Topic: DeathSpank preview

[idolminds]

With screens!

Monkey Island meets Diablo being overseen by Ron Gilbert. Yes, you want this game.

[Quemaqua]

Screens, finally!  I like the look of it.

[idolminds]

Gameplay trailer of EXTREME AWESOME!

[Quemaqua]

It's like... some awesome thing that's all awesome as a metaphor.

[MysterD]

Yes, you want this game.

Not yet...

[Quemaqua]

Can I ban D yet?

[PyroMenace]

Nah, having no taste in games should be a good enough reason to ban someone, but its that tolerance thing we have in the community that will give him enough mercy to get by.

Theres not enough DRM free opened RPG threads here to distract him anyway, sometimes he'll get lost into threads that talk about good games.

[Quemaqua]

I'll forgive you, D... this time.  But I'm not saying that I won't give Ron Gilbert your address.

[MysterD]

I'll forgive you, D... this time.  But I'm not saying that I won't give Ron Gilbert your address.

How the hell did you get my address?

[Quemaqua]

I have my sources.  Most of them fictitious.

[W7RE]

I'm not all that into the whole adventure game thing, mostly because of traumatic memories of insane puzzles from early King's Quest and Space Quest games. (how the fuck did anyone complete those without a guide, really) Also I (gasp) didn't play Monkey Island so it holds no nostalgia for me.

BUT... I saw some gameplay of Deathspank on GiantBomb and it looks like a lot of fun.

[Quemaqua]

Uh... Deathspank isn't an adventure game?

[W7RE]

Uh... Deathspank isn't an adventure game?

"Ron Gilbert's Deathspank"
Ron Gilbert on Wikipedia

Published works:
Maniac Mansion (1987), writer, director, art and programmer, LucasArts (LucasFilm Games)
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (1988), writer, LucasArts (LucasFilm Games)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (1989), writer, LucasArts (LucasFilm Games)
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990), writer and director, LucasArts (LucasFilm Games)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1991), writer and programmer, LucasArts (LucasFilm Games)
Total Annihilation (1997), (producer only)
Penny Arcade Adventures, story and design consultant, Hothead Games, (2008)
Deathspank (2009), design, Hothead Games.
Co-created many children's games at Humongous Entertainment, including Freddi Fish and Putt-Putt.



http://www.giantbomb.com/giant-bomb-at-pax-09-ron-gilbert-interview/17-1322/
Skip to 1:30. Ron Gilbert: "Deathspank is very much an adventure game. It has a lot of RPG/Diablo style gameplay in it, but it is a good hardcore adventure game at it's core."




So I was sort of under the impression it was an adventure game with action rpg style combat/loot.

[Quemaqua]

Perhaps he and I may have different opinions on what makes an adventure game an adventure game.  That, or they haven't shown any preview content that would justify his statement (which is certainly possible).  Either way, it's news to me.

[Cobra951]

I don't remember ever finishing any point-and-click adventure game.  I would invariably get hopelessly stuck on something, and I couldn't bring myself to look up the solution (in a game where finding solutions is the only gameplay there is).  I'd put it on the backburner, to tackle later, then never went back to it.  I'm done with the genre in any serious way.  Some things like the newer Sam & Max games can briefly draw my attention, though.

[idolminds]

Deathspank is going to have adventure game elements. Dialog trees and such. They just haven't shown that aspect off yet.

[W7RE]

Deathspank is going to have adventure game elements. Dialog trees and such. They just haven't shown that aspect off yet.

http://www.giantbomb.com/giant-bomb-at-pax-09-deathspank-demo/17-1313/
12 minutes of gameplay with a dev talking about the game. Dialogue trees n stuff at 3:35.




I guess it's not really an adventure game in the traditional sense, but that's the first thing I heard about it. So I wasn't thinking of it as an action game with rpg elements, but an adventure game with diablo (action) elements.

[Quemaqua]

Aren't dialogue trees kind of just as prevalent in RPGs as adventure games?

[idolminds]

Kind of interesting when you think about it. What separates RPGs from adventure games? Combat?

[Quemaqua]

And pixel hunts?  Possibly attaching entirely unrelated items together in order to accomplish some incomprehensible puzzle?

[W7RE]

The last video I linked was the very first I heard of the game, and they spend a good part of the thing talking about adventure games and in some cases do so in relation to Deathspank. So I got the idea that even though it may look like an action game on the surface, it's also largely an adventure game. I sort of see it as an adventure game with combat and loot thrown in.

BTW my adventure game knowledge is limited to the first couple King's Quest and Space Quest games, and a little Maniac Mansion. So I think of an adventure game as an open world to explore, with good art, comedy, and some annoying as hell item-based puzzles. (Kick a chicken at the beginning of the game to get him to lay an egg, take the egg and use it at the end of the game to feed an ogre that will kill the last boss for you. You didn't kick the chicken and the boss is wtfpwning you? Restart the game, bitch.)

[idolminds]

That sort of thing seems to be part of the Sierra style of adventure games. The Lucasarts style might have some odd puzzles, but you never miss part of them and have to restart. If you need something, then its available to go get.

[idolminds]

Its getting closer.

I wanted to let all the Premium Gold Level Grumpy Gamer subscribers know that I left Hothead.  When I started working there two years ago, my goal was to make DeathSpank the most awesome game ever made and have it win a Nobel Prize and the early word out of Stockholm is that DeathSpank is neck-in-neck with some string theory dweeb (eleven dimensions my ass).

As DeathSpank ends the creative and production phases and start down that long and winding road of certification and testing of the XBox and PS3 and [REDACTED] versions, it's looking quite amazing and is damn funny.  So, to quote my childhood hero George W. Bush: Mission Accomplished.

I will be working closely with EA and Hothead on the PR for DeathSpank as the release date of [REDACTED] draws closer.

I have also vowed to blog more and try and remember my twitter password.

Thats Ron Gilbert, in case you were wondering.