Hi, everyone!

[Tom]

Hello, All!

After three weeks of American Red Cross red tape and non-organization, I've thrown in the towel in offering my help to the ARC during the Katrina/Rita hurricane aftermath. I originally was to be part of a medical team, but that fizzled out and when the dust cleared -- all they ended up needing from me was to help pass out Red Cross Credit Vouchers at shelters. I would have even helped with that except that the Red Cross kept pushing back my deployment date...until finally, it interfered with our hospital's inspection and other planned activities for October. So anyway, that chapter's now closed in my life. At least, for a while.

My not going to New Orleans has proved to be a blessing, though. Himalaya Studios is currently in the final stages of AL EMMO AND THE LOST DUTCHMAN'S MINE. I've had the opportunity to play an alpha version of the game, with voices and music intact. However, not ALL of the music is intact -- in fact, not ALL the music is yet complete; there's still a small amount of work to be done on the soundtrack, which I'm doing now. Until AL EMMO's soundtrack is completed (about a month, I'm hoping), all of my energies will be devoted to it.

The game is excellent! Anyone who's enjoyed Sierra adventure games will absolutely LOVE this game....I have no doubt of it! It's very witty and entertaining, hilarious, and a joy to play. I just hope the AL EMMO saga will continue beyond this premier release from Himalaya Studios. It's a first rate production with a fascinating storyline, beautiful graphics and animation, and IMHO, great music!  

Anyway, I'll be hit and miss around here for at least the month of October. But it's still good to be back in this limited capacity, as well.

[HondaSiR]

Hi Tom, its good to have you back! It's probably a good thing that you didn't go to New Orleans or to the other hurricane devestated areas. No telling what may be in store for you there. At least you tried to help. That's all that matters.  

[Alistair]

Awesome to have you back with us, Tom.

Been thinking about you the last few days, as I've started Freddy Pharkas finally. Always wanted to listen to those Freddy tracks on the MP3 page.

'Least you tried, that's the main thing. I'm sure all of us here at QuestStudios are very proud of you!!

- Alistair

[Tom]

Hey, thanks guys.  I feel like I've missed out on a bunch of stuff around here, but I'll catch up.  Wonder how Ari's making out in his military tour of duty...

Here's a shameless plug...err...uhhh, one of the first reviews of Al Emmo.  I'm really excited about the game as it's about to go into beta -- so public release is right around the corner!

http://adventure.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=1167


And the HS team...revealed.  Though I think the AGD's have had their pictures posted for quite a while.

http://www.himalayastudios.com/aboutus.htm

[Alistair]

Hey, thanks guys. I feel like I've missed out on a bunch of stuff around here, but I'll catch up. Wonder how Ari's making out in his military tour of duty...

Good.

To be honest, you haven't missed all that much. THe forum's been kinda dead lately (lately = last 3 weeks or so). Lots of discussion about Sound Canvases, and I finally released some music, but not much else.

I spoke to Ari the other day (I stuffed up my logging in to the forums, and you were away I'm hopeless.) and he had a couple of days break. He seems OK, just stressed, poor guy. (Just the impresion that I got.)

Ironically I was thinking about Al Emmo today. Mainly wondering who 'Al Emmo' is a spoof of.
Probably because, again, I'm playing Freddy Pharkas. But I also thought of some of the music you posted- nice!!

- Alistair

[Tom]

I noticed quite a few new members, and most of the activity was regarding SC's.  "Building the ultimate SC"...ahhhh.    But seriously, I love my 8820 -- I'd be lost without it!

Well, one positive note on Ari's side -- George Bush isn't on the same continent as he.

Before playing the Al Emmo alpha release, I was figuring there'd be a lot of simularities between it and FP.  To my surprise, there's none!  That is, of course, except that they're both set in the late 1800's western U.S.  I loved FP when I played it, but not as much as I've enjoyed Al Emmo; there's a much more involved storyline in AE.  I think I would describe the main character as sort of a combination of Guybrush Threepwood, Larry Laffer, and Roger Wilco.  There's quit a few other key characters in the game, too.  The voice acting is professional, and the lip syncing first rate.  It really added to the enjoyment.  The narrator will instantly become one of everybody's favorites, I'm sure.

I'm just SOOOOOO glad there is NOOOOO MIDI in this game!  I would hate to try and create a GM or MT-32 compatible soundtrack for some of the songs.  I have an even deeper respect now for those soundtrack pioneers who were able to create full game soundtracks with only the MT-32 or SC-55!  

[Ari]

I'm finally back as well.  
It was a tough two weeks of guard duty and border patrol, but nothing really exciting happend - only a little in the last two days.

I spoke to Ari the other day (I stuffed up my logging in to the forums, and you were away I'm hopeless.) and he had a couple of days break. He seems OK, just stressed, poor guy. (Just the impresion that I got.)

Stressed? no, not really. I actually see it as a paid vacation in a weird-masochistic sort of way. All you do is eat, sleep, watch TV or read (when your off duty, that is) The rest of the time you do brainless guard duty shifts or patrols. It's really much the opposite than stress. Didn't mean to give that impression. I guess my exaustion passed off as stress. :?

Anyway, I'm done with this at least for the next few months (possibly years).

Thanks for your concern, though.  :wink:

[shad0wfax]

Hi, Tom! It's really good news to see you here again!

As Alistair said, we're all really proud of you. Regardless of the results, I think that your attitude and your firm conviction to help the needy is what matters.

[Wodball]

Good to have you back Tom. Sorry to hear about the whole scheduling thing, but still, it's nice to have a little more conversation on the board.

Anyway, hit and miss in October is better than nothing. I wish you best of luck on finishing up Al Emmo. If I'm not mistaken, I'll probably be busting my wallet out for Al Emmo, the XP re-releases of Sierra Classics, and Dreamfall (delayed for a few months...).

Of course, I'm stuck with midterms all this week, but I'll be more active sometime later this month.

Well, time to ignore studying in favor of watching my new DVD set of Star Trek: Voyager. (I bought it to augment my TNG DS9 DVD collection. I'm too broke to get Enterprise now, but no big loss.)

Anyway, you should try to keep up on other adventure news. You never know what might come up these days.

--Woody

[Tom]

Thanks, Woody.


Hmmm...I was considering the Star Trek Enterprise series DVD.  Didn't care for Voyager all that much, but I did like, Enterprise.  Just got the "Space: Above And Beyond" and "Earth 2" DVD sets.  I really like Earth 2.  Neat show; wish it would have made it beyond one season.  I'll be getting Season One of Battlestar Galactica, soon...my favorite show.  (I even liked the original, with Lorne Green.)  And of course, I have every Babylon-5 episode and movie ever made, on DVD.

I take it you're into SciFi, too.    Stargate SG-1?  Original series Trek?  Dead Zone?  B5?  BG?  Original Star Wars?

[Ari]

B5 must be my all-time favorite Sci-Fi TV show. Liked it much better than Star Trek.

I should get myself a DVD set of it as well.

[Marten]

B5 fan here.

Welcome back, Tom!

[Wodball]

I suppose you could describe me like that. I'm a DS9 guy, though I've been known to lean towards B5 and more recently, the Battlestar: Galactica (The new series; I've never seen the old series.) especially when Star Trek gets silly. One need only look at some of the duds that Enterprise has come out with to know when a franchise needs new blood like Manny Coto.

I did watch Andromeda for a while before college (then time slots changed and did not have a VCR for a couple years), and some Earth: Final Conflict, though not consistently enough to follow the plot well. Then there was Sliders... ah, those were good times.

To be fair, I try to limit my Sci-Fi time in favor of comedy series. I'm a big Scrubs fan, but NBC decided not to put it on the schedule this fall.

--Woody

P.S. Just got back from discussion session to find that I'm woefully behind in every subject. Four midterms are piled up on Wednesday and Thursday... must study... resist urge to turn on PowerDVD...

resistence is futile :twisted:

[Alistair]

Stressed? no, not really. I actually see it as a paid vacation in a weird-masochistic sort of way. All you do is eat, sleep, watch TV or read (when your off duty, that is) The rest of the time you do brainless guard duty shifts or patrols. It's really much the opposite than stress. Didn't mean to give that impression. I guess my exaustion passed off as stress.  

Anyway, I'm done with this at least for the next few months (possibly years).

Thanks for your concern, though.

<laugh>

No evicting villagers from their homes then? That's a relief.
(I don't mean to be insensitive, the whole 'what Isreali soldiers actually do' is just very confusing to me.)

But seriously, I love my 8820 -- I'd be lost without it!

Ditto, ditto.

Well, one positive note on Ari's side -- George Bush isn't on the same continent as he.

I'm sensing some continuing resentment, Tommy..

Look forward to 'Al Emmo', too.

I'm just SOOOOOO glad there is NOOOOO MIDI in this game! I would hate to try and create a GM or MT-32 compatible soundtrack for some of the songs. I have an even deeper respect now for those soundtrack pioneers who were able to create full game soundtracks with only the MT-32 or SC-55!

Well, the difference is that those composers didn't make full tracks with bands, and then try and 'simplify' it for MIDI, or even have more advanced MIDI devices and mix digital output, and then again simply for MT/GM.
(But yeah, I can imagine you with some pieces having 20 tracks, trying to mix THAT for GM. Would be amusing. You had to for KQ2, didn't ya?)

I don't think AGDI would want MIDI in a modern game anyway, though, right?

On the note of Sci-fi, for someone who's been mostly in the SQ community, I've watched very little. Never cared for Star Trek , and wouldn't have heard of B5 except my webmistress is a huge fan, and even runs a site about it.

Am a 'Red Dwarf' and 'Doctor Who' fan though.

- Alistair

[DrJ]

Good to have you back Tom. Seeing how 'well' organised everything has been around this disaster... :roll:

I take it you're into SciFi, too.    Stargate SG-1?  Original series Trek?  Dead Zone?  B5?  BG?  Original Star Wars?

No Farscape fans here?

I started watching a new show called Supernatural. So far it's quite interesting. Very nice special effects..

[smarteze]

No Farscape fans here?

I'm a Farscape fan!  My husband and I are only a quarter of the way through the first season though.  We're also huge B5 fans and like Star Trek as well (he leans toward DS9, me toward Voyager, and we both liked TNG).  Any Firefly fans?

Sorry you didn't get to help out, Tom, but at least it all worked out for the best.

[Marten]

I suppose you could describe me like that. I'm a DS9 guy, though I've been known to lean towards B5 and more recently, the Battlestar: Galactica (The new series; I've never seen the old series.)

The original series had the better music.