I’d like to share one idea, since this community looks like to be a constructive and cooperative one.
I’d like to build together with some of you “Colossal Dungeon Cave Quest II”.
This is the idea:
text adventure (maybe with graphic surprises)
following the events of TWP, as a fan made sequel: somehow, the adventure continues inside the text adventure
Delores as main character?
What I’d really like to do is:
build up the story and the gameplay
teamwork with others, each one sharing development or writing or SW or management skills
give us a deadline, let’s say fifteen months, and deliver a (free) game which could be played by others
maybe, if it is really good, it could happen that it may be included in TWP 2nd anniversary edition™, and playable from the offiss after the first game completion.
I know this requires skills, dedication, and much more than I can even imagine. I also don’t want this to become a development nightmare. Let’s just try. This could be fun, and for sure a valuable experience.
Some of us managed to deliver the “13” gamebook which can be found in the Mansion Mansion library. That was memorable to me.
That´s a terrific idea! I bet @RonGilbert can raise much more money for a new game by sueing us all for copyright infringement than a new kickstarter ever possibly could!
I’ve always been interested in working on a text adventure. But working on a text adventure with a team… It’s hard to say how something like that would work, especially where we don’t really know each other all that well.
I think something like this would have a very limited audience. Mainly, the people already reading this post But that’s not necessarily a reason not to do it. The better reason to do it is to create a game you are interested in working with a few others who are also very interested in game-making in general.
If I had to guess how something like this would go, we would get stalled on just trying to create the storyline. TWP ended in a very mysterious way, and many opinions exist about what it means, and especially how exactly the in-game text adventure is tied into it all. However, maybe that’s a hurdle we could get over.
The next part is the part I would enjoy - actually crafting the game mechanics. However, I think we would not want to make our own parser or “engine” - there are too many decent text adventure game engines already available out there. Plus, there is no way we’d be done in any reasonable time, and with any reasonable quality otherwise. The hardest part would be picking one. Personally, I would suggest something like TADS 3, or Inform. Emily Short has written an excellent article for people thinking about making their own text adventure that talked about this:
The other concern I have is whether this is considered kosher by the devs, since it is a derivative work. I think Ron’s pretty cool about this sort of thing, especially since we’re obviously not trying to sell it, but to the extent it alters the story it might not be a good idea.
There was a time during which I pursued my artistic interests with a group of good friends who shared with me the same passion for computer science, videogames and software development. The lesson that I learned from that project was that I can enjoy this kind of endeavors and make them work only if I am free to select carefully the people with whom I’ll try to create something. While it’s sure that this community is full of smart and talented people, even these very positive aspects are not enough to motivate myself to embark in any kind of artistic project that would require a lot of time spent working together. I wish well to those who will decide to give it a try.
Nice idea, but I don’t think I have the time. I’m still waiting to have the time to make my own game I have designed two years ago
What I’d love to see would be some kind of easy online engine with 100% open source scripts where everyone can just go there and extend the game with no collaboration at all. It would be a complete mess, but fun nevertheless
I’d like to follow the development, especially the UI and puzzle design, on Slack or other dev forum. Unfortunately I can’t commit to actively work at this time. (But maybe in a couple of months…)
I agree with the others (above this post). Why don’t you, @cvalenti, just start and present your results/designs? We can comment about it and maybe we’ll find a way to contribute?
It sounds interesting, but I am afraid that I would hardly be able to contribute.
What about showing the current room in Mansion Mansion style? Just as an illustration, without any GUI or animations, of course, so that it would still be a text adventure game (similar to the anniversary editions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).
We also need to explain why Doug uses the shovel to do all kinds of things, instead of using the proper tool.
Hear this: Doug has a serious car accident. He wakes up in a strange hospital and the doctor reveals him that, in order to save his life, they had to replace parts of his body with innovative and very expensive technology. Now in place of his arms, he has two shovels. Furthermore, he also has brain damage, so can’t interpret properly the world around him, so he imagines challenges and enemies that aren’t there, and he has to defeat with the shovel.
But that’s not necessarily a reason not to do it. The better reason to do it is to create a game you are interested in working with a few others who are also very interested in game-making in general.
