Adventure Gamers Interview
The Daves (Grossman and Felton) were interviewed by Adventure Gamers. Guess what came up?
Thoughts?
Adventure Gamers wrote:What do you think makes a Sierra game different from a LucasArts game? Will the stylistic differences affect how you approach the King’s Quest license?
Dave Grossman wrote:The danger in a Sierra game always seemed more palpable and immediate than in one from LucasArts. Partly this was because LucasArts games took great pains to reassure you that you wouldn’t die and couldn’t do anything wrong, while Sierra games took a certain delight in all of the ways that you might die or otherwise fail that was part of the fun. Lucas games were largely exploratory, while Sierra titles had more of an element of challenge, including a more distinctly puzzley focus, situations with time constraints, and so on.
A good trick for us will be to preserve those elements of peril, challenge, and yes, death, but also hopefully do something to address the frustration that unfortunately tended to come along with them all too often and alienate some of the players (maybe if the game just saves and hits “restore” for you automatically that will be enough).
Thoughts?
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
Dying has never been all that bad (look at: every video game ever). Stupid puzzles (not hard puzzles, stupid puzzles that are illogical) and unfair dead ends make games frustrating.
Or if you have the IQ of a badger.
I doubt exploration will feature heavily in an episodic game though.
Then Lucasarts had the self-contained adventures where you explored a limited area (Maniac Mansion games). These types didn't have much 'exploration', but basic settings used for the sake of hte story.
Then there was full throttle, alot of it was essentially interactive cutscenes, and action sequences. So I didn't get much of an 'exploration vibe' to it.
For me, it was the LA games that focused almost solely on puzzles, and the exploration posed no challenge at all. Often you just walked over to the next screen.
Sierra games had possibilities for very detailed exploration, and this is a big part of the appeal for me. Also, the emphasis on time constraints is not an important part of the Sierra magic in my book.
The very worst-case reading of this statement would be: little freedom of exploration, focus on puzzles and time constraints. Note that this is probably not the right reading!
KQ was probably the exception to the rule. Most other sierra games were fairly linear (SQ or GK for example).
Hmm, interesting that this interview confirms that the game will be a continuation of KQ canon.
And how terrific they will be picking up the existing story world!! I feel excited all over again!
Maybe he means in reference to the ability to "explore" in those games without having to worry as much about dying if you fell 4 feet off a flight of stairs or something. Personally the lack of "pressure" in those games is one of the reasons I always liked the Sierra brands better.
Actually, the point was to get answers to questions that tons of fans are curious about. Not every King's Quest fan is enraged that Telltale has this license. A lot of people are actually excited about it.
I didn't take his answer to mean that exploration only exists in LucasArts games, just that in those games you can explore without an element of danger. In the Sierra games you also explore, but are aware that danger could be around any corner (which of course led to "save early, save often"!) It's a different type of exploration.
I personally am not a fan of death scenes and wouldn't mind if they went away completely... but I don't expect Telltale's KQ games to submit to my personal list of demands, no matter how big a fan I am. The most important takeaway here is that Telltale's listening to the audience's feedback (some of which is conflicting) and taking it into account during the design process.
AG: Have you been following The Silver Lining and AGD Interactive’s King’s Quest remakes? Did these projects play any role in your decision to make new KQ games?
DG: Yes—in fact Cesar Bittar from Phoenix Online used to work here at Telltale, which is how I personally got my first look at The Silver Lining. The fact that the King’s Quest community is enthusiastic enough to put in the kind of time and sweat that it takes to make games like that gives me a lot of confidence that a new KQ title is a good idea. Of course, I also know that that audience will have high and specific expectations that we’ll have to live up to. But what else is new?
After all, they're saying in the Jurassic Park previews that they feel the title has puzzle-solving and brain teasers in it, and their chosen gameplay footage is simplistic to the point of being insulting. And remember what "players" we're talking about not wanting to alienate. When it's Grossman talking, we're referring to not wanting to "frustrate" or "alienate" people who don't know that the cursor showing up means you can play, don't know things can be behind doors, don't want to think cleverly or within the confines of a universe's logic, feel no inclination to explore or be inquisitive, don't understand the concept of an idle animation, can't fathom the concept of a UI, don't want to play video games in the first place, and on the whole sees playing video games as a frightening and intimidating activity on the whole. I don't want to hear "We're going to have puzzles, but also we gotta be careful not to alienate players". That could put the game anywhere on a very diverse set of points along a spectrum. I want to hear something solid, what little that sounds "comforting" here comes off as an empty platitude to me, especially since it's next to the same sort of thing that insults the genre by calling it an unintuitive and inaccessible beast.
How is that different from what I said?
I never said everyone was enraged. I never even said I was enraged. It was a great interview that did its job. People were wanting official answers and they were given. Whether it's just 'market-speak' or from-the-heart down-to-earth answers to the fans we'll just have to wait and see.
That was my thought as well.
That's a great sign indeed. We'll see how it all turns out.
To continue the analogy between games and people, the (possibly unfortunate) fact is that desperation tends to be unappealing. So a game that seems desperate to please may be off-putting for that reason...
Throwing in psychology, meaningful relationships practically depend on requiring one to adjust something about oneself; they are forged when we willingly step out of our comfort zones into somewhat unknown territory in order to approach more closely something or someone that attracts us.
But this cannot happen if the person or game pre-empts that personal investment by being too "user-friendly". I know the intentions are good and I am not for user-unfriendliness. Again, that is the mirror universe exaggeration. But I think we all know (or can imagine) how oppressive it is if someone is constantly checking that your every need is met - including imagined ones.
"Are you sure you are perfectly comfortable even though you do not have a glass of water?" The chances are they would have been, had it not been for this question. Not making such offers is not inconsiderate - it is considerate because you are respecting the other individual's personal space and placing that before your own need to show overt consideration.
Love your post man
I have to wonder though, are there really any circumstances where Telltale would say, "Oh yeah, we're totally planning to change it COMPLETELY. Source material and longtime fans can SUCK IT!"
A lot of people have been questioning if Telltale will stay true to the Sierra model of Adventure games or follow the LucasArts model which they've used for pretty much all their games so far. I should have said I'm glad they confirmed that they are following the Sierra model. That's one less factor fans have to worry about for this upcoming project.
I don't think they've confirmed anything. All they've said is they are going to try and be "true to the source material," which of course, is completely subjective and could mean any number of things.
But I am a fan that is willing to accept some changes as long as they are not too great... I do not have a strict definition of what a KQ game HAS to be to be enjoyable and still a KQ game.