For anyone that didn't know Larry is out.

[Snarky]

I'm not sure Sierra and LucasArts are equally beloved, but do they have to be? The LucasArts games have probably aged a little better, with more modern design elements, while many of the Sierra innovations (which were often more technical than design-oriented) aren't as easy to recognize today. Plus the LEC games were just more polished, while the Sierra games were on the whole more buggy, had weird engine glitches, inconsistent art and lots of loose ends. I think that could very well mean LucasArts is a bit more fondly remembered today.

But at the same time, Sierra games routinely feature on lists of the best adventure games ever (and people's personal favorites), you still have fan communities devoted to many of the series, and a number of the games and designers have cult status. All the fan remakes/sequels are an expression of that, as are the several successful Kickstarter projects for games by Sierra alumni, sequels to Sierra games, or games clearly inspired by Sierra titles. I don't see how you can consider them unappreciated by any reasonable measure.

Speaking of KS, Double Fine Adventure is a complete outlier, you can't really compare it to any of the other examples. The Cave is a good demonstration of how being the designer of some of the most seminal LucasArts adventures doesn't guarantee that people are going to line up to buy your new game. I would argue that the LSL campaign overperformed given how little it IMO had going for it besides the Larry brand. And now the game is reportedly selling very well, despite mediocre reviews.

[Trapezoid]

Maniac Mansion had an art style??

In the same way five year old kids have an 'art style'.

Well, I wouldn't put it so harshly. MM's art is charming with its big heads, but otherwise everything's got that plain-and-functional realism typical of most 80s PC graphics (see also: Sierra.) I like that era of art, but there wasn't a lot of art direction until the 90s. Even Monkey Island 1's artwork is pretty straightforward, with only hints of stylization in some of the backgrounds (did Steve Purcell do any of those, or just the cover art?) Things only really kicked into high gear with MI2's scanned artwork, and aside from Fate of Atlantis and maybe The Dig, every LucasArts game after that had its own unique look.


To bring it back around, I think LSL5 was one of Sierra's first heavily-stylized games, right?

[Snarky]

I'd say both Monkey Island (yes, Purcell did in-game graphics, among other things he worked on the Guybrush sprites) and Loom had deliberate art direction. Things don't have to be stylized to be artistic. For the earlier games I do think their look is to a large degree a result of technical limitations and limited artistic skill, though, and I don't share Fawful's fondness for Maniac Mansion's pez-dispenser-headed characters.

[Krazy]

Maniac Mansion had an art style??

In the same way five year old kids have an 'art style'.

Well, I wouldn't put it so harshly. MM's art is charming with its big heads, but otherwise everything's got that plain-and-functional realism typical of most 80s PC graphics (see also: Sierra.) I like that era of art, but there wasn't a lot of art direction until the 90s. Even Monkey Island 1's artwork is pretty straightforward, with only hints of stylization in some of the backgrounds (did Steve Purcell do any of those, or just the cover art?) Things only really kicked into high gear with MI2's scanned artwork, and aside from Fate of Atlantis and maybe The Dig, every LucasArts game after that had its own unique look.


To bring it back around, I think LSL5 was one of Sierra's first heavily-stylized games, right?

I wasn't trying to be harsh, just a silly asshole. It is very charming but I agree, it was a challenge just to get something that represented things on screen and the video game industry was so young that art direction was hardly the biggest consideration. I'd say Monkey Island 1 was starting to find some footing, but I think there was also a great deal of learning going on with the artists. I feel like DOTT was their first game that had a very strong art direction. That is a game that could be recreated at high res with the same design attributes without too much re-interpretation.

I think Larry 5 was, yes. That almost... 90's greeting card graphic style also seen in Pepper's Adventures in Time and such. It kind of worked but I think it's very of it's time, I don't think Sierra ever had animators or artists quite on the level of imagination and talent as at Lucas Arts. The best looking Larry game Love for Sail looks good for a 1996 computer game, but to me it is on the level of a second rate tv cartoon like Lil Elvis Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3DBZyD8-Is This new Larry game is a copy of that style but done much worse in flash with a bunch of badly designed extras. I really wish they had had someone else doing the art direction. It's not even a budget thing. To me the problem is not really the number of frames so much as the way those frames look.

[Secret Fawful]

If you watch the talk Ron Gilbert did on Maniac Mansion's development, I believe he does state that Maniac Mansion had a deliberate art direction, at least in terms of trying to emulate Gary Winnick's art the best that they could.

Yes, it was limited, and the heads are bigger because of limitations, but his art was a deliberate base. I think there are quite a number of beautiful Sierra games, especially The Dagger of Amon-Ra with it's art deco framing, Gabriel Knight with its dark, grimy, functional areas, Quest For Glory 3 and 4, and King's Quest 6. The Colonel's Bequest had gorgeous, dark, spooky art for the time, with well-placed shadows and a great emulation of the whodunnit look. The worst was probably Space Quest 6 for me.



Good ol' KQ6.

The games weren't as stylized, but they had detail and the painted backgrounds were neat. I would agree that I much prefer the LucasArts art styles, though. I'd have to disagree on Monkey Island 1 and LOOM both being less than stylized. I think they are very gorgeous. One just has a very dream-like atmosphere in general. I'm really not a fan of the HD remakes at all.