KQ7's art direction....

[Anakin Skywalker]

Many people I've seen dislike KQ7 because of it's tone, or because of the plot, or Rosella's characterization or the animation quality...But what about the art direction?

How do you guys feel about the basic idea of a Disney-Don Bluth inspired KQ game, simply aesthetically? The basic idea (IE 2D Animation film styling) was done in SQ6, Torin's Passage, and in LSL 7 to (IMO) great effect.

Do you think, had the technology been more refined, that sort of Disney-esque art direction could've suited a KQ game?

I kind of look at that sort of art direction as the logical next step for KQ, and it's fitting. KQ is family friendly, fairy tale stuff, much the same as Disney in that regard. Both utilize a bunch of slapped together, 'dumbed down' versions of Grimm's Fairy Tales and other tales and myths.

And if you look at a lot of non-Sierra Adventure Games of the mid '90s, tons of companies were going with that sort of art style (for example, the early Broken Sword Games, The Curse of Monkey Island; Even the aborted Warcraft Adventures game was to be in a 2D cartoon style).

[MusicallyInspired]

I don't like it. Done well or not. I never liked the idea to begin with.

[Anakin Skywalker]

I just feel it's, artistically speaking, the logical next step from VGA, and it can be very beautiful and well done (consider The Whispered World)...It's cool to be able to basically play an animated film version of your favorite games.

It doesn't mean that you have to have a whimsical tone to go along with the art style. I'd love to see a really dark, 2D Animated Adventure game done in this style. A Dark Fantasy sort of game in this style.

I think SQ6's art direction is among the best in the entire series, and Torin's Passage was basically what that sort of art style could do, if brought to it's full potential. So, it does work when you retain other adventure elements like the Icon interface and narrator.

I'd love to see a hybrid classical RPG and Adventure Game done in this style, based on the Gotrek & Felix series of novels. It'd be like the show Gargoyles.

[MusicallyInspired]

I dislike SQ6's style too. I'm all for HD 2D graphics in a semi-cartoon style, but not Disney-style. Not straight cel-shading.

[BagginsKQ]

"I just feel it's, artistically speaking, the logical next step from VGA,"

SVGA is the logical next step from VGA. However, I'd rather play something in the art style of KQ5 and KQ6 in SVGA than the art style they chose with KQ7.

Seriously, the original KQ5 paintings are glorious... Seeing those in HiRes playable game would have rocked.

[BagginsKQ]

Also it depends on what "disney/don bluth" art style KQ was going for...

KQ5 and KQ6 are closer to Black Cauldron or Secret of Nimh, than say Alice in Wonderland or Fieval Goes West...

[Lambonius]

Fuck yeah, Baggins. Wow. I've seriously never agreed with you more than in this moment, with that post. Look at that beautiful motherfucker.

The only Sierra series that the cartoon style worked well with was LSL, in my opinion. And you know why? Because LSL was ALREADY FUCKING CARTOONISH.

It was a terrible idea for King's Quest, and even worse for Space Quest. Space Quest would have been amazing following the cheesy comic book style of SQ5, but in high resolution, and as Baggins aptly pointed out a high res KQ5-style game would have made my pants overflow with semen.

[MusicallyInspired]

Woooooooowwwwwwwww

[BagginsKQ]

Wishes a fan had a copy of these, and would be willing do up some scans;





For good measure here is a hires picture of Beetrice concept art;

[Lambonius]

I would KILL for a high res remake of KQ5 using all the original paintings. That's right. Literally. I would kill someone to play that.

[exo]

Eriq Chang recently acquired one of the Lord of the Dead lithographs, I believe. He is one of the guys that is working on the long delayed Art of Sierra book. Presumably, if any of this art is out there, it will be in that book. Feel free to join me in harassing him on facebook for updates on the project.

[BagginsKQ]

That's great to hear, sounds like a cool book!

[MtnPeak]

Originally Posted by exo

Eriq Chang recently acquired one of the Lord of the Dead lithographs, I believe. He is one of the guys that is working on the long delayed Art of Sierra book. Presumably, if any of this art is out there, it will be in that book. Feel free to join me in harassing him on facebook for updates on the project.

Would be nice if they considered making the art collection project all available online in a free, museum-like art showcase website. I think something like that would be great. Get all of it digitized and let everyone enjoy and appreciate it. So many more people would have access. I wonder what kinds of legal issues would be involved. I don't like the idea of all this wonderful, sometimes historically significant material just sitting in boxes in a few people's garages, never seen by more than a couple people in the last 10 years. Maybe, in addition to a website, it could all be made into one of those special illustrated digital books for tablets. I believe public libraries now rent ebooks, and wouldn't it be neat to be able to download such a book to your tablet from your library's website. Long story short, for this project I think having a digital option would be MUCH better than only print.

As you guys know, Ken and Roberta recently donated a bunch of material to a well-regarded museum which has special video game exhibits. This kind of stuff needs to be preserved, and it's wonderful they did that!

[tomimt]

Damn, I so much want that Art of Sierra book. It's been in the making for so long now.

[BagginsKQ]

Sell it digitally is one method.

[Blackthorne519]

Eriq and Brandon have been working on it for a while - dealing with many original artists. Brandon Klassen is the one who has everything cataloged and digitized. He's a nice fella.


Bt

[exo]

he's a slow fella

[MtnPeak]

Originally Posted by Blackthorne519

Eriq and Brandon have been working on it for a while - dealing with many original artists. Brandon Klassen is the one who has everything cataloged and digitized. He's a nice fella.


Bt

I wish they would keep people up-to-date on their progress. Really, I don't want to have to issue another one of my demands for info. J/k

What is the latest that Brandon Klassen has shared publicly about the project? Since this tribute to Sierra's artists is supposed to be largely for the Sierra fan community, I think they should keep us at least somewhat in the loop. Quarterly updates, at the least. Are things at a standstill? I wonder if they are going to do a Kickstarter for this. Who owns the art? Is the book going to be expensive? Who gets the money? The original artists? Can proceeds be donated to some indie adventure game Kickstarter pledge fund or something? That would probably be impossible to administer. There is no chance this thing could be free to download or view online?

[MtnPeak]

Originally Posted by BagginsKQ

Seriously, the original KQ5 paintings are glorious

Yeah, KQ5 had the coolest art, for sure. I love the "scary" scenes best.