Jim Walls launching Kickstarter spiritual succesor to Police Quest

[Knox]

I think the main reason why there aren't many (or any) fan-made Police Quest games out there right now, is that most people probably don't know about proper police procedure/police science/legal system.

I had to buy a crap-load of books on police tactics, verbal judo, police politics/internal affairs, forensics, etc...I guess it is harder to write a  realistic police story that makes sense than a fantasy story where you can just make everything up.

I dont think they were properly prepared. If you compare Precint's KS to any of the other sierra alumni KS, you can see how little effort they put into it.

When I read the words "Badonk" + "more polish" I got shivers of shame.

[Babar]

Knox! I forgot about your game! I suppose there IS a Police Quest fan-game of sorts in the works .

But yeah, and their kickstarter video was also not focused properly. Almost half of it was dedicated to retreading old history (intros, meeting up, reminiscing about Sierra).

If there isn't so much demand for a Police Questish game, and they still really want to make it (rather than treating it as easy money from old fans), they should scale back their game, and reduce the funding accordingly, although I suppose they wouldn't be able to have a big team behind them, then.

[Knox]

Hey Babar! I had to take a whole year off last year working on the game but I am back in business baby!

The other thing that bothered me about their pitch is that it wasn't very clear to me if it was a 1st person perspective game...

I want a good point-and-click adventure police game à  la Gabriel Knight 1/Police Quest 3, not à  la Gabriel Knight 3/King's Quest 8...

[kaput]

He should have done what he was famous for. It's not a PQ game by any means. I don't feel any negative feelings toward him because he wanted to do something different. But there is his name and then there is the game (Police Quest).

I am totally impartial, but I can guarantee you all, right now, that is the reason this game was and never will be funded by fans. He is/was famous for police quest. If he wanted to make another game he should have cashed in like all the others who came out the woodwork suddenly. That's not being bitchy - that's realistic. I'm sorry if it seems bitchy, guys. There's no real debate here, he would have been successful with a point and click

[Gribbler]

He would have been successful with a point and click

I think you're right. Years back Police Quest changed into weird pseudo SWAT simulation and what Walls seems to be doing with Preceint is another realistic cop simulator. I don't dig it at all. I would love another Police Quest with a captivating criminal story, good writing, with plot twists, interrogations, maybe with some forensic CSI-like puzzles, classic 3rd person point & click. I don't want a game where I have to fill out various reports all the time, follow realistic police procedures and see a game over screen when I wear police uniform in an incorrect order. C'mon.

[blueskirt]

I don't know if he would have been successful, point and click adventure or not.

There's no real fanbase for Police Quest. King's Quest, Gabriel Knight, Space Quest, Quest For Glory, Leisure Suit Larry, these series had truckloads of fans and many of them had forums where these games are still discussed or at the very least a place where the fans can hang together, that helps somehow. Police Quest never had that. Adventure games are a niche in video games, Police Quest is a niche of adventure games, that's just too little.

Plus, Police Quest was half police procedural, half investigation, and that second half I believe got outclassed by games like Gabriel Knight and Broken Sword which elevated the standards of quality in term of story telling and mystery in adventure games, recent indie horror adventure games also elevated further higher mystery type of game, people who want a good investigation or mystery game with good stories are more likely to think about to the latter series than Police Quest. Police Quest would mostly attract players who are fans of the police procedural side of it, they exists however, but they're a small number.

The police procedural aspect of the latter games have also been ridiculed a lot on youtube, which doesn't help either.

But...

They still managed to amass 85K with their wonky pitch. An indie project with a smaller goal and a better pitch would probably have succeeded. I would say, aim smaller, more adventure, less simulator, try to achieve something like AGDI or IA did, a small goal, something indie. Bonus points if you go for the hand drawn 2D point and click look to attract as much of the retros as possible. Double bonus points if you pick and choose the best aspect of the Police Quest series and Blue Force, like the second game's text parser (there is something empowering in typing "FREEZE SCUMBAG!" which get lost in the transition to icons).

I would also say keep it simple and police-y, don't try to beat investigation and mystery at their own games. Serial killers, cultists and copycats have been done plenty of time in adventure games and often done better than Police Quest did, there is however an untapped potential for plots focusing on the minutiae of police work and techniques, plots featuring drug dealers, weapon smugglers, mafia, biker gangs, crooked cops, bank robbers... or plots featuring hostage situations, dealing with internal affairs, going undercover (thinking Donnie Brasco here, where the lines between going deeper and not becoming a criminal yourself get blurred, where you've got to remind yourself who you are, who's a friend and who's a foe). Plots dealing with the consequences that being a cop has on one's personal life, like General Knox is aiming for in his game I believe. Plots dealing with corruption in the law enforcement, either for personal gain, or general disrespect of civil rights, or to solve a case, or endemic to your environment like in Serpico. What if the game gave you the freedom to break the law, for personal gain or to solve a case? What if, in good old Columbo fashion, the focus wasn't to figure out who the bad guy is, but figuring out how to arrest him? (It's funny, I think there's one movie starring Al Pacino for each aspects I listed above...) If serial killers and cults and whodunit have been overdone, there is still room for other type of law enforcement stories in adventure games.

Under these conditions, I believe a kickstarter for a spiritual sequel to Police Quest and Blue Force would be successful.

I think the main reason why there aren't many (or any) fan-made Police Quest games out there right now, is that most people probably don't know about proper police procedure/police science/legal system.

I had to buy a crap-load of books on police tactics, verbal judo, police politics/internal affairs, forensics, etc...I guess it is harder to write a  realistic police story that makes sense than a fantasy story where you can just make everything up.

That's an aspect I never ever considered of your game or the creation of a Police Quest inspired game in general. I'd have thought using the manuals supplied in the other games, maybe contacting some of the retired police officers who did AMA for knowledge regarding proper procedures and the legal system or anecdotes that can find their way into the game, would have been enough.