"Colonel's Bequest Remake"

[Dump401]

Hey Everyone!

NOTE: First off, we just want to state that we know there have been a couple of other remakes of this game announced. And we are in no way attached to either of the "Colonels Bequest Remake/Repaint" or "Jodokast" remakes. We wish them both the best of luck in their interpretations of the game, but this is ours.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, we want to thank you for taking the time to check this topic out. We are a recently formed team that is committed to breathing new life into "The Colonel's Bequest". We want to keep the classic feel of the game, while adding new and exciting twists to the story and gameplay. Graphically we want the game to resemble "The Dagger of Amon Ra" or the recent AGDI remakes. But before we get too deep into the look of the game, we are going through great lengths to ensure that the story is one worth playing for. We have scrambled through all of the critic reviews we could find on the Internet, as to address all of the problems they had with the game.

But, as the Subject Header states we are still in need of some suggestions. This is really a game being made by fans, FOR fans! So, we would love to hear what you guys think would make the game more exciting or a better experience. We heard what the critics thought, now's your turn. Even the most simple of suggestions could be a large help. We'd hate to include something that you guys never liked about the game, so speak up and let's hear it!

-Thanks for your time!

[Blackthorne519]

My suggestion?  Don't change a thing.  You couldn't improve that game if you tried, so don't.

Good luck!


Bt

[Dump401]

Hah, thanks for your suggestion, and I totally understand where you are coming from. We are trying to stay as true to the original as possible. But even as much of a hardcore fan of the game as I am, I still feel that the game wasn't perfect. So, we are trying to make the story more cohesive and give the characters more depth. Things of that nature, nothing to destroy fans memory of the game.

But, to show you some examples of what we are looking for, here are a couple problems critics had with the game.

-Too much exploration too early leaves you wandering way too much.      
-Laura is just there to watch, she can't use the knowledge she gets to effect the story in any way.
-There is no way to measure progress during the game, leaving players surprised how bad they did at the end of the game.

We are looking to address each of these problems without tampering with the original game too much. And I thought this would be a good way of getting fans input into things they would like to see altered for the better.

[MusicallyInspired]

We are looking to address each of these problems without tampering with the original game too much. And I thought this would be a good way of getting fans input into things they would like to see altered for the better.

-Laura is just there to watch, she can't use the knowledge she gets to effect the story in any way.

IMHO, I don't see how you could change this in the game without tampering with the original in an extreme way. Regardless, I'd be interested to see what you would come up with anyway, though. I wish you luck.

[Dump401]

IMHO, I don't see how you could change this in the game without tampering with the original in an extreme way.

You're right, I didn't word myself well. We are planning on addressing issues, like the ones I listed above, while trying to keep the basic story intact. We are just going to expand on it and rearrange it a bit for a better flow.

Well, I thank you guys for responding. We got plently of ideas from the critics. I just thought to see if there might be some fan feedback before we got too into story development. But it's all good. So, you guys just keep your eye out for us.

[Klytos]

I would agree with the others who've already posted here, I wouldn't mess with the story at all. I think the fact that Laura only looks on is the driving force behind the game.

I do wish you best of luck with your project, I hope you enjoy the experience.

[Billetwound]

I Definatly like the idea of a new-amped version of the game.  For some reason i always loved this game and still play it from time to time.  One thing i always got upset about though was like you said, you think you've got everything and then you finish the game and it shows you the Notebook and oh no you forgot to do this to this thing but you already knew it but it didn't record in the notebook. So i always though it be cool to Have like a notebook option with the different things it shows at the end of that game the whole way through like in the Icon bar next to the inventory icon put a notebook icon and the notebook has Different pages and its like:

Food Items Found:

1. ---------
2. Crackers
3. ---------
4. Soup Bone

That way you would know you missed something long before you finished the game. Its like oh .... I missed that Carrot.  Another thing that would be good is if you could set reminders when you find out something like Say you find out something at the beginning of act IV and you need to Know it later on at the begining of Act V it would tell you a list of things you told it, or even have as you figure something out have a predefined list on a note book page and at the beginning of the act it could Say Check back on notes page *. And i always thought it was wierd about how calm and kewl everyone was considering people were missing. haha, but then again they were drunk and hated everyone.  The optional ending was also kewl, kinda reminds me of that movie CLUE yeah the board game movie, how it was like This could have happened, but this is what really happened. Not tryin to give to much away though considering some people might not have beat the game but eh.

[Dump401]

Thank you Billetwound! Your response was exactly what we were looking for. You presented alot of great ideas that would make excellent points for us to think about and address. Thanks for your opinion!

[Kurdt]

I wouldn't have a list of items not found or topics not discussed, because that's almost like cheating. It's like, "Oh, well, there are about 3 more blanked out spaces in my notebook, I guess I don't know everything yet." That gives too much away and just deflates the challenge.

If I were you, I would listen to the others and not alter the story AT ALL. And I stress AT ALL on this one. It isn't needed. The plot is complex enough as it is and it doesn't need someone else, however good intentioned, to add to the morass. What I would do, though, is improve the gameplay.

Like Billetwound said, it's really hard to keep track of what you've done, what you've discovered, and the events taking place. The 15-minute cycles and the Act breaks seem random and confusing and it's not readily apparent exactly what it is you're supposed to be doing in the game. It's also VERY easy to miss important events and conversations because you just don't know what's going on or where you're supposed to be. This is where I think Dagger of Amon Ra made a vast improvment. Roberta saw what didn't work in Colonel's Bequest and updated the system to where it worked beautifully in Dagger of Amon Ra. If I was to do anything, I'd look there.

I would copy the notebook style used in Dagger of Amon Ra, where if you have a new topic to discuss it gets added into the notebook. That allows you to talk to every character about every other character, every inventory item you have, every topic you've discovered is a hot topic among the family, etc. Make sure it's all separated into tabs, neat and orderly-like. Also automatically order the clues you've gathered in the notebook to better allow you to see the pattern and the big picture, which was sorely missed in Colonel's Bequest. And for the sake of God and all that is Holy, make sure everything that's needed to be done in one Act is taken care of BEFORE advancing to the next Act!

In conclusion, DON'T TOUCH THE STORY AT ALL!!! I really can't stress this one enough, dude. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. What you need to move an eye towards is how YOU can make the gameplay better than what it was. If I were you, I would plan that out meticulously.

Good luck!

PS
And please don't post in all bold. It's very abrasive and makes me want to pee.

[Brainiac]

Roberta saw what didn't work in Colonel's Bequest and updated the system to where it worked beautifully in Dagger of Amon Ra.

I don't think that was Mrs. Williams' work, I think it was Bruce Balfour.  As I recall, he was the primary designer/producer on the game; Roberta Williams served in more of a creative consultant role to maintain the character of Laura Bow and the style/timeframe of the game as established in The Colonel's Bequest.

[Dump401]

Sorry about the bold text, old habit!  ;)

Kurdt, I thank you for your advice. As a fellow fan of the game, I hear where you are coming from. I didn't realize how important keeping to the original story was, until I read all of the posts here. So, thanks to everyone for letting me know.
I'll go back and ditch some of the extreme ideas we were throwing around. But like I said before, we are looking at expanding on character's backgrounds, and changing a couple of events to make other events work better towards the story. (It'll be like watching the Director's Cut of your favorite movie, where there's alot of new elements added that don't hinder the original but add to it's structure.)
But, we do plan on staying true to the original story. It's sort of hard to explain without something to back it up, so as a fellow fan I hope that you can trust that I wouldn't do anything to ruin the experience.

And thank you for you ideas on the notebook. We had some Gameplay ideas that will hopefully make the whole "Interrogation of Witnesses" easier and more fun. But you presented several ideas we hadn't thought of, so thank you!

[Kurdt]

Well, by all means you can flesh it out a little more with added conversations, delving a little deeper into things and such, but you don't have to change events or the motivations for the events. Roberta created some awesome characters in those games, but she didn't really explore them in-game. Almost everything I know about Gloria Swansong is from the manual. Why put all that exposition in the manual? Find ways to bring it out in the game to enrich the experience there. That way, the story stays intact but you get a better immersion out of it. Your idea with an Interrogation system can help on this one.

All in all, if you're dedicated, this looks like it could shape up to be a pretty cool game. I'm liking the ideas I've heard so far, so all you have to do is execute them and you've got it. So go do it so we can all play it!

[Dump401]

Kurdt, thank you again for your comments. You're a fan that makes me glad that I'm taking this project on. And I hear you about the characters being mostly developed in the manual descriptions. We are definitely looking on bringing that background into the game more.

We are going to take the information everyone provided in here and see if we can apply it to the game. Then start on production, to get the game out as soon as possible!  ;)

[Matusel3]

Email me or catch me on AIM dump401.

Edit:
My AIM address is TheMovieMuseum

[DKORNBLET06515]

HOW WILL THEY LOOK, WILL THE CLOCK BE CHANGE ANY WAY. THE COLONEL'S GRAPHICS WILL HAVE TO LOOK LIKE KQ3 REMAKE.  :D
I HOPE IN THE NEW GAME YOU CAN REVIEW YOUR NOTES.

THAT IS ALL FOR RIGHT NOW.


THANKS DAVID KORNBLET IF YOU NEED ANYMORE HELP JUST REPLY ON MY POST OR E-MAIL

[DKORNBLET06515]

they would have to be beyond good..  ;)

Thanks David Kornblet

[Alliance]

Ouch. Reading those last two posts made my eyes bleed.
Dkorn, there's an edit button, and please don't post in all caps. It's the equivalent of shouting.

[DKORNBLET06515]

This is the first time I've be in a forum.

Thanks David Kornblet

[Alliance]

Thanks David Kornblet

Who on earth is David Kornblet?

We should really be praising Filliam H. Muffman (a name mixed between Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, originally done by Steven Colbert)

[MusicallyInspired]

I think that's his name. It's like his signature.

[Dump401]

HOW WILL THEY LOOK, WILL THE CLOCK BE CHANGE ANY WAY. THE COLONEL'S GRAPHICS WILL HAVE TO LOOK LIKE KQ3 REMAKE.  :D
I HOPE IN THE NEW GAME YOU CAN REVIEW YOUR NOTES.

How odd. I wasn't expecting this forum to be updated anymore. Thanks DKorn for your comments. We are currently working on the graphics right now, and how we want them to look. And me being the one in charge of a good percentage of the game's graphics, I can assure you the look of the game will be as high quality as the KQ2 and KQ3 remakes!
And we are working on making the gameplay as easy and friendly to use as possible. So we hope to have a way of reviewing your notes throughout the game.
I am not sure what you meant by your first sentence though. If you rephrase it, I will be more than happy to answer it and any other questions you might have! Thanks!

[Laur]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with those who feel that the story and characters are "perfect" or "complex."  The review at http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/ ... uest_b.txt gives a good list of problems with the game.  Since the author says it better than I probably could, I'll just quote an excerpt:

A problem arises, though, when you put action above character in a story that is supposed to rely on its characters.  Roberta probably had a good idea for a mystery set in a New Orleans mansion, but then just faltered when it came to creating unique characters and situations.  None of the characters undergo any change throughout the story, and true to her form, Roberta made them stereotypical and one-dimensional.  I'm not here to give you a lecture on racial/gender stereotyping and why it is evil, although I could if you really wanted me to.  I will tell you that it makes a story very dull and predictable when a writer uses stereotyping. In TCB we have the "Sexy French Maid", "The Conniving Lawyer", "The Greedy Nephew", "The Mysterious Voodoo Woman", and so on.

Plot logic is another stumbling block for Roberta and TCB.  Laura and Lillian are supposed to be close friends, right?  So why doesn't Laura react AT ALL to Lillian's obvious mental illness when Laura observes her in the Doll House? Laura is more shocked to find Lillian's mother Ethel dead, even though that woman was loutish and unlikable.  Another problem with the plot is that Lillian is the only character (other than the pets and Celie) that you can feel pity for.  Everyone else has sinister motives (including Henri.)  Yet Roberta made Lillian the villain, even though one could feasibly argue that the other members of the household deserved to die because of their evil intentions.  I am sure that Roberta made Lillian the killer because she was the least likely suspect (other than the pets, of course.)  In the world of murder mysteries, Roberta pulled the cheapest of all cheap shots.

In short, the story and characters should be expanded, A LOT.  It's okay to start with stereotypes, but make them more than that.  Give the characters some depth, breathe some life into them.  Make them grow, make them change.  Make them tragic.  Make us care about them, so that when they start turning up dead, we are genuinely sorry.  Regarding the story/plot, it needs significant expansion as well.  Regarding the murderer, I think it would be much more interesting if there were multiple murderers.  I.e. they bump each other off, and then get bumped off in turn by someone else.  Watch "Clue" (the "best ending") to get a good idea of this.  On that note, perhaps you could add some comedy to the game, perhaps even going so far as to make it a comic farce (although fans of the original might hate you).  Stereotypes are much more acceptable in a comedy then a "serious" story.  Of course, depending on the extent of your changes, fans of the original may not like it (as some of the posters here are indicating).  However, AGDI got away with completely redesigning & expanding KQ2, so as long as you do a good job you should be fine.

Some additional gameplay suggestions:
- Eliminate all the random events, i.e. elevator location (sometimes it's there, sometimes its not), body & item location (make them always turn up in the same place at the same time).  This would eliminate a great deal of my initial frustrations with the game.  It's difficult enough to try to figure out where you're supposed to be at each specific time without moving important items around for no good reason.
- Eliminate the "mysterious figure" who pops out and kills you at some points.  As far as I can tell, this is not an actual character in the story (it sure ain't Lillian), so he should either be taken out, or actually explained/included in the story.
- Fix as many logic problems as possible (many are due to sloppy scripting).  For example, you enter a room with only one entrance/exit, see someone alive, you walk out of the room, and they're dead.  Where did the murderer come from, and where did they go?  How did they do it so quickly and quietly, i.e. without you hearing through the open door?
- I don't think the whole "Acts" thing really works all that well.  Did anyone actually feel like they were in a play? I'd scrap it and find a better way.
- The whole time/clock thing being triggered by events is also really awkward, or maybe it's just how it is scripted.  Just wandering around it is possible to trigger events in the "wrong" order and miss out on a lot.  I really dislike adventure games which limit your ability to freely explore your environment.  Also, seemingly meaningless events trigger time changes (such as walking in a room and finding someone there), making it very difficult to determine what exactly is supposed to be going on.

Okay, this has turned into a pretty long post, so I'll wrap it up.  Hopefully this has been of some help to you.  Good luck!

[Blackthorne519]

Obviously, the author of that review didn't get it.  The game revels in it's stereotypes and cliches.



Bt

[Laur]

Obviously, the author of that review didn't get it.  The game revels in it's stereotypes and cliches.

Blackthorne, how so?  It's easy to respond to any criticism by simply saying that the person doesn't "get it."  Do you have any insights or analysis that would support your interpretation that the use of common stereotypes and the complete lack of character development was meant as a stylistic choice, rather than just lazy writing?  Do you think that the game would be worse if the characters were developed beyond their stereotypes?

[Blackthorne519]

Obviously, the author of that review didn't get it.  The game revels in it's stereotypes and cliches.

Blackthorne, how so?  It's easy to respond to any criticism by simply saying that the person doesn't "get it."  Do you have any insights or analysis that would support your interpretation that the use of common stereotypes and the complete lack of character development was meant as a stylistic choice, rather than just lazy writing?  Do you think that the game would be worse if the characters were developed beyond their stereotypes?

Sigh.  Look, I could write a graduate level paper on this subject.  Truth is, I don't have the time, energy or the resources to delve into this.  The source material for the game is rooted in a typical "Murder Mystery" dinner theatre-style tale.  The characters themselves are nods to celebrities of the 1920's, the story is also derivitive of Agatha Christie novels, as well as Dashiell Hammet and Phillip Marlowe stories.  This genre of pulp, mixed with the idea that it's a "theatrical" production in several acts, gives rise to the need for simple stereotypes.  It makes the everyone an easy suspect, and keeps the average viewer in suspense.  

It wasn't till the proliferation of existensialism and refined acting teqniques (Such as the Actors Studio, Strasberg via Stanislavski, and the Theatre of the Absurd writers such as Beckett, Pirandello and Ianesco) that drama and literature was shaped into a more defined and refined system.  This game is an homage to the writing and acting stylings of the roaring 20's, not an accurate represention of life.


Bt