Yesterday, October the 4th, 2017, it was a unforgettable date.
Fabio Bortolotti (AKA “Kenobit”), the official translator of Thimbleweed Park, hosted a live video where he (and another human being) played Zak McKracken And The Alien Mindbenders™, Amiga EGA V2 version.
But at a certain point, the very creator of this awesome videogame, David Fox, joined in, live via Skype. He answered fans questions via chat, even after the call was terminated, and stayed with us for about 2 hours.
All while the two italian guys were playing with Zak McKracken in italian
I joined in by pure chance, because I didn’t know of this event, and it was very funny, emotionally and nice, neat.
Well, let’s tell you the whole story behind this.
Months ago, Fabio Bortolotti told me about this idea (a live streaming, where one plays Zak McKracken, and David Fox would have joined in via skype).
In March, we met at his house, and he told me if I wanted to play Zak McKracken, live, in chat with David, because Fabio did not ever finish Zak.
Of course I have accepted his offer.
It was so thrilling!!
Months passed, I asked him if he still wanted to do that thing, but he answered “yes, I’ll let you know when”.
So I stayed quiet.
Until yesterday.
That’s the reason why Fabio, immediately after David has disconnected from Skype, says:
“Zak Phoenix McKracken, non me ne volere, ma abbiamo fatto tutto in fretta”
(Zak, don’t be upset, we made it in a rush)
My “envy”, or upsetting, was 1 minute long.
Then I realised that, even if I was at home, I could partecipate in a really funny event. Unique.
So I was happy after all, but for a minute, I was really upset
I would have been upset like you! But given the good result and the organization, and also the good work on the translation… how could someone not forgive him?
And, above all, if he’s going to organize a similar live show for TWP
I don’t have the slightest idea if a video in italian playing TWP with the devs joining will ever be made, so just take my statements as free thoughts.
It would be a good thing if the video is a way to let the game be known better for the italian audience. This implies that:
You should not spoiler the game experience by playing it entirely (at least not with the devs)
I say that because I think that what will be interesting for people is a video of a game commented by its creators. So they could comment some places and actions of the characters that were selected carefully before with savegames. In an effort to talk about the game, while watching at someone playing the game, but without revealing important puzzles. There are a lot of things to say about it just letting the characters wandering around, catching the humor, viewing the many contributes of the community of fans, talking about translation aspects and differences with the original english version, and in general the many interesting things about the creation of such a product (like the fact that it is not or not only a retro-game!)
The result would also be a shorter video, that can go on youtube, and an italian person can watch it in his language in a few minutes and be interested avoiding the spoilers of playthroughs and enjoying the presence of the creators and translator.
The twitch version of the video could go on and Fabio could then play the entire game, and if the devs have time (like our beloved David for Zak) answer to people live on the chat. That version of the video (to me it is really a choice of the people involved to do that or not) will be a longer video (originally a live) for huge fans who already have played the game and are obviously already informed.
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