Awesome Idea: New Hitchikers Game!

[Pvt._Public]

Before we start let me make it known that yes, there is already a game of Hitchikers guide to the galaxy which i have finished and enjoyed alot.
Anyways, I was at the movie theater today and it turns out that after a good 20 years they seem to have finally made a movie of hitchikers guide to the galaxy. After doing my little dance of joy i came up with the thought: Telltale should make a hitchikers game! Imagine it, it could be based on either the books or the radio script and could have as many voices as possible from the TV and radio series and would freakin' rock!
After visiting the official movie website (clicky! (http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/index.html) ) I have grown a few doubts about the movie (stuff like how Zaphod only has the one head and two arms and how they seem to have made their own little story about Arthur and Trillian falling in love etc.) but i still think that Telltale could make an awesome game of it anyway.

[anonima]

Please, base it on the book or the TV series or the radio show, but not the movie! If the review (http://planetmagrathea.com/shortreview.html) I read was correct then the movie is going to be absolutley terrible. However I think it would be cool if they made a sequel to the original.

[artwking]

I have grown a few doubts about the movie (stuff like how Zaphod only has the one head and two arms and how they seem to have made their own little story about Arthur and Trillian falling in love etc.) but i still think that Telltale could make an awesome game of it anyway.
Movie-version Zaphod does have two heads. The other is just hidden. It pops out at some point I think.

[anonima]

Please, base it on the book or the TV series or the radio show, but not the movie! If the review (http://planetmagrathea.com/shortreview.html) I read was correct then the movie is going to be absolutley terrible. However I think it would be cool if they made a sequel to the original.

The Internet is way too excited (negatively) by that review from planetmagrathea.com. In the weeks leading up to its release, were the fan predictions made (in the forms of huge complaint-filled hatefests and laundry lists of omissions) by LOTR fans proclaiming the first film an utter travesty and failure true at all? Of course they werent. Granted, the lists of things they said were gone were in fact gone, but on the whole did they ruin the film? No. Maybe people should be taking principal piece of advice offered by the Hitchhikers Guide itself and don't panic.

At least until it comes out and blows or something. But then it's too late to panic, I guess. Score another for Jake!

[anonima]

Ahhh, hitchhikkers. It's a bit of a pitty we can't nickname it Hitch. I am really excited about the knew movie. I can understand why the Hollywood types would make a love interest between Arthur and Trillian. After all, she does end up having his child in one of the books. The only other Hitchhikkers book that had a love interest was "goodbye and thanks for the fish", which was beyond weird seeing as it was set back on earth. I know while I was reading the books i was spewing for a love interest. You can't expect them not to change a few things. It's no fun making a movie with no creative freedom.

[Pvt._Public]

The reason why the trailer etc. of the movie makes me vaguely angry is because they inserted all that stuff when it doesn't really need it. The story is meant to be about Arthur bumbling about the place trying to find a decent cup of tea and find some sort of remnant of earth. I can understand why they changed it (otherwise it doesn't make for very good or original movie viewing) but just why all the little things? Why have the whole Evil guy when it is meant to be a whole bunch of people who don't like Arthur (As far as i can tell the Bad guy is meant to be some sort of insane missionary so it makes sense to me at least that he's trying to get rid of arthur unless everyone find out the ultimate question). And their version of Marvin plain pisses me off. Too damn cutesy and on the screensaver it says he's worried that his depression makes others depressed. that my friends had better be some poor joke.

[anonima]

Ahh Marvin. That's one of the few roles in hollywood that go to the height impaired.

Anyway, I think that there is no need to complain about the movie. This is exactly what Douglas Adams would have wanted. He sold the rights for Hitchhikkers several times. At one point Disney owned the rights. You can't tell me you wanted Disney to make it, they would put it in to the AJAX brand craptacular movie making machine. It would be all American actors, and the story would be thrown out the window. Who knows, they might even try to put a moral into it. ( shudder)

[artwking]

And songs!

[anonima]

Anyway, I think that there is no need to complain about the movie. This is exactly what Douglas Adams would have wanted.

The thing to bear in mind is the Adams was writing this movie script when he died. It was completed by someone else but on the whole it is mostly how Adams wanted it to be. (at least script wise, god knows how that compares to the final version).

If anyone has seen the "book" versions of the trailers, you get a sense that it is capturing the broader feel for HH's. I'm looking forward to seeing it and I know that it won't be the same but like Lucas HH's has never been a static story for Adams. He was always tweaking it.

[Pvt._Public]

Good news all! The movie doesn't suck! it's (from my point of view) an above average movie with occasional moments of awesomeness. The vogon scenes rocked and there was even a glimspe of all the old guys from the TV show along with my favourite ever, old marvin! unfortunately you can't help but feel every now and then that douglas probably would have wanted to rewrite most of the scenes a further 20 times or so but, nonetheless it is still a pretty good movie. Oh, and Mos Def (or whatever) manages to be one of the worst actors I've ever seen (which is not a good thing at all because i tend to spend most of my time trying to find terrible movies) but seeing as he doesn't really do much after the first 15-20 mintues it doesn't really matter.

[anonima]

I wouldn't say that Mos Def is a bad actor. The part didn't strike me as brilliant. It wasn't really a laugh out loud film, but it had the Hitchhikkers spirit with it. There were plenty of funny moments. They really stuffed bits and pieces from the different books into it. There was a huge rewrite, but they almost completely avoided the last book, "So long and thanks for the fish", because of the love intrest other than Trillian in it,( Well except for the intro.)

[Pvt._Public]

And another thing, Zaphods head sucks. if i had my way they would have given him another unrealistic and uncomfortable etc. head on his shoulders rather than what they have done to him. Due to a few loose ends i assume they're going to make the next movie. But, at least it wasn't as bad as M. J. Simpsons review made out. strange how they screwed up some of the best lines though. stuff like when arthur is complementing the vogon captain on his poetry. the original is far better and there really is no reason for them to have cut it.

[anonima]

The movie indeed is a wond'rous thing to behold.

But back to the idea at hand, having TellTale make the new HHGTTG game would be awesome, but I doubt that any games that spring from the film buzz will be adventure games.

They'd be platformers. REALLY LOUSY ONES.

Because making good games based on large, successful franchises doesn't happen often at all.

[anonima]

Y'know, I don't know what that guy who wrote the review was thinking. And while it wasn't exactly like the book it was still very funny and true to the whole Hitchhiker's concept.

[Pvt._Public]

The movie indeed is a wond'rous thing to behold.

But back to the idea at hand, having TellTale make the new HHGTTG game would be awesome, but I doubt that any games that spring from the film buzz will be adventure games.

They'd be platformers. REALLY LOUSY ONES.

Because making good games based on large, successful franchises doesn't happen often at all.
Oh! read this (http://planetmagrathea.com/gameindex.html)!

I suppose in some way Douglas Admas dying could be seen as a good thing...

[Heatherlee]

Thanks for the link to the "lost game".

Some of the concept art was quite great, but I am not too sure about the story line. Towelin Monks?

It is also a bit hard to imagine an "action-adventure" with Arthur running around hitting things with a towel.

[anonima]

Ahh Marvin. That's one of the few roles in hollywood that go to the height impaired.

Anyway, I think that there is no need to complain about the movie. This is exactly what Douglas Adams would have wanted. He sold the rights for Hitchhikkers several times. At one point Disney owned the rights. You can't tell me you wanted Disney to make it, they would put it in to the AJAX brand craptacular movie making machine. It would be all American actors, and the story would be thrown out the window. Who knows, they might even try to put a moral into it. ( shudder)

What do you think "Buena Vista Pictures" is? It's Disney. But yes, Disney Distribution and Disney development are quite different. In fact, it matters a lot just that the movie doesn't have the word "Disney" on it. Disney means "family home entertainment" as in code words for "lame watered down crap"...at least, that's what it's become. Some of the old animated films were fantastic, but that's about it.

Still, I can't help feeling that the movie would have been better if Douglas Adams was still alive. God rest his soul.

BTW, has anyone mentioned Starship Titanic? That was made by Dougls Adams.

[Pvt._Public]

Oh that starship titanic... Good times. I even bought the freakin' book for that. Too bad their company went down the toilet when he died. I really liked that game. No, REALLY liked it.

[FitzoliverJ]

I certainly think there's mileage in a Hitchhiker's game that isn't as ludicrously impossible as the text adventure. There was going to be a video game that fell through before the film went into production. My own vote would be to base at least a chapter around Brontitall from the second radio series, because there's a lot of stuff there never mined for ideas.

On the downside, because there would be a massive drive to use the radio series voice cast, any game developer would probably have to licence the actors images, and possibly licence sets/costume designs from the tv series. Im not saying these things are compulsorary, but would almost certainly throw a shadow over production costs.

Nonetheless, I'd love to see it.

[Davies]

Wow, you just responded to a thread from 2005! :eek:

A new game based on Hitchhiker's would be cool but I don't see how it could be anything but a letdown without Douglas Adams (R.I.P.) at the helm.

Half the problem with the movie of Hitchhiker's Guide was that it deviated from the original story so much, despite being based on a screenplay by Douglas... god knows how badly an entirely new story would go down with the fans.

The last problem would be the lack of British talent within its creation. Although, Telltale did manage Wallace & Gromit okay so I guess that's not such an issue.

[Tjibbbe]

Half the problem with the movie of Hitchhiker's Guide was that it deviated from the original story so much...


That's not entirely true. The book version also deviated from the original radio series (still the best version) in numerous ways, and the book version is the one that most people remember. Douglas knew (and he was right in that sense) that it's pointless to keep telling the same story over and over, but that you have to tell the story that's most fitting for the medium you're telling it in. A lot of stuff from the book/radio/tv series/comic/computer game version of the story wouldn't work in the movie version or any of the other versions, and vice versa.

The real problem with the Hitchhikers movie is the love plot between Arthur and Trillian (which was something Douglas himself wanted to do), some weird alterations to existing jokes, sucking the actual joke out of them (like the Arthur going down into a cellar-bit, if you're not going to finish the joke, leave it out.), and a bit of oversimplification of the Hitchhikers-world. They didn't quite hit the same level of charm all the other versions had. The movies did do a lot of things right (the casting was excellent, I loved Ford and Zaphod, much better than how they appeared in the tv-series.), but just not enough to make it the legendary movie it could/should have been. But I can't blame them for trying some new things. Creating original stuff, giving familiar things a new and unexpected twist is something that Douglas was most famous for. A lot of the changes people don't like in the movie are changes that Douglas made.

People wanting more Hitchhikers could check out the new Hitchhikers-book Colfer wrote. I don't know if I'll read it yet. New radio series, tv-series, movie or computer game (made by Telltale) - yes please. New book without Douglas - I don't know...

[ShaggE]

If you look at it with a bit of optimism, the movie really wasn't bad at all. It never had me rolling with laughter like the books did, but it was certainly well worth the watch.

As far as a game goes, I'd like to see it focus more on Restaurant through Mostly Harmless. Call me crazy, but I always thought the original story was the weakest.

[doggans]

A lot of the changes people don't like in the movie are changes that Douglas made.

While I enjoyed the movie a lot, I can't help feeling that if Adams had lived, further drafts would have fleshed out a lot of his changes and made them funnier and (possibly) more accepted.

[Rather Dashing]

That's not entirely true. The book version also deviated from the original radio series (still the best version) in numerous ways, and the book version is the one that most people remember. Douglas knew (and he was right in that sense) that it's pointless to keep telling the same story over and over, but that you have to tell the story that's most fitting for the medium you're telling it in. A lot of stuff from the book/radio/tv series/comic/computer game version of the story wouldn't work in the movie version or any of the other versions, and vice versa.
The book version continues to be my favorite, with the radio version close behind. Call me crazy, but I don't really like the TV show much at all. I like aspects of it, just not the whole thing together. And I like the film even less, though I even have things about it that I enjoy.

Creating original stuff, giving familiar things a new and unexpected twist is something that Douglas was most famous for. A lot of the changes people don't like in the movie are changes that Douglas made.
I went into it knowing this, and well...let's just say I came out of it with the realization that just because Douglas Adams changed it, doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

Something that the movie did was not just change story facts. They took out the humor and the charm. They seemed to be TRYING, sort of, in a way. They just...failed.

People wanting more Hitchhikers could check out the new Hitchhikers-book Colfer wrote. I don't know if I'll read it yet. New radio series, tv-series, movie or computer game (made by Telltale) - yes please. New book without Douglas - I don't know...
I'd prefer not to, thanks. See, I have my novels (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Hitchhikers-Guide-Complete-Novels/dp/0517226952), and I'm not adding fanfiction by the author of barely-entertaining children's fantasy to its place.

[FitzoliverJ]

I was thinking of something along these lines:

CHAPTER ONE

The story opens just after the main events of the third novel, before the Epilogue in which Arthur decides to leave the Heart of Gold and they meet the journalist and Prak.

Zaphod is toasting "their"/"his" great success at defeating Hactar and the Masters of Krikkit, and saving the universe, when the ship is attacked by a chapter of the Galactic Rotary Club, who kidnap Trillian (something that happens 'offscreen' between the two radio series).

The others pursue the baddies, but the Heart of Gold instead materialises in a mysterious cold white cave (as in the second radio series). The player takes control of Ford Prefect, who has to tackle the problem of saving Zaphod without himself plummeting to his doom (you can't) and how to persuade a giant bird to take them to ground level.

Ford and Zaphod seek shelter in a derelict military base (not simply a spaceport as on radio, as it's necessary to take out the bits used in other parts of the novels) and discover that it contains a cache of dangerous weapons, forgotten when civilisation collapsed on Brontitall. The player takes control of Ford in a long flashback set on alien worlds with alien environments populated by... um... spacemen, which somehow has something to do with the main plot. I dunno, btu this would be one of the chapters that really deals with the whole alien stuff, whcih has always been difficult to do visually in Hitchhikers for practical reasons.

CHAPTER TWO

This time the player controls Zaphod in a second flashback, whcih effectively plays through and expands upon "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe", giving he player further information about the weaponry.

CHAPTER THREE

The player takes contorl of Arthur Dent, and effectively plays throgh his parts of Brontitall segment of the second radio series. At the end, he, Lintilla, Marvin, Ford and Zaphod are reunited at the military base (the "reality is on the blink bit" could be quite good in a computer game) but baddies swoop down and steal all the universe-destroying kit.

CHAPTER FOUR

The player takes control of Trillian, in the second alien stuff segment of the game, who has to avoid being forcibly-married to the head of the Rotary Club who admires her wisdom for her dealing with Hactar. Either this chapter, or a fifth one, would tie the story up in a neat bow, explaining who is after the weapons and why and how they are stopped. Perhaps they aren't? Perhaps some of the Humma Kaluva/Point of View gun stuff from the movie, which doesn;t really get developed, could be used if the sequel does, finally, ultimately, fall through.

---

Although "And Another Thing" hasn't exactly impressed me (although I might feel differently in twenty years' time when I auction off my newspaper-proof copy of the first half of the novel), I feel relaxed about other authors writing for the series. Partly because this has already happened - on radio, on film - and partly because "official continuations" or sequels are, frankly, a helluva lot more common than most Hitchhikers fans seem to think. Also, and let's be fair, Douglas Adams openly admitted that his greatest talent was for procastrination. Part of the reason that the floodgates opened after his death was not that all his friends and family and agent are ghouls, but the fact that other people had to shoulder the responsibility simply sped things up. Furthermore, the big graphic point-and-click computer game he was invovled with, "Starship Titanic", is generally considered tohave been a disaster, for a variety of reasons. Were he alive today and hired by Telltale, or vice versa, to write a new Hitchhikers game, it wouldn't have the same level as fun as we are used to from this game producer, and it would also be released ten years late.

[LuigiHann]

My initial reaction to this idea is "no," just because I see no opening for them to write an original story with the right feel and characters, that would fit into the official canon. However, once I remembered that there isn't much of an official canon, it occurred to me that TellTale could just do a "retelling" of the same story in another form, using the same basic plot outline as the book, but adding their own events to facilitate puzzles, and a mixture of new and existing jokes. It could work. They wouldn't be as restricted as they were with Bone.

[Homestarlover]

Seems like a cool idea, but not a whole lotta people know about the book, nor the movie. It should be something more ppular and more aware of, not that it's a bad thing....

[LuigiHann]

I'm sure that even in America, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is at least as famous and popular as Telltale's current most well-known license, whichever one you think that might be.

[ShaggE]

Seems like a cool idea, but not a whole lotta people know about the book, nor the movie. It should be something more ppular and more aware of, not that it's a bad thing....

Are we talking about the same franchise here? Hitchhiker's Guide is incredibly well known. Especially amongst gamers.

[Rather Dashing]

Are we talking about the same franchise here? Hitchhiker's Guide is incredibly well known. Especially amongst gamers.
I'm CERTAIN that I know more people that know about Hitchhiker's Guide than those that know about Monkey Island, Sam and Max, Wallace and Gromit, or Bone.

[Toothless Gibbon]

Seems like a cool idea, but not a whole lotta people know about the book, nor the movie. It should be something more ppular and more aware of, not that it's a bad thing....


You mean the book that has sold over 16,000,000 copies?

Nah, not many heard of that one...

[taumel]

Hitchiker as Radioplay=awesome, Books=very good to good, Infocom=good, TV-Series/Movie=awful

How about a new The DIG, no? Okay, it at least was worth a try...

[serializer]

This idea also occurred to me the other day when I saw a Vroomfondel reference elsewhere in the forum.

Unfortunately it would be such a difficult undertaking, either to introduce new elements to existing stories (to create puzzles which the player doesn't already know how to solve!), or to write a completely different story set in the same world. Also there would be the massive pressure of having to "get things right" to satisfy the fans and to know they had done things as Douglas would have wanted... It's a license that, even if it were feasible to acquire, most sane developers would be shuddering in their boots at the prospect.

But then... I'd probably have said something very similar for Monkey Island. Clearly, Telltale are not 'sane'.

However I think in general that a comedy sci-fi adventure game would be a great departure. I can't think of anything in that genre at all. The Dig and Beneath a Steel Sky were primarily serious adventures rather than comedy. (I'm not counting anything by Sierra because I've never played them, and I got the impression they were nothing like as funny as Lucas games)

So my recommendations for other licenses to look at for a game adaptation would be:

- Harry Harrison (The Stainless Steel Rat) - http://www.harryharrison.com/

These books are truly great and really entertaining. Also, at least in the books I've read, the main character (Slippery Jim DiGriz) and storylines would translate perfectly to point-and-click style adventure.

- Futurama

Please. Actually. Make up for the terrible games this license has so far spawned.

- Lunar Jetman

This was a classic computer game, however it spawned a long-running comic strip in Crash Spectrum magazine if anyone remembers, here's an example: ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/magazines/Crash/Issue39/Jetman/CR39Jetman01.jpg

I can't think of any others right now...

[ShaggE]

^ To add another to the sci-fi-com wishlist:

- Red Dwarf.

'Nuff said.

[Rather Dashing]

Unfortunately it would be such a difficult undertaking, either to introduce new elements to existing stories (to create puzzles which the player doesn't already know how to solve!), or to write a completely different story set in the same world. Also there would be the massive pressure of having to "get things right" to satisfy the fans and to know they had done things as Douglas would have wanted... It's a license that, even if it were feasible to acquire, most sane developers would be shuddering in their boots at the prospect.
Do you mean to say that it's near-impossible to do what Infocom already did years ago?

[FitzoliverJ]

Do you mean to say that it's near-impossible to do what Infocom already did years ago?

But Douglas Adams worked on that,and also, the game is totally impossible.

Incidentally, there is an onlineproject to turn their version into a point-and-click game. I don't know that this is an official thing, but if it was, it'd put the kybosh on Telltale doing anything, I imagine.

(And the television series was great)

[PirateGamer]

As long as they get a song as cool as the Movie's "So Long and Thanks for all the fish" I would totally play it! (I watched the movie twice - just for the song!)