Below, LucasArts’ all-new Monkey Island 2: Special Edition key art, side by side with my Mac box cover for LeChuck’s Revenge:
When I linked these to a friend, he instantaneously called the new art “’special.’” Yeah… yeah: Even the poor little monkey responsible for numbering the sequel got a visual keelh… uh, overhaul.
If nothing else, contrasting the original with this all-new interpretation goes a long way in illustrating the amazing talents of the man behind the original cover, Steve Purcell. Steve, you’re awesome.
Fan games based on more or less commercially viable licenses have always faced the unenviable task of navigating the stormy, abbreviated seas of C&D and DMCA all the while keeping a low enough profile to avoid the aforementioned corporate shallows, at the same time maintaining a public enough face to attract necessary fan interest.
Some projects, like Indiana Jones & The Fountain of Youth and AGDInteractive’s remakes have surprisingly managed to stay afloat; others, like the very latest target of this type of license injustice, The Silver Lining, a King’s Quest fan game, are fish food:
In 2005, Phoenix Online Studios received a Cease & Desist letter from Vivendi Universal, the owners of the King’s Quest IP, in regards to our work on The Silver Lining. We complied with the request, and over the months that followed, we were able to work out a non-commercial fan license with Vivendi that allowed us to continue our work on the game.…
Recently, however, ownership of the Sierra IP changed hands and became the property of Activision. After talks and negotiations in the last few months between ourselves and Activision, they have reached the decision that they are not interested in granting a non-commercial license to The Silver Lining, and have asked that we cease production and take down all related materials on our website. 1)http://www.tsl-game.com/
Closed Due to Tragedy
The Silver Lining was eight years in the making, and while this final blow in a long uphill battle must be a massive, massive disappointment to the members of the development team, it is also exactly that to the most dedicated fans of Roberta Williams’ classic adventure series; is it not the most interested of fans, after all, that come to develop, find out about and care for these underground fan games?
While The Biller’s latest pirate game, Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, has already reached the northern shores of the adventure-loving Germany, those of us who would, erm, prefer the English version will have to wait for March 26th – that’s when the game is to be published by Mamba Games.
Remigiusz Michalski’s Downfall remains by far the curiousest adventure title of yesteryear, a psycho-horror point and click that I personally spent considerable time with, trying to adequately wrap my head around its subtleties and twists. In delightful if surprising news, the Russian publisher Akella has picked up the game for release in mid-January.
After completing his first game, Michalski quickly turned his attention onto a thematic follow-up to his first game. The new game, then, is titled The Cat Lady and looks to be, once again, an atmospheric, macabre adventure game developed on the AGS platform.
By definition, an adventure is a dangerous or risky undertaking: a novel, exciting, or otherwise remarkable event or experience. On your personal computer, Adventure is that and more.
