The Random Adventure Game News Thread

[Jaesun]

That actually looks interesting...

 

[V_K]

Looks like I was off by a few years in my predictions of the comeback of low-poly 3D...

 

[Infinitron]

Digital Antiquarian on how the old Activision destroyed Infocom: http://www.filfre.net/2015/09/and-into-the-fire/

This new post is kind of like a continuation of the above: http://www.filfre.net/2016/04/the-bruce-youth/

On June 13, 1988, exactly two years to the day after Infocom officially became a subsidiary of Activision, a set of identical Federal Express packages appeared on the doorsteps of the old, independent Infocom’s former stockholders. This group, which included among its ranks such employees and contractors of the current Infocom as Tim Anderson, Joel Berez, Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, and Stu Galley, had been the direct beneficiaries of the $2.4 million in stock that Activision had paid along with the assumption of $6.8 million in debt to acquire the company. The bundles of legal documents the former stockholders now found inside the Federal Express envelopes were eye-opening to say the least: they said that the shareholders would have to pay Activision much of that money back.

As is standard practice in such deals, the shareholders had signed contracts agreeing to indemnify Activision if they were shown to have misrepresented the financial position of their company. In layperson’s terms, if they had cooked the books to get Activision to bite, they would be personally liable for the difference between fantasy and reality. Activision had exactly two years to make such a claim, which makes the date of June 13, 1988 — literally the last possible instant to do so — very significant.

The exact reasoning behind Activision’s demand for recompense was vague at best, seemingly amounting to little more than an assertion that Infocom had turned out not to be worth as much as an ongoing subsidiary as both Activision and Infocom had thought it would back in 1986. The former shareholders viewed it as simply an attempt by Activision’s President Bruce Davis to extort money out of them, especially as the contract they had signed demanded that concretedata ground any indemnification claim. The deal to acquire Infocom had happened during the reign of Davis’s predecessor Jim Levy, allegedly over Davis’s strident objections. Now, the shareholders assumed, he meant to wring whatever money he could out of a money-losing subsidiary he had never wanted before he cast it aside. Incensed to be essentially accused of fraud and humiliated that the perceived value of their company, one of the leading lights in computer games just a few years before, had come down to this, the former shareholders vowed to fight Davis in court.

Shortly after igniting this powder keg, Davis made one of his infrequent visits to Infocom from Activision’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters. While there, he took marketing manager Mike Dornbrook out to dinner. Dornbrook shared with me his recollections of that evening.

Bruce wanted me to help him improve morale at Infocom and increase productivity. I told him that the lawsuit1 wasn’t helping. At that point I don’t think there were more than about 40 people at Infocom, and many of the top folks were being sued by Bruce and everyone knew it. While Marc Blank, JCR Licklider, and Al Vezza were no longer employees, they still had lots of connections and they, too, were being sued. All of us viewed the lawsuit as completely unfair.

I told Bruce that I was intimately involved with the finances of Infocom in Spring 1986 and I was sure that Joel and the rest of the team were honest. They not only believed all the financial numbers, they felt that Activision was getting a very good deal. How did he expect them to react to this lawsuit?

His response was that he didn’t care if the numbers were actually accurate and believed at that time. In retrospect, it was clear to him that Activision had overpaid and he was convinced that a jury would agree and reward him some of the money back. He felt it was his duty to the Activision shareholders to get as much back as he could. He expected the Infocom indemnifying shareholders to simply negotiate a settlement. When I told him that they would rather fight than give in to such blackmail, he indicated that I was being naive to think this.​

Dornbrook was right; the shareholders did choose to fight. The costly legal battle that resulted would go on for years; Dornbrook claims that Activision’s demands for restitution eventually reached a well-nigh incomprehensible $16 million. The battle would continue even after a bankrupt Activision was acquired in a hostile takeover by a group of investors led by Bobby Kotick in 1991.2 The mess would finally be settled only well into the 1990s, when the shareholders agreed to pay a pittance to Activision — $10,000 or so in total — just to make an endless nightmare go away.

>_>

 

[Abu Antar]

What the hell happened to The Devils Men or whatever the game was called?

 

[pippin]

What the hell happened to The Devils Men or whatever the game was called?

iirc it's still being made but Daedalic has been very quiet about it. They always have many projects going on at the same time, both as devs and producers.

 

[Astral Rag]

The best adventure games on PC

Spoiler

The Shitness, Derp Story, Tales From The Boredlands,...

Time to stop sniffing glue Richard.

 

[tormund]

Actual marketing departments don't try to push stuff in the way that RPS and PC gamer try to push walking sims and interactive movies. For every legit good or classic game, that list has a WTF entry like Firewatch or Her Story.
And of course, in established RPS and PC Gamer manner, only mention of Myst series that made it in there is made in order to insult it (in The Witness entry).

 

[Redlands]

Oh look, it's a list of games that his friends want him to shill for The Cause(TM)l, or he's heard are good but never played.

Hmm... http://www.richardcobbett.com/

Hello, I'm Richard
And in case you were wondering, I'm a UK based freelance writer, game designer and general user of words, including "squishy" and "fluidic". Drop me an e-mail, follow me on Twitter, and if you like what you're seeing, maybe hire me to help you make cool things?

Sorry, "squishy" Dick, your name's too oppressive to get hired by anyone who's going to like your output, so the only thing "fluidic" is going to be the tears rolling down your face when you look at your bank account creeping downwards.

 

[Blackthorne]

Eh, everyone's gonna have their "lists". They're so fucking subjective; why do any of us give a fuck anymore? We all know there's three adventure games that matter, and they rhyme with Bing's Jest, Vest for Story, and The Secret of Funky Highland.

And Space Quest.


Bt

 

[---]

Looks like 999 will be released on Steam

http://gematsu.com/2016/06/spike-chunsoft-teasing-999-steam-release

 

[Abu Antar]

Will buy when it's at 75% off and if it's decent like Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands. Those were entertaining interactive cartoons.

 

[Jaesun]

Interactive Batman movie.... sort of want. Will also wait for the 75% off sale...

 

[Darth Roxor]

will wait for the pirate bay sale

Spoiler

actually i won't even bother because telltale fucking sucks

 

[V_K]

Mostly this, with one small adjustment:

will wait for the pirate bay sale

Spoiler

actually i won't even bother because telltale batman fucking sucks

 

[Zombra]

Ugh, Troy Baker.

 

[Jackalope]

I miss the time Telltale made games. Those were the days.

 

[CryptRat]

This appeared on Steam : http://store.steampowered.com/app/454160/?snr=1_237_querypaginated__103

It's a port from a mobile game but it looks cool.
EDIT : website

 

[Zombra]

I wonder if the game is as seizure-inducing as the trailer.

 

[Bubbles]

The best adventure games on PC

Spoiler

The Shitness, Derp Story, Tales From The Boredlands,...

Time to stop sniffing glue Richard.

Nelly Cootalot

Modern adventures don’t get more cheerfully throw-back than Nelly Cootalot. Her heart is in the 90s. Her game is one of the most cheerful, harmless, happily small scaled adventures around, and a rare modern case of simply being able to sit down and be charmed by a tale that has no interest in grit, darkness or any edge that can’t be used for a puzzle. Also it has Tom Baker in it. The whole thing is a Kickstarted sequel to a free adventure from ages ago, made with love. And Unity, of course.

I think he's just gone super-duper soft.

 

[---]

Level-5 has just announced a new Layton game, with a new protagonist (it will be presented on July 27th):

http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/24/professor-layton-getting-new-major-title-new-protagonist/

I remembered that they said that The Azran legacy (which I didn't really appreciate, unlike the previous games) would be the last Layton game.

 

[---]

Speaking of Myst-like games, Zed needs still 12k $, and there are only few days remaining --> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1368459285/zed

 

[Crooked Bee]

Yeah, I really want that one to succeed.

 

[Jaesun]

Application Systems and Backwoods Entertainment join forces to develop "Unforeseen Incidents" - a humorous point and click mystery adventure in a beautifully hand-painted 2D world. The game is currently under development and scheduled to ship in early 2017 for PC, Mac and Linux.



Please help them get greenlit here.
Check out the screens here.

Quote:
Unforeseen Incidents - Description

The world is threatened by a deadly virus. The highly contagious disease is spreading relentlessly, the survival of mankind is at stake. Amid this apocalyptic disaster, young Harper Pendrell receives a message that leads him on a journey full of mysteries, inexplicable questions, and terrifying revelations. Before he knows it, Harper finds himself in the middle of an adventure which affects the future of the whole human race. Unforeseen Incidents is a humorous point and click mystery adventure in a beautifully hand-painted 2D world. On his journey, Harper explores plenty of intriguing locations, meets a lot of interesting characters, and unveils some conspiratorial dark secrets behind the ongoing catastrophe that threatens to exterminate all humankind. Join Harper on his adventure and experience twisted humor, witty dialog, and demanding puzzles in a thrilling new adventure from Backwoods Entertainment and Application Systems Heidelberg. Alasdair Beckett-King recently joined the team as advisor and English script editor. Check out his nautical comedy point and click adventure Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet.

History

Backwoods is a small indie game development team from Germany. Marcus, Matthias and Tristan know each other from growing up in the same small city in the West of Germany and found together again after years of studies in the fields of Media Science, Media Design and Composition. They have a deep passion for video games and great stories and endeavor combining both in their future interactive multimedia projects. The classic style point and click adventure Unforeseen Incidents is their first big project.

Features

Enjoy a humorous point and click mystery adventure.
Behold beautiful, lovingly hand-painted 2D graphics.
Listen to an elaborately arranged soundtrack and full English or German voice acting.
Explore plenty of intriguing locations.
Meet lots of interesting characters.
Uncover and solve the dark mysteries behind the ongoing catastrophe and try and save the human race!​

The trailer doesn't really show much, and the artwork is................ interesting? At least it is point and click

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Check out the screens here.

:sortofwant:
:maybe:
:notsure:

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Wtf happned to the images?