TT's King's Quest: R.I.P. (aka Really Improbable Project) [Archive]

BagginsKQ

12/05/2012, 07:05 am

I've noticed Infamous Adventures has been pretty tightlipped about Kingdom of Sorrow too... They recently cancelled production on King's Quest III Gold Edition over legal and monetary reasons...

Infact when they made the announcement they stated;

The world, though, has changed so much now that we don't really need to keep these franchises alive anymore. All the old series are available once again for sale through various websites such as Good Old Games, and other professional outfits are making games again. And with the advent of technology such as tablets, and online console stores, these franchises are worth something again... The King's Quest rights have been licensed out for new games...

The other harsher truth is that we have flown under the radar for a long time, in a legal gray area with these fan remakes. Even though they are entirely not-for-profit, and are 100% original works (we didn't use anything from the original games in our remakes) the games themselves are copyrighted. We have only ever treated these games with respect and didn't do anything to degrade the value of the titles. But bottom line, if the owners of the copyrights wanted to, they are within their rights to issue cease and desist notices. With these franchises actually profitable (and the titles for sale again) it's not worth our effort to continue to make these without monetary return.

The fact is that problem is, that not only would "legal issues" potentially affect a KQ remake, it would be more likely to affect a brand new 'original' (ok semi-original) game in the series by a fan development team. Certainly, they aren't going to get 'monetary' return on Kingdom of Sorrow either from a fan development standpoint. If the same standards are applied to Kingdom of Sorrow, my guess its possibly cancelled as well. They certainly haven't given any updates on the game since like 2011.

Only other possiblity I could see is somehow IA is making some kind of deal with Activision to license King's Quest, and sell Kingdom of Sorrow for profit. But I think that outcome is probably very unlikely.

We do know apparently, that most of the teams at Infamous Adventures are switching over to develop Quest for Infamy which will be an original IP and sold for profit.

Chyron8472

12/05/2012, 11:02 am

It still baffles me how these teams who once made fan-games at a snails pace, then blaming it on ensuring quality and low personal priority, are taking forever on their retail games.

Time is money. The more time they waste before releasing a game, the less money they get. Certainly, quality control and attention to detail are important, but taking years to complete a for-profit project which honestly should take months makes no sense to me when there is money to be made on the finished product.

MusicallyInspired

12/05/2012, 12:56 pm

Months? lol. You try it.

Chyron8472

12/06/2012, 12:20 pm

Come on... they're making old-school adventure games, drawing old school graphics and using a long-existing game engine. They're not making Skyrim... nor The Walking Dead, for that matter.

I would think the design phase should take the longest amount of time, what with writing the story, working out the individual settings, composing the music, etc.

Once it's worked out what you're going to do, actually doing it shouldn't take years with this small of scope a project, especially when the longer you take the more potential profits you lose.

BagginsKQ

12/06/2012, 02:35 pm

Fresh hand-drawn artwork and music probably takes a long time? Especially if the artists aren't particularly motivated? At least that's what it seems like happens with most of the fan games, they spend much of their time hoping to get finished pieces sent to them.

Of course there is a story that the music for KQ4 only took a week or so, but they had to keep getting onto the musician to keep him motivated, LOL. Following him around his house, and the town he lived in.

MusicallyInspired

12/06/2012, 03:29 pm

So go ahead and do it then if you think it's so easy. :p You're overlooking hundreds of unforeseen complications that you can't even begin to anticipate.

Lambonius

12/07/2012, 12:07 am

POS took just over a year to release the first episode of Cognition, didn't they? Isn't that exactly what they said they'd do?

As for IQ, we're only about 6 months out from our Kickstarter at this point, and I can personally vouch for the fact that significant work is being done daily on the project. And it's also worth mentioning that hand-painted (not just drawn) art takes just about as long as it would to make a full-size physical painting, even at low resolution, if you want it to look any good.

The only fan-turned-commercial group that is taking an inordinately long time to release games is Himalaya, and they are entirely funded out of their own pockets.

And lets also not forget that the entire budget of our game is probably less than the typical salary of one individual person working on professional industry teams like Bethesda or even Telltale.

Blackthorne519

12/07/2012, 09:06 am

Yeah, I'm pretty confident that Tell Tale's King's Quest is dead. It's just not in their wheelhouse anymore. They've had great success with The Walking Dead, and I think that's propelling the company, and development, into other areas.

In fact, I'm so confident that they won't be making King's Quest, I'll give everyone who posts in this thread a free copy of Quest For Infamy next year if they're still making it.

Bt

Chyron8472

12/07/2012, 09:11 am

We'll hold you to that, lol. :D

The only fan-turned-commercial group that is taking an inordinately long time to release games is Himalaya, and they are entirely funded out of their own pockets.
I suppose that's what it is.

Macfly77

12/07/2012, 10:06 am

In fact, I'm so confident that they won't be making King's Quest, I'll give everyone who posts in this thread a free copy of Quest For Infamy next year if they're still making it.

Bt
I'm already getting a copy through the Kickstarter, but you can't have too many. Thank you! ;)

FitzoliverJ

12/07/2012, 10:08 am

In fact, I'm so confident that they won't be making King's Quest, I'll give everyone who posts in this thread a free copy of Quest For Infamy next year if they're still making it.

I'd like a freebie as well.

Blackthorne519

12/07/2012, 10:22 am

It's true! If you've posted in this thread, and Tell Tale makes and releases King's Quest, I'll give you a copy of Quest For Infamy.

Cause it ain't gonna happen.

Bt

BagginsKQ

12/07/2012, 10:56 am

Hahhahah

MusicallyInspired

12/07/2012, 11:00 am

Awesome.

Farlander

12/07/2012, 02:05 pm

Once it's worked out what you're going to do, actually doing it shouldn't take years with this small of scope a project, especially when the longer you take the more potential profits you lose.

It doesn't work like that, EVEN with a small-scoped project. Tons of stuff change a lot mid-development. Even if you spend a year in pre-production, planning everything perfectly out... The end result would still be greatly different.

KatieHal

12/07/2012, 08:36 pm

It's never as easy as you think it's going to be, there's definitely far more involved than what you're thinking, and trust me, we are ALL aware of time = money!

And yes, it was almost exactly a year between launching the Kickstarter for Cognition & releasing Episode 1, nearly to the day in fact. :)

Of course, as long as we come in under 8 years of development time, we'll still be beating our time spent making TSL Episode 1, so I think we're good there. ;)

Woodsyblue

12/11/2012, 03:40 am

Yeah, I'm pretty confident that Tell Tale's King's Quest is dead. It's just not in their wheelhouse anymore.

A couple of years ago nobody would have said a game like The Walking Dead was in Telltale's wheelhouse and yet they pulled that one out of the bag. Just because they haven't made a game like King's Quest in a while doesn't necessarily mean they can't. Only time will tell.

MusicallyInspired

12/11/2012, 03:44 am

You'll see.

Blackthorne519

12/11/2012, 10:24 am

A couple of years ago nobody would have said a game like The Walking Dead was in Telltale's wheelhouse and yet they pulled that one out of the bag. Just because they haven't made a game like King's Quest in a while doesn't necessarily mean they can't. Only time will tell.

It's just not their concern any more. Honestly, it's a project better left to a smaller studio - the audience isn't big enough for what Tell Tale does now.

Bt

Zeruis

12/11/2012, 01:54 pm

So I'm taking it that King's Quest is a no go? A few months ago, I could have sworn that TT was working on KQ from their Twitter bio. Looks like any mention of the game is removed and only Fables is there now.

magodesky

12/11/2012, 03:34 pm

In fact, I'm so confident that they won't be making King's Quest, I'll give everyone who posts in this thread a free copy of Quest For Infamy next year if they're still making it.

Wow. This is the kind of post people really end up regretting that they posted a few months after they posted it.

On the other hand, I missed out on the Quest for Infamy Kickstarter when it was running. So I'm looking forward to getting my free copy. Thanks!

Woodsyblue

12/11/2012, 03:56 pm

It's just not their concern any more. Honestly, it's a project better left to a smaller studio - the audience isn't big enough for what Tell Tale does now.

Telltale are moving into a bigger office so we can safely assume that they'll be able to go back to tackling more than one project at a time. It's always possible that a main team works on the bigger budget games like TWD and BttF second seasons while a smaller team work on the more niche titles like Fables and King's Quest.

Just a thought.

Blackthorne519

12/11/2012, 05:11 pm

Wow. This is the kind of post people really end up regretting that they posted a few months after they posted it.

On the other hand, I missed out on the Quest for Infamy Kickstarter when it was running. So I'm looking forward to getting my free copy. Thanks!

I don't think so. But, hey, if I do - I know you'll enjoy QFI and if I'm wrong, I'll gladly give you a copy!!

Bt

Hero1

12/12/2012, 06:10 am

Whether a Kings Quest game comes out or not I don't think the 5 game announcement really worked...I'd rather Telltale only announce projects 3 months out from them being released.,not when they haven't even begun to be worked on..that way you can have a huge marketing push and people get excited..it worked for Tales of Monkey Island..but if you announce something and never even mention it 2 years later you lose all the momentum

Lambonius

12/12/2012, 06:14 am

I don't think Telltale even has the license anymore, frankly. That's why they keep removing any mention of it from their public statements. I'm actually a little surprised this forum is even still up.

MusicallyInspired

12/12/2012, 05:35 pm

The 5 game announcement reminds me of Valve saying that we'd get 3 episodes of Half-Life 2 all within a few years time.

RingmasterJ5

12/12/2012, 09:52 pm

At this point, I'm not sure TTG is even capable of making a game that is on par with the difficulty of the original games, if they're making one at all.

In fact, I'm so confident that they won't be making King's Quest, I'll give everyone who posts in this thread a free copy of Quest For Infamy next year if they're still making it.

At this point, it's less "will they make it" and more "what shambling corporate presence will they turn the license into".

With QFI, DFA, and the rest of the Kickstarted adventure games(and companies like Wadjet Eye), it almost seems like we're getting another mini-renaissance of adventure games. 2013 will be an AMAZING year for point-and-clicks, but it(at least to me) doesn't look like TTG will be leading the pack as they did the past few years.

And this (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-12-11-monkey-island-creator-plans-disney-talks-ahead-of-new-game) also has a very slight chance of happening.

lightskintwin

12/14/2012, 03:40 pm

It's just not their concern any more. Honestly, it's a project better left to a smaller studio - the audience isn't big enough for what Tell Tale does now.

Bt

This is exactly how I feel.

I'm pretty certain Telltale's version of King's Quest won't ever see the light of day. It would honestly be a step backwards for them at this point.

akdb8r

12/15/2012, 10:38 pm

Okay. A promise of a free game if King's Quest is ever made is enough to get me to register for the forum and post in this thread! ;)

(Nice to meet you all!)

tomimt

12/17/2012, 06:59 am

I'm pretty sure, that this will see the light of day. KQ is a legendary name after all, and I can already see how it can be used to sell a ton of copies, considering how adventure games have been on the spot light lately thanks to Kickstarter.

MusicallyInspired

12/17/2012, 01:24 pm

Ask a random gamer if they've heard of King's Quest. It's not legendary. It should be, but it isn't.

BagginsKQ

12/17/2012, 03:40 pm

Most modern gamers, have never heard of it... Unless they have been introduced to it by someone from 'our' generation or earlier generations (mainly speaking of those grew up in the 80s or 90s or earlier), more than likely they would have never heard of it, since Sierra has been gone about 15 years now (almost 15 years since the last official KQ game)... That's a long time, in video game/computer years...

Even still, in the 80s and 90s gamers were a very small nitch in society, so most people during those years never played any games at all. PC gamers were an even smaller nitch, as the cost of computers limited who bought them.

MusicallyInspired

12/17/2012, 10:23 pm

Indeed. Being one of the most popular games back then isn't the same as now. Now almost everybody has heard of Call of Duty or Halo or something. But back then barely anybody heard of King's Quest when it was big. Comparatively speaking.

tomimt

12/17/2012, 10:53 pm

Legendary still is something that they can use to advertise it. They are after all bringing back a legendary title and I can see that being used as a major selling point. And that by its own right can arouse interest from new generations as well, not to speak about that old school game titles are on the rise on the general level, thanks to digital distribution.

BagginsKQ

12/18/2012, 06:17 am

Well ironically enough Sierra used 'legendary' nearly every time Roberta Williams made a game! But she isn't behind this one.

I'm pretty sure they used 'legendary' in advertising previous KQ games when they were first released. But, hey it sounds 'cool', and it is a game series that bases much of its material on fairy tales and 'legends'....! So they aren't exaggerating.

Irishmile

12/18/2012, 08:36 am

the walking dead winning game of the year is cool... But I do not think people will all of a sudden start buying up adventure games like crazy.. I don't think ttg is now too big or successful for kings quest.. I really doubt we will see another adventure game reach that sort of acclaim any time soon... Besides there have been a few older series getting successful reboots like x-com no reason to think kings quest can't do the same with a company who just got alot of attention for a game in that genre.

Beacon80

12/18/2012, 09:27 am

In fact, I'm so confident that they won't be making King's Quest, I'll give everyone who posts in this thread a free copy of Quest For Infamy next year if they're still making it.

I'll take that bet (especially since it doesn't cost me anything if I lose).

This seems to be the way TTG works. They announced a ton of games at once, but then have pretty much been tight-lipped on all of them until near release. I didn't hear anything about the Walking Dead until it came out, and suddenly it was everywhere. They barely said the word "Fables" since the initial announcement, but they're talking about it now.

mosfet

12/18/2012, 01:01 pm

The fact that they announced this game makes me think they've committed to making it. Have they ever announced a game then gone back on it? The success of TWD might push KQ down the queue a bit, but I can't imagine them going through the trouble of acquiring the license only to do nothing with it. This company has taken much greater risks than KQ (Hector).

As long as there's nothing official said, and this forum remains open, I see no reason to think it's not getting made.

magodesky

12/18/2012, 02:37 pm

Ask a random gamer if they've heard of King's Quest. It's not legendary. It should be, but it isn't.

There are also a lot of people who watch movies who have never seen Citizen Kane or Casablanca. Numbers aren't everything when it comes to such distinctions.

BagginsKQ

12/18/2012, 05:11 pm

Have they ever announced a game then gone back on it?

Some of us are still waiting for the rest of the Bone series :p...

Macfly77

12/18/2012, 05:40 pm

Some of us are still waiting for the rest of the Bone series :p...
I'm one of them! (http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=749774&postcount=13)

JuntMonkey

12/18/2012, 09:51 pm

Posting for free Quest For Infamy.

Blackthorne519

12/19/2012, 06:35 am

Heh. Right on, JuntMonkey. The codicil is that if QFI comes out before KQ, you have to buy QFI. I'll HUNT YOU ALL DOWN AND MAKE YOU PAY!

Bt

Irishmile

12/19/2012, 07:52 am

Shame on those of you who hadn't already bought your copy of QFI...

BagginsKQ

12/19/2012, 09:09 am

I'll wait for the reviews or my free copy, whichever comes first (or last). I'm so confused...

magodesky

12/19/2012, 02:30 pm

Heh. Right on, JuntMonkey. The codicil is that if QFI comes out before KQ, you have to buy QFI. I'll HUNT YOU ALL DOWN AND MAKE YOU PAY!

Oh, I see. Adding on some conditions now. Not so confident any more, are we? :D

Blackthorne519

12/19/2012, 03:19 pm

Oh, I see. Adding on some conditions now. Not so confident any more, are we? :D

Hahah, no - I am fully confident. I just want you all to buy and enjoy QFI, that's all!

TellTale isn't making a King's Quest game.

Bt

Lambonius

12/19/2012, 10:29 pm

...no reason to think kings quest can't do the same with a company who just got alot of attention for a game in that genre.

Telltale's Walking Dead is NOT in the same gaming genre as King's Quest. King's Quest is an adventure game.

chucklas

12/20/2012, 05:39 am

Posting for my free copy as well! HA! :D

Seriously though, no chance they are making KQ.

BagginsKQ

12/21/2012, 03:37 am

Ah hah, it's a trap!

I've figured it out, I think.

See pay attention to nearly everyone involved with QFI or Infamous Adventures in some way (particularly look at comments by Lambonius). In the past they have basically said that even if Telltale puts the title King's Quest on a game it won't be a true "King's Quest". The arguement is that it will be so watered down that it won't even be an 'adventure game' in their mind, or argueably even a 'game' (they think it will end up being a not-so "interactive movie".).

Thus even if they make a game with King's Quest in the title, they won't give out a free copy of QFI, because Telltale didn't really release a real 'King's Quest" "game"!

If Telltale fails to release anything, well its all the easier for them!

Aha, I'm on to your wily ways Blackthorne...

Blackthorne519

12/21/2012, 07:12 am

Hahah - no, no - no quantifying a "King's Quest" validity. If Telltale releases a game entitled "King's Quest", I stand by my previous offer. No tricks.

Bt

nOmArch

12/21/2012, 02:34 pm

Ok you convinced me, posting for my free copy as well.

magodesky

12/21/2012, 03:01 pm

I don't know. The stipulation of "if it comes out before QFI" is a little weak. I don't know when you're planning on releasing it. The Kickstarter page says December 2012, but even if it ends up being several months later than that, it's still almost certainly going to be released before Telltale's King's Quest. We can be pretty sure that even if Telltale is still working on KQ, it won't be released until after they finish Fables. So if they release episode 1 of Fables in January, the absolute earliest we'd see the first episode of King's Quest is June 2013. And that's being absurdly optimistic about Telltale's production schedule.

But that's okay. I was already planning on buying QFI anyway, so I won't hold it against you. ;)

That said, I think it's worth noting that Telltale's production schedule is unlike that of practically any other game developer in the industry. Frankly, I wouldn't expect to see anything about King's Quest at this point. If we still haven't heard anything by this time next year, then I might start worrying that it's been cancelled.

As for the comments that Telltale is too big for King's Quest now, I think that maybe the fans are letting all of the "Game of the Year" awards go to their heads. The success of The Walking Dead is certainly good for Telltale. But one success does not a video game giant make. And I doubt they'd take it as a sign that they should abandon the types of games that have gotten them this far. The way I see it, King's Quest is pretty much right in Telltale's wheelhouse.

Blackthorne519

12/21/2012, 03:08 pm

Heh... they're not working on it. We are, however, working on QFI.

Bt

Lambonius

12/21/2012, 04:44 pm

I'll put it this way: If they DO make a King's Quest game, it'll be MUCH later than previously suggested, and it won't be in the same order as it was listed in that "five game announcement" from a long time ago. Not unless they've got some great lawyers.

Irishmile

12/21/2012, 05:03 pm

As for the comments that Telltale is too big for King's Quest now, I think that maybe the fans are letting all of the "Game of the Year" awards go to their heads. The success of The Walking Dead is certainly good for Telltale. But one success does not a video game giant make. And I doubt they'd take it as a sign that they should abandon the types of games that have gotten them this far. The way I see it, King's Quest is pretty much right in Telltale's wheelhouse.

Yes this...

Fabrimuch

12/28/2012, 08:14 am

Well, I'm from the PSX generation, so I never played King's Quest and I don't have high stakes in this prject, but I won't believe it's been cancelled until TTG comes out and says so. In any case, we most likely won't hear anything official until after Fables is finished.

In any case, I also want my free game. Because, why not :p?

jonathanfrisby

12/28/2012, 09:29 am

Has anyone tried bugging anyone at Telltale for an update? I suppose they're mostly unreachable,.. but it seems worth a shot given the amount of speculation going on here endlessly.

Given the somewhat-returned enthusiasm for the genre, it'd seem silly if someone didn't tackle bringing KQ back. It'd be an easy way to tap into all that old-school street cred... It does seem a bit out-of-the-mainstream for Telltale these days, but they could go really big with it.. the franchise always had that mainstream appeal going for it. Maybe more risky than whatever licenses they've got.

I'd also be a little pissed that they let this forum stay up here for ages, where dozens of people comment regularly and their entire fan base can see it, if they're just going to throw out a "cancellation" press release... or worse, never say anything.

And in the off-chance that they actually do release something, I'll take a free copy, BT.

magodesky

12/29/2012, 09:25 am

This (http://www.siliconera.com/2012/05/16/how-telltale-wants-to-evolve-the-adventure-game-genre/) is the most recent update I've been able to find:

Can you tell us anything about King’s Quest? You guys got the license and you’re doing something with it, but we haven’t heard too much about it.

Yeah, you know, King’s Quest kind of came in with all of the other licenses at the same time. We’d already had the Universal stuff for a while and we were working on that, and then we signed King’s Quest around the same time as Walking Dead and Fables, and we’ve gone into production on both of those, and King’s Quest is one that we’ve been trying to figure out how to staff and get into production.

Do you have a vision for it?

That’s kind left for Dave Grossman and his group. We’ve certainly talked to a lot of people about it, but we really don’t have anything else to say about it right now.

So they still had the license and were still planning on making a King's Quest game as of May of this year. Could that just be outdated information? Sure, I suppose. But I don't know that anything has drastically changed in the last seven months. If anything, Telltale is now in an even better position to make a new KQ game with the success of The Walking Dead.

It kind of sounds to me like the game just wasn't very far into production while they focused their attention on more immediate projects like Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and The Walking Dead. That would also be the reason for the lack of updates. Doesn't mean we won't start to hear more as production on KQ picks up.

MusicallyInspired

12/29/2012, 11:13 am

Why would they license the game more than two years in advance then? And if something did drastically change do you really think they'd announce it? I don't.

magodesky

12/29/2012, 11:50 am

Why would they license the game more than two years in advance then?

Why wouldn't they? The fact is, in the world of video game development, two years is not that long. They got the license to Fables around the same time, and that's still in development too.

And if something did drastically change do you really think they'd announce it? I don't.

No, but there's no reason to think that things have changed in the last few months either. The only news regarding Telltale I've seen so far since that time is all of the glowing praise and Game of the Year awards that have been heaped upon them. It's hard for me to imagine the executives at Telltale looking at that and going, "OMG, look at all this money we're making. We'd better change our strategy because it's working so well."

On the other hand, all we have to point to to suggest that something has changed is the fact that we haven't heard anything in a while. Which again, is hardly surprising, especially considering how Telltale's production schedules usually go.

MusicallyInspired

12/29/2012, 11:59 am

We'll see.

Bloody Eugene

12/29/2012, 01:27 pm

you'll see.
we'll see.
you'll see.

Well, I really hope to see something, someday... ;)

BagginsKQ

12/30/2012, 03:36 am

...and some people wonder if Thief 4 will see the light of day or is just the latest major vaporware project since Duke Nukem Forever (although its not even close to reaching the time it took for that game to be released).

exo

01/03/2013, 06:40 am

Reading through this thread, there is a distinct pattern.

Those of us who have been here and were posting for the past 2 years tend to fall on the side of "not looking likely" in regards to a KQ release. And then there is a whole crowd of names I've never seen before posting on about how TT *must* be working on it....

I don't know if it was BT's offer of QFI (which any self respecting ass in this forum should have already bought by now - we are talking like $15 people), but holy hell, where did all these TT fan's come from? When The Walking Dead released, did they flood out of that forum and look for new bandwagons to jump on?

For all the new people, I encourage you to go back and read the same pedantic arguments we have been having for two years. Here are the highlights:

* TT can't make a good KQ game based on *anything* they have previously released
* KQ 8 *IS* a numbered sequel in the KQ universe, not a spin-off, not an unofficial game, etc
* The bridle in KQ4 is one of the most obscure and badly designed puzzles ever, and if you disagree I will personally haunt you
* The episodic style is not good for a game in the vein of KQ, which relies on large, open-ended worlds, and exploration (not 3 screens, 2 interactive characters, and 5 puzzles)

More ambiguously, it was generally decided that:
* TT, or anyone else who tackles the KQ license, should just reboot the series. KQ8 would be a confusing and difficult to follow-up.
* Either KQ5 or 6 was the best game yet, depends on if you like custard pies and anal retentive owls or disney songs better.

and finally, my own thought:
* It really doesn't matter if they reboot it, if it is episodic, or anything else above. Because if they somehow DO manage to release this game, it will fail in the eyes of 95% of the KQ fans here anyways. Just like you can't take a lucasarts game and shove it into an agi text parsar world, you also can't take a series that relies on difficulty, death, and complex puzzles and shove it into the current TT mold.

BT - if you ever have to give a free version of QFI out, change the main character to a fat douchebag wearing a shirt that says, "cheap prick". Also, make it so that they die every 10 minutes if they don't type in, "get on knees and suck off telltale".

Blackthorne519

01/03/2013, 07:54 am

Hahah, man, I'm working on the sprite-set for that version of QFI right now! All credit to you!

Bt

chucklas

01/03/2013, 08:20 am

BT - if you ever have to give a free version of QFI out, change the main character to a fat douchebag wearing a shirt that says, "cheap prick". Also, make it so that they die every 10 minutes if they don't type in, "get on knees and suck off telltale".

HAHAHAHAHA! I love it. We could probably just edit the sprites already made for Jan....

magodesky

01/03/2013, 03:30 pm

I don't know if it was BT's offer of QFI (which any self respecting ass in this forum should have already bought by now - we are talking like $15 people), but holy hell, where did all these TT fan's come from? When The Walking Dead released, did they flood out of that forum and look for new bandwagons to jump on?

Well, speaking for myself, I've been following Telltale for a long time. I just didn't bother posting on the forums before The Walking Dead. I don't post on a lot of internet forums in general. I started with TWD because (A) I found myself with more time on my hands when I started playing it and (B) it's unlike previous Telltale titles in being the sort of story that really encourages discussion and debate.

More to the point, so what if people are just jumping on because of The Walking Dead? Isn't it a good thing that more people are getting interested in adventure games? This is the kind of attitude that's kept the genre marginalized for the last fifteen years. Any time someone new comes along who hasn't played an outdated game from the '80s, there are too many fans who just say, "you're not allowed in our secret clubhouse."

TT can't make a good KQ game based on *anything* they have previously released

That's insane. Telltale has built its whole company on licensed games. Including the revival of series from LucasArts' golden age of adventure games like Sam & Max and Monkey Island. And, while The Walking Dead is an obvious exception, most of their games have been based on light-hearted fantasy worlds, just like King's Quest is. Frankly, I can't think of any game developer in the industry today that would be a more perfect fit for a new King's Quest game.

KQ 8 *IS* a numbered sequel in the KQ universe, not a spin-off, not an unofficial game, etc

It's actually *NOT* a numbered sequel. The official title is King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, not King's Quest 8. But I take it that your point is that MoE is official KQ canon. Which is, sadly, true. I really wish we could all just pretend it never happened. But for now, we have to assume that MoE is actually canonical.

The episodic style is not good for a game in the vein of KQ, which relies on large, open-ended worlds, and exploration (not 3 screens, 2 interactive characters, and 5 puzzles)

The same could have been said of Monkey Island, and yet it made the transition to episodic games just fine. Just because the series has traditionally had longer stories in a time when game developers were willing to invest bigger budgets in adventure games is no reason to think it can't be made episodic. Frankly, "3 screens, 2 interactive characters, and 5 puzzles" sounds to me like a far more entertaining adventure game than Mask of Eternity.

It really doesn't matter if they reboot it, if it is episodic, or anything else above. Because if they somehow DO manage to release this game, it will fail in the eyes of 95% of the KQ fans here anyways.

There's a good chance that that's true. Which is sad. But unfortunately, there are a lot of fans who are so stuck in the past they can't enjoy a new game that isn't riddled with the kinds of horrible design flaws most of us were glad to leave behind decades ago but are now, for some reason, remembered fondly based purely on nostalgia. The way I see it, that's their loss. The rest of us will enjoy experiencing a classic King's Quest tale without the frustration of dying every five minutes because there was a pixel we missed five hours earlier in the game.

mosfet

01/03/2013, 03:50 pm

That's insane. Telltale has built its whole company on licensed games. Including the revival of series from LucasArts' golden age of adventure games like Sam & Max and Monkey Island. And, while The Walking Dead is an obvious exception, most of their games have been based on light-hearted fantasy worlds, just like King's Quest is. Frankly, I can't think of any game developer in the industry today that would be a more perfect fit for a new King's Quest game.

To add to that, a ton of Walking Dead fans were saying similar things before Telltale's Walking Dead came out: because Telltale was known for light-hearted adventure games, they wouldn't be able to make a game to do TWD justice. We all know how that turned out.

MusicallyInspired

01/03/2013, 04:12 pm

The reason many believe that Telltale can't produce a quality KQ game because of their past titles is because of the idea that their past titles are nothing like King's Quest and King's Quest will never work in TT's formula. We're not talking about story tone and plot, we're talking game puzzle and world mechanics and functionality. TT is actually good at storywriting for the most part.

Also, The same cannot be said for Tales. Tales works in episodic format very well because Monkey Island already has chapters in each game. also, many of the people working on Tales worked on the original games. Also again, Monkey Island is not King's Quest. Have you even played King's Quest? Any of them? MOE doesn't really count in this discussion. Say what you want about bad game designs, many of those things that you seem to hate are what made King's Quest what it was and what made fans love it for years. You mess with that it's not going to be pretty.

thornytowers

01/03/2013, 05:11 pm

I (being a man who has played all of the kings quests), feel that kings quest could possibly be an episodic game. Imagine, if you will, the kingdom of Daventry fully available to the player at the beginning of the first episode. Where the episodes are not separate areas (unlike Tales of Monkey Island, where the location changed in each episode), but instead continuations of the story. Sierra did this in the game "Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist". The entire town of Coarsegold was available to the player at the start, but each chapter was a problem/epidemic that Freddy had to solve with what was already there. It worked very well in that sierra game and I imagine it can work with a new Kings Quest game.

Telltale's game could never be the original Kings Quest. It would undoubtedly be different than the previous kings quest games. However, honestly the Kings Quest we all know and love, changed through the course of it's saga. After the first game many changes were made: one game had real time (4), a few games changed their protagonist (3,4,7), the text parser was dropped for a mouse based gui (4-7), the game's story became more linear than just 'find three things', one added an annoying owl helper (I use the word helper loosely)(5). These are just some of the examples of how the game evolved over time. If Telltale were to make a Kings Quest episodic series, it would simply be another change over time. Telltale has not failed me yet, and if they make a Kings Quest game I have no doubt it would do sierra proud.

MusicallyInspired

01/03/2013, 08:11 pm

It wasn't all good progress, though. It eventually evolved for the worse. KQ7, and to a greater extend KQ8, were not improvements to the series in my opinion (despite the fact that I enjoyed KQ8).

Diduz

01/04/2013, 03:19 am

exo

01/04/2013, 05:05 am

More to the point, so what if people are just jumping on because of The Walking Dead? Isn't it a good thing that more people are getting interested in adventure games? This is the kind of attitude that's kept the genre marginalized for the last fifteen years. Any time someone new comes along who hasn't played an outdated game from the '80s, there are too many fans who just say, "you're not allowed in our secret clubhouse."

Hey, guess what. See that thing way over your head? Yea, that was my point, you totally missed it. I don't give a shit if you want to join the "secret clubhouse". It's not so secret. It's a public friggin forum that has been dead for quite some time. I was simply pointing out that in the debate over whether or not this game would actually be released, that it was interesting to me that those of us who have been discussing the game at length for quite some time are all the very skeptical ones, while the new batch of fellows are all very optimistic. It's not a value judgement, it is a factual observation.

That's insane. Telltale has built its whole company on licensed games. Including the revival of series from LucasArts' golden age of adventure games like Sam & Max and Monkey Island. And, while The Walking Dead is an obvious exception, most of their games have been based on light-hearted fantasy worlds, just like King's Quest is. Frankly, I can't think of any game developer in the industry today that would be a more perfect fit for a new King's Quest game.

As musicallyinspired pointed out, it has nothing to do with it being a light hearted fantasy world. It has to do with the fact that KQ games are large, open world games, full of characters, complex puzzles, disastrous consequences, and somewhat tricky mechanics. Again, you totally missed the point. I have played at least 1-2 episodes from every series TT has released. None of them are open world, none of them have complex puzzles, none of them are even difficult for that matter (I have never spent more than an hour or 2 on any episode, and I've never had to consult a walkthrough). And in recent times they have gone heavy on the quicktime bullshit.

I only got two episodes into BttF, because frankly, it was a boring ass world. The town square in episode one is static, not detailed, and takes way too long to traverse from one side to the other. I spent more time walking around in that game from one of the three available locations to one of the other three locations then I did actually dealing with any puzzles.

Jurassic Park was just a joke. Sam N Max was fun, until it got repetitive after 3 seasons. Walking Dead's "moral" choices are contrived, and really don't affect anything. Save this person? Then that person hates you. Save the other person? Now a different person hates you. None of it really effects where the game is going, what scenes take place in what order, or how the game world at large plays out. The most interesting thing about it was seeing what percentage of people picked different choices at the end. And what do you have without the moral choices? A small gameworld, with 2-3 puzzles, and a handful of conversations you can have.... oh... hey.... like every single TT game to date.

You cited Tales from MI, yet this is a LucasArts style game. Again, as has been pointed out, these were always presented in chapters. And the puzzles in Tales do not compare to those of the core games. The game was fun, humorous, and a nice short distraction, but it was also a TT game with MI thrown in... just like every game they release... They run a formula, and while that works for some people and some licenses, KQ simply isn't suited for it.

It's actually *NOT* a numbered sequel. The official title is King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, not King's Quest 8. But I take it that your point is that MoE is official KQ canon. Which is, sadly, true. I really wish we could all just pretend it never happened. But for now, we have to assume that MoE is actually canonical.

Roberta herself specifically stated that Mask of Eternity is synonymous for King's Quest 8. We've been over all this shit already, there are entire threads devoted to it. Please feel free to indulge in one of them, but don't bring that shit back up in here. The whole reason I brought it up is because it is one of many, admittedly retarded, debates that has already been put to bed around here. If your going to crash our "secret clubhouse", at least don't be a retard while your at it.

For the record, there was also quite a bit of official press material that is labeled as King's Quest 8, not MoE. Baggins is like, some creepy collector of all this stuff. He has black magic contacts and arcane knowledge. Defy him, and you are liable to received a 4,000 word response beat down. But you would know that already if you didn't walk in just to say that everything that makes KQ enjoyable to us is crap, and should all be scrapped for a light hearted romp through jackass land.

The same could have been said of Monkey Island, and yet it made the transition to episodic games just fine. Just because the series has traditionally had longer stories in a time when game developers were willing to invest bigger budgets in adventure games is no reason to think it can't be made episodic. Frankly, "3 screens, 2 interactive characters, and 5 puzzles" sounds to me like a far more entertaining adventure game than Mask of Eternity.

If the goal is to simply make a KQ game that is more entertaining that MoE, then the bar is already set so low that we should all just go home. It is fucking sad to me that you have to go and find potentially the worst game in the series and use *that* as the mark that TT might be able to push past. Nobody here wants another KQ8. Nobody anywhere wants another KQ8. Nobody here, there, or anywhere, is going to look at a TT game and rationalize any shortcomings by saying, "Well... at least it's better than 8....". The reason for this is quite simple - nobody is anxiously awaiting a TT KQ game based on their love of KQ8. While everyone here may have a different favorite KQ game, part 5 and 6 are two of the most loved. So *these* are generally the games that still define the series. KQ7 wasn't bad, imho, but it was also such a departure from a tonal standpoint (and artistically) from the much darker KQ6, that it sort of stands apart from the rest.

There's a good chance that that's true. Which is sad. But unfortunately, there are a lot of fans who are so stuck in the past they can't enjoy a new game that isn't riddled with the kinds of horrible design flaws most of us were glad to leave behind decades ago but are now, for some reason, remembered fondly based purely on nostalgia. The way I see it, that's their loss. The rest of us will enjoy experiencing a classic King's Quest tale without the frustration of dying every five minutes because there was a pixel we missed five hours earlier in the game.

There is nothing sad about loving a franchise for what it was, and hoping/expecting that any resurrections of it are true to what made you love the series in the first place.

If it is your standpoint that the old KQ games are purely loved for nostalgia, and at their core they are "riddled with horrible design flaws", then you really have no business here. If all you want from a KQ game is a light hearted fantasy, then you don't actually *want* a KQ game. KQ games were NEVER known for their stories. What planet are you from if *that* is what defines it for you?

And please, pray tell, what are all these horrible design flaws that we are all looking over with rose tinted glasses? Pixel hunting? That was indigenous to nearly all adventure games of the time period, so is it your stance that the entire genre as it stood in the 90's was "horrible flawed"?

No wonder you like recent TT games. You don't have to use that little brain of yours. They do it all for you. You get to just click through conversations and get through a quicktime event or 2, and then monkey clap for yourself for solving a "puzzle".

And for the record, I will say that no one who has been in this thread for any amount of time "left behind these games decades ago". I for one still play through the KQ games every few years, and I am positive many others her do as well. I also still go back and play lots of adventure games from that time period that I missed.

All you have done here is show how little you understand of what made the KQ series popular in the first place, and then divorced all that out of the formula, and boiled what was left down to a "light hearted fantasy".

So if that is all you want, go petition TT to make you a My Little Pony game. Then you get all the light hearted fantasy you want, without shitting all over a franchise that is much more then simply a "light hearted fantasy"

I don't see why you even want TT to make a KQ game, as you come across as hating the entire series, as well as the mechanics that made it popular. What, were you 6 back then? No patience? Couldn't read yet? I don't get it.

Bloody Eugene

01/04/2013, 06:15 am

I don't think they're working on it.
True, Telltale doesn't reveal too much about upcoming games, but Fables hasn't been nearly as secretive as King's Quest until now. We know for example that Mike Stemmle is handling Fables, he also posted in the dedicated forum as soon as the section was opened, more than a year ago.
No designer/writer/producer has ever posted anything about King's Quest.

Well, the TTG Designer JD Straw (Sinaz20) posted a lot of "personal" thoughts on KQ, but it was more then a year ago. He was "trying to compile a lot of research material to build a reference library for the eventual team." (http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=481683#post481683)

The most significant post he wrote about the game itself is his last one on KQ board:
[...]

All of our communication with designers related to previous King's Quest games has been positive.

Our designers recognize that King's Quest cannot be handled in the same fashion as games like Monkey Island and Sam n Max.

We reached out to Roberta Williams to get insight about what she felt was core to the games rather than simply relying on our experience from the gamer side of the screen.

She declined to participate because she has truly put the series behind her. She supports our endeavors.

What happened since 06/24/2011 nobody knows - that was the last time JD Straw or any other TTG staff posted anything about the game, as far as I know.

exo

01/04/2013, 06:44 am

Ah yes, I remember that post. It was a bright day for me. Not only did they admit it could not be handled in the same way, but Roberta was also out of the picture. While she gets credit for what KQ once was, I have never had much confidence in her returning to the series. It's not like a LSL game, where all you really need is Al Lowe's humor. Roberta was pretty clear even back in the 90's that she wanted to move away from the SCI style (not just art, but also gameplay). While KQ8 had it's own troubles, and there was a bit of a power struggle there at times, it was still a game she put out. And she also put out KQ7. Again, the game isn't inherently bad, but I think musicallyinclined put it best when you said it wasn't exactly a positive evolution for the series. Then, when you take into account where she was going with her other series, like phantasmagoria... well, you see a huge departure on all fronts (technologically, gameplay, story-wise) from what KQ was. In a lot of ways she reminds me of George Lucas. The guy seemed to have a phase where he was creating quite a few interesting properties. But the longer he got to sit with them, develop them, and mess with them, the farther he pushed them away from what had originally made them interesting in the first place.

And I think that this also is exactly the nail in the coffin.

Exhibit A:
"Game can't be handled in the same fashion as previous games."
Does anyone here truly think they will develop a new engine, or gameplay style for this property? Why go through all that work when they can keep buying up licenses like JP and BttF and shoving them into the same mold. Walking Dead's success will bring more companies to the table looking to expand their properties to all the markets that TT games reach. One of the huge benefits to their current engine/platform is that it can be played across so many devices.

Exhibit B:
This forum.
Who is the audience for a King's Quest game? Well, apart from a few random buys here and there, it is people who are already familiar with King's Quest. For all the reason's listed in the forums over the past 2 years, the most engaged fanbase of KQ don't feel TT is a good fit. The companies history, lack of info, and current releases are all direct evidence against a good KQ game. The only defense provided *ever* here in the forums was, 'give them a chance, maybe it will be good.".... which isn't really a defense at all, it is hoping against hope that the stars will align.

If a hefty percentage of the people familiar with the franchise don't buy it, then what chance does it have with the general public... to whom it may appear to be a generic fantasy game?

So does it make business sense to develop a new engine or gameplay model for a series that TT's style to date doesn't suit? Or does it make more sense to continue acquiring properties that more easily fit into their current mold, have a wider fan base, and don't require extra development work.

Everyone here, except magodesky, would like to have a great KQ game (he wants an interactive storybook). So the criticisms that are leveled are not to shoot down any possibility of a good TellTale release, rather they exist to guide. Games like QFI are a direct result of the desire for games of that era, and to a certain extent so is Tim Schafer's current project.

I, would love to be wrong about TT. I would love for them to release a game that shocks the adventure gaming community and is not derivative of the current state of things. I'd like to believe in a loving god and heaven too, but some things just aren't rational based on observed experiences.

Diduz

01/04/2013, 10:53 am

Well, the TTG Designer JD Straw (Sinaz20) posted a lot of "personal" thoughts on KQ, but it was more then a year ago. He was "trying to compile a lot of research material to build a reference library for the eventual team."
Whooops, I stand corrected. :o
And yet... that "eventual" doesn't sound good...

Lambonius

01/04/2013, 11:57 am

Hahaha...this thread just got good again.

MusicallyInspired

01/04/2013, 01:57 pm

Because Exo posted in it. I must say, I enjoy his lengthy posts more than Baggins'.

Blackthorne519

01/04/2013, 07:49 pm

Heh, honestly I just think MI sums it up well with "We'll see." Cause really, that's it.

But I think what we'll see with be nothing.

Bt

Deledrius

01/05/2013, 05:41 am

Regarding the "can it fit an episodic format" question:

On reflection it occurs to me that at least KQ6 (and I suppose KQ7 as well) already were heavily chapter-based, transparently so for the former and explicitly for the latter. I personally enjoyed KQ6 the best of the entire series, and while KQ7 had many flaws, the chapter system was not one of them, so I don't see TT's format itself as being particular problematic.

I agree that the general open-world of the earlier games is missing in all of TT's games (and often stiflingly so), and is something that they'd benefit from re-examining as a whole. I assume the intent is to spread out design and development over the course of the release schedule rather than front-loading it, which may make it impossible, but KQ would feel more like KQ if they could manage to build most if not all of the world up-front to provide a larger playable area.

Of course the largest point of contention will probably always be the unforgiving deaths. That's really just going to be subjective. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing them improve on the checkpoint/retry system used in KQ7; it would allow frequent and gruesome ends, but still keep to the relatively easy-going TT style. The older KQ games (and indeed, most of the AGI games) relied often on arbitrary or unfair difficulty in order to stand-in for a challenge. IME, the nostalgia for that sort of gameplay doesn't hold up so well today. Those games are artefacts (and ones which I hold a special fondness for) but I'm quite happy that in general game design has improved and relies less on such crutches.

exo

01/07/2013, 12:21 pm

I have to disagree with KQ7's chapter system not being a flaw.

Due to the nature of solving puzzles with different items, I remember loosing my save once, using their chapter system to get back to the stupid like town with the moon made of cheese, and having a completely different inventory than what I had when I was there.

Anytime you have items you earlier acquired that need to be used later, if there is any variation in how those items can be used, it breaks the whole chapter system.

I'm not sure I see how KQ6 was chapter based. There were islands.... but you could travel to them in any order. The key was having the right items or knowledge to gain entry. But that is like any adventure game. Technically you could leave the castle in KQ3 anytime you wanted... but if you didn't do it at the right time, you died. So is that chapter based? Simply because some gameplay takes place in a castle, then later it is in a town, and then later it is on a ship, etc...? Or is that just scenario changes?

TellTales chapters are very self contained. The Walking Dead was the first game to come along that took anything you did previously into account, and carried that over. Unfortunately, the game *had* to progress in a linear fashion and all choices come to the same ends, otherwise you create exponentially different endings, which requires exponential programming and assets that only a fraction of all players will ever see.

KQ games, as Josh Mandell referred to it in his most recent LSL post, were heavily focused on "flags". Character A might not interact with you, until you did a certain task or talked to someone, at which point that flag got hit, and you have now opened that interaction. Hence the tracking around within an open world.

Chapter based systems kill this off.

A chapter based game means either:
A: All items used to solve puzzles must exist within that chapter, and its locations
or
B: If an item carries over from a previous chapter, the user *must* find it before it allows that chapter to end.

In scenario A: you have already broken the open world concept. In KQ6 you use items from one island to solve puzzles on another. So if you consider the islands to be separate chapters, you are dealing with scenario B.

In scenario B: the user HAS to pick up something that he /she can't even use yet just to progress. Otherwise the next chapter is unwinnable. If you HAVE to pick up the hole-in-the-wall on one island, to use it in the maze in the next chapter... then you either have to have an end point that directs the user to go pick shit up until they find the right item to end the chapter, or you have to put it right out with neon lights so they can't miss it. No matter how you handle it, you kill off the whole exploration nature.

Missing certain things, and having to backtrack to them, is an important part of adventuring. If your always guaranteed to have the items you need, then what is the challenge?

If you play KQ7 without using the chapter marker system, it played alright. As soon as you change chapters though manually, you break your inventory. Your items change, you process of solving puzzles changes, and it breaks any immersion you had as now the character you were playing as has essentially been "reset"

Lambonius

01/07/2013, 05:20 pm

I HATE HATE HATE KQ7's chapter system. Exo has elaborated most of the reasons above, which I pretty much agree with completely. Also, in KQ7, the whole reason they did the chapter system was to essentially replace the need for manual saving. Eventually they restored the ability to save manually in a later patch, because it was such a bad decision to remove it originally, and so many people voiced displeasure at it. You only had a "save and quit" option, which REALLY made the game feel different (bad different) from the previous entries in the series. You couldn't create savegames whenever you wanted, so in order to allow the player to reply sections again, they staged the arbitrary "chapter" checkpoints. The chapters were also incorporated into the narrative somewhat, in order to create little cliffhangers within the story. I don't have a problem with that idea in and of itself, as it can enhance the narrative, but in KQ7 it always felt artificial and immersion breaking to me, like they had written the story, and then decided on a chapter system, and then weakly shoehorned the story to fit that format. It just wasn't handled as well as it could have been.

Also, you should NEVER be able to skip to the end of a game without playing the first parts like that. It was a ridiculous design decision. At least with Telltale, we wouldn't have to worry about the ridiculousness of playing the chapters out of order. But yeah, in general, chapter system = FUCKING TERRIBLE DESIGN IDEA for a KQ game. ;)

Chyron8472

01/08/2013, 05:18 am

You all keep using the acronym "TT" instead of "TTG". It's bothering me.

You say "TT" and it reminds me of the ignorant people who confuse Traveller's Tales (developer of the LEGO games)
http://i.imgur.com/R8KNC.gif

for Telltale Games.
http://i.imgur.com/qBgNi.jpg

I'm not saying you're confusing the companies. I'm saying TT is not Telltale Games' official acronym.

EDIT: Also, many are saying that TTG's KQ isn't and won't ever be made, but my question is: are there any projects that they said they'd work on that they ended up entirely not doing so? I know there is a long list of things left undone from various games (ie. Bone episode 3, NutriSpecs, downloadable Earl-Boen-voiced TOMI chapter 1, etc.) but I don't think they've neglected a project entirely.

Granted, there's a first time for everything.

Blackthorne519

01/08/2013, 05:59 am

It may just be out of their hands.

Bt

exo

01/08/2013, 06:10 am

Chyron8472

01/08/2013, 08:40 am

for christs sake chryon. Every bloody person here (on the Telltale forums) knows that TT = Telltale. If you need a friggin G added to the end to know I am referring to TellTale and not Travelers Tales, then you have been playing too many damn lego games. I really don't care if my abbreviation reminds you of another company that has nothing to do with these forums. Nor do I care if I am using their official acronym. If the acronym police show up (not the community watch that you seem to be a part of), I'll handle it. It is sad this forum has devolved into lectures on the official acronym of Telltale.

Back to the adults conversation, I always suspected one reason they tried the chapter system in KQ7 was for try to appeal to people who got stuck. Rather than having to actually solve the puzzle, they could say "screw it", and jump to another section. However, that makes about as much sense as reading a book, not knowing what a word means, and just skipping to the next section. But if it sold an extra copy of the game, then Ken says YES! It must take all the willpower in the world for him to stay away from the facebook casual games market.... if he had thought of microtranscations back then, you can bank on the fact that Cedric would have happily taken your credit card info in return for suggestions such as, "OOOOO Graham, Might want to save that pie for later...."

Either way, using KQ7's chapter system as an example to defend the use of chapters within a new game is nonsensical. That's like using crystal pepsi to defend soft drinks as a whole.

I am still completely baffled by the previous suggestion that KQ6 had chapters.... but I assume if I actually knew the reason I would just be disappointed in humanity. Luckily chryon has already fulfilled my disappointment in humanity meter for the day.

You're disappointed that Telltale Games has always gone by "TTG", and that I, as a person who prefers for people to spell and punctuate properly, would rather people used the proper name for things?

How about my name? My name is Chyron, not chryon.

Also, Telltale's previous seasons developed before TOMI are designed specifically so people could play individual episodes without playing the others, so yes comparing that to KQ7's ability to skip immediately to the last chapter does make sense. It's the matter of whether we want the ability to skip chapters that matters (which I for one, do not want--nor did I want it in TOMI.)

The reason for the chapter system in KQ7 seems obvious to me: they wanted both Rosella and Valanice to be playable, and it made sense for there to be chapter breaks when switching between characters, as alternatively allowing both characters to be have been controllable in the same space on the fly (a la Maniac Mansion) would allow the characters to meet too early in the story. No, we don't want to be able to skip chapters in KQ7, but I don't want to skip them in TOMI either and yet I can.

The issue here is really whether or not TTG's KQ will have a large expanse of explorable space early on or not.

Blackthorne519

01/08/2013, 10:22 am

My TT can beat up your TTG.

Bt

Lambonius

01/08/2013, 12:50 pm

Where is Baggins with a giant wall-of-text explaining the official reasoning behind KQ7's chapter system when you need him??

Bloody Eugene

01/08/2013, 12:55 pm

Still no words about KQ on any of the 3 interviews Dan Connors did during these days.
:(

Lambonius

01/08/2013, 05:32 pm

Still no words about KQ on any of the 3 interviews Dan Connors did during these days.
:(

I think Activision has gotten a case of tightening butthole syndrome (TBS.)

Blackthorne519

01/09/2013, 07:20 am

Heh heh. Sometimes it's fun to molest the corpse. I'll admit it.

Bt

BagginsKQ

01/09/2013, 09:12 am

Actual one the reasons they went with the chapter system was give it a "storybook" feel. Plus the fact that they need a way to switch back and forth between characters.

It's interesting to note based on unused game assets and development information they had planned for at least one extra chapter. The last chapter apparently wouldn't have been on rails, and they also had started out working on a multi-icon system like the previous games.

Yes it's also my least favorite game in the series.

MusicallyInspired

01/09/2013, 01:01 pm

Pretty sure we all know what TT Games means. Let's not get this thread locked, though. It's doing so well. Heh. It would actually be kind of ironic if it was locked.

Lambonius

01/09/2013, 06:41 pm

Come on, you two. It's the Telltale apologists we should be ganging up on, not our own. ;)

Jennifer

01/09/2013, 09:03 pm

I've cleaned the thread of the insults. Please keep your comments respectful from here on out. Thanks.

Blackthorne519

01/10/2013, 03:58 am

I do find the discussion about chapters and episodes to be interesting. I really don't like them either - as others have said, I like the actions that one does early on in the game to have an effect later. I think that's actually very important to adventure games... adventure should have a sense of continuity - of depth and length... you're going on AN adventure, not several little ones.

Bt

exo

01/10/2013, 04:44 am

This thread just got boring again.

BagginsKQ

01/10/2013, 05:34 am

Kq7 is weird in that it had alternative puzzle solutions based on actions made in earlier "chapters". But if you somehow skipped picking up an item perhaps because you skipped a chapter, they included an alternative location to pick it up elsewhere. For example the fragrant flower.

Blackthorne519

01/10/2013, 08:15 am

See, while that works - an alternative location - it almost feels like a cheat or a conceit, you know? I'd rather have an alternate solution to a situation, than be able to pick up the same item somewhere else.

Bt

BagginsKQ

01/10/2013, 10:21 am

Ya the alternative puzzles to get past the scorpion in the temple for example, or for getting back the glasses from the jackalope were much more interesting way of doing things.

On the negative side they actually destroyed a couple of puzzles in later game versions and challenge by removing the deaths associated with them. For example the dragon tail death and the erupting volcano while inside the volcano passages.

The further into the game the more linear it became was also a problem.

lightskintwin

01/11/2013, 09:59 am

EDIT: Also, many are saying that TTG's KQ isn't and won't ever be made, but my question is: are there any projects that they said they'd work on that they ended up entirely not doing so? I know there is a long list of things left undone from various games (ie. Bone episode 3, NutriSpecs, downloadable Earl-Boen-voiced TOMI chapter 1, etc.) but I don't think they've neglected a project entirely.

Granted, there's a first time for everything.

Like you said, there's a first for everything.

Telltale has never been in this situation after enjoying their biggest selling and most critically acclaimed game yet. Had they knew beforehand of The Walking Dead's success, I guarantee they wouldn't have acquired King's Quest license. They've evolved the genre to be more accessible and financially lucrative that trying to create a traditional point and click adventure with a license that honestly holds very little value in the grand scheme of gaming would be utterly stupid from a business standpoint given the broader audience's attention they now have who will be anxiously awaiting their next release.

MtnPeak

01/12/2013, 08:08 pm

Had they knew beforehand of The Walking Dead's success, I guarantee they wouldn't have acquired King's Quest license.

Good. If Telltale doesn't want to do KQ now and doesn't think the series is worth much, and if KQ fans don't want Telltale to do KQ, then Telltale should just end the charade, announce their KQ project is canceled, and stick to making interactive movies based on well-known, existing brands. Issue resolved.

jonathanfrisby

01/19/2013, 08:55 pm

MusicallyInspired

01/19/2013, 09:10 pm

Police Quest? What?

EDIT: Oh n/m

inm8#2

01/19/2013, 09:29 pm

MtnPeak

01/19/2013, 11:46 pm

Josh Mandel came by the Double Fine Adventure chat to talk about his work on Police Quest today -- his opinion (not that it matters) seemed to be that Telltale had probably lost the license / or wasn't planning on doing anything with it at this point. He didn't really elaborate, didn't seem to be in touch with them.

chat log here: http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/8322/
(2nd page link)

Wow, interesting. If he's right, maybe this is good news for KQ fans? I have admired TTG for what they have done for the interactive movie genre (and interactive movies are NOT adventure games), but never had the sense they were the right developer for a grand new KQ game.

I would love to see a competent, passionate development team (who actually loves and understands classic-style/true adventure gaming) secure the KQ rights and bring the series roaring back to life with some epic new adventures.

Seeing as how experienced teams like Replay/NFusion seem to be doing all the right things in rebooting classic series like LSL (and communicating with fans when they can [Josh Mandel is golden]), I know something similar should be possible for KQ.

How much do you think it would cost to get a license? Are we talking in the millions? Activison needs to get with it and license the KQ rights soon, especially with all this renewed interest in the classic Sierra series. As Valanice would say, "Strike while the iron is hot!"

mosfet

01/20/2013, 03:42 am

As Frisby said, that interview means nothing. Barring some sort of court decision, I just don't see how Telltale could have lost the rights by now. Based on their original announcement and the order they've been doing games, KQ really should have been made after Fables. That means the original plan would have been a 2012-2014 release. And Telltale's been around long enough to know things sometimes take longer than originally planned. So I'd say they've got the rights until at least 2015.

Whether they exercise those rights is open for speculation, but it's way too early to declare KQ dead. It's looking like TWD S2 will come after Fables. I can easily imagine a scenario where we hear nothing about KQ for another six months, but it still ends up getting made.

MtnPeak

01/20/2013, 03:59 am

Whether they exercise those rights is open for speculation, but it's way too early to declare KQ dead.

If after nearly two years of hearing practically nothing about the game is too early to declare it dead, then when can we declare it likely dead? Two and a half years? How about three years? Is 4 years still too early?

It would be one thing if they had shared at least the most basic or minimal amount of details about the game, but they have shared next to nothing. They have shown absolutely no interest in exciting fans or communicating with them in any way whatsoever. They will not even confirm that they still intend to work on a KQ game at some point.

No, the zombies in "The Walking Dead" are more alive than Telltale's KQ ever will be.

mosfet

01/20/2013, 04:05 am

If two years of hearing practically nothing about the game is too early to declare it dead, then when can we declare it likely dead? Two and a half years? How about three years? Is 4 years still too early?

We can start talking after Fables and certainly after TWD S2.

This is how Telltale operates. I'm not saying it's the right way to go about business, but that's how it is. If they care about the state of their forums, I wouldn't expect any early announcements in the future, which is kind of sad.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 04:33 am

If anyone follows Telltale's other forums, and games. Every series they announce, that gets a forum. There is next to nothing on the game, until the game is a month or three from release. No artwork, no talk, etc... They have tight lips. They don't answer to any grumpy demands from the customers. Fables was announced around the time of KQ, and Walking Dead. There was practically no news for walking Dead until 2-3 months before its release. They were announced 2-3 years ago to begin with. The same goes for Fables which was announced 2-3 years ago, and we still know next to nothing about it.

If he's right, maybe this is good news for KQ fans

Either way I'd say bad news.

Activision has attempted to revive KQ twice (and its the third attempt to revive the series tolta, including once under Vivendi U), and if all three attempts have fallen through, Activision may just let the series stay dead. Now for anyone who thinks the series should stay dead, rather than revived in a no so flattering way, it might be good news. But for those who think that the namebrand could be revived and made popular again (even if causes other fans trepidation in the way that its revived), that it might open up the possiblity of the series being developed further, and bigger better things in the future.

However, chances are if three attempts have been made (these attempts have been between 5-6 years appart, IIRC), and the companies have cancelled out each time. They may see that as proof that the series is not viable to resurrect. They probably won't be willing to sell the IP to others, because they at least make a profit through the sell of the old games.

Now, that's not to day that some of these other companies like the ones doing the LSL HD, if they prove to be successful, can't convince Activision to lease the license out to them, to make new KQ games (I personally don't want to see remakes, it is just 'milking' the games, and not progressing it further). But that could be potentially years before you see that happen.

I suppose what's another decade or two as far as a dead series is concerned, going to matter? Well for one thing, the further it goes, the least likely they will have a diverse audience for the games. The original audiences, will die off at some point, as will any developers that had any connection to the games...

FitzoliverJ

01/20/2013, 05:12 am

As Frisby said, that interview means nothing. Barring some sort of court decision, I just don't see how Telltale could have lost the rights by now.

Playing Devil's Advocate here, Telltale could have acquired an option rather than full-scale rights. If they didn't make a start within a specified time, the option would lapse. Also, they've let this wretched thread run on and on for so long that perhaps admitting that they are not proceeding would be an embarrassment. On the other hand, I still want my free game for thinking positive.

MtnPeak

01/20/2013, 05:31 am

Activision has attempted to revive KQ twice (and its the third attempt to revive the series tolta, including once under Vivendi U), and if all three attempts have fallen through, Activision may just let the series stay dead.

You are not seriously citing the failed KQ9 project from more than a decade ago to support the idea that Activision might be less inclined to license the rights to a new developer today, are you?

I mean, seriously. With the renewed interest in classic adventure series, partly as a result of the numerous Kickstarter adventure game group funding successes, I think it is safe to say that, with regard to the ability to fund new adventure games, 2012/2013 is worlds away from just 4 years ago. Crowd funding or whatever you want to call it has changed the game, and some developers who just a few years ago may have had zero chance at getting additional needed funding might now have a new option that didn't exist previously. Perhaps this could mean that there will be more developers today, who previously might have had the means of acquiring the license but not the ability to also fund a brand new game, will express interest in the KQ rights. I think more interested parties with proven track records of success could actually make Activision more inclined to license the rights to a new developer, should the Telltale thing officially be declared dead.

And I hope, for the sake of the series, that the TTG KQ is declared dead soon. When that happens I will be so happy I will get up and dance nonstop like those skeletons in KQ6's land of the dead.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 05:41 am

Actually KQ8 came out at the end of the 90s, end of 1998 to be exact. All the KQ9 revival attempts have occurrd in the 21st century.

2002ish, 2005-10ish (Silicon Knights), and now the one announced about 2011-2013.

We are talking basically the last decade.

Also, btw Kickstarters only help with the overhead, and development costs. That still doesn't mean they will be successful once completed and released. A overhyped game can still turn out to be a failure.

It also doesn't mean a big corporate entity like Activision will allow one of their games to go into "kickstarter" mode. Otherwise, maybe Space Quest 7 would be in development now, rather than SpaceVenture. But alas Activision holds its reigns on that IP tightly. The Two Guys can't get ahold of it.

LSL is a somewhat special case, in that Codemasters is going into bankruptcy and trying to sell of its assets, if Al Lowe is lucky he might be able to buy LSL back. But until then, he's got permission from Codemasters.

Also, its possible a big organization like Activison has lawyer issues, in which a kickstarter wouldn't be a valid option, as it might open up for huge class action lawsuits by multiple parties. That is to say Activision's lawyers might be holding Activision's reigns. Ya, Lawyers are all about making money for themselves...

Ya, lawsuits by backers can hurt the little/startup businesses too;

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-one-stupid-mistake-and-35000-from-kickstarter-made-an-average-guy-bankrupt-2013-1

http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/when-kickstarter-investors-want-their-money-back.html

Keep in mind this is almost the same as when a publically traded company has to deal with its financial backers and share holders. Ken Williams apparently has said it was his biggest mistake making Sierra go public, and he should have kept it as private company.

Also, they've let this wretched thread run on and on for so long that perhaps admitting that they are not proceeding would be an embarrassment. On the other hand, I still want my free game for thinking positive.

I haven't for the life of me seen Telltale developers ever visit the boards, threads, or read them, not since they were bashed by overzealous adventure gamers way back during one of the early Sam & Max seasons (middle of the 1st or during 2nd). The Admins themselves have nothing to do Telltale directly. When telltale began they used to be a bit more public.

MtnPeak

01/20/2013, 06:08 am

All the KQ9 revival attempts have occurrd in the 21st century

Yeah, well, Windows 2000 was released in the 21st century, too. And your point? Your standard of "happened in the same century" in order to show relevance and a close association and similarity between multiple projects just isn't a particularly useful one.

Let's face it: today is a new day in adventure gaming. Projects that would never have seen the light a few years ago are now becoming reality. Let's hope this means that now a greater number of developers will have the opportunity to deliver adventure games with high-end production values.

As for whether these Kickstarter projects will sell, we will sure find out soon enough. And I am very happy to even be talking about all these big new adventure releases rather than lamenting about how no developers can get funded. If nothing else, the Kickstarter funding successes prove there is significant interest in these kinds of games. That alone is a great development, and I bet you no one here a year ago thought we'd be talking about a burst of new, big, classic-style adventures to come out in 2013.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 06:27 am

Activision is about making money, and making as much money as possible. Unless someone proves that an adventure game can make as much as the next Call of Duty... They are probably going to keep IPs under wraps, or have them turned into something with greater mass popularity.

They have stopped other series, when they didn't meet expectations, and that's part of the problem why they tend to keep things to a formula, and don't experiment outside of that.

Also Activision sticks to a formula because it doesn't cost as much, less overhead, to use the same systems over and over again... That's probably why they chose Telltale, because Telltale has a proven engine that they use over and over again, without little change. It simply doesn't cost as much for them to make games. They make alot of that back even from 'cheaper' costing games ($20-30 rather than Activision's average $60). Although I wouldn't be surprised if Activision tried to milk KQ by putting it above the average game price, and into their standard priceing formats...

I'm sorry, but I think you probably expect too much out of Activision... I'm skeptical of Activision, to even care.

Also, you claim there is a new day in 'adventure gaming'. Time will tell if that is true... None of those games have been released yet, and none have proven themselves. We have what, only Cognition so far? How is it doing?

Will these games compete with the mainstream games? If not are they going beyond the overhead, and making a profit that makes the corporate suits stop and look?

Plus you completely overlook the fact that most of these kickstarters are being made by privately funded companies, include brand new IPs, and they don't have to deal with the corporate suits and lawyers. Which is probably the biggest bane of the computer industry, and 'artists' being able to make what they want to make.

This here is actually a really good article on how 'corporate suits', lawyers, etc, can affect a designer's ideas, and shoot down ideas from a independent business trying to work with a super corporation and its Ips;

http://www.polygon.com/2012/9/28/3425300/the-mirror-men-of-arkane

MtnPeak

01/20/2013, 06:41 am

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 06:54 am

Actually they announced KQ at the same time they announced Walking Dead, Fables, Hector:Badge of Courage, and I think Puzzle Agent 2. This was after first two episodes of Back to the Future was released, and just before unveiled the first episode of Jurassic Park: The Game the month before it was was to be released originally (althought that game got pushed back beyond its release date). This would seem to show that they aquired a few of these licenses after the Universal Studio licenses.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/18/kings-quest-reboot-coming-courtesy-of-telltale/

http://www.shacknews.com/article/67576/telltale-announces-new-kings-quest

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/02/18/telltale-announces-kings-quest-puzzle-agent-2-more

Hell they even announced a release date for Fables as Q1 of 2012... and we are when? Q1 of 2013?

Speaking of Sierra's demise, as I mentioned earlier, his a bit of the story I was referring to. How Corporate Suits from a giant corp can help destroy the more independent company.
It was actually much worse than anybody ever let on to. As the family member of a former Sierra employee, I witnessed it first hand.

None of Sierra's competitors had the capabilities to take on Sierra financially, which was the only option. AOL, EA and Activision all got together, banded against Sierra, and lost (this was all outlined briefly in the fraud charges against the CUC members). So, their plan b was to bring in a conglomerate that had virtually limitless amounts of money - this was found in CUC, on paper anyway.

CUC approached Sierra with the deal of a lifetime, from the eyes of the share holders. Even though Ken didn't want to give it up, he wasn't left much choice as the share holders would have ultimately dumped their shares of Sierra had the deal gone south unless he could have proven that it was all a fraud (he had nothing showing that data at the time, obviously). Which would have damaged and possibly destroyed Sierra anyway although they had plenty of cash on hand.

The goal of those involved was to dismantle Sierra, ruin its reputation and software pieces, and then make it go away --and they did just that. They ruined the franchises - post acquisition, it was quite obvious that different developers had their hands in it, and that their hearts nor imaginations were in it as was the case with prior versions of the software pieces.

Now look at who holds what little remains of Sierra (the name and IP)... Their number 1 competitor at the time. They've held on to all things Sierra very firmly, threatening anybody and everybody who attempts to do anything with the ancient software pieces. Making certain that none of Sierra's franchises are resurrected aside from those that did not transfer into their hands upon their final acquisition of what little remains, in which they have no control.

It's disheartening to say the least. The plan that was executed and carried out thoroughly. And unfortunately, it wrecked the lives of over a thousand people, as well as the economy of the small town of Oakhurst, CA, which has not fully recovered to date.

At one point, Ken even admitted he regretted going public with Sierra, as remaining private would have stopped these events from taking place - no share holders to please.
http://www.infamous-adventures.com/f...p?topic=3578.0

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 07:02 am

Here is the original announcement (Feb 18, 2011);

http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-764

Keep in mind, at that point King's Quest wasn't given a website, Fables and Walking Dead both received a basic website. Fables website hasn't changed since then either (other than a few minor date changes), Which seems to show that Fables was intended to come out (Q1 of 2012), after the Walking Dead (was originally to be released in Fall 2011), both long before King's Quest (which wasn't even given a predicted date). Since then, King's Quest still hasn't received a website.

Just look at Fables barebones website;
http://www.telltalegames.com/fables

Here are link to the Telltale website just a few days after King's Quest, Fables and Walking Dead were announced in the link above. You can follow the Fables and Walking Dead links to basic webpage for each game. Look how Walking Dead was actually originally supposed to come out before Fables back in Fall 2011.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110224031836/http://www.telltalegames.com/

Based on this, it seems that King's Quest wasn't even planned for some time after both Fables, and Walking Dead, and both of those games were supposed to have come out way back in 2011, and 2012, but got pushed back. If they got pushed back, they certainly would have pushed King's Quest back as well.

Since then everything has been out of wack.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 07:32 am

Here is a link to the press releases as of March 2011 (the month after the Feb 18 blog announcement), however, these were the only press releases given on the Feb 18th, 2011 (KQ only had that single announcement, that day in the blog).

http://web.archive.org/web/20110321104248/http://www.telltalegames.com/company/pressreleases/

The latest from Telltale news central:

Feb 18, 2011

Telltale Games and Robert Kirkman Announce Partnership Bringing The Walking Dead to Gaming

Feb 18, 2011

Telltale Games and DC Entertainment Partnering to Create Games Based on Bill Willingham’s ‘FABLES’

Feb 18, 2011

Puzzle Agent and Soft-Bellied Detective Hector Expand Telltale Line-Up

Feb 18, 2011

All-New Jurassic Park Game Roars to April 2011 Release

Notice, that they never gave an official 'press release' for King's Quest (although they announced it in a blog that day). This too would suggest that it was something way beyond the release of both Walking Dead and Fables, and as those those games as I mentioned before were supposed to be released at the end of 2011, and start of 2012 respectively. But as we know they got pushed back to end of 2012, and Fables is supposed to come out later this year.

This means they likely had only just gotten the KQ license, and no production or any planning done on it yet. Whereas they had a general idea for when Walking Dead and Fables was to be released, which suggests they were much further into their development back then.

thesporkman

01/20/2013, 08:51 am

Just a thought: JD Straw had a major episode design role on both Back to the Future and Jurassic Park but not on The Walking Dead or Law and Order. He's either been working on King's Quest this whole time or helping Mike Stemmle with Fables.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 08:58 am

Going over the reports of the 2011 press event, it seems that the License is not a specific "KQ" license but apparently more of a "Sierra license" in general that they obtained from Activision. Telltale had just decided they just wanted to work on KQ first, and then other Sierra ips later.

Telltale has entered into an agreement with Activision, current owner of the rights to the classic Sierra On-Line adventure franchises, to create new episodic games based on these series. The first will be King’s Quest.

So that was more important 'press announcment' that they could do all kinds of Sierra games, than announcing any specific Sierra game IP.

This would suggest since its a comprehensive Sierra license, that its probably pretty open ended, and meant to last several years...

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 09:25 am

Come to think of it, since they never really released a 'set in stone' press release on King's Quest. They could easily decide at any time, to oh, switch to "Space Quest" instead, for example! Maybe, not since they still gave us the King's Quest message board.

We probably won't receive more clear press release as to what is to be released in the future, until after Fables is released. As there are not much left from the previous 'press releases' to be completed.

BTW, the last official 'press-release' they have on their website is a press release of the second episode of Walking Dead! So they apparently rarely update or add press releases to the website.

MusicallyInspired

01/20/2013, 11:14 am

Consider this, everybody who's approached ActiVision about reviving a Sierra IP in some way has come back saying that ActiVision said they "have their own plans" for them. The Two Guys asked about Space Quest and got that response. Ken Allen asked if he could rerecord some music he made from older Sierra games for his new music album Kickstarter project, and he got the exact same answer. Consider that Telltale hasn't said anything about KQ in a very long time. And then there's Josh Mandel's recent statement.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 11:48 am

Lambonius

01/20/2013, 12:00 pm

Telltale could have acquired an option rather than full-scale rights. If they didn't make a start within a specified time, the option would lapse.

:cool:

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 12:03 pm

Consider that Telltale hasn't said anything about KQ in a very long time. And then there's Josh Mandel's recent statement.

When was the last time they said anything mid-2012 or so?

We need to build a timeline!

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 12:16 pm

This was something said to have been mentioned in July 2012, on Wikipedia... But no one ever verified its veracity, so I question its legitimacy. I could never find a source, despite looking for one.

In July 2012 it was confirmed that the game will use the same gameplay engine as the currently produced The Walking Dead series. It will feature either three or four episodes, and focus on two main characters, both intermittently playable.

It has since been removed (I helped with that, ;)).

As for initial game release date? Apparently back in 2011 they were aiming for a mid to late 2012 release, some time after the Q1 winter 2012 fables release;

http://www.destructoid.com/e3-roberta-williams-advised-telltale-on-king-s-quest-203396.phtml

http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/06/e3-2011-telltale/

But as I pointed out nearly everything to pushed back a year partially due to the Jurassic Park fiasco. That could have easily affected the Sierra license if they were on a 'tight' schedule, and the license had an expiration date tied to it.

Blackthorne519

01/20/2013, 12:32 pm

FitzoliverJ is barking up the right tree.

Bt

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 12:38 pm

http://www.gamernode.com/telltale-games-e3-2012-company-spotlight/

This article here, claims that King's Quest got delayed to 2012 release, and then basically vanished off the radar completely.

Could be very well they missed their 'window of opportunity', and ran out of time.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/20/telltale-games-to-expand-starting-in-spring-2013/

This article is about the only thing I could find on Telltale into 2013, it doesn't really talk about much of anything beyond the future release of Fable, and building Walking Dead season 2. More cryptic is that they are expanding in size. Are these more developers;/programmers or other types of workers? If the former, what are expanding to make?

Jennifer

01/20/2013, 02:01 pm

I got the impression the last time they Telltale talked to Josh, they just asked him a few questions, and never got back to him?

As if they planned on making the game on their own, and didn't really want the classic developers input beyond a few token interviews, so they could claim they 'consulted' with them, and had their involvement.

Isn't that basically what happened with Ron Gilbert and Tales of Monkey Island too?
Ron Gilbert's involvement was more complicated than that. He was employed full time by Hothead Games at the time, so Telltale had to make a contract with Hothead which let him get "loaned" to Telltale for a few weeks. From everything I've heard and read, I get the impression that Telltale would preferred to have Ron work on the game full time, but Ron's contract with Hothead and the work agreement Telltale and Hothead worked out made this impossible.

That said though, those weeks were the brainstorming sessions, where the overarching plot from the story was formed, the character arcs were decided, as well as the personality of the characters as well as some puzzle ideas. The dark tone of the game and the evolution of the characters (such as the Voodoo Lady) had a lot to do with Ron's input.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 02:19 pm

If it was for a few weeks, that's alot better than the "day" I heard (Cesar Bittar's claim IIRC).

Apparently according to this interview it was a 'week';

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=82089

inm8#2

01/20/2013, 02:38 pm

Hopefully we'll know either way in the near future if Telltale is doing a KQ game.

BagginsKQ

01/20/2013, 02:46 pm

If they aren't making it, take down this website, so we aren't tortured wondering what is going to happen!

inm8#2

01/20/2013, 04:07 pm

If they aren't making it, take down this website, so we aren't tortured wondering what is going to happen!

Maybe that's the strongest bit of hope that they are doing the game - the forum is still up! :)

MtnPeak

01/20/2013, 04:20 pm

I would love to see a comprehensive timeline of all the mentions of KQ by anyone related to Telltale.

exo

01/22/2013, 04:58 am

All timelines end with us dancing on the grave, so what difference does it make. Might as well put a timeline together for the invention of flying cars.

MtnPeak

01/22/2013, 06:02 am

All timelines end with us dancing on the grave, so what difference does it make. Might as well put a timeline together for the invention of flying cars.

Makes it easier for people like me to keep track of the KQ news up to this point. Some people who visit this forum might want to, without having to read through all these comments, get up to speed on where things stand. It would be for clarity's sake and to get all info in one place. I know I would have liked to have seen something like that when I first stopped by here. Besides, there can't be that much to put in it, anyway.

BagginsKQ

01/22/2013, 07:38 am

I'm thinking five announcments, news bits or interviews tops... or less? As well as any little side bits that might show what Telltale was working on, and delays.

inm8#2

01/22/2013, 01:48 pm

This is the darkest timeline.

Blackthorne519

01/22/2013, 02:02 pm

It must be, because I have a beard.

Bt

exo

01/22/2013, 06:35 pm

a timeline is pointless when every piece of "news" has been incorrect to some degree so far. Why archive a tidbit that claims the game will be out in 2012 when obviously that didn't happen? Fact is, all that is known is there was a contract signed at one point to bring some of the sierra franchises to telltale starting with KQ, and that there was some initial research done in the beginning where they supposedly determined that the current TT model of the time wouldn't fit a KQ game.

Since then, anything could have happened.

MtnPeak

01/22/2013, 07:09 pm

a timeline is pointless when every piece of "news" has been incorrect to some degree so far.

It would simply be to summarize what we know/have been told in the interest of helping people who haven't necessarily been following this on a regular basis, but who still might be interested in KQ, to quickly see the history of the project, to the extent that the information has been made public. That is the point. Not everyone follows gaming news sites on a daily basis or communicates in adventure message board cliques.

I have seen people on other sites asking, essentially, "whatever happened to that Telltale KQ project?"

exo

01/23/2013, 05:03 am

and the proper response is, "its dead"

As someone who has been following the news on this, there are no friggin hidden gems in there. It is exactly how I stated it was.

Game was announced.
TT team member talks about researching it a bit (over 2 years ago now?)
.... nothing

I can't think of anything substantial that has ever been said about the game other than those 2 things, the one or to other times it came up it was just a 'mention'.

So people can ask what happened to the Telltale KQ project all they want, a timeline isn't going to answer their question any better then saying there has been no information on it in a long time.

BagginsKQ

01/23/2013, 05:58 am

"(over 2 years ago now?)"

Just under 2 years ago. It will be exactly 2 years from the first announcement next month, on the 17th.

Which begs the question, does Telltale have a february press event every year? Or was that a special event?

Not sure when we got the last comment, somewhere between 1 to 1 1/2 years ago.

Edit:
After checking the more reliable notes, the last few comments that I can find was made in interview at Adventure Gamers.com on March 14, 2011.

http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18536

Another news was given aroound June 7-9, 2011, around the time of E3 event. Which places that comment about 1 1/2 years ago. That was when the game (and several other Telltale series including Walking Dead & Fables) was said to be pushed back for a 2012 release (which has come and gone).

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/06/09/e3-2011-first-kings-quest-details

http://www.destructoid.com/e3-roberta-williams-advised-telltale-on-king-s-quest-203396.phtml

The last reliable known reference that I was able to find, was the Siliconera interview in May 10, 2012. Which was about eight months ago.

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/05/16/how-telltale-wants-to-evolve-the-adventure-game-genre/

So ya, none of the news is "over 2 years" old yet, but initial announcement will be reaching 2 years next month.

BagginsKQ

01/23/2013, 06:30 am

As far as amusingly unreliable listings, this site lists King's Quest as coming out in 2014, LOL;

http://games.gamepressure.com/developers.asp?ID=2092

http://games.gamepressure.com/game_info.asp?ID=16348

cabezonx

01/23/2013, 06:49 am

No! It says nothing about MI S2... dammit.

BagginsKQ

01/23/2013, 06:56 am

So basically;

Timeline

http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43746

Blackthorne519

01/23/2013, 06:58 am

For god's sake. It was an option. An option that expired.

Bt

BagginsKQ

01/23/2013, 07:04 am

Hey MTN asked for a timeline. I gave it to him. That's about it... There is nothing to add

Better to put up a "timeline", than have MTN and EXO argueing over putting up a timeline for the next 20 pages!

Blackthorne519

01/23/2013, 07:58 am

Yeah, but it's not your responsibility Baggins. If people want to know King's Quest information, they can search this site, google, or visit your wiki - there's tons of info there!!!

Bt

BagginsKQ

01/23/2013, 08:00 am

Hey, I'm adding that timeline to my wiki. It's based off of stuff I already added to the wiki.

Plus you forget with my background in history, I actually enjoy that kind of thing! Especially research!

Edit:
http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43746

Well, based on what I've discovered. We know that Telltale never intended to release King's Quest until after Walking Dead, and Fable. Both Fable and Walking Dead got delayed (with fable delayed almost 2 years). The last announcement for KQ was 8 months ago, May 2012. We know even then that plans for the game would have to wait until after Fable's release. We know though at that point they were starting to build the team for KQ. Perhaps staff were able to move off some of the smaller game series (such as Law and Order, and others to start moving onto KQ). A little over a month later, Walkign Dead season 2 was announced, but we haven't heard anything about King's Quest since. Even fable has had limited information.

If Telltale's option has expired or removed, we can infer that it had to have occured after May 2012, but not before. As they were just starting to put the team together at that point.

MtnPeak

01/23/2013, 03:09 pm

Yeah, but it's not your responsibility Baggins. If people want to know King's Quest information, they can search this site, google, or visit your wiki - there's tons of info there!!!

Bt

What a bad attitude. You are not king of the forum. Baggins did a helpful thing in getting information all in one place for people who might be interested to know the history of the project, such that it has been shared with us. To say, "just let people Google on their own" shows you don't care much about helping keep KQ fans in-the-know. Information summaries save people time. Not everyone follows these forums on a daily basis (or wants to sift through some people's' self-indulgent, jokey comments while searching for worthwhile info) or wants to jump around to different sites trying to piece together what has been happening with TTG's KQ.

So, let me say a big thank you to Baggins for his/her time and effort!!

inm8#2

01/23/2013, 03:18 pm

Interesting timeline and info, thanks.

So, my general feeling is that KQ was put on the back burner in favor of TWD. But, fast forward through TWD's resounding success, the increased Telltale fanbase, and higher anticipation for Fables as a result of the previous two items, combined with hype for TWD Season 2, and you simply may have a decision that boils down to priorities.

I think TWD's success might have surprised even Telltale. Two years ago KQ was something Telltale would have wanted to appeal to more adventure game fans and build up their repertoire. At that time they were coming off ToMI, Sam & Max, and just releasing BttF. Two years later the success of TWD has done far more for the company than they would have expected of KQ.

Quite frankly, Telltale doesn't need to do KQ anymore. Whether they want to would be a different scenario.

I could be way off base. Just guessing and thinking out loud. :)

BagginsKQ

01/23/2013, 03:34 pm

It was put on the back burner for both TWD and Fables. We don't know if Fables will be put on the back burner for TWD season 2 or not! ...or if they wait and spread TWD out as a much farther into the future.

However, we do know they are expanding their company so they can make more games, at the same time.. They want to make more games, not just one to two games a year. They want to make a wider selection each year.

Earlier this year, they mentioned they would like to get into major franchises like Star Wars, Halo, or Half-life. No they haven't gotten licenses for those, they are just 'ideas'.

They mention they would like to move ties back to Lucasarts and Lucasfilms properties if possible. They'll have to deal with Disney to do that!

http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/04/the-walking-dead-developer-wants-to-work-on-star-wars-or-half-life-next/

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/44425/telltale-would-like-to-take-a-stab-at-star-wars-half-life-or-halo

http://spong.com/article/28684/Telltale-Keen-on-Taking-on-Star-Wars-Half-Life-Halo-Franchises

Blackthorne519

01/24/2013, 10:53 am

What a bad attitude. You are not king of the forum.

I'm not? Well, when did this change. I was voted Emporer of the Internet in 1997 by Netscape, Inc. That's almost 16 years of my internet fiefdom, son.

Baggins did a helpful thing in getting information all in one place for people who might be interested to know the history of the project, such that it has been shared with us. To say, "just let people Google on their own" shows you don't care much about helping keep KQ fans in-the-know. Information summaries save people time. Not everyone follows these forums on a daily basis (or wants to sift through some people's' self-indulgent, jokey comments while searching for worthwhile info) or wants to jump around to different sites trying to piece together what has been happening with TTG's KQ.

So, let me say a big thank you to Baggins for his/her time and effort!!

Baggins does that kind of stuff all the time; as he said, he likes to research and catalog stuff. But he doesn't have to do it for you lazy, half-assed homeboys who can't be arsed to find out more about your beloved King's Quest than half heartedly walking onto a forum, like a petulant child, and demand your information. I bet you don't know what a library even is or how to use the Dewey Decimal System!

You make me want to vomit.

Now, I have to go - it's time for my OsCal.

Bt

Chyron8472

01/25/2013, 01:40 am

If you pulled the stick out, you'd realize that it's not laziness to prefer not to have to spend time (that could be spent doing other things) sifting through forum posts littered with arguments about whether MoE is KQ8 while looking for news updates which could potentially even be off-topic for the associated thread(s); digging through various game news websites trying to find relevant mentions of Telltale's King's Quest; and paging through each and every Telltale Blog post trying to find something.

It's a credit to Baggins for compiling the info, not laziness that not everyone else in the world wants to have to do it.

MtnPeak

01/25/2013, 02:45 am

Bt, I apologize for my comment. I got kind of carried away. Still, I definitely disagree with you about the value of summarizing and organizing information in order to help other adventure game fans and people interested in KQ. Ever use Wikipedia? Is that a site for people who are too lazy to do their own exhaustive research of primary sources. Chyron has it exactly right here, as far as I'm concerned. Baggins did a great job on that summary. I am happy that someone with his KQ knowledge, his attention to detail and his ability to clearly and succinctly summarize lots of info is part of the KQ fan community and is willing to contribute with posts like that. Reading it I learned some things I didn't know before.

BagginsKQ

01/25/2013, 02:46 am

To be fair, the stuff is pretty darn scattered apart... It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, or looking for sheets of paper that blew to the four corners of the earth... If you don't have a general clue where to look for them to begin with it can be a bit daunting!

I had to essentially sift through 15-20 (and there was alot more than that) pages of 'google results' each (for 2-4 different search phrases), and most of these ended up being references to The Silver Lining (because that garnered most of the KQ news in recent years), the occasional article about AGDI, maybe one or two for Infamous Adventures, repeated & redundant information linking to other articles with better information (but I had already had links to), and stuff associated with the old games... So I had look past the 'snow', and find relevent references to "telltale' only.

In the process I came across news while not so much relevent to Telltale, but that I had never had come across before. But even those slowed me down from finding actual 'relevent' or even indirectly-relevent information. So no it was not easy, and I don't expect the average person to have the patience or the 'luck' to find what I found.

I can't say that I found 'everything' related either. No way I was going to check every 'result'. I have my real life research and papers to do, and those must be a priority! But I do have to say, the KQ research, was a nice break from the academic research I'm doing right now.

Lambonius

01/25/2013, 05:23 am

I don't know why, but this thread instantly makes my mind think of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2fMlg5WTMM

BagginsKQ

01/25/2013, 05:29 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic

Watch out for Scary Mary...

Blackthorne519

01/26/2013, 10:35 am

Heh, guys - it's cool. I was just purposefully acting like a crochety-old-man. Hence the "OsCal" for my brittle bones joke. I'm just an old man yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

Bt

exo

02/01/2013, 05:43 am

Bt - there is no humor in this blackened land of dashed dreams and cynicism. Hold your tongue lest you make someone laugh and face the fact that there is nothing of substance in this entire forum beyond expectations, bitterness, naivety, and youthful dreams of nostalgia.

Your humor is not welcome among the deluded souls who wander these barrens.

Blackthorne519

02/01/2013, 05:55 am

AH! The Dashed Dreams of Daventry!

You all know what happened to Daventry, right? 1,000 years passed and it became Lytton, California.

Bt

MusicallyInspired

02/01/2013, 07:04 am

Ah. That's why Graham sounds American.

BagginsKQ

02/01/2013, 07:46 am

But the news in Lytton, talks about the kingdom of Daventry as if it coexists someplace else!

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090711220758/kingsquest/images/d/d7/Lyttontrib.jpg

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100710212156/kingsquest/images/b/b2/Lyttonletter.jpg

"My name is Laura," said the young woman. "And I took your football as evidence in the bonking of one Larry Laffer. But a policeman took it away from me."

"Thank you," said Rosella. She wasn't sure what a policeman was, but she decided to set out to find one.

She came across a man in blue. "Have you seen my football, blue knight?" Rosella asked.

"I'm not a knight, I'm Sonny, a policeman. I took your football for an official investigation. But when we found out Larry Laffer was involved, we decided not to prosecute the bonker. Some guy in a white coat took your football."-From "Rosella's First Quest"

Which means Lytton and Daventry must coexist in some kind of Time Warp!

exo

02/01/2013, 09:45 am

not to mention that you actively see an assembly line of King Grahams being built under the street in LSL1. Which means.... THEY ARE ALL ROBOTS!

Wake up Graham!

Whoah... I know kung fu.

BagginsKQ

02/01/2013, 04:57 pm

Or actors, as Larry discovers the actress portraying Rosella later on.

Edward and a Unicorn from Daventry was kept in some formaldhyde vats in the Layendecker museum! Graham apparently ended up in Hell to be tormented by skeletons for eternity.

Under certain circumstance, Whittlin Willie will switch to tell the ballad of King Graham. On a newspaper clipping in the General Store, we learn that King Graham of Daventry was no longer responsible for any debts incurred by his wife Valanice, his son Alexander, or his daughter Rosella.

Roger Wilco discovered from grafitti in a bathroom that Graham is apparently a crossdresser (perhaps forshadowing Alexander?).

Graham, Larry, Rosella, Sonny, Roger Wilco, and others all got together to play cards once (Hoyle I)!

exo

02/01/2013, 06:23 pm

don't forget Crazy Nicks Software Picks.

BagginsKQ

02/02/2013, 12:13 am

"King Graham of Daventry was no longer responsible for any debts incurred by his wife Valanice, his son Alexander, or his daughter Rosella."

Yep, something must have happened to the chest of Gold! Gold hyperinflation?

inm8#2

02/12/2013, 01:41 pm

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/12/whats-next-for-telltale-games

No mention of King's Quest, other than by IGN in the first paragraph.

BagginsKQ

02/12/2013, 02:25 pm

Only two parts that might be 'connected'. Ign's mention of KQ at the beginning, and they mention later on that Telltale said it is working on a handful of projects including the Fables "tie-in". Nothing specific about what these other projects happen to be.

"Beyond The Walking Dead, Telltale also has plenty of projects in active development, including Fables, which was announced nearly two years ago."

Which it seems they are probably still farther down the pipeline.

MusicallyInspired

02/12/2013, 03:27 pm

Walking Dead has had a huge impact on the company as far as how we look at things and how we do what we do.

I think that says a lot.

Also:

David Cage has kind of gone on our path, which is asking ‘where do we take adventure games from here? How do we evolve it and make it more of a storytelling medium and less of a puzzle-based medium?’

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/210/403/OhCrap.png?1322723607

I don't call that evolution. Why is story so much better than puzzles? They are both equally important to me. This is the basis of my decline of interest from Telltale and why I never liked BTTF.

RAnthonyMahan

02/12/2013, 05:05 pm

Mmm...yeah. That quote is a big red flag.

I'm tired of people thinking gameplay and story have to be mutually exclusive. It seems most games either have high emphasis on gameplay and low on story (e.g.: Mario, Doom) or the other way around (Planescape: Torment, Heavy Rain). Ideally, every game would be great when it comes to both story and gameplay, which isn't an impossible task. Deus Ex is a perfect example of this. It's got a creative, fleshed-out setting and a captivating plot, but even without that it's a great mixture of FPS/RPG/stealth gameplay. Or to use an adventure game example, there's The Longest Journey. Great setting, great plot, great characters...and what do you know, great puzzles (except that awful rubber duck one at the beginning :p ).

If Telltale wants more focus on storytelling, that's great. I'd encourage that, especially since every last one of Telltale's games have been well-written, and that talent should shine all it can. But that doesn't mean getting rid of puzzles. Story and gameplay are not enemies, they're meant to complement each other.

Lambonius

02/12/2013, 05:55 pm

jonathanfrisby

02/12/2013, 08:43 pm

I think any mention of King's Quest by IGN is cause to not entirely count Telltale out yet...

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 12:23 am

I won't disagree, the 'on-rails' approach to story telling can really take you out of the 'game', its more akin to that old ride at epcott center, where people in your cart could all vote on the 'ending' of the ride, and then get the ending. Or if no choice was made, given a random ending.

It's also very much a revert back to the old "make a choice/choose your own adventure' books which were often said to be the inspiration for early Adventure games and sub-genre 'interactive novellas'(which are super popular in Japan). They have their place in the history of 'adventure gaming' but shouldn't be the only form of 'adventure gaming'.

Even Roberta Williams in one interview (circa Phantasmagoria just before she started working on KQ8, IIRC) nodded to wanting to moving games in that direction of story telling more organic environmental interactivity. That is as she explained old style adventure-game puzzles were a something she saw as a limitation in the technology, because of limited resources you couldn't do things you might choose to do in a real-life situation. She was hoping to make things more interactive, more of a virtual reality.

Of course even the way Roberta described it could end up more like an action game (a game like Thief series, or Deus Ex may fit into storytelling more environmental interactivity), than what Telltale has done, which in many ways stifled 'interactivity'. Although it does rely more on environmental interactivity and on the spot choices.

Blackthorne519

02/13/2013, 04:16 am

IGN only mentioned it because they'd mentioned it in their own article, three years ago.

They're not doing it. If they were, they'd have done it by now. The IPs they have now are far more interesting and lucrative for them.

Bt

Chyron8472

02/13/2013, 05:00 am

MtnPeak

02/13/2013, 05:19 am

Quote:
David Cage has kind of gone on our path, which is asking ‘where do we take adventure games from here? How do we evolve it and make it more of a storytelling medium and less of a puzzle-based medium?’

I am so sick and tired of people from Telltale talking about how they are supposedly "evolving" the adventure game genre. What they are doing is nothing new and is NOT even making true adventure games. And who the hell do they think they are with the suggestion that they alone are going to change a genre?

As I posted before, they are basically making games that rely more on QTE's (Quick Time Events) than on letting the player have more control and freedom to explore the virtual world. What they are doing is closer to interactive movies. This is NOT NEW. Telltale needs to quit acting like they are some great pioneers and innovators, since what they are doing is basically Dragon's Lair with dialogue trees, more story and an easier interface.

Clip from the QTE-filled, interactive movie and apparent inspiration for Telltale's new game design direction:

http://youtu.be/P3XNQja0H7I

Telltale's apparent philosophy is to reject much of what actually makes adventure games adventure games. It is time to stop calling Telltale an adventure game developer. We should call Telltale what they are: an interactive movie factory whose management has explicitly rejected the idea of challenging puzzles and of giving the player the freedom to explore.

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 05:39 am

IGN only mentioned it because they'd mentioned it in their own article, three years ago.

Actually only two years ago on the 17th of this month. Do you have a problem with simple math?

It will be three years next february (2014).

MtnPeak

02/13/2013, 05:51 am

Plus, I doubt the license from Activision hasn't expired by now.

I think Replay Games is going to end up doing a new King's Quest.

They got Leisure Suit Larry, and I think they will be working with Mark Crowe on a new game in the near future. Based on a recent Josh Mandel comment on Kickstarter, some have speculated that Mark Crowe is doing the Larry Reloaded box cover art and logo, and that Crowe (and Scott Murphy?) will probably have more involvement with Replay in the future.

I would welcome a KQ from Replay, since at least they love the original series and understand adventure gaming.

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 06:41 am

A new King's Quest? They have said Replay is only interested in making remakes to bring old games to a new audience.

nOmArch

02/13/2013, 07:19 am

Not entirely correct, Replay do want to make new games but at the moment they only have the license to remake the previous Larry games. They are intending (so they say) to redo all 7 games and then make the all new Larry 8 Lust in Space.

Anyway, back on topic, I'd be quite interested to see what Replay could come up with for KQ if they were so inclined.

Blackthorne519

02/13/2013, 07:47 am

Actually only two years ago on the 17th of this month. Do you have a problem with simple math?

It will be three years next february (2014).

Yes, Baggins. You should see me shop. I get excited every time I check out because I spend WAY less than I thought I was.

Bt

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 08:44 am

Snicker! :D

MusicallyInspired

02/13/2013, 09:28 am

I think Replay Games is going to end up doing a new King's Quest.

They got Leisure Suit Larry,...

LSL is not owned by ActiVision, that's the only reason.

...and I think they will be working with Mark Crowe on a new game in the near future. Based on a recent Josh Mandel comment on Kickstarter, some have speculated that Mark Crowe is doing the Larry Reloaded box cover art and logo, and that Crowe (and Scott Murphy?) will probably have more involvement with Replay in the future.

Can you provide a source for this? I can't find any evidence anywhere that Mark Crowe was involved with anything nor info that they will be working with the Two Guys in any capacity.

I would welcome a KQ from Replay, since at least they love the original series and understand adventure gaming.

We don't even know what Replay is capable of. They have yet to complete a project. Granted, they have Al and Josh, but they're working on their own element: Leisure Suit Larry. Yes Josh redesigned KQ1SCI (quite well), but that doesn't say anything for the rest of the team. Still, nothing wrong with being optimistic, I guess. But let's at least see how LSL Reloaded fares first. Besides, I doubt they'll ever pry the KQ license from ActiVision's iron-tight grip.

Telltale's apparent philosophy is to reject much of what actually makes adventure games adventure games. It is time to stop calling Telltale an adventure game developer. We should call Telltale what they are: an interactive movie factory whose management has explicitly rejected the idea of challenging puzzles and of giving the player the freedom to explore.

Nobody (important) has been calling Telltale an adventure game developer for a long time now. Not even themselves. Dan has even gone on record to say "...the genre (adventure) doesn't need us anymore."

corruptbiggins

02/13/2013, 09:36 am

Nobody (important) has been calling Telltale an adventure game developer for a long time now. Not even themselves. Dan has even gone on record to say "...the genre (adventure) doesn't need us anymore."

Nice disclaimer there. Makes it easy to dismiss anyone who disagrees with your views.

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 09:55 am

""...the genre (adventure) doesn't need us anymore."
However in context he was discussing how glad he was to see that there were other companies starting to bring Adventure games back to life, and popularity. So that Telltale doesn't have to be the only ones. He mentioned a few examples of games by other developers.

Chyron8472

02/13/2013, 10:11 am

Besides, I doubt [Replay Games]'ll ever pry the KQ license from ActiVision's iron-tight grip.

TTG did. They didn't do anything with it, but they still got the license.

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 10:25 am

It seems they probably paid alot for that option... As that was Activison's only prerequisite.

Chyron8472

02/13/2013, 10:49 am

You. What are you doing here. Beta. Now.

https://beta.telltalegames.com/

That clinches it for King's Quest. It's not on the community section.

https://beta.telltalegames.com/community/

TTG's KQ is officially dead in the water.

EDIT: Nevermind. Marsden says they just haven't finished the logo yet.

https://beta.telltalegames.com/community/discussion/30/where-is-kings-quest

Vainamoinen

02/13/2013, 10:57 am

TTG's KQ is officially dead in the water.

Did you just quote yourself to prove that something is official? :D

Blackthorne519

02/13/2013, 11:05 am

Marsden is messing with you.

Bt

Chyron8472

02/13/2013, 11:06 am

If they're not going to put it on the community page so people can talk about it, that means they don't want people to talk about it because they've dropped the project.

That makes it official.

MusicallyInspired

02/13/2013, 11:17 am

Nice disclaimer there. Makes it easy to dismiss anyone who disagrees with your views.

Come on, now. I add myself into that category. I'm talking about organizations, press, etc. Not average Joes like us.

TTG did. They didn't do anything with it, but they still got the license.

That was before when they were (somewhat) willing to license it. Since then they've denied everybody and keep saying they have their own plans.

Regarding the new website and forums (or whatever they're supposed to be), that's a nice elegant way of removing KQ from the public eye without removing the discussions here. "Oh, we're making a new website anyway." I hope they at least give some kind of PR statement about why they aren't doing it anymore. I want to hear it....er...read it.

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 11:30 am

There are probably alot of things that they haven't announced that aren't on the community pages...

Like they mentioned in the latest interview they are working on many projects outside of the scope of Fables and Walking Dead. The company is growing, not remaining as a 'two game' a year entity. In the future they may release more games at the same time.

In no way does this mean that KQ is still in development or not. It just means we know next to nothing about what Telltale is making currently.

Also I think they did the same thing they did with the community site that they did with the main website! As I mentioned in the timeline, within days of announccing King's Quest, they released really basic sites for Walking Dead, and Fables, but nothing for King's Quest.

Since they didn't design anything for King's Quest back then, they still haven't designed anything for the beta community site either. This was especially because they had no plans to tackle King's Quest until after Walking Dead was released, and releasing it after Fables apparently. So it was always 'far off in future'.

About the only King's Quest related webthingy they even put up, was this forum... Which if the new site is any indication they are 'taking away'?

Also of note, they apparently only started putting the development team for KQ together 9 months ago (according to Connors). How long does it generally take Taletale to produce a game? It took Walking Dead what almost two years (did they start production on it before its announcement)?

Did they put together a team, only for that team to be disbanded shortly after?

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 11:44 am

Regarding the new website and forums (or whatever they're supposed to be), that's a nice elegant way of removing KQ from the public eye without removing the discussions here. "Oh, we're making a new website anyway." I hope they at least give some kind of PR statement about why they aren't doing it anymore. I want to hear it....er...read it.

Ok, the king's quest forum is a hidden link... It's just not useable yet, as a forum...

https://beta.telltalegames.com/community/categories/kingsquest

Edit: It works too! So its a hidden community with no direct links to it yet.

https://beta.telltalegames.com/community/discussion/34/hi-its-good-to-see-kings-quest

BTW, King's Graham's father's rules prove to be helpful yet again (you must know how to think outside of the box, and look for answers to obtuse puzzles);

"Boy if I have learned anything in my life, I have learned this: When in doubt, or in trouble, pick up anything that is not nailed down, and if it is, look for loose nails or boards. Check carefully into, under, above, below, and behind things. Read everything; you might learn something. Wear clean undergarments, brush after meals, and always remember: nothing is as it appears."-Sir Hereward.

inm8#2

02/13/2013, 01:20 pm

We have to go deeper...

BagginsKQ

02/13/2013, 01:56 pm

Once you look into the abyss you go insane (or you meet Lucreto, but whatever)!

It's certainly enough to drive Blackthorne to binge drinking....

MtnPeak

02/13/2013, 06:27 pm

MusicallyInspired wrote:
Can you provide a source for this? I can't find any evidence anywhere that Mark Crowe was involved with anything nor info that they will be working with the Two Guys in any capacity.

This is what Josh Mandel wrote in response to the criticism of the Larry Reloaded logo:
Actually, guys, we're only selling this digitally. The box that we're creating is strictly for collectors! Nobody will be buying (or not buying) the game based on the box (or the logo).
That said, we may indeed go into stores if such an agreement can be reached, but, if so, the box will probably have to be be redesigned by the publisher. We very specifically designed the box to be free of the usual clutter so that it could be a real collector's piece. And the artist who did the logo, and is doing the box as well, is one of Sierra's finest and most revered (ex-)artists. You would instantly recognize the artist's name, but we're contractually obligated not to reveal it currently. (grrrrrrrr)
There was speculation on the forum that the artist was Mark Crowe, who had done one of the original Larry box covers. So, yeah, nothing solid.

Ok, so I am very confused now. Can someone please explain to me the significance of this King's Quest Beta forum? Why and when was this set up? And who found this and brought it to our attention now?

BagginsKQ

02/14/2013, 01:34 am

Telltale is changing their website. They put up a beta website including what will be the new forums. It's a work in progress.

No one could find a direct link to king's quest in the forums. With a little bit of experimenting I discovered that the beta KQ forum exists. More information in the timeline thread.

MtnPeak

02/14/2013, 03:32 am

No one could find a direct link to king's quest in the forums. With a little bit of experimenting I discovered that the beta KQ forum exists. More information in the timeline thread.

Thank you for all you do to help keep the KQ fan community informed about KQ-related news. You really are a great asset to the community, so please don't ever stop!

Even though I am against the idea of a KQ interactive movie from Telltale, I am starting to feel a little excited about the fact that there really might be a new KQ anything. Maybe Telltale really can deliver something good? I will try to have an open mind.

BagginsKQ

02/14/2013, 04:06 am

Hey, I'd go for a KQ holywood movie if that was what Activision decided to give us! Even if video games to film generally suck...

Blackthorne519

02/14/2013, 04:26 am

Once you look into the abyss you go insane (or you meet Lucreto, but whatever)!

It's certainly enough to drive Blackthorne to binge drinking....

Drive me? Buddy, I'm already there! SEE WHAT YOU PEOPLE DO TO ME?

http://www.infamous-adventures.com/qfi/DriveBtToDrink.jpg

Bt

MtnPeak

02/15/2013, 04:00 am

You all should check out this thread (see link below) in the General Chat section. It has some excellent, very thoughtful, insightful posts about TellTale Games' apparent movement away from puzzle-based adventures and toward interactive movies with less freedom for the player to explore:

http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44212

Blackthorne519

02/15/2013, 10:50 am

Yeah. Those people have been saying what a lot of us in here have been saying for a long time. This is old hat to us.

Bt

MtnPeak

02/15/2013, 07:16 pm

Yeah. Those people have been saying what a lot of us in here have been saying for a long time. This is old hat to us.

Bt

That's nice, but you aren't the only ones reading this forum.

Anyway, after reading through that thread, my guess as to the likelihood that the Telltale KQ will happen went from 20% to 2%. It's not happening. And I wouldn't even want Telltale to have any involvement with a new KQ. Another developer would be better suited, anyway.

Blackthorne519

02/16/2013, 01:29 am

I know, but we're the only ones talking in here. It's like running into McDonalds and yelling "YOU'RE ALL EATING GREASY BURGERS!!!"

We know. We know.

Bt

MtnPeak

02/16/2013, 05:10 am

Sorry, I may have read something into your message that wasn't there. I just thought the original poster in that other thread had written a very worthwhile post, so to get a response that sounded like, "yeah, yeah, we've all heard that stuff before and it is getting really old," rubbed me the wrong way and made me wonder why you were presuming to speak for everyone. These message boards are for discussing King's Quest and adventure games, after all. But it's no biggie.

I think that Lambonius guy was right all along about the telltale games KQ.

exo

02/19/2013, 11:50 am

MtnPeak - you are going through the same journey we all went through. You found out about the game, you got excited, you figured any game is better than no game, and then you came here.

Over time, the lack of information, the companies releases and movement away from adventure style, and other various inputs lead to a sense of being a bit jaded.

And eventually you just figure, 'Kill it. Kill it with fire.'.

Then one day you'll be commiserating with the rest of us, and a new bright eyed bushy tailed fellow will appear and tell us all we have no idea what we are talking about, and TT's KQ games is gonna be AMAZING. They will start topics that have already been started, link to news that has already been discussed, and wonder why everyone else acts like an assbag.

It seems your journey is nearing it's end. Welcome to the table of jaded jackasses.

BagginsKQ

02/19/2013, 01:37 pm

In other words... don't think, don't develop individual thought, don't have an original view or opinion, conform! Join the masses...

http://tshirtvortex.net/wp-content/uploads/They-Live-Obey-Consume-Beer-T-Shirt-sq.gif

MusicallyInspired

02/19/2013, 02:42 pm

He looks an awful lot like the Head of the Navigator...

Blackthorne519

02/19/2013, 04:18 pm

It's from John Carpenter's film "They Live". Which has the best fight scene ever!

And no, it's not discouraging original thought. It's accepting reality, and saving your original thoughts for something worthy of them.

Bt

BagginsKQ

02/19/2013, 11:11 pm

Actually my original thought is to 'I don't care, whatever happens or doesn't happen'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFGTNz6RUZw

I haven't passed into the conformity to, "burn it down, burn it all", to paraphrase Exo.

I tell you many people on this board expend way too much time and energy 'caring', and discussing the wishful 'demise' of the game, and how 'sucky' it will be if it is released. When there are probably are more worthy things in life to put their mind, time and energy to...

I'm glad there isn't alot of 'hype' either...

MusicallyInspired

02/20/2013, 03:54 am

You underestimate the power of spare time. Also, that's just like your opinion, man. :p

Lambonius

02/20/2013, 05:38 am

When there are probably are more worthy things in life to put their mind, time and energy to...

You mean like composing endlessly detailed omnipedia sites for old Sierra adventure game series?

BagginsKQ

02/20/2013, 06:31 am

Yep, that's my 'hobby'! I used to put a few minutes to an hour into that each day or minutes or hours over a couple of days! A few hours each week. Some months I do nothing on them. I don't have the free time I used to have to work on those sites!

There is a reason why there are so many 'stubbed' articles! With only basic details.

Real work takes up most of my life, LOL...

In my real 'free time' I like to go hiking and camping and such! Cut off from technology!

Lambonius

02/20/2013, 10:20 am

In my real 'free time' I like to go hiking and camping and such! Cut off from technology!

Blasphemy!!

BagginsKQ

02/20/2013, 01:45 pm

You know you like to go on real adventures! ;).

MtnPeak

02/20/2013, 05:07 pm

Well, I care what happens to King's Quest! I will post about it, comment about it, and follow development teams that make new KQ and KQ-like games. That's right, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it. I love KQ and other classic adventure games, and if anyone has a problem with that then they can just kiss my you-know-what.

BagginsKQ

02/20/2013, 11:47 pm

THere are different ways...

You can be just a fan, or you can be a fanatic/fanatical, a fanboy/fangirl, a KQ nut, etc...

Think of the difference between a trekker vs. a trekkie, etc...

Just looking at 'fan' one can divide it into three subtypes; addict, adherant, or admirer (i.e. just like something casual fan, the liking something a bit 'too much' in an unhealthy/cultish/religious manner, or something in the middle between a casual basic fan but not quite to the realms of 'crazy zealot')...

Main Entry:

addict

Part of Speech:

noun

Definition:

person who has compulsion toward

Synonyms:

activity, buff, devotee, enthusiast, fan, fanatic, fiend, follower, freak*, habitué, hound, junkie, nut, often injurious aficionado, practitioner, zealot

Notes:

an edict is a formal or authoritative proclamation; an addict is someone who is physiologically dependent on a substance or someone who is a devoted supporter or fan

* = informal/non-formal usage

Main Entry:

adherent

Part of Speech:

noun

Definition:

supporter or follower

Synonyms:

advocate, aficionado, backer, believer, card-carrying member, devotee, disciple, enthusiast, fan, hanger-on

Main Entry:

admirer

Part of Speech:

noun

Definition:

person who holds someone in high regard

Synonyms:

adherent, beau, believer, booster, boyfriend, buff, bug*, cat*, devotee, disciple, enthusiast, fan, fancier, fiend*, follower, freak*, girlfriend, groupie, hound, junkie, lover, nut*, partisan, patron, rooter, suitor, supporter, swain, sweetheart, wooer, worshiper

Antonyms:

critic, enemy, opponent

MtnPeak

02/21/2013, 06:40 pm

The crazier, the more zealous, the better!

Blackthorne519

02/22/2013, 06:54 am

I miss everything that left here.

Sigh. In summary, King's Quest is fucking dead for now, and maybe someday someone will resume it's zombie corpse. Until then, there's a bunch of other great games to play.

Bt

MtnPeak

02/23/2013, 05:21 pm

King's Quest will never die.

And I think a new King's Quest game will come sooner than some of you think.

Lambonius

02/23/2013, 05:37 pm

King's Quest will never die.

And I think a new King's Quest game will come sooner than some of you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oavMtUWDBTM

Anakin Skywalker

02/23/2013, 06:25 pm

Guys, you ARE kind of making it seem like you WANT KQ to stay dead, TT or not. Just the vibe I get from some. Like you're totally over it and would prefer it stay dead--even if a better company than TT was getting a try at it.

Blackthorne519

02/23/2013, 07:44 pm

Yeah, in some ways - I prefer it to stay dead. Some things are just meant to end.

Bt

MusicallyInspired

02/23/2013, 07:57 pm

It will never be good ever again even if it does get a new game. I'd rather it stay dead. Yes, I said it. (no, Anakin, that has nothing to do with the fact that I worked on Sierra remakes and am "jealous" or "jaded") Look at Sonic the Hedgehog. That franchise has yet to get a game that even comes remotely close to the first four games. It's just one of those things that's just not possible unless they've got the same people (not just designers, but art directors, programmers, writers, genre and gameplay style, etc) working the same magic they did 20 years ago. An even that is hit and miss sometimes.

Yes, I am passed it. Let's just do new things (that are as good or better, please).

BagginsKQ

02/23/2013, 11:36 pm

Hey I actually like the first two Sonic Adventures games... Even if they are very different than the 2-d games...

MtnPeak

02/24/2013, 12:03 am

I disagree. I think KQ most certainly CAN come back, possibly even better than before. I will be to happy to see this. There are plenty of talented designers out there who can make it happen. There remains interest in the KQ brand, and, though it may not be a huge #1 blockbuster, a new KQ game can be a commercial success. Of all the classic adventure game series, King's Quest does remain one of the best known names.

You guys make it seem like the act of wanting a new KQ prevents one from playing and trying new games. Guess what, we can multi-task; we can advocate for a new KQ game while playing and trying out other games at the same time, believe it or not!

KQ games were always a lot of fun, and I am confident that the right development team can recapture that spirit of the original games.

What you naysayers should be asking yourselves is why you care that other people are hoping for a KQ comeback. Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but I have seen certain posters groan wearily when new KQ-related discussions are started in an, um, KQ discussion forum. It is a bit annoying to read comments expressing sentiments to the effect of "who cares?" and "I'm over it" as people are discussing the series. Yes, I understand that some, for a number of reasons, would rather no new KQ games be made, but it doesn't mean you have to always be a wet blanket on the discussions. Though, if that's the role you want to play, then be a wet blanket to your heart's content.

Three years ago who would have guessed that we'd be seeing a new LSL, a new Gabriel Knight, a new QFG-like game, possibly a new PQ-like game, etc. all within the span of a few years. Given the sustained interest in such games, I'd say the chances of there also being a new KQ (Sierra's flagship series), at some point, are pretty good. If the interest is there, the legal stuff will work itself out.

Anakin Skywalker

02/24/2013, 05:04 am

i disagree. I think kq most certainly can come back, possibly even better than before. I will be to happy to see this. There are plenty of talented designers out there who can make it happen. There remains interest in the kq brand, and, though it may not be a huge #1 blockbuster, a new kq game can be a commercial success. Of all the classic adventure game series, king's quest does remain one of the best known names.

You guys make it seem like the act of wanting a new kq prevents one from playing and trying new games. Guess what, we can multi-task; we can advocate for a new kq game while playing and trying out other games at the same time, believe it or not!

Kq games were always a lot of fun, and i am confident that the right development team can recapture that spirit of the original games.

What you naysayers should be asking yourselves is why you care that other people are hoping for a kq comeback. Maybe i'm misinterpreting, but i have seen certain posters groan wearily when new kq-related discussions are started in an, um, kq discussion forum. It is a bit annoying to read comments expressing sentiments to the effect of "who cares?" and "i'm over it" as people are discussing the series. Yes, i understand that some, for a number of reasons, would rather no new kq games be made, but it doesn't mean you have to always be a wet blanket on the discussions. Though, if that's the role you want to play, then be a wet blanket to your heart's content.

Three years ago who would have guessed that we'd be seeing a new lsl, a new gabriel knight, a new qfg-like game, possibly a new pq-like game, etc. All within the span of a few years. Given the sustained interest in such games, i'd say the chances of there also being a new kq (sierra's flagship series), at some point, are pretty good. If the interest is there, the legal stuff will work itself out.

+1000