Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Marco Thorek wrote:
 
  Others want to actually create a new genre specifically for
  Sierra-like games.  As official taxonomer for MobyGames, they will forever
  remain in our system as what they really are:  Interactive Fiction with
  Graphics.  This puts them in the same category as Mask of the Sun, Arthur: The
  Quest for Excalibur, etc.  Because when you get down to it, all of the games
  Sierra put out from 1984 to 1991 that required text input are exactly that --
  interactive fiction with graphics.  The text parser may be bad, but it's still
  a parser and still required to complete the game.  Entrance into a new
  room/area doesn't always print out a text description, but you do get text
  updates of events/locations/dialogue.  So it's a gimmicky variant.
 
 Well, yes, as a matter of fact that would be correct. Would you put the
 later Sierra adventures, which were entirely mouse driven IIRC?

No, of course not -- there's no text parser so it doesn't qualify as
Interactive Fiction.  They just get classified as Adventure, with possible
subgenres.
 
 It seems to me, the farther we move into the present, the harder it is
 to classify a game. Some genres have blurred beyond recognition.

Trust me, I can classify them.  :)  Genres haven't blurred; people's minds
have.  Go ahead -- hit me with something difficult.
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Marco Thorek
Jim Leonard schrieb:

  It seems to me, the farther we move into the present, the harder it is
  to classify a game. Some genres have blurred beyond recognition.
 
 Trust me, I can classify them.  :)  Genres haven't blurred; people's minds
 have.  Go ahead -- hit me with something difficult.

Hm, how about Deus Ex, Thief and System Shock 2? They incorporate
adventure style puzzles, but also have character development like CRPGs
and yet use elements from and look like FPS on a first glance.

I admit, three nasty choices, but these are the ones I was always unsure
where to put. 

Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Karl Kuras
 Yes, but since those games are just Sierra-style games with verbs and
nouns
 you can pick from a list, it's still a derivative from IF (except this
time
 the parser forces a limited subset of words you can choose from, in a very
 specific two-word combo).  The pick words from a list-style adventure
system
 was no better than Sierra's.  What made Lucasarts games worth playing,
 thankfully, were the clever and engaging storylines and puzzles, which
were
 good enough to force people through the awful interface.

But by that logic, you could say that a game like Jack the Nipper, or
Garfield: Big Fat Hair Deal were derivatives of IF as well, since you went
through the game, and with the correct selection of moves (to pick up, and
drop items, talk to characters, etc.) you went through a story.  The
interface had just changed from words typed in or chosen from a list to
words chosen by specific joystick and fire button combos.  It seems that any
game that tells a story and has the character influence that story in any
way beyond just jumping and running would be an IF.  That just completely
ignores the actual play mechanics which are what a Genre is supposed to be
defining.

Karl Kuras


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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Pedro Quaresma

Jim Leonard wrote:
What made Lucasarts games worth playing,
thankfully, were the clever and engaging storylines and puzzles, which were
good enough to force people through the awful interface.

Clever and engaging storylines, agreed (up to a certain period), but awful interface? I admit the first version of the SCUMM system (Zak Mcracken, Maniac Mansion) was poor, but the one used on the Monkeys and DoTT is, IMHO, in the very least pretty decent. And so was the icon-based one they used later starting on, I believe Sam  Max.

Sure, a parser is more precise when interpreting your ideas into the game, but an icon-based one can often be more rewarding.

As a sidenote on interfaces, I believe Ultima 6 was the first game to have both an icon-based interface _and_ also an initial based one ('O' for open, 'C' for cast, etc) I think most people, even those who were not used to the previous game, barely used the icons.

--
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Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / 
Lotus Notes Admnistration and Development
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Pedro Quaresma

Jim Leonard wrote:
Trust me, I can classify them. :) Genres haven't blurred; people's minds
have. Go ahead -- hit me with something difficult.

Jagged Alliance, Birthright. 

Wait, want really difficult ones? OK then: Europa 1400 The Guild, King of Dragon Pass :)

--
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Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / 
Lotus Notes Admnistration and Development
[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)

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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Edward Franks

On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 03:01  AM, John Romero wrote:
[Snip]

The Apple II version of King's Quest was one of the early
double-resolution 16-color games and subsequent Sierra adventures used
that graphics mode.  Double-res on the Apple II was 160x192 with 16
colors.  Mixed-mode graphics on the C64 was 160x200 with 4 colors (from
a 16-color palette) per 4x8 character block.  It was just a logical
decision to use the same assets and resolution as the other popular
platforms.


	From a game developer's viewpoint, when or what things made the IBM PC 
the platform of choice over the Apple IIs, C64s, etc.?  I know that on 
the business side of programming the common wisdom is that 640K RAM was 
the key (VisiCalc vs. Lotus 1-2-3). Was it the ubiquity of the PC 
clones? VGA graphics? Reaching the limitations of 8-bit platform or an 
intersection of all three?

	In a way the PC seemed to be a step backward for games in the mid '80s 
to about '90 because of the lack of decent sound.  Though, for example, 
Sierra pushed the various sound cards and external units, most of the 
people I knew didn't buy sound cards until the time of Wing Commander 
or Doom.

--

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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Karl Kuras
 At its most basic, Adventure + Action, subgenres Cyberpunk, Dark Sci-Fi.

Come on... simply calling it Action Adventure ignores the Character
development aspects of the game and simply labeling a game where shooting
occurs as Action would lump Space Invaders, Doom and Tomb Raider into the
same category and let's face it, that is like saying that The French
Connection, Rambo and Hard Boiled are all action movies, but they really
have little to nothing in common and probably wouldn't even appeal to the
same group of people.

Karl Kuras


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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Edward Franks

On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 10:43  AM, Jim Leonard wrote:
[Snip]

Adventures progress through decision, not action.  Since you can't
significantly change Mafia's story or outcomes based on your 
decisions, it's
not an adventure game.  People confuse this a lot; they think that 
great
storytelling equals adventure game, which is incorrect.  Half-Life 
had
excellent storytelling, but was it an adventure game?

	No, but Half-Life swiped a number of elements from 
adventure/role-playing games to give a needed twist to first person 
shooters.  For example, the very end was definitely an adventure-style 
situation.

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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Pedro Quaresma wrote:
 
 Clever and engaging storylines, agreed (up to a certain period), but awful
 interface? I admit the first version of the SCUMM system (Zak Mcracken,
 Maniac Mansion) was poor, but the one used on the Monkeys and DoTT is, IMHO,
 in the very least pretty decent. And so was the icon-based one they used
 later starting on, I believe Sam  Max.

You're crossing genres.  DoTT and Monkeys is IF+G, Sam  Max was completely
icon-based so it doesn't qualify as IF+G.
 
 Sure, a parser is more precise when interpreting your ideas into the game,
 but an icon-based one can often be more rewarding.

I agree, but that's not what's being debated.  The discussion is on the proper
classification and taxonomy of IF and IF+G.
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Karl Kuras
 To remain in the Interaction Fiction with Graphics subgenre, verb-noun
input
 using text labels must be maintained.  If the verbs (actions) and nouns
 (items) are replaced by icons or pictures, or accepts verb-only or
noun-only
 input, it no longer qualfies as Interactive Fiction.

This definition unfortunately shouldn't include early Sierra and Lucasarts
games for the simple fact that movement (one of the most time consuming
aspects of a text adventure) is no longer controlled by verb + noun text
inputs or selections, but is now relegated to a joystick, mouse or arrow key
function.

I would almost go as far as saying that IF is an improper name for the
genre, but it should be Interactive Novel (for the classic Infocom games),
Interactive Picture Book (for the text adventures with still images, like
The Hobbitt and Gremlins) and Interactive Movie (for the Sierra and Lucas
games which include animated sprites representing the characters).

Karl Kuras


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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Edward Franks wrote:
 
 From a game developer's viewpoint, when or what things made the IBM PC
 the platform of choice over the Apple IIs, C64s, etc.?  I know that on
 the business side of programming the common wisdom is that 640K RAM was
 the key (VisiCalc vs. Lotus 1-2-3). Was it the ubiquity of the PC
 clones? VGA graphics? Reaching the limitations of 8-bit platform or an
 intersection of all three?

I think the intersection of all three.  Color depth in the 320x200x256 MCGA
mode (supported on MCGA and VGA) outclassed all platforms released until that
time, even Amiga -- HAM was too slow for gaming, so that left up to 64
simultaneous onscreen colors in practical application (32 for most games). 
This was at a time when PC clones were cheap and 25MHz machines were the norm;
combine all three, and what the PC lacked in graphics and sound hardware
assistance it could make up for in CPU power/speed.

But another way to look at it was the game designs themselves.  For example,
Apple II, C64, etc. could not do the kinds of things game designers wanted to
do.  Games with heavy memory AND CPU requirements like Wing Commander (for
storing all those sprites, AND rotating/scaling them on the fly) or Falcon 3.0
(heavy 3D flight/world/etc. calculations, not just 3D rendering) just couldn't
be done on any other platform.  Some games even had to wait until their time
had come -- for example, Strike Commander.  The victim of bad timing, SC's
game's engine was so advanced that even the current machines of the day
couldn't run it properly (and this is NOT the fault of bad programming --
designed in 1992, it supported 3D textures, gouraud shading, distance fog, and
other innovations that took two more years for other companies to produce).
 
 In a way the PC seemed to be a step backward for games in the mid '80s
 to about '90 because of the lack of decent sound.  Though, for example,
 Sierra pushed the various sound cards and external units, most of the
 people I knew didn't buy sound cards until the time of Wing Commander
 or Doom.

I originally bought my sound cards for better music, both composing and in
games (my first PC soundcard was only supported by the program it came with,
Bank Street Music Writer).  I bought an Adlib in 1989 because I had received a
cool record (an actual, cereal-box-style floppy record) in the mail that
demonstrated what it could do, and wanted to see how some of my favorite
single-voice PC speaker music sounded with better hardware.  What a surprise I
got when Indy 500 had actual decent sound effects -- the cars sounded
incredibly authentic.  (They still do -- run Indy 500 on an Adlib and you'll
see what I mean.)  So, my experience was atypical -- I was always in it for
the music.
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Pedro Quaresma wrote:
 
 Jim Leonard wrote:
 Trust me, I can classify them.  :)  Genres haven't blurred; people's minds
 have.  Go ahead -- hit me with something difficult.
 
 Jagged Alliance, Birthright.
 Wait, want really difficult ones? OK then: Europa 1400 The Guild, King of
 Dragon Pass :)

Jagged Alliance: Strategy, subgenres Role-Playing.  
Birthright: Same as Jagged Alliance, with Medieval Fantasy thrown in.
Europa 1400: The Guild: Strategy, subgenres Managerial.
King of Dragon Pass: Adventure (finally) + Strategy, subgenres Managerial,
Role-Playing.  (Wow, this game looks interesting -- I'll try to play it)

These aren't hard to classify.  In fact, no game is hard to classify.  I think
what is missing for most people is that no clear agreement of what some genres
like adventure or RPG mean.  Properly defining genres has been one of our
missions since inception.  Take a look at some MobyGames genres (find a game
and click on the genre to get its description); I would very much like to know
if anyone thinks we have something defined incorrectly.  

Most people don't have a problem with the way MobyGames defines a genre, but
some people have a problem with the Main genres (Action, Adventure,
Educational, Racing / Driving, Simulation, Sports, Strategy).  Every month we
refer people to the FAQ question Why isn't RPG a Main genre?. 
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Karl Kuras wrote:
 
  At its most basic, Adventure + Action, subgenres Cyberpunk, Dark Sci-Fi.
 
 Come on... simply calling it Action Adventure ignores the Character
 development aspects 

Sorry, I may have forgotten to add subgenre Role-Playing, which should be
there.

 of the game and simply labeling a game where shooting
 occurs as Action would lump Space Invaders, Doom and Tomb Raider into the
 same category 

The same BASIC category, yes.  However, please note that I chose two basic
genres to classify it, Adventure + Action, and Doom and Tomb Raider would NOT
fit into that.  

Games are the summary of their parts.  MobyGames tries to make sure the parts
are clearly defined and labeled.

 and let's face it, that is like saying that The French
 Connection, Rambo and Hard Boiled are all action movies, but they really
 have little to nothing in common and probably wouldn't even appeal to the
 same group of people.

But that doesn't change the fact that they are action movies.  We're not
debating whether or not those games are similar, we're debating how to
classify them.
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Edward Franks wrote:
 
 On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 10:43  AM, Jim Leonard wrote:
 [Snip]
  Adventures progress through decision, not action.  Since you can't
  significantly change Mafia's story or outcomes based on your
  decisions, it's
  not an adventure game.  People confuse this a lot; they think that
  great
  storytelling equals adventure game, which is incorrect.  Half-Life
  had
  excellent storytelling, but was it an adventure game?
 
 No, but Half-Life swiped a number of elements from
 adventure/role-playing games to give a needed twist to first person
 shooters.  For example, the very end was definitely an adventure-style
 situation.

I don't deny that, but 0.0001% of the gameplay giving you a story branch does
not an adventure game make :-)
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Karl Kuras wrote:
 
  Adventures progress through decision, not action.  Since you can't
  significantly change Mafia's story or outcomes based on your decisions,
 it's
  not an adventure game.  People confuse this a lot; they think that great
  storytelling equals adventure game, which is incorrect.  Half-Life had
  excellent storytelling, but was it an adventure game?
 
 So if a game can only have one final outcome, no multiple endings then it's
 not an adventure?  

That's not what I wrote.  MOST games have one final outcome.  But if there are
multiple paths or mechanics on getting there, *and* the gameplay focuses on
storytelling and decision over action, it's an adventure.  Within reason,
you should not be restricted on how you get there.
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Chris Newman
Yech, it seems like Gamedex is confusing genre with plot.

Jim Leonard wrote:
 
 Karl Kuras wrote:
 
   To remain in the Interaction Fiction with Graphics subgenre, verb-noun
  input
   using text labels must be maintained.  If the verbs (actions) and nouns
   (items) are replaced by icons or pictures, or accepts verb-only or
  noun-only
   input, it no longer qualfies as Interactive Fiction.
 
  This definition unfortunately shouldn't include early Sierra and Lucasarts
  games for the simple fact that movement (one of the most time consuming
  aspects of a text adventure) is no longer controlled by verb + noun text
  inputs or selections, but is now relegated to a joystick, mouse or arrow key
  function.
 
 I don't agree.  For one thing, movement was hardly the most time-consuming
 portion (you could use abbreviations and could stack commands -- haven't you
 ever typed n,e,e,n,e to move somewhere?).  But more importantly, movement
 was the ONLY thing NOT controlled by text input.  Since the majority of
 gameplay relied on text input, it is IF.
 
  I would almost go as far as saying that IF is an improper name for the
 
 I never wrote that.  Not IF, but IF+G.  IF+G is IF with relaxed restrictions.
 
  genre, but it should be Interactive Novel (for the classic Infocom games),
  Interactive Picture Book (for the text adventures with still images, like
  The Hobbitt and Gremlins) and Interactive Movie (for the Sierra and Lucas
  games which include animated sprites representing the characters).
 
 Too many classifications and you fall into the trap of gamedex.com.  They have
 over 200 categories, which makes their classification system ludicrous.  Just
 one look:
 
 Action Advenuture
 Cartoonish Action Adventure
 Fantasy Action Adventure
 Sci-fi Action Adventure
 Horror Action Adventure
 Action Hero Adventure
 Super Hero Advenutre
 Spy Action Adventure
 
 ..and you know they're beyond help.  Hopefully I don't need to explain why
 this is a Very Bad Idea(tm).
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Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread Jim Leonard
Marco Thorek wrote:
 
 Well, according to Moby it belongs to six genres. 

Two main, four sub.  Sorry if that's not obvious in our presentation; I should
probably mention to Brian that our main genres should be highlighted
differently.

 I thought about a game
 belonging to one genre, like in the good old days.

Then you fall into the gamedex.com category trap, which is a mess.
 
 I remember the German Happy-Computer magazine periodically published
 extra gaming editions and they were categorized by genre: RPG, Action,
 Adventure, Sports, etc. Games that couldn't be classified clearly had
 their own category, Rest of the world. Elite was in there, as well as
 Psi-5 Trading, Koronis Rift and Alter Ego. Today Rest of the world
 woul probably make up most of the magazine.

Exactly, which proves that the single-genre system is flawed by design.  Thank
you for proving my point :-)
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Re: Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread hughfalk
I found one flaw right here:

Since there is no such thing as an RPG that isn't also an adventure, or strategy, or 
action game, RPG becomes a sub-genre instead of a main one. 

There are certainly RPGs that aren't adventure (or other genre) games.  Two off the 
top of my head are Telengard and Rogue -- two of my favorites.  There is no story to 
speak of in these type of games...there may be a story hinted in the manual or maybe 
in the conclusion (some games are open ended and have no conclusion).  Even if there 
is the slightest hint of a story, you said that .0001% (paraphrasing) content doesn't 
make it switch genre.  These games are hack and slash games whose goal is to make your 
characters as powerful as possible and find lots of treasure.  No serious action, 
strategy or adventure.

I can dig up several more of these games.  Generally you'll find them to be older 
games since story became more common as the industry grew. However, you could argue 
that a game like Diablo is still a hack-n-slash RPG.  They throw in some randomized 
plot elements (quests), but it is quite secondary to the fun of the game.  Again, if 
Half Life isn't an adventure I would say Diablo isn't, but it is definitely an RPG.  
Mobygames says it is action.  I'd say that's debatable since the definition requires 
the main focus to be action.  But Telengard and Rogue are definitely not action 
games.

Hugh


---Original Message---
From: Jim Leonard [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 01/22/03 12:35 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

 
 Edward Franks wrote:
 
 The problem is that you can easily swap in role-playing games as 
a
 basic building block in place of Adventure.  The same justifications
 work for either.  The two are so close together (more than any of the
 other categories) that it is hard sometimes to see the unique
 differences.

I completely disagree.  All RPGs are adventures, but not all adventures
are
RPGs; because of this, RPG is a subgenre in our system.  Before you debate
further, here is our definition of Adventure (a main genre) and RPG (a
subgenre).  Please read them over before responding.

Adventure:  Denotes any game where the emphasis is based on experiencing
a
story through the manipulation of one or more user-controlled characters
and
the environment they exist in. Gameplay mechanics emphasize decision over
action. Role-playing games (RPGs) are a common sub-genre of all adventure
games, as are the classic Sierra Quest series of games. Text adventures
(Interactive Fiction) are also, by definition, adventure games.

Role-Playing:  Denotes games where the creation and advancement of
character
statistics is a major element of gameplay mechanics. Inspired by
traditional
role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Players have specific
attributes, hit points, etc. and a large part of gameplay involves
improving
your character(s) through experience. Examples: Bard's Tale, Wizardry,
Might
and Magic, Lands of Lore, Wasteland, Fallout, etc. (Does not have to be
based
in fantasy settings, but most are.)

---

For extra credit, the MobyGames FAQ Why is your main category list so
sparse? Where's RPG? Where's puzzle games? is answered like this:  Our
main
list of genres -- also referred to as main categories -- are the most
basic
building blocks of game taxonomy. Meaning, they are intentionally basic
and
encompassing, such that any game in the world can fit into at least one of 
the
main categories. 

A lot of people have asked us why some genres, specifically RPG, are not
included in this list. That is because, for a game category to be included 
in
the main list, it must stand by itself. Since there is no such thing as an 
RPG
that isn't also an adventure, or strategy, or action game, RPG becomes a
sub-genre instead of a main one. 

Here's an example clarifying how important the main categories are: Think
about the materials we see around us. What's the common classification
expression -- Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral, right? That's a pretty good
example: I am animal, the taco I just ate was vegetable, and the toilet I
will
no doubt be visiting shortly is mineral. Asking for the RPG genre to join
the
main list is like asking for rocks to join the Animal, Vegetable, or
Mineral
list when it's clearly already a mineral.  It doesn't matter if the rock
is in
the shape of, say, an animal; that doesn't change the fact that it is a
rock.

Hopefully by now you can see the importance we place on our main
categories
for the purposes of proper game classification. They may not match your
specific definition of a game type, but that is sort-of the point. In
order to
properly classify games such as a scientist would classify a new element,
we
have to break the mold and classify them how they are supposed to be
classified, not how they already have been for years. 

---

Now, if you see any problems in that logic, please let me know.
-- 
http://www.MobyGames.com/
The world's most 

Re: Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

2003-01-22 Thread hughfalk
RE:

#1.  Actually Spacewar was the first computer game...and it was an action game.  But 
yes, computer adventure came before computer RPG.  I'm not sure that is of any 
significance; however, since several other genres (besides action and strategy) also 
came after Adventure.

#2.  Fantasy is not a computer-game-genre-specific characteristic.  Adventures can be 
fantasy, sci-fi, noir, reality-based, etc.  Same with RPGs.

The real differentiator between video game genres should be the essence of what makes 
it a fun game:  

- For an Adventure game, it is problem/puzzle solving.  I contend that Adventure games 
are a sub-genre of puzzle games.  Without problem/puzzle solving in an adventure game, 
you would have no game.  You would have a story (even if that was fun, it wouldn't be 
a game).

- For RPGs, it is character growth and item gathering.  This makes it distinct and not 
a sub-genre.  A game can have this as its only focus and be fun.  See Telengard, 
Rogue, Temple of Apshai, NetHack, etc.

Hugh



---Original Message---
From: Jim Leonard [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 01/22/03 03:26 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1

 
 Hugh and Edward:

You've presented some strong arguments and I'm going to have to think
about
them before coming up with a rebuttal.  But first let me pose some
situations
and questions:

1. Adventure was the first computer game, yes?  It was not an RPG.  So
computer adventure games came before computer RPGs, right?

2. The Adventure genre encompasses *all* fantasy-style gaming.  So RPG
fits
into it, yes?  If not, why?

#2 is the dealbreaker.
-- 
http://www.MobyGames.com/
The world's most comprehensive gaming database project.

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