[Janpaardenhoef]

It is funny that Stinger posted a thread on an online Sam & Max 2 Museum, because only beautiful and dead things belong in a museum. It's a damn shame that Lucas arts pulled the plug on Full Throttle and it's even worse they did the same thing with the Sam & Max 2 project, but looking back or living in the past however you want to put it doesn't help us very much. Come to think of it we've been doing that very thing for to long allready. When Sierra died, i didn't sleep for a decade but now Lucas arts changed their corporate plans it seems very unlikely that they will ever make adventuregames ever again. Supposedly because the marked isn't attractive anymore. We all now that's not true, I don't even have to mention Funcom's The longest Journey or Syberia.

The last adventuregame by Lucasarts, Escape from Monkey Island was burned to the ground because of the controls, the flaws in the story etc. etc. by the same people that are crying now because Lucasarts will not make adventuregames anymore, in the recent future that is. I don't pity those people, they brought it upon theirselves. Not only the descision by Lucas Arts to focus on their moneymaking Star Wars games but with al the whining and complaining about todays standard of adventuregames, of bringing back the good ol' days of 2d point&click I think they brought the death of the adventuregenre all together upon ourselves.

I think we have to be fair and honest to ourselves. The genre is dead or dieing out, depending on positive/negative way of seeing reality. As I said allready, we have been living in the past for to long now. It's time we stop looking back, stop playing games from the good old days over and over again and focus on the future.

In the fourth quarter of 2005 Funcom will release it's sequel to The Longest Yourney. Great, ONE great game next year! In 2006 Revolution will supposedly bring out Beneath a Steel Sky 2. Great, ONE great game in 2006. Who are we kidding?

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Janpaardenhoef

It is funny that Stinger posted a thread on an online Sam & Max 2 Museum, because only beautiful and dead things belong in a museum. It's a damn shame that Lucas arts pulled the plug on Full Throttle and it's even worse they did the same thing with the Sam & Max 2 project, but looking back or living in the past however you want to put it doesn't help us very much. Come to think of it we've been doing that very thing for to long allready. When Sierra died, i didn't sleep for a decade but now Lucas arts changed their corporate plans it seems very unlikely that they will ever make adventuregames ever again. Supposedly because the marked isn't attractive anymore. We all now that's not true, I don't even have to mention Funcom's The longest Journey or Syberia.

The last adventuregame by Lucasarts, Escape from Monkey Island was burned to the ground because of the controls, the flaws in the story etc. etc. by the same people that are crying now because Lucasarts will not make adventuregames anymore, in the recent future that is. I don't pity those people, they brought it upon theirselves. Not only the descision by Lucas Arts to focus on their moneymaking Star Wars games but with al the whining and complaining about todays standard of adventuregames, of bringing back the good ol' days of 2d point&click I think they brought the death of the adventuregenre all together upon ourselves.

I think we have to be fair and honest to ourselves. The genre is dead or dieing out, depending on positive/negative way of seeing reality. As I said allready, we have been living in the past for to long now. It's time we stop looking back, stop playing games from the good old days over and over again and focus on the future.

In the fourth quarter of 2005 Funcom will release it's sequel to The Longest Yourney. Great, ONE great game next year! In 2006 Revolution will supposedly bring out Beneath a Steel Sky 2. Great, ONE great game in 2006. Who are we kidding?

I have bought more games in the last year than I have in the 4 that preceded, most of them recent games. Also, there are tons of games I'm eagerly waiting for (Myst4, Aura, Moment of Silence, Still Life, Vampyre Story, Beneath 2, TLJ2, Rhem 2 and so on for commercial, plus a bunch of fan-made or independant games) .
So whatever people like you can say, I don't feel like the adventure genre is dying, or dead, or sick, or whatever.

[jannar85]

It's building up again. For example.. Roger Foodbelly will probably going to be released or finished in 2006. Also, I heard somewhere that Project Joe also had found a publisher....

Even so LucasArts has dropped the genre, that doesn't mean others will so too. I even heard of a CSI3 being under development!

So there, wake up

[Fop]

Just look at the hype list at the main page of Adventure Gamers. There are loads of adventure games coming out. They just don't get the same amount of advertisement other games do.

[Marek]

Do you really think the perception caused by LucasArts' crapness will herald the demise of the adventure genre? To be fair, I think it's done a lot of damage, especially to studios like Revolution Software who sort of rely on LucasArts' once positive image of the genre, but I don't think the designers themselves are convinced that adventure games are no longer worth it.

Perhaps it's in a way healthy to finally be able to abandon LucasArts and not regard it as the only sign of the adventure genre's current status. Let's focus our attention on the veteran LucasArts designers at TellTale Games, Pileated Pictures, Double Fine Productions and Autumn Moon Productions -- all founded by people who do care.

The genre is doing a little bit better than it did in the whole period between 1999 and 2003, despite Sam & Max 2's sad cancellation, and the abandonment of Project Jane-J. The fact that I can still be more or less positive about the genre despite these great games getting cancelled is a good sign.

In terms of big upcoming games, you're forgetting the likes of Fahrenheit, A Vampyre Story, The Moment of Silence and Still Life. Oh, and possibly Runaway 2 if the first game didn't put you off. Just because you don't know these games -- just like at one point you had never heard of TLJ before -- doesn't mean these aren't major titles. For instance, A Vampyre Story is in the same style as Monkey Island 3 and created by part of that team, but just because it doesn't say "Monkey Island" or some other familiar LucasArts brand it shouldn't be ignored.

I think we're looking at a rate of 2 to 3 major titles a year now, which is better than anything we've had in recent history.

Oh, and I'm not just saying this because I founded AG or anything. I'm actually a cynical bastard when it comes to the games industry.

[Fop]

Oh yeah, the cancellation of Sam and Max 2 was a damn shame, but the cancellation of Full Throttle 2 was a mercy killing. Lack of quality and attention to detail simply reeked from everything we got to see of the project.

[Tanukitsune]

The problem is we used to associate adventure games to Sierra and Lucasarts, and since they don't give a D about adventure games now, some of us have a feeling of impeding doom...

But it is a mere ilusion...

For starts, the adventure genre is not the one with most titles... 1% of games are adventures, so even in the "golden era" we never had that many adventures....

Stores still have adventure sections, and lately they seem to have loads of NEW adventures....

As a matter a fact I haven't seen so many adventure games for sale in a long time!

We will probably never see another adventure game from Sierra or Lucasarts, and even if we did, it would be some horrid hybrid that would disgrace us all....

But just look at the upcoming and the latest games! Can you still say the genre is dying?

[Tanukitsune]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Shut ou're face and open your eyes the whole f*cking thing was a lie and everything that we all stoot for just had it's as kicked out the door.
Well something's are bad and left unsaid but I'd like too see a bullet in ther head, shut the damage too my card and I'l see them on the graveyard blvd.
Give a hook too ther face it's on me hard to talk shit without no f*ckin teeth, spit'm out spit'm out all in a row so punch them again those s*ckers hirs one for the road.

Either you're trolling/flaming the thread or trying to be clever by ripping off some rapper...
But anyway... Thank you! Now this thread will probably be locked or something! Thanks to you! Are you happy?

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Shut ou're face and open your eyes the whole f*cking thing was a lie and everything that we all stoot for just had it's as kicked out the door.
Well something's are bad and left unsaid but I'd like too see a bullet in ther head, shut the damage too my card and I'l see them on the graveyard blvd.
Give a hook too ther face it's on me hard to talk shit without no f*ckin teeth, spit'm out spit'm out all in a row so punch them again those s*ckers hirs one for the road.

Is this some rap song's quote?

[Eddy]

No sorry guys it has been three years now sins my first dogs death I'm a little pist of.

[Janpaardenhoef]

It's sad but I DO think "LucasArts' crapness" as Marek puts it will herald the demise of the adventure genre in a way. But, taken in mind I'm not a founder of AG and given the fact this is only the second time I post on this Forum, nobody has to take my opinion for fact or be offended by what I say because when you look at it in perspective I'm not an authority on the subject. I'm just and adventuregamer just like rest of you who enjoys adventuregames. I'm just really disappointed in the state of adventuregaming these days.

The question if it would be healthy in a way to finally be able to abandon LucasArts, is to me in a way the same question as to abandon adventuregames all together. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that there aren't any other good games by other companies being developed or for sale on the market at the moment. But since the demise of Sierra, LucasArts has always set the standards for adventuregames.

When we focus our attention on the veteran LucasArts designers at TellTale Games, Pileated Pictures, Double Fine Productions and Autumn Moon Productions and take a look at the Hype-o-Meter only Autumn Moon is coming up with a new adventuregame in the recent future, but as we have learned from the recent cancelations of Sam & Max 2 and also Project Jane -J, we can never be sure that they will actually be released.

Even if the genre is doing a little bit better than it did in the whole period between 1999 and 2003 like Mared said, it's still in a pityful state. I'm glad that there still are people like Marek who obviously knows what he is talking about, being in the adventuregaming scene as long as I can remember, that are more or less positive, which means there is still hope. Only I don't see it myself at the moment.

I have to admit that the list of upcoming games I mentioned, that are worth waiting for was too short and coloured by my melancholy. Maybe I should have mentioned games like Fahrenheit, A Vampyre Story, The Moment of Silence and Still Life, and even Runaway 2 as well. But that remains to be seen. If we're looking at a rate of 2 to 3 major titles a year now, we should be happy I guess. But I still hope LucasArts will change their mind on the Sam & Max cancellation or their company policy. Adventuregames is what made them great, and they made the adventuregenre great. Why would one walk away from a winning/golden combination like that?

Oh, and I'm not just saying this because I have no authority on the subject what so ever

[Marek]

To be fair, I do know how you're feeling, and it's obviously in the back of my mind even as I'm being cautiously enthusiastic about the current state of the genre. I would love the genre to return to pre-1999 levels of quantity and especially quality. Sierra and LucasArts had long-running design traditions that many of the new companies out there today don't have. Most of them are learning everything from scratch and don't really have that brand recognition and guaranteed quality that LucasArts and Sierra had.

I don't think we've seen the last of the adventure genre. If only because the games industry as a whole are gradually embracing more story-driven and exploration based styles of gameplay. With probably some reinventing of the form, adventure games could come back in a big way. For now, I'm just happy with how it's doing as a niche genre. Some other genres that were once extremely popular are much worse off today, such as flight simulators and hardcore strategy games. It'll turn around. (But it might still take a long while.)

[Tobbe]

Though the fact that for eg. Lucas Art has stopped makin adventure games, doesn´t mean that the adventure genre is dying out..Many other companies has started making adv. games, and whe shouldn´t forget how many great indie/amateur games there are, and are in production (DOTT2, Broken Sword 2.5, Indiana Jones and the fountain of youth etc..) So I don´t see a reason giving up the hope about adventure games...

[ConcreteRancor]

Originally Posted by Marek

I don't think we've seen the last of the adventure genre. If only because the games industry as a whole are gradually embracing more story-driven and exploration based styles of gameplay. With probably some reinventing of the form, adventure games could come back in a big way. For now, I'm just happy with how it's doing as a niche genre. Some other genres that were once extremely popular are much worse off today, such as flight simulators and hardcore strategy games. It'll turn around. (But it might still take a long while.)

Naval sims are even worse off. And although you can find a lot of puzzle and arcade games online, there are very few at retail, except for childrens' games on the bargain rack at Staples. I mourn the death of the "Incredible Machine" series more often than I do adventure games. Compared to games like that, adventure games are doing quite well.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Janpaardenhoef

But since the demise of Sierra, LucasArts has always set the standards for adventuregames.

Hmm, since the demise of Sierra, the only Lucas game that I've been aware of was Monkey Island 4, which didn't really set a standard, as far as I can see. No, really, Lucas has been dead for a long time, and standards are set by Microids, Funcom, TAC, or Cyan nowadays.

[WontonGoodsoup]

I think that AGs are just in a little slump. Kind of how music and chothes go in and out of style. I'm not looking towards any specific company to be 'the company'. There might never be another LA or Sierra as we knew them. I think TLJ2 will help to revolutionize things and hopefully jumpstart the competition to create great AGs.

[Captain Blondebeard]

Im really hoping the upcoming LSL game sells big time so other developers like LA will reconsider there stance on adventure games.

[Jackal]

LucasArts was probably perceived as adventure gaming's last great hope at reaching the mainstream again. They were the last developer capable of big budget productions of original IP's (with apologies to Revolution, Cyan, Funcom and Quantic Dreams). So with their demise, we saw the end of an era, but not the death of the genre.

Adventures are a niche market now. No getting around it, and I don't foresee that ever truly changing. But that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of room for the genre to thrive in its own right. There's been far too little imagination for many years, but heck, maybe the lower budget restraints will end up becoming an ally - forcing developers to be more creative in their writing and design.

[fov]

only beautiful and dead things belong in a museum

Don't know if I agree with this statement, but in any case, Sam & Max 2 has been cancelled, so I think it fits your description of "dead."

That's just one game. There's plenty of art in museums all over the world - that doesn't mean art is dead.

It's time we stop looking back, stop playing games from the good old days over and over again and focus on the future.

Why? I play old games because there are some good ones waiting for me that I haven't experienced, and others that I loved so much I want to play them again. What's wrong with that?

-emily (not fully awake and a little grumpy this morning)

[Jake]

Originally Posted by fov

-emily (not fully awake and a little grumpy this morning)

But still right.