New Intellivision Adventure Games

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Couldn´t find a thread on the subject of new adventure games in general.
(If there is a thread about this, moderator can just move this there I suppose?)

This below about IntyBasic by freeweed and Sierra-like graphic adventures by DZ-Jay caught my attention and since it was a little bit off topic in the thread “Reading the ECS Keyboard” I "quote" it here instead.

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"qoute" - freeweed, on 19 Dec 2014 - 9:46 PM, said:

 

Also, not that anyone will ever bother, what with such a horrific keyboard, but we need an IntyBASIC version of this. Then maybe someone can use IntyBASIC to code up a cartridge with an actual BASIC on it, thereby a) making the ECS almost actually useful and b) completing a recursive loop of epic proportions.

 

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Personally, I am interested in order to make graphic adventures with a "parser interface," like the old Sierra Online games.

 

-dZ. - "end qoute"

 

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First of all, always nice to see another Sierra fan.

I am not a programmer myself, just a huge fan of those games and stumbled across this Adventure Game Interpreter site:
AGIDEV

AGI is apparently the software that Sierra used to create their games, which was news to me.

Could an “IntyAGI” be made and used for developing Intellivision adventure games? (There is for example a game boy version called GBAGI.)

By using a program called AGI Studio “you can create your own AGI games, or edit Sierras to your own tastes”

Here is AGI Programmers Wiki: AGI Tools

I for one would like to see an Intellivision King´s Quest, but I understand that could be complicated with licensing from Sierra/Activision. On the other hand they are releasing a new KQ this year, so versions for the retro scene that can help market the new games might just be in their interest. Just a thought.

And just for fun, here are a couple of clips regarding the new KQ.

Sierra Returning Along with King's Quest - #CUPodcast

 

King's Quest - Game Awards 2014 Reveal Trailer

Anyways,

AGI games or not, KQ/Sierra games or not - I sure hope that an Intellivision game somewhat similar to the original Sierra games can be made.
I was really glad to see someone just thinking about it.

And here is a game idea for an adventure game: The George Plimpton Intellivision Mission

In which George has to sell Intellivision consoles and get rid of competition and then get the Intellivision IV in to production and save Mattel Electronics.

Just from the top of my head... But a game with George Plimpton as star character would be fun i think...

I would also love to see a Tower of Doom II or if there is a copyright issue with that name then perhaps "Mountain of Doom" with a similar scenario/gameplay.

[+DZ-Jay]

I can't guarantee that it will match AGI in style or capabilities, but I can tell you that supporting that sort of game is part of my plans with P-Machinery.

 

On top of the underlying frame-work, my long term vision includes a sort of "game development plug-in" (I call them "Game PaK" or Program Application Kit) feature, where a pack would provide all the necessary infrastructure to rapidly build games of a particular genre or style. For example, maze games, platformers, and even text/graphics adventure games.

 

The last one is something I am rather fond of, and I am keen on making.

 

That said, it'll be a while. First, this is my hobby, so there is no rush; second, I'm still working on the core P-Machinery framework; third, I have a few games I want to get done before P-Machinery takes over my life forever; and lastly, I am not the fastest programmer--in fact, I'm very slow.

 

dZ.

[Kiwi]

I actually coded SCUMM-like and Sierra (New Leisure suit-style) interface for the Colecovision in C.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/216371-how-many-of-you-would-still-like-to-have-this-game-for-cv/

 

The keypad number 1-9 can be the verb you can pick from and then you select an object with a cursor.

I think point and click engine like this can build with Intellivision IntyBASIC. Then you can add the graphic and content into the engine.

[freewheel]

The tile-based layout of the Intellivision lends itself extremely well to something like this. I've tossed the idea about in my head - either keypad verbs, or just a selectable menu.

The only real limitation is graphically, but if the game is fun, no one will care. There's certainly enough platform flexibility and ROM space to make a half-decent SCUMM-inspired game. IntyBASIC would be perfect for it.

[+DZ-Jay]

The tile-based layout of the Intellivision lends itself extremely well to something like this. I've tossed the idea about in my head - either keypad verbs, or just a selectable menu.

The only real limitation is graphically, but if the game is fun, no one will care. There's certainly enough platform flexibility and ROM space to make a half-decent SCUMM-inspired game. IntyBASIC would be perfect for it.

 

Hmm... There's a lot involved in making a workable "room-based" adventure. Most of the hard stuff is abstracted by the SCUMM or AGI frameworks. The hard part is getting the runtime or scripting environment to work efficiently and effectively on the Intellivision.

 

Not an insurmountable task, by any means, but really not a trivial one either. I rather see something be built from the ground up for the Intellivision platform rather than porting SCUMM or AGI. That way, any limitations of the hardware or constraints are accounted for in the design, and the framework is sui generis.

 

-dZ.