Adventure Gamers - Forums

Hello again!

We’re honestly surprised by the amount of gamers here asking for a remake of Simon 3D!
For reasons I can’t discuss yet, remakes are outside of our scope. I should probably had specified that in the first post.
I too would like a remake of Simon the Sorcerer 3D. Hopefully that’ll get done in the future.

We feel sad that so many of you also don’t seem to be interested in the series anymore (and your reasons are pretty sensible). However, we remain hopeful and believe we can come up with the right combination of elements to make a new installment interesting and re-invigorate the series.

We’re still in the negotiation phase, but feeling pretty excited and would like to develop this with proper feedback from the community and loyalty to the series’ humor. Both things seem to had gone stray in the last two parts.

I’m hearing what you’re saying about the graphics, the voice acting, the style and we would like to deliver on that. Having no Simon, though, is not an option now. Here’s hoping we can lure the no believers back into his world. 

I sure would be interested!  As I stated before, Simon 1 is probably my favorite game of all time.  I really enjoyed Simon 2, but, not as much as the first one. Simon 3 is a great game, but, the arcade sequences were burdensome and really not appropriate for an adventure game.  But, I too am hoping for another Simon game in the future. whether a remake or a new one, I’m sure I would buy it!

Bogi - 18 November 2013 01:49 PM

Remake of the third game, done using traditional 2D animation of course.

I don’t think the game would work the way they intended in 2D. Simon 3D had lots of problems and was ugly but the use of a 3D world added an interesting freedom in exploration that you don’t get in traditional 2D or most adventure games full stop.

If they could redo the game improving the interface, controls and the graphics it really could be a great game. Not only that but a remake like this would be far more valuable than yet another (cash-grab) remake of a well-regarded 2D game like Larry or Monkey Island.

Does this thread have anything to do with what silver style choose to do with simon, or just a fan fiction?

Personally I’d like any of the first three games remade along the playstyle of simon 3d.

Then a reboot of simon 4 continuing more along from where 3d left off (with sordid as ruler of our dimension and simon vs evil simon).

Haven’t played 4 or 5 yet so I can’t really comment, but i’ve watched lets plays and the voice acting and poor translation of german humor really didn’t sit well with me.

The thing with Simon the Sorcerer, is the Woodroffe’s were obviously fans of the British comedy scene of the past and the early 90s and this shines through in the writing - the 2nd Game even features a shoutout to The Mary Whitehouse Experience; a phenomenally successful English show in the early 90’s, but possibly unheard of outside of the UK.

The literal interpretations of fairy stories and fantasy characters were simply a backdrop for lots of comedy characterisations that wouldn’t have felt out of place in a sketch show of the time and I think it’s this that the dire German productions lack.

The comic sensibility was everything to the first games, whereas the locations and characters - with the possible exception of the Swampling - were far less important. It’s the cosmetic elements that 4 and 5 focussed on, but without the well of specific comedic history that the original games were clearly drawing from, you lose their essence.

A particular comic voice is extremely difficult to recreate, making the Simon ‘franchise’ a very tricky property to work with. If the comedic sensibility comes from an even slightly different place, you may as well start with a brand new property.

AdorableMogwai - 16 November 2013 01:26 PM

To me there are only 2 Simon the Sorcerer games, the first two. The later 3d games don’t exist to me.

From looking at Moby Games’ average user ratings (on a 1 - 5 scale )

Simon the Sorcerer 1 has 3.72
Simon the Sorcerer 2 has 3.71
Simon the Sorcerer 3d has 2.98
Simon the Sorcerer 4 has 2.85
Simon the Sorcerer 5 has 2.62

Notice how the most beloved and well received games of the series are the first two, the animated ones. As soon as they switched to 3d/cg style the series went downhill.

If only they had stuck with the traditional animated style for the 3rd game I imagine it would be a classic by now, especially considering that there weren’t many traditional animated adventures being released around this time of 2002, it would have stood out as exceptional.

Adventure gamers need to get it through their thick skulls that 3D graphics do not make bad adventure games. Bad design makes bad adventure games.

noknowncure - 03 January 2014 11:10 AM

The thing with Simon the Sorcerer, is the Woodroffe’s were obviously fans of the British comedy scene of the past and the early 90s and this shines through in the writing - the 2nd Game even features a shoutout to The Mary Whitehouse Experience; a phenomenally successful English show in the early 90’s, but possibly unheard of outside of the UK.

The literal interpretations of fairy stories and fantasy characters were simply a backdrop for lots of comedy characterisations that wouldn’t have felt out of place in a sketch show of the time and I think it’s this that the dire German productions lack.

The comic sensibility was everything to the first games, whereas the locations and characters - with the possible exception of the Swampling - were far less important. It’s the cosmetic elements that 4 and 5 focussed on, but without the well of specific comedic history that the original games were clearly drawing from, you lose their essence.

A particular comic voice is extremely difficult to recreate, making the Simon ‘franchise’ a very tricky property to work with. If the comedic sensibility comes from an even slightly different place, you may as well start with a brand new property.

I always thought it was inspired by Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, this article (http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/simon/simon.htm) even claim StS was born after Adventuresoft failed to secure license for creating a Discworld game.

Yes, Pratchett’s Discworld novels are an obvious influence, along with a helping of Douglas Adams.

The original game’s casting of Chris Barrie, of Red Dwarf fame, wouldn’t have been an accident, either.

Gronik - 03 January 2014 10:36 AM

Does this thread have anything to do with what silver style choose to do with simon, or just a fan fiction?

We’re not associated with Silver Style. We’re a development group who is currently in negotiation with the Woodroffes to work in a new installment WITH their involvement and supervision.
We’re keeping a close eye on this thread and can’t say much at the moment other than we we’re committed to bring the best of Simon back.

Thank you all for the feedback. I’m listening.