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Just wanted to update you on the status here.

Snuffkin has joined as an assistant writer.

An information page for the game is up at GGC Media.

We're still looking for a background artist.

I wouldn't mind taking a look at the plot and giving suggestions and such. Do you have AIM, MSN, or something?

I do have MSN, yes. All my contact details are here.

One other thing, the backgrounds shown above are in a very specific drawing style. Unless you can find someone who does backgrounds in a highly similar style, just keep in mind that those backgrounds might look a bit odd when placed together with work from someone with a completely different style.

Just to clarify, the backgrounds that I posted above are actually screenshots from the original SQ5. I posted them for referance to give people an idea of what environment they'll be drawing. I'm open to suggestions on any style.

Yeah I heard about this project. Do you guys have any backgrounds or graphics done at all?

None at the moment. It's designed to be a relatively short game, so there won't be that many scenes either.

Assistant writer, hm. What sort of things would this involve, tuning the plot and such in general I presume?

Yup, pretty much. Let me know if you're interested.

I've been inolved with 2 projects and my own I might lend a hand. Still open?

That's great. In what way would you lend a hand? Let me know when you're ready.

...to help us out... please.

You may remember a contest a couple of months ago that was started by Michael Doak (The Adventures of Fatman) for contestants to write a story for a short Space Quest game. The contest ran for two weeks and I won.

Shortly after, we started filling in the blanks on the plot and fleshing it out. I wrote out more of the story and changed some things while the assistant writers corrected me, offered opinions and did some writing themselves.

As it stands now, the plot is still in progress but well on its way to completion. A couple of months ago we ran into a significant hitch when Mike stopped visiting the forums. He have not had contact with him since that time and production on the game pretty much came to a halt.

Yesterday I decided that we should get this game done. I've run it by my teammates and I've taken over the role as project lead with their approval.

So, here I finally get to the point. I'd like for us to focus on two points of development at this stage: Writing and Background art.
Like I said, the plot is near completion. I would like to get more assistant writers on the team, since our current team has gotten quite busy with other projects and Real Life(TM).

As for the background art, Mike was going to do it, so we need a new artist. The plot is currently at a level of development where we can do a couple of screens with confidence that they will be used.

The style that the background art is to be in is pretty open at this stage. I was thinking of trying to keep with the SQ5 art style as closely as possible, but Mike had done some cartoon-like concept shots that, I think, would work really well too.

For referance, here are two screens from Space Quest 5:




Of course, you cannot realistically expect that kind of quality for a fan game. And, like I said, the style is pretty much up for discussion at this point. So if you are interested in doing background art for this project, please send me some samples of things that you have made.
You can find my e-Mail address here.

Also, be sure to let me know if you're interested in being an assistant writer. Any ideas or feedback are also welcome.

How is it that a game that enables you to drive and pilot everything in the level does not qualify as one that has new features?

Let's not call artificial intelligence a feature, let's call it an improvement on something that was already there. The current artificial intelligence in some games are just brilliant, things have improved enormously.

If you include action adventures, the number of new innovations is almost limitless.

I don't. We're not including 3rd person games under the rickety blanket term 'FPS', are we?

--such as playing animals and using an animals senses--

I believe that Mixed Up Mother Goose has laid claim to that idea. I could be wrong, I've never had a chance to play it, undiscovered gaming gem that it will probably turn out to be.

The point I'm trying to make is that there has been no significant advancement in the adventure games genre and that the same formula is still being copied from a decade ago. I do believe I'm repeating myself blatantly here.

I've made a point to download and play every adventure game where someone commented that something about the game was new or interesting, I've been doing this for a while now and it has always led to some little novely that will not will never be used again, just because it was so almost cool the first time but you found that the first time would be the last.

Just for the record, a significant advancement would for me be defined as an advancement in the genre that also will prove to be significant to further games released in the genre. This would be something like an ability to use almost all of the vehicles and enemy equipment in Halo, it has become a must for all games in its sub-genre that followed.

Now, I could be simply proved wrong if there was a flood of adventure games where you play as farm animals in 2005.

You could also call RON games a significant advancement, admittedly there has been a lot of games that followed their example. I'll really have egg on my face then.

Hey guys. Thanks for the feedback.

To address the issue of features, I didn't only mean stuff like improved graphics or sound. There has been quite significant improvements to pretty much everything that these games are composed of. This improved the immersion that you experience while playing which has made it overall a better gaming experience than what Doom was way back.

It all adds up to more freedom and reality in your gaming environment. Things are moving forward. It is quite hard to explain what has improved in non-adventure games unless the person you're explaining it to has sat down and played some modern games, which I recommend. All games have plots these days, and they are rated by quality, not just by the graphics or how many 'monsters' there are, which is a common adventurer belief.

On the adventure game front, however, things have been standing dead still and we're still using the same old formula for making the games that Sierra or LucasArts did. Obviously it's a lot harder changing things when one guy is making a game in their free time instead of a team working on something during work hours and getting paid for it, but at least an attempt could be made.

On the other hand, this is only my personal opinion. Maybe things should stay like they are forever. I just personally think that it would be nice to play something original every decade or so.

I've just recently written another short article about the way that the adventure games genre is going. I also had a bit at the end about how this will affect the game I've been working on and I thought that someone here might find it interesting.

Yesterday Again

I also linked to some other short adventure-related updated that I've written.

Thanks again for all the feedback. And here we go, the last time I'm going to burden you with these:

From 320x200


I've never really felt at ease with this one. Any suggestions/comments?
NOTE: The low-res jagged colour changes that are visible here are from when I wanted to make this a 256 colour game (I'm posting these from my dev forums). I've moved away from that idea and the colour issue shouldn't be in the finished game.

Thanks again, I think I'm going to continue working on this one very soon.

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad to hear that it reminded you of SQ5, since that was what I was aiming for when I started doing the art.

This is not a paintover of something real, as far as I remember. I did lineart and then then colouring from a bare image. There is an older version of this image, which I wouldn't show to anyone since everything in it is wrong and it sucks. But it is a flaw in my background art to be too logical, and it's something I'm still trying to remedy.

I slowly started teaching myself to do background art in this style over the run of this project.

what is a "yodel"??

A yodel is the tool that the aliens from the distant planet of Bathonia use to steal the money of civilians on Earth. They then use this money at stripclubs here.

At least, that is how the bum who sleeps in front of my house tells it.

Yo. Thanks for all the feedback. This project kinda got put on the back burner a couple of months ago to make time for other projects, yet I found myself thinking that it might be a good idea to bring it back again. At this point I have about half of the art done.

So, if you will, more feedback on the below, please:

Resized from 320 x 200


This is on a space station, in the finished game there will be a number of NPCs walking and standing around here.

It's supposed to be a new ship, but one that isn't exactly top-of-the-line.

This is for a space-based adventure game. The engine room is for a less-than-spiffy class of starship.

Resized to 640x400 from 320x200


Comments, suggestions or improvements? Please report them to me in my ready room or in this thread at your earliest convenience.

Thanks for the pointers and comments, guys.

I think my problem was that I was comparing the quality of this to MIDI, which obviously defeats the purpose of digital audio. So, I thought that I might try doing a MIDI version of this, to see how it comes out. What do you guys think of this one, think I should stick to MIDI?:

tensescene2.mid - 974 b

The "Jaws"-type interlude doesn't seem to be in the same key as the main melody. I'm not sayin that's a bad thing, but as it stands now, with the main melody relatively naked and undefined, it sounds like a mistake, not like a conscious decision.

Could you elaborate on this a little? I'm not sure I get what you mean.

I think that that minor key harmony you were talking about is a very good idea, I'm going to try to implement it on my next try.

I have very little to no actual experience with music and I've recently tried to do a bit of it. I find that after a while, everything starts to sound the same, so I'd like some C+C on this, please.

One person gave me feedback so far, and it wasn't positive.

This is for a kinda tense scene, slightly dark and gloomy. It would be nice if you guys could tell me if it sucks or not, things I could improve and try and so on.

tensescene3.mp3 - 930KB

Thought you might like to know of a mention of your game here (alternate).

Played up until the grandpa scene, but I could tell it was great within the first five minutes. Great, great game.

That wasn't his heart. It was a wet sock.

And Opo, you could be a background artist for a project then? A lot of projects need one.

Yeah, Opo. You got the talent. What about that SQ:HoD?

I thought that my latest update might interest you guys, hopefully enough to justify this direct plug. It talks about the debate on whether or not adventure games are dead.

An excerpt:

What has changed here? We don't have to play adventure games exclusively anymore to have an intelligent challenge, but you can get the pure stuff that you would have normally paid for, free of charge. Yeah, but that doesn't hold us from blaming other stuff, such as ingrown toenails, on John Romero, apparently.

You can find the full article here or here. I'd love to hear any thoughts/opinions that you may have.