Them great mornings

I woke up at 7 today. I think it was 7, I didn't check thoroughly, after lots of image browsing and news reading -  and admittedly some facebook lurking, I paid attention to the clock. Not sure if it's relevant to the laptop screen, but somehow I keep ignoring stuff on the corners. It's either the screen, or the operating system, or me. Before I get myself tested I will throw accussations elsewhere and find great comfort in doing so.

Where am I going with this? Oh, yes, great mornings. So, at some point, I'm reading about this wonderful agser moving to New York, so I think of a feel-good song related to the city, and suddenly, after three hours, I'm a bit lost in the 80s.

The cult hype behind Akira, made sure I loved it before I even saw the movie.

However the feeling remains. The lingering sensation that during those mornings, nothing can bring you down - practically everything feels lovable as if it was brand new. Like being introduced to your favorite things/people all over again. And that's an experience like no other. Perhaps the best description would be that it feels like you are reading a guide to your interests written by you. Yeah, that's it.

So have a wonderful morning.

Adventure Game Museum: Exhibit #7 & 8

EXHIBIT #7: Official Sierra & Lucas Arts Magazines (1990~1992)

~ Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Nr. 1 Spring 1990 ~

~ LucasArts' The Adventurer Nr.2 Spring 1991 ~

~ LucasArts' The Adventurer Nr.2 Spring 1991 ~

Collage of the 3 mags

I made a pdf of the Sierra News Magazine, which can be downloaded in 3 flavors:

LQ	10Mb
MQ	39Mb
HQ	132Mb

by Arj0n

EXHIBIT #8: LOOM (1990)

Front and back cover:

 

What's inside the box: three 3.5" floppy disks, manual, Book of Patterns with glasses, LucasFilm catalog, a cassette and a bunch of leaflets.

Beautiful booklet where you could write the notes for the spells you discovered along the way. Many spells do not appear in the game though.

Red glasses again serve as a copy protection.

And the best thing of all. This, my friends, is the most original intro ever: a 30-minutes long audio drama! Talking about immersion, eh?

You can listen to it here: http://youtu.be/z5Wj5GOiJYg

By Gribbler

Adventure Games Museum: Exhibit #6

EXHIBIT #6: Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)

Funny story behind this one, the box was in much nicer condition but I decided it would be a grand idea to take it with me to London Super Comic Con (where Dave Gibbons was doing signings). With a copy of BASS and a nice silver sharpie in my inventory I waited in line to meet Dave, unfortunately it was only a 1 hour slot and signings closed before I could get to the front. I returned with a somewhat beaten up box and a side-quest never to be completed D:



The box includes a technical manual, security manual and two copies of the intro cutscene in comic form, not sure why there's two (can anyone add some insight?) one of the comics is smaller and on rough paper whilst the other bigger and on gloss full colour.



The security manual has some nice details. 

By Chicky

Procrastination stroke

How would an atmospheric adventure game work? I've been working on a cyberpunk plot, and I keep reverting to cinematic techniques to make the whole idea work out. But a game desires of gameplay. I've probably caught myself watching too many movies lately, but that has worked as an inspiration. Yet, the gameplay element eludes me.

I'm leaning towards playable memories, as it fits the setting a lot, but, how do you have playable memories?
Yume Nikki, what have you done to me?!

Adventure Game Museum: Exhibit #5

EXHIBIT #5: MONKEY ISLAND 2: LeCHUCK'S REVENGE (1991)

Front and back cover:

 

What's inside the box: 

five 3.5" floppy disks

manual

Mix 'n' Mojo Voodoo Ingredient Proportion Dial wheel

Leaflet

Screenshot descriptions are just priceless!

Just like SoMI, Monkey 2 also has a code-wheel as copy protection - this time you have to set correct proportions of voodoo ingredients.

Did you know?
- Guybrush can die! Just wait a few minutes and do nothing when you're suspended above the pool of acid. You'll be lowered into it.
- The Amiga version of the game was nicknamed Disk Juggling Simulator because of constant disk swapping.
- One of the books in the library on Phatt Island is called "The Majesty of the Sierras". You can get it from the librarian.
  When you look at the book Guybrush says: "Sierras? Majestic? I think not."

By Gribbler

I am an adult, bicilotti

At some point, Carina, a fellow agser started a wonderful and pretty interesting discussion in the IRC channel concerning  the evolution of anonymosity on the world wide web, and how it has changed things, perhaps for the worst or for the better.

It's all right we told you what to dream...

I found myself agreeing with her almost entirely, nodding my head, falling into deeper thoughts. Practically come to think of it, we've kind of being restricted due to the lift of anonymous usage of the various internet-related services and protocols. Restricted to behave the same way in all of them as they all connect to our real life persona one way or another, whereas we could be whatever we wanted, behave freely, and nobody would mind.

I found myself surprised to see everyone mindlessly getting addicted to Facebook, posting as much of their lives as they could, for the whole world to see, when up until then, it felt silly to even give out your first name. Isn't it odd to realize we've welcomed the invasion of our privacy, confining ourselves within the walls of our real life and its limitations. And now, being anonymous is treated differently, but the need to realize what the element (of anonymosity) brought to the table is growing more and more by the day.

Is internet being slowly controlled to the wishes and desires of certain people? Is it gradually being manipulated to be TV 2.0? Tacky ads, profits expands, brands everywhere, monetization values and huge growth potential, this is it.

Adventure Games Museum: Exhibit #4

From Arj0n's game vault comes...

...another museum piece did catch my eyes:

EXHIBIT #4: THE BLACK CAULDRON [(1986]

Front and back of the box:

 

Information & Hits Sheets

Discs & Warranty Card

The book

Again the book

Closeup

Nice map

By Arj0n