Source: Phrenopolis (Dave Grossman)
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Capsule Computers conducted an interview with Mike Levine, LucasArts veteran and co-designer of Insecticide. It reveals that he co-founded a new company with LucasArts veterans called HappyGiant (he previously co-founded Crackpot Entertainment to create Insecticide).
Mike's past games are woefully skimmed over in the interview, but there's a lot of information on his new development studio, including that the company's first release is an iOS app called “Dolphin Paradise: Wild Friends”, and why the company has chosen a free-to-play system for their games.
Reacting to the imminent end of Nintendo Power magazine's twenty-four year run (Lord, the memories), Christina Warren of Mashable tearfully selected her favorite ten covers. Making her cut is issue #16, which had a Maniac Mansion cover story teased by a bodacious clay art take on the mansion and the cast.
We've scans of all the pertinent content from that issue in our galleries, by the by. Check them out:
Source: Mashable Entertainment
ScummVM, the Sentimental Community Undertaking Maintaining Marvelous Visionary Masterpieces, is now at 1.5.0 with the release of "Picnic Basket".
Along with the 2D LucasArts adventure games, most 2D Humongous Entertainment games, and countless others, the new release supports another Humongous Entertainment game: Backyard Baseball 2003.
It also has new support for other games that don't fall under the Mojo banner: Blue Force, Dreamweb, Geisha, Soltys (including an English translation for the first time), and the children's games Gregory and the Hot Air Balloon, Magic Tales: Liam Finds a Story, Sleeping Cub's Test of Courage, and The Princess and the Crab.
Back when GDC 2012 was going on, we reported that Brian Moriarty (creator of Loom) gave a lecture in which he related his experience creating and teaching a game design course at Worchester Polytechnic Institute. The research that went into putting the class together was considerable, and in his belief that game design is inseparable from programming, Moriarty created a streamlined game engine specifically for the course that the students would use to build their assignments: ultra small-scale games. The class provided as much discovery for the industry veteran as his pupils.
As is Moriarty's way, the presentation gets rather philosophical, and he spends some at the beginning looking to history to trace DNA that the "noble discipline" of games shares with literature, music and even religion.
Those of us unable to attend GDC who wanted to receive Moriarty's lecture beyond a journalist's write-up of it were plumb outta luck - until now, that is. The presentation is now up for viewing in its 55-minute entirety at the invaluable GDC Vault. For free.
Source: GDC Vault
If you're not aware, Paul Trowe of Replay Games (the company who started the Leisure Suit Larry kickstarter) sent out a message to the press that he wanted to sue Wisecrack games for using Al Lowe's name and the Leisure Suit Larry name on their kickstarter. Al Lowe reponded to the message saying that he didn't intend to sue and that he gave his permission to use his name and wishes Wisecrack Games luck on Sam Suede.
However, some posters on the Adventure Gamers forums have dug up something rather concerning. According to this post by Adventure Gamers poster supaplex, a person called "gamespygeek" has been trolling the Sierra related kickstarters. There is a profile on Myspace also under the name gamespygeek that looks like Paul Trowe. Additionally, the name on the Myspace page "Jiminy Drambuie" is friends with Paul Trowe on Facebook, and both Paul Trowe and Jiminy Drambuie are listed as living in Austin, TX.
Also, an Adventure Gamers forum user by the name of Siddhi noted some similarites between Gamespygeek's trolls and Paul Trowe's own posts.
Gamespygeek wrote on SpaceVenture kickstarter:
I don’t know who the heck this guy Chris Pope is, but I believe in Scott & Mark and their ability to make a game after all these years. I originally dropped my pledge to $1.00 because of the technical screw ups but I don’t think that’s The Two Guys’s fault…I blame that on the Chris guy…he’s leading this effort.
Ask them why they didn’t join up with the folks at Replay Games to create Sierra 2.0 and instead chose some guy they’ve never heard of, Chris Pope, to run a company they don’t own.
All of this evidence does seem like Paul Trowe, or a friend of Paul Trowe, is trying to sabotage other Sierra related kickstarters. And if that is indeed the case, it's incredibly poor sportsmanship and reflects poorly upon Replay Games.
Update: The gamespygeek myspace page has been removed. I had anticipated that might happen, so I saved an image of the page, which can be viewed here.
Sam Suede in Undercover Exposure, a comedy adventure game by Wisecrack Games and coded by Wizarbox (Grey Matter and So Blonde), is now on Kickstarter. It has a game design that was created by Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry) and Ken Wegrzyn of Wisecrack Games in 2006, and still remains in tact. Al Lowe is no longer involved in the project, and he stresses that his comedy writing is not present, but his game design is still present.
That said, Steve Ince (formerly of Revolution Software (he was director of the first three games in the Broken Sword series), and creator of Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso and So Blonde) is involved, so the comedy factor should be handled very well. He also did the art design of the games he worked on, and was the art designer of Beneath a Steel Sky. So, the game is in capable hands.
Like the other adventure projects on Kickstarter, there are multiple tiers to choose from, each with their own goodies, including a physical copy of the game at $125, along with the game bible and an art book. So, if you like comedy adventure games, choose a pledge tier at the Sam Suede kickstarter
Sure, you already own Psychonauts, but here's a chance to buy it again, as part of the Humble Indie Bundle. Why would you want to do that? Well, it's the whole charity thing, but more importantly, the other games in the bundle are pretty much stone cold classics. Limbo, Sword & Sworcery EP, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and (for a $7.34 donation at the time of writing) Bastion? Oh! Em! Gee! to that! Plus you get all the soundtracks thrown in too, all for an amount of your choice!
The games are available on Mac, Linux, and PC, and there are few excuses not to do this. Run and donate!
Since we've been posting about the SpaceVenture Kickstarter, I thought I'd update with news that a playable prototype demo has been released which already contains a lot of the humor that the Space Quest series is known for. The Guys from Andromeda (the creators of SpaceVenture, and the creators of the Space Quest series) plan to release a new prototype demo each time a $100,000US goal is met. It's currently just above $270,000US (54% funded) with less than two weeks left to go.
Also, The Space Quest Collection is today's daily deal on Steam. For 9 more hours, you can pick up all 6 Space Quest games for only $5US.
The Space Quest games play just like SpaceVenture, so if you enjoy those games, pick a pledge tier and support SpaceVenture.
It's rare for an indie bundle to include an adventure game, so the Bundle in a Box: Adventure Bundle is a very rare thing, as this indie bundle includes nothing but adventure games.
Like the other indie bundles out there, this is a pay-what-you-want bundle to support developers and charity. For a minimum of less than $2US, you will receive the LucasArts-inspired adventures Ben There Dan That: Special Edition and its sequel Time Gentlemen, Please from Size Five Games. You will also get the adventure set in a neo-noir dystopian future, Gemini Rue, from Wadjet Eye Games, and the text adventure (interactive fiction) 1893: A World's Fair Mystery from Illuminated Lantern. You will also get the never before released The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas Kyratzes.
If you pay more than the average of less than $6US, you will also get the first game from Wadjet Eye Games, The Shivah, and the heavy-metal influenced zombie adventure from Walk Thru Walls Studios, The Metal Dead.
The Journey Down Chapter One is the first part of a four part point-and click adventure game by Skygoblin (formed by the merger of the developer of the Nord casual MMO, SLX, and the indie dev team responsible for the freeware lo-res The Journey Down Chapter One, Skygoblin). It is an HD remake of a free low-resolution game, named The Journey Down: Over the Edge. The game has been getting a lot of pre-release buzz in our forums for it's art direction. Developer Skygoblin was "inspired by the cartoony style of Bill Tiller's COMI, as well as Peter Chan's Full Throttle and Grim Fandango", and you can definitely see the influence in the art direction.
The game has had a long development cycle, starting out on Adventure Game Studio, then switching to a custom engine called Gobby. But now, the wait is over, as The Journey Down has been released for PC, Mac, and Linux in downloadable form at Adventure Shop, Desura, and a whole lot of other places.
The Be Mine 2 Bundle is up now, and it includes a lot of things for whatever you wish to pay. And, like the other indie bundles, a portion goes to charity (in this case Feed Them With Music). But, most importantly to Mojoans, is that it includes The Baconing (the Hothead-helmed Ron Gilbert-less sequel to Ron Gilbert's Deathspank), along with Roesha DLC.
The full list of things it includes is not just games, but comics and music as well. It includes a bunch of stuff like Madballs in...Babo: Invasion and DLCs, Beat Hazard and DLCs, Plain Sight, Sol Survivor. If you pay $5 or more you get more things, such as Killing Floor. Once 75,000 bundles are sold, Scratches: Director's Cut will be available, and another bonus will be shown to be available at a certain amount of bundles sold after that.
The games also include Steam keys, so what are you waiting for, pay what you want on the Be Mine 2 Bundle now!
This and more revealed in this fine, career-encompassing interview with Steve Purcell by the fine chaps at Thunder Chunky.
Source: Thunder Chunky
So we're about a two months late on this one, a Mixnmojo phenomenon known as "par for the course," but we've really got to report it.
You might recall that Jonathan Ackley, the co-project lead of The Curse of Monkey Island who isn't Larry Ahern, has been a Disney Imagineer for most of his post-LEC years, and in that capacity has worked on all kinds of neat stuff.
His latest project is "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" - an attraction that's sort of a treasure hunt mixed with a role playing card game that was launched at the Magic Kingdom in February. Armed with a map and spell cards, guests partake in a narrative in which classic Disney villians are scattered throughout the park in order to retrieve crystal shards at the behest of Hades. Guests solve quests by tracking down and activating Magic Portals and doing battle with the villains using their spell cards, which are divided into nine different spell classes.
A better explanation of the whole thing, complete with Ackley quotes, can be found here. Sounds like something I could get into. Yes, I'm trying to invite myself to your next Disney trip.
Update: Well whaddya know! Some diligent stalking of Larry Ahern's Linkedin, a daily Mojo rote, has led to the revelation that he in fact worked on "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" with his old cohort. Now we just need those guys to resurrect Vanishing Act.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
After Double Fine's success on Kickstarter, more game developers are eager to get on the bandwagon.
First up is Replay Games with their Kickstarter campaign named Make Leisure Suit Larry come again!. The goal is to raise $500,000 for a remake of the first Larry game, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. Their future plans include remaking the other five games in the series as well as making new sequels.
The second one is Jane Jensen and her newly established studio Pinkerton Road with a Kickstarter campaign where the backers can vote on which games they want made, including a sequel to the 2010 adventure game Gray Matter.
First, Telltale has uploaded another episode of Playing Dead, their video diary-thingy covering The Walking Dead. There's also a Q+A, so check it out.
Also, Stacking is available for the PC through Steam. For cheap -- $7 for a limited time.
Everyone's favorite video game podcast about video games, Idle Thumbs, has got a mind to make an ambitious comeback, and to help make it happen they've launched one of them there Kickstarter projects, which are all the rage these days. For those unfamiliar with Idle Thumbs, the [latest] cast of the cast is Chris Remo (patron saint of your face), Jake Rodkin (formerly of Mojo, currently of Telltale), and Sean Vanaman (formerly of not Mojo, currently of Telltale) and over the course of a somewhat sinusoidal six-year existence 87 episodes of gaming commentary were produced.
We're a bit late with this and the project has already more than doubled its goal, but make a pledge anyway, claim the truly absurd rewards, and lend your support to stuff that is rad.
Source: Idle Thumbs forums
The AGS Bake Sale Bundle is a bundle of games made with the popular Adventure Game Studio game creation utility. Like the Humble Indie Bundle and other similar bundles, the AGS Bake Sale bundle is available for whatever price you feel the games are worth, and proceeds go to charity (in this case Child's Play, a charity which helps sick children by giving them video games to enjoy).
All fourteen of the games in the bundle are all new and were designed specifically for the AGS Bake Sale. While all the games use the Adventure Game Studio, not all the games are adventures. There are a few games from other genres in there too, such as the Indiana Jones inspired platformer Indiana Rodent and the Raiders Of The Lost Cheese, starring a mouse in a tiny fedora.
So what are you waiting for? Name your price, help sick children take their mind off their illness, and get fourteen new games right here.
ArsTechnica have published an article, entitled Maniac Tentacle Mindbenders, which discusses how "How ScummVM's unpaid coders kept adventure gaming alive" (as opposed to the paid coders, those worthless hacks).
ScummVM, as you may know, is a program that allows you to run certain old school adventure games on a variety of modern machines and consoles, from your fancy new PC to your PSP. It's a lovely piece of software (open source and released under the GPL, I might add; if you think you can contribute, go wild), and it's nice to see a full-length article talk about it. It's so nice I'm going to link you twice.
Source: ArsTechnica
Here's some wild and cool news for you. So, Japanese rhythm-game extraordinaire Masaya Matsuura (perhaps best known for the ahead-of-its-time PaRappa the Rapper for the PS1) is working on a Kinect-based XBLA game called Haunt. The description I've read makes it sound like a sort of first-person Luigi's Mansion, wherein the player navigates a goofy haunted house with the aid of a flashlight.
The main NPC of the game, which is to release "soon," was already voiced when Masaya and co. bore witness to Tim's charismatic hosting of the GDC Choice Awards and everything changed. Reports Joystiq:
"He's very, very interesting for it," Masaya said when asked about Schafer's participation. Apparently the main character's voice had already been recorded, but after hearing Schafer's speech at a GDC "Choice Awards" ceremony, the Nana-OnSha folks reconsidered. "We talked about 'maybe something is missed,' still," Matsuura said. "And one day you told me about how Tim would be a good voiceover actor," he added to Tanner.
Tanner said that Tim's time was understandably constrained, being the head of another game studio and all, but the team "managed to squeeze him in nonetheless ... a couple of afternoons and we were pretty much done." Tanner also pointed out that Haunt isn't exactly a serious endeavor, and Schafer's "passé humor" was perfect for the role.
Source: Joystiq