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Old 12-06-2006, 03:31 AM   #80
mart
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue View Post
Well, if you say that the Scumm interface is the point'n'click equivelent of the text parser system, I could counter this and say that the multiple-icon interface is basically the Scumm interface with icons instead of verbs.
If you read my posting you will see I didn’t assert that the Scumm interface is the equivalent of the text parser interface. I said I would position it between the text parser and the point-and-click interface, but that I had no problem with calling it a verb/noun point-and-click interface.
And no, if you read my postings you will see that the multiple-icon interface that I was speaking about isn’t basically the same as the Scumm interface. You are referring to the window or bar in which the text icons (verbs and nouns) are replaced by object icons. And in this respect you are right. But I was referring to the multiple-icon cursor that the player used directly on (hidden) hotspots in the action window, and that is something different.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue View Post
Also, not saying that the Scumm system was the original point'n'click interface, but I'd still say LucasArts had pretty much a bigger impact on point'n'click adventures than Sierra, as Sierra really didn't introduce point'n'click until after LucasArts did. Also, this is just my personal opinion, I find the verbs system much better than Sierra's icon interface.
Strange argument, for it doesn’t follow of course that LucasArts had a bigger impact on point-and-click adventures than Sierra because Sierra didn’t introduce point-and-click until after LucasArts did. The priority claim is something different from the impact. And as said – in terms of numbers of games – the multiple-icon cursor had a bigger impact.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue View Post
The point is, LucasArts made pointing and clicking in adventure games popular, and really kickstarted the genre. Not to mention how it made adventure games a lot more universal, as I can imagine a lot of kids from countries where english isn't their mother tongue had problems with games that relied on English writing abilities. A lot of countries don't have localization in games and movies. I'm not suggesting Sierra didn't have any impact at all, they had a big impact - after all it's a pioneer. But Sierra mostly just followed suit. But I give them credits for making GRAPHIC adventures popular, as King's Quest surely was one of the first game that involved something more than just pictures with a text.
It may be the case that LucasArts made (verb/noun) point-and-click adventures more popular, but they didn’t "really kick started" the genre. As Rapp Sclallion pointed out in his posting, “MacVenture's first Deja Vu-game and Uninvited came before Maniac Mansion.”
If I understand you correctly, you say that Sierra made graphic adventures popular, and LucasArts made point-and-click adventures popular.
Of course, if one calls both the Scumm interface and the interface with the multiple-icon cursor “point-and-click interfaces,” one can assert that LucasArts made “point-an-click” adventures popular. But this is just based on definition, and describes the actual situation rather poorly. As we all know, the Scumm interface (and for instance Legend’s combination of the text parser and long list of given nouns and verbs) was a transition stage which resulted in today’s games with a multiple-icon or one-icon cursor. But if we distinguish, at least between to kinds of “point-and-click” interfaces, one with verbs/and nouns and one without verbs/nouns but with only a (multiple) mouse cursor to interact, the assertions about popularity and influence become quite different. And in terms of influence - which was the subject I was commenting upon – the Scumm interface didn’t have much influence and it didn’t last very long.
You say that the Scumm interface made adventure games more universal, and I agree it is easier to use some given verbs and nouns instead of having to formulate sentences or at least two words expressions in a text parser (“take bucket" etc.). But following this line of reasoning it must be said that the multiple-icon interface has made adventure games even more universal.
And: “Sierra mostly just followed suit”? You mean by introducing graphics in Mystery House, by introducing the first “3D animated adventure” in King's Quest, by making King’s Quest IV compatible with Ad Lib and Roland sound cards, by adding the multiple-icon cursor in King’s Quest V etc.?

My original reaction was about LucasArts being the godfathers of the adventure/point-and-click game and about LucasArts having a bigger influence on the genre. The first assertion is – as was shown - simply untrue, and I don’t think the second one has been proved the comments that followed. But I guess I pass now, as every comment seems to result in more misunderstandings.

Last edited by mart; 12-06-2006 at 04:57 AM.
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