Kickstarter for a new Tim Schafer adventure game project

[Babar]

Did he actually say that, though? From the start the phrase has been "Old-school point & click graphic adventure game", which could be any of the following:
oldschool*(point&click+graphicadventuregame)
oldschool*(point&click+graphic)+adventuregame
oldschool*point&click+graphicadventuregame

So is oldschool just a description of its point&clickness, or will the whole thing (including graphics) be oldschool?

[Anian]

Whatever the weather, as LRR crew mentioned - the pressure is ON - not only do they have "investors", they have investors that'll actually play the game.

[Peder 🚀]

Did he actually say that, though?

Read the fucking tweet Babar https://twitter.com/#!/TimOfLegend/status/168471171480817664!

[Krazy]

Hey, they all is up to 2 million dollars or some shit. That is some kind of "milestone" right?

I hope with all this extra money they'll be able to replicate the things we loved most about Tim Schafer's old adventure titles, such as the Grim Fandango control scheme and the driving minigame in Full Throttle.

[blueskirt]

I wish they stole one idea or two from Rich Burlew's Order Of The Stick reprint drive, like the daily chart and mystery prize milestones, to bring back the momentum of the first days. It was somewhat entertaining to watch Rich's attempts at keeping up with his fans and them shattering every goals he could come up with.

[cianty]

So can we now have 5 games at 400,000 each please? That would be cool.

[Armageddon]

So can we now have 5 games at 400,000 each please? That would be cool.

I approve this idea.

[Stupot]

So can we now have 5 games at 400,000 each please? That would be cool.

I approve this idea.

+1 this... although as a backer I would consider them all part of the same project and demand I get to download all of them and not just the first one.

[Jared]

This has the potential to become a new trend. Chris Avellone has been talking about the idea of doing a 2D iso-RPG using Kickstarter, and I just emailed Al Lowe about it because I naively thought he might be out of the gaming loop these days after his last big project went belly up. According to AL "in fact, I saw Tim the morning after it went public and, during the five minutes we spoke, he took in $10,000!". He says it's become a "hot topic" with the people he's dealing with atm.

[Bluke4x4]

Al Lowe really stays connected with the fans-  8) But it's good to stay connected in this modern age. Just look at Tim Schafer and his Kickstarter page! 

I don't think I can think of another developer I'd pay money to make a game like I did Schafer here. Maybe Gilbert on his own? But I imagine that most of the industry people whose ears are prickling up at this are the sort who possibly can't find funding for their games for good reason..

[Eggie]

Chris Avellone's definitely near the top of my list of people I'd throw money at to make whatever they wanted. Do it, Chris! DO IT!

[Snarky]

Just watched the half-hour conversation between Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert. Hmmm... I find it interesting that they don't really seem to have any special insight into what makes adventure games unique, or why they stagnated, or what can be improved, or anything like that. Anyone who's spent any time talking adventure games online will have heard everything they say before. In one sense it's reassuring to see that two such famous designers aren't any smarter or better-informed than us, but on the other hand it makes you wonder if they have anything new to add after all these years. (Of course, talent for creating isn't the same as aptitude for analysis, so maybe we shouldn't put too much stock in this.)

It looks like the game will be, or at least was intended to be, pretty old-school, with all-2D graphics, puzzle-heavy design, probably comedic dialog, etc. But is it all going to be a nostalgia act? Ron is pretty hung up on Monkey Island (he clearly considers it the best adventure game ever made; not that I disagree with him). I hope they have some new and original ideas for this one.

This may make it sound like I'm not excited. I am. But I'll temper my expectations and try to remain cautiously optimistic rather than assuming it'll be another masterpiece and running a significant risk of disappointment.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Hey, if they make a game even half as good as I enjoyed Monkey Island as a kid, it's worth the $30. Heck, even the nostalgia alone that I have for that game is worth what I've pledged. The game they make now will just be a bonus.

[Krazy]

Al Lowe really stays connected with the fans-  8) But it's good to stay connected in this modern age. Just look at Tim Schafer and his Kickstarter page! 

I don't think I can think of another developer I'd pay money to make a game like I did Schafer here. Maybe Gilbert on his own? But I imagine that most of the industry people whose ears are prickling up at this are the sort who possibly can't find funding for their games for good reason..

Al Lowe is a big jolly, generous man. We're always seeing his rosy red cheeks and warm smile to give us more support for being fans of the 'Leisure Suit Larry'. I would trust him with over 3 million dollars to bring us that wonderful joy again.

[blueskirt]

And Josh Mandel. "It doesn't work", "It won't budge", "You can't pick that up", "It doesn't respond," are just not good enough for him, if there's ten hotspots and four verbs for a room, there's got to be forty different and unique messages for that single room, one for every verb/hotspot combo. That guy's a genius.

Snarky: There's three things I expect from Tim and Ron: A unique setting, creative puzzles and a whole lot of humor/comedic feedback, even (and especially) when whatever you try doesn't solve a puzzle, that's what I feel is missing from today's adventure games, maybe not the first one but most certainly the latter two, and what I got from the thirty minutes video is that Ron still seems rather keen on the puzzle aspect, they both think comedy is important, and Tim always had this thing for unique or rarely used worlds or settings in video games. I only expect these three things and I'm rather confident that's what we'll get, and it will be a happy day, like when Time Gentlemen Please came out.

[Ali]

Just watched the half-hour conversation between Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert. Hmmm... I find it interesting that they don't really seem to have any special insight into what makes adventure games unique, or why they stagnated, or what can be improved, or anything like that.

I think the reason for that is, they haven't played all the rubbish we've played in the intervening years. So obsessive fans like us may have gained a bit more insight... but at what cost?

> use cup of tea

I don't know how to 'use'.

> drink tea and get to work

I don't know what you mean by 'work'.

[Greg Squire]

In the Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert interview, Ron suggested they use an "off the shelf" engine for the game, and it sounded like he knew of some out there (perhaps he knew about AGS).  Of course this was filmed before they had 2.4+ million dollars, and a text popup mentioned they were still evaluating what to use as an engine.  They have also mentioned the game will be for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, & Android.  To my knowledge there isn't an "off the shelf" 2D point-n-click adventure game engine that will support that.  XAGE might, but it's not in a released state yet.  SCUMM might, as there's a ScummVM for those platforms, but I haven't seen much in the way of a modern SCUMM authoring tool.  Also it was implied they don't have the rights to use SCUMM anymore so they might not be able to do that.  However I have a feeling they may have enough pull to be able to secure rights to use it again. And maybe even buy the rights outright.  So my guess is they will try and use SCUMM again.

If however they can't, I think it would be great if someone could convince them to use AGS.  Now that AGS is open source, they certainly could help finish off the ports to Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.  It would give them a leg up on development (as they wouldn't be creating something from scratch), and it would benefit the AGS community.  Anyone want to convince them to do that?

[Eggie]

They might ask backers for input in this, but if they do I don't think our little community's really going to convince them that this is the best engine for all the modern, swishy platforms they're developing for.

[Ryan Timothy B]

After programming for Journey of Iesir, I've realized how limited AGS really is. Not to sound like I'm bashing it, but they are definitely better off using a more professional engine that doesn't limit nearly everything they want to do, or simply just program the whole game from scratch.

[m0ds]

Pretty sure Ron is aware of AGS, he got given quite a few AGS games at his meet in London. Also, Yufster + Tim Schafer probably means he knows about it, too. But along the lines of Ryan's agreeable comment (for their game), can't use iMuse with AGS