Decline New King's Quest game - MASSIVE DECLINE Everything is shit

[Catweasel]

Do you really think we could see Ch. 2 be postponed indefinitely? Outside of a tiny teaser trailer there's been radio silence on the game despite it supposedly coming out this autumn. Matt Korba (designer of TOG's KQ) doesn't even talk with Sierra fans on Sierra Gamers' fb page anymore and there's been no blog posts or anything by TOG or anything about the game since July.

I could see the second episode getting plopped out, but beyond that I'd be genuinely surprised if they comtinued working on more episodes. The losses must be pretty huge.

 

[lightbane]

So, was that whole thing about the devs of this game stealing the funds for the Homestruck game for real then?

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I could see the second episode getting plopped out, but beyond that I'd be genuinely surprised if they comtinued working on more episodes. The losses must be pretty huge.

You figure on Steamspy, the game has 33,000 owners (I was wrong in my 22k count that was from last month)...Add maybe another 20k on other platforms, that's a gross of 500,000. I read somewhere the game took around 1 million or 1.5 mil to produce.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

So, was that whole thing about the devs of this game stealing the funds for the Homestruck game for real then?

It increasingly seems like it, yes.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Didn't nuKQ also get a XBLA and PSN release? Doubtful it sold much better there of course, but it could bring net sales up to around 100k across all platforms.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Didn't nuKQ also get a XBLA and PSN release? Doubtful it sold much better there of course, but it could bring net sales up to around 100k across all platforms.

Yes to both. Even if it sold 100k on the head, at 9.99, that's 900,000 revenue. Still, I imagine, a flop in Activision's eyes.

 

[Fronzel Neekburm]

I read somewhere the game took around 1 million or 1.5 mil to produce.

That would just be the amount they stole from the Homestuck Kickstarter. I'm quite certain that Activision threw considerably more money at them to make this game.

If The Odd Gentlemen decide to take the money and run (again), you have no one to blame but yourself for purchasing an unfinished game from them after the embezzlement news broke. You only had to listen.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

That would just be the amount they stole from the Homestuck Kickstarter. I'm quite certain that Activision threw considerably more money at them to make this game.

If The Odd Gentlemen decide to take the money and run (again), you have no one to blame but yourself for purchasing an unfinished game from them after the embezzlement news broke. You only had to listen.

No, the Homestuck rumor said they (supposedly) took 700,000. I am pretty sure I heard TOG was allotted 1-1.5 million by Activision for the new KQ. Some have said that they might have leveraged the cost of developing the game themselves (with the stolen money), meaning that Activision's investment would technically have only been 300,000 or so. There is something fishy going on, since everything with the game is dead quiet, and I don't believe that that is simply because we're between chapters. There is no PR for the second chapter, no fan communication, nada. I think Activsion might pull the game due to the law sales, because why else would it be so quiet?

 

[BR4ZIL]

Just popping in here to also mention that Activision's poor sale strategy (they did not used regional pricing for NuKQ) meant that NuKQ's price was above AAA releases for (i belive) Mexican/Russian/Indian/Brazilian and potentially more players. Speaking as a brazilian, NuKQ was 150 BRL while every AAA release is usually 99BRL.

It is my understanding that for US/European folks, the game was below AAA price, right?

Also, i think Activision belives anything that they produce can be sold for an outrageous amount, in other words they used the same strategy as with the CoD games.

But yeah, with a more niche game like KQ, if you overprice it, i am willing to bet alot of people simply went away from buying it.

Heck, you could buy both GTA5 and ARK (which was announced together with NuKQ and was Steam's top seller for quite a while) for the same price as NuKQ.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I ean, does this trailer have ANYTHING to do with KQ? Seems like some Monkey Island-ish crap.

 

[Infinitron]

Korgoth, your reverse psychology is working! I'm starting to want this game!

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Korgoth, your reverse psychology is working! I'm starting to want this game!

Not reverse psychology, just plain hatred.

 

[Lambonius]

I wonder if TOG was intentionally trying to ape (sorry, couldn't resist) the Monkey Island 2 intro?

 

[Lambonius]

Now, I'm off to replay Monkey Island 2, because real adventure games give me a hard-on.

 

[Blackthorne]

The sad part is that when the game fails the corporate suits are going to blame it on the players. "People just don't like old-school adventure games" and all that crap. Ignoring the fact that this is anything but an old-school adventure game.

I really think you nailed it with that.


As Korgoth put it, this game is just ultimately "Forgettable". And it cost much more than 1.5 mil to produce, market and bring to completion. I don't know what sales were like on consoles, but it doesn't seem to be overwhelming for PC.

This isn't an "old school" adventure by any means at all, but I'm sure there's cretins out there who think it is indicative of that. I've met more than a few snake-oil salesmen in the industry who are like "Oh yeah, Adventure games - the kids love that stuff right? Like Gears of War!"


Bt

 

[Redlands]

I'm honestly glad it was a mediocre game and is not getting success, and I'm not surprised in the least.

I got a copy of the Adventure Gamers' Manual; it was in the local library when I was a kid, which is the only reason why I know of it at all. If you're an adventure game fan, then I suggest you read it, because it's highly informative on just how fucking creative the genre used to be and could be with its puzzles, and just how much more willing people were to go along with "illogical" puzzles back in the day. Speaking of which, people seem to treat Sierra- and LucasArts-era adventure games as "old-school" when there's even older games out there that people completely forget about when talking about adventure games.

People also seem to forget that "old school" had its different flavours, and that Sierra = "unfair deaths" where LucasArts was not was only a symptom and not a defining feature. Maybe it was just because of the people working at the different companies and their different preferences; but I get the feeling it was due to Sierra starting out as a company that made text adventure games with graphics before making more graphically-intense adventure games, whereas LucasArts was born out of a movie studio who came into a more fully-formed graphical adventure market, because Sierra games, even some of the newer ones, still felt more like the text adventure games than most LucasArts games did. This would also explain why Telltale ended up dropping out of the puzzles and just went with storytelling, and why Schafer is so presentation-focused: that was simply the culture of game design that was fostered LucasArts.

You can't cater to nostalgia for one company while borrowing so heavily from another with a different development mindset, while completely missing where the first company's mindset came from, and while trying to be hip and modern. It just screams of facile engagement with the broad strokes of a genre you don't actually care all that much about.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I really think you nailed it with that.


As Korgoth put it, this game is just ultimately "Forgettable". And it cost much more than 1.5 mil to produce, market and bring to completion. I don't know what sales were like on consoles, but it doesn't seem to be overwhelming for PC.

This isn't an "old school" adventure by any means at all, but I'm sure there's cretins out there who think it is indicative of that. I've met more than a few snake-oil salesmen in the industry who are like "Oh yeah, Adventure games - the kids love that stuff right? Like Gears of War!"


Bt

You really think it cost more than 1.5 mil? I'm obviously not in the game industry but I figured a game with PS2 graphics wouldn't have cost so much.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I'm honestly glad it was a mediocre game and is not getting success, and I'm not surprised in the least.

I got a copy of the Adventure Gamers' Manual; it was in the local library when I was a kid, which is the only reason why I know of it at all. If you're an adventure game fan, then I suggest you read it, because it's highly informative on just how fucking creative the genre used to be and could be with its puzzles, and just how much more willing people were to go along with "illogical" puzzles back in the day. Speaking of which, people seem to treat Sierra- and LucasArts-era adventure games as "old-school" when there's even older games out there that people completely forget about when talking about adventure games.

People also seem to forget that "old school" had its different flavours, and that Sierra = "unfair deaths" where LucasArts was not was only a symptom and not a defining feature. Maybe it was just because of the people working at the different companies and their different preferences; but I get the feeling it was due to Sierra starting out as a company that made text adventure games with graphics before making more graphically-intense adventure games, whereas LucasArts was born out of a movie studio who came into a more fully-formed graphical adventure market, because Sierra games, even some of the newer ones, still felt more like the text adventure games than most LucasArts games did. This would also explain why Telltale ended up dropping out of the puzzles and just went with storytelling, and why Schafer is so presentation-focused: that was simply the culture of game design that was fostered LucasArts.

You can't cater to nostalgia for one company while borrowing so heavily from another with a different development mindset, while completely missing where the first company's mindset came from, and while trying to be hip and modern. It just screams of facile engagement with the broad strokes of a genre you don't actually care all that much about.

I think the emphasis on storytelling, and the lack of deaths (and the general cartoony tone) are what turned be off from LucasArts' games to be honest. Sierra games had interfaces that were a great mixture of interactive and intuitive, and due to being able to die at any turn, offered a sense of urgency and challenge that (for me at least) outweighed the wonky puzzles....I've never ever liked the LA interface or the verb coin, as well. While there were tons of other adventure games, none of them ever really hit the right notes as Sierra's did, at least for me. Perhaps it's because I'm much younger than most of you probably are but I just couldn't get into text adventures. Myst, and some of the (non-Sierra) FMV adventures I did and do enjoy though. I like games which are experiences more than they are games. With LucasArts, due to the clunky interface, I'm always reminded I'm in a game.

I also feel that Sierra's games had a lot of heart put into them. I know a lot of it was PR, but Sierra was in many ways, before the suits took over, in many ways a family of like minded, geeky, cool people working and living together. I mean, the company was centered in Oakhurst, a tiny town. Most of the employees were neighbors. I know Gilbert and some others are known from LucasArts, but the presentation of Sierra's "personalities" really helped to endear me to the company. It made me, as a consumer, feel like I was a part of the Sierra experience; that, as a consumer, I was a part of the Sierra family. You don't really get that in the computer/video game industry, at least not since the 1990s.

As to the new KQ game: Forgettable with a tablet ready interface. Mask of Eternity was better. I just wished we could've gotten an SQ7 done right.

 

[Blackthorne]

You really think it cost more than 1.5 mil? I'm obviously not in the game industry but I figured a game with PS2 graphics wouldn't have cost so much.

Yeah, it's not just about the graphics when it comes to price. Look at the size of the team that made it - it's around 30 people, even with some part time - in a AAA studio funded game, everyone's getting paid a salary. Some higher than others - their studio is located in LA where the standard of living is higher than many places, so some will make more, some will make less. I'm sure some of the higher ups made close to low 6 figures, programmers between 90,000-98,000. So, on the high side, an average of 80,000 a year per person. 2,550,000 over the two or so years it took to produce = 5,100,000. This doesn't include the voice talent, in which they hired big names like Christopher Lloyd and Wallace Shawn, who are not cheap - I assure you. Now, add in marketing - which most AAA companies often spend as much or more on. (Like GTAV had like a 120 million ad budget and the game only cost 100 million to make, or something similar. They spent more on MARKETING A GAME!) Now, I don't think Activision did that here, but they spent a lot - they laid out a lot of money to hold that awards show, with a special award given to the Williams' - this was nothing more than a large PR stunt to bring attention to the project and legitamacy to the game. There was no independent associate that gave out these so-called awards! It was a promotional affair dressed up as an awards show, and it broadcast on TV and I'm sure it cost a bunch of money to mount.

So, even with this minor look at the process - yeah, the game cost WAAAAY more than 1.5 million to make.

Bt

 

[Redlands]

So, King Graham is in Tony Hawk 5 now.

Thanks, Activision.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

The problem with this game (one of many) is that it's lacking any sense of darkness. Real darkness, not the Disney-esque darkness they're offering in the next chapter. I mean, a lot of the elements in KQs 4-8 bordered on horror. There's no menace, no chilling, eerie, creepy castle or baddie. You've got sort of cute goblins as the bad guys in this next chapter. It's way too Pixar, way too storybook, way too kid friendly. Why can't they get eldrich horror and menace right? Even though this new chapter will be 'dark', does anyone really think it'll match up with any of the followng?

 

[Lambonius]

Was the inclusion of KQ7 screenshots in that last post supposed to be a joke?

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Was the inclusion of KQ7 screenshots in that last post supposed to be a joke?

Even KQ7 had genuinely creepier moments, and more heart, than this shit fest of a game.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The land of Ooga-Booga is pretty damn creepy.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

If there was one thing Sierra's designers were good at, it was setting creepy scenes.

The new KQ game lacks any of that, the borderline horror aspect. It lacks any fucking heart. It's just this big kiddie-friendly wanna-be Pixar movie. The tone is all off and the humor is fucking stupid. Say what you will of KQ7, but that game didn't feature a literal Bridge-Troll who says he keeps his horn "hidden under [his] butt". Do you think Roberta Williams on her worst day, on a day where say she toked an ounce of weed, would write something so bland and stupidly childish? This game has no fucking soul.

Even KQ5, arguably the silliest KQ game, didn't feature anything as fucking horrid as a QTE "Bridge Troll dance"

I mean jesus christ. There's bad games and then there's this shit. This game, to KQ, in my opinion, is what the Star Wars prequels were to Star Wars. That's how much I hate this game. I can't understand how anyone who liked say, KQ6, would enjoy this game. It's not just a tonal departure, everything is different. Graham's character is entirely different. Daventry is entirely different. The whole backstory is entirely different. Graham is fucking Doc Brown with bad puns. There's not a single character from fairy tales, mythology or folklore. This game is just a lame ripoff of Pixar movies in tone, The Princeless Bride in plot, with no connection to the KQ games outside of character and land names being thrown in. Slap any other label on it and it'd just be generic storybook adventure game with nowhere near the level of publicity this shitfest has gotten. It's a generic, high fantasy stupid children's shit. KQ was never high fantasy, and never generic. And that's the worst thing about this game; it's totally generic and bland. None of the original KQ games were generic, even the lesser entries.