Laura Bow 3 (was Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex)

[notbobsmith]

They have a meeting scheduled. That's actually pretty encouraging.

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes indeed! *crosses fingers for NineZyme to finally meet with Microsoft ... and for Microsoft to actually DO something about it, dag-nab-it*

[Tawmis]

Refreshed, And Back In Action!

That's right! We're back from our mid-year break, and straight into the thick of things again. July was potentially a very pivotal point for our Laura Bow project, so we'll talk about that a bit. And the rest of the year is going to be extremely busy for our little Pirate and his Tile Tales project!

So let's get right into some news, to see what happening.

Official Laura Bow Meeting

After we had sipped enough cocktails, and got sand in every place imaginable... we returned home with just a few days to prepare for our meeting with Microsoft, regarding the Laura Bow project. We dusted off our 1920s boots and did a fresh build of the game, fixed a few things that had gotten into a weird state since we last worked on it, and refreshed our memories on how best to stream a demo, in case they wanted to see it.

The meeting came along quickly enough, and we were ready to do a quick little pitch on what we wanted, with the 30 minutes that were allocated. Ken and Roberta Williams joined us on the call, in order to offer some moral support for the project... they had some great things to say, and it was was incredibly kind of them to offer their help.

Long story short... the meeting ended up lasting over an hour, and everything went about as good as it could have, honestly. They essentially offered us exactly what we wanted, before we even had a chance to tell them what we wanted. Apparently, they had already started making some rough plans for all of their newly acquired IPs (from the Activision purchase). And, after speak with us and seeing a demo of the game, they felt like we fit into those plans very well.

Anyway, it's still very early in everything - but we came out of the meeting feeling extremely optimistic that we'll have an official Laura Bow 3 on our hands - as opposed to just a fan game, or some rebranded spiritual successor. And, if everything goes well enough, there could very well be some other Sierra Online back-catalog games getting a refresher too!

That's about all we can tell you for now. Nothing is 100% official yet... but we'll keep you posted with any further developments!

A Pirate's Life It Be!

Meanwhile, in the land of silly Pirates... progress continues on our Tile Tales: Pirates project! We're just about done with the area that we showed you a preview of last time. And here is a brand new screenshot from another puzzle that we recently finished up.

So, at the end of this week we should have 4 completed areas in total. And we'll be starting on a new area next week.

After that one is done, we'll take a closer look and evaluate if it's a good time to go ahead and release the game on a few select platforms (with a "coming soon" marker for the remaining areas). So we -could- still see an initial release day as early as September - despite our unfortunate delays from the month before.

Oh yeah! If you missed it last time, we do have a Steam page up where you can wishlist the game, if you'd like. Please do! It helps make our game more visible.




The Circuit Begins!

In order to start getting the word out a bit more about our efforts here at NineZyme... we are planning to start hitting the conference circuit this year! The current plan is to show both Tile Tales: Pirates AND Laura Bow. However, Tile Tales will get the most focus, strictly because it's coming out this year.

We'll be starting off in Dublin, Ireland... where we will be walking around ComicCon on Aug 24th with mobile versions of the games. If you bump into someone wearing a NineZyme shirt, ask them to play!

If you're in the industry... we will also be bringing the games to a developer event called Nexus, on Sept 25th and 26th.

And, finally, we'll have a proper booth at GamerFest on Oct 19th & 20th so that you can have a seat, chat with us, and spend some quality time with our games!

If you do happen to be in Dublin for any of those events... please stop by and say hello! We'd be happy to meet up with you. If can you give us some advanced notice, that'd be even better! Send us a message at the email below.

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

Very encouraging news. And that’s great Ken and Roberta have endorsed the project and were able to vouch for it to those in charge.

[Tawmis]

Very encouraging news. And that’s great Ken and Roberta have endorsed the project and were able to vouch for it to those in charge.

Yeah! I love that Ken & Roberta got behind it. I can't help but think - like if they go through, they will use their company (Cygnus) to be the distributer if it goes well. So that they can have more games under their umbrella.

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

It was also interesting to read that Microsoft wants to do new things with other Sierra properties.

“Codename: ICEMAN” in UnReal Engine! Yaaay!

[notbobsmith]

Very good news!

[Rath Darkblade]

The wait pays off! Excellent! It's very encouraging when the meeting is slated to be 30 minutes and goes over an hour. That shows Microsoft is interested.

Sure, it's early days, but hopefully this is a good indicator of the way things are moving. And maybe even more Sierra properties! Imagine a Leisure Suit Larry game, as re-imagined by Microsoft. Hmm ... maybe not. Unless they can get Al Lowe to oversee the project ... but he's retired.

It was also interesting to read that Microsoft wants to do new things with other Sierra properties.

“Codename: ICEMAN” in UnReal Engine! Yaaay!

Why not "Gold Rush"? Or "Lighthouse"?

[Tawmis]

It was also interesting to read that Microsoft wants to do new things with other Sierra properties.

“Codename: ICEMAN” in UnReal Engine! Yaaay!

I've managed to play it and beat it a few times now! I am confident I could do it under the Unreal Engine too, now!

Now it's Lighthouse that takes the worse game of Sierra's catalogue for me...

Even though I beat it for the channel... I will probably never play it again.

The wait pays off! Excellent! It's very encouraging when the meeting is slated to be 30 minutes and goes over an hour. That shows Microsoft is interested.
Sure, it's early days, but hopefully this is a good indicator of the way things are moving. And maybe even more Sierra properties! Imagine a Leisure Suit Larry game, as re-imagined by Microsoft. Hmm ... maybe not. Unless they can get Al Lowe to oversee the project ... but he's retired.

It was also interesting to read that Microsoft wants to do new things with other Sierra properties.
“Codename: ICEMAN” in UnReal Engine! Yaaay!

Why not "Gold Rush"? Or "Lighthouse"?

Well Leisure Suit Larry is being handled by the folks who are currently making new games (two of them so far, none of which I've tried...)
Gold Rush was also remade, and even got a sequel under Sunlight Games (both of which I plan to play for the channel eventually).
And Lighthouse can go suck an egg. And choke on it.

Very good news!

Agreed. I can't help but truly wonder if Ken & Roberta helped by saying they'd put Cygwin behind it.

[Rath Darkblade]

The wait pays off! Excellent!

Incidentally, something that just struck me ... why does the word "excellent" remind me so much of this?



*plays air-guitar*

"Be excellent to each other!" (And yeah, I know that was Bill and Ted, not Wayne and Garth. Never mind)

Why not "Gold Rush"? Or "Lighthouse"?

Well Leisure Suit Larry is being handled by the folks who are currently making new games (two of them so far, none of which I've tried...)
Gold Rush was also remade, and even got a sequel under Sunlight Games (both of which I plan to play for the channel eventually).
And Lighthouse can go suck an egg. And choke on it.

How about Phantasmagoria? Or Shivers?

Microsoft might give them a go eventually, especially if Roberta is involved. Wasn't Roberta involved in the originals?

[Tawmis]

How about Phantasmagoria? Or Shivers?
Microsoft might give them a go eventually, especially if Roberta is involved. Wasn't Roberta involved in the originals?

She was behind the first Phantasmagoria. Second one, she was not. And I don't think she's behind either of the Shivers games.

[BBP]

Shicers was done by Marcia Bales. I hope there'll be a Shivers 3 some day.

[Tawmis]

Debated posting this update as it has nothing relevant...

Ready To Fall In!

Hello everyone! Thanks for reading another monthly update from the remote offices of NineZyme HQ!

We are looking forward to the Fall/Autumn season, as it will hopefully mark some big moments of progress for our tiny little team/company. We'll be seeing the launch of our official first game, Tile Tales: Pirate... and hopefully the continuation of the game which originally kicked off this company, Laura Bow and the Mechanical Codex.

Let's break some things down which happened last month!
A Much Needed Refresh!

First, off we finally spent some time to do a proper update of our website. It had been quite some time since we'd bothered - just because we had more pressing things to deal with.

It was important for us to do this now, since we are starting to hit the conference circuit this year. We needed to make sure that our brand and projects are well represented, and that we have a suitable and professional looking place to direct people when they want more information.

Anyway, check it out and let us know what you think! www.ninezyme.com
One Comic For A Con, Please!

Speaking of the conference circuit... we took Tile Tales: Pirate to Dublin Comic Con just about a week ago!

It turned out to be a great event, with a really incredible crowd, and some really amazing cosplay!

We unfortunately didn't have a proper place to set up and demo - the video game area wasn't that big, and the competition for space was fierce. So we just rocked up with the game on a tablet, and walked around having people give it a go.

The reactions were really positive! People seemed to find it very charming and creative, with some really solid puzzle challenges! It was fantastic meeting everyone, and getting their reactions for our first official public playing of it.

I think we made a few new fans!

Anyway, that was just the warm-up event. We've still got a couple of others coming up that we're more officially booked into... an industry centered event in September, and a bigger game focused conference in October. We'll also keep an eye out for others in the coming months, so if you have any suggestions for ones that we should attempt to attend, let us know! We're in Europe, and on a budget though, so keep that in mind.
So Much Booty!

And, finally... in Tile Tales: Pirate news!

We're getting close to wrapping up the next area of the game - it should be done by the end of this week. Then we'll be moving straight into another new environment - the voodoo swamp - which should inspire some fun level names, we think.

Just a couple of more months, and the game should be pretty close to complete! It's really fun seeing it all come together!

Anyway, here's a preview of the area that we're just now wrapping up. Think you can find the treasure and make it to the exit!? You'll get to find out soon!

[Rath Darkblade]

Oops, I missed this. *blush*

The new website looks good, and I disagree that this has nothing relevant -- the new website has some new LB screenshots, at least!

I can also see why the update has only "Tile Tales" ... this game is coming up, and they have to promote it. If it doesn't sell, who knows if Microsoft will partner with them? Or whether Ken and Roberta will?

I see "Tile Tales" as a "test case" for Ken and Roberta (and Microsoft) to see if ninezyme has the "chops" (for lack of a better word) to be in the computer game business. Sounds fair?

[Tawmis]

The new website looks good, and I disagree that this has nothing relevant -- the new website has some new LB screenshots, at least!

Yes, the website does - but the email update itself has nothing to do with Laura.