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Vampyre Story - Still not dead. Well, metaphorically...
The_Scarab
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Maybe some people are interested, maybe some are not. This is essentially the next big adventure game. Point and click, proper old school. From the people that brought you such gems as Monkey Island and Grim Fandango.
Well it has been in media limbo for ages but now it seems this shit is starting to come together.
I guess that is cause for discussion then?
Oh, did I mention it looks shit hot?
http://www.jolt.co.uk/index.php?articleid=11525
Some of our favourite games growing up were point-and-click adventures, then one day they became uncool. What the hell happened?
Bill Tiller: [It’s] complicated. Those games were made by cool guys who had a good sense of humor; but the games stopped selling as well due to competition from games that took advantage of new technology, CD ROMs, 3D cards... So [we] had to compete now with first-person shooters and RTS games – games that didn't exist back in the day. So the cool guys went off and made games in those new genres. Tim Schafer did a platform game, Ron Gilbert a RTS, Dave Grossman did adventure games, Larry Ahern simulators, Chuck Jordan The Sims, Sean Clark RTS and casual games. I went to work on a 3D Indy action game, an RPG (Guild Wars) and a third-person sword fighting game (The Two Towers).
I can’t speak for other people but I found working on those games educational, but nowhere near as fulfilling as working on those old school adventure games. I couldn't find a job that would pay me to make those again, so I made my own job. Dave Grossman is now doing Sam & Max along with Chuck Jordon, Larry Ahern is doing a hybrid adventure action game, and Ron is doing an adventure-heavy RPOG. Hal Barwood is doing a new adventure game, so I think many of us went on similar journeys and are now heading back to what we loved doing ten years ago. [It’s] kind of a cycle. I hope that makes some sort of sense, but I warned you it was a complicated answer!
The point-and-click genre seems to be making a serious and lasting comeback. It's as though many developers are again realising that, actually, a memorable adventure game needs to be charming, interesting and above all funny. Presumably that's easier said than done, though?
Bill Tiller: The secret is getting a lot of people with good sense of humor involved with creating the game. Sitcoms and TV varieties shows figured that out a long time ago: you need a team of funny people lead by a strong vision. Saturday Night Live has something like twelve writers, and so did sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld and the Simpsons. We have a harder job in adventure games because we have a hell of a lot more lines to write than a 25 minute sitcom or an hour-and-a-half sketch comedy show. So you have to take joke ideas from all sources to fill those six to ten thousand lines of dialogue.
So, if you have the right team, then it is seems to fall into place.
The hardest part of making an adventure game seems more the production and programming. These games are complicated so lots of little crap can go wrong and it takes forever to nail down all those little problems, and they are so unpredictable. You never know where the next major problem will crop up. Making and adventure game is a bit like running a marathon. Trust me – making mindless first person shooter is a lot easier.
What can you tell us about A Vampyre Story? What will make it stand out in a vastly changed gaming landscape?
Bill Tiller: I came up with the idea of AVS back in 1995 while I was on a cruise doing some research for Curse of Monkey Island. I started sketching in my sketchbook and I wanted to draw a female in the style of Edward Gory, one of my favourite illustrators. And I came up with Mona de Lafitte and her buddy Froderick the bat. I started thinking about what kind of vampire she was and what her back story was and I basically came up with the plot for AVS that night, and started thinking about how to tell this story.
ETA: I've been following this game since day one closely and I'm getting the impression it is going to be out sooner than later. Expect a showing at e3, and then a release I dunno, august, september-ish. Mid September has been all but confirmed for the UK.
The_Scarab on
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Color me intrigued.
(now we just need Grey Matter to be released)
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
This is relevant to my interest.
Also reminds me that I should finish grim fandango someday...
GM: Rusty Chains (DH Ongoing)
Still, I believe Toxin sums up best how I too feel about this.
Yeah. It was meant to be out by October, but something went wrong with the printing.
Also, the game is now on Gamersgate! Anyone try out the full version?
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/a-vampyre-story-sinks-teeth-into-gamersgate/
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
The backgrounds are incredibly well-done, but the 3D models seemed a bit below Sam & Max as far as animation quality is concerned. Mona's voice was incredibly grating to begin with, but I got used to it. I'm sure some people will hate it, though. Roderick's voice was okay (it does sound like the dude who does Max's voice), but the whole wise-cracking comic relief sidekick is ridiculously derivative.
It was okay overall. I would pick it up for $20. That Gamer's Gate site has it listed for €40, which I think is a huge mistake. I doubt a ton of people will buy it at that price, especially considering what time of year it is.
I still kind of wish that the characters were hand-drawn 2D though. I think the backgrounds look wonderful, and with hand-drawn characters, it would look just like Curse of Monkey Island and I would almost immediately forgive any voice acting foibles.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Indeed, I appreciate their style, but they are just not quite detailed enough to mesh with the gorgeous backgrounds.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
I havn't played the game yet(and won't until the CD/DVD version is released, since I like having actual physical copies of stuff), but if it's like most of the other adventure games I've played the main criteria for hiring voice actors was probably 'Can you speak english?'.
I'm really tempted to buy this game, as I waited soooo long for it. The 3D models and the voice acting for Mona are still holding me back. Thanks for your impressions Rohan! Curse of Monkey Island is also one of my favorite games of all time. Is the writing in this game consistently strong, voice acting issues aside?
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=74989
Also, will it run on my poor old Macbook (not macbook pro) with it's rather shoddy integrated graphics card, meagre 1gb of ram?
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Yup. Check Play.com for example. In the other news, first reviews are out:
Eurogamer (German): 9/10
Gameswelt (German): 88%
AdventureCorner (German): 89/100
Scored surprisingly high.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
+ very charming game, not as sterile as recent adventure games
+ a soundtrack that is both spooky and nostalgic
+ fair puzzles - you have to think laterally, but the puzzles are fun and challenging
+ the interactions between Mona and Froderick remind them of Sam and Max
+ animations can be skipped
+ good comic look
+ diversified scenarios and wacky characters
+ Mona's german voice is much better than her english one :P
- the second half of the game is not quite as good as the first
- the low budget shows in stuff like animation dropouts
- ending that leaves you hanging - perfect for a sequel, but a bit disconcerting
You'd probably be wrong. Bill Tiller is just as much a part of what made the Golden Age adventures fun for me as Schafer.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51