Al Lowe hosted an "Ask Me Anything" ("AMA") on Reddit.com.  Sadly, it was over very quickly (some people let questions collect and respond over a whole day... looks like this one only ran 2 hours) but maybe some interesting reading in it!

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/s8u88/i_am_al_lowe_creator_of_leisure_suit_larry_ama/

Well, you said you aren't done, so I won't critique too much   The Silpheed piece seems pretty true to the original, not sure that I'd call it a remix at this point.  Interested to see what you do with it.

Congrats!

Bump!

At some point, Cindy Vanous posted excerpts from the planning documents for Athyr on her website, evilminion.com.  Naturally, I thought people here might be interested.

http://www.evilminion.com/portfolio/athyr.html

Ecco was a series of SEGA Genesis games   Though I suspect you meant Eco Quest.

One series I haven't seen mentioned here - the Conquests series (Camelot, Longbow).  I tried Camelot once and got stuck on a bug in the game and gave up... but I heard it was quite a good game.

I'll admit though, I agree with bjl, there's a special place in my heart for the Laura Bow mysteries and I wished there had been more of them. 

I'll quote and emphasize the most important bit from the article, and you can mosey over to EGM for the rest.

"Replay Games founder and CEO Paul Trowe, and series creator Al Lowe, are teaming up to re-introducing gaming’s favorite lovable loser Larry."

http://www.egmnow.com/articles/exclusive-leisure-suit-larry-returns-in-hd/

Bumping - issue has not been corrected yet.

Bumping in case Tom missed this.

Bumping in case Tom missed this.

Better:  Dropbox, or another similar cloud service.  Put files you want to share publicly into the "public" folder.

You can provide a URL directly to the file, the visitor not only does not need an account but also does not have to deal with "hunt for the actual file on a page full of ads" issue that many of the previously mentioned services have.

Cloud services like Dropbox can also be used to provide a synchronized folder between all of your PCs and mobile devices.

Just don't put any seriously private information on a cloud service - if the service were to be hacked, you probably wouldn't like the results.

Saw this on Reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/ihfjp/i_wrote_a_letter_to_sierra_when_i_was_9_look_who/

That reminds me that somewhere, I also have a letter from Sierra too, regarding the Gnome's name in King's Quest (the puzzle that was so hard, they changed it in the EGA remake).  I should dig that up and scan it sometime.

Does anyone else have any interesting letters from Sierra that they'd like to share?

Update:

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/12/explore-jurassic-park-thoroughly-in-this-trailer/

Bit more of an action game, not quite as much an adventure game.  It becomes pretty intense.

Are there any plans to release the soundtrack independent of the game?

Why not run with what you said earlier?  "32-bit color overhaul" is still succinct, and accurate.

  at the complaints.

1) The game has a digital soundtrack.  Adding MIDI support would entail additional work for many persons involved in creating and providing this free game.
2) Think about what support means.  Support includes the developer's ability and willingness to test the software on different platforms and resolve customer difficulties.  That doesn't mean the game won't run on a 386*; it means the developer didn't attempt it, and isn't going to, and you are on your own if you want to try.  Did I mention the game is free?  You also get what you pay for.
3) AGDI's King's Quest III Redux is built upon the technology of AGS (Adventure Game Studio).  I expect the saved game size is more likely a consequence of how AGS saves games rather than any responsibility or fault of AGDI's.  The choice of AGS as a platform also limits the game to Windows operating systems... but there is no better DOS-compatible adventure game development platform available.

...  * Re: Running on a 386 - It probably won't.  

Now, I'll share Mau1's pain on one small detail.  I cringed when I saw the KQ3Redux site claim that the game features an "SVGA overhaul."  SVGA is generally understood to have an 800x600 resolution.  The whole area of VGA vs SVGA vs other such terms is muddy and they should probably just avoid it altogether as a way of explaining the graphics.  Hopefully that will be fixed at the same time the FAQ is fixed to no longer state that the game was released on "February XX, 2011."

Of course you are.   

I knew it all along.   

... mostly because I am traveling out of town on February 23rd for a training seminar, and will not have time to download and play the game until sometime next month after I've taken the exam for which I'm training.

By releasing the game on Wednesday just after I hop on the train, you maximize the time I spend pining for it!   

 

Maybe if you could give an example I would understand better, but I'm not following the above; I played through Sam & Max Season 1, found it very enjoyable, and not at all "unchallenging."  I guess we have different ideas about what makes a game interesting and at an appropriate difficulty level.

That's interesting.  What you're saying was certainly true for Sierra's earliest works, but I don't think you can accurately say that of the King's Quest games beyond the first two.  If you stick by that, then KQ3 and onward also were not "proper King's Quest."

The original King's Quest, and King's Quest II, were certainly thin on story. Early PC and mainframe games were like that... consider Colossal Adventure, or Zork, or many of the text games, you were typically thrown into a chaotic world, and the basic rules were to pick up everything you could, and try to fit every object together with another object, and eventually you would make it to the "end" of the game.  It's very primitive.  That is the heritage and inspiration of King's Quest.  And these earliest worlds are places that I haven't found much interest in revisiting.

I really liked what AGDI did with their KQ2 remake; AGDI really fleshed out the story, and their changes led to the development of new puzzles... I doubt they developed the new puzzles, then tried to wrap the story around the new game.  Was their reboot of KQ2 unworthy of being considered a true King's Quest?  For me, they hit the mark far better than Mask of Eternity did.

With King's Quest III, Sierra started to weave more story into the game from the start.  Of course, there were still things that made no sense (Why is the oracle in a dark cave covered by a giant spider?  Was the oracle un-fond of visitors?  Was the spider a test to ensure only that only Neo, I mean, Gwydion, could reach the Oracle?).  But the items you could pick up in the game have greater purpose, and fit together more logically, so that as you put your inventory to use you reveal the tale of Daventry's heir, stolen away and forced into a life of slave labor under a cruel wizard, and his triumphant discovery of his destiny, his return to the kingdom, and the rescue of his sister in great distress.  It's no longer a random collection of puzzles and fairy tales thrown together with a bit of story added as decoration.

I raced over here to post this as soon as I saw it... and you beat me to the punch

I am not reading as much into the word 'reboot' as you are.  Look at the quote.


Edit Ahah.  That quote wasn't in your article.  Hopefully http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/18/kings-quest-reboot-coming-courtesy-of-telltale/ will put you more at ease.

Did you feel that Tales of Monkey Island was a reboot of the Monkey Island series?  I certainly don't.  I'm really expecting this will be more about fleshing out the world in which Daventry exists, telling some smaller tales interwoven in the existing history.  But, we shall see.

TellTale is already trying to demonstrate that they can break out of their format with the Jurassic Park episodes.  And it seems unfair to me that we should typecast them so early as only being able to produce certain types of adventures.

I wonder what effect the licensing deal between Activision and TellTale has had or will have on fan groups' remakes and plot extensions.

Ah, thought you did not want those.  I am imaging those now, will send you a PM.