Psychonauts Released, ish.

[Meowster]

Yeah, you can preorder Psychonauts at:

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/255677.asp

And it's being released April 19th.

I am super excited.

And the good news keeps on coming! Apparently, Steve Purcell gets the Sam n Max license back in May, and then Bad Brain plan to make Sam N Max 2... from scratch, sure, but still. They seem to have a lot of love for that game.

[TheYak]

Ah, it's good to hear that something still has the backbone to try and put the Oomph back into the adventure genre.  Both items are very good news.

[Meowster]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is what Wolfgang Kierdorf reported on the Inventory

"What do you think how pissed we are?? We put quite some effort in this thing because we care as much as you do. Ask Bill Tiller how often we talked about it and how hard it was to get that far.

That they finally put us down without any comment broke our heart as much as it broke yours. We really thought we had a chance. We wouldn't have done it else.

As far as we know:
Steve P. gets back his license in may. The code to S&M 2 belongs to LucasArts, so if they don't want to give it, we have to begin from the scratch that is right but: as far as we know (and that is not offical LucasArts, so we can tell it as a rumor) there has been loads of artwork and idea for the 2nd game, but not much of the game itself. So starting over with a maybe similar idea and updated technology, headed by Steve P. as the director behind the whole thing may not be such a bad (brain) idea at all. think about it."

[TheYak]

I'm a bit torn on this.  I don't know whether it'd be better for Steve P & Co to obtain the work done thus far so that it'd be out sooner or whether I'd rather wait and see an entire game that's Steve P's brainchild. 

I would think it would be in LucasArts' best interest to arrange licensing or sale of the developed art or technology.  Then they could recover either some money from their investment or at least work out a deal that would put their name in the credits of a game that should help revitalize the adventure genre.

[Al_Ninio]

Ooh, Psychonauts.
Is it still coming out for the PC?

[Eggie]

Thats it! I want an Xbox.

Why does no one love the Gamecube anymore?

[HillBilly]

Sam and Max 2(The little I saw from it atleast) looked really good. I have no idea if a Brainchild of Steve Purcell would be any better, so I guess I stand in the same position as YakSpit. On the other hand, aslong as they make a Sam and Max 2, I'm happy. I know they would do a great job!

[PaulSC]

Does anyone have any bets on whether Psychonauts will be successful or not? I suspect it won't, but I really hope it does well enough to keep Schafer and his company afloat.

[Ginny]

Aww, Psychonauts.. *drools*
I really hope they release it for PC or an emulation is available for it, as I can't afford an Xbox just for one game.. I hope Shcafer is successful with this title. he deserves to be.

[TheYak]

This makes me exceedingly glad that I recently acquired an x-box.  Granted, I can't recommend the system as there seems to be a lack of kick-ass games for it thus far.

edit: Whoops..  spoke based upon pre-sale link..  looks like it'll be PS2 and PC as well. 

[scotch]

Yeah, it's been in development for PC since MS dropped doublefine, presumably releasing them from any exclusivity deal.  I don't expect it'll be a huge success, I just hope it'll be good, I love Tim and all, but it's still a platform game could go either way.

[edmundito]

I think it might be successful if it's good. It looks like a lot of magazine people like the game so far, seen as it's actually one game that actually blends in the story pretty well and it lacks spherical boobs and shit blowing up for no reason.

It might be more successful if they advertised on TV and such, where everyone can see the game, and if they make a good comerical. Mario is pretty famous, and he still gets ads on tv. Perhaps after it wins awards they can have stuff like "blah blah of the year!".

The problem is success these days is probably equal to "better than halo 2 or san andreas" and there is no way a game like this can compete with games that horny people want to play.

[PaulSC]

...it's actually one game that actually blends in the story pretty well and it lacks spherical boobs and shit blowing up for no reason.

That's probably why it won't do that well. I predict a repeat of the Beyond Good and Evil situation.

I maintain that platform games rule, though, as does the GTA series.

In fact, to be perfectly honest, Schafer knowing when to leave graphic adventures behind makes me respect him and his vision more then most of the other ex-Lucasarts people, who don't seem to know how to move on.

I love the old graphic adventures, but it's a limited genre and it died for a good reason. What people should be doing is finding ways to take the best aspects of the genre and to evolve them in a way that keeps them fresh and cutting edge. Knocking out games in the vintage graphic adventure formula like it's still 1993 can be fun, but I think its silly to sneer at the rest of the world for not being so nostalgic.

[Kweepa]

Paul, that's a strange attitude to post on an adventure game forum!

Would you prefer BG&E was never made?

People should be doing whatever they want to do. If Tim Schafer wants to "move on", fine. Double fine even. If the other ex-LucasArts employees want to keep making adventure games, hooray I say!

As for the claim that the graphic adventure is a "limited genre" - that's like saying the novel or the film is a limited genre.

In 1993, there were also platform games, FPS, etc.

A bit of a stream of thought response, but really, do you live under a bridge or is trolling just your day job?

[HillBilly]

The rest of the world is pretty ignorant if all new games has to be cutting-edge 3D. That's what I like with old games: Since they couldn't play on graphics, they had to play on story and dialog. Now they release a new crappy 3D game every fourth second.

[edmundito]

There used to be a lot of crappy 2d games too, we just forgot about them....

I think schafer always had great ideas that would have only worked on 3D. Take Full Throttle, for example.. it would have been a much more expansive and better game if it was actually 3D. It truly was a game done ahead of its time.

Also, this is not an adventure forum... this is adventure game studio, a game development tool forum.

Adventure Games are only limited by their own conservative standards. No one ever carved in stone that adventure games always had to take place in a town/place, or have puzzles as the only way to solve problems, or be point + click, but it almost feels like if these rules are not realized, then the game is not an adventure at all.

[HillBilly]

I aint saying 3D is bad. I'm just saying that 3D isn't the ONLY graphical way to create games these days. It just seems that people are scared of making anything 2D today, and that's what killed the good old adventure game genre(Or put it temporary to sleep).

Some games seem to fit 3D much better than 2d, and virca verca. I think games should be created what would fit the gameplay, and not what's hot on the market today. Unfortantly, we don't see many point and click games(adventure games after the old book) today, because it's hard to make those games in 3D.

Plus, I belive 2D gives the animation much more freedom. 

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

HillBilly - actually, regarding the "freedom", I see one particular thing that looks great with even 3D characters (even if the rest is 2D) that would be very easy to do with 2D. Play The Longest Journey - Gabe Knight 3 too, and Syberia too, I guess, but especially TLJ. Notice how they move when standing still, particularly in dialogs. I'm a layman, but I believe the coding is relatively simple: if idle, the bodies do some things, and if not they just do OTHER things, with no need to synchronize with what came before - they just go wherever needed. Very hard to do in 2D. Again, I might be wrong - I'm a layman, and these are just my 2 cents.

[TheYak]

Excellent point.  The adventure genre isn't dead, it's authors are just suffering from a touch of technophobia.  The Longest Journey was quite engrossing for me and it played quite a lot like some of the older adventures, but without looking outdated. 

3D doesn't always have to be used, but when it is, it should be used to its potential.  The designers of GK3, for example, seem to have crafted a game that could've been done equally well in the GK1 format.  They had 3D just for the sake of having it.  It would add greatly to the immersion if they used 3D to accomplish things that couldn't be done as easily in 2D (dialogue on-the-go, buildings turning evil very slowly before your eyes, action sequences that feel suspenseful without requiring FPS reflexes). 

I may be suffering from a touch of that good ol' adventure nostalgia but I refuse to agree that all games need to be more fast-paced and cater to a short attenion-spanned crowd that can't sit still for some good story-telling.  The DVD format of the newer consoles and DVD's being very common in PCs means that they can easily have all spoken dialogue, fantastic soundtracks and breathtaking cutscenes without having to make compromises with available space. 

[HillBilly]

Yes, some stuff if harder to animate in 2D than in 3D. That's why I respect people who makes 2D games so damn much. But of course, 3D can be used to help in 2D games too. Just look at e.g. the helicopter scene in sam and max. The loungest journey was a great game, but because of the 3D, I could hardly see any of the face movements of the characters. When a character was supposed to be angry, he looked the same as when he was sad or just stood there. That's what I meant with "freedom". I see things much clearer in 3D, since it's not covered up with shadows or advanced effects.