Leisure Suit Larry and Al Lowe need your help on Kickstarter
 

lol nice. Well I hope it succeeds. It is a pretty steep goal though.

Simply as much as i looove Larry but i had enough of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.... Something new Mr.Al Please

A remake?
I would rather have something new. :frown:

that much for a remake? Thats a mistake. What makes people donate to these is new games: not ports, remakes, or re-releases.
But im still enjoying this rain of kickstarters.. never know what to expect next.

EDIT: lol, regardless of my opinion, this series name could still be enough, because its rolling really strong right now.

Well, I never was a huge fan of the Larry games. Nevertheless, I did my modest part in helping the series return to its roots. I also would rather prefer a sequel to a remake. But this might be the first step to make this happen...

"Please, no more kickstarter..." - my wallet.

J/K. This looks cool but I'll probably wait before I commit.

Oh dear...how about something original and new? Publishers may be more interested in remakes, maybe because the risks are lower with them, but when you're doing a Kickstarter campaign you should appeal to what fans want the most: something new, something original! How many remakes will there be before we get a true successor to Larry 7? Remakes stand for stagnation.

I just don't think that this Kickstarter sounds as promising as many others did.

And when will there be a Toonstruck 2 Kickstarter? ;)

of course everyone wants something new....but for me who has only played love for sail this is an opportunity.since i haven't played anything below 7 and in most cases because they either look too old for my tastes or they are for older consoles.

Well, I barely played them at all.
Mostly the VGA remake, but I didn't like it very much. And I started up Love for Sail once to see if it works on my machine. I planned to play more of it, still do, but overall I'm just not a big fan of them. I guess I pledged more out of loyalty for the genre...

Why the sudden change of plans? This remake was announced long before kickstarter got a massive popularity boost thanks to Tim Schafer and Brian Fargo. I very much doubt that crowd funding was among the options Replay Games could have in mind back then.

Also, I believe that asking fans for money to make a remake with modern graphics (and promising to give the similar treatment to the rest of the games in the series if they succeed) is not a very smart move on their part. If Replay Games wants to introduce the game to people who wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole if it didn't have modern graphics, then they shouldn't ask fans for money.

Also,
Notice "if this game is successful". Not the kickstarter campaign, but the game, meaning if they sell enough copies to consider it profitable, they will continue with the remakes and one day they may even consider making something new. Wo-hoo!

As much as I love Larry Laffer, I'm not terribly enthusiastic about this. In fact, I'm slightly annoyed and disappointed.

I can't exactly say I'm enthusiastic about this either, despite the fact that I love the Larry games. I thought the Larry 1 remake was already going strong and would hopefully be released this year. If this were a Kickstarter for a new 3D Larry game, I'd be excited.

The graphics don't look particularly good (even the hardcore "2D only" adventure gamers have to admit that the animation in the short clips is severely lacking) and I hope that voice is not the final one used, as the acting was poor. This could fall really flat with everyone not viewing this with rose-colored nostalgia glasses if the humor is not sufficiently updated.

Anyway! I really hope this does work out, although I'm not crazy about having to wait like 10 years for a new Larry even IF all 6 re-releases are successful. This could also give me vindication on my opinion that Leisure Suit Larry is the most inherently valuable of all classic adventure game licenses.

I'm not crazy about this prospect either and I can't imagine that Al and Josh, people known for their creativity, would prefer to spend the next 10 years doing the remakes instead of creating something new, given a choice. It's probably the rest of the company that wants to play it safe. Maybe we should approach them and tell what we actually want. They may convince enough nostalgic fans to part with their money this time, but unless they start listening to people, I don't think they'll succeed in the long run.

As for the rest of your post, I couldn't agree more.

$15 to get an HD remake of a game with no mention, at least not that I saw, of the sequels if they get made as well? I realize Kickstarter isn't about just getting the reward and that it's not just a really far in advance pre-order. It seems odd though for a game that was already announced and, presumably, on track to be (re)made. Double Fine promised a brand new game that they hadn't even begun working on and a documentary at the same reward tier.

There're several mistakes here:

- The game is being produced (remade) by anonymous team with Al Lowe (who is the one fans want) being merely a presenter.

- Nothing to show - the art consists of one background and couple of Larry sprites, which doesn't surpass the quality of Love for Sail. It can serve for a remake, but as it is, doesn't really stand among many fan-made free adventures.

- Kickstarter campaign had been chosen for a remake, rather than sequel. That's the first Kickstarter remake, as i know it.

HOWEVER - i don't think remaking old Larry games is bad idea - they're classics but might not be user-friendly to players who can't get into old interface. However, it would need tremendous work to bring the atmosphere of the originals (i don't think even Monkey Island remakes succeeded completely in that regard). It would need to look and sound as Love for Sail.

But i'm very glad to see another legend back, and Al Lowe being enthusiastic and i hope future will bring creative side of him

Post that is negative about it:

http://www.nohighscores.com/2012/04/...n-the-catwalk/

I left a fairly detailed comment in response down below.

Thank you, can't stand people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

I'm sorry... but Larry is probably one of the only franchises where I act like a giddy teenage girl responding to a vampire in Twilight taking their t-shirt off. It was my first exposure to adventure games, and Sierra, and has remained my favourite adventure series ever since.

This is something I've been waiting for since 1999 and I intend to give Al Lowe every cent I can scramble.

Seriously, that article is so bad that it could only be written by someone who doesn't really like adventure games, or plays them casually and occasionally.

Post-Sierra Larry iterations are relevant as i was to make flash Star Wars game and call it part of the saga.

I don't think it's the gamers who can't get into the old interface that are the target of their campaign. Look at their kickstarter page, they surely don't go out of their way to explain what Larry is all about. And do you think that Replay Games, asking for the kind of money they're asking for, expect that people who never played Larry before (and who would welcome the new interface and graphics) would get THAT excited? The way I see it, they want to do a remake which will be appealing enough for the modern gamers to get into, and they want us fans to fund it.

This ^^^. 500k? They should have started at 300k. It may reach that for a new game, but not for a remake. Come on, Al! Not interested.

Well, Al Lowe looks good as ever, the remake (and the idea of remake) - not. I have nothing against remakes and ports, but after Box Office Bust and a dork named Allen Covert I wouldn't trust anything without number 8 in the title and Lowe credited as a project leader.

PS I wonder how much a reunited old-school Sierra kickstarter would cost...

How about this?

The worst part is the remake doesn't even look as good as the previous one.

http://magisterrex.files.wordpress.c...glllbarvga.jpg
http://media1.gameinformer.com/image...ry-102-610.jpg

Yeah if you're into this 'HD-everything' insanity I can see it might be important to have the maximum amount of pixels and number of colours, but art style still matters, doesn't it?

been there...

http://blogs.watoday.com.au/digital-...y/guybrush.jpg

It's too bad that they chose to remake LSL1 and not LSL2, which out of all games in the series would probably benefit the most from a remake.

BTW,
I don't know about that..

i'd be happy if the remakes where made in a Love for sail template.
the only one i've played but the overall experience was great.while i haven't played the rest i'd love to play them if they were a little upgraded in graphics and interface.
although i'd possibly grit my teeth and play those that i could anyway(the old ones that can be played through scummvm or sth)

I just checked several names on MobyGames. Basically, Replay Games is run by Paul Trowe, who indeed worked on several Sierra projects... as a beta-tester. Sabine Duvall worked as an international producer on a number of Sierra titles (this doesn't include any Larry game), and Leslie Balfour wrote documentation for Space Quest 6 and The Beast Within. That's some team.

Well, and Josh Mandel, of course. :)

This is getting an oddly negative reaction from many people. Blog commenters hate it. I think that a lot of people have the brand "Leisure Suit Larry" tied up with Magna Cum Laude and Box Office Bust, which is part of the issue.

I could understand it if the haters thought that this simply does not look like a good remake, a sentiment I fully agree with at this time. But that doesn't seem to be what most people have a problem with. It's the license itself that they're against, and the idea of resurrecting a franchise that (apparently) "should have stayed dead".

Why there was a clamoring for new Sam & Max and Monkey Island games but an actively negative reaction against LSL is beyond me. Many of the haters may be unaware that LSL3 and LSL6 are legitimately fantastic adventure games that are right up there (or higher than) Monkey Island and the rest of the oh-so-sacred Lucasarts classics.

This guy on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/foxvanallen

expressed interest in an unfunding campaign for LSL. I asked why and he said the misogyny, posting a picture of Magna Cum Laude as an example. He hasn't responded to a tweet asking if he's played the earlier games.

And Al Lowe?

Hey, don't be mean! She was also the best thing about Laura Bow 2, as the voices of Laura and the narrator. (I'm not trying to be sarcastic here; I really loved her work in LB2.)


Anyway, I really like Larry, but I'm not sure I'm all that excited about yet another remake of the first game, especially when, as Oscar noted, it doesn't really look as good as the previous remake.

Also, when is this supposed to take place? I mean, Larry was a guy with his mind stuck in the 70s trying to make it in the late 80s / early 90s. Part of the games' humour played on the contrast between his outdated references and style and the current period. How does that work now that the period in which the games take place is just as outdated as the 70s?

What I guess I'm trying to say is that, since the Larry games were full of references to the culture and (even more importantly) mindset of the times in which they were made, I'm not sure they've aged all that well, and I'm afraid they might feel dated nowadays, and ridiculous for trying to hide their age behind a fresh coat of paint. If Larry was a joke for still wearing a leisure suit in the 80s and thinking it hadn't gone out of style, isn't the joke now on the people trying, in 2012, to peddle a game which is firmly stuck in the 80s?

It's good to see most people agree on the remake vs original game debate.
I'm also bummed it's just the 2nd remake of lsl1, but pledged $15 anyway. The goal of 500k is pretty steep for a remake, we'll see if they'll get there.
We'll see

Thanks God, i am not the only one who seen the greatness in LSL2 ...

isnt it a total different approach

I didn't know that! Then again, I only watched a part of let's play on Youtube :)
Still I don't think it's enough for a "dream team" and "the team that created Leisure Suit Larry 1". Even Josh Mandel doesn't have much to do with the series, and both him and Lowe are obviously used for advertising purposes only. Those guys don't even bother to mention there was already a VGA remake before. The one they are redrawing right now.

Not really - replacing an visually attractive and artistically consistent style with an uneven but coarsely styled cartoony sheen, like a painter running some watercolours over a van Gogh.

i like that :D

Although I'd prefer a completely new LSL, this isn't a hard choice for me. If Al Lowe wants my money to make a new game, he gets it ;)

As for the staff of Replay Games - check out http://www.replaygamesinc.com/about-us/. Leslie Balfour hasn't only been writing documentation, but also been "a producer, designer, business development manager, caterer, and limo driver". Josh Mandel co-designed Freddy Pharkas, among other things.

500k sounds like a lot, but remember that Double Fine was able to gather over six times that amount in their Kickstarter :)

And I actually agree that I'd prefer the art style of the first LSL1 remake. But, hey, the project is still in a very early phase!

FAQ from replay games
 

If you go to the kickstarter page, there is now a FAQ.
The 3 most pressing questions can be found below.
I'm not sure I agree totally with them. As for the possibility for a new LSL game: why do you have to prove to codemasters the quality when making a remake? This doesn't make sense, as the content will be similar to the original game. The only thing you can do wrong is the visual / sound design. But i doubt that that would have been controversial anyway. Codemasters were the guys publishing the horrid Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust. Why would they suddenly be interested in quality????:frown:

You guys announced this back in October. Why are you asking for the funds now?
This must be the #1 question asked all over the internet today! We announced in October that we secured the development and publishing rights to the original Leisure Suit Larry franchise (series) of games. We showed a 1-room "proof of concept" that helped us secure the rights, so we showed those images in our press release at the time. We originally planned on getting VC (venture capital) funding so we can re-make the entire franchise from scratch for all the new platforms with the best graphics style, voice overs, orchestrated sound, etc. The response we received shocked us. This is what they literally told us "we like your company but we want nothing to do with Leisure Suit Larry since it will tarnish our good name". So it took us a few months to re-think our strategy and when we went to DICE to do the interview with Spike TV, we saw what amazing success our friends at Double Fine had and Tim convinced us to do the same.

How come it's costing you $500,000 to do a re-make of Leisure Suit Larry and it only cost Double Fine $400,000 for a brand new game?
This was another really popular question today. I (Paul) just got off the phone with Greg, the producer over at Double Fine and asked him how it was possible to make a full fledged adventure game for $400k when it's costing us $500k to re-make Leisure Suit Larry. He told me that they initially only planned on making a small iOS game with 3 people on the entire team: 1 artist, 1 programmer, and 1 producer. That, plus they already had a game engine they spent millions of dollars making for a previous game whereas we're using the Unity engine and we're starting with the PC English version, which is a huge, huge difference!! The only thing we can re-use is the original design. Everything else we need to create from scratch: characters, environments, animations, engineering, and even sound effects.

I love the game but I would pledge more if you guys made a brand new Leisure Suit Larry game instead of a re-make of LSL 1
We would LOVE to make a new version of Leisure Suit Larry!! We thought about making LSL 4 (the missing floppies) or 8, or even 69!! The problem is, Codemasters, the publisher that owns the rights to Leisure Suit Larry and sold them to us wants to see what we can do with the game first. They said if we do a good job at a re-make then we'll have total freedom to do what we want on the next game. So, we have to really kick major ass on this game and show Codemasters what we're capable of. Once we do that, and the game is a success, then we can talk about a new design for our good friend Larry. Trust us, nobody wants to see a newer version of Leisure Suit Larry than us, his biggest fans (yes, we too are fans of Larry Laffer).

So, theyr doing crowd sourcing, but staying under the leash of the publisher. Give me a break. Why doesnt the publisher pay for it then.