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Reimagining Movies and TV Shows as Adventure Games

Started by St_Eddie, May 15, 2018, 03:49:23 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

St_Eddie

I created these a while back.  Thought I'd share them here.  Please feel free to post your own contributions and/or other people's efforts...



Blade Runner

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The Big Lebowski

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Prometheus

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The Exorcist

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Red Dwarf

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Also, while I have your attention, I may as well post these adventure game related pictures of mine...



Does what it says on the tin.

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An approximation of what Manny Calavera from Grim Fandango might have looked like when he was alive.  I used the scene set in the land of the living as a vague reference point, in terms of art style...



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The Curse of Monkey Island, re-imagined as an FMV title.  Here's the original version...



samadriel

I always thought a point-and-click adventure would be the ideal vehicle for a Doctor Who game. It could involve lots of time-related mischief like Day of the Tentacle, various Doctors assisting each other throughout history. It'd be more apt than fucking Dalek Attack, at least.

St_Eddie

#2
The following weren't created by myself (they're far beyond my skill level, artistically speaking)...



Twin Peaks in the style of a Lucasarts adventure game.  The reversed verbs are a nice touch.

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Twin Peaks again but this time, in the style of a Sierra adventure game.  You know the mantra; save early, save often, folks.

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Moon, complete with creepy paedophilic rapist computer.

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Quote from: samadriel on May 15, 2018, 04:42:20 AM
I always thought a point-and-click adventure would be the ideal vehicle for a Doctor Who game. It could involve lots of time-related mischief like Day of the Tentacle, various Doctors assisting each other throughout history. It'd be more apt than fucking Dalek Attack, at least.

There actually was an episodic Doctor Who adventure game series released between 2010 to 2011, titled funnily enough, Doctor Who: The Adventure Game.  They were designed by Charles Cecil, of Broken Sword fame.  Sadly, the pedigree didn't result in very good games, apparently (I've not played them myself, as I'm not a fan of the show).  Here's a link to a walkthrough of the first episode.  Matt Smith sounds bored out of his mind, in the opening scene.

madhair60

There already is a Blade Runner one. No doubt you know this mind.

I've been considering making one based on Revenge of the Nerds for a while now.

St_Eddie

Quote from: madhair60 on May 15, 2018, 02:55:23 PM
There already is a Blade Runner one. No doubt you know this mind.

Yep.  I own a copy.  Keep meaning to replay it at some point.  My picture was imagining a parser based adventure game for an Atari system.

Quote from: madhair60 on May 15, 2018, 02:55:23 PMI've been considering making one based on Revenge of the Nerds for a while now.

Please do.  I seem to recall you mentioning this before.

Mister Six

That Twin Peaks Red Room screenshot is gorgeous. I've seen people proposing Twin Peaks as an adventure game before and it makes sense - a ton of interesting characters, a mystery to piece together, a self-contained "world" that rarely gets glimpsed outside of its key locations (how odd it was to see those street scenes in FWWM) and lots of great conversations. Plus, that one strong central narrative - Who killed Laura Palmer? - to keep all the disparate elements together.

I do think the old Hellblazer comics (which were adapted twice, not very well, as the TV show and movie Constantine) would have made great point-and-click adventures, because the main character is defined by his quick thinking and wit, which would translate well to puzzles and dialogue trees.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Mister Six on May 15, 2018, 06:58:56 PM
That Twin Peaks Red Room screenshot is gorgeous. I've seen people proposing Twin Peaks as an adventure game before and it makes sense - a ton of interesting characters, a mystery to piece together, a self-contained "world" that rarely gets glimpsed outside of its key locations (how odd it was to see those street scenes in FWWM) and lots of great conversations. Plus, that one strong central narrative - Who killed Laura Palmer? - to keep all the disparate elements together.

It does seem like a shoe-in for an adventure game.  Thimbleweed Park had a fair few references to Twin Peaks, at least.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

Recent Indie title Kathy Rain is basically a Twin Peaks homage/rip off adventure game.

biggytitbo


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on May 15, 2018, 07:42:56 PM
Recent Indie title Kathy Rain is basically a Twin Peaks homage/rip off adventure game.

Thimbleweed Park has elements of twin peaks in it as well.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on May 15, 2018, 07:42:56 PM
Recent Indie title Kathy Rain is basically a Twin Peaks homage/rip off adventure game.

That's a really good game.  It definitely had a Twin Peaks vibe but mixed with Gabriel Knight and a smidgen of Lovecraft, which is a fine combination indeed.

Quote from: biggytitbo on May 15, 2018, 07:52:42 PM
Columbo is the obvious one.

Ooohh, yes.  I've often thought that Columbo would be absolutely perfect for an adventure game adaptation.  They could even get a voice actor to do a spot-on Peter Falk impersonation and everything.  I'm kind of thinking along the lines of a less graphic version of LA Noire, in terms of gameplay.  Clearly, walking away and using the "one more thing..." line would have to be an option.  The key would be strategically utilising it at the most opportune moment.

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on May 15, 2018, 08:07:52 PM
Thimbleweed Park has elements of twin peaks in it as well.

Heh, that's why I mentioned it in my previous post, mate.

Mister Six

There was a Columbo reference in the Blade Runner video game - a security guard somewhere (at the Nexus HQ?) was voices by someone doing a Peter Falk impression. The protagonist even asks him "one more thing..." at one point

St_Eddie

Quote from: Mister Six on May 15, 2018, 11:31:20 PM
There was a Columbo reference in the Blade Runner video game - a security guard somewhere (at the Nexus HQ?) was voices by someone doing a Peter Falk impression. The protagonist even asks him "one more thing..." at one point

That seems humorous and all but it also seems as though it would shatter the atmosphere and tone of the established world.  Imagine if that had happened in Blade Runner 2049!

None the less, I'll be sure to listen out for it, whenever I get around to replaying the game.

Mister Six

Yeah, it's odd because I don't recall there being anything like that in the rest of the game...

biggytitbo

Is there a way to play the Blade Runner game on modern PCs? I tried a few years ago and had to give up.

bgmnts

I would spend half my time playing Columbo pressing the "just one more thing" button.

Steven

Quote from: bgmnts on May 16, 2018, 12:15:38 PM
I would spend half my time playing Columbo pressing the "just one more thing" button.

Since Falk got dementia in his later years, this is entirely consistent.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: biggytitbo on May 16, 2018, 12:09:27 PM
Is there a way to play the Blade Runner game on modern PCs? I tried a few years ago and had to give up.

There's definitely some form of emulator/hardware patch/software wizardry that will get it to work on an XP machine (which also means it would work on Windows 10 by default?), BUT it would only work with the original CD ROM.

Fuck knows what it was called or where I downloaded it from as we're going back a number of years now, and since then I've lost the game somewhere along the line.

Surely someone has just ripped it and made it available as freeware by now?

ASFTSN


St_Eddie

Quote from: biggytitbo on May 16, 2018, 12:09:27 PM
Is there a way to play the Blade Runner game on modern PCs? I tried a few years ago and had to give up.

The game is working on my Windows 8.1 PC.  I used this custom installer and patcher to get the game running and fix some speed related issues and then I set compatibility mode to 'Windows 95' for the executable.  Did the job for me.

Quote from: ASFTSN on May 16, 2018, 03:04:50 PM
I'd like a LucasArts style one for Brazil.

The puzzle involving hooking up the sewage pipe to the Central Services repair men would be an absolute hoot!

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

On The Buses: The Game

One of the puzzles could involve finding a new carburettor for Arthur's shit motorcycle.

biggytitbo

And another picking up a dolly bird old enough to be your granddaughter.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Elderly Sumo Prophecy on May 17, 2018, 05:12:10 AM
On The Buses: The Game

"You've tried to get off work by combining a smoke bomb with a rat and rigging the bus motor to the canteen's chip fryer via a complex system of ropes and pulleys.  I'll get you for this, Butler!"

popcorn

During my strange tenure as a video game writer, I pitched an idea for a point-and-click adventure game based on His Dark Materials (the license was being shopped around at the time as the film was coming out). As it's a fairly slow, thoughtful novel with a philosophical bent I thought the contemplative and dialogue-heavy nature of the genre would suit it more than, say, a 3D platform game or something.

At the time I was fascinated by the relationship between player agency and stories and the implications for video games. I thought it was interesting how in something like Zelda you "are" Link, but in a LucasArts adventure, you kind of aren't Guybrush. You're just sort of spectating, asking questions, and giving suggestions, and Guybrush can just ignore you if he wants. In a game where you control the character directly, designers use stuff like invisible walls to box you in, and that seems false, whereas Guybrush can just say "Nah" and that's at least internally consistent with the universe you're in. Your only real identity in the game universe, weirdly, is the cursor, floating around, clicking on things.

So my idea was that the cursor in this His Dark Materials game would be Pantalaimon, Lyra's daemon, who takes the form of a butterfly or bird or other small flying creature. Lyra would wander around of her own accord like Guybrush does, and you'd be clicking on stuff and going (as Pantalaimon) "What about this?" and Lyra would say "That's a stupid idea" or whatever. I wanted to use the daemon idea from the novels to literalise the strange relationship between cursor/player and the protagonist of the adventure game genre.

Management ignored the idea anyway, and they put together a very bland generic fantasy CG video of Lyra's Oxford, and it was supposed to be some sort of stealth game. That was their pitch. (Oddly, I remember the lead on the project was quite open about how much he hated the HDM books.) They didn't get the license and it ended up as some terrible other thing no one remembers. I would have made us all rich!

St_Eddie

@popcorn - That pitch sounds fascinating.  What a shame that the philistinic higher-ups chose not to pursue it.

Quote from: popcorn on May 21, 2018, 07:12:35 AM
...in a LucasArts adventure, you kind of aren't Guybrush. You're just sort of spectating, asking questions, and giving suggestions, and Guybrush can just ignore you if he wants...

There's a joke which alludes to this in one of the Monkey Island sequels I believe, where Guybrush talks about how he feels that some unseen force has been guiding him throughout his many adventures.