

Playable HTML5 demo of Space Quest authors' Kickstarter project (Chrome app) - pavlov
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lomnnfeooofoenddphjjfdfbpkiiboof

======
primigenus
Hey, Rahul here, one of the guys from Q42 who built the prototype.

We approached the "Two Guys from Andromeda" just over a week ago with the idea
of helping show them that HTML5 is a viable adventure gaming platform. They
were so surprised that they brought us on with them to help prototype an early
game demo during the Kickstarter period.

We had a lot of fun prototyping this, and it's just the beginning. Each time
the Kickstarter pledges reach another $100k, we'll release another iteration
based around fan feedback. This could mean better art, sound and narration,
expanded gameplay, death sequences, etc - we're really looking to just
interact with the fan community on this.

As far as we're concerned, getting to do this (working with our childhood
heroes while using our favorite development platform) is a net win for hackers
and geeks, so I thought it would be a relevant post here. Have fun!

~~~
mahrain
If it's HTML5, why does it require Chrome? Is there any way I can have Firefox
have a go at it?

~~~
primigenus
Since it's a prototype we're focusing on fast iterations using webkit specific
CSS properties and such without worrying about cross browser support. I think
it works okay in Firefox, but we haven't tested it and don't guarantee it for
this phase.

It requires Chrome because putting it up in the Chrome Web Store allows users
to download and install it, which removes concerns about latency (since the
assets total 7MB, we don't want the game art loading in fragments). It also
allows us to point to a single place where people can get the game. And Google
is in charge of hosting and bandwidth, something else we don't want to be
worrying about right now.

If your concerns lie with Chrome being a Google product, I believe you can
install it in Chromium as well, though I haven't tried it myself.

------
randomdrake
This is hardly a demo. It's barely even playable. There's no sound, no color
and if it's supposed to highlight HTML5 (since that is in the title of the
post), why does it require Chrome?

Spoiler alert: the end of the 15 seconds of the demo (if you can manage to get
your walking sprite thing to it without getting stuck) is just asking for more
money and redirects you to a website.

I'm a massive fan of the Space Quest series, and Sierra adventures in general,
but this is just insulting and, in no way, makes me want to donate money to
your cause.

"Hey it's Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy, the legendary (and charismatic, funny,
brilliant and ever good looking) game designer duo!"

"You vaguely remember a post on Gamasutra about them getting filthy rich over
some Kickstarter campaign."

...

"So why are you still standing here? Go make yourself useful!"

Really, why are you still standing here? Go back to the Kickstarter campaign
and help get us to $200,000!

Aaaand... redirect to [http://guysfromandromeda.com/finishing-audio-scott-
mark-prot...](http://guysfromandromeda.com/finishing-audio-scott-mark-
prototype/) \- which has terrible display issues in Chrome. Were you guys
intentionally attempting to make it look like you were just trying to squeeze
money out of people? That's all this felt like.

This demo doesn't "interact with the community" or invite any sort of
interaction with the community. It doesn't mention it in any way, shape or
form in the "demo" or the website you're redirected to; saying so after the
fact doesn't help at all.

I _was_ very excited about this. Color me very disappointed.

------
mrtnkl
Martin from Q42 here, also one of the guys behind the html5 prototype thing.

This first prototype is the least viable "playable game" to illustrate Mark
and Scott really think highly of getting fans involved from the earliest
sketch to the final adventure game.

Doing that and iterating quickly on (the overwhelming) responses needed a
flexible engine and easy deployment to the PC, Mac and Linux platforms with an
experience that is 99% similar on all of those. HTML5 and the Chrome Web Store
are ideal for that.

So it's not about HTML5 itself actually, it's about being able to act upon fan
feedback and incorporating that in an improved next prototype in a matter of
days.

It feels like pioneering and the entire team (Two Guys and Q42) is very
excited about what's coming up. A next prototype with real artwork, a real
avatar and in the end music and all that - that's the bar we've set and it
will be one that will resonate better with the most sceptic voices heared so
far as the "prototype" will be as close to - or equal to - a real short
adventure game. Only this time done with fans in a really short time.

------
ryancarson
I played the demo and the dialog at the end really rubbed the wrong way. It
felt like you were making a big joke about raising $100,000 and that the demo
was just a ploy to get another $100,000.

You should consider the effect you're having on all the people who've trusted
you and given you the first $100,000. The dialog at the end makes a mockery of
their belief in you.

~~~
primigenus
I understand what you're saying and we probably could have worded it
differently, but ultimately we _do_ need another $100k. In fact, we need $500k
or the game won't happen. So we're trying to focus the community on working
towards those goals with us. After all, they want to play the real game, not
just the prototype.

I prefer being honest about what the demo is: it's a great way to interact
with the community and a great way to help spur further pledges. Hopefully
playing the demo will convince people to up their pledge.

------
lusr
Great demo, it immediately felt like being back in the Space Quest world.

But did anybody try visiting q42.com? I'm not sure if this proxy server here
is blocking some critical content or not but I find it impossible to navigate
the 3D stuff. Once I click on a block of text I'm stuck and have to navigate
back with browser buttons to see other options again. Some options seem cut-
off from visibility. I wanted to see if they offer some sort of HTML5 game
engine but I've had to give up because I can't figure out how to navigate this
site. _Edit:_ Finally figured out that hectic scrolling with the mouse wheel
allows me to navigate.

~~~
primigenus
Haha, sorry about that. q42.com is very experimental, perhaps too much so. It
works really well in Chrome/Safari, okay in Firefox, and not at all in the
lower-end stuff.

You can use the keyboard to go back and forth between steps.

We don't offer a HTML5 game engine yet, but we'll build one if we need to.
Right now we're using a light-weight version of what we made for sarien.net.

~~~
lusr
It's a cool idea and performed perfectly first try in Chrome once I figured
how out to navigate it... for all I know it could be my mouse scroll
sensitivity is the issue. Sarien.net is awesome BTW :)

------
marcusf
I must've missed the build up for all of this because all I got was a very,
very buggy interface and two floating guys insulting me and I didn't get it.

That said, I did enjoy SpaceQuest as a kid -- looking at Wikipedia, I wasn't
more than 10 when the last game came out. It seems like Kickstarter has become
a mechanism for making me feel old.

~~~
primigenus
What did you feel was very, very buggy about the interface? Please let us know
so we can work on improvements.

~~~
marcusf
Walking around in general felt painful - For example: I got stuck getting in
to the first cave because I was standing on the wrong spot, so I had to walk
around a bit to move forward, though the environment really didn't give me any
clues that was the case.

------
MatthewPhillips
This doesn't appear to use Canvas...

