Gray matter: official site / hype / marketing and publishing
 

Does anyone happen to know what the official site for Gray Matter is?

The only site so far is in German (but it's easily navigable).

http://www.graymatter-game.de/

this game is looking really good..

Cool... thank you! :)

I hope they put up a new trailer soon. The one on display looks more like a tech demo to showcase movement and perspectives, albeit with some nice backgrounds and music.

Hopefully, if there is a second trailer, it'll be a more in-depth preview of the game. :)

Have you read Adventure Gamers' previews (they're translations of those from Adventure Treff)?

From 2006

From 2007

Of course I have but it'd be interesting to see how it all works out in a game.

People walk weird in that game. Have you ever seen someone walk up or down the stairs like that?

haha no kidding :D

Oh yeah! They all look like they're scrambling for their dear life. I hope their movement patterns have been tweaked, though. It looks so weird!

Normally you bend forward a bit when you walk, and when you walk the stairs you bend a bit more, but these people stay straight upright. That makes it look very weird.

Anyone knows if it will be released in the next couple of months or is it delayed?

How,did you play demo,from screenshots looks awful dull,a streotype adventure(lone woman wonders around interacts with objects):Z dont expect anything exciting will show up.

I'm sure that with Jane Jenson's reputation for storytelling there'll be a lot more to it than that.

I wouldnt be sure about that ,what she have done about adventures left in past century like Tim Schafer and his Psychonauts trivia, they used to be great can only give credits for that.

Well, we can only try to hope that Gray Matter will be good 'cos who knows? Lots of things can go right or wrong in a game though I hope she learnt from GK3.

Well, since she didn't design the mustache puzzle I don't think there's anything she had to learn. ;)

What, woman does things? No way!!
Really, how unimaginative. :shifty:
I think the story outline sounds promising.
I don't think we know enough to be able to make a judgement, though.

Definately one of the games im looking out for this year!

Oooh... okay cool.

Btw, I was looking at the screenshots and was wondering about this: It says the background screens are 2d but they look 3dish. Does this mean the screens were first rendered in 3D and then converted to 2D format?

And hopefully, the bg screens won't be totally static like many more recent adventure games.

Look really great. Anyone know the publisher for north america?

Is that Robert Holmes music playing in the website? Sure does sound like that.

Hmm... right now, I'm wondering how Mrs. Jensen is going to handle puzzles and static issues in a huge 3d world: granted, GK3 was huge but these days, many newer puzzle games have even more screens. And that house looks pretty big after all. :P

Hopefully, GM will be less static than a lot of 3d AGs are which has been a big problem given how much you can manipulate various items in RTS, FPS and even RPG games these days.

Nope, no idea at all. Most likely, it'll be The Adventure Company?

Huh... really? I didn't know that. :)

The production values seem to be okay. I like the visual style and I think going back from full 3D (of GK3) to 2.5D is a good decision, because 2.5D is safer choice and probably not as expensive as 3D.

We have only seen screenshots from the mansion, which worries me a bit. I hope that the adventure is large and there are many different locations, like in GK2. I hope that the production of GM isn't limited too much by the budget (the GM budget probably is lower than GK2 or GK3).

AG still says the official release date is Q1 2008, but that must be outdated, right? I mean, we barely have some screenshots and there's almost no info about it anywhere. Is there any info on the release date, whether it be just that Q1 isn't correct or that they're just being quiet about it for some reason until the release or anything?

I hate to say this, but Gray Matter is turning into a complete joke. The official release date is almost upon us, we've had no news for months (and not much before that), and yet GM is still top of all the anticipated release charts just because it's being made by Jane Jensen (never mind that her last 'adventure game' was basically a tarted-up version of Minesweeper). I don't think I've ever seen a game generate so much hype with so little effort on the part of the developers - oh, wait, yes I have. :shifty:

I don't want to imply that I want or expect Gray Matter to fail - I don't - but I really do feel that Jensen and her publishers are taking the piss here. I mean, all they've given us so far is a handful of not-very-impressive screenshots, a few interviews, and a trailer that shows almost nothing. Even the people at the Cort-X fansite are saying that their emails aren't being answered any more, and they still haven't had an answer to the interview questions they sent out last June. At the very least, GM should be moved down the Hype-o-Meter at the next update if we haven't had any news by then.

I have to agree with this.

She probably prefers producing those insipid hidden object "mysteries" for her Oberon company. Like that awful perverted version of Evil under the Sun and her latest brain child, Peril at End House. :r

Jane's Brain Drain:

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/2...rainie2.th.gif

Come on, Jane! Find your hidden grey matter and take pity on your faithful adventure fan base.

PS: And the same goes for A Vampyre Story. I'll expect it when I see it.

The Italian specialized press reported the news that Gray Matter had been postponed, like So Blonde, due to schedule problem. Seems that Anaconda don't want to release a final product rushed or incomplete (there was even an interview with the publisher saying so).

For Gray Matter, I think that a certain amount of secrecy is needed to keep high the hype, but knowing Jane Jensen's previous a.g. (not her casual games, although I did find them slightly better than others casuals) I suppose that we're in safe hand.

For the pics, I love the atmosphere: they are sunny (most of all), and still maintain a mysterious quality, a subtle anxiety. Same for the trailer, although I agree that characters walk a bit strangely: I hope they enhanced the animations for the final game.

Here is the link to the article (in Italian) about Gray Matter delay

My Italian sucks, but I can read dates and that news is old.

I'm afraid you're right. I don't speak a word of Italian, but I can still understand "the new date of release will be end 2007 - 1st quarter 2008", or words to that effect - which doesn't sound any different from what we'd already heard.

Oh, yes... I didn't think that maybe you, in countries other than Italy, already knew of this. For us, it was a surprise 'cause, before of the end of January '08, we don't know anything at all about the game (at least from the specialized press).

Sorry ^^

I wouldn't say Gray Matter is a complete joke, but it is pretty lame that there hasn't been any news for several months. I'm not sure if the people at Anaconda realize how many people are eagerly awaiting this game above all others. I've been waiting for it ever since I finished Gabriel Knight 3, some 8 years ago. Going to the Anaconda website only makes me wonder if anything is going on at all. There hasn't been much news at all from them about any of their games (at least on the English website, the German site is much more up-to-date) apart from So Blond. That game is getting way more attention, for some reason.
Games get delayed all the time, but I feel somehow that Gray Matter isn't at the top of their list the way it's at the top of mine. All anyone can do is be patient, and hope for some good news sometime soon. But if anyone from Anaconda is reading this, I'd just like to say Hello! Plenty of us are still interested here!

Hooray! :D

Seriously, knowing the guys at DTP/Anaconda, I'm sure they care very strongly about Gray Matter. However, as So Blonde is due out next month you can see why they are favouring it just at the moment. I'm looking forward to this game, too, along with Mata Hari.

Me toooo!!
Just wish it was the english version :D

I hope so.

And I hope that, after the release of "So Blonde", we can get some serious information on Gray Matter :D

I just realised that what I wrote reads wrongly. I meant, of course, that I'm looking forward to Gray Matter. :)

Hi, Steve. I hope it didn't sound like I was disparaging So Blonde in any way. Your game looks great and I'm really looking forward to it. Playing it sounds about the best way to keep busy while waiting for Gray Matter news.

Well since Gray Matter is listed (at least here) to be released in the first quarter of 2008 it should also come out next month. :P

Thanks for the kind words. No, I didn't see it as disparaging, just that you were so keen for Gray Matter.

Unfortunately, publishers don't keep me abreast of their other projects. :)

You are absolutely right

Gray Matter is still No.1 in the Hype-o-Meter and this is sad, not to mention that it makes me suspicious about the integrity of the Hype-o-Meter.

Integrity? What are you on about now?
The Hype-o-meter is simply what the AG team think are the currently most hyped games, taking forum views and reader feedback into account, and as you might notice, it hasn't been updated since late January.

The Hype-o-meter will soon be due an update anyway, since several of the titles on the list have now been released.