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Kurufinwe · 12-27-2011, 08:45 PM

I had far too much time on my hands this afternoon, so I decided to do some stats. I'll present the full results when we have the complete list, but I thought we could play bookmakers a bit while we wait.

First, what is the greatest adventure game company of all time? Based on the first 70 games (and not counting the Infocom pack, for obvious reasons), 9 companies have 2 games or more on the list:

At that point, it's impossible to catch up with Sierra.

However, a game at the bottom of the list shouldn't count as much as one in the top-10. So let's say we give points based on rankings: 100 points for #1, 70 points for #31, etc. down to 1 point for #100. We get a somewhat different picture:

So now, can LucasArts catch up with Sierra? They can expect to have 5 games in the top-30: MI1, MI2, DotT, Sam & Max and Grim Fandango. Sierra should have 4: GK1, GK2, KQ6 and hopefully QfG4. If LucasArts gets the entire top-5, and the Sierra games end up at #30-27, LucasArts would win by 687 to 626. However, that seems very unlikely, and, unless some braindead person decided to put MI4 in the top-30, I'd say the crown is in the bag for Sierra.

What about the greatest designer of all time? Based on the games we expect to see in the top-30, it looks like it's going to be a very close race between Jane Jensen, Tim Schaffer and Dave Grossman. They all already have 1 game in (ranked very close to each other). Jane Jensen and Dave Grossman should get 3 more (KQ6, GK1, GK2; MI1, MI2, DotT) and Schaffer four (same as Grossman + GF). Depending on how they're ranked, there's a (small but non-zero) chance that Jane Jensen will win. Dave Grossmann, however, cannot expect to be above Tim Schaffer, since they share credits on many games, and Sam & Max Season 2 is quite a bit below Full Throttle.

(Of course, this assumes that co-designers get full points for games they've worked on. Otherwise, Jane Jensen wins effortlessly. But where would the fun be in that?)

So, who are you rooting for? Are you #TeamJane or #TeamTim?

Finally (for today), what is the golden year of adventure gaming? Once again weighting the games by rank, we get a very interesting graph:

Of course, since the games in the top-30 will get from 71 to 100 points, the shape of the graph will change quite a bit in the coming days. Still, the report of the genre's death in the early 2000s was clearly not exaggerated. It seems to have resurrected just fine in recent years, though.

12-27-2011, 08:45 PM	#86
Kurufinwe Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 3,038	I had far too much time on my hands this afternoon, so I decided to do some stats. I'll present the full results when we have the complete list, but I thought we could play bookmakers a bit while we wait. First, what is the greatest adventure game company of all time? Based on the first 70 games (and not counting the Infocom pack, for obvious reasons), 9 companies have 2 games or more on the list: At that point, it's impossible to catch up with Sierra. However, a game at the bottom of the list shouldn't count as much as one in the top-10. So let's say we give points based on rankings: 100 points for #1, 70 points for #31, etc. down to 1 point for #100. We get a somewhat different picture: So now, can LucasArts catch up with Sierra? They can expect to have 5 games in the top-30: MI1, MI2, DotT, Sam & Max and Grim Fandango. Sierra should have 4: GK1, GK2, KQ6 and hopefully QfG4. If LucasArts gets the entire top-5, and the Sierra games end up at #30-27, LucasArts would win by 687 to 626. However, that seems very unlikely, and, unless some braindead person decided to put MI4 in the top-30, I'd say the crown is in the bag for Sierra. What about the greatest designer of all time? Based on the games we expect to see in the top-30, it looks like it's going to be a very close race between Jane Jensen, Tim Schaffer and Dave Grossman. They all already have 1 game in (ranked very close to each other). Jane Jensen and Dave Grossman should get 3 more (KQ6, GK1, GK2; MI1, MI2, DotT) and Schaffer four (same as Grossman + GF). Depending on how they're ranked, there's a (small but non-zero) chance that Jane Jensen will win. Dave Grossmann, however, cannot expect to be above Tim Schaffer, since they share credits on many games, and Sam & Max Season 2 is quite a bit below Full Throttle. (Of course, this assumes that co-designers get full points for games they've worked on. Otherwise, Jane Jensen wins effortlessly. But where would the fun be in that?) So, who are you rooting for? Are you #TeamJane or #TeamTim? Finally (for today), what is the golden year of adventure gaming? Once again weighting the games by rank, we get a very interesting graph: Of course, since the games in the top-30 will get from 71 to 100 points, the shape of the graph will change quite a bit in the coming days. Still, the report of the genre's death in the early 2000s was clearly not exaggerated. It seems to have resurrected just fine in recent years, though. __________________ Currently reading: Dune (F. Herbert) Recently finished: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling) [++], La Nuit des Temps (R. Barjavel) [+++] Currently playing: Skyrim Recently finished: MCF: Escape from Ravenhearst [+], The Walking Dead, ep. 1 [+++], Gray Matter [++] Last edited by Kurufinwe; 12-27-2011 at 09:14 PM.