I think this has been attempted before... I think Oracale was the title of the project... and there have been various other fan based game efforts along the years at this board... but due to time and priority constraints they have never surfaced past the conceptual stages.
I think too many of us don't have enough sapre time on our hands, or $$$
Would be good though, but it's an awful lot of work, and this difficulty is multiplied by the geographical distances between this community's members.
-Cub. =o)
I think too many of us don't have enough sapre time on our hands, or $$$
Would be good though, but it's an awful lot of work, and this difficulty is multiplied by the geographical distances between this community's members.-Cub. =o)
I'm not so sure distance will be the problem, we have the online chat rooms to through around ideas in r/t, and the msg board as well, But time WOULD be the biggest issue of all, But I would be willing to try it. I did make the Interactive Movie for my sen. class project, I didnt write it or do any of the camera/film editing, but I think us creating a fan based tex game is a likely possiblity, assuming we all put our minds to it and do what we say we are going to doPosted: Jun 27, 2005 1:20 pm Post subject: re: new tex
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I think this has been attempted before... I think Oracale was the title of the project... and there have been various other fan based game efforts along the years at this board... but due to time and priority constraints they have never surfaced past the conceptual stages.
I think too many of us don't have enough sapre time on our hands, or $$$ Would be good though, but it's an awful lot of work, and this difficulty is multiplied by the geographical distances between this community's members.
-Cub. =o)
My 2c
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It was "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid".
And yeah, it couldn't really be fmv. I guess aside from a CG model, it could br like it was done in Martian Memorandum.
As for voices, finding a Tex might be tricky but i bet i could pull off a half decent Louie or Rook ^^
Time would be a big problem. Also coordination is tough, plus in my experience, working online has its problems. I've been waiting a month to get feedback from my writing staff on the pilot script of the animated series i'm trying to create. It's harder to motivate people when you're halfway across the world :/
And yeah, it couldn't really be fmv. I guess aside from a CG model, it could br like it was done in Martian Memorandum.
As for voices, finding a Tex might be tricky but i bet i could pull off a half decent Louie or Rook ^^
Time would be a big problem. Also coordination is tough, plus in my experience, working online has its problems. I've been waiting a month to get feedback from my writing staff on the pilot script of the animated series i'm trying to create. It's harder to motivate people when you're halfway across the world :/
You guys probaby get tired of hearing this from me, but there *is* a way to do it so that it will get done, and also to have the *real* Tex Murphy play Tex in the game.
I've been wanting to ask JTOG about this for a while, so now's as good a time as any.
Jim is a much better writer than I am, but he's not too adept at programming. I was thinking about asking if he would like to collaborate on a new TM text adventure. There are several reasons why text is a better choice than graphics:
1. The Tex Murphy in your mind's eye is *exactly* the real Tex Murphy. This goes for all the other familiar characters too, like Clelsea, Rook, Louie, Mac,... The whole issue of 'That doesn't look like Tex' or it doesn't sound like him, is moot. You can prove this to yourself by just reading a little out of one of the TM novels.
2. Text Adventures (a.k.a. Interactive Fiction) have a very high level of interactivity. The player is not limited just to navigating and clicking. You can try just about any verb on any object: take, break, throw, drop, read, examine, put on, put in, put under, open, close, attack, kill, kiss, hug, etc. You get the idea. (This is the hard part about IF programming, because the programmer has to anticipate everything a player might try. In that sense, graphic game programming is easier because the player can only do what's clickable.
3. Text adventures are very inexpensive to produce. Well-developed authoring systems are freely available. The games can run on virtually any platform from handhelds to mainframes.
4. The programming languarge is easy to learn, and someone without any programming experience at all can still contribute by writing room or object descriptions that the programmers can cut and paste into the code.
5. An Interactive Fiction Tex Murphy game is something we can definitely finish if we start. It's something that can be done by one or many contributors. As long as at least one person works on it, progress will continue.
6. You can complain all you want about not being satisfied unless the game has Chris Jones and FMV. Or you can work your tail off trying to make realistic-looking CGI characters, but when all is said and done, you're going to wind up with an unfinished game. We can realistically complete a text game, and the characters will be more real than any RenderMan could possibly make.
7. There were a group of guys, all pretty talented, at The Zork Library who started to develop a new Zork fan-game. They had a complete team: writers, graphic artists, engine developer, puzzle crew, I forget what else. I got involved with them a couple years after they started. My job, as you know, was to write a text adventure prequel in order to give some back-story for the graphic game. Now, another two years later, the text adventure prequel is finished (I did it all by myself), but the graphic game is dead. Well, I hope it's only in a coma.
The problem is that graphic games are a huge time and resource committment. Production depends on everybody doing his/her job and one person can hold up the whole project.
So I say, "Text is the way to go."
I've been wanting to ask JTOG about this for a while, so now's as good a time as any.
Jim is a much better writer than I am, but he's not too adept at programming. I was thinking about asking if he would like to collaborate on a new TM text adventure. There are several reasons why text is a better choice than graphics:
1. The Tex Murphy in your mind's eye is *exactly* the real Tex Murphy. This goes for all the other familiar characters too, like Clelsea, Rook, Louie, Mac,... The whole issue of 'That doesn't look like Tex' or it doesn't sound like him, is moot. You can prove this to yourself by just reading a little out of one of the TM novels.
2. Text Adventures (a.k.a. Interactive Fiction) have a very high level of interactivity. The player is not limited just to navigating and clicking. You can try just about any verb on any object: take, break, throw, drop, read, examine, put on, put in, put under, open, close, attack, kill, kiss, hug, etc. You get the idea. (This is the hard part about IF programming, because the programmer has to anticipate everything a player might try. In that sense, graphic game programming is easier because the player can only do what's clickable.
3. Text adventures are very inexpensive to produce. Well-developed authoring systems are freely available. The games can run on virtually any platform from handhelds to mainframes.
4. The programming languarge is easy to learn, and someone without any programming experience at all can still contribute by writing room or object descriptions that the programmers can cut and paste into the code.
5. An Interactive Fiction Tex Murphy game is something we can definitely finish if we start. It's something that can be done by one or many contributors. As long as at least one person works on it, progress will continue.
6. You can complain all you want about not being satisfied unless the game has Chris Jones and FMV. Or you can work your tail off trying to make realistic-looking CGI characters, but when all is said and done, you're going to wind up with an unfinished game. We can realistically complete a text game, and the characters will be more real than any RenderMan could possibly make.
7. There were a group of guys, all pretty talented, at The Zork Library who started to develop a new Zork fan-game. They had a complete team: writers, graphic artists, engine developer, puzzle crew, I forget what else. I got involved with them a couple years after they started. My job, as you know, was to write a text adventure prequel in order to give some back-story for the graphic game. Now, another two years later, the text adventure prequel is finished (I did it all by myself), but the graphic game is dead. Well, I hope it's only in a coma.
The problem is that graphic games are a huge time and resource committment. Production depends on everybody doing his/her job and one person can hold up the whole project.
So I say, "Text is the way to go."
Well, let's think of the various different formats that Tex can take.
1. Text adventure.
Might as well be a book. This is the kind of project that's great for the fans, but no so hot for everyone else.
2. Point and Click
Kind of like Syberia's setup. You have the picteresque backgrounds, digital characters and puzzles via clicking and zooming in on them. Not innovative, but as we know, it can be done. There's apparantly a bunch of people that buy these things, so there is market, but don't expect the price of the game to exceed twenty bucks.
3. First Person
Notice the lack of shooter at the end. Tex has always been a first person game, so returning it to it's roots, though the most expensive of the options, is the best. This version of the game would have a stronger focus on the 'adventure' elements, and a weaker focus on 'puzzle' elements. Must know how to drive a speeder.
4. Book
This will be hard to get published, as Tex Murphy is not notorious in the literary world.
Those are merely four possibilities. Perhaps we'll find one that works?
1. Text adventure.
Might as well be a book. This is the kind of project that's great for the fans, but no so hot for everyone else.
2. Point and Click
Kind of like Syberia's setup. You have the picteresque backgrounds, digital characters and puzzles via clicking and zooming in on them. Not innovative, but as we know, it can be done. There's apparantly a bunch of people that buy these things, so there is market, but don't expect the price of the game to exceed twenty bucks.
3. First Person
Notice the lack of shooter at the end. Tex has always been a first person game, so returning it to it's roots, though the most expensive of the options, is the best. This version of the game would have a stronger focus on the 'adventure' elements, and a weaker focus on 'puzzle' elements. Must know how to drive a speeder.
4. Book
This will be hard to get published, as Tex Murphy is not notorious in the literary world.
Those are merely four possibilities. Perhaps we'll find one that works?
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http://nvracar.wordpress.com/
http://nvracar.wordpress.com/
Vracar,
Your comment that the Text Adventure might as well be a book is hard to fathom because nothing could be further from the truth. Books are passive - keep reading and the story keeps unfolding. Text adventures are interactive, arguably more interactive than graphic games. Text Adventures are also first person (although they don't have to be) and I agree with you that first person is the best format - but that still leaves text adventures as a viable option.
Maybe you've had some bad experience with difficult puzzles in some text adventures. Many of the modern text adventures are plot-driven and have few, if any, puzzles. But what would a Tex Murphy game be without puzzles?
I don't have anything against graphic games. I like them. But anything short of UAKM quality in a graphic game (including the actors) would be annoyingly obvious, but completely irrelevant in a text game. That's why I think a text game would be more satisfying.
Your comment that the Text Adventure might as well be a book is hard to fathom because nothing could be further from the truth. Books are passive - keep reading and the story keeps unfolding. Text adventures are interactive, arguably more interactive than graphic games. Text Adventures are also first person (although they don't have to be) and I agree with you that first person is the best format - but that still leaves text adventures as a viable option.
Maybe you've had some bad experience with difficult puzzles in some text adventures. Many of the modern text adventures are plot-driven and have few, if any, puzzles. But what would a Tex Murphy game be without puzzles?
I don't have anything against graphic games. I like them. But anything short of UAKM quality in a graphic game (including the actors) would be annoyingly obvious, but completely irrelevant in a text game. That's why I think a text game would be more satisfying.
Uh, you forgot about radio theatre?Vracar wrote:Well, let's think of the various different formats that Tex can take.
I don't really like the idea of a text based game. Since UAKM, tex games have always taken advantage of the latest technologies, text based would be a giant step backwards and you're better off just publishing a book.
Thats true, about the text adventure... I think if you are going to be reading a story, you'd want to let it flow. If high detailed adventure games on PC nowadays are not making it into the attention spans of gamers anymore, a mono-chromatic text version would surely flop badly.Bren wrote:Uh, you forgot about radio theatre?Vracar wrote:Well, let's think of the various different formats that Tex can take.
I don't really like the idea of a text based game. Since UAKM, tex games have always taken advantage of the latest technologies, text based would be a giant step backwards and you're better off just publishing a book.
Books appeal to book readers, movies appeal to movie-goers, both are big markets. Adventure games appeal to adventure gamers, and we are a dying breed. Face the music, it's almost over, and that fat lady is clearing her throat and there ain't no sock big enough to shove in her big fat gob!
-Cub =o)
Hey Jim,
Thanks for stating my position much better than I can. (I told you you were a good writer.)
I should try and take one chapter or one scene from the PD novel (or game) and make a short interactive text-demo from it. The idea would be to demonstrate how enjoyable and Tex-like the experience can actually be.
Thanks for stating my position much better than I can. (I told you you were a good writer.)
I should try and take one chapter or one scene from the PD novel (or game) and make a short interactive text-demo from it. The idea would be to demonstrate how enjoyable and Tex-like the experience can actually be.