Leisure Suit Larry's Maker On Wedgies v. Bullets 270
simoniker writes "Al Lowe, the creator of lounge lizard Leisure Suit Larry, has been talking about his comeback game with new developer iBase Studios, Sam Suede, asking why games nowadays are too violent, and revealing of his new title: "there's going to be guards, but instead of slitting their throats, you'll give them a wedgie." He also asks: 'Let me put this way, the shelf is full of racing games and shooters, RPGs and action games. Where are the comedies?' Well, where are they?"
Double Oh Seven (Score:3, Interesting)
In *my* idea of a cool James Bond game, you would be faced with all the same sorts of adventure-game intrigue and scenarios that you would expect. However, as the player, you had a choice of solutions to each problem, and you would select from different famous portrayals of James Bond to use them. You could pick any Bond actor you wanted for any problem, but the methods used would be quite different depending on that choice.
Wine and dine and charm the lady? Of course, everyone would pick Sean Connery's Bond for that one. But maybe you could detonate the truck as you jumped over it with a motorcycle, so switch to the action/adventure Timothy Dalton. If you could just gain computer access through the use of a one-liner retort that's crisper than a tux and dryer than a martini, well, Pierce Brosnan seems more adept at that sort of thing. And if you want to see how clumsy buffoonery and cheap cable-crane stunts can serve Her Magesty's international showdowns, we all know that's the only way Roger Moore won't disappoint.
Good idea. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Brevity is the soul of wit (Score:2, Interesting)
I would love to see what people could come up with, if only to prove your point.
I think that Dink Smallwood had a pretty good scripting engine, but google is not my friend today, and I've given up on Freshmeat.
Changing Times (Score:2, Interesting)
There is an interesting point in the article, which I never considered since I never really played the Leisure Suit games, but he says something about using hints of sex as a way of getting people to try the game. Thinking about it, at least there was a believeable expectation for something like that in the game, at least more than most game advertising these days (box cover + sexy woman + car = never appears in the game.)
Interesting thing to note... (Score:3, Interesting)
Case in point: Inmate 2993's 'Cans' series - nearing its tenth birthday - is one of the most popular and widely known games to ever be made for Megazeux. These games, especially 'Cans' and 'Cans Episode One: Special Edition' are considered must-haves, alongside the other classics of Megazeux such as Adlo - an exceptionally well done platformer - and Bernard the Bard - an RPG considered to be the 'best game of all of Megazeux'. Guess what genre the 'Cans' series falls into?
Comedy.
Comedy games don't get much attention these days outside of their little niche. That's because they rarely feature the adrenaline-pumping action and pretty colors that are required to achieve any semblance of popularity in today's gamer culture, and forget getting the game published and sold in stores without a big name like 'Leisure Suit Larry' behind it. That doesn't mean comedy gaming is irrelevant, it's just underrated. I personally like a game I can both enjoy playing and get a good laugh out of, and if spending time with the Megazeux community has taught me anything, it's that I'm hardly alone.
Bring them back! (Score:3, Interesting)
The other day I challenged my nephews to play and finish the old Monkey Island games. They have Game Cube and Playstation 2 consoles at home.
They got hooked immediately. 15 year old games with outdated VGA graphics got the attention of my nephews. They have now moved on to the Quest for Glory series. (Hooray for dosbox and scummvm)
There needs to be a graphic adventure game revival. The games don't need to be the summer blockbusters of the game industry. They will make enough money just by filling a gap that exists in the computer game section.
Re:Replay value (Score:2, Interesting)
I can't tell you how many times I have played through
The Monkey Island series
Sam&Max
Day of the Tentacle
Maniac Mansion
Simon the sorcerer series
etc
However lately (since 2000) the only games I can think of are Monkey Island 4 and Simon the sorcerer 3d.
The adventure game market was vibrant until the 3D games hit. Since then I have not seen many, and I miss them.
Re:I live in Amsterdam (Score:2, Interesting)
So what about those violent games that ARE funny? (Score:2, Interesting)
There's an underlying assumption at work here that games that are comical are inherently non-violent. When asked how his new title, Sam Suede, will stack up against the "Grand Theft Autos" of the world, Lowe comments:
I think the easiest comparison would be that where action games today have violence as their currency, we have humor. So picture every place that you would shoot somebody or slice somebody open or something else. Instead, put in a laugh there. That's what we're going to do. So there's going to be guards, but instead of slitting their throats, you'll give them a wedgie. And instead of conversations with long cutscenes, we'll have humorous dialogue with conversation trees, which may be a carryover from the old adventure games and RPGs.
The fact is, humor is not mutually exclusive from violence. Anyone who has played the latest Tony Hawk Underground titles will note that while the story mode is often amusing and is driven by humor, there are still elements of violence at play. Granted - we're not talking about whipping out a Desert Eagle and carving a cranial canoe into the heads of opposing skaters, but mild physical violence and humiliation of opposing characters are certainly depicted in the story mode narrative. This is more or less what Lowe is talking about doing with his latest title - creating a compelling and funny action game with minimal violence.
But let's back up a second and talk about that "violence as currency" idea that Lowe establishes, and lets also look at Gamasutra's point of comparison - Grand Theft Auto.
The Grand Theft Auto series is arguably one of the most violent depictions of reality ever brought to gamers' living rooms. While there are other games that celebrate gratuitious violence in great detail (like Mortal Kombat), GTA celebrates gratuitous violence in situations of far greater magnitude (ie. killing 50 cops in 5 minutes will get you "Respect" from the locals, whereas the MK series rewards you for one intensely gross kill). GTA also presents a far more real world setting for most gamers than most violent games on the market (sorry kids, but most of you playing Medal of Honor/Halo/Unreal/Cool FPS of the week are not marines living in a combat zone). The setting is a city designed with realism in mind. While the actions of characters within the game's narrative may not appear realistic, San Andreas, Liberty City, Los Santos, etc. look very much like the urban and suburban areas of the U.S. they are intended to represent. The game depicts realistic violence at a high order of magnitude in realistic settings and places players in the role of the anti-hero who kills with reckless abandon and without reason. GTA continues to be a hot seller and have great replay value not just because of its story mode, but also because anyone can fire it up and run off on an instantly gratifying rampage on a whim. For comparison's sake, I'll offer up any of the "Free Skate" options available in the Tony Hawk series as a game of the "non-violent" variety that offers the same ability for instantly gratifying non-goal-driven gameplay.
So why are we not all in an uproar clamoring for the heads of the folks at Rockstar? (Yes, there are some people who have spoken out against GTA, but they have been largely ineffectual and often ill-supported or intentioned.)
BECAUSE IT'S FUNNY.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that the content within any of the GTA games is appropriate for the average 8 year old. I'm also not saying that GTA in any way breaks us away from damaging societal norms pertaining to race/class/gender/etc. But face it - the first time you put down the controller to look up the "All weapons" cheat and heard a "bag lady" walking by your character exclaim, "You ain't gettin' none of my welfare check!" you laughed. When you heard the ads on the radio or the cheesy 80's station's soundtrack, you laughed. GTA goes out of its way to be downright hilarious and its evident in the