A little bird told me...

...that you fine folks are in need of little mood-lifting.

Well, I read through the RIP Tex topic, had myself a good cry, made a nice cup of tea, snuggled up to my PC and decided to write you all a message of good cheer.

Now, some of you might be saying: Aaron...come ON! A cup of tea?! Snuggling?!! What about the bourbon and the cigarette, the corner table at the bar, the world-weary gallows humor? Well, there's a time and a season and to everything - turn, turn, turn.

Does this rambling have a point? Not really. There are some things I'd like to tell everyone, but it's not the time. There are other things I'd like to talk about, but they're confidential. There are, however, yet other things I CAN tell you about. So I will.

The rights to Tex Murphy are not belong to us. I don't want to go into details, but suffice to say that we would really like to secure them and may be able to do so. At the very least, we are confident that we can make arrangements to use them (...but for a price, Ugarte, for a price...). Bottom line is, CJ and I have every intention of bringing Tex back for at least one last hurrah (a la Indiana Jones). In fact, I've already done a fair bit of work on the Game That Will Be.

I see there's been some discussion as to what form this game might take. Trust me, we've debated this at length. Bottom line is, we MAY do FMV. We may also do rendered characters. We could even do graphic novel-style. It all depends on whether we produce the game ourselves or in collaboration with someone else. Both are legitimate possibilities. What the game will NOT be is a big budget console title. It will not be an Action/Adventure title using a FPS engine. However it's presented the game will be about story, character, conversation, humor, and detective work - solving puzzles, collecting clues, etc. It will be simple and satisfying and, I would like to think, elegant.

There are forces at work - other than just CJ, myself, and you loyal folks - who would like to see Tex return to a PC screen near you. Nothing is official, but I can honestly say I haven't had this much realistic hope - even expectation - since being absorbed by the Borg in 1999. Trust me when I say: as soon as it's official, you'll be the first to know.

However...in order to make this a reality, CJ and I feel it's best to pursue a different project to pave the way for Tex's return. And we're doing that. Again, I wish I could share details, but it wouldn't be appropriate. I just want you to know that things are afoot.

Now, I know you've heard this kind of thing before. Herr Jones and I have had our hearts broken several times over the years - some of the disappointments were almost unbearable. This is why we've scaled back on expressing our optimisim over the past couple years. That being said, this time around seems very different. We have a much greater degree of control over what we're doing and people who we know and trust are in the key decision-making positions. Most importantly, we're pursuing a project that is much smaller scale, less expensive to produce, and perfectly suited to our skills as game designers and storytellers. There's a consensus that there's a solid (and exploitable) market for our types of games and people with money who emphatically agree.

With any luck, we'll have an official announcement to make within the next the 2-3 months. If our beating, bloody hearts are torn from our chest cavities yet again, I promise to let you all know, but I really don't think that's going to happen this time around. If you want to help, keep your fingers crossed and send good thoughts into the Universe on our behalf.

I look forward to dropping in again sometime before summer (or winter, you drongos Down Under).

With great fondness,

Aaron
Well isnt this a pleasant suprise. Its very interesting. As I read the words of this post the Under a Killing Moon poster began to glow. I turned my head to see a magnificent light burning my eyes. I tried to block the light that was growing stronger but I couldnt stop it no matter what I tried. As my eyes began to adjust I saw a message in the light. It was still to blurry to make out. I got uo from my seat and walked closer, until my face was just inches away. The words started to come together and all at once everything became clear to me. The future, everything was like a list and I could just read the events as I went down.

I awoke, I dont know how long I had been out. A gentle breeze washed over my sweat drentched face. I opened my eyes to realize that my windows had been thrown open. Glass shattered on the ground below. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The events that had had come before this were still fresh in my mind. I shifted my gaze to the poster. It was back to normal. I stood and walked over to touch it. Exactly the same as it had been.

'But my windows' I thought. This must have been real. And the memories. I still had them all. It was all still so clear to me. FInally having all the answers after all these years.

It was almost the best moment of my life until I thought. 'Aw crap, windows are expensive.'

Anyway....yeah, good news. I have to go out and buy new windows. Where do they have those... Lowes? Thanks for letting us in on whats going on. Looking forward to more details soon.
Travis Jacobs

"You might not sound so idiotic if there were at least something excitable in my post to begin with..." --Baf
Good to hear you're still around, Aaron. How's your french coming along, BTW?
Also, PM or email me if you need your copy of Schoolhouse Rock back, you know, for book-keeping purposes. I still have a certain late 60's/early 70's piece floating around here somewhere, in case you didn't get a copy of it before things went down @ indiebuilt.

Best,

STV
You want me to do this project? Well, here's the way it works:
Cheap, good, fast. Pick any two.

-Unknown Producer
omg!! so great to hear from you. Wow thanks for the update

I guess that means I'm going to be checking back in every day for months now - sheesh.

Thanks for the update. It means so much to hear this. As ever if there's anything we can do, we will

DL
I am thinking great and terrible thoughts about organizing a cull of human slaves to be collected and incorporated into the Mantra Machine, that will spew forth good and positive energy forced through them into the universe.

Not unlike the crops of humans in The Matrix. Except instead to fuel evil machine hordes, I was thinking of fueling a new Tex Game with positive and good vibrations.

Malloy, to me! We need a drawing board, a coupla pencils, a ruler, Stephen Hawking's brain, lots of luck and our own personal stormtrooper squad. I'll get the pencils.

To the Texomobile!!

-Fred

PS: It's great to hear from you, AC. Best of luck in all your endeavours, you have my support in whatever you and CJ are scheming. I'm sure I speak for everybody else in this community when I say they do too.
Pirates, vampires, zombies, ninjas, ghouls, aliens, goblins, monsters, robots, sorcerers, undead, werewolves, demons, mutated dinosaur-cyborgs and those pesky phone salesmen! The shotgun is a one-size-fits-all solution!
Hey! The prodigal son returns!
Good to "see" you pop in! And thanks very much for the update. You truly are missed around here. Hope everything is going well for you out in the Great White North. It's funny, some days there's only a few posts, but everyone seems to come out of the woodwork when you poke your head in. :P

Off to find the perfect taco!
Take care!
Jen
Jen wrote:everyone seems to come out of the woodwork when you poke your head in.
Nonsense.

...see you in a few months!
Image
*Big Goofy Grin on My Face*

Very good to hear from you indeed, Aaron! Can you practically feel the positive energy radiating from me up to the great PI in the sky?

As always, many, many, thanks for the updates.
nearly brought a tear to my eye :), the next 2-3 months are going to be very long

craig
PPS... nice Casablanca quote.

These messages are so much fun.
STNG, All your Base, makes you feel really warm inside knowing that beneath that cool detached exterior lies a geek like US.

:D
We're not geeks. We're 'Entertainment-Enabled!'

-Fred
Pirates, vampires, zombies, ninjas, ghouls, aliens, goblins, monsters, robots, sorcerers, undead, werewolves, demons, mutated dinosaur-cyborgs and those pesky phone salesmen! The shotgun is a one-size-fits-all solution!
Bless the powers! To be honest, since I'm naturally trusting and/or gullible, my hopes haven't faltered much since getting wind of possible new developments several months ago, but this word from our hero has encouraged me even more still!

Thanks for letting us in on your feelings about the game, AC. Even if no Tex game ever returns (God forbid!), we would be so much more content with that since we know how hard you and CJ have tried to make it happen.
~ Member: Tex Murphy's Mutant League, Crazy 888's Chapter~
*Revitalizing Old San Francisco's Chandler Avenue District With Style*

(also known as Steve Douglas, but usually by people less awesome than UTMers)
Fred Buer wrote:We're not geeks. We're 'Entertainment-Enabled!'

-Fred
I prefer the term "technologically informed".


Anyway Aaron, great news as always. As a community we have grown to beleive that any news is good news, but good news is even better.

After hearing CJs VO work in Stolen Life, it became apparent to me that it will be a long time bfore you guys lose your touch, and I confident that when you guys make your triumphant return it would be as if Tex Murphy never went away.

It may be 5 months, it may be 5 years. But I don't know about you guys but I am not going anywhere. How many people can say that their fanbase is visited regularly by 'The Chosen Ones'? There are so many characters on this board alone you coudl make a game of it! Hmmm, that gives me an idea... when you do get around to producing the new game you gotta slip in some UTM Message Board mise en scene. :wink:

And who you calling a drongo...

...oh wait, you meant me... fair enough. Carry on. :lol:

-Cub. =o)
I'll admit, I'm a geek.
Travis Jacobs

"You might not sound so idiotic if there were at least something excitable in my post to begin with..." --Baf
I've been visiting this board daily for what seems like years and this made my....well, years!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the update and the sliver of hope!

If any story out there needs a proper send off, it's Tex's. You guy's deserve it simply for your tenacity and perserverance over the years (and to shut us up!)....nevermind the awesome story and CJ's spot on portrayal of Tex!

AC and CJ, we are behind you 100%. Let us know what we can do to help!

Tex is truly a labor of love and it shows.