil that sincerely rends my heart is Spector.

Jesus fucking christ, Codex...:lol:
 

DalekFlay

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It's not really that crazy to suggest that limitations (be they technological, monetary or audience based) forced certain creators to create something great while greater freedom later on gives them rope to hang themselves. This happens in movies all the time. Look at Lucas with Star Wars, now he can do exactly what he always wanted and he makes shitty movies.
 

buzz

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I'm not so sure about the limitation talk. People often forget that those older movies were still made using a shit-ton of money. You rather make it sound like many of the best movies ever were made on peanuts, but the reality is not really like that, especially if you adjust their budgets for inflation.

For example, Empire Strikes Back's budget adjusted for inflation would be around 91 million dollars. Still not a big sum compared to modern blockbusters (which often go over 150 or even 200 million easily) but still, pretty big numbers. The first PotC had a 140 million dollars budget as well, Matrix had 63 mils in 99 (without inflation accounted).

Lawrence of Arabia, 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Godfather, Blade Runner, Jurassic Park, these were all some of the more expensive movies of their respective years.

Same with the opposite scale. Sure, there are good examples of good indie movies, but for every Primer and Saw there are 10 movies of young women staring blankly and looking sad or crying for over 2 hours, or some cringeworthy attempt at ironic hipster comedy.


In short, a movie/game/album is good or bad regardless of its budget and level of limitations. I used to believe the starving artist thing myself, but I don't think it particularly applies anymore. Stasis and Underrail and Quest for Infamy are good examples, but they're shining examples in a sea of generic platformers and poor casual puzzle games with similar budgets. They're good because the people making them are good, not because they have a small amount of money to work with.
 

Derek Larp

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I'm not so sure about the limitation talk. People often forget that those older movies were still made using a shit-ton of money. You rather make it sound like many of the best movies ever were made on peanuts, but the reality is not really like that, especially if you adjust their budgets for inflation.

For example, Empire Strikes Back's budget adjusted for inflation would be around 91 million dollars. Still not a big sum compared to modern blockbusters (which often go over 150 or even 200 million easily) but still, pretty big numbers. The first PotC had a 140 million dollars budget as well, Matrix had 63 mils in 99 (without inflation accounted).

Lawrence of Arabia, 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Godfather, Blade Runner, Jurassic Park, these were all some of the more expensive movies of their respective years.

Same with the opposite scale. Sure, there are good examples of good indie movies, but for every Primer and Saw there are 10 movies of young women staring blankly and looking sad or crying for over 2 hours, or some cringeworthy attempt at ironic hipster comedy.


In short, a movie/game/album is good or bad regardless of its budget and level of limitations. I used to believe the starving artist thing myself, but I don't think it particularly applies anymore. Stasis and Underrail and Quest for Infamy are good examples, but they're shining examples in a sea of generic platformers and poor casual puzzle games with similar budgets. They're good because the people making them are good, not because they have a small amount of money to work with.

While I agree that the talent of the creator certainly plays the biggest part in the quality of a work, I do think that limitations and obstacles can enhance creativity, because you interact with them to overcome them and that can spark new creative ideas.

For example, let's say you film on location, and you can't really do planned a shot because of the spacial limitations of the place or something, so you step back and discuss it with the rest of the crew and come up with a really cool creative idea to bypass those limitations which ends up being much better than what you previously intended. That would never had happened if you'd filmed everything in front of a greenscreen.
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
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Codex 2013 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
One great example of the power of limitations comes from the TV series The Prisoner.

It was originally planned for The Rover hunting Number Six all across the village to be a fully remote controlled robot. When it broke down they settled for a small weather balloon moved with ventilator on the set. It moved the series from science fiction to something extremely surreal.
 
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Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I helped put crap in Monomyth
New update is up: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...re-by-the-creators-of-space-que/posts/1097304
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...re-by-the-creators-of-space-que/posts/1097304
tl,dr: They got Josh Mandel to do a bit of co-writing.

Josh Mandel :love:

6pynyye2.jpg
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I am also a big proponent of working within limitations or set boundaries. I know that my choice to make Quest For Infamy in a very retro resolution probably alienated my game from a large segment of the gaming audience, but dammit - that was what I and my team wanted to do. We made the game we wanted to - and within those boundaries, we tried to make it the best we could and do interesting things within those confines. It's definitely not for everyone - developers too; some couldn't develop a game using that kind of res and the limitations it brings with it. But I do find that the best developers often work better within a set of boundaries and limitations. It spurs creative solutions for problems, instead of just throwing "4,000 Squidies into a scene" as Pyke said about The Matrix.

I also didn't develop QFI with mobile platforms in mind, but I am working on developing a port for them after the fact here - PC was always my primary concern. I understand WHY people are considering it in development, but I also feel it can sell out the best potential aspects of your game if, from the top, you're compromising for the mobile port, instead of making the mobile platform work for YOU later. I dunno; I guess I was always just concerned in making what I personally considered the best game I could first, instead of the ways I'd make it more accessible to people and platforms who aren't my target audience.

Bt

To be honest, the retro early 90s adventure game graphics make me more likely to be interested in new adventure games, because it just looks right. And if done well, it looks damn beautiful.

QfI looks damn beautiful.

One thing I dislike about the AGS engine is how the character sprites never stay in the same resolution as the rest of the game, which often looks weird.
 

Blackthorne

Infamous Quests
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Codex 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Thanks, man - regarding AGS sprites, they're rendered different depending on what you choose in winsetup. Direct3D9 can give you that odd res problem, but it's more wildly compatible... DirectDraw will render them more appropriately in most cases, but not all systems still support DirectDraw.

You can change this in winsetup.exe - try it and see what works best for you.


Bt
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
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Also, I believe the newest version of AGS allows consistent resolution of sprites even in DX mode.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
We've told you before that Ace stays with his usually cantankerous (not to mention cranky) mentor, Scraps. In the past, I may have showed you a mockup of the inside of his home. Here is an update! This scene is chocked full of SciFi pop culture references. Can you figure them all out?

d3904921dbfde9f3bced297aff67000c_large.png

I've got:

R2 droid head
Portal companion cube
Millenium Falcon "chessboard"
Jedi training orb
Lost in Space robot head
Dalek
Dewey from Silent Running
The vinyl record from Voyager 1
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Probe head from 1954 "War of the Worlds"
 

Blaine

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
Never forget: Space Quest IV predicted Flappy Bird 12 years ahead of time.

Actually, Astro Chicken was a more complex game than Flappy Bird, and it was a joke mini-game within a 1991 DOS game.
 

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
Actually it was SQ3 that introduced Astro Chicken. SQ4 had Ms. Astro Chicken (not-so-subtle dig at Ms. Pacman I guess). Good times.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Big update. This game seems pretty ambitious.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...re-by-the-creators-of-space-que/posts/1223285






May 6th SpaceVenture Update: Cluck Yegger, Andromedcon, Taco Nova, Veronica7, Scrapyard landing

We are still pushing really hard to get this game done this year. As soon as we have a ship date, we'll announce it.

So I'm sure you all have been wondering what we've been up to for the past two months. Well the main focus has been on a pretty important chunk of the game. Our time has been mostly spent showing some love to Cluck Yegger and his story. We've said since the beginning that Cluck Yegger is a fictional video game character in the Ace Hardway universe. Yes that's right, a fictional character from a fictional character's universe, go figure.

16c5061ccd82a9a14c4f0b5c2835f4e2_original.png

In the last update we introduced you to an 8-bit Cluck Yegger mini game called "Clucky Bird".Not long after we wrapped that last update we began working hard on the next part of Cluck Yegger story in SpaceVenture. It is kind of another Cluck Yegger mini game that Ace will have to take part in within SpaceVenture, but this is no 8-bit game. Entering into Cluck Yegger's virtual reality world is a critical plot element of our story, and we know you're gonna love it!

There is a little bitter sweetness to this, because although this is such a fun and cool concept we've put together, I'm limited to what I'm allowed to show you. Below is a small video that is more of a teaser than anything else. Now keep in mind that the Cluck Yegger scene you are about to see is actually a fully functional mini game. There is a lot more that you can do in this part of the game that is fully functional, that won't be demonstrated in the video.

And here is a little photo to compliment the video:

e95770b44ffc1c1851ad3c0ef4a59cdd_original.jpg

Here is a photo of another scene from the Cluck Yegger mini game/virtual reality experience:

9c25a3d573d228853a8db7758def49b9_original.jpg

_______________________________________________________________

ANDROMEDCON

In the last update we gave you a peek at the Andromecon Centari Center exterior scene. It was in a very early stage. Below is the updated scene. Keep in mind it is still a work in progress, but here is how it's looking now:

e6a413e8a5c617ec21354513c82181e4_original.png

Below is a test video of Rooter exploring the Andromecon convention floor. This scene still has a good deal of work to go, but we thought you all might enjoy a quick look at how it's coming along.

_______________________________________________________________

TACO NOVA

We also previously gave you all a look at the exterior of our SciFi fast food joint, Taco Nova! Well now you can have a look at the interior. The artwork for this scene is not polished yet, but you should be able to see how well it's coming together.

Current Interior:

6ea0e299468cf57d8753513e10632289_original.jpg

Current Exterior:

1a19d1cdef6f4dca07d9ff5c2260ee11_original.jpg

_______________________________________________________________

MEET VERONICA7

This is a character that has been planned for the game since the beginning. She has a very big part in the SpaceVenture story. Her name is Veronica7. Have a look at her below:

(No Sound)

_______________________________________________________________

LANDING ON THE SCRAPYARD

We've shown you a good deal of progress within the "Scrapyard", but how about a little clip of docking in the Garage?

(No sound)

_______________________________________________________________

CONCEPT ART

How about a look at some concept art? This is an early look at Nurb's bar. You should be able to get a good feel of the layout. I'll be showing you a completed version of the scene in the future.

1e7f6506af8c50d6158f5f3e8f9a6af0_original.jpg

And here is concept art for a scene that I'm not allowed to give any details about whatsoever. Make of it what you will ;)

8f6522b7812577eb269d5755576d109a_original.jpg
 

Blaine

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
That artwork is definitely giving me a definite Space Quest vibe, even though it's not pixelated EGA or VGA.
 

Boleskine

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4,045
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...re-by-the-creators-of-space-que/posts/1295167

An update on the Cluck Y'egger game sequence, the Holotube, as well as some Taco Nova tastiness!

CLUCK YEGGER IN ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE POULTROID SEQUENCE

As mentioned previously, Cluck Yegger is a character that has been planned from the beginning of SpaceVenture. He is Ace's video game hero, and you could even call him Ace's alter ego. Over the last couple of months we've been working hard to bring him to life. The Cluck Yegger sequence gives you a nice little break from the typical point and click game style that you will have experienced up to this point in SpaceVenture.

At some point in SpaceVenture, Ace will find himself in a situation in which he gets to "test" out the newest Cluck Yegger video game, "Cluck Y'egger in Escape From The Planet of the Poultroid". The below image is the title screen. Mark did a fantastic job putting this together.

055b21b6f3429b17f5218b90c0dd0c9e_original.png

Cluck Yegger- free ranger- rockets toward the planet Eggo aboard his scout ship ‘Eggcelsior’. He’s on a mission to shut down a BFC poultroid cloning plant operating by his arch nemesis Col. Zanderz.

ef276fb96e2a6202200fc863cb135276_original.jpg

743b033f47049eaa5a27bde10f142c1c_original.jpg

As Cluck’s ship enters the planet’s atmosphere, it’s disabled by a plasma storm (generated by Zanderz). Cluck is forced to crash land and comes to rest directly in front of Zanderz’ BFC factory amidst a raging electrical storm.

747fdc0fa3f48a147c334d61524f82a4_original.png

06080e276e518eb99a9ded2dafdf363f_original.jpg

One of the fun elements in the Cluck Y'egger game sequence will involve certain scenes that will require the use of night vision. Below is an image of the BFC plant lobby with night vision activated. This scene is even equipped with it's own life sized Col. Zanders statue, that talks!

d1ec385227e74ceb9d7ee2689f504a12_original.jpg

Cluck will have to deal with quite a few run ins with Zander's mutated minions. Here is one of his creations.

e931996fa3da4cc3364e4ab3c26a2662_original.jpg

________________________________________________________________

TACO NOVA IN ACTION

Without a doubt Taco Nova is a part of the game that backers and/or Space Quest fans are gonna be extremely exited to experience. The below video that we're sharing is two fold. First off, you're gonna get to see part of the Taco Nova sequence that is currently in the works with a little gameplay in action. Secondly, you're gonna get to hear the music that Ken Allen(our composer) has put together. Keep in mind that both the music and the scene are still a work in progress and are still not polished.


_________________________________________________________________

HOLOTUBE CHANNELS, WRITTEN, DIRECTED, AND PERFORMED BY JOSH MANADAL

In an earlier update, we announced that we had approached Josh Mandal about writing some of the Holotube channel content for when Ace is flipping through the channels at Scrap's place. Josh put together a rough audio recording of himself acting out the VO for what he wrote. We wanted to showcase some of that content here. You won't get to hear all the audio, but this will give you an idea of what he put together for us, and it's already plugged directly into our SpaceVenture build. Josh did a fantastic job and we got a lot of laughs out of listening to what he came up with.

This video showcases four different Holotube channels. We have quite a few more planned for the actual game.


_________________________________________________________________

Thanks for all of your support everyone!

Chris Pope a.k.a your humble local intergalactic SpacePope


"Josh Manadal"
RlHLnHG.png
 

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