Under Ken & Roberta’s new company –

And if you’re wondering why they went with Colossal Cave for their game… This might explain it…

AT&T Unlocked Games Winner Reveal Stream Tuesday at 5 pm PST – Lori is a finalist!

Join Lori at the AT&T Unlocked Games finalist stream

AT&T recently started a competition for women game developers that they call “AT&T Unlocked Games.” We entered their second competition last November, and were thrilled to learn that Summer Daze at Hero-U: Tilly’s Tale has been chosen as one of the six finalists!

The winners will be announced during a livestream on Tuesday, March 8 starting at 5:00 pm PST on the ATT Twitch channel – Twitch.tv/ATT. We need a great turnout of Hero-U fans to help Lori win the Gamer’s Choice prize and to encourage AT&T to continue running this great competition. And of course to learn about the other five great indie games being developed by women!

Here’s AT&T’s teaser trailer for the event:https://youtu.be/zXhTsG7chL0

Our next development stream will be on Saturday, March 19 at 2 pm PST. I originally announced this Saturday, March 12, but we have a “real world” conflict that day. I plan to continue playing the AGD remake of Quest for Glory 2: Trial By Fire. As I stopped on day 1 last time, maybe we can make it to day 2. 🙂

Tomorrow as I write this (probably today as you read it), on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 2 pm PST, we’re doing a livestream in the usual place: https://www.twitch.tv/transolargames. We’ll run about two hours, or possibly longer. Lori and I plan to play the AGDI remake of Quest for Glory II: Trial By Fire. This is a point & click version of the game (with a typed command option) made by the fan group that later became Himalaya Games. The stream title is “A Katta’s Tail of Two Cities.”

Sunday night, Feb. 13, starting at 5 pm PST, I plan to stream a World of Warcraft event I’m doing with my guild. We’ll be chain-running Mythic+ dungeons starting from a single level 13 key, and trying to see how high we can build it in three hours. The stream is subject to whether I can get some technical details to work. I’ll be playing Maramacci, a Dwarf Shadow Priest (ranged damage class).

We will not do a stream on Feb. 26 because we’ll be on vacation with our son’s family. The next regular livestream will be on Saturday, March 12 at the usual 2 pm time.

There will be another special stream on Tuesday, March 8. I’ll post more about this very exciting event when it’s publicly announced. It will be on a different Twitch channel than our usual, and we will want as many fans to come as possible, for reasons we’ll make clear in the next post.

Collector, over at the Sierra Help forums created a Leisure Suit Larry Art player based off the King’s Quest VI art player (which he also recreated to run on modern machines, as well as created one with upscaled images). The Leisure Suit Larry VII art player uses images from PlayerNone’s blog about Leisure Suit Larry VII upscaled images.

• King’s Quest VI Art Player (SierraHelp)
• King’s Quest VI Art High Res Player (SierraHelp)
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 High Res Art Player (SierraHelp)
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 High Res Art Player (LarryLaffer.net – Mirror)

Wonder if Al Lowe ever found Disks 2 and 3?

Happy New Year, friends!

Let’s start this year off with some fun and games. We’re doing an extended livestream this Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 from 1 pm to 5 pm PST. As usual, we’ll be on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/transolargames.

Our plan is to play a bit of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption from the beginning, talking about some of the design and development decisions we made, and things that went right and wrong with the game. Join us to ring in the new year and comment about what worked for you, and what didn’t!

The past few years have been rough for all of us. We’ve all been faced with different challenges and scary conditions. In our case, it’s involved extended illness, unexpected caregiving responsibilities, and more. For much of the time, our game development efforts have taken a back seat to other tasks and distractions.

We’re making some resolutions for 2022.  I’m rededicating myself to playing a bigger role in design, development, and promotion of our games. I’ll have fun too; I’m just not going to let the distractions take over my entire life as they have for the last few years. We’ll release Summer Daze at Hero-U: Tilly’s Tale by Spring.

Lori is similarly committed to completing the dialogue for Ifeyo’s Adventure in 2022. JP and Al have already created the art for Ifeyo’s game. The game takes place at Hero-U in the Summer after Tilly’s Tale (and after the events of Rogue to Redemption). Strange things are happening at the school, but the Harvest Festival must go on – This time, Ifeyo is in charge. He needs to balance making new friends and helpers for the festival, dealing with an invasion of Konks, and learning a ritual to summon his very own Familiar.

The next game we are developing in the Summer Daze series is Sami’s Story.  JP has created some wonderful art for this adventure tale of a Doggie who wants to be a Hero. We even have some preliminary artwork for Puzzleworthy. It’s just a Simple Matter of designing, writing, creating music, and developing the games. 😉 No problem… But it will take time.

Linux (and other) Regression Testing Needed

A few months ago, I received a report from a player of the Linux version of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption about some significant new problems in version 2.2.1 on Steam. The reported problems are:

1. Switching between locations keep more time than usual
2. The main character often “stills” after performing an action. he does not freeze, nor the game itself does – you can still see the breathing movement and move the mouse pointer -, he just remains for several seconds in the same position.
3. In the very first sequence, Shawn is supposed to get scared by a passing drat: now, the drat does not appear and Shawn stays there for a long time – can’t even ski, just have to wait to the next scene, inside the study.
4. Dialogues: in almost any dialogue scene, the background goes blank, leaving only the characters’ portraits and text visible. It occurred in Terk’s office, the classroom and the training room. I didn’t play further, so I don’t know if this happens later in the game too.

As we have no Linux testing ability currently, and limited bandwidth for any testing, I’d appreciate it if some of our backers can help. If you have Linux, please let us know at support@hero-u.net whether you see these issues. Anyone with Mac or Windows, if you see similar symptoms, also please let us know!

If you see these or similar issues in 2.2.1, I can put 2.2 back up on the Beta channel on Steam for comparison (“regression”) testing.

I’d also like to line up some Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android testers for Summer Daze at Hero-U: Tilly’s Tale. I need to do some research on making the latter two versions available. Possibly we’ll initially launch just for PC systems, with Switch and mobile versions a few months later.

About That New Year

Our plan is for 2022 to be a much better year than either of the last two. We’ll release Summer Daze at Hero-U: Tilly’s Tale early in the year. Then we will focus on Summer Daze at Hero-U: Ifeyo’s Adventure for a 2023 release. In Lori’s copious free time, she’ll start writing Sami’s Story. And I’m going to start designing puzzles for our puzzle adventure game, Puzzleworthy.

We’ll continue to host Live Streams with games and prizes. Our new game is AlphaBot-ticelli. Like Botticelli, it’s a two-part game – Stumping and guessing. We come up with a name, tell you the first letter, and you try to guess it. But first you have to stump us. Each player is assigned the next letter of the alphabet, and challenges us to find a name or word starting with that letter that answers their challenge.

As an example, “My letter is Z. It’s a place you go to see animals.” An obvious answer is “zoo,” so probably too easy a challenge. But we might say, “zoetrope,” and that works if we can justify it. (We saw a zoetrope in Culver City that showed animated animals.)

If we get stumped, or if stream participants think our answer sucks, the challenger gets to ask a yes or no question about our secret name. If we answer “Yes,” they can go again or guess the name.

If the game turns out to be fun, it can become one of our staples for future streams.

We hope all of you have a magnificent – but also fun and challenging – 2022. After all, it’s human nature to love to be challenged; if the game (of life) is too easy, it’s hardly worth playing.

May your 2022 real-life games be worthy and fun adventures!

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was released on this day in 1993!

Help us celebrate by joining our Kickstarter for a GK Style album: SEQUEL!
Click below to find out about all our great rewards and be a part of our success!

And most of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

SEQUEL KICKSTARTER

Have a Gabriel Knight fan on your Holiday shopping list? Give the gift of music with “A Simple Refrain: The Game Themes of Robert Holmes Performed on Piano By Roger Hooper”

Find out more at:https://asimplerefrain.com/

And piano sheet music available at:http://www.rogerhooper.com/a-simple-refrain-sheet-music

https://robertholmesmusic.com

We Need your Help to Make This Happen!
Help spread the word by posting and sharing!
Find out all the latest at:

SEQUEL: An New Album of game themes from Robert Holmes

Following his prior album of piano game themes “A Simple Refrain”, The new album SEQUEL will be a collection of fully produced dramatic game themes created and produced in the style of music from Gabriel Knight and Gray Matter games. These new themes will carry all of the dark emotional depth, sweeping melody, and layered textures of the past games, with the intention of manifesting music that would be right at home in a GK sequel. Created utilizing both some of the original instruments from past games, and some of the best new technology and electronic synthesis and sampling tools. The album will be a new and fully realized extension of the wonderful dramatic cannon of these beloved games.

As with past soundtracks,  the tunes will address all the usual emotional corners of a game universe: main theme’s, action pieces, emotional romantic pieces, tension elements, character themes, and the occasional humorous relief. They are then fully produced adding synthesis and electronic textures and orchestral arrangements. This is all followed by about 6,321 passes at mixing…

The process then completes with professional Mastering by multi Grammy winning Mastering Guru Gavin Lurssen ( https://lurssenmastering.com ), who has put the final polish on albums for a Who’s Who of music legends, as well as The Scarlet Furies and Robert’s production of Renewal for The Brothers Four. The result will be a digital and vinyl experience worthy of the musical and gaming legacy of Jane Jensen’s wonderful games.

About Robert Holmes

Robert Holmes worked in the studio and postproduction communities in Hollywood before joining computer gaming giant Sierra On-Line as a Producer and Composer. While there, his work included several games, including the award-winning Gabriel Knight: Sins of The Fathers, Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of The Sacred, Blood of The Damned. Additional notable game scores have included Jane Jensen’s Gray Matter, Lola and Lucy’s Big Adventure, Moebius: Empire Rising and Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition. Other performance and production activities have included work as a writer, member, or Producer for The Brothers Four, Sting, and The Scarlet Furies.  Performance and studio work includes legends Steve Lukather, Leon Russell, Rusty Anderson, Jim Messina, Peter Asher, and The Zombies.

In 2014, Robert and his wife Game Designer Jane Jensen completed a successful Kickstarter campaign for their game production studio Pinkerton Road, resulting in the creation and delivery of three games: Gabriel Knight Sins of The Fathers Anniversary Edition, Moebius Empire Rising, and Lola and Lucy’s Big Adventure.

“Robert Holmes wove an epic tapestry for his soundtrack to the Gabriel Knight series, combining themes of setting and character with operatic themes that transcend even these.  Jane Jensen’s games are supernatural mysteries with colorful characters, but are also more: Each is a sweeping, emotionally charged battle for the protagonist’s soul. Robert’s score captures the breathtaking scope and spiritual dimension of these battles, from the New Orleans bayou to the deep woods and historic castles of Bavaria. And of course, there is that dazzling set piece of the series, the lost opera of Wagner, that only a composer of tremendous ability could pull off. It is impossible to imagine these games achieving the same emotional impact, the same depth, without the haunting music that gave them life.”

–Ilana C. Myer, author of Last Song Before Night

We Need You!

We invite you to join in the effort to create and produce this new collection. We can’t do it without your support. Over the years the loyalty and passion of the fans for these games and the music that is a part of them has been so wonderful. Fans from all over the world continue to reflect their enjoyment of the past work. Join us in working together to create the next addition to the musical family!  Any level you can participate or contribute is deeply appreciated! You can also make a huge difference by posting this campaign to your social feeds and networks and helping get the word out!

Goals

Main goal

Our main goal is to reach $35,000. We will also have several stretch goals beyond this that we hope to reach to further enrich the results. As discussed below in the detail regarding associated costs, these goals represent funds needed to support the time for Composing and production, upgrades and additions to needed studio software and hardware, professional mastering, and Digital, CD, and Vinyl record versions production. If we fail to meet or surpass this goal, we will get nothing and will be unable to proceed with the project.

Stretch Goals

We hope to surpass our basic goal and add even more cool stuff to the life of this project! These include:

• Music video of main theme
   
• Sheet Music
   
• Additional Covers
   
• Signed GK memorabilia
   

Related Costs

Production and delivery for a project like this can get very costly very quickly. Some of the costs we are planning on in our budget include:

• Studio software and hardware upgrades
   
• Composing and recording time
   
• Mixing
   
• Professional Mastering (Lurssen Mastering)
   
• Album artwork production
   
• Digital distribution costs
   
• CD Duplication
   
• Vinyl album Production
   
• PR Support
   
• Video Support and Production (Stretch goal)
   
• Shipping and fulfillment
   

Spread The Word!

We can’t stress enough how valuable a role you can play by helping to spread the word of the campaign!! Post it in all your social abodes and send it to any GK or Gray Matter fans you might know. Stand naked in your yard and shout about it at 3AM! Anything you can do to help build awareness out there is huge! We have only 45 days to make this campaign a success. If we fail to make the goal the album will not be possible. Please join us in making this happen! Thank you!!

A Quick Thank You to the team

Last but not least, I want to thank the amazing team of folks who have given of their time and talents to help make this possible. I couldn’t do it without them!

Roberta Vaughan
Rudy Marchant
Ilana Teitelbaum
Branden Tobin
George Napier
Raleigh Holmes
Bruce Brenneise
Stephen Emond
Steve Coupe

Note – It’s fine he doesn’t thank me, Larry Laffer, who undoubtedly can get all the babes here to come check out the Kickstarter and check out the fine, smooth tunes that Robert Holmes can create!

Starting November 15 we launch our new Kickstarter to fund the production of SEQUEL, a new album of Gabriel Knight style game themes from Composer Robert Holmes! Join us to help make this project happen and create wonderful rewards like vinyl albums, included covers by fans, and signed GK and Gray Matter memorabilia from the archives of Robert Holmes and Jane Jensen!

We Need your Help to Make This Happen!
Help spread the word by posting and sharing!
Find out all the latest at: