If you'd been on the design team...

[Arantor]

As much as I love all of the games that ScummVM runs that I've been able to get my hands on (and really adventure games in general) there are things I kind of wish the authors had done differently.

So here's what I would have done differently had I been involved in the games - I'm just curious as to what other people might have done if they'd been involved. Please note, this is simply what I perceive as the weaker parts of the games - they're all still great!

Feel free to agree or disagree - this is just what I would have done.

Zak McKracken
Re-released this one on PC with the FM-TOWNS quality of graphics, possibly a talkie version.

Loom
It's too short. And although the idea of the distaff is pretty cool, there are too few threads, and some that seem just a little too predictable. (Didn't it seem odd that the Dye weave turns things green and no other colour? Until you find the one use for it in the game). Adding objects could have made it more interesting, but probably would have made it worse.

Monkey Island 2
Changed the ending. The whole final scene made no sense to me. Even years later it still doesn't make complete sense why they did that. It just feels so completely out of feel for the rest of the game. Around the same time Indy:FOA and DOTT were in development, and I guess I would also have liked to see a talkie version of this too.

Indy: Fate of Atlantis
The only thing which actually got me about this game was the fact it wasn't Harrison Ford as the voice of Indy. Everything else rocked in this one, even the different paths, which actually works really well, IMHO.

Sam and Max
Actually there are only a couple of minor thing I missed about this one, after reading the comic book - a reference somehow to "Frankenstein rakes" and Fizzball. No Fizzball. No Frankenstein rakes either.

Full Throttle
Although completely in keeping with the style of the game, I guess I didn't like the idea of the "it went wrong so let's wind it back a step" replays. It kept with LucasArt's "not dying in a game" mentality but felt a little too close to Sierra's "die-a-minute" structure.

More of the bike combat might have worked, if only as an additional distraction rather than a required scene (a la Highway Surfing in Sam and Max)

Beneath A Steel Sky
Made the terminal LINC interface a bit more interesting. It just seemed to be leading you in the right direction, rather than being nice and open. For example you can adjust Lamb's account, but you can't examine anyone else other than Lamb or Reich's account. It would have been nice to poke around and get to know the world a bit better. Then again, I guess if the game was already up to 15 Amiga disks it was getting big...

Also, towards the end there is that very time-sensitive sequence below the city - I would personally have made that a puzzle which didn't rely on speed, like most of the rest of the game.

Simon the Sorcerer 1
Reduce the to-ing and fro-ing. There are simply too many locations whose sole purpose is to be walked through. (Yes, I know Monkey 1's forest is like this, but at least that tries to be a maze rather than just some nice artwork)

I still believe a location needs to implemented either because of a puzzle, or a geographic necessity - and not just to look at.

Simon the Sorcerer 2
Ideally I'd have got Chris Barrie back to do the voiceovers for Simon. Worked really well in the first one. And I don't know why, but I just didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one. It just began to grate on me.


And, of course, not strictly ScummVM, but...
Escape From Monkey Island
To avoid the flame discussions, here's what I would have done, in short bullet points:
1. No 3D interface.
2. Different back story for Herman Toothrot.
3. Make the Insult fighting like the previous ones and do some discovery rather than knowing all the answers first.
4. No Monkey Kombat.
5. Rearrange Melee Island to how it is geographically assembled as we can see from Monkey 1.

[Raziel]

Loom
It's too short. And although the idea of the distaff is pretty cool, there are too few threads, and some that seem just a little too predictable. (Didn't it seem odd that the Dye weave turns things green and no other colour? Until you find the one use for it in the game). Adding objects could have made it more interesting, but probably would have made it worse.

It was meant to be a trilogy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loom_(computer_game)) so it became too short because the sequels
went down the drain becasue the original team split up and no other people were there to do them, so they cancelled it. The
game itself is long enough imho.
For an LA adventure (compared to DOTT and Full Throttle) at least.

The threads also were meant to be added in the later games and maybe even expanded, dye to other colors, i.e.

Monkey Island 2
Changed the ending. The whole final scene made no sense to me. Even years later it still doesn't make complete sense why they did that. It just feels so completely out of feel for the rest of the game.

Not here, i thought the final in MI2 was one of the best twists i have ever seen in a videogame.

I thought of it as part one and two being a childs game between the two brothers on a fairground
(plus the fact that Chuckie IS evil )

Of course, thats just mho, but after reading some wiki entries there wasn't meant to be a third part
after Ron Gilbert left - it was said all the threads in the story were tied, so no need for another one.

Of course LA thought, WHOA MONEY, MILK THE COW, and went on with a still good but, in sense of the
series, diminishing part three and a completely kill of the series part four.

btw, you wouldn't need to play through part three if there was a way to get to the part in the fair
where LeChuck starts monologueing ALL of the previous parts, revealing everything - BOOOOOOOOOOOOORING.

That one scene killed the last two parts for me and from then on MI contains of two games, basta

Simon the Sorcerer 1
Reduce the to-ing and fro-ing. There are simply too many locations whose sole purpose is to be walked through. (Yes, I know Monkey 1's forest is like this, but at least that tries to be a maze rather than just some nice artwork)

Again, in a light tone, so please don't get me wrong, but ...

Are you MAD???

The beauty of the surroundings, even when there were screens where one had absolutely nothing to do was
TEH thing that made Simon stick to my mind and maybe will stay there forever. I still remember the first
time playing this gem amongst adventures on my trusty Amiga4000 from floppy disks. I couldn't wait for
the next scene to finish loading, i enjoyed every disk swap and loved the game throughout for as long
as it took to finish it ... pure adventure, pure memories, pure fun

[clem]

Beneath A Steel Sky
Made the terminal LINC interface a bit more interesting. It just seemed to be leading you in the right direction, rather than being nice and open. For example you can adjust Lamb's account, but you can't examine anyone else other than Lamb or Reich's account. It would have been nice to poke around and get to know the world a bit better. Then again, I guess if the game was already up to 15 Amiga disks it was getting big...

Also, towards the end there is that very time-sensitive sequence below the city - I would personally have made that a puzzle which didn't rely on speed, like most of the rest of the game.

I found the game way too short (You only walk down one tower? There are just 3 overground levels on that tower? Only 2, maybe 3 apartments?) The city seemed 'empty', very few people around.

Also the humor was a bit off - some things are quite funny, but later in the game people get murdered in gruesome ways - it just doesn't fit together. The cathedral location made no sense.

I really liked the gfx though and the fact that some inventory items are red herrings and aren't needed at all.

[clone2727]

The game itself is long enough imho. For an LA adventure (compared to DOTT and Full Throttle) at least.

IMHO, I actually think that Full Throttle is longer than Loom. Especially with the whole mine road thing. And, I think that Day of the Tentacle was a good length for an adventure game. Though, I haven't played it in a while.

[Raziel]

The game itself is long enough imho. For an LA adventure (compared to DOTT and Full Throttle) at least.

IMHO, I actually think that Full Throttle is longer than Loom. Especially with the whole mine road thing. And, I think that Day of the Tentacle was a good length for an adventure game. Though, I haven't played it in a while.

Thats what i say

Even the "short" games can take you ages, if you haven't played them once before

[[vEX]]

The game itself is long enough imho. For an LA adventure (compared to DOTT and Full Throttle) at least.

IMHO, I actually think that Full Throttle is longer than Loom. Especially with the whole mine road thing. And, I think that Day of the Tentacle was a good length for an adventure game. Though, I haven't played it in a while.

Thats what i say :-)

Even the "short" games can take you ages, if you haven't played them once before ;-)

Still.. I think Full Throttle was _really_ short, me and I friend finished it in 4 hours during the first run. And that was with a dinner break. Still like the game though.