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Space Quest II Remake Imminent

Started by MusicallyInspired, December 30, 2011, 08:29:36 PM

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MusicallyInspired

SQ2 by Infamous Adventures is about to be released. The IA team is chatting with people at http://www.efnet.org/ for those interested in anticipation of its release. Put a name in the "webchat login" section and change the channel to #InfamousAdventures and then log right in.

The Hero

not working for me but are we close at all

MusicallyInspired

It's being uploaded right now to the mirrors. Won't be long.

dark-daventry

I am so very excited for the release of this game. I've been waiting for awhile, and I am so happy we're finally getting it! I'll be sure to download it as soon as I can.
Founder of the (new) Left Handed Alliance Of Left Handed People (LHALHP)

Gay and proud of it!

Avid Adventure Game fan

Damar

#4
Just found out that this was released and I downloaded it this evening.  And I just finished it with the full 250 points.  Just sat down and played it straight through, having fun along the way with the nose and tongue icons and with all the fun deaths.  I want to write all my feelings about the game, but it's quarter to 2 in the morning now.  I need sleep.  So I'm just going to say this for now:

This game is the best fan game I've ever played.  Period.  As a matter of fact, I will go ever further and say that this game is truer to the spirit of the original than any other fan game I've played.  The humor in this felt like an actual Space Quest game.  And I'm not talking about the 1:1 remake stuff.  The original material was also right out of Space Quest.  I mean, right from the Simon decontamination you had me laughing out loud.  I really can't rave enough about this game.  I'll probably post later about why it's so awesome and such, but for now, just know that this is a freaking masterpiece of fan-made goodness.  Seriously, I know I sound like some driveling little fanboy but this game deserves nothing less.  Loved it.  Absolutely loved it.  I sincerely hope that you guys remake SQ3 (which is probably too much to hope for considering how much work it would be.)  But you guys can do it justice.  All the little details you had in this game, it was clearly a labor of love.  From the hovercraft right out of Jabba's fleet to the Monolith Burger to the mocking fake exits and out of order destruct override button to the wicked awesome end credits this game was made with love and dedication.

I just loved it.  Every minute.  And now I'm going to go sleep.

Lambonius

Quote from: Damar on January 07, 2012, 11:54:34 PM
Just found out that this was released and I downloaded it this evening.  And I just finished it with the full 250 points.  Just sat down and played it straight through, having fun along the way with the nose and tongue icons and with all the fun deaths.  I want to write all my feelings about the game, but it's quarter to 2 in the morning now.  I need sleep.  So I'm just going to say this for now:

This game is the best fan game I've ever played.  Period.  As a matter of fact, I will go ever further and say that this game is truer to the spirit of the original than any other fan game I've played.  The humor in this felt like an actual Space Quest game.  And I'm not talking about the 1:1 remake stuff.  The original material was also right out of Space Quest.  I mean, right from the Simon decontamination you had me laughing out loud.  I really can't rave enough about this game.  I'll probably post later about why it's so awesome and such, but for now, just know that this is a freaking masterpiece of fan-made goodness.  Seriously, I know I sound like some driveling little fanboy but this game deserves nothing less.  Loved it.  Absolutely loved it.  I sincerely hope that you guys remake SQ3 (which is probably too much to hope for considering how much work it would be.)  But you guys can do it justice.  All the little details you had in this game, it was clearly a labor of love.  From the hovercraft right out of Jabba's fleet to the Monolith Burger to the mocking fake exits and out of order destruct override button to the wicked awesome end credits this game was made with love and dedication.

I just loved it.  Every minute.  And now I'm going to go sleep.

Haha...nice.  Glad you loved it!  Looking forward to your complete thoughts.  Why not create an account on the IA boards and post it there while you're at it?  I'm sure the rest of the team would love to hear it.  :)

Blackthorne

Damar,


Thank you.  Really, that was wicked awesome to read.  I appreciate it; the whole team appreciates it..... glad you liked it.... wow.


Bt
"You've got to keep one eye looking over your shoulder
you know it's going to get harder and harder as you
get older - but in the end you'll pack up, fly down south, hide your head in the sand.  Just another sad old man, all alone and dying of cancer." - Dogs, Pink Floyd.

Damar

Quote from: Lambonius on January 08, 2012, 12:46:20 AM
Haha...nice.  Glad you loved it!  Looking forward to your complete thoughts.  Why not create an account on the IA boards and post it there while you're at it?  I'm sure the rest of the team would love to hear it.  :)

I may do that.  If for no other reason then to tell those whiny children demanding the password in the mysterious staircase thread to shut their pie-holes.  I deal with selfish entitlement nearly every day, but some of those guys have reached all new levels of whiny, childish, pettiness.  It's kind of incredible.

Anyway, my formal thoughts on the remake are as follows, formatted into a wall of text for your viewing pleasure:

The good:
Pretty much everything.  But I think that if I had to identify the one thing that really made this game for me, it's the tone.  Most of the time the tone in fan games just feels slightly off.  And that's totally normal and expected.  It's not the original creators.  It's the fans.  So you get fan service in there, things that don't necessarily fit shoehorned in, the fan's own personal preferences in gaming that make an appearance, and so on.  AGDI has the Father and the First Mages and all that stuff that I never really felt fit, but that's them.  TSL has their drama (or melodrama if you prefer) that was never as thick in the original.  Even in the 1:1 remakes, you get some artistic flourishes that don't quite match the style of the original.  Like I said, that's all to be expected.  But that's not the issue with this remake.  This remake feels like a Space Quest written and created by the Two Guys themselves.  The humor is the same.  The added humor is jokes they would have made.  It's that same level right down to some of the jokes, I swear, sounding like they dated from the late 80's early 90's (and not in a bad way.)  And the best part was that at no time did I feel that you guys weren't expressing yourself, or not being true to your own humor in order to make it just like a Space Quest.  It was much more organic, as if your natural humor and creativity is basically the same humor that fits in Space Quest.  So everything you guys did that was new felt like a perfect fit.

I also loved the expanded asteroid.  Seeing Monolith Burger was great.  And it didn't even feel like a fan service.  A twisted, spoiled, (and obese!) narcissist like Vohaul would have his own Monolith Burger.  I liked the fact that the floors now had their own personality instead of just being the same screens over and over.  The vastness of the mail shuttle floor brought to mind the supercomputer where you had the showdown with Vohaul in SQ4, which was a nice touch as well.

The new solution to the root monster puzzle (while not necessarily needed) was hilarious.  Again, it was a great way to exert your own creativity in the writing and production, and it still felt like a Space Quest, not like IA doing Space Quest.

Outside of all of that, the humor really was the highlight.  I loved the Simon decontamination.  Vohaul's line of "Forgive me, I'm a kidder" was delivered so perfectly it made me burst out laughing.  Everything having to do with the hapless rabbit (particularly the "you're just not a nice person, are you?" message you get if you use the rabbit without prepping it) was hysterical.  For some reason the response, "Hell smells like a little pink dude" cracks me up to no end.  Roger mooning or flipping off the mountain ape.  The cheerful music on floor 3 with the bouncing and homicidal scrub-o-matic.  Marvin's mistaking everything for a weapon.  It was all hilarious and I found myself laughing constantly.  It's hard to find any fault with a game that makes you laugh so much.

The bad:
The only complaints I have are as follows:
I wasn't a fan of some of the voice acting that was modulated for pitch.  The narrator sometimes being an exception to that (though other times the modulated sound bugged me slightly.)  Likewise sometimes Roger didn't sound like I expected him to.  Though even in the Sierra games Roger rarely sounded like I expected.  Also Marvin's voice sometimes fluctuated from the low, depressed sound to a high-pitched robotic voice.  In the end, though, it's a voicepack on a fan game.  And voices are rarely ever perfect.

Some of the differences between what was written in the text boxes and what was actually said could be distracting.  And there were times when the voice was missing entirely.

In the mines, nothing is clickable, leaving the player to believe that it's all just window dressing.  But that leaves the player unprepared when they actually have to manipulate something to get out.  That's made worse by the fact that the object is only clickable with the hand icon.  The eye gives no response, again, making the player believe it's just a dead end.  There really should be a response when you click the eye icon.

Lastly, there are occasional inconsistencies when something happens and what is said.  For example if the guard bots (who are no longer Robocop!) on level 2 catch you, they torch you, but the text still refers to the death in the original when they laser you.  Likewise if the Pinkunz kill you because they don't trust you, they sling rocks like the original, but the death message states you were SPEAR'D!

And before anyone says it, let me say it for you.  All these negatives are incredibly petty and picky.  I am fully aware.  And none of these issues stopped me from enjoying the game.  Ok, the issue in the mine, I think is a flaw, but everything else is nitpicky and not even really worth being listed as a negative.  But the simple fact is, that I really don't think you guys made any major errors.  These nitpicky points are literally all I've got.  Your game was that good.  I have to resort to admittedly petty, pointless gripes just to fill out my wall of text and act like there were negatives.  This was, no exaggeration, as close to perfection as I think any fan game can get.

So to sum up, I loved this game.  It was so good, once I downloaded it I couldn't put it down.  I loved every minute of playing it and it fully captured the essence of what Space Quest is.  Like I said before, I know it's a long shot, but I would love to see SQ3 remade by you guys.  I have no doubt it would be just as much of a treat to play as this game was.  There's really not much else to say except that this really is the best fan game I've played.  It's just too much fun.  Fantastic job you guys.

Now I'm off to figure out what phrase somehow combines the concepts of Native Americans, sleeping, gold, and hope.  Because seriously, I gots to find a way down that staircase!

snabbott

Nice review, Damar! I'm not very far into the game, but I'm enjoying it immensely! :D

Steve Abbott | Beta Tester | The Silver Lining

Lambonius

#9
Damar, first--THANKS FOR THE AMAZING REVIEW!  Awesome.  Great to hear such kind words from such a discerning fan.

Second, I HIGHLY recommend you check out the game again once our updates are available--nearly all of the issues you presented have been addressed or are on the list to be addressed.  A patch is on the way this week--possibly tomorrow, and we have more bug fixes and a few content additions coming in version 2.0 a short ways after that.

We had some difficulties with beta testers (or rather, a lack thereof) during the process, and a LOT of stuff (though nowhere close to as much as when we released KQ3) has been reported now that the game is released.  We're planning on fixing as much of those issues as humanly possible.  Version 1.1 (patch coming VERY soon) is already much more stable, and fixes some of those little nitpicky issues (more fixes coming though.)

I agree with you in full about the lack of hotspots in the mines--that mine background was updated significantly late in development, after the voice pack was mostly complete.  It really came down to us wanting to get the game out by the deadline we had set and simply not having the time to record new voicework for a new set of interactions.  1.1 should address this issue with (unfortunately non-voiced) stop-gap interactions for the object in question.  Additional voice work for areas we may have missed is on the way for version 2.0 though.  :)

Anyway, glad you loved the game.

wilco64256

Quote from: Lambonius on January 10, 2012, 04:47:32 PM
We had some difficulties with beta testers (or rather, a lack thereof) during the process, and a LOT of stuff has been reported now that the game is released.  

Maybe that's what happened to Skyrim.
Weldon Hathaway

Lambonius

Quote from: wilco64256 on January 10, 2012, 05:42:43 PM
Quote from: Lambonius on January 10, 2012, 04:47:32 PM
We had some difficulties with beta testers (or rather, a lack thereof) during the process, and a LOT of stuff has been reported now that the game is released.  

Maybe that's what happened to Skyrim.

Heh...except we made ours for free in our spare time.

snabbott

Quote from: Lambonius on January 10, 2012, 04:47:32 PM
We had some difficulties with beta testers (or rather, a lack thereof) during the process, and a LOT of stuff has been reported now that the game is released.  
That's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, the players are the best testers of all (if only because there are so many of them). If you waited until the game was "perfect," you'd never release anything!

Steve Abbott | Beta Tester | The Silver Lining

wilco64256

Heh, the tough part there is when you decide to release a new version figuring out when to stop patching stuff that people are reporting.  Every time you think you're done something else comes in and you go, "Oh that'd be a quick fix let's hurry and do that one too."
Weldon Hathaway