Colossal Cave (was Ken & Roberta Game Announcement)

[Rath Darkblade]

Excited about what, exactly? *confused*

[Tawmis]

Excited about what, exactly? *confused*

That Ken's officially formed a company, Roberta is more involved, they're looking for another engineer... truly looks like it's happening.

Before it still felt like it might go away if it was too much of a task.

He's latest message seems to accept it's going to be a large task, and still move forward.

[Tawmis]

https://cygnusentertainment.com/2021/11/12/hall-of-fame

The Consumer Technology Association had an awards event in New York last night and gave Roberta a Hall of Fame award. Congratulations to Roberta!

A quick update on the game
I started the project with the idea that it would be something fun I could do alone. My original vision was to try to do something like Sierra’s old Dr. Brain series of games. Specifically, I wanted to do something to teach kids programming. I like kids and I like programming so it seemed a natural fit.

But then….

Roberta thought my project would go nowhere (which was fine with me, I never intended to do something commercially viable. I just wanted to have fun.) Roberta suggested I do a game and had an idea for me. I knew instantly that she was right and convinced myself it was a simple enough game that her and I could do it alone. I found art on the internet that I thought I might be able to massage to address the art needs of the project.

And, that’s where things started going wrong (or, right!)…

A 3d artist (Marcus) contacted me and said he’d be willing to help with the art. I am definitely NOT an artist, and anyone who has seen Sierra’s earliest games, like Mystery House, might also question Roberta’s art skills.

As bits and pieces of the game started coming together, it became obvious that we were on to something. The game was looking and feeling good!

Somehow, we had the idea of seeing how it might look in VR on the Quest 2, and added a programmer to the team (Cidney) to focus on taking the code I was writing for computers and adapt it for VR. I didn’t see it as a distraction. All Cidney had to do was make the minor modifications to my code that were necessary to run it on the Quest 2. But, like often happens in life, reality sunk in. To produce something that Roberta and I could be proud of on VR, we would need a different user interface, a different way of moving around in the virtual reality world, and graphics optimized for VR. I remember having a tough weekend where I had to make a decision. Did I want to release a lame VR version of the game, invest in whatever it took to “do it right” or scrap the whole idea. The result of that weekend was the hiring of a “technical artist (Emily) to help with creating new art for VR, and recently another tech artist (Amber) to help. And, this past week we added ANOTHER engineer to help on the VR side of things.

Meanwhile, I’m still doing 99% of the coding on the game itself and having a blast doing it. Our time-filler project has definitely taken over Roberta’s and my life. We live in a community where playing golf is a daily part of life. All of my regular golf buddies expect me on the course (remember: I’m supposed to be retired!) and I’ve been skipping out on them. I’m literally working seven days a week ten to twelve hours a day, as is Roberta. We send each other emails all day from our respective offices at opposite ends of the house. She’s been as sucked-in by the project as I have been. We alternately discuss the various ideas for new games we’ll do when this is over, and at other times say, “What in the hell have we gotten ourselves into????”

Anyway, the game is going well, but is taking a lot longer than I ever planned. My current guess for release is sometime in the March to July timeframe of 2022. I’m hoping that the game will be complete enough by January or February that we can start some beta testing.

One really nice thing: Unlike at Sierra, where we were a public company with tens of thousands of shareholders who expected us to hit revenue projections and constant quarterly pressure to make numbers, this is a self-funded project. Roberta and I are NOT doing this to make money. We’re doing it because we love games. We have no gofundme or kickstarter or wall street or any kind of investors we need to please. We only have ourselves, and those that will play the game, who need to be happy. The only pressure we are dealing with is the pressure to produce a game worth playing, and that is the best kind of pressure there is.

[Tawmis]

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (Oakhurst, Ca), there lived a young couple who made a computer game called Mystery House.

The game sold SO WELL that the phone started ringing off the hook with calls from all over the world. That was the good news. The bad news was that some parts of the world get up earlier than other parts of the world. It didn’t take more than a few evenings of middle-of-the-night phone calls before they started searching for an office.

Sierra On-Line’s very first office was in the back of this print shop. We outgrew the office within a few months but continued to use Ponderosa Printing for another decade.

I happened to be in town this past weekend for the first time in over 20 years and was surprised to see the building still existed. I stopped and asked the guy sitting in front if the business was still going. He said that the owner, Cleon Jones, had shut down the printing business years ago. I’m not sure how old Cleon is, but I’d suspect he is in his 80s or 90s. I was surprised and delighted to hear Cleon he is still kicking. He was a great guy, and a big part of our early success, always ready to do something creative with our instruction manuals and packaging to help us get product onto the market.

It was like drinking memories from a firehose to see Oakhurst after all these years. The town had grown, but still had its hometown feel and charm. I doubt I’ll ever go back, but it was nice to see the town once more.

Ken & Roberta's new company name and logo

Roberta messing with VR.

Ken & Roberta.

[Tawmis]

A new engineer for their game, as the previous had left...

https://cygnusentertainment.com/2022/01 ... -engineer/

[Tawmis]

At some time in the last few months you registered on our website, www.CygnusEntertainment.com, or www.kensgame.com.

This is just a quick update to let you know that our new game, which we’re still keeping secret, will be announced at the Game Developers Conference on March 21st. I will send you another email on that date letting you know what we’re working on. We’re looking forward to stopping all the secrecy and to be able to start talking about what we’re up to. Please note; March 21st is only the product announcement. Copies of the game will not actually be available for purchase until late summer.

Once I can talk about what we’re working on I’ll communicate more often.

Anyway, I’m only sending this so you know that we haven’t forgotten you. Both Roberta and I are working seven days a week and having a great time doing so.

Thank you for your support,
Roberta and Ken Williams

www.cygnusentertainment.com

[notbobsmith]

Cant' wait for the announcement!

[Tawmis]

https://cygnusentertainment.com/2022/03 ... it-begins/

[Rath Darkblade]

Huzzah! 'Tis the start of a brand-new (marketing) adventure!

As heroes in the time of yore used to cry (with the 'Landlord-a-flagon-of-your-best-ale' voice), "Behold! Yonder lies a wealthy city, rich and fat with the milk of trade! Let us pillage it and leave nothing standing, 'pon my scalliard!"

[MusicallyInspired]

Unveiled! It's a remake of Colossal Cave/Adventure, the very first text adventure game ever made (it also supports VR)! There's a video trailer at the website.

Colossal Cave 3D Adventure

https://www.colossalcave3d.com/

EDIT: There are also two game footage videos in the Sneak Peek section but they aren't accessible. Here are the directs links to them:

https://www.colossalcave3d.com/wp-conte ... rcShot.m4v
https://www.colossalcave3d.com/wp-conte ... tHouse.m4v

EDIT 2: Looks like the links to the videos were removed from the site for whatever reason including the trailer. But the links I posted above still work.

[Tawmis]

I ended up digging around their site - based on those videos and found another.

I posted it here -

http://larrylaffer.net/archives/4011

[Collector]

[Tawmis]

More on Ken & Roberta's Colossal Cave 3D Adventure -
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsWXnz ... AeJmpxiyaw
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/social.cygnus/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/social.colossa ... .adventure
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cc3da
Twitch: Their Twitch
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colossalcave3d

[Tawmis]

https://www.colossalcave3d.com/2022/04/ ... nce-wrapup

[Tawmis]

After reading all of that ..... sounds good.

"You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike..." Hopefully there is a map somewhere. Or do you draw one yourself?

Ideally, they adapt the "mapped area" where you've been as being accessible.
Because for those that do VR - writing down the map will break immersion.
Original, if I remember correctly, graph paper was your best friend.