I love that a genré can be criticised before it even exists (other than in some people's heads).

Personally I only play adventure titles these days, "But why?" I hear you ask. Well, while I always loved adventures (even before I knew the name of the style), I used to enjoy a spot of pixellated rough-and-tumble; a bit of the old ultraviolence. I found it cathartic - and I think a lot of other people do too. In a world where we're constantly having our temporal impotence reinforced, it's nice to be able to go out there and beat up the clearly defined "baddies".

I turned away from these "action" games, however about the time 'Tekken' came out. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure it's a great game. The trouble was, I used to play it at a friend's place who would practice constantly when I wasn't there. 'Tekken' was one of those games where, if you don't know the 32-hit combo and the other guy does, there's no point in playing. Unfortunately, my friend was then less charitable and more competitive than he is today, and would allow me no time to learn the complex moves.

As the years wore on, I grew tired of having my nerves constantly frayed by tense action games, the constant stream of expletives and raised eyebrows of my mother, followed by a query of "Why do you play those things if they get you so riled up?" In the end, I didn't know either.

My point (and don't worry, I do actually have a point) is that maybe the reason adventure gamers are so puritanical is that they, like me, lack the hand-eye co-ordination required to play the fast-paced action games on the market today. Maybe they, like me, are too damn scared to play games like 'Silent Hill 2' for more than 15 minutes with the light out, whatever masterful level of its artistry (hats off to those guys for resurrecting horror!). Maybe adventure gamers resent action gamers for their quick reflexes and stout hearts. Maybe adventure gamers should just all hold hands and say a brief eulogy for all the strained thumbs, blood-blisters and RSI they have suffered in the past at the hands (or controls) of an endless train of platformers, shooters, beat-em-ups and hack'n'slashers.

To those who point to action-adventures as failures (and I know they look to games I enjoyed like 'Omikron: The Nomad Soul' and GK3, not to mention classic SCUMMers like 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'), I think they should just remember the worst scenes in TLJ (and don't worry, they by no means spoiled it - they were just a little thin): the combat scenes involving the Gribbler, the mutant, and Gordon and Adrian. TLJ was a great game, period. It's combat scenes, however, are in serious need of surgery.

We need people like you (and Jane Jensen, and Ron-where did he go?-Gilbert) to push the boundaries; people who are writers and artists, and we can trust. People who should, in the words of the Isley Bros, Public Enemy, Homer Simpson and countless others: "Fight the Power!"

Yours faithfully,
Andrew.

Good stuff, Andrew. Don't worry, TLJ.s won't make your thumbs blister or your wrists swell like some of those other games out there (you know who you are, and you should be ashamed of yourselves). Quick reflexes and hand-eye coordination worthy of Miyagi-san himself are all well and good for the kids, but they say the noggin is our biggest muscle (or maybe the heart - I can't remember), and the game will have plenty of noggin-action (there's a genre for you), so us old fogies will be all right.

And yup, those "action" sequences - and I mean that in the broadest sense of the word - in the first game were pretty dismal. Seriously, did anyone actually think that the Gribbler would pounce on April? And the less said about the bumbling, slow-witted mutant (also known as Mr. Comic Relief), the better. Sad stuff indeed.  ¶ 18:50   

  Wonders never cease. Both Terminator 3 and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are getting positive buzz, and the latest 'LXG' (groan) trailer is quite cool. Check it out. It's got a totally different vibe from the rather excellent graphic novel, but I won't hold that against it...yet.

The fact that T3 is buzzing positively, however, is almost shockingly surprising. The first trailer was dire, and little I've seen so far has excited me, but the reviews are cautiously positive, and the word is good. Not great, but good. Fingers and toes are crossed, and maybe these movies will rescue what has, so far, been an average movie summer.

Saw Treasure Planet yesterday, by the way, and aside from Glen Keane's Long John Silver, there was nothing spectacular about it. Quite good, but also quite forgettable - a minor Disney movie, then.  ¶ 18:19   

  Noticed that you were commenting on the various platforms that TLJ.s may or may not be on. Windows XP and some game consoles seemed to be high on the list, and W2K not so high. Now, there are plenty of games out there that work equally well on Windows 98/2000/XP so why not TLJ.s? If game consoles are on the target list I would expect your programmers to be developing the game core much like an onion, with the deeper levels being very transportable and only the outer layer or two being platform-centric. One properly done interface layer should be able to work with all current versions of Windows. One a side note, Windows 2000 SP4, just released, seems to have fixed a lot of game-related problems that had plagued that platform. TLJ, for example, no longer stutters dialog and runs very smoothly on my high-end AMD system (it still stutters on fast Win98 hardware).

Seeing as how it'll be a couple of years before the game hits the market you might also want to target Linux. I use it now for most Internet activity from my home and having some -real- games on it would keep me away from the Windows boxes even more. And who know? Two years from now Linux may be 15-20% of the home PC market.

That's what they said about Linux two years ago. And two years before that. But your point is valid, and of course our programmers will do their best to make the game as compatible as possible for Windows users. It's probably more a question of Microsoft's support of their older operating systems - through new versions of DirectX, for example - as well as the individual hardware manufacturers' drivers. Whether or not we'll support Linux (or the Mac) is another question entirely, and I can't answer that.

Good to hear that TLJ is finally stutter-free on your system. That was one of the few major technical issues players had with the game, particularly since TLJ relied heavily on voice and music. Expect the next one to do much, much better in that department - with full 3D surround sound and Dolby Digital support (probably). Hurray!  ¶ 17:06   

  hi ragnar

as everyone else writing you I am no exception to the rule. I like TLJ a lot and hardly can wait for the .static

you know, I just want to tell you, that I'm sure there are many adventurers out there (there just *must* be) commiserating with you. at least I am, for one!

you make a statement about future plans and immediately get huge echo in return from people complaining. then you are repeating the same things over and over again, and still there are people complaining and beefing, anxious 'their' game could be something new.

but what the hell!? noone has ever seen anything about how .static will turn out to be! if someone doesn't like it, there's no enforcement to buy. anyway, it is *your* game, you can do with the copyrights whatever you please.

you must truly be a ZEN master. I would not have the nerves to stay calm. I'd say to those ever ranting: "Be patient, wait and see... and be quiet."

I'm very curious what you're working on. whatever it is, I hope windows 2000 will be supported ;-)

greetings

grin

Thanks, 'grin'!

While it's true that we are making the game, it's not just ours - and it certainly won't be after release. It belongs in part to all the fans who have been waiting patiently for the next chapter of the story, and to all those who haven't played the first one, but who will play - or are excited about the possibilities - of the next one. Hopefully neither will be disappointed. (And you're right, no one's seen what we're doing, so it's a little too early to decide the game's going to suck.)

Will Windows 2000 be supported? Seeing as we're a couple of years away from release, chances are that very few people will be running that operating system. But we'll see. Hopefully it will work on as many different PC setups as humanly possible.  ¶ 12:24   

  Hey Ragnar,

Next time somebody asks you AGAIN about the "adventure-action" elements of TLJ.s you should kindly point them over to Ray Ivey's article at Just Adventure.

I already did, in yesterday's post - but I'm more than happy to point it out again.

Mr. Tornquist-

I think that in your arguments with Ray Ivey's definition of adventures games, you're kind of misrepresenting his point -- the definition (which is already pretty damn broad) is meant to define a PURE adventure game, not to be exclusive, just so that we know what we're talking about when someone says something's an adventure, and not an action or strategy or role-playing game. I don't think that Mr. Ivey meant to say that there's anything wrong with blending genres, just that if you are mixing, then you're not doing a pure adventure or strategy or whatever anymore. Thus, the French resistance fighting game would (using Mr. Ivey's definition) not be a PURE adventure, but probably an action-adventure.

Hey, I'm all for inclusiveness, if your definition is to broad, then it loses any practical value. (Of course, whether or not generic labels are of any use at all, and whether the current labels are still relevant as games continue to evolve, is another question entirely ...)

Anthony

While I wasn't really arguing Ray's point (his article was right on the button), but rather stating a personal opinion about the typically strict and narrow definition of "the adventure", I think that your use of the word "PURE" illustrates my point perfectly.

There are very few "pure" genres left. Which is the pure racing game; Gran Turismo or Burnout? They're both racing games, no doubt about that, but they're as different as night and day. One has advanced car physics and realistic driving models, the other has supercool crashes. Both are excellent games, but they appeal to different kinds of racing gamers. There's a sizeable degree of crossover appeal (I, for example, like both), but they're still a world apart.

How about role-playing games? Anarchy Online is very different from Baldur's Gate, which is not at all like Final Fantasy, which again is nowhere close to Zelda - and none of them are in any way comparable to EVE Online, Diablo, or, uh, Disney's Toontown. They're all RPGs, however, and the RPG genre allows for a large degree of variety. Which is why that genre is as strong as it is. There's something for everyone, and no one RPG is more "pure" than any other (although, yes, you'll have people arguing about that as well - some RPGers are more old fashioned than others).

Games are evolving. Sports games have RPG elements; shooters have adventure elements; platformers have strategy elements; strategy games have RPG, adventure, and action elements; and action games have strategy, RPG, adventure, and platform elements - and so on. All of this contributes to a broadening of the genre definitions, a better and more varied game experience, and generally more (and happier) players. What's wrong with that?

Maybe genres and labels are a bad thing. Maybe it's better to focus on the game content, how it plays, what the story is about, the setting, the characters, rather than that single, often superfluous, word on the back of the box that makes some people turn up their noses and put it back on the shelf: "Oh, it's an adventure - that's just a lot of talking and bad graphics, I'd rather play Grand Theft Auto. Again."

Genreism is generally a Bad Thing. It prevents us from experiencing something new and different, from expanding our horizons. In a lot of ways, it's very much like platformism: console gamers who refuse to even look at PC games, or vice versa.

Of course, I'm not saying that adventure gamers necessarily need to start playing sports games - that's a matter of preference. But there must be room for different experiences within the adventure genre. And yes, I do believe that the French resistance fighter game (described in yesterday's post) could be an adventure game, even with the combat elements. It needn't be labeled an "action-adventure" just because it's not "pure".  ¶ 12:14   

  By the way, the looong post below appears as though it was published on Friday: it wasn't. I started writing it on Friday, but it was posted Sunday evening. Just so there's no confusion about that.  ¶ 23:05   

  I‘ll try to keep this as short as it gets. First of all, I‘d like to say that TLJ was the best game I‘ve ever played (and I don’t mean just the best adventure). To tell you the truth, I wasn’t amazed when I heard about preparing TLJ2. I always thought that TLJ was so great, it didn’t need to have a sequel. Then I thought, what the hell, it’s my favourite game, why not a 2nd part?

Maybe because I loved it so much, makes me worry about the stuff I read regarding its sequel. You may say it won’t be an action/adventure but it will still have some action. When I first heard this, I was shocked (maybe most of the adventurers out there had the same feeling too)! I mean, why do this? Is it to attract more gamers? Sure, you will find some action-gamers who might give it a shot. Don’t you think, though, that hardcore adventurers (like myself) will stay out of trouble? As I have seen in many forums, all this “action” stuff has left a bitter taste. Please tell me it isn’t true ‘cause it makes me feel very sad (and I’m 100% sure that I’m not the only one).

The last topic I’d like to talk about is this “never-seen-before-innovative” interface. Many, many adventure games in the past have tried to introduce a “great-revolutionary” interface and guess how many finally achieved their goal? Right, none of them! That’s because the point & click interface used in TLJ was simply the best there is! Why change it then, since it got so many great reviews (always talking about the interface)? I’m not saying that it shouldn’t change with the times, but is it really necessary to change with this sequel? If it doesn’t turn out to be as good as you expect, it may ruin the whole gaming experience (trust me, it has happened to quite a few adventures). And I strongly believe that point & click is not dead!!! There were, are, and will be so many great games that use this kind of interface.

I hope you get my point and understand why I am so hesitant about TLJ2. I also hope that my fears are not well-founded and enjoy the sequel as much as the 1st game. It would be great if you took my thoughts under consideration. I’d be very satisfied if I saw my letter in your site. Otherwise, a reply would be great (I ask too much, don’t I?).

Thanks for writing, John. Now, I don't necessarily disagree with you - your subjective opinions are as valid as mine - but I do have some general thoughts regarding interface and action in adventure games that I would like to share. Feel free to disagree.

Once upon a time, not that many years ago, point-and-click was the innovative new interface. The mouse had just become standard issue for the PC, which opened up for a number of new possibilities. No longer were the designers, or the players, limited to using the keyboard.

I'm quite sure that a lot of adventure gamers complained about this imminent "loss of freedom". After all, they were used to the text parsers of the Infocom games, and the direct keyboard control of the early King's Quest games. Why change something that worked so well in the first place?

Aren't you all glad that someone did?

With The Longest Journey, we were basically dipping our collective big toe in the water. Most of us had played adventure games all of our lives, but we'd never made a proper one. We toyed with some intriguing new ideas regarding interface and controls, but in the end we decided to just "steal" from the best and create a solid, old-fashioned point-and-clicker. It worked well. We were happy with it. And except for a few annoying bits where a different, more intuitive, and more direct control scheme would have worked much, much better, I have no regrets.

Fast forward seven years. With The Longest Journey .static, we're not changing the interface just because we 'feel' like it, because we don't like point-and-click, or because we're 'selling out'. We're changing it because we want to make something that's better suited to the new game. See, we could have made a straight, vanilla sequel to The Longest Journey, called it The Longest Journey II, used the exact same game engine, and had it star April Ryan as she saves the world...again. That's what a lot of sequels do, which is why we're not calling this a sequel. We're taking the concept one step further, continuing the storyline, but making a game that (we hope and believe) will revolutionise the adventure genre.

With everything we've learned since the first game - and we've learned a lot - we want to make something different, something exciting, something new. And that also means a new interface.

Will altering the interface ruin the game? No. Why not? Because we have some excellent designers and programmers who won't let that happen. I won't let that happen. It's my job to make sure that we don't let that happen. We're going to spend a lot of time tweaking the interface and controls, developing numerous iterations, testing it, letting other people test it, until it's pitch perfect.

Have faith in our game-making abilities, and we promise we won't screw it up.

This is all for the PC, by the way, where the mouse will still be the primary - and preferred - input device. You'll still point, you'll still click, but this time around you'll be in direct control of the player character while you're pointing and clicking. Let's call it Point-and-Click 2.0. P&C: The Next Generation.

With the consoles it's actually a bit easier, since the controls will be radically different from the PC version. The dual-stick analogue game pads are perfectly tailored to a third-person direct control adventure game, and we're currently looking at, and playing, a wide variety of console games to find the perfect mix of simplicity and flexibility, and then we'll evolve that into the rather unique interface we're envisioning. (You know you've got a great job when playing PlayStation 2 games can honestly be called "research".)

If I could tell you everything we've got planned for the game (and the interface), I think you'd all understand why we want to, and should, do something different. But that will have to wait until late this year or early next year - maybe not until E3 '04. We want to make very sure that, by the time we demo the new interface, it'll be as polished as a brass pot which has recently been polished and is very, very shiny. But I appreciate your concerns, John, and all I can ask for is patience and trust. I really don't think any of you will be disappointed...unless you can't imagine playing any game that doesn't have the exact same interface as the first one did. Keep an open mind.

Now, regarding action (and open minds): funnily enough, Ray Ivey over at Just Adventure wrote an article about adventure gamers and whiners (there's a connection?). He also came up with this definition of "the adventure game":

ADVENTURE GAME: A computer/video game wherein the gameplay is a mixture of story, exploration and puzzle solving (in almost ANY ratio of the three), WITHOUT containing SIGNIFICANT combat elements.

I disagree.

Okay, I partly agree.

I agree that an adventure game needs a (linear) story, and a significant amount of exploration and puzzle solving. I also believe that a good adventure requires interaction with the environment and other characters, the ability to pick up, examine, and use items, and, perhaps most significantly, a writer/designer created protagonist. In other words, if the player creates her own character, it's not really an adventure; it's a role-playing game. The difference? Mainly character development. There's a very fine line, in my opinion, between adventures and RPGs...and this is it. The idea of a common protagonist with a backstory and an arc is central to the adventure. (Or at least to my definition of the adventure.)

Then there's combat.

I believe that combat is not a decided factor as to whether or not a game is an adventure game.

Certainly, if combat is much more central to the gameplay than exploration and puzzle-solving, then it's not strictly an adventure - it's an action-adventure (which is another hard-to-define genre; it's not all Tomb Raider or Onimusha). But some amount of combat, as long as it doesn't feel out of place, and as long as it has a natural place in the story, can work well in an adventure game (and has, in fact, worked well in many great adventures - Shenmue, for example, or, controversially, Full Throttle).

How much is "some amount of combat"?

If you're playing a French resistance fighter in war-torn Paris, attempting to gather crucial data from the Nazis, I'd expect there to be a bit of combat, and a lot of sneaking around being paranoid about getting spotted. Does that sound like a first-person shooter? What if it's in third person? An action-adventure, then? What if you spend one third of the game speaking with non-player characters, one third solving puzzles, and one third sneaking through shadows and shooting Germans? Is the game, then, only two thirds adventure? Is it less than purebreed, and thus not worthy of the moniker? Who makes the call? You?

Genres are blending. Look at Grand Theft Auto III - which genre does that belong to? Driving? Shooting? Adventure? Action-adventure?

There are still games that can be easily labelled, like Doom III. No one's claiming that will be anything but a purebred first-person shooter. But what about Half-Life 2, where there are multiple solutions to every scenario, and where you interact with people and the environment? Is that a straight FPS? Or a FPS-adventure-RPG blend? And what about the Resident Evil or Silent Hill games - survival horror titles in general - where you spend most of the time exploring and solving puzzles, interspersed with intense and frightening monster encounters? You spend more time worrying about meeting something awful and dead than you do trying to kill it. It's a game about atmosphere and dread...and a whole lot of adventuring. That's not a real adventure, just because you got guns?

It's about time the adventure genre (and some adventure gamers - by no means all) becomes inclusive rather than exclusive. There's room for different sorts of adventures, and different sorts of adventure gamers. Not one gamer is alike in his or her tastes. I am, by nature, pretty open-minded about games, and I'll play anything, as long as its good. I love genre-benders and -blenders. I believe that games are evolving, and the audience with them, and my ambition is to work on games that reflect this. My ambition is also to work on games that reach a lot of players, of course; not for fame and fortune (both would be nice, but we're not quite there yet - and I don't get percentages), but because I'm a storyteller, and I want to use and advance our medium to tell great stories, in a brand new and revolutionary fashion, to a lot of people.

So we're putting action and combat into the game, and slapping on a crowd-pleasing new interface, to sell a lot more copies? No, we're introducing action elements and improved interface and controls to tell a better story, to tell a new story, one that requires new forms of interaction, new gameplay, in addition to the tried-and-true adventure gameplay. Which will result in a better game. Which will reach more people. Which will guarantee the continuation of the story.

If that's selling out, then stick a price-tag on me and display me in the window.

As usual, all of the above views are my own. They don't reflect any official or unofficial Funcom policy, and if you're going to disagree, disagree with me personally. Oh, and if you agree with any (or all) of the above, I'd be happy to hear from you too. In the end, though, we're going to make The Longest Journey .static the way it's been designed, interface and all, and I am very confident that adventure gamers - gamers in general - will, at the very least, appreciate what we're doing, and hopefully also like (and play) the end result...and then wait in breathless anticipation of the next Journey.  ¶ 16:03   

  Star Wars Galaxies went live today, and we're keeping our collective fingers crossed. The genre needs another big hit to bring more players into the fold, and SWG could be the game to do it. I'm looking forward to taking it for a spin. Of course, the new Anarchy Online expansion pack, Shadowlands, launches later this summer, so if you haven't yet started playing AO, now's the time. There may not be any Jedis, but hey, at least there's no Jar-Jar Binks either.

Apparently, phonecam photoblogs is the Big New Thang, which just goes to prove (once again) that I'm always behind the curve when it comes to being with it. Hip. Current. Street. Whatever. I'm tempted to invest in a Sony Ericsson T610, however, just to raise my cool-level a few degrees. (Or lower it. Not sure which it is. As long as the kids don't make fun of me and blow spitballs at me, I'm good.) I'm also a total gadget freak, and though my current mobile is only four months old, I'm ready to break it off and start dating a new model. The T610 would do nicely. I just need a long lost, recently deceased, rich and childless uncle, or, alternatively, a wealthy widow in her late 90s. Hey, you didn't seriously think this gaming gig I got going is doing my bank account any favours? Not so much, no.

Gadgety dreams aside, I'm not putting any more money into mobile phones. As long as I can: a) Talk; and b) Send SMS'es, I'm all set. Anything else is a luxury. In fact, I'd rather invest in a new TV, and the Sony KP-44PX2 44'' rear-projection widescreen set is a tempting sight. TVs are a lot more expensive (and a lot smaller) in Norway than they are in the US - couch-culture hasn't progressed far enough here yet - but this set isn't really that expensive. Compared to, say, a private airplane. I'm thinking about it. My 350+ DVDs deserve a new friend.  ¶ 23:32   

  "Schmoke and a pancake?"

A friend has claimed that I'm incapable of keeping my mouth shut about The Longest Journey .static, despite my many claims to the contrary, and I intend to prove her wrong...right after I've replied to a long and impassioned e-mail I received a couple of days ago from a long-time fan of the first game. (Look for that reply later today, some time tomorrow, or on Saturday - before Sunday, at least.) I feel it deserves an answer, even though it means I'll be repeating a lot of what I've already said here and elsewhere.

Listening to Nils Petter Molvær, enjoying a triple-decker peanut butter sandwich (actually it's gone now, and there's only a fleskepølse sandwich left in my packed lunch), and about to get cracking on some design work. Quiet day today, what with a couple of people on holiday, and no meetings (that I know of). Sunny in spots, quite warm - a fine Thursday.  ¶ 12:30   

  Been playing Resident Evil 0 ('Zero', not 'Oh') quite a bit the last couple of evenings, and although I'm a huge RE fan, I'm getting mighty tired of the banal puzzles and the incredibly annoying inventory restrictions. Sure, you can leave items wherever you want now (instead of putting them into storage crates - what a revolutionary idea), but it's horribly frustrating to constantly have to fiddle with your always-full inventory when you just want to pick up a key. I get the fact that I have to compromise when it comes to firearms - otherwise it'd be too easy, and rather unrealistic - but I can't pick up some lighter fluid unless I get rid of my one green herb? Pft.

Luckily, the save system isn't nearly as frustrating as in past RE games (there are plenty of typewriters, and I have more than enough ink ribbons), but again, hey, time for a redesign, Capcom. A save-anywhere-anytime system wouldn't work, not in a survival horror game, but how about a checkpoint system, like in Halo? Or a save-and-quit function, for when the doorbell rings and you just have to stop playing? People have lives now. It's a new thing. It's not always possible to keep playing for another half hour until you get to the next bloody typewriter.

Irritated now. Yes.

The game is really quite good, though, regardless of archaic game mechanisms and controls, awful dialogue, and lame story. It's incredibly beautiful to look at, it's got some truly scary monsters, and the whole thing just reeks of atmosphere. I just hope they do better - and look up the word 'redesign' - with the fourth one. But, hey, whatever they do, I'll still buy it.  ¶ 23:31   

  You've mentioned that you peruse some fan forums such as those on thedivide.org. I was wondering - do you, as an author, worry about seeing posts from people in those forums speculating on future plotlines (sometimes even writing whole stories!) and having some of that coincide with story lines that happen in upcoming material you publish? There is the potential, down the line, for someone to say "Hey! You stole my idea - I posted that way back in **** on ***** and you read it and used it in your story!" I know many writers are concerned about this sort of potential liability and often avoid reading fanfiction or discussion forums for just that reason. For example - Michael Straczynsky, the Babylon 5 creator, only participated in a moderated forum which his employees had previously cleansed of future plotline posts just to insure no one could claim credit for an episode (or arc) storyline.

Now I worry.

I've already been accused of stealing people's storylines. The good thing about games taking as long as they do, however, is that we have documentation going back years, outlining storylines and game designs in detail long before the supposed 'theft' happened. And since the TLJ.s story is already done, it'll be hard for anyone to claim it's theirs. There are tons of frivolous lawsuits pertaining to the theft of intellectual property, but in most cases they lead absolutely nowhere.

And hey, ideas are cheap. We got more than enough ideas. It's the implementation that matters.

That said, I do try to avoid forum threads that explicitly discuss future plot threads. Why? I don't want to know if someone's guessed what's going to happen in the next game. If that happened, I'd probably feel compelled to rewrite the plot - I'd hate to lose the element of surprise. We're working very hard to make it all fresh and twisty for y'all.  ¶ 18:21   

  It's raining - and yes, I do know that tonight is midsummer night, not Saturday, but who's counting? And, besides, who wants to celebrate anything on a rainy Monday night? Exactly.

's' has a TLJ related question:

Why did Flipper have to die? I was rather amused by the feller myself. He was pretty much the only person that was not written by you. Everybody else had the same little quirks of diction and syntax, except Flipper. I guess he too, to an extent suffered that fate, but it was gentler than in all the other characters. That is not why I liked him, though. Can you bring him back? You're the writer, employ some magnificent deus ex machina. Do something, man. Flipper must live, damnit!

The Flipper had to die because he was a potty mouth. It was God's just punishment. That's why we never use four-letter words, kids! Only infidels and homosexuals say "f**k".

Or maybe he had to die because the story required a sacrifice. What, you'd rather April had died instead? Someone had to die, dammit.

Every single line of dialogue in the game was written by me (good thing I have a co-writer now), including the Flipper's profanity-laden discourses, but the actor, Andrew Donnelly, jazzed it up a bit and did some light improv, with great (if raunchy) results. The reason he sounds a bit different from the other characters? Well, he was an original. Dead now, though. Likely to stay that way, too. Unless I employ some "magnificent deus ex machina".

I have a question about this book..
Was it written in english, or first in norwegian ?
And, anyway, is there a norwegian version ?
I'm studying now norwegian language, but it is just a start, and i'm in search
of intresting books in norwegian now.
I've started to read english version, and thinked of norwegian :-)

Sorry, Stepan - Prophet Without Honour was written in English, and there's no Norwegian translation (nor will there ever be). Not that it helps much, but I believe the book is currently being translated into Russian, and I think there's already a Japanese version out there somewhere - correct me if I'm wrong, people. Good luck learning Norwegian!

Fake or Foto? I got nine out of ten. Good, bad - I'm the guy with the gun.  ¶ 13:51   

  I've kept myself unusually busy today - for a Sunday, that is - and even managed to spend three hours working through the detailed design for the opening twenty minutes of the next The Longest Journey.

More than ever, the player's first impressions are crucial. There are so many games out there, so many choices, that designers have to hook players from the get-go. With TLJ.s, once you get into the story, you'll want - no, need - to continue playing. But before you reach that point, and before you've gotten to know the characters, you'll form an opinion about the game. It's inevitable.

That's why the first game opened with a dream sequence, packing a lot of adventuring and excitement into fifteen-to-twenty minutes...before settling down into a more languid pace. Lots of players made up their minds about whether or not to keep playing on the basis of the prologue - and this will be the case with TLJ.s as well.

So it's my responsibility to make sure that nobody quits playing after the first couple of minutes; that the opening levels are so packed with great gameplay, amazing visuals, funnies, scaries, and story hooks, that everyone keeps playing into the small hours.

And I think that, yup, we've accomplished this. Jolly good.  ¶ 00:08   

  Warm night; the windows are wide open, and there's the faint scent of cigars drifting in from the apartment above me. The streets are noisy, filled with revellers enjoying the long midsummer's night. The sun will turn now, fade earlier, a reminder that, while summer has just begun, autumn is not so far away, and that we need to enjoy what we have when we have it.

Bought the new Harry Potter novel today, even though I've yet to read number four. There were piles of it at the bookstore, and I couldn't help myself. Sheer volume is powerful advertisement. I'll get cracking on Goblet of Fire as soon as I've finished whatever it is I'm currently reading.

Watched Kiki's Delivery Service this evening, a beautiful anime from the hands of Studio Ghibli and writer/director Hayao Miyazaki, the most brilliant living animation director in the world. Kiki is lighter than some of Miyazaki's other movies - Princess Mononoke, for instance, or my personal favourite, Spirited Away - but it's certainly no less entertaining, touching, and magical. Disney has just released a two-disc DVD of the film, and it's a definite must-buy. Heck, get the Miyazaki 3-pack while you're at it, featuring new editions of Kiki, Spirited Away, and Castle in the Sky. If you've never seen these animated masterpieces, you've missed out on a wonderful experience. Buy. Now.  ¶ 01:04   

  Crime and Punishment I just saw El Crimen del Padre Amaro, a Mexican (melo-) drama about an ambitious young priest who is posted to a small village where he soon falls in lust with a beautiful young girl. There's more to it than that - the various failings of the Catholic Church are explored - but the relationship between Padre Amaro and his paramour, Amelia, is the most interesting part of the movie...even though there are aspects to it that are more soapy than dramatic. Still, it's classy soap, well acted, written, and directed, and starring the stunningly beautiful Ana Claudia Talancón (and also, admittedly, the talented Gael Garciá Bernal, last seen (by me) in Y Tu Mamá También). Mexican cinema has become one of the most interesting arenas for fresh and challenging films in recent years, and though Padre Amaro has its share of shortcomings, I won't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Tough day today; a week's worth of work crammed into eight short hours. We all came through, however, and the sense of satisfaction is reward in itself. (Besides, hey, Friday!) I don't want to spoil anything, but I can promise you that the opening fifteen-to-twenty minutes of TLJ.s will be very surprising - and very cool. And I get to play it waaay before anyone else. Wheee! I love my job.  ¶ 01:22   

  Hey, BloggerPro's got a fresh new interface. Neat-o. Of course, there won't be a noticeable difference to my journal, but it's more convenient for me. Which is good.

Bold section coming up, and y'all know what that means. Yup, it's time for reader mail:

Two questions (and I’ll understand if you don’t have time to respond!): Does it ever freak you out to consider the number of people who read your online journal on a regular basis, and follow every in-and-out of your life in great detail? I mean when you go to the gym (on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for an hour, hour and a half!), do you ever wonder about how many people are out there aware that that’s what your up to?! I think I’d find it a little eerie!

Secondly (and I’m sure you’ve been asked this a zillion times over, but I couldn’t find any reference to it), will April Ryan be playing a role in the second game? The first instalment really built a respect for the character on behalf of the player, and an attachment to her little quirks. The Longest Journey, and the way it was told brought her to life in an astounding way, making her by far the most believable game character I’ve encountered.

Second question first: April will play an integral part in the next game. Period.

Your first question is a little harder to answer, but it's an interesting one. I guess I - like most Bloggers - have an exhibitionistic streak (though not a particularly indecent one; I'm not so much with the mooning), but then again my journal isn't as revealing as it may appear.

I rarely write about personal and private matters, for example - mostly because it would be of little interest to anyone who doesn't know me (and even friends and family would find reading about my day-to-day life a rather dull experience). Instead, I focus on material that's relevant to the readers who come looking for news regarding my various projects. Work stuff. Game stuff. Film and TV stuff. Fluffy "travelogues"...stuff.

Some things are completely off limits, of course. I would never, ever write personal things about the people in my life - unless they asked for it, and felt comfortable about it. And my journal is blessedly emotion-free...for the most part. It bleeds through sometimes.

Mostly, though, I don't really think about the fact that lots of people know exactly when I work out, or what I watch on TV or listen to or read, or where I'm travelling. It certainly doesn't freak me out. Maybe it should. Maybe it is slightly eerie to keep an online journal and have lots of people follow your life on a daily basis...

...but then again, I enjoy getting e-mails like yours. I enjoy staying in touch with people who know (or know of) me through my work, even though I do most of the talking. I enjoy the organic nature of a Blog, how it changes through the weeks, months, and years. Most importantly, I enjoy writing it. If I didn't, it wouldn't be here.

(To be continued, I'm sure.)  ¶ 11:29   

  RPG Vault has posted part one of a new roundtable where various online developers, including myself, discuss immersion in MMOs. Vault's roundtables are usually worth reading, and this one's no exception.  ¶ 12:28   

  Monday. Got my coffee (tall latte), checked my mail (also known as 'spam'), listening to my MP3s (currently: a collection of female vocalists from the 90s), and using my pre-ten-o'clock time to browse (news, mostly). Most people on the team (aside from the programmers; they get up early) show up at ten, leaving me a good hour to myself before work begins. On Mondays (and Wednesdays and Fridays) I go to the gym around six, for an hour, hour and a half, and then I go back to the office to answer e-mail, wrap up whatever I was working on, and write...which I rarely get around to doing when there are other people around. The days are crammed with meetings, Mondays especially, and with two big projects on my slate - and a Creative Director position to boot - there's rarely a moment to spare.

I love my job.

Here's Daniel with a question:

I would like to ask ... who will compose the music for TLJ:s. ? The music in original was amazing ... so are Bjørn Arve Lagim and Tor Linløkken in the team again?

We haven't yet decided on the musical direction for TLJ.s, but I can guarantee you that music - sound in general - will be an extremely important part of the game, much more so than in the original. Tor is no longer with Funcom, unfortunately; he is, however, making and selling his own music - check out www.livingdreamtime.org for more information. If you liked the jukebox tracks at the Fringe Café in TLJ, you should definitely get his CD, "Exploring the Water Element".

And here's a very nice mail from Dean:

I have just been reading your Blog. I have to mention how happy i am of your understanding of "what we DONT want", with regard's to action elements of TLJ2. :), i can now relax in the peaceful knowing that another masterpiece awaits.

One other aspect of the game i LOVED was the humour !, you had both myself and my girlfriend at the time in fits of laughter, with one particular anti-social, but oh-so-cool character.

Keep up the good work :)!!!

Thanks, and yeah, absolutely, the action elements in TLJ.s are tailored more to adventure gamers than arcade gamers. The action will be integrated into the game rather than pasted on top of it - as is the case with a lot of adventures - flowing naturally from the story, the characters, the setting, and the (new and improved) interface and GUI. Without the action, we wouldn't be able to tell the story - it's as simple as that.

I certainly don't subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy (we'd still be playing Pac-Man and Space Invaders if programmers, designers, and artists didn't push the envelope or take chances). I want us to evolve - maybe even revolutionise - the genre, and build the best adventure game possible, whilst staying true to the spirit of the TLJ saga and taking the story in the direction it's always been meant to go in.

(I have a feeling I'll be repeating this a lot between now and the day the game's in stores.)

As for the humour, it'll be back. We'll probably be making less with the funny than in the first one, but there will be laugh-out-loud moments.  ¶ 10:49   

  So 28 Days Later was great...and Old School was okay. Not as funny as director Todd Phillips' previous college comedy, Road Trip - one of the funniest movies of recent years - but good for a few laughs. I attended NYU/Tisch at the same time Phillips did, but I can't recall seeing any of his student films or taking any classes with him. The thing with film school is that you always wonder who will end up doing what, who will succeed and who won't (most won't, unfortunately), and it's great - a relief, almost - when someone does succeed...even if you can't remember exactly who the guy was.

Anyways. 28 Days is a brilliantly produced zombie flick, shot on DV, and filled with startling images of an almost deserted, post-apocalyptic England. It's tense, exciting, gory - and it's got the scariest (and fastest) zombies I've ever seen. I now know that there is little as disconcerting as zombies who can run. It just opened theatrically in the US, but you can get it on DVD from the UK if you have a region 2 or multi-region player - I did. Definitely worth getting if you're a horror fan.  ¶ 22:20   

  I get a mountain of e-mail from readers, and for those of you who wonder; yes, I read every single one of them, and I enjoy them all, so keep 'em coming. I just don't have the time to answer every single one anymore, which means that I prioritise the ones that can be posted, and answered, in this journal.

It might be time to compile an FAQ, since the same questions invariably pop up again and again. I'll add that to my Big List of Projects - the infamous BLOP - that keeps growing and never seems to get any shorter. I'm sure you have one of those, too. We all do. I fully intend to check every single box (at least the important ones; the FAQ may suffer an ignoble fate) on my BLOP...before my dying day (in fact, the final bullet reads "Go gracefully with a grin on my face") at the tender age of one-hundred-plus-something. Emphasis on plus.

The first few blips on my BLOP took form disturbingly early - I couldn't have been more than six or seven, maybe younger - and I'm fortunate enough to have been able to check off a number of those early BLOP-blips already. But, like I said, the list keeps growing. I'm worryingly ambitious, and one life is not nearly enough for me. There had better be a few more lives to come, that's all I'm saying, or I'll give the universe a good smacking.

Today, I've decided, I'm going to watch Old School (really looking forward to that one), and 28 Days Later (ditto). It absolutely, positively feels like a watch-two-great-flicks-on-DVD Sunday. I'll get moving on that, then. Yes.  ¶ 15:26   

  I really ought to be outside. It's that most elusive of Norwegian seasons, summer; the weather's warm, the sun is shining, and I'm in desperate need of a tan. Have I ever mentioned that I freckle? I do. Not massively - and not wholly unattractively - but when the rays impact with my pale hide, I start getting all leopard-y with the brown dots. It all evens out in time, but it's rare that I'm actually tanned. I have this whole natural Goth thing going, though I try to avoid wearing all black, hanging around cemeteries, and talking about death.

Enormously tired today. I calculated that, up until Friday, I'd slept an average of four and a half hours a night the past five days. So last night, I fell asleep on the couch watching a Bruce Springsteen docu, managed to drag my sorry self into bed at around two in the morning, and stayed put until after noon. Still drowsy and achy after the sleep-a-thon, though I had some amazing dreams (which modesty prevents me from recapping). Maybe that's why I'm still sleepy.

Been meaning to mention this for a while: The discussions people got going over at the official The Longest Journey forums - specifically in the history/mythology/story section - are really quite interesting, and worth a read. I check in on a regular basis to see if there's anything I can pilfer- I mean, to get a new perspective on elements that I may be overlooking. The next game in the saga will pick up on a lot of the loose threads, and expand both worlds - in terms of history, mythology, religion, culture, science, characters, and so on - and it's very interesting to see what the fans have picked up on, what intrigues them the most, what questions they may have, and what they'd like to see more of. Besides, a lot of the discussions are just fun to read. We've got a lot of smart and crafty fans out there. Lucky us.

The cat's been cooped up in my apartment now for two weeks, so I think I'll drive out to the countryside later today to let her roam free and wild (well, within the perimeter of my family's property) for a few hours. Besides, after breathing nothing but Oslo/New York air the past weeks, I could use some pollution-free oxygen myself. I'll drop by again tomorrow - until then, enjoy your weekends!  ¶ 15:09   

  Home again. I landed this morning and, like the good boy that I am, went straight to work. One tall cup of café au lait later, and I was charged up and ready to wrestle alligators. Coffee is like legal amphetamine, only more intense (oooh, the colours!). Three meetings and eight hours later, here we are. The cat was happy to see me, though I'm not sure she knew I was gone for three days.

New York was good, though brief. I got to meet old friends, do some business, buy some DVDs (it's a disease, I know; I have no money, and yet I can't resist the lures of Once Upon a Time in America, the season four box set of Buffy, The Animatrix, and, disturbingly enough, four more movies. This, mind you, only a few weeks after returning from California with a truckload of DVDs. What all this adds up to, I'm not sure, but say hello to my addiction. Hey, it beats crack.  ¶ 18:34   

  Taking a break. It's been a long day, and it's only three thirty in the afternoon. I was up at a quarter to seven, after sleeping restlessly all night. Meetings until ten, and then a visit to the big licensing show in town...which turned out to be a bust. Not much for me to see there, though I have to go back tomorrow morning. I'm on my way downtown, to the Village, where I lived from '90 to '93, before I moved to the Upper East Side. It'll be weird to visit old haunts - slightly nostalgic and a bit melancholy, considering everything that's happened to be between then and now, personally and professionally. I have to wait for a phone call, and then I'm off to the subway. Ah, the subway. How I missed the heat and the scents...seriously.

As for the city, it feels exactly the same as it did the last time I was here, except there are no Twin Towers and there are more people with cellphones.  ¶ 21:38   

  New York. Got in a couple of hours ago, and was able to skip all the lines at immigration with my shiny new INS fastpass thingy. At the hotel, fresh and showered, and enjoying my dual bathrooms and TVs - this place is bigger than my apartment. It's also much, much cleaner, and it's got a great view of Bryant Park, which my apartment doesn't. I didn't book it, so I don't have to feel guilty about the excess luxury. Heck, I'm as happy as a happy cat. The city awaits me, but I'm a-waitin' for a phonecall - gotta stay put for the time being. The weather's sunny, but not too hot - all in all a perfect day. Flight was great too; two seats to myself, and I even managed to catch some shut-eye.

Feel free to be envious.  ¶ 21:42   

  GSM short message from sms@ragnartornquist.com At airport,leaving in a few.Got a big-huge novel to read and music to last me 8 hrs.Should be a comfy ride.Will post from NYC.


Email: sms@ragnartornquist.com

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  ¶ 10:44   

  Off to bed soon, but thought I'd get one final message in before I fly off and, well, land somewhere else. Right. I might bring my laptop with me - haven't decided yet - and if I do I'll certainly try to Blog from the Big Apple. Problem with laptops is, they're huge. And heavy. They certainly provide a 'top' for your 'lap', but they also provide more heat than the midday sun in Riyadh, which leads to profuse sweating in the, uh, 'groin' area. The 'unmentionable' regions. Which can be rather annoying...and gross.

What the world really needs are laptops that: a) Weigh slightly less than a large American car; b) Which produce less heat than our sun; and c) Don't need to be recharged every six minutes. Towing my Dell along for the ride is like pulling a caravan with a grossly obese family of seven; it'd fit right into a strongman contest in Scotland: haul the laptop from one end of the field to the other. My laptop rarely if ever leaves my apartment.

But I might bring it this time. We'll see.

Right then. Snooze time. Gotta get those Zs in. Need my shuteye. Have a whole bag of tired to empty. Should-

-of for crying out loud, I'm going to sleep.  ¶ 23:56   

  So I find out today that I have to go to New York tomorrow morning, scuppering my extended-weekend plans. Blah. But: New York, wehey! Haven't been back there since, oooh, 1999? Bloody hell; an age and a half. Looking forward to scoping out my old hangouts...if I get the time. I'm only staying through Wednesday, so - barely two days, then. And it's all work, work, work, as usual. Probably won't be able to Blog before Thursday or Friday, but I'll be back, briefly, later tonight, so hang in there folks!

And, oh, to all those faithful fans on TheDivide.org: Of course you haven't been forgotten, and we're not ignoring anyone. I promise that the game will be the adventure you've been waiting for, and more. Don't make up your minds until you've seen what's in store for you! The Divide has kept the TLJ community alive for ages now, and we expect it'll keep doing so for ages to come, or we'll all be very, very cross.  ¶ 21:01   

  Another Blogless week. If blame must be assigned (and it must), blame a) work, and b) the weather. With two humongous (and time consuming) projects on my slate, and very little incentive to stay inside and in front of a monitor after work (sun! grog! pretty girls prancing about!), there's bound to be less Blogging going on. There are limits to how much writing a man can do (at least this man) in one day.

More importantly, there's only so much to Blog about these days. I'm keeping relatively mum on the subject of TLJ.s (the next The Longest Journey, for the three of you who don't know), simply because we're deep in pre-production, and the next time we show anything we want it to kick serious arse and have a huge, huge impact across the board (and it definitely will; you won't believe what's in store for the story, the characters, the graphics, and the gameplay - it really is revolutionary stuff, a true next-next-next-generation adventure, and I'm having the time of my life working on it). As for my second project, that'll be kept under wraps even longer. We showed a bit of it at E3 - only a tiny little piece, only one aspect of a multi-faceted game; a game that will have enormous appeal to adventure gamers everywhere (and which is definitely not just horror-oriented) - and that's about all we're going to show until next year's E3, probably.

So very little work-related stuff to talk about, then, which makes it quite hard to come up with anything exciting to Blog about. Because, let's face it, my personal life is probably no more exciting than yours. Well, okay, I mingle with movie stars and world leaders, and travel the world in my private jet airplane, solving crimes and seducing starlets, but hey! don't we all?

I finally got around to watching the season finale of Angel last evening, and it got me quite excited about next season. A great ending to a solid year, they've also conveniently removed (or so it appears) two of the show's most annoying characters. Cordelia used to be cool, but after her comatose (pun intended) performance this year, I'm only too happy to say bye-bye Cordy. And Connor...when he wasn't glum and bitter, he was just being surly. Not the sunniest of people, that kid, and the show will be better off without him. If, indeed, he stays away. You never know.

Besides, this fall, the Joss is focusing full time on Angel, which means we're probably in store for some yummy goodness. With sugar on it.

I've got a three day weekend ahead of me, and I don't quite know what to do with all this spare time. I'd planned to drive out to the countryside today - fresh air, fewer shootings - but I'll probably do that tomorrow, since I just made plans for this evening. Instead, I'll spend the day walking the mean streets of Oslo...and also do some vacuuming, wash the dishes, do the laundry, and generally make with the busy. Always with the busy.

And as soon as I locate the CD with those damn pictures from California, I'll get cracking with part two. I just have no idea where it is. Straaange.  ¶ 13:55   

  Part two is on its way. It really is. I have to work on it in bits and pieces, see, whenever I have the time - but it will be here soon. Followed, reasonably quickly, one hopes, by parts three, four, five... Most of my projects are long, they're late, but they're worth it.

What am I referring to? If you don't know, scroll down the page until you get to the entry from May 26th, the one with the pretty pictures. Now...read. There you go.  ¶ 22:02   

  I just watched the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The final episode, ever.

Ever.

It hasn't quite sunk in yet, I guess - and yes, it is a big deal. For seven long and important years, Buffy has been one of the few TV shows I've watched on a regular basis - and my favourite amongst those few - as well as a deep well of inspiration on several levels. So yeah, you could say that the finale definitely had an emotional impact. I need some distance before I can write objectively about it, however, so I'll leave my wrap-up and commentary for another day (including the all-important question: was this final season any good?).

Suffice it to say, I'm feeling a bit sad... Hug me. *sniff*

Luckily, I still have two new Angel episodes left (wheee!), and that show has been renewed for another season - a ray of sunlight in an otherwise gloomy TV future. I mean, what else is there to watch? The West Wing, true, but now Aaron Sorkin is leaving that show, which probably means a step down (or two...or three) in terms of consistency and quality. Smallville is great fun, but nothing I'd stay home for. (Of course, I never have to stay home for anything, because I watch all the shows on VCD. I'm smarter than the average bear.) And...nothing else. Is there anything on the horizon that could possibly match Buffy? If you've seen something - or know of something that's in the pipeline - let me know. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I need something to follow.

In other news, this weekend has been hot. Not hot as in happening. Hot as in temperature way up, sunny, blue skies, "too hot for ya?" - that whole thing. Seems that I brought the summer with me from California. Yay me.  ¶ 22:29