I''ve been contemplating making a Sierra style adventure game on and off for quite awhile, and finding my copy QFG just jogged my memory... There''s just something unique about the hand drawn artwork, and all the associated genre traits that I like. The question is: What technological improvements can be made to the basic model? Ideas I''ve had: 3D polygon sprites on top of hand drawn backgrounds (Resident Evil?) Weather, seasons, and time of day: by using multiple versions of the same background, and different blending effects, allow have the engine to have a "weather" mixer, capable of randomly creating any type of weather, and more specifically, have different seasons. I suppose this would require both a weather and season component to the system, as certain things (such as flowers, and snow) would have to be overlayed on to the background. Time of day could also be neat: I found the palette transitions in QFG IV to be a little bland (although they sure were nifty in the redux of QFG I) Character Shadows: Do a shadow map of your character onto a polygon representation of the background... That''s about all I''ve come up with. Such a project will probably never come to pass (I haven''t finished my *text* advenure game yet ) but still..this genre can''t be dead!

quote: Original post by skjinedmjeet
3D polygon sprites on top of hand drawn backgrounds (Resident Evil?)

Jim Adams book "Programming RPG Games with DirectX" contains a section about using 3D characters on a 2D background. But I don''t know if it would be of any use to you because you have to create the background in a 3D application (a simplified version of the background is saved as a mesh and used for depth/collision info). It does mention other methods you can use too, but I can''t remember em now

This genre certainly isn''t dead, 3D in 2D is used in Resident evil (as u said), Final Fantasy, Monkey Island, and will probably used for the upcoming Full Throttle and Sam ''n'' Max games from Lucasarts.

pan narrans
Study + Hard Work + Loud Profanity = Good Code

QFG..... Man, remember when it was Hero''s Quest?

I''m sorry, I just had to post something. Just thinking about that game threw me into a flashback.

Ah the good ol'' days....

Well, I''ve played a lot of the old Sierra and Lucas Arts adventure games... man they were fun (XP has rendered them unplayable ) But what does QFG stand for? Quest for... gold/glory? Obviously one I have never played. But, I love the old Police Quest, King''s Quest, all the sequels, too. And (LucasArts) The Dig, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, etc...

All great games - and I think it would be great to see some come back in the same kind of style, with new elements. I like the ideas you listed. I like the time of day and shadows, and weather would be great! Seasons, too.

Above this, even, add more realism (the 3D would certainly help), more complex animations, even. Try and make the graphics as appealing as possible, but simple in color and shading. Otherwise, add good music and sound, etc, some nice graphical effects, even, though Im not sure how well this would work on a 2d/3d world (ie explosions)

to pan narris... im glad you said that about sam and max being remade - i had no idea. and full throttle, too! i would really like to play a new version of that. of course, i have to wait until 2004 for sam and max... and full throttle was just announced...



-geo-
http://www.geocities.com/elementum_game

What''s wrong with XP? I just played Full Throttle and The Dig a little while ago and there were no real problems. My soundcard was a little messed up but it wasn''t too bad.

Actually, I managed to force Full Throttle. The Dig would not work for me very well. It ran at about a frame per second, and the sound was extremely corrupted... Not really very fun to play... Even with the program compatability wizard (the only reason Full Throttle worked). But I really can''t get Day of the Tentacle to run... And some other games, like the first Imperium Galactica... I guess I''ll buy the second. Or wait for the third

Anyways, I couldn''t get them to run well. Tell me if you had to do anything special... My particular hardware may have problems.


-geo-
http://www.geocities.com/elementum_game

quote: Original post by geo_elementum
But what does QFG stand for? Quest for... gold/glory?

Quest for Glory, a very cool series. It''s a hybrid of an RPG and a sierra style adventure game. So you''d talk to people and solve puzzles and stuff, but you''d also have combat, character classes, stats and skills.

i loved all those sierra style adventure games!
space quest especially. ahh the goofiness of it all.

"The human mind is limited only by the bounds which we impose upon ourselves." -iNfuSeD

Space Quest 4 life

MindEngine Developer Network

I prefered the Lucasarts games in which - as opposed to Sierra -
you didn''t have to save every 10 seconds.

Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis, ...
btw, did anyone know it was actually possible to die in
monkey island 1 ?

Regards
/Roger