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.
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.
Interesting, thanks for the heads up. Hmm, that'd be a shame if TTG lost the KQ license. But with the success of TWD, it might be simply a matter of priority and such.
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.
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!"
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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;
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.
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.
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;
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.
Sorry, but Telltale acquired the KQ rights before Back to the Future and Walking Dead (far and away two of their biggest sellers) came out. To claim that Activision would only show interest if a developer could sell KQ at Call of Duty-levels is just nonsense. Obviously they could not have expected such a result from Telltale at the time they licensed them the rights. Yes, they will want to go with a developer who has a proven track record of success. But I think they are more realistic than to expect Call of Duty-type numbers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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?
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;
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?"
Comments
chat log here: http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/8322/
(2nd page link)
EDIT: Oh n/m
Interesting, thanks for the heads up. Hmm, that'd be a shame if TTG lost the KQ license. But with the success of TWD, it might be simply a matter of priority and such.
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!"
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Sorry, but Telltale acquired the KQ rights before Back to the Future and Walking Dead (far and away two of their biggest sellers) came out. To claim that Activision would only show interest if a developer could sell KQ at Call of Duty-levels is just nonsense. Obviously they could not have expected such a result from Telltale at the time they licensed them the rights. Yes, they will want to go with a developer who has a proven track record of success. But I think they are more realistic than to expect Call of Duty-type numbers.
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. http://www.infamous-adventures.com/f...p?topic=3578.0
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.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110321104248/http://www.telltalegames.com/company/pressreleases/
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.
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...
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.
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?
:cool:
When was the last time they said anything mid-2012 or so?
We need to build a timeline!
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.
Bt
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?
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.
Apparently according to this interview it was a 'week';
http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=82089
Maybe that's the strongest bit of hope that they are doing the game - the forum is still up!
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.
Bt
Since then, anything could have happened.
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?"