Tex Murphy talking text-adventure?

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I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Tex Murphy game
series that was out in the 90's. Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora
Directive, and Overseer. The Tex Murphy character is a hard-boiled,
Phillip Marlow-type detective in a future San Francisco setting.

The games were graphic adventures in a free-roaming 3D world with
full-motion video and live actors. Personally, my favorite games
of all time.

Anyway, let me get to the point. MicroSoft bought out Access software
a few years ago and canceled all the Tex Murphy development. The
original creators of the series, Aaron Conners and Chris Jones have
been trying to bring it back, on their own dime.

A few days ago, on the UnofficialTexMurphy message board, there was
a chat with Aaron Conners and he pose the following question:

What level of experience would you need to be satisfied with a new
Tex (Murphy) product...in other words...How much would you enjoy a
text adventure...or a new novel...or an interactive "audio-only" game?

At first, I thought, "Wow! A Tex Murphy text adventure, definitely."
But then I was thinking, this interactive audio-only (in which the audio
would be something like radio theater with actors doing the voices,
sound effects, music, etc.) would be sort of like a talking text adventure.

I was also thinking that, in this day and age, it is almost impossible
to make money selling a text adventure since there's so much good stuff
available out there for free. But the interactive radio-theater would
be something of an innovation closly related to the text adventure, and
it could probably be marketed.

What I'm curious about is this: Would only Tex Murphy fans be likely to
buy such a product or would something like an interactive audio (radio
theater) game be innovtive or substantial enough for non Tex Murphy fans
to give it a try? Someone suggested that they could maybe have a text
version for free and the audio version for purchase.

Any opinions?

 

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Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote in message news:<_L2dnXFIGNY-Ymzd4p2dnA@comcast.com>...
> What I'm curious about is this: Would only Tex Murphy fans be likely to
> buy such a product or would something like an interactive audio (radio
> theater) game be innovtive or substantial enough for non Tex Murphy fans
> to give it a try? Someone suggested that they could maybe have a text
> version for free and the audio version for purchase.

Please note that interactive audio-only games already exist. I think
mostly visually impaired people know about them. I didn't know
about this kind of games until someone ported an old game of mine to
this format a while ago. Here are some downloads:

http://www.tdlgames.com/Download.shtml

After trying it out, I must say I can see a much wider market for
this kind of game - many people get motion sickness if they sit
and stare at a screen while traveling by bus or car. You need a
pocket computer with a pair of headphones, and navigation using
a small set of keys (one key is probably possible and three is
okay, but I think I'd prefer something like ten.). You could
also play like a group in a car, using the car stereo for audio
output. This kind of game would also be very suitable for mobile
phones, if you can squeeze all the audio files into a phone.

/Fredrik

 

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On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 23:04:36 -0400, Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com>
wrote:

<snip>

>I was also thinking that, in this day and age, it is almost impossible
>to make money selling a text adventure since there's so much good stuff
>available out there for free. But the interactive radio-theater would
>be something of an innovation closly related to the text adventure, and
>it could probably be marketed.
>
>What I'm curious about is this: Would only Tex Murphy fans be likely to
>buy such a product or would something like an interactive audio (radio
>theater) game be innovtive or substantial enough for non Tex Murphy fans
>to give it a try? Someone suggested that they could maybe have a text
>version for free and the audio version for purchase.
>
>Any opinions?

I've seen posts here before about this sort of thing, and I think it's
a very good idea, although probably difficult to do well. But it's
definitely marketable, at least to a small audience*.

Pros:

-free text version provides a perfect demo
probably a good idea to have part of the audio version
available for play, too
-radio drama + text adventure means even MORE nostalgic value
-added atmosphere (Anchorhead would be fantastic)

Cons:

-you'd need good voice acting, which seems to be rare



Respectfully,
John Ringwald





*The poster retains no ethical or legal responsibility for any
monetary losses sustained during business ventures in which he has
expressed interest.

 

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On 12 Jul 2004 04:31:45 -0700, f.r@mail.com (Fredrik Ramsberg) wrote:

>Paul Drallos <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote in message news:<_L2dnXFIGNY-Ymzd4p2dnA@comcast.com>...
>> What I'm curious about is this: Would only Tex Murphy fans be likely to
>> buy such a product or would something like an interactive audio (radio
>> theater) game be innovtive or substantial enough for non Tex Murphy fans
>> to give it a try? Someone suggested that they could maybe have a text
>> version for free and the audio version for purchase.
>
>Please note that interactive audio-only games already exist. I think
>mostly visually impaired people know about them. I didn't know
>about this kind of games until someone ported an old game of mine to
>this format a while ago. Here are some downloads:
>
>http://www.tdlgames.com/Download.shtml
>
>After trying it out, I must say I can see a much wider market for
>this kind of game - many people get motion sickness if they sit
>and stare at a screen while traveling by bus or car. You need a
>pocket computer with a pair of headphones, and navigation using
>a small set of keys (one key is probably possible and three is
>okay, but I think I'd prefer something like ten.). You could
>also play like a group in a car, using the car stereo for audio
>output. This kind of game would also be very suitable for mobile
>phones, if you can squeeze all the audio files into a phone.
>
>/Fredrik
Expanding on this theme, there is already a very large repository of
subject matter in the form of gamebooks (CYOA to some) all one would
need to is implement the combat system (in series like Fighting
Fantasy) and record the passages. I think this way a gamebook can be
played with no dice tossing and no page flipping with the use of five
or six keys. Ideal for travel play. If interested have a look at Home
of The Underdogs (http://www.the-underdogs.org), which has a section
on scanned gamebooks.

Boluc Papuccuoglu.

 

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John Ringwald wrote:


> I've seen posts here before about this sort of thing, and I think it's
> a very good idea, although probably difficult to do well. But it's
> definitely marketable, at least to a small audience*.
>
> Pros:
>
> -free text version provides a perfect demo
> probably a good idea to have part of the audio version
> available for play, too
> -radio drama + text adventure means even MORE nostalgic value
> -added atmosphere (Anchorhead would be fantastic)
>
> Cons:
>
> -you'd need good voice acting, which seems to be rare
>
>

Thanks for the comments so far. I am not involved in the production in any way. I'm just a fan, but I will pass on the comments to them. These guys have already done some radio theater episodes, using voice from the game's original cast. The Overseer game ended in a cliff-hanger, so they produced the radio theater episodes to satisfy the fan's curiosity. The radio-theater was done quite well, so I expect the interactive version (if that's what they decide to do, will be splended.

 

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Boluc Papuccuoglu <bolucPERIODpapuccuoglu@REMOVETHISaknet.com.tr> wrote:

> Expanding on this theme, there is already a very large repository of
> subject matter in the form of gamebooks (CYOA to some) all one would
> need to is implement the combat system (in series like Fighting
> Fantasy) and record the passages. I think this way a gamebook can be
> played with no dice tossing and no page flipping with the use of five
> or six keys. Ideal for travel play. If interested have a look at Home
> of The Underdogs (http://www.the-underdogs.org), which has a section
> on scanned gamebooks.

If I remember correctly, about 15 years ago in the UK a commercial firm
converted a number of the Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks (see e.g.
www.fightingfantasy.com) into a telephone version. People calling up
would hear the descriptions similar to reading the gamebooks and would
then select from a number of options, in the traditional CYOA style. I
think that a number of books in the Lone Wolf series (another CYOA
variant in the UK) were also converted. The drawback with the system was
that the calls were long and at expensive per-minute rates, and the
market wasn't sustainable. But that was a different environment from
mobile phones today or audio version played directly on computer.

Viv Dunstan

 

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An interesting idea. Audio games have been around for a good for years or so
(the *really* *rich-layered* ones, I mean) so it's still fairly new. I'd
beinstrested in playing a game like this anyway, and it probably would draw
in the crowd who ,I don't know, don't think they have the time to read or
what have you. http://www.gmagames.com http://www.pcsgames.net
http://www.bavisoft.com are some good examples of homplex audio games.
Especially notable is the new BAVIsoft's Haloween-esque "horror" (?) game,
as it is set up just like I would expect an audio-only version of a
lucasarts graphical adventure game would look like.
"Paul Drallos" <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote in message
news:_L2dnXFIGNY-Ymzd4p2dnA@comcast.com...
> I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Tex Murphy game
> series that was out in the 90's. Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora
> Directive, and Overseer. The Tex Murphy character is a hard-boiled,
> Phillip Marlow-type detective in a future San Francisco setting.
>
> The games were graphic adventures in a free-roaming 3D world with
> full-motion video and live actors. Personally, my favorite games
> of all time.
>
> Anyway, let me get to the point. MicroSoft bought out Access software
> a few years ago and canceled all the Tex Murphy development. The
> original creators of the series, Aaron Conners and Chris Jones have
> been trying to bring it back, on their own dime.
>
> A few days ago, on the UnofficialTexMurphy message board, there was
> a chat with Aaron Conners and he pose the following question:
>
> What level of experience would you need to be satisfied with a new
> Tex (Murphy) product...in other words...How much would you enjoy a
> text adventure...or a new novel...or an interactive "audio-only" game?
>
> At first, I thought, "Wow! A Tex Murphy text adventure, definitely."
> But then I was thinking, this interactive audio-only (in which the audio
> would be something like radio theater with actors doing the voices,
> sound effects, music, etc.) would be sort of like a talking text
adventure.
>
> I was also thinking that, in this day and age, it is almost impossible
> to make money selling a text adventure since there's so much good stuff
> available out there for free. But the interactive radio-theater would
> be something of an innovation closly related to the text adventure, and
> it could probably be marketed.
>
> What I'm curious about is this: Would only Tex Murphy fans be likely to
> buy such a product or would something like an interactive audio (radio
> theater) game be innovtive or substantial enough for non Tex Murphy fans
> to give it a try? Someone suggested that they could maybe have a text
> version for free and the audio version for purchase.
>
> Any opinions?
>

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

James Bond wrote:
> An interesting idea. Audio games have been around for a good for years or so
> (the *really* *rich-layered* ones, I mean) so it's still fairly new. I'd
> beinstrested in playing a game like this anyway, and it probably would draw
> in the crowd who ,I don't know, don't think they have the time to read or
> what have you. http://www.gmagames.com http://www.pcsgames.net
> http://www.bavisoft.com are some good examples of homplex audio games.
> Especially notable is the new BAVIsoft's Haloween-esque "horror" (?) game,
> as it is set up just like I would expect an audio-only version of a
> lucasarts graphical adventure game would look like.

Thanks. I looked at these sites and passed them on to the TM developers.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

I am a blind player of text adventures. There is one company that has
brought out a talking text adventure "Bavisoft" which is not particularly
great. An audio adventure with a bit of pedigree behind it would be
fantastic for blind players so long as it interfaced with screen readers
like JAWS. I'm sure it would find a niche market.

John

"Paul Drallos" <pdrallos@tir.com> wrote in message
news:_L2dnXFIGNY-Ymzd4p2dnA@comcast.com...
> I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Tex Murphy game
> series that was out in the 90's. Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora
> Directive, and Overseer. The Tex Murphy character is a hard-boiled,
> Phillip Marlow-type detective in a future San Francisco setting.
>
> The games were graphic adventures in a free-roaming 3D world with
> full-motion video and live actors. Personally, my favorite games
> of all time.
>
> Anyway, let me get to the point. MicroSoft bought out Access software
> a few years ago and canceled all the Tex Murphy development. The
> original creators of the series, Aaron Conners and Chris Jones have
> been trying to bring it back, on their own dime.
>
> A few days ago, on the UnofficialTexMurphy message board, there was
> a chat with Aaron Conners and he pose the following question:
>
> What level of experience would you need to be satisfied with a new
> Tex (Murphy) product...in other words...How much would you enjoy a
> text adventure...or a new novel...or an interactive "audio-only" game?
>
> At first, I thought, "Wow! A Tex Murphy text adventure, definitely."
> But then I was thinking, this interactive audio-only (in which the audio
> would be something like radio theater with actors doing the voices,
> sound effects, music, etc.) would be sort of like a talking text
adventure.
>
> I was also thinking that, in this day and age, it is almost impossible
> to make money selling a text adventure since there's so much good stuff
> available out there for free. But the interactive radio-theater would
> be something of an innovation closly related to the text adventure, and
> it could probably be marketed.
>
> What I'm curious about is this: Would only Tex Murphy fans be likely to
> buy such a product or would something like an interactive audio (radio
> theater) game be innovtive or substantial enough for non Tex Murphy fans
> to give it a try? Someone suggested that they could maybe have a text
> version for free and the audio version for purchase.
>
> Any opinions?
>

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

John Gurd wrote:
> I am a blind player of text adventures. There is one company that has
> brought out a talking text adventure "Bavisoft" which is not particularly
> great. An audio adventure with a bit of pedigree behind it would be
> fantastic for blind players so long as it interfaced with screen readers
> like JAWS. I'm sure it would find a niche market.
>

The developers recently made a comment that the game may include
some still-graphics such as maps, photographs, etc. that the player may
have to examine. I guess I think of them sort of like some of the
feelies that came with the InfoCom games. Daon't know if they will
be essential to finishing the game. Maybe they can also include a
workaround for people who can't view the graphics. I'll mention this
on the message board because it may not be something they have
considered.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

John Gurd wrote:
> I am a blind player of text adventures. There is one company that has
> brought out a talking text adventure "Bavisoft" which is not particularly
> great. An audio adventure with a bit of pedigree behind it would be
> fantastic for blind players so long as it interfaced with screen readers
> like JAWS. I'm sure it would find a niche market.

Would an "audio adventure" need an screen reader interface at all?
"Audio adventure" sounds like an allready speech/sound based adventure
to me, e.g. nothing a reader software would have to read ...


--
Andreas

 

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Even an audio adventure will probably have menus and controls which are
displayed but not spoken, which in that case would need to be read by a
software screen reader for the blind. If the menus and controls have a
standard Windows design and can be operated from the keyboard as opposed to
solely the mouse then the blind user will have no problem using the game.

John

"Andreas Koch" <nospam@kochandreas.com> wrote in message
news:cdbu4t$6m5$04$1@news.t-online.com...
> John Gurd wrote:
> > I am a blind player of text adventures. There is one company that has
> > brought out a talking text adventure "Bavisoft" which is not
particularly
> > great. An audio adventure with a bit of pedigree behind it would be
> > fantastic for blind players so long as it interfaced with screen readers
> > like JAWS. I'm sure it would find a niche market.
>
> Would an "audio adventure" need an screen reader interface at all?
> "Audio adventure" sounds like an allready speech/sound based adventure
> to me, e.g. nothing a reader software would have to read ...
>
>
> --
> Andreas