Colossal Cave (was Ken & Roberta Game Announcement)

[Rath Darkblade]

All right. Neither of them vanished, and I can see them both too.

Also Peter Parker would not have picked them. He would have used his webs.

Spoilsport.

All right ... Peter Parker packed a punch for pilfering pests.

(That's what he does, right? Or is that Superman?)

[Tawmis]

https://mailchi.mp/cygnusentertainment/enchanted




From the Desk of Roberta Williams …

I am very proud to announce our updated Colossal Cave 2.0, our new ‘enchanted cave’ version! I have always admired this historic text adventure, referring to it as deeply engaging and captivating -- arguably the spark that ignited the onset of computer gaming – and have desired for many years to bring it to life with beautiful graphics, atmospheric sounds, and characters of charm…or roguery. This has always been an enchanted cave which – beware! -- is also your adversary, and it was important that we capture that imagery and spirit. I am now so excited by our considerable efforts that I urge everyone to check out our latest release, Colossal Cave 2.0. My team and I have been hard at work the last eight months since our January release of Colossal Cave perfecting playability while also enhancing the mysterious, metaphysical, and immersive nature of Colossal Cave.



Ahead of this undertaking, I reviewed the many reactions to our initial release – both positive and negative. I adapted or corrected the unfavorable responses while at the same time maintaining or improving the complimentary ones – though always keeping in mind the essence of the original gameplay which, to me, is sacrosanct. As a game designer myself, I recognize a great design. It is my humble opinion that the original Colossal Cave has stood the test of time due to the innovative and imaginative minds of Will Crowther and Don Woods, the original creators of this classic text adventure game. When Ken and I decided to reimagine Colossal Cave, I swore not to change the gameplay and strategy of these two ingenious men. Although, to be fair, there are those who would argue that by adding 3D graphics, character animations, sound effects, or music – and even a point-and-click interface – that would be changing it. Well, yes – I do agree with that. But still, my assertion is that, as with any script of a story, or a design strategy of a game, the means of experiencing it can be done in various ways or means, similar to reading a book and then experiencing that same story in a movie.

I am very excited for players of all ages – but for those who especially love adventure games – to experience Colossal Cave 2.0. Broadly speaking, here are the enrichments:

- Enhanced graphics (higher-resolution textures, post-processing to enhance colors, more real-time lighting and shadows, realistic-looking water, magical effects, particle effects with mist, fog, and smoke – among other graphical embellishments).

- The addition of player footstep sound effects while traversing the Colossal Cave world. And I took great care to make them sound very realistic.
More atmospheric sound effects really bring the cave alive. I imagined the cave having a spirit, an essential ‘being’ without a body. There is an ‘aliveness,’ but also mystery and magic.

- Improving the animation of the many characters inhabiting the cave – giving them more charm…or nastiness! The cave itself is your adversary – not any one of the characters. It really is between YOU and the CAVE. Bettering the IU, the interface. To make Colossal Cave – 2.0 – easy to play without having to figure out the interface. Playing the game is enough to think about!



As a final entreaty: check out our free Demo! You will be able to experience almost 20% of Colossal Cave 2.0 before deciding on whether you’d like to buy it for yourself. My fingers are crossed and know that you won’t be disappointed!



Finally, both The Enchanted Bundle and the solo version for Steam/PC VR are currently 25% off, until Monday morning*!

Grab it while you can!
* Steam Autumn Sale ends 11-28-2023 at 10:00am PST.

All my best,

Roberta

[Tawmis]

https://limitedrungames.com/collections ... al-cave-pc

[Tawmis]

Colossal Game Sale Alert! Sweep up the GOG Bundle and VR with a massive 50% off from April 23rd to April 30th. And don't miss out on our PlayStation Bundle and VR2 deal: 25% off, or 30% for PS+ members, from April 24th to May 8th! Celebrate Golden Week in Asia and Japan, and enjoy May Savings in Europe and the Americas. Don't let these deals slip away! #GameSale #ColossalCave #VRGaming https://www.gog.com/en/game/colossal_cave

[Rath Darkblade]

Colossal Game Sale Alert! Sweep up the GOG Bundle and VR with a massive 50% off from April 23rd to April 30th. And don't miss out on our PlayStation Bundle and VR2 deal: 25% off, or 30% for PS+ members, from April 24th to May 8th! Celebrate Golden Week in Asia and Japan, and enjoy May Savings in Europe and the Americas. Don't let these deals slip away! #GameSale #ColossalCave #VRGaming https://www.gog.com/en/game/colossal_cave

Is Roberta channelling her inner Roger Wilco?

I'm sad to see this game being rated "Weak" on GOG, despite the fact that there are only two (yes, TWO) negative reviews out of eight. (Wait, what?)

Also, I'm confused that this is on sale, but only on GOG. (I checked Steam, and it's not on sale there... so...)

[DeadPoolX]

I'm sad to see this game being rated "Weak" on GOG, despite the fact that there are only two (yes, TWO) negative reviews out of eight. (Wait, what?)

Well, two reviews out of eight is not an insubstantial percentage. Regardless, this is a very niche game: it's a 3D recreation of a very old text adventure that heavily banks on the names "Ken and Roberta Williams." The truth is that the vast majority of gamers today, even those who like adventure games, won't have a clue who they are.

Also, I'm confused that this is on sale, but only on GOG. (I checked Steam, and it's not on sale there... so...)

Steam and GOG don't always run concurrent sales. In fact, they often stagger their sales on purpose.

[Tawmis]

https://mailchi.mp/cygnusentertainment/one-year-old

Greetings everyone!

We are hard at work on a new version of the game for the Meta Quest 3 and experimenting with mixed reality. Just to tease you, below is a brief video demoing our experiments so far. We tried going for hand tracking (no controllers) and might add it later, but our game and Meta's hand tracking code don't seem to like each other.

We're also working on a version for the Apple Vision Pro and do expect to be showcasing both hand tracking and Mixed Reality on that version.

The Mixed Reality on Meta Quest 3 is pretty cool and something I've never seen done. We also beefed up the graphics for the Quest 3 and added a bunch more. Check out the video below!

And, from outside the cave …

A while back, we were approached by some filmmakers who were interested in producing a documentary about the adventure game genre, but more specifically, the story of myself, Roberta and Sierra On-Line.

We refused.

Sierra On-Line's story is an amazing one. It deserves to be told. However, we've been down this road before, on a variety of other documentary projects and nothing ever happened with them. One of the producers on the project, Cade Peterson, is a friend of a friend, and also in the game industry. Cade persisted after our refusal, ultimately convincing us his team would deliver.

The Sierra story is the thing great movies are made of. There are highs, lows, good guys and bad. We are excited to finally see it told in this documentary format.

A few weeks ago, we conducted our interview for the documentary. It was a long grueling day.

The documentary folk dug in deep, capturing some incredible footage. I had thought we might be done, but there's a lot more to cover. We’re delighted to see that some of our beloved Sierra creators like Al Lowe and Lori and Corey Cole are part of the project too… with many more to come, we’re told!

You can follow the project for updates at this link.

Quest 3 Updates

While a work in progress, many new features are being added or considered for the upcoming Meta Quest 3 version.

A short demo reel showcasing some footage (2D recorded VR in a random backyard does not yield the greatest footage. However, within the headset … it’s wild!)

Mixed Reality:

Helps with those that experience nausea with VR headsets.
Fantastic for maintaining some awareness in the real world, taking notes, sip a beverage, etc.
3 passthrough window sizes (S | M | L), plus full immersion, simply rotated through with the B button.
Fixed in place or head tracking window.
Anything in the game that is close to you will enter the real world with you. Birds will fly into the room. Dragons may nuzzle your lap. Daggers whip by your head. Narrow cobble crawls will hop from the screen creating a short, immersive blast of claustrophobia.

Easy or Hard:

Colossal Cave is game famous for being a vexing 11 out of 10 in difficulty, especially if the goal is the coveted 350 points. Roberta just approved an easy mode. While still being defined, the ultimate goal is to allow a relaxing saunter through the magic cave, with significantly less concern for a group of armed, angry dwarves or the lamp going dim. A wonderful way to ease oneself into the more daunting, classic version of the game.

Anyone who currently owns the Quest 2 version will receive a free upgrade (we hope). We can't promise this because we're not 100% certain how Meta's store functions, but our belief is that anyone who currently owns the game, and has a Quest 3, will get a free update.

Better graphics, updated sounds, game save sharing between Quest 2 and 3, Easter Eggs and more!
Coming Soon!

Android Mobile: Out Now!

We just launched Colossal Cave 3D for the Android OS!

Colossal Cave, as the name suggests, is a large game, requiring a bit more download time than normal. As such, it is only available on Android devices running OS 13.0 (Tiramisu) and above, but it does look incredible!

We’re offering a deep discount of just $4.99 for the launch! For those interested in grabbing a copy, grab it while the getting’s good!

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ssalcave3d

Playful Nudge: Reviews go a great distance towards helping games get noticed. If you’ve got a spare moment to write an honest review for Android (or any other platform), it helps this historic game maintain its presence in the zeitgeist.

Until next time!

[Tawmis]

Roberta and I are nearing the end of the "Colossal Cave" project.

Three years ago, during the Covid lockdowns, I was bored and wrote a book about the company Roberta and I created: Sierra On-Line. We ran the company for nearly 20 years and released 100s of games. Sierra was acquired in 1996 by a bigger company. The acquisition was a disaster and left Roberta and I angry, sad, and unemployed. It destroyed the company and ruined the lives of our employees.

Roberta and I dropped out of the games business entirely. We didn't play games, and wanted nothing to do with the games business. Instead, we shifted our attention to boating, and managed to run a tiny boat around the world.

The book was an instant bestseller, which surprised me. I'd like to claim I'm a great writer, but the truth is that Sierra had millions of customers who remember the company very fondly. Writing the book brought back a lot of memories of Sierra, things I hadn't thought about for decades.

The book completed faster than Covid lockdowns. Both Roberta and I are workaholics. Sitting still is not something we know how to do. I decided to take a look at how modern games are built. Just "for fun", after watching a lot of how-to videos on YouTube, I decided to write a simple little game. I thought the Covid lockdowns might go on for another month or two and needed to fill the time. Roberta suggested the old adventure game that started Sierra called Colossal Cave. I thought "It's a simple text game. It should be fast and easy!"

I did indeed have a playable game within a couple months, but Roberta said, "That looks like crap. You can't release it." I said, "It was just a time filler project. I'll give it away or sell it for 99 cents or something." Roberta still said "no." She was worried about our legacy. Roberta is not only a great game designer, but can also be a stubborn lady. More importantly, and relevantly, she is a perfectionist.

Roberta took over the project and hasn't let go. She wanted a game that was "Sierra quality." I pointed out a few times that Colossal Cave didn't have the broad reach of a game like King's Quest, but Roberta answered that "If it has our name on it, it has to be great."

Anyway, here it is three years, and MANY upgrades later, and we are still working on the game. We not only came up to modern gaming standards, with our Quest 3 version that just released, we are supporting virtual and mixed reality. We're working now on a version of the game for Apple Vision Pro, and once we get that out the door, it will finally be time to think about what comes next.

Anyway .. here's a quick look at Roberta playing the Quest 3 version -- She is having fun!

I should also mention that campaign for the Sierra documentary is going live this week. There is some info on it later in this newsletter. Roberta and I are not affiliated with the documentary beyond been interviewed for it. That said, I am supporting their effort and hope that they are able to raise the funding they need. We spent a lot of time with them while they were interviewing us, and I know that they've set interviews with many other former Sierra developers and designers. They are passionate about Sierra, and did a great job of pulling long forgotten Sierra memories out of Roberta and I. I'll be as curious as anyone to see their completed documentary.

Quest 3 Launches
Two major features to the Quest 3!
Launch Price: $12.99
(discount lasts until 10am, July 22, 2024)

We’ve added a “Mixed Reality” option, with 3 different sized passthrough windows. This allows you to easily toggle through the window sizes, as well as full immersion. With these windows, you can easily sip your beverage while playing, see what is happening in the real world, all while continuing to play the game without issue. Anything close, such as a terrifying dragon, or flighty blue bird may actually join you in your space! It’s an exceptionally fun feature, only possible on the Quest 3.

“When I saw Apple's Vision Pro, a $3,500 device, it just blew me away. I studied it looking to see what cool ideas I could make work on the infinitely more affordable Quest 3. I also wanted to see if we could expand upon Apple's ideas and come up with some tricks of our own. Much of Sierra's success came from surprising people with things they hadn't seen before. Quest 3 owners are going to be very happy.” ~ Ken Williams

Colossal Cave is a game that is not easy. Even with lots of clues, making it to the end is a challenge. My suspicion is that some, perhaps many, buyers who purchased the game have never explored the full cave.

To counter this we just released a new version of the game that has "Casual" or “Explorer” mode. It is an option when you start a new game, and if selected, you still have full access to the cavern, but the pesky dwarves are gone, the thieving pirate is gone, and you start the game with a full set of maps.

You won't be able to attain the full 350 points, and most of the puzzles are still there, but you'll find it a much more relaxing experience.

It's like a training mission before you take on the full challenge, or just a way to explore the wonder of the cave if you are just out for a little spelunking.

It's a free upgrade for those with the Quest 3, just like the dozens of other upgrades we've done over the last year.

In addition to these features, we’ve also upgraded the graphics, lighting, some sound effects, better animations, and even Easter eggs. The Quest 3 makes for a deeply immersive experience.

NOTE TO QUEST 2 OWNERS: Our goal is always to push the limits of hardware. Our Quest 2 version of the game is awesome, but is not capable of everything the Quest 3 can do. There are some features: Mixed Reality, Enhanced Graphics, Casual Mode, that are Quest 3 only.

Grab your copy, today! A near 50% discount, until 10:00AM on July 22nd, 2024


Legends of Adventure

We’re thrilled to announce that the crowdfunding campaign for "Legends of Adventure" is now live on BackerKit.

This documentary is a passion project created by a dedicated and capable production team. They are committed to diving deep into the incredible stories of the creators at Sierra On-Line who shaped the gaming world. Your support is crucial to bringing Sierra back to life, one more time.

Roberta and I are more than just interview subjects in the documentary. We’re also donating rare physical copies of Sierra classics from our own personal collection, which you can add to your campaign pledge!

We’re committed to making this documentary a reality, and hope you are too. Join us on this “Documentary Quest” and let's make history together.