Adventure Gamers - Forums

Jatsie - 30 March 2013 10:27 AM

The backgrounds in Moebius were all done by some guy called Andy Hoyos. I’ve never heard of him, but I gather that he’s supposed to be someone important from how he’s spoken about in the updates, so that could just be down to ignorance on my part.

He was art director or production designer on KQ5, KQ7, LB2, QfG3, Phantasmagoria…

tomimt - 30 March 2013 10:46 AM

Andy Hoyos did only the concepts for the backgrounds, I believe, after which Phoenix turned them into actual game locations.

You might not have meant it this way, but he’s not “only” doing concept art. He’s art directing the project, which means setting the direction for the visual look of the game. He also came up with the look of the characters. I can’t remember if the concept art was released publicly or not, but even the early Malachi concepts shown during the Kickstarter, Andy redid after he came onto the project.

I’d love it if Jane did a “day in the life of Pinkerton Road” video at some point, that talked a bit about the different roles and how they’re all working together.

TimovieMan - 31 March 2013 08:18 AM

Plus we’re in a genre where the writing nearly always winds up being the most important aspect of a game, and this one’s handled by Jane Jensen, so we’ve got the writing covered.

To me, the decision to back all these adventure Kickstarters was to send a message that great writers are the most important thing to this genre, and the fact that we’ve lost so many of them is the main reason the genre isn’t what it used to be.

It wasn’t because not enough adventure games get released anymore. There are plenty. But we need our writers back. Grousing about graphics is so not the point.

TimovieMan - 31 March 2013 08:18 AM

I like how there’s a link to the “I already hate your game” feature, and then a three-page argument where one forum member constantly bashes Phoenix Online without having ANY knowledge of anything they’ve done since they made a free fan game years ago…

Actually, all this negativity is something this project (or any project for that matter) can miss. There can and should be constructive criticism to help the devs improve the game they’re making, but senseless negativity like there is in this thread helps no-one.

I was well aware of an episodic commercial game from POS; they announced it around the time of the first Silver Lining release. Apparently they piggybacked on the publicity from their King’s Quest game (its famous name generated a lot of coverage) to get attention for their commercial title. And, yes, I was aware that Jane Jensen was involved in some kind advisory role (which I assumed was done more as a token favor to help give the new team some cred).  I simply chose to avoid Cognition like the plague because I thought TSL Ep. 1 was terrible.

I was turned off by the way POS exploited the KQ brand name (and at one point even presumptuously referred to their project as “KQ IX”), the way they trumpeted a generous quote from Roberta Williams suggesting that the game could be considered a continuation of the series, and I also didn’t like how they essentially suggested in their PR that TSL was “the return of KQ”. Well, the release did generate a lot of publicity, thanks to the KQ name and the exaggerated, romanticized story of the plucky ragtag team who survived project shut-downs and cease and desist letters over several years to finally be able to offer the world their TSL. As a huge KQ fan, I was interested to see if the product lived up to the hype. It didn’t. It was straight-up crap on so many levels (mostly gameplay, writing), though from a technical standpoint I found it impressive for a fan game. At the time I almost wished the project had remained shut down. I saw one of their team leaders go on unprofessional rants against critics on a forum, and I just decided that this wasn’t a team whose products I would be supporting. I felt like their exploitation and indirect (and undeserved!) claiming of the KQ name, in combination with their amateurish release, damaged the series’ reputation and created confusion over what was and wasn’t really KQ, much in the same way the dreadful Box Office Bust (LSL game in name only) might have damaged the LSL brand in some ways. I wonder if TSL, which is still being advertised by POS as essentially the continuation of the KQ series, is making it less likely we’ll see a real return of KQ.

Fast forward to last year. Jane’s Kickstarter is a success, and I contribute to it, excited to see new, amazing Gabriel Knight-quality games. Now I come to find out that the TSL team is where my money is going. This is without a doubt the last thing I would have ever supported. And have they even finished Cognition? So then that is the only entry on their commercial title resume? Weren’t there other, more experienced teams to choose? Was it done partly for sentimental reasons? Because the teams were already friendly? Were they the only ones Jensen could afford? I don’t buy for a second that they were best choice available.

I wouldn’t have commented again on this had not someone suggested I didn’t know anything about POS nor what they have done since. I have recently become more familiar with Cognition. Maybe I’m the only one who has expressed these concerns. Well, then so be it. I have every right to make my voice heard. I am not going to pretend like the POS choice is a wonderful one. But, like I said earlier, I’ll have to wait and see how Moebius shapes up.

Quest1 - 31 March 2013 10:13 AM

I was well aware of an episodic commercial game from POS; they announced it around the time of the first Silver Lining release. Apparently they piggybacked on the publicity from their King’s Quest game (its famous name generated a lot of coverage) to get attention for their commercial title.

Really? According to Wikipedia The Silver Lining was released on July 18, 2010. The KICKSTARTER for Cognition started on Oct 29, 2011…nearly a year and a half later!! And the first episode of Cognition was released on Oct 31 2012. What advantage exactly do you think they got for Cognition in 2010?

Quest1 - 31 March 2013 10:13 AM

(mostly gameplay, writing), though from a technical standpoint I found it impressive for a fan game.

Let me get this right:
1) You’re totally against Phoenix Online being involved in producing Mobius because of the quality of “The Silver Lining”
2) The problem with TSL was the writing & story
3) Technically it was impressive for a fan game
4) Jane Jensen will be producing the writing & story for Mobius, not Phoenix Online
5) Phoenix Online will be responsible for technical aspects

So what’s your problem?!? What Phoenix Online are better at, they`ll be doing. Where they’re weaker (and I partly agree - the writing for Cognition Part 2 was dodgy at times, even if I felt the plot as a whole was decent), they won’t be doing. Seems like you’re complaining (and complaining and complaining) without a lot of basis. It’s obviously the case with Kickstarter that you DON’T get to choose the developer where the project is a single person’s vision. If oyu don’t like that, you shouldn’t fund it. Constant whinging at this stage is pretty pointless…especially when your main objections don’t even make sense anyway.

Quest1 - 31 March 2013 10:13 AM

I have every right to make my voice heard.

You do. But when your voice makes some illogical points, don’t be surprised if others point that out & disagree with you.

Oooh, I just got sent a link to download the alpha build of part of Moebius. I might go and have a little poke around later.

Take your time. The download strain seems to be too big for the server right now and it’s pretty much impossible to download it. Damn it, I reeeeeally want to check it out. 

Kurufinwe - 31 March 2013 01:21 PM

Take your time. The download strain seems to be too big for the server right now and it’s pretty much impossible to download it. Damn it, I reeeeeally want to check it out. 

I think my download just timed out, it was on 94mb out 710mb, estimating 2 hours until completion, then all of a sudden it acted like the download was complete.

I’ll try it again later.

TimovieMan - 31 March 2013 10:44 AM

Quest1 - 31 March 2013 10:13 AM

I felt like their exploitation and indirect (and undeserved!) claiming of the KQ name, in combination with their amateurish release, damaged the series’ reputation and created confusion over what was and wasn’t really KQ, much in the same way the dreadful Box Office Bust (LSL game in name only) might have damaged the LSL brand in some ways.

You’re forgetting that TSL is FREE. That automatically sends the message that it’s probably just a fan project and/or amateurish in design.
Box Office Bust and Magna Cum Laude were commercial releases. They got a lot more publicity because of that (honestly, if it weren’t for AG, I wouldn’t know about TSL, but I did know about BOB and MCL), and thus hurt the Larry series a lot more than TSL could ever hurt the KQ series…

Were MCL and BOB really that damaging? There seemed to be quite a few backers of Al’s new Larry remake that only knew Larry from the MCL and BOB games.

Saw the new screenshots that were put up for Mobius today and I just have this great sense of indifference about them, which is a shame Am I the only one?

I just saw the trailer and it’s looking a little better than I thought. I don’t know why but it’s reminding me a bit like Yesterday for some reason… (hated that game btw) But yes i do agree that they’ve done well considering the low budget! But I’m not really sure that’s a compliment ...

backers will soon have a playable demo… im saving any judgement until i play that

finished the alpha. Its okay. I like the analyze concept… but i hope the puzzles get a little better… and the interface has similar problems to cognition. All in all it was a nice sneak peak.