Slashdot Mirror
New Space Quest Game Under Development?
Decaffeinated Jedi writes: "In a news item posted earlier today, GameSpot stated that they 'had learned from sources working on the project that Sierra is developing a new game in its classic Space Quest sci-fi adventure game series.' While GameSpot didn't give go into detail about the game, it looks like Roger Wilco is finally making a comeback! Check out Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset for all the latest developments."
I remember it well...
I was stuck in a cantina and needed some cash. There was a slot machine there, but being a young wholesome lad, I knew better then to gamble. Then I realized that I could save games between pulls. How can it be gambling if you never lose? Soon I was rolling in buckazoids and have done nothing but sink deeper into depravity since...
If Space Quest taught you to cheat - being a Sierra game it most definitely taught people to Save Early, Save Often. Not for getting more out of a game of chance, but to be saved from having to play again much of the previous half hour because you had just died Yet Another Sierra Death.
An article in AdventureGamers confirms these rumors.
Back in the good ol' day, Sierra definitely had *something* about them; or at least their games did...
Whilst they kept to a strange format (the point and click on a static screen) for a long time after it was fashionable in adventure games, their games did at least have *soul*...The worlds were believable and exciting. Really, they were very similar in concept to the Final Fantasy games , perhaps even a forerunner to them?
Anyway, the point is that a new Space Quest game is probably something to get quite excited about...at least for us adventurers out there...
I want a game that I can play through my browser, requiring a minimal download to get started, which is pretty immersive, doesn't cost so much to play that I get hung up about not 'getting my moneys worth' this month, doesn't penalise me to hard if I stop playing for a couple of months because I pull and have shagging to do instead, looks cool, has voice, allows me to dick about with it to show off how 1337 I am without pissing too many people off, lets me drive cars, fly planes, go on the subway, DOESN'T make me talk to elves or carry swords or have a really stupid name, DOES let me buy cool stuff with real money, DOESN'T require that I spend long periods doing dull repetitive stuff to earn stuff (I'll race a car all day to earn points though - if the tracks are good) DOES have lots of stuff going on that I can ignore, I should be able to swear and watch TV.
Oh - and it should work on my Palm, PC, XBox whatever on the same licence.
I can remember playing Space Quest IV as if it was yesterday: The hillarious shopping-sequence with all the nifty details (I'll probably never forget SimSim and Boom and that Chicken-game) that made this a true classic. Although there are passages (especially in the beginning) that could get frustrated - there isn't any Sierra original without the chance of dying at every second.
I especially liked the atmosphere of Space Qust IV (which really was much more fun then Space Quest V [sorry to say so, but the scene where you will have to find your way through that gigantic space-ship in the end of SQ V really sucked]): The backgrounds were terrific at that time.
I'm definitely looking forward to take a look at SQ 7!
This is what I fear the most. I haven't seen Sierra release a true adventure game in years. As a matter of fact, I see Space Quest 6 as the last real quest Sierra has released, and that was in 1995...
That's why I'm afraid they'll ruin it, just like they turned the Police Quest series, which was a great series of adventure games, into SWAT...
It seems they don't think adventure games sell like they used to, and that's why everybody releases all these multiplayer/3D/FPS/whatever games.
I hope they will use Gary Owens as narrator for this one too. He made SQ6 extra cool.
"Careful, combining these two items might cause a rip in the space-time continuum, a tear in the very fabric of space itself! (or not)"
This is going to be so cool.....Maybe I should get out more...
How exactly would you turn a Space Quest game into FPS?
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
I've been a big fan of Sierra games, and Space Quest games in particular, ever since I was a kid. And then we got a multimedia kit which included Space Quest 4 as a bundle-in. Man, I was in hog heaven. This wasn't a game with cheap multimedia features slapped on. It was a gem, with formerly textual dialog spoken by the characters (with real lip-sync and great voice acting). And a narrative (a staple for any Space Quest game) provided by none other than Gary Owens, the voice of Powdered Toast Man! Hearing him say that I've been a real pantload when I die makes me crack a smile.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
This is one of the things I disliked about the LucasArts games. You're usually immortal. How is that possible?
As a matter of fact, the death-scenes in Sierra's games, especially in the Space Quest games, were usually really hillarious!
Pathetic? Sure. Damn fun nonetheless.
Now I don't play them anymore. Arrogant as I was I considered being able to drag and drop and point and click cheating and stopped playing when this became the standard of all new Sierra games. This was very silly on my part, of course. But I would be lying if I said that I don't think of the good old days, when the real challenge in killing the dragon in the cave (King Quest I) was typing "throw knife at dragon" fast enough, with a smug feeling of superiority. Now that was real gaming!
Kids nowadays. Blah!
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance" - Derek Bok
I used to play these games all the time. It taught me to type, and type FAST (scene where you're in the cage in, ohh, SQ2? Although now that I play it again they gave you a long time, but at ten they couldn't've made it shorter.) Heck, I still play them when I can coax win98 to comply (wonder where my dos 6 disks are.) But what got to me was that sierra started catering these games to the younger crowd. Okay okay, so SQ6 wasn't that bad, and hey the cartoony look was perty good (a lot better than SQ1 for sure.) But in Kings Quest 7 I just went nuts. Sure sure, I still haven't beaten the game, but giving you only one pointer that LIGHTS UP when you're on top of something clickable is infuriating. I liked reading the whitty comments when you couldn't do something, or tried something very silly. \-: In a way I'd like the old type-your-action even more (don't ya hate it when you're only given a few seconds to hurl something from your invintory into something else...and you mouse suddenly decides it doesn't want to move that way?)
Ahhh sweet nostalgia. I know what I'll be doing tonight.
--Roy
We all are.
It's called The Matrix^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HSlashdot!
--
(if you're still looking for the point, it was back there, in the post. </sig>)
As long as we are talking about sequels to to classic games I can't _not_ mention Star Control 2.
www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/
If only Accloade or whoever owns it now would get off its ass and let Paul Reiche and Fred Ford ( www.toysforbob.com ) make another Starcon game (SC3 doesnt count)
my associative arrays can kick your hash - TCL
Probably my favourite bit of Monkey Island was where you fell off the cliff and it brought up a 'Kings Quest' style game over sequence before revealing that it was, of course, just another gag.
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
If companies are going to start reviving old games, give me starflight. The only other game that I probably ever enjoyed as much as that one would be civII.
You can check Sierra's page for the Spacequest series here, it gives a good over on each of the games and the cover art is nostaligia in itself.
I really hope they do release this, and its not just rumor. I think I would actually be compelled to purchase a game for the first time in years. Maybe I'm just old though, I hope people who never played the originals will check it out.
I think countries that dub all media, such as Spain, have a big problem with coping with a population with little knowledge of the "international" language. Japan, even worse.
The only thing that could possibly be better is an update to some of the classic LucasArts games.
Can you imagine an update to Day of the Tenticle, or dare I say it, Sam & Max? The latter game was quite possibly the most fun I have ever had on a PC.
------
Today's Top Deals
Looks as though some fans are also intending to release a version of Space Quest VII
http://www.sq7.org/about.php
It also gives a good bit of detail about why there haven't been any recent games in the series.
It is not clear at this point whether the rumored new Space Quest release will be a completely new game or a remake. Sierra has a long history of doing remakes, so I would not be quick to rule out the latter possibility.
Those who might be interested in remakes of classic Sierra adventures should definitely check out Tierra Entertainment. Tierra is basically a bunch of old Sierra game fanatics who are trying to revive the adventure game genre by remaking classic Sierra titles, as well as creating new ones.
So far, they have actually completed a remake of the original King's Quest [I], with VGA-like graphics and full speech. Technology- and interface-wise, the game looks and plays roughly like KQ5. They even managed to get the guy who voiced King Graham in KQ5 to voice him in their remake of KQ1!They have several other games currently under development, including:
I discovered them a few months ago, and was very impressed by what they had accomplished. I would highly recommend that any classic Sierra adventure game fans give them the support and encouragement they deserve.
They are using a game engine called Adventure Game Studio, which has been used by others to create other Sierra-like adventure games as well.
begin 644
Or you could run Bochs. Or MESS in PC mode. :)
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
I think it could easily be played in the format, or 2nd person, kind of like Heretic 2.
Second person? How would that work? You always see yourself from your enemy's point of view? I don't think this would lead to interesting gameplay.
Although I have never actually played Heretic 2, it probably uses a 3rd person perspective.
For an interesting look at the founding and early history of Sierra I recommend the classic book Hackers by Steven Levy. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141000511/ qid=1013176234/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-5989678-81544 46
And maybe, just maybe, if this one doesn't get as much pirated as the previous games (and doesn't suck), we will be able to see and play Space Quest X and Space Quest XII (remember SQ4: The Time Rippers"?), and Sim Sim, and kill that damn Energizer Bunny!
SQ3 was the best of course. =)
Txurlo
If you check out some of the older developments that concerned Space Quest 7, it doesn't look entirely rosy. They wanted to make it multiplayer, or 3-D, or one of many different things that kind of stole away from the charm of the first six games. If I remember correctly, number 6 even came with an AVI advertising the seventh game, which was in development at that time. So is this a new project, or just a revisitation of the old?
And more importantly, are either of the Two Guys from Andromeda involved?
Will Sierra pull another of their standard operating procedures of waiting until the game's development is pretty close to completetion, fan interst is high, and then suddenly cancel it for no good reason, like the Babylon 5 space combat sim, along with many other good projects, only to release yet another Half Life spin-off instead?
Not that I'm bitter or anything . . .
Now we only need Lucasarts to produce a new Day of the Tentacle game. That game is one of the funniest games I've ever played, beating every Larry and Monkey Island adventure game out there. That said, I wouldn't mind another Leisure Suit Larry game either...
The problem is though, that I don't believe these kind of adventure games can sell anymore. The last great adventure game was Monkey Island 4, and the adventure game genre died long time before that was released...
They need to innovate somehow. But how?
The genre as we know it effectively died a few years ago.
But don't you forget Grim Fandango, also by LucasArts, which had every single thing we loved about the adventures of old.
It was funny, it was inmersing, it had an excellent soundtrack, it was difficult as hell in some parts of it, but above all, it was FUN!
And don't forget those German guys which are producing a sequel to one of the greatest (then) LucasFilms games of all time, Zak McKracken & The Alien Mindbenders. It's a fan project, it looks very nice, it's GPL'd, and they need volunteers, by the way. =)
Txurlo
Even new innovations may not save it.
The adventure series died. Look at the latest Kings Quest, or Quest for Glory V. No one bought them.
They need to make it have an incredible plot like a Resident Evil-type game, or a FPS.
Don't get me wrong, I was born and bred on adventure games, but I don't think they'll be able to sell enough if they "stick to their guns", and do it the way they always have...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
All we NEED is another FPS (or Not)......
Honestly, isn't the FPS getting pretty tired now? It's all about pushing polys through DirectX now and haveing all of these freaky features on a graphics card like vertex shaders and other bits most gamers care less about. Games I love now are Roller Coaster Tycoon (all of it's expansions too), The SIMS which pulled off a highly detailed 3-d world WITHOUT needing a 3D card! Oh sure, it does not look exactly like a real person, but who cares! Games should be fun and while I agree there is some sort of stress relief that comes from blowing people away in Q3A or hitting people in GTA, it's just not that fun or addicting like games like SQIII and SQIV were. I remember telling my roomies ok just one more puzzle and I'll turn it off...heh heh. Also, if you notice the latest trend in games, it isn't FPS. Look at the top ten:
The Sims: Hot Date - Electronic Arts
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Electronic Arts
The Sims - Electronic Arts
RollerCoaster Tycoon - Infogrames
Zoo Tycoon - Microsoft
Return to Castle Wolfenstein - Activision
The Sims: Livin' Large - Electronic Arts
Empire Earth - Vivendi Universal
Backyard Basketball - Infogrames
Civilization III - Infogrames
How many of these stress or need a good 3d card? Um only one I can think of (Wolfenstein).
This is a plea to Sierra...if you need to make SQVII 3d, don't get crazy with it. Make it work on the LCD(lowest common denominator, not Liquid Crystal Display) system. If you do that, it will sell. Not everyone can afford a 399 Geforce 4ti 4600. Alot of people have Geforce 2's, TNT's and Geforce 3's....not so many have the Geforce 4. Pushing the envelope is cool, but when all the hard work is done in hardware it kind of takes something away from it, in my personal opinion.
Gorkman
Oh my God he wasn't lying.
Sam & Max Sequel Confirmed!
------
Today's Top Deals
I mean, what can be more irritating than playing through much of the game only to have your innards burst open at the end because of a silly fling you had earlier in the game?
A good lesson in long-term consequences.
You must remember the original intent of these games. Which was to take you on an adventure. In this adventure you would fight battles, solve puzzles and be the hero.
This genre of game is far from dead. The reason we don't see the text interface for controlling characters any more is that there are better ways of doing it. Check out the Resident evil series, Final Fantasy series, this is the evolution.
People don't want to use the old style because it simply isn't real enough anymore. I hope the new space quest will be much more realistic and use modern technology. Can you imagine a space quest like resident evil? (Instead of being creepy, and scary it could be funny as hell and weird)
I enjoyed Space Quest, but what I would really like to see is a new wing commander game. All the wing commander games were so ahead of their time. The last few titles tended to focus on cinema tics more than gameplay. My favorites were Wing Commander 3 and Privateer. Wing commander 3 was so cool for its time, especially with all the cinematic sequences plus it had Mark Hamill ;) With the exception of Quake 1, I have never been blown away by a game as much as I was by the WC series.
Get key from above closet
"I don't know what you are talking about."
Get key
"I don't know what you are talking about."
Get the fscking key!!!
"Do you talk to your mother with that mouth?"
Look above closet
"You find a key above the closet."
-prator
>I also give credit to these kinds of games for >getting me into programming. Sitting for hours in >front of a computer figuring out the exact syntax >to type is what I do for a living now, but then >maybe I'm just a sad git ;0)
as sad as it may sound... the main reason i am studying computer science and electronic art (dual major) is because of those games. they're my whole childhood. boy i wish sierra was the way it used to be, being an old skool sierra programmer was my childhood career ambition.
on a similar note has anyone seen Al Lowe's website, http://www.allowe.com ? he was involved in a few of the space quest games and is the creator of the leisure suit larry games. poor guy, they really screwed him over. anyway, he's got a really cool site... he has some of the old skool games he worked on for download (i.e. the black cauldron) and he has leisure suit larry mp3s and hints and how to break the copy protection tricks and stuff.
Maybe I'm just being stoopid, but ...
...look at Nintendo's Zelda series.
With a new game in the works, it must still be quite popular. To me at least, each Zelda was reason enough to buy the next console.
I'm sick, I know. Aside from the Cube (which I'll be purchasing once the new Zelda is released), I own every Nintendo console and every version of Zelda.
Surely I'm not the only one?
Linux AGI studio http://samhain.cc.huji.ac.il/agi/studio.html
Sarien AGI Interpreter
http://sarien.sourceforge.ne/
Tierra Games (they remade kq1, etc)
http://tierragames.cjb.net/
David's AgiPhile Page (He made Dave Quest)
http://www.eds.org/~david/agi/
The Hidden Secrets Of Sierra (by Lance Ewing)
(probably the best place to start)
http://www.123.co.nz/lance/sierra.htm
The Ultimate AGI & SCI Site
tons of info
http://agisci.cjb.net/
Adventure Game Studio (software for making sierra games)
http://saturn.spaceports.com/~dosuser/ac.shtml
Heh in SQ4 you could travel back into SQ1. There were a couple of dudes there that were in Monochrome. "Well if it isn't Mr. 'Look at Me in Vee Gee Ay...." Hehe that cracked me up. If I remember correctly, in SQ1 there was a circuit you could pull in a starship that would disable VGA, so the game was in EGA then.
I love little gags like that.
"Derp de derp."
Come on Sierra.. if you are going to make a new Space Quest, you really should make a new Leisure Suit Larry.. maybe one with real actresses and actors? Or at least some of those cool graphics we worship modern video cards for.
Crap man! You should have warned people about that, you're such a troll. **WORSE** then the goat sex people!
I did EXACTLY as the previous poster stated, stuck a big magnet to the slot machine, and then my monitor started changing colors. I took the magnet away (and stuck it back onto my fridge) and now I have a GIANT PURPLE SPOT on my screen. I reboot the computer, and nothing happens.
/humor
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Ever played Neuromancer? it was ported to C64, PC, and amiga.
That game was a bit linear in some aspects, but for a C64 adventure game, it was way ahead of it's time, BBS, hacking, AI, Action (cyberspace), etc.. that game simply made me drool. Even now and then sometimes I pop my DOS laptop and complete it, I'd wish so much for a NeuroMancer II based on today's technologies, it would be a major MAJOR piece of game if it would be done well. Back then all these buzzwords weren't even common, heck, "multimedia" wasn't even a buzzword.
I don't understand why Sierra shoved all these King quest, hero quest, space quest, larry tries to get laid quest, etc.. when better games like monkey islant, maniac mansion, zak mc kraken or neuromancer beatting them down (not graphically but story-wise and adventure-wise) didn't get pushed as much. I guess it's a matter of taste.
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.