Salka

Fund Tim Schafer's next game YOURSELF!

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I just can't see it being trivial to update an engine that hasn't been used for several iterations of Windows and taking it to modern day. I'm sure they could use the same script, but everything else would need to be rewritten. And even then they'd have to buy the rights from LucasArts.

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I just can't see it being trivial to update an engine that hasn't been used for several iterations of Windows and taking it to modern day. I'm sure they could use the same script, but everything else would need to be rewritten. And even then they'd have to buy the rights from LucasArts.

As has been discussed extensively in this thread, the SCUMM engine was updated for the MI:SE's. And even if it hadn't already been updated, ScummVM has also taken care of it.

I can only assuming you're trolling at this point?

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RPS: On the subject of 3D, I guess you must get asked this a lot, but I don’t know the answer…

Tim: You’re going to ask me a question that you don’t know the answer?

RPS: That’s right!

Tim: That’s very risky!

Hahaha.

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RPS: Are you tempted to try to get Dave Grossman on the project?

Tim: Well, you know, he has a job.

RPS: I know, I know, but…

Tim: I can’t poach people from my friends’ companies.

RPS: But I feel like it would be putting the three Transformers together that form the super-giant robot.

Tim: Maybe they’ll give him an exchange student visa for a couple of meetings.

I really like this idea. Maybe they could use Telltale's engine, it's pretty top notch at this stage. and Jake could do UI!

:stan:

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I'm glad they haven't started thinking up the game at all yet. Means we'll get all the messy brainstorming on film. :tup:

I seem to recall someone saying that they were going to try and make the documentary spoiler free. (Did I make that up? Anyone else remember hearing this?) I'd also love to see the brain storming process, and really see how things come together in a project like this, but I'd also like to be surprised when I finally play it... Can they do both?

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Here's the link to the RPS interview, as everyone else was too lazy.

I'm a bit late to the voice-acting discussion, but I just wanted to say that the voice-acting in DOTT, SnM, FT and GF was all superb and definitely improved on the writing to my mind. And "you could play without subtitles, but I don't know who would" is the complete opposite of what I thought until now. Do most people really play with subtitles? It's madness!

Re. AGS, I'm pretty sure it's gone open-source already but the community is having trouble managing their efforts to take advantage of it. I'd certainly be a bit worried if Tim announced they were using AGS, knowing how many quirks Dan came up against making BTDT and TGP. Having said that, perhaps (SCUMM aside) paying one person to overhaul the now open-source AGS into something wonderful might be better than starting from scratch or finding a different engine that be good for 2D and for Tim and Ron to get their hands dirty.

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I never used subtitles. I always find them very distracting in spoken games of all genres and find they often undermine comedic/dramatic delivery.

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I always use subtitles in games if available, for these reasons:

  1. I can read better than I can hear, and I don't want to fail to hear something and miss it.
  2. Voice acting in games usually is not very good and/or adds nothing (the LucasArts games being an exception), so often I'd rather just spend half a second reading the line and click through than wait for the voice actor to muddle through it.
  3. In some games the mixing isn't done very well and the volume of dialogue varies widely, so sometimes lines get drowned out by background music/sound effects/ambient noise.

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I'm a bit late to the voice-acting discussion, but I just wanted to say that the voice-acting in DOTT, SnM, FT and GF was all superb and definitely improved on the writing to my mind. And "you could play without subtitles, but I don't know who would" is the complete opposite of what I thought until now. Do most people really play with subtitles? It's madness!

I agree that all the voice acting in Schafer's games and also other Lucasarts games was really top quality. They really took a lot of time to find the perfect voices.

And regarding the subtitles, as a teenager I always used the subtitles and the voices. English is not my native language so I really don't want to miss something or not understand it. The subtitles act as a support.

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English is not my native language so I really don't want to miss something or not understand it. The subtitles act as a support.

Yeah, if one's having trouble understanding the speech, I totally understand using the subtitles. But doing it just as a preference with no particular reason? LUNACY.

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Yeah, if one's having trouble understanding the speech, I totally understand using the subtitles. But doing it just as a preference with no particular reason? LUNACY.

Just to be clear, you're talking about subtitles INSTEAD OF voice, not WITH voice?

The only time I'd do that is if the voice acting is terrible, and the dialogue was being ruined by it. Luckily with games they're usually both as bad as each other.

Also, DOTT was released in the days of floppy disk -- so only the intro sequence and outro sequence came with speech. That's how I played it the first time. It didn't detract from the experience.

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I usually use subtitles just so I can get through dialogue faster. Games that don't allow skipping through them drive me insane.

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and Jake could do UI!
I think by now he'd rather be the director for the cinematics ;)

I'm not a great cinematic director, unless it's for something bombastic and hilarious like Sam & Max. I like thinking about story structure and pacing and editing but I'm not a great director of actors and there are people everywhere with a better cinematographic eye than mine. My preference is to be behind the guy behind the guy behind the camera. Maybe the grass is greener but currently being in the midst of not doing doing UI/usability and more graphics-focused stuff, I miss it a lot.

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The Thirty Flights of Loving trailer was wonderfully done. Did you do the C:\> stuff your own self?

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I don't like subtitles because they ruin dramatic/comedic timing, but I also miss a line here and there. Two games solved this quite smartly:

- During the first cutscene of Uncharted, it prompts you to press Square to toggle subtitles. You can do that at any time. So I'll be watching a cutscene, and if I miss something I can quickly toggle the subtitles, read it, and then turn them back off.

- I'm surprised nobody mentioned this: Grim Fandango! It keeps a transcript of all the dialogue in the pause menu. Genius idea that no adventure game ever bothered copying, much to my annoyance.

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- I'm surprised nobody mentioned this: Grim Fandango! It keeps a transcript of all the dialogue in the pause menu. Genius idea that no adventure game ever bothered copying, much to my annoyance.

I can't put my finger on a title off the top of my head, but I vaguely recall a lot that have had some sort of journal that keeps track of conversations. I don't know that any of them had all the dialogue though, maybe that's what you were getting at.

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LA Noire featured the ability to read at least portions of what recently transpired back.

I have to say that I'm no particular fan of this. It seems like a lazy way to chronicle what happened. If it's important for the player to keep track of things, I prefer a more elegant, in-game way of doing it than just plomping down the screenplay wholesale.

Edited by Rodi

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All Rockstar games do it AFAIK, and I agree it is a nice feature — especially if you're returning to the game after not playing it for a while and can't actually remember what was said recently (this has saved me from not knowing what the hell I'm doing in Red Dead Redemption a few times).

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Oh yeah, GTA games! Forgot about that.

But yeah, there's a difference between a journal/quest log and a transcript. The latter is very handy when you miss a line or two of dialogue, but obviously makes for a rather messy quest log.

I don't know that any of them had all the dialogue though, maybe that's what you were getting at.

It depends on the genre, but for adventure games it's important that it keeps all the dialogue, because I want to know what the last few lines were, even if it's incidental to the story/objective.

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I just do subtitles by default for most games/movies upon initial viewing. Too many times in the past has there been voice that gets drowned out by something or other or hard to understand recordings or accents, so I just do them as a safe guard so I don't miss anything.

That said, I annoy everyone around me with them on for some reason.

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I can empathise with those people. I don't know why, but I find subtitles incredibly distracting when watching films. If they're turned on, I literally can't help but read them — which means I spend most of the film not actually watching what's happening, and instead constantly switching my focus to the text. I don't know why but I feel like my enjoyment has been lessened significantly when instead of observing the characters' faces and such while they're talking I'm following the text.

Those who actually like subtitles tend to just think I'm being an awkward twat. This was a bit of a problem with my ex, actually. Probably why we split! :fart:

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Maybe the grass is greener but currently being in the midst of not doing doing UI/usability and more graphics-focused stuff, I miss it a lot.
And you did well. The S&M DVD-menus are pieces of beauty!

Still I felt that with ToMI you've really shown that you DO have a director in you (as gross as that might sound). So, what exactly is the division of tasks on "Walking Dead" between you and Sean? Sorry if this derails the thread too much, we can take this topic somewhere else (ideally IRL, as I'm flying next Wednesday! Yay!)

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And you did well. The S&M DVD-menus are pieces of beauty!

The episode commentary selector for season three is my favorite thing.

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