Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

filfre.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–119 of 119 posts

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#111

Post by duskwuff »

hibikir wrote: post #103
acomjean wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean its a bad example, but not the only example of obtuse puzzles in games preventing forward progress in game. Dead ends and not being able to finish if messed up a previous steps were real problems. This was a bigger issue when the internet wasn't available to help out. I like adventure games, but even still they can be difficult and frustrating (although maybe I'm not great at them) Puzzle Dependency charts in…

Sierra's early catalog was basically a large collection of dead-man-walking situations. A key item for the endgame of Space Quest 1 stops being available 5 minutes into the game. Kings Quest II has a bridge that can breaks down every time you cross it, and you must do the right thing on every single crossing, as one superfluous crossing alone will end the game. Even as far as 1991 they were still making games where y…

There's a system for describing that - the "Game Cruelty Scale": https://www.ifwiki.org/Cruelty_scale

A lot of early adventure games were Cruel - requiring the user to replay the game over and over because they got something wrong was a cheap way to extend play time without having to add more content. Thankfully, most modern developers have realized that players hate having to do that.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#112

Post by wileydragonfly »

gopher_space wrote: post #105
wileydragonfly wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always found those photos deeply unsettling. None of the women look particularly happy about being there. “If I don’t do this, Timmy doesn’t get that operation” vibes. The photo in the advertisement was bad enough, the outtakes are worse.

These aren't slice-of-life photos you can deconstruct like this, it's a professional shoot with amateur models. Professional models are paid to look happy to be there after hour three under hot lights. Amateur models thought you were going to snap a few pictures. It's entirely possible that everyone in the photo needs to pee.

They’ve been thrown in my face for decades as “oh my god, look at this.” I think every single article about Sierra mentions it. Oh well.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#113

Post by freddie_mercury »

wileydragonfly wrote: post #96
freddie_mercury wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember playing Space Quest IV and we got to a part where we were completely blocked. We got parents permission to call Sierra's 1-900 hint line (who knows how much that cost) to find out that the game won't process until you stand on a certain pixel in the back of the arcade. There was no reason to go there, so while we had walked around the arcade many times apparently we never stepped on that precise pixel.

I was stuck on that puzzle for years, let a friend borrow it, and he confidently announces the solution a couple days later. He swore he had uncovered it through trial and error, but I didn’t believe him. Still don’t. You weren’t running a BBS in the 90s, were you?

Nope, didn't even own a computer back then (parents too poor), it was my friend's computer. Was a while after that before I got online.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#114

Post by gopher_space »

wileydragonfly wrote: post #112
gopher_space wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren't slice-of-life photos you can deconstruct like this, it's a professional shoot with amateur models. Professional models are paid to look happy to be there after hour three under hot lights. Amateur models thought you were going to snap a few pictures. It's entirely possible that everyone in the photo needs to pee.

They’ve been thrown in my face for decades as “oh my god, look at this.” I think every single article about Sierra mentions it. Oh well.

Oh I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just framing the situation around my experience.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#115

Post by Yeul »

sys32768 wrote: post #10

Old Man Murray wrote a great peace in 2000 about who killed adventure games, the answer to which I won't spoil since it's an easy read: https://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html

The real reason why adventure games had moon logic puzzles is because if they did not the games could be completed under 10 hours. And adventure games did not have replay value- unlike C&C, Quake or Tomb Raider.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#116

Post by mepian »

TheBlight wrote: post #28

People don't strictly want to play games as much as they want to experience alternate realities. That's why Doom/Quake resonated. People want these simulations to be as realistic as possible.

What does Tetris simulate? It's one of the most successful games ever.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#117

Post by timpark »

Gareth321 wrote: post #84
timpark wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guys who created Space Quest kickstarted another sci-fi comedy adventure game... 13 years ago. It went (and is still going) poorly, and Kotaku just posted about the ordeal today: https://kotaku.com/spaceventure-space-quest-kickstarter-stea... I backed the project, but at one of the lowest levels, so I'm not really mad. It's just kind of sad.

I’ve been waiting 13 years and just received a Steam early access code a few days ago. Someone did some regression analysis a while back based on average kickstarter demographics and estimated that 25% of the people who kickstarted the project are already dead. 13 years feels like a lifetime ago. I’m grateful they kept chipping away at the game instead of walking away, but it has been disappointing.

25%? Wow. That seems high, but when you consider we were backing a game based on the popularity of a now almost-40-year-old franchise, it seems a bit more reasonable.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#118

Post by mepian »

guidedlight wrote: post #45

With the IP now owned my Microsoft, I have some hope that Phil Spencer will revive and modernise Sierra. Am I dreaming?

At this point Microsoft owns too many IPs waiting to be revived, I suspect anything from Sierra is far from the top of the list.

Re: The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 1: The Acquisition

#119

Post by pasc1878 »

MegaButts wrote: post #97
pasc1878 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case I would suggest that is Credit Suisse that is the problem - UBS were forced to take it over when problems were found.

Credit Suisse no longer exists. Whatever problems Credit Suisse had, UBS now has.

Yes that is my point
Post reply on HN