I’m a big fan of Edgar Wright movies (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim), and after seeing these lists of films that inspired his movies, I’ve been wanting to honor my own source material for “Incinerations”. Obviously it’s not a complete list of in-game references (or it would go on forever) – and I won’t be including musical inspirations – but rather these are the biggest influences that inspired the style and story of the game.
On a side note, I’ve just made the point list and trophy guide for the game available today. There’s also a hilarious “Let’s Play” of the game being made by PawDugan and PushingUpRoses of ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com with them doing all the voices. They’re still early in the game, but you can follow along whenever the stream goes live by subscribing to Paw’s Twitter account and joining in the chat. I’ll post the complete LP when it’s finished.
Taking a break from anything SQ-related to post up some recent schoolwork. I think collecting video reference is my favorite part of animation – as long as nobody gets hurts, that is.
This assignment involved animating ten seconds of a character who walks, reacts, and runs – and polishing it within eight weeks.
It came to my attention that a few sites are linking directly to this front page for my game, so most of my blog posts will be SQInc-related for a while.
Version 1.1 has been uploaded for “Incinerations”. This new version fixes all of the bugs that have thus far been reported, including the infamous rocket bug and a crash during the arcade sequence. There have also been countless spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors fixed (hammering home the point that I should not rely on myself to proofread ever again). Finally, I’ve updated a few graphic glitches, meaning your old save games won’t work with this version anymore.
And there’s a few notes about the site as well. Frederik’s contributions to the soundtrack have now been uploaded to the media page and are available for download. And if you haven’t been there yet, there’s also wallpapers, Akril’s concept art, and Roger’s ringtone available. Also, the forum has been updated and re-archived to accommodate the game’s release (as well as clean up all those three year old posts cluttering the front page). While I’m not updating the points or trophies list just yet, you can discuss these in the forums where an unofficial guide has been posted.
There’s a few more happenings around the community as well. “Vohaul Strikes Back” is now seeking voice actors and you can audition by going to this page. There’s also been a fourth – yes, I’m not kidding – FOURTH Space Quest game released within the month. “Space Quest -1: Decision of the Elders” has just been released, although it’s a short ten-minute AGI game which will be periodically released in episodes. I can’t figure out what’s going on either. Why doesn’t Leisure Suit Larry get this kind of fan-love?
I’ve been waiting almost twelve years to make this blog entry. From the humbling beginnings back in high school where this existed as a crudely-designed fan-project, to the revival spent making the first couple rooms on my laptop in 2006, to the four years spent animating battle sequences on my couch while juggling work between “Vohaul Strikes Back” and “The Silver Lining” to my move to Vancouver where I spent several months programming and beta-testing my fingers off and swearing never to make a project of this magnitude ever again. At the cost of my sanity, the game is finally here. You can go download it. You can go play it. You can come back and tell me it sucks – I don’t care. It’s finished, and that’s what matters.
I keep expecting some Highlander-type Quickening to happen to me, but so far, it’s a no-go. I’m pretty sure I’m out of shape and have very poor social skills, though. Is that a prize?
Most people would probably use an announcement like this to toss out a generic “special thanks” and describe the game… but I think on my own blog, I’m entitled to just spill my real feelings. This is huge for me. This is a right-up-there-with-#1 moment for me. Disneyland, being a best man at my brother’s wedding, Samosa Night with Nick, New Years 2006, DucktaleZ 3, the train ride to Toronto – I can add ” finished Incinerations” to the list.
And the people to thank – right off the bat: I won’t embarrass him on any other forum post, but Frederik Olsen stuck with me through to the end. He made a great soundtrack, we stayed up late discussing the games, he’s very passionate about his work and committed to see things through.
And Team VSB – Andres Kalle, Patrick C. Johnston – I’ve learned so much from working with them. The game wouldn’t be possible without their input and know-how (actually, it WOULD be possible, but it would be crappier.) I’ve thrown so many requests their way, and they’ve always thrown back quick and easy results. It’s just mind-blowing to me.
And I know I give “The Silver Lining” crew a lot of flack for having driven me completely up the wall at times, but Cez Bittar and Rich Flores – they helped make this game possible. They pushed me further than I’d ever pushed myself and once I built up speed, I just kept adding things to SQInc that was never in the plans. Would I work with them again? I would hesitate, but yes. Richard’s a talented and hard-driving animation director, and Cez flat-out knows how to run a team with that golden tongue of his – I swear I quit TSL about five times, and he still kept pulling me back in somehow. I don’t think anyone besides Frede stayed with SQInc’s team for more than 2-3 months, so I respect anyone who can manage a 40-person+ team of volunteers like that.
And of course, respect to the original developers and then some. Scott Murphy. Mark Crowe. Josh Mandel. Ken and Roberta Williams. Al Lowe. Daryl Gates. Corey and Lori Ann Cole. Not household names these days, but these people are my childhood. The Sierra family created something unique and wonderful with their games that holds the same kind of sway over their fans that Disney, the Looney Tunes and the Muppets hold over the world. “King’s Quest 6″ alone is as big to me as “The Lion King.” I think a big part of me just needed to share back the love they gave us in their own games.
The most embarrassing part about completing this game is just the whole “adventure” and “fan-game” aspect of it. I feel like I’m living in an environment where there’s only two types of games: shooters and Skyrim. And even trying to explain my game to my family at Christmas just met with a lot of confused reactions. A lot of people I talk to either don’t understand what an “adventure game” is, and they understand even less the concept of “letting people play it for free”. So support from my peers has been a very mixed bag when making this.
But to see this game finally finished, it feels like I’m reaching some undefined closure in my life. I’d be lying if I didn’t say the original SQInc’s failure didn’t hit me hard. People kept telling me to give up back then saying it was impossible, and they were right at the time. Nobody gets anything huge done at 17. That might have been what was driving me all these years. The Ducktalez cartoons, the Monkey Island games, The Silver Lining, Vohaul Strikes Back… sometimes, a little piece of your past just won’t rest until you’ve proven it wrong. It’s one thing to make a game for the fans, but it’s another to make a game for more than just the fans. This is for my inspirations, this is for my family, this is for my friends, this is for my friends’ friends, this is for everyone who believed and everyone who didn’t, and this is for myself.
Sorry for the long post, but I think I’m coming to the end now. This last stretch has been such a long one. The game was playable last December – and it still took a full year to get it ready for everyone. And how crazy is it to see “Vohaul Strikes Back” and the “Space Quest 2 Remake” all coming out at the same time? This is a very emotion-heavy time for me. I wish I could be putting as much effort into my schoolwork as I am into this blog post right now. But at least I feel like I can move on for a change. That I can put this behind me and start a new chapter in my life.
Because obviously release trailers should come out AFTER the game’s been released. Or have I been drinking my roommate’s expired orange juice again? Either way, here’s a demo trailer with some game-play, music, and lots of scenes with Roger dying. I’ll have to make one of these for SQInc as well when the time comes.
It’s a game ten years in the making, and follows 16 years after the cancellation of the original Space Quest series. And out of the dozens of Sierra fan-games made over the years, it’s the first actual full-length sequel (TSL doesn’t count because episode 5 isn’t finished yet. So we win!)
In this game, you help space janitor Roger Wilco sort out another bad case of his girlfriend, the planet, and the galaxy needing saving. Along the way, he learns some very important life lessons, escapes death-defying situations and makes some hairy new friends. It’s loaded with clever puzzles, tons of original characters, over a hundred beautifully-painted backgrounds, awesome music, hilarious dialogue, and lots of half-assed Flash animation from myself. Also: monkeys.
In the following weeks, expect to hear a lot more Space Quest-related news from me. In the last six years, this has been one of the top three things to eat up all my time and it’s FINALLY DONE. I’m in a self-promoting mood right now, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for any positive reviews or mentions on popular sites. Not to mention VSB is just the beginning when I consider what’s around the corner…
It took me a week after it came out before I realized it was finished, it took me another week to actually play it, and another couple weeks before I got around to updating my site with it. VSB and SQInc have been keeping me rather busy.
This new episode is about as puzzle-filled and drama-ridden as Episode 3. Probably more-so since it contains two of the most aggravating puzzles since “King’s Quest 3.” Otherwise, it’s of decent length (took me about 8 hours to finish) and you finally get to explore all the islands. But I must persist – if you plan on playing this, choose “EASY” over “NORMAL” when the dreaded box puzzle comes.
Some of my larger animated cut-scenes are featured in this episode. The acid trip sequence at the end? Totally my baby. And I do quite a terrible job voicing Pan.
You can download it HERE or just watch the trailer right here.
The short of everything: started Term 4, computer virus killed half my computer and almost destroyed my game, and my roommate’s mom filled our fridge with two weeks’ worth of leftovers that we can’t get through fast enough.
Here’s some special effects I made back in Term 3. Enjoy!
So I completed two solid months of homework, I’m staying on top of VSB, I’m juggling classes, weddings, dates, movie outings, video games, appointments, shopping trips, workshops and family togethers, and I even got to see a few firework shows and some otters. I think I’ve got this time management thing down pretty good.
(And yes, that’s me being chased down the stairs by Perry the Platypus.)
More to come soon as Term 1 comes to an end. It’s nice that video editing is actually a class in this school. It’s also nice that Student Resources gives me 24/7 access to Wacom tablets so I can get in some practice.
That last one is a caricature of my Animation History teacher. It was an odd assignment, but I’m assuming he’s collecting caricatures from us so he can show them off if we become famous.
It came to my attention that a few sites are linking directly to this front page for my game, so most of my blog posts will be SQInc-related for a while.
