I hope it doesn't come down to kickstarter. I'll have to donate, of course, but it's awkward if it'll depend on that then. I'd rather see a quality adventure with a solid premeditated (:P) funding. Kickstarter does have major benefits, naturally, and it might be a good choice (and I'm sure she'll deliver regardless) but... I don't know, I just have a feeling that I base on absolutely nothing ;)

You know, I should hope that, whatever this all is, if it's a new JJ game it has a decent budget and I dunno how far you can go in Kickstarter. I mean, I have no idea what a normal budget would be, and I trust JJ's name is well-known enough that she'd gather a nice amount of money, but nevertheless, I'd rather a solid budget even with the risks that a publisher brings.

But as long as we'll get a new full-length Jane Jensen game, I'm happy.

i love jane, but if this turns out to be a kickstarter for "bring GK1-3 and gray matter to iphones" I will turn on her so fast. :P
Its not a good idea. I wish developers would stop using this for ports and things they were going to do anyway.

Well look at what a travesty the production of Gray Matter was. Her name didn't mean squat. I'd rather see a smaller budgeted game honestly.

To me Jane Jensen says quality, not just in budget but also production. A comical game from Tim Schafer can easily have simple 2D graphics because in a comical project it works, but if a JJ game is supposed to feel serious, mature, and while it's certainly possible with hand-drawn 2D graphics, it's going to take a lot more to work well than if it's not-so-serious.

Like I said, I don't know regular budget values and I don't know how much they could raise via Kickstarter. So... *shrug*

Less than 15 hours!

Yes, I'm kinda excited.

I was surprised by your post, since the counter says 1 day and 40 minutes here. And then I looked at the source of the page, and it turns out that the stupid counter counts down to April 4th, 10 AM based on your computer's local date and time instead of the server's. :frusty:

There's gonna be a few disappointed people in Europe when the thing reaches 0 for them and nothing happens... I'm guessing the correct time is 10 AM in Pennsylvania, since that's where the company's supposed to be located. Which means there's still about 21 hours and 30 minutes to go.

Aaawww... well thanks for this, less disappointed this way :).

No idea who this person is or where they got their information, but a commenter named Pascal on the LSL Kickstarter said this just now:

He got it from pinkertonroad.com. :P

It's up to the fans. Three games to choose from: Gray Matter 2, Anglophile Adventure, and Moebius.

EDIT: Weird. I now get just the countdown thingie at pinkertonroad.com. But at http://pinkertonroad.com/games/ you can see everything.

How terribly dissapointing....no new Gebriel Knight!
That would have really been a great success at Kickstarter.

It's kind of underwhelming to have to settle for gray matter 2 or even something else.....just the dissapointment itself could prove to be fatal for any crowdfunding campaign.

People asked for a new Gabriel Knight. Gray Matter barely sold anything.....it doesn't generate enough interest.

^she doesnt own the rights to GK plain and simple. If there are fans of jane like i think they are, she'l have no problem getting 300k to make gray matter 2 (or even another).
Pinkertonroad is still a timer for me, is it really dishing out info based on a computers clock? What are the other details, what format will the voting use?

Try

Www.pinkertonroad.com/news

Or

Www.pinkertonroad.com/home


How much could these rights cost? The current owner (whoever that may be) surely doesn't do anything with them.

The current owner, if they even know they own the rights (they were in Sierra, and that (and the companies that bought it) have been sold over and over again so that the rights are buried deeeeep), is a massive gaming corporation (I don't know which one, Activision or something). They don't care that they don't do anything with the rights. It's also going to take a pretty big offer that the sum they recieve makes a difference for them (and so that they'd care). In the meanwhile, they have a right that theoretically could make money, but at least it's not making money for someone else (which would only be acceptable if they also got a big share from that). I mean, there have been inquiries about movies a few times, but they've never done anything (Jane has said that she has passed such requests along).

And there's even the smaller theoretical chance that one day they might do something about it in the future, so they don't want to give up the theoretical chance of making money off it. But I really wouldn't be surprised if the powers-that-be about GK rights had no idea they had such rights or that they've never heard of such a thing as GK.

So, yeah, I don't find it underwhelming to settle for GM when there honestly never was a chance for GK4 in the first place... Unfortunately, but that's business for you.



300k sounds like very little, I have to say... I wonder how big a budget Gray Matter had. It'd be odd if suddenly the second part like all 2D or something...

The first game does sound interesting, but it's hard to go by with such little information. I hope they end up doing all of them.

i got to see pinkertonroad.com/games just in time. Its now down. But its true, theyr only asking for 300,000 (and they plan to make all 3 games the vote will be for which ones first)
I am so so happy this is about new games and not porting old ones.

... And the site's hidden pages are gone again. Oh well, I had time to look at most of it anyway. But I guess we can wait until the big opening tomorrow to start discussing things.

Also, I see fov is the propaganda priestess PR consultant on this, so we know who to try to pry information from. :P

This is incredibly good news. Although it would be really fun to see new stories about Gabriel and Grace, the fact that Jensen is going to keep making games is more then great.

The idea of letting gamers decide what the next game is going to be, is bound to appeal to many people, but I'm afraid I really don't want a CSG subscription model. I'm not going to support Jane's Kickstarter project, she will raise her 300,000, no problem. And if wizarbox is involved in the development in any way, I won't buy the game.

Hmmm, im not familiar with this CSG stuff, it does sound odd. Are there other game companies that already use this method?
EDIT: upon reading the press release carefully... i guess it just means you get whatever games they make in the year subscription?

I'm getting less enthusiastic by the minute.
First no Gabriel Knight, despite the nasty teaser behind the link. Why use a Gabriel Knight video if there is no intention of actually making the game. It's not as if we haven't been dissapointed before?!? This most likely is just to create a shock effect and toying with our feelings :-)

Secondly, 300k...not a very ambitious goal....if you think that Gray Matters animation was unimpresssive, wait until we get to see this...
At least Tim Schafer did not know what he could expect with such a camaign, but now in hindsight they could at east raise the bar a bit....

And lastly, indeed, let stay clear of Wizarbox!

they make it clear on the press release that pinkerton road is an independent studio that will have no publisher. And they are modelling themselves after independent farms.
Also, you cant blame them for having a modest goal, that is ridiculous.

Good news - Great author is back. Another adventure game studio. The genre is alive and kickin' like never before (ok, LIKE before)! I'm actually getting messages from friends who were "adventure-haters" to tell me "news" about new Larry, Kickstarter campaigns... And i say to them: Yeah, so what - the genre was never dead.

Bad news: I don't want to choose the next game. I don't want to see how you design it. The line must be drawn somewhere. Sometimes, i might want to peak into the development process but that's absolutely irrelevant to make the big deal out of it. You could just read in the magazine or see the development blog if you're interested, and that is enough.

Developers should make the game because they WANT to make it! Because they have the urge to make it. That's the only way of bringing the true quality, just like with music, movies... "Give me that much money and i will make that kind of game, give me a little more and the game might be better..." or "I WILL make that game if you tell me to make it, but otherwise i might just make some other game" are not quite the ways to go. They offer possibilities yes, and i'm not saying there's no "honesty" in it, but the developer should know exactly how and why they want to express themselves.

^good point. BUT, it says they completely plan to make all 3. This is just letting fans choose which first.

@zane. Wizarbox is not a publisher.

i knoow, but still calling it independent suggests to me no wizarbox. Unless they picked up some of the same people from them. I guess we'l hear.

YES! Couldn't agree more.

Yes, Wizarbox is a good enough reason for not funding any adventure game, even - sigh - Gabriel Knight. I didn't care much for Gray Matter, but with a Kickstarter campaign Jane surely can make it more complex and old-school? There is no need for 2.5D, a simplified interface and mini-games, right? She might bring back the classical 2D look, 8 icons, adult themes and impossible puzzles. I hope that's the idea.

Am I the only one who thought Gray Matter was a really good game?

Yes :-))

It is a great game, which suffers from a rushed ending, jumbled plot, and unrealized puzzle potential. But it is still a strong game to me, thanks to the music, atmosphere and pacing.

Damn, I had a hunch this was a new GK. Damn twice and thrice, why did she use Gabriel in that advertisement if she down't own the rights to do so? Isn't that actually illegal someway? Using the image of a character that belongs to another company?

I will support the 3 games, but I am really not that excited any more... Gray Matter was decent, but i always felt it wasn't as mature as Gabriel Knight. In fact the characters felt really "emo" and made me cringe throughout the game. Jensen's narrative kind of made up for it but... damn it, it will take a while for me to get over the somewhat sad news.

I will vote for options 2 or 3. Leave Gray Matter 2 for later guys.

She shouldn't have used Gabriel in that teaser. Period. It settled things in a way that many people would be disappointed with anything but GK4.

I should be glad she will be making 3 new games but in the end the disappointment comes out on top. :(

I guess this is the final nail in GK's coffin. I can't for the life of me understand what is so difficult about finding out who owns the rights to the franchise and making a deal. It is beyond comprehension.

Well just look at it like this: are you really confident theyd make a GK4 that lived up to all the maturity and best aspects of the first games? I'd rather them mess up GM more instead of messing up GK (especially without tim curry) ;)
And either way i still enjoy playing her adventures.

"Well just look at it like this: are you really confident theyd make a GK4 that lived up to all the maturity and best aspects of the first games?"

Yes I am, actually. Gray Matter was planned to be released on a console from day one and it is obvious she was trying to reach a new(and younger) audience. I have no doubts a GK4 funded through kickstarter would be made with the fans of the series in mind. After all, they would be directly paying for it...

Replay games managed to get the rights of Larry.
So why is it impossible to get the rights of a franchise that hasn't been used for 13 years?

thats not the whole story at all. Apparently they got a VERY limited license to make nothing except some remakes. The story is definitely murky on that one.

She was asked that in several interviews and said she couldn't actually figure out who owns the rights and that she had been personally inquiring for several years.

That is the kind of thing you hire a lawyer for... you know, someone who knows how to work through these matters. I am not trying to insult Jane's intelligence here, but the silver lining project got KQ series back in the limelight and all it took was a fan game that poked some company lawyers and showed suits.

Not knowing who owns the rights to your creation after 13 years sounds... stupid.

Gray Matter is aimed for kids because anything Jensen writes that doesn't have a protagonist named Gabriel is crap? I have a really hard time following this reasoning but each to their own. :P

The main characters were a goth chick and a rich romantic scientist who appears naked once every hour or so of gameplay.

Go ahead, tell me young'uns were not the target audience. I had little simpathy for such characters and I don't miss them at all. Gabe and Grace on the other hand... it is a really shitty spot because now I finally accept that she will never make another game with them.

Btw, can anyone shed light on what are the two other options besides Gray Matter 2? The links all lead to the timer when I click on them and I am really curious.

Actually, doesn't Activision owns the rights to all the sierra franchises? Weren't they happy to lend the KQ rights to Telltale instead of sitting on them for nothing?

It doesn't make sense. No company would hold back rights to a 13 years inative Intellectual Property if they knew someone was interested. Specially if money was put on the table.

That would be after they got mobbed by fan mail for shutting down TSL ;)
And theres no guarentee its activision. I guess if you made a fan GK project maybe you'd get to find out who you get the C&D letter from :P