[Fien]

I played and enjoyed all the Larry games in the 80s and 90s, but I don’t want a new Larry. Let alone a remake. Or six remakes. Shudder. I agree with the criticism of previous posters: times have changed. Worse, one look at the new, glossy Larry was enough for me. The receding hairline, the big nose, the expanding waistline are there, but he has lost everything that made him Larry. No personality.

[diego]

If you're going to remake, or make a sequel to the 20+ old game, of course there will be issues of whether it's suited for modern gaming. However, Monkey Island proved otherwise, remakes did nothing spectacularly new but they can still be considered a success. Because humor ages well. Peter Sellers as Pink Panther might feel "outdated" for modern film, but it's got pure quality with simple humor. So, that doesn't bother me much, but for a new game, of course times ask for something "new", and not just the same old concept - Larry is looking to "score", or is stranded in a closed space brimming with hot chicks. Oh wait, that's fun!

But i'm with Fien here on the "personality" issue. I completely missed the early Larry era, so i'm not really the one to judge it, but comparing Larry 7 and new screen:

the remake feels kinda bland, like the sprite is somehow "out of place".

[thejobloshow]

Originally Posted by headbanger

Well this sounds kind of weird, im still gonna put 15 dollars there...just in case
this leads later to a GK4 or a new MI5, etc etc...

Josh Mandel, who is working on the Larry remake, is talking with Scott Murphy to get on board with a Space Quest 7.

Nabbing the Space Quest rights from Activision might be a bit more of a challenge compared to Codemasters considering Activision is a wing of Satan's army. However, Telltale got the rights to King's Quest. Funny how all of this is coming full circle.

And the Larry remake looks good regardless of the VGA remake. The animation is on the same level of quality as the recent AAA release, Rayman Origins.

[Tetra-Loo]

The first Leisure Suit Larry I played was Love For Sail. Absolutely loved that game! After playing it, played all the previous Leisure Suit Larry games. However, although I enjoyed them, none inspired the excitement and level of involvement that Love For Sail did. Was so looking forward to the Lust In Space sequel hinted at in that game. While I'll probably give the remakes a go should they get made, I would have committed to this Kickstarter campaign without hesitation if it had been for a new LSL game (perhaps Lust In Space?).

[thejobloshow]

I've been posting here a lot lately, but here's more clarification on this project by Paul Trowe over at Replay Games:

On the $500,000 project goal.

Hey!! You guys are awesome, thanks for the help in managing comments!! Yeah, the $500k price tag was as low as we could get it, unfortunately. It's seriously not cheap to make a game. The guys from Foundation 9 wanted $1.5 million to redo LSL1 and we told them we thought they were out of the freaking minds!!! But seriously, talented people are expensive. If you consider each person at a game studio is $100k / year average, then that's where all the money is going to, really. Every studio we petitioned (and we received RFP's from over 20 studios) already have all the tools like Photoshop, etc...so that's not where the costs are...it's the labor. Hand painted 2D characters, animations, backgrounds, programmers, even the voice overs alone are OMG ridiculously expensive. I mean, we could get some cheap ass homeless people to do voice overs but we don't think that's why you guys want....or deserve!! OddBall....how do you suggest we become more proactive? We're reaching out to every news outlet we can get our hands on. What else can we do? Josh told me (Paul) he's in the middle of writing an update for tomorrow. But besides that, we've never done this before so any and all help would be so sincerely appreciated!!!

On extra content to the game.

Hey gang!!! I wish I could be this involved every night....you guys just caught me doing emails from home at 12:22am is all. HA!! Anyway, I don't know of many people in the industry that work as much as I do (Paul T here). I've gone through 2 associate producers in the last 3 months because they had to work more than 8 hours/day. I felt like strangling them! Anyway, points well taken!! Al is doing a video interview with Slashdot tomorrow at 3pm PDT and then another interview with Thunderbolt tomorrow at 4pm PDT. I'll make sure Al does a video update like you guys suggest.......AWESOME idea...thanks guys!! You guys are the best!! Oh, and to address the October release date...that's IF AND ONLY IF we get funded at $500k. If we want to add more content to the game (which I am seriously praying for to be 100% honest with you guys) then it'll be delayed longer depending on how much more content and how many platforms we add. I'd personally (not saying this officially or anything) but personally would like to see us add more content FIRST and THEN add platforms but it's all up to you guys. Al & Josh are literally chomping at the bit to write new jokes, new dialogue, create more rooms, etc. But on the other hand, how can we neglect the XBLA and PSN community? Ugh....I think these are GOOD problems to have, right?

I'm kind of shilling by posting this, but I hope it clears up a few more things.

[Yachmenev]

Don´t really like the art style of the new Larry, but I´m there with 15 dollars. Jane Jensens projects is backed with 100 dollars.

[Yachmenev]

Originally Posted by Collector

In the comments of the LSL announcement:

It seems strange that they are talking about the Kings Quest rights, considering Telltale Games are working with that license right now.

[JuntMonkey]

Haven't read the whole thing yet, but here's an interview with Lowe from Kill Screen:

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/...iews/lowebrow/

Incidentally, Kill Screen is excellent. It's like the New York Times, New Yorker or Wall Street Journal of games journalism.

[Ark7]

Originally Posted by Fien

I don’t want a new Larry. Let alone a remake. Or six remakes. Shudder. I agree with the criticism of previous posters: times have changed.

I agree too. It is even a remake of a remake, definitely not something I would want. I also don't understand why they need 500000 to just upgrade an old game with the new sounds and graphics. I will rather support Jane Jensen's project that has in my view much more to offer but at the monent sadly less backers than Larry.

[TimovieMan]

Originally Posted by Ark7

I agree too. It is even a remake of a remake, definitely not something I would want. I also don't understand why they need 500000 to just upgrade an old game with the new sounds and graphics. I will rather support Jane Jensen's project that has in my view much more to offer but at the monent sadly less backers than Larry.

^ This.

Jane Jensen's Kickstarter over Al Lowe's Kickstarter any day!

[thejobloshow]

It's not a "remake of a remake", it's a reboot. The F.A.Q. and pitch video stipulate they're going to revise the game and possibly add to it. Sort of like a director's cut.

The main point is that the goal is to introduce new fans to adventure by reviving one of the most accessible games in the genre and propelling Al Lowe back into gaming after being burned time after time over the past several years. Seriously, read up on the development of Magna Cum Laude and the demise of Sam Suede - it'll make you furious.

Paul Trowe from Replay Games has already said the $500,000 is the lowest he could get to have professional artists, animators, voice actors, programmers and musicians to work on the game. This wasn't intended to be a 30 minute iOS game on the Scumm engine like Tim Shafer originally intended when he budgeted his Double Fine game for $300,000 - it's a full game release.

Sure, this reboot could have possibly been a fan game. But, I've seen talks about Larry fan games numerous times over the past ten years that never went any where and if they do manage to pull one off it'll take YEARS to make and have no greater impact outside of warming the hearts of people who've already played the game. Money makes a difference.

And let's not do the Jane Jensen vs. Al Lowe thing because you really don't want me regurgitating that Old Man Murray article. Al Lowe was never blamed for the death of adventure games. I support them both.

[millenia]

I really enjoyed Larry adventures from 1 to 7. But I really aren't that interested in remakes, reboots or sequels. I agree that Larry was a product of his time and today I want something else.

I would definitely back up some other project by the same makers but I don't really need to see Larry again.

[thejobloshow]

Originally Posted by millenia

I really enjoyed Larry adventures from 1 to 7. But I really aren't that interested in remakes, reboots or sequels. I agree that Larry was a product of his time and today I want something else.

I would definitely back up some other project by the same makers but I don't really need to see Larry again.

If you like the people involved are you able to chip in some small amount to help these makers out? There seems to be a theme running through this thread of users talking themselves out of helping someone and I'm starting to suspect this reaction would have been the same even if the Kickstarter was for a new game by the same people.

"This Larry style of comedy has passed." "Why is this $500k when X is Y?"

Let's look past personal gain at the bigger picture for a moment. For many people Larry was the gateway game into the adventure genre by those who would have avoided adventure normally. It's proud of being unpretentious and that's the game's strength - something like this on Steam would go gangbusters and would help our cause in getting REAL adventure to be mainstream again instead of trying to claim games from other genres as our own like Portal or Journey (or Heavy Rain, but that opens a can of worms so strike that from the record ).

It's frustrating enough seeing publishers turn their back on Al Lowe, I couldn't bare seeing adventure gamers doing the same. I mean he's tried it all - he tried making a new IP and failed, he tries to re-introduce a classic and take back the property he created and his own base responds with ennui.

It's all coming out now.

[Winterfury]

Josh Mandel was asked about the possibility of a sequel to Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.

Originally Posted by Josh Mandel

Josh Mandel here. I would love nothing more than to do a CCS2 eventually (curiously, you're the second person to suggest that to me in the last 24 hours!). There are a lot of rights issues with Callahan's, given that it's an existing literary property. But I'm sure Spider would be supportive, and that would count for a lot.

In the meantime, I'm completely psyched to work on the Larry reboot, and to collaborate with Al and so many of my old friends again. I just want us to hit that goal ASAP so we can stop chewing our nails and get back to work!

It made me wonder who owns the rights to the Legend Entertainment games.

[Jaesun]

Originally Posted by Winterfury

Josh Mandel was asked about the possibility of a sequel to Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.



It made me wonder who owns the rights to the Legend Entertainment games.

Since it was published by Take-Two Interactive Software, they more than likely own the rights. And would have to negotiate a deal to buy them.

[Josho]

Originally Posted by Jaesun

Since it was published by Take-Two Interactive Software, they more than likely own the rights. And would have to negotiate a deal to buy them.

Hey, guys,

Josh here. Take-Two only had the rights to publish it; the content still belonged to Legend. The game is in complete legal limbo, for two reasons: one, the rights to use the material were only licensed from Spider Robinson for three years; and two, the rights to game were not included in the contract, I'm told, when Activision bought out Legend. So the rights remained with Legend, which no longer exists. Even if it did, they wouldn't be able to republish it without complete renegotiation of the property rights.

In sum, this means that if I wanted to do another CCS game, it would be strictly between Spider's people and those of us doing the game. Neither Take-Two nor Activision would be involved.

[Banter]

Hey Josh, you were producing console games for sega right? It is so good to see so many of you guys coming back to PC adventure games. A new Callahan's would be cool as hell. Many Legend games also deserved sequels. Just the idea of adapting books to the adventure genre deserves continuity, actually.

Funny thing, so many classic adventure series are/were in the limbo because of the difficulty of securing intellectual property rights(i.e: Gabriel Knight 4 and others). I imagine most legend games wouldn't have that problem in the end since they were licensed from writers. I don't know if the idea of more Legend games would have the pull you are getting with LSL on something like Kickstarter(sadly they are not as well known), but I'm sure many people would support it. I would. They were great games. Spider has a very loyal and tight fanbase as well, I imagine those that played that game surely enjoyed it enough to want another one.

First things first though, off course. I hope the LSL game will be a hit and your company will grow after that and deliver many quality games. I actually hope all the adventure kickstarters popping up will do so well that you people will be swimming in funds and won't even need something like kickstarter to get to work. Adventure gaming has been in dire straits for too long now.

[MoP]

Paul Trowe is doing live chat at the moment (while watching LSL7 ).

[JuntMonkey]

Al Lowe posted a video on the Kickstarter page clearing up some of the questions we had. They did not buy the rights, they're only licensing it from Codemasters, and they're only allowed to do a remake right now. The hope is to build up enough money from the remakes to eventually make a new Larry game. LSL7 cost $1.5 million and that was 15+ years ago.

[millenia]

Originally Posted by thejobloshow

If you like the people involved are you able to chip in some small amount to help these makers out? -- Let's look past personal gain at the bigger picture for a moment.

I am not so wealthy that I would donate to every adventure game they are raising money for now. I rather give a little bit of extra for those that really matter, like Jane Jensen's project or the new Tex Murphy. There's no way I even have enough money to back up all the games I actually want to play let alone all the nice and talented people who are doing uninteresting projects.