Meeting the Coles
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Meeting the Coles
Hey all, I'm a lurker here but I've been eagerly awaiting the progress you guys are making in QfG2. I loved the KQ remakes and plan to play this one as soon as it's out. I saw the developer journal about meeting the Coles and was sooooo excited/jealous! Is there anything you can tell us about the material they shared with you? I'm curious about the excluded characters from the games you mentioned, but anything you're able to share would be so awesome! I hope the Coles didn't want this to be a secrecy thing or anything, I'm sure they know how much their loyal fans love the series and love getting any new information (though I guess this would be old). So please, if you can say anything, please post some of the stuff you learned!
Unfortunately, I'll be away for the entire weekend. So I'm afraid I won't be able to attend.
That said, the parts of the design documents we took a peek at were a treasury of stuff that never made it into the final game. A few examples:
- Lori's not an unpromising artist. That colored sketch in the design journal was made by her.
- A page of the QFG1 design document still had multi-race characters in mind. It stated that all characters except the centaur could ascend the rocks near the flying falls.
- QFG2's design document had a sketch of a thief fighting a winged imp while trying to stay balanced on a rope.
That said, the parts of the design documents we took a peek at were a treasury of stuff that never made it into the final game. A few examples:
- Lori's not an unpromising artist. That colored sketch in the design journal was made by her.
- A page of the QFG1 design document still had multi-race characters in mind. It stated that all characters except the centaur could ascend the rocks near the flying falls.
- QFG2's design document had a sketch of a thief fighting a winged imp while trying to stay balanced on a rope.
Too cool, is the only expression I can say. When I first got my PC in '91-
'92ish, I had a 486. I borrowed my friend's QFG1 VGA Remake by Sierra. He had moved onto X-Wing & other series & his Sierra games where just sitting there. I then borrowed QFG2 EGA & all the King's Quests. I got hooked and bought QFG3 (came out a few months later), then QFG4 and finally QFG5 when I was in College, some 5-6 yrs later. Being a devoted fan, I purchased the KQ/QFG Collections to have them on a few CDs.
I'm not sure tho if I would have been a good conversation with the Cole's though. I haven't played QFG in years before I heard about the QFG2VGA project. I was them jump started to replay QFG1VGA to get my characters & their stats up. I've been chilling playing my Favorite KQ.. maybe I should try KQ7 & 8.. hehe...
Eitherway, too cool. I'm glad the QFG2VGA crew meet the Coles and have their blessings and their advice.
ejx982
'92ish, I had a 486. I borrowed my friend's QFG1 VGA Remake by Sierra. He had moved onto X-Wing & other series & his Sierra games where just sitting there. I then borrowed QFG2 EGA & all the King's Quests. I got hooked and bought QFG3 (came out a few months later), then QFG4 and finally QFG5 when I was in College, some 5-6 yrs later. Being a devoted fan, I purchased the KQ/QFG Collections to have them on a few CDs.
I'm not sure tho if I would have been a good conversation with the Cole's though. I haven't played QFG in years before I heard about the QFG2VGA project. I was them jump started to replay QFG1VGA to get my characters & their stats up. I've been chilling playing my Favorite KQ.. maybe I should try KQ7 & 8.. hehe...
Eitherway, too cool. I'm glad the QFG2VGA crew meet the Coles and have their blessings and their advice.
ejx982
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FatherGhostface
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Good thing I don't care. I hate asking questions about computer games, I don't care until the game actually comes out. |I
Geez, and you'd think travelling around the world climbing mountains would be amazing enough a story for the grandkids. You went on a tour of the Holy Grail of Sierra gamers as well. Craziness. I'm a bit disappointed, however, that you didn't go sneak a peek at the World Famous Talking Bear or the Elderberry Restaurant. THAT would've completed the tour!
Re: ..........
If you dont care why spread your negativity?FatherGhostface wrote:Good thing I don't care. I hate asking questions about computer games, I don't care until the game actually comes out. |I
yeah, too bad about the chat. I don't think I could make it anyway, my internet is pretty limited. Is there anyway to post some of the cool findings without having it be on chat? just like a list of some of the things the Coles cut or decided to change before the final release of all the games? i'm just so curious to see what vision the Coles had for their games and how they progressed. thanks in advance :D
I already listed a few examples of stuff that ended up being discarded. We would have needed days to completely read through all those design docs. We merely browsed through them in complete awe.
I don't think the QFG-games' progress differed much from the progress of a fan-project...eventually ideas are sorted out and what becomes the final product is the sum of everything that's viable to do within production time. Which was always too short. Unfortunately, even though they were more complex games, QFG-games didn't get a penny more as far as budget went than other, less complex Sierra games.
(yes, I got back from my weekend away an hour ago, but I'm afraid I currently lack the energy for a chat-session)
I don't think the QFG-games' progress differed much from the progress of a fan-project...eventually ideas are sorted out and what becomes the final product is the sum of everything that's viable to do within production time. Which was always too short. Unfortunately, even though they were more complex games, QFG-games didn't get a penny more as far as budget went than other, less complex Sierra games.
(yes, I got back from my weekend away an hour ago, but I'm afraid I currently lack the energy for a chat-session)
It was at this point that we were overcome with the familiar feeling of how it felt to play the thief in Quest for Glory—only this time, we were doing it in real life, and Lori was the chief.
You guys are the biggest bunch of nerds ever. Trespassing into a residence would get you thrown in jail. Who the heck cares about K+R's old residence when you're rolling with Lori Cole. It's like your eating filet mignon in a limousine and want to get out for some Burger King.
I'm glad you didn't get arrested for the sheer fact that it would have delayed the game.
Leave your fantasies with the game.
Damn punks!
Oriel
Because Oakhurst was much, much more than just the place where the Coles lived. Oakhurst WAS Sierra at that time. We didn't just visit the Coles' place, but we also visited the second and first Sierra offices. (the second one was a rather metallic building that's now a telephone company, the first one is the log-cabin like structure that was seen at the end of SQ3) We felt a visit to Ken & Roberta's residence was an essential part of the "pilgrimage" because they WERE a vital part of Sierra as it existed those days. It was interesting to see how far away Ken lived from the "common crowd".
We might just have stayed for the night and visit Yosemite National Park (and the half-dome) the day after, but after our visit to the Coles (it was about half past eleven when we left the Cole residence), we found out every single hotel/motel in Oakhurst was booked full and (as we found out much later) there weren't any hotels with vacancies within a 40 mile radius of Oakhurst either.
I think I already have an idea what luck does. It plays a minor role in combat when attacking and defending, but it's nowhere near as influental as stats like weapon use or agility are.
Luck's real purpose is to give you lucky breaks in skill-based puzzles. If you'd need an average of 80 climbing points to scale a certain wall, luck can allow you to succeed in climbing the wall at, for example, 72. You probably experienced this a few times already, climbing the tree near the healer's house, climbing down again, attempting to climb up and failing even though you just got down from the tree. What happened was that your skill level wasn't really high enough to climb the tree, but you "got lucky" that particular time.
Luck's real purpose is to give you lucky breaks in skill-based puzzles. If you'd need an average of 80 climbing points to scale a certain wall, luck can allow you to succeed in climbing the wall at, for example, 72. You probably experienced this a few times already, climbing the tree near the healer's house, climbing down again, attempting to climb up and failing even though you just got down from the tree. What happened was that your skill level wasn't really high enough to climb the tree, but you "got lucky" that particular time.
That certainly makes sense, and agrees with what I'd perceive 'luck' to be, but if you don't mind me asking: Does anything support your opinion like a programmer's statement or some toggling that you've done with QFG's code? To play the devil's advocate in your example, luck needn't be involved at all - you could have climbed the tree because you succeeded in a 'skill-check' and then failed to climb to the tree because you failed the 'skill-check.' That may happen in 'borderline' cases where your climbing skill really isn't spectacular enough to make success 100% certain.Erpy wrote:I think I already have an idea what luck does. It plays a minor role in combat when attacking and defending, but it's nowhere near as influental as stats like weapon use or agility are.
Luck's real purpose is to give you lucky breaks in skill-based puzzles. If you'd need an average of 80 climbing points to scale a certain wall, luck can allow you to succeed in climbing the wall at, for example, 72. You probably experienced this a few times already, climbing the tree near the healer's house, climbing down again, attempting to climb up and failing even though you just got down from the tree. What happened was that your skill level wasn't really high enough to climb the tree, but you "got lucky" that particular time.
Now if that's not an honest representation of how QFG deals with skills, then your opinion of luck is more substantiated. If there's no such thing as randomness in skill-checks (that is, you either have enough skill or you don't to achieve a particular action, period), then luck would indeed influence those outcomes where the true skill may not be high enough. All this is beyond me and hidden in QFG's code, though, which is why I'm asking.
