Remaking Discworld Noir, because its shit basically.

KANDYMAN-IAC · Tue 08/08/2006 11:25:08

Well hello everyone,

I have something I want to talk to everyone about. I am a tremendous Terry Pratchett fan, i've read ALL the books. And I've read them multiple times, I'm not kidding I've reread "feet of clay" aproximately 7 or 8 times. And I am PISSED about the atrocity of Discworld Noir. The animation and graphics are awful, cheap badly rendered, underdesigned trash. The interface is highly illogical and at a guess I would have to say wasn't even so much as designed as farted into the game. And don't get me started on the voice acting.

I could do better voices trashed out of head on alcohol and cold medicine.

The game itself has potential... sooooo much, but whoever made it simply raped the concept till it was unrecognizably shit. I would illustrate it in a style reminicant of Paul Kidby but more cartoony, and simplied.

Who else wants to remake this game? Because it could really be something, besides awful.

PS. Anyone ever thought this way about other games? That remaking them would be better than playing them.

Mr Flibble · Tue 08/08/2006 11:28:26

I've never had a BSOD on a playstation game before.

Seriously, I got a blue screen and an error warning me I'd run out of memory.

On a console.

Although, I did actually like the interface. I thought the whole clues and questioning system was good.

KANDYMAN-IAC · Tue 08/08/2006 11:31:09

The interface for questioning is ok, but takes forever to navigate. Its never explained that question items and inventory items are combinable. And the smell system leaves a fair bit to be desired.

Ali · Tue 08/08/2006 11:42:21

I thought Disworld Noir wasn't perfect, but it had an innovative inventory and some very inventive puzzles. I loved both the clue and the smell system.

Obviously, you didn't enjoy it as much as me, so I wonder why you'd want it remade. Why not suggest a completely new discworld game instead?

Feet of Clay is also one of my favourites.

charliechuck · Tue 08/08/2006 11:44:20

I bought it when it came out on the playstation and I remember being cheesed off that it was over too quickly for 40 quid. The interface was a bit awkward, but the clues and questioning were good. I also remember it crashing a few times..

Vel · Tue 08/08/2006 11:44:39

I thought Discworld Noir was a really nice game, with a nice plot, good voice acting and decent graphics/well, for its time, at least/. I think it doesn't need a remake, not at all. Why don't you make a game, based on say, "Feet of Clay''/which is probably also my favourite discworld novel/ instead?

MarkPhantom · Tue 08/08/2006 12:13:26

I don't think it needs a remake. I loved the voice-acting, and I thought the system of investigation was very good. Also, over too quickly? Which version were you playing?

Hammerite · Tue 08/08/2006 12:14:29

discworld noir was fantastic!
besides, legally you couldnt do that could you?

AGA · Tue 08/08/2006 12:49:11

The voice acting in Discworld Noir is superb. Pretty much everything is really, aside from the 3-second-long animation loops. Among the best adventures ever.

Chrille · Tue 08/08/2006 12:54:50

I really liked it as well. Alot of people would probably wonder why you were remaking it. Wasn't it generally well recieved when it was first released?

KANDYMAN-IAC · Tue 08/08/2006 13:24:02

I don't understand how anyone can like the voice acting.... its awful well the male characters anyway. The way the game is made just annoys and frustrates me.

Hammerite · Tue 08/08/2006 13:26:33

Quote from: KANDYMAN-IAC on Tue 08/08/2006 13:24:02
The way the game is made just annoys and frustrates me.

yes. i quite often find myself annoyed and frustrated by programming, graphics design and scriptwriting, etc etc.

MarkPhantom · Tue 08/08/2006 13:28:28

Quote from: KANDYMAN-IAC on Tue 08/08/2006 13:24:02
I don't understand how anyone can like the voice acting.... its awful well the male characters anyway. The way the game is made just annoys and frustrates me.

Oh come on - Rob Brydon as the P.I. Brilliant stuff. I very much enjoyed the voice-acting.

Hammerite · Tue 08/08/2006 13:37:44

rob brydon was good as lewton, he must be a good impressionist, cuz he sounded nothing like keith barrett and all his other stuff

Ali · Tue 08/08/2006 13:46:00

Rob Brydon is an excellent mimic, Keith Barrett isn't exactly his real voice either. I didn't know he was Lewton, he was in Discworld 1 too.

On topic, I also think the voice acting in Noir was good. Better than a great many other games I could mention.

Hammerite · Tue 08/08/2006 13:53:16

he was discworld 1?
i didnt know that! who was he?

and i just remembered he would have to be a good impressionist. he was on spitting image

Dave Gilbert · Tue 08/08/2006 14:13:22

Discworld Noir is the base inspiration for almost every game I've ever made. Without it there would have been no Max Griff, nor Shivah, and BoE would have been totally different.

I loooved this game so much. The noir tough-guy fantasy thing was unseen in adventure games before, and I thought Lewton fit rather well. I think Discworld Noir is definitely the best of the three, since Discworld 1 & 2 were a bit too goofy/cartoony for my tastes.

The only thing I really remember annoying me about Discworld Noir was that it takes forever to chat with some of the characters. That guy in the sculpture shop, for example. You click on him, and you have to wait for the man to move into just the right position before he'll talk to you, and he moves slow.

The clues-as-inventory and smells-as-inventory was totally inspired. I'm surprised more games haven't tried a clue system like that.

Anyway, if you really want to do a remake go right ahead. But why bother? Just make another discworld game if you're hungry for more.

Ghost · Tue 08/08/2006 14:24:36

It's an ambituous thought, remaking a commercial discworld game. I'm a voracious reader of the discworld novels myself, especially the city watch books, and heavens, I guess it's impossible to make a DW game that pleases only half the audience. The beauty of the discworld, as far as I'm concerned, is that any reader can put so much into the characters. Pratchett has a knack at giving you only SO much information that you know on what lines to think. The city watch has been starred in a comic book and the first DW game, and it has been depicted on the covers, yet still I know there is a "my personal version" of Sam Vimes. For me it is the "correct" one, a sort of mediveal Clint Eastwood with a bad shave. I never liked the cover artwork by Kirby and prefer the newer covers by Kidby.

Back on topic- you want to remake the game. But the things you mention to be "bad" - plot and voice acting, not being faithful to the books, bad interface- would take a team of professionals with BIG CASH quite a long time. And I'm sure there's no Give The Dean A Huge Bag Of Money Goblin around. Assuming you are a freelancer like most people around here, it sounds too ambituous. As much as I'd like to get my hands on another Discworld game, I just don't think your project can be completed... Why not "borrowing" the discworld setting and make an own game, an own story? I think it's save to say that you can get away with it, though I heard that Terry Pratchett can come down very hard on stuff that he think of as "inappropriate"... I could just image a small game with one of the side characters or frequent appareances- a one-room-game where you play Dibbler, trying to sell a sausage in a bun, or a game starring Susan Sto Helit (I'd love to see that!).

But remaking a pro game (even one that does have a lot of flaws), no. Sorry if this sounds harsh. I just think that the though is way out of league.

Radiant · Tue 08/08/2006 15:35:06

I think that if you recruit some of the AFP L-Space crew, you can almost certainly get a decent volunteer-written story out of it, and possibly even support from Pterry himself; he's one of the few authors that is active in newsgrouping.

KANDYMAN-IAC · Tue 08/08/2006 15:36:56

I never said it wasn't faithful to the books... and i didn't said that it has a bad plot. My gripes are interface, graphics, and voice acting.

Voice Acting being the number one, I can't understand how anyone can like lewtons voice. I'm sorry I just don't get it.

I really thought other people would agree with these points in some way, each to their own I guess.

EDIT>
I'll never like Lewtons voice, EVER. He is too fake as a tough PI, and the voice is badly produced (vocally), and poorly acted. Also I'm really pissed that to make Vimes voice they artifically raised the pitch of someones recording, you can hear it and it sound sooooo cheap, plus it makes the character sound weak and prissy and brittle.

The only Voice in the game I liked was Nobby. I thought he was actually good.

Remaking Discworld Noir, because its shit basically.

Ghost