SCI Fan Made Games

Davie Jones · Post by **Davie Jones** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:54 pm

Dear All!

Since ScummVM is now supporting Sierras SCI Games i am wondering if there are some guys out there who would like to create an SCI Game that could be played with ScummVM. Some of you might already know that there is a SCI IDE out there called "SCI Companion" which is capable of creating SCI "old school" games (no VGA support). Some time ago i was wondering if i should start programming a game in SCI but i am neither a graphic artist, sound artist nor a story teller. Therefore i would sorely need help
regarding this aspects if i would start the development of a game.

There is a curious situation. We have a tool to create a SCI Game but noone (nearly noone) is using it. I read sometimes that people are waiting for an SCI IDE that supports VGA Graphics before they would start development but it don't seems like there will be such a tool in the near future.
Nearly noone in the Sierra (AGI/SCI) community created old school SCI Games - neither they used SCI Studio nor the better SCI Companion. Unfortunatly the SCI community is not very active - i am sorry if i am posting nonsense but to me it seems that way. There is not much activity in the respective forums and i don't know about upcoming SCI games exept a few. I also don't know if there are any Tools in active development. SCI Studio was abandoned ages ago and SCI Companion was the last time updated in 2007 (if i remember correctly).

Anyway! I liked the old Sierra Games more than the new VGA Games. If i am thinking about Space Quest III, Kings Quest IV, Larry II, Colonels Bequest and Quest for Glory i could still fall in love with those Games - and that is the reason why i am thinking about learning SCI.

Now my question:
Is there anybody out there who would be interested in developing a SCI Game by using SCI Companion. I am just asking because i wonder if it would be a waste of time to learn SCI. Are there people out there who are interested in creating SCI Graphics for an Adventure game or people who are interested in managing a Game project, or people who would like to write a stroy/storyboard ... to be continued.
If there is nobody it would make no sense to learn SCI.

Neither i want to start a project nor i am going to join a project. I am just wondering if i am the only one who would like to create a SCI Game.

MusicallyInspired · Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:44 pm

You should come join us over at the SCI Programming Community. It's recently come back from nothingness a few months ago and there are a few of us active members there. Perfect place to go to help fellow SCI game developers progress. There are a couple projects actively being developed right now, including my own King's Quest II SCI remake.

As far as graphics are concerned, I'm no artist (or at least I never considered myself one), but a nice way to learn the SCI background design style is to take backgrounds from Sierra's own adventure games and run them in SCI Companion/Studio's picture editor and run through each of the steps. The picture draws before your eyes. This was invaluable to me when I was attempting to create my own backgrounds. You may find it useful as well.

Sadly, you're right about non-existent development tool updates. Brian Provinciano has long since abandoned the SCI scene and gave up on SCI Studio VGA just before releasing the source code so anyone can pick it up and finish it...but nobody has. Troflip, who designed the much superior SCI Companion, also went MIA a couple years ago but left us with an excellent well-polished IDE for us to use, unlike the extremely buggy SCI Studio.

The future of SCI fangames is uncertain, but there are still a handful of us out there and I know I speak for them when I say we'd gladly accept in fellow aspiring SCI game devs to increase our numbers.

Davie Jones · Post by **Davie Jones** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:59 am

Hallo MusicallyInspired!

I knew you would answer my post, but i did not expect that you are the only one! I know about the SCI Community at "Mega Tokyo" and "SCI Programming" and i am already registered there. I drop by every now and than to check if something has happend but i do not participate actively in the forums.
Anyway thank you for your reply. Unfortunatly it is not very motivating to learn SCI if there seems to be no/nearly no interesst in creating SCI Games.
For now i am thinking i will stay with C++ Project - which will probably never be finished. If i am getting sick of it again i might give SCI a try.

I wish you all the best for your Kings Quest 2 Remake! Hopefully i will play it someday and will than decide to create my own SCI Game

MusicallyInspired · Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:49 pm

Well, I'll say this. The community will never grow again if people avoid it because it hasn't "taken off." Hopefully you have a change of heart.

Good luck with your C++ project.

bobdevis · Post by **bobdevis** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 4:15 pm

There is no need to use old tech just because you want an old look&feel for you game.

If your needs are simple, you might like to take a look at making games with javascript+html5.

Being a expert at making complex in-browser stuff will do wonders for your employability too

Davie Jones · Post by **Davie Jones** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:06 pm

@MusicallyInspired

You are right. The community will not grow if ppl avoid it because of any reason.

My reason is simple. I can't and don't want to do all by myself. I wrote this post to check if there are ppl out there how might possibly form a Team and develop such a game.
As you noticed ... there was (exept from your reply) no one who said something like: "I am using SCI Companion to create ..." or like "I would like to do the graphics for a SCI Game but i can't code ..."
If there had been posts like this i would know that it would be possible to build a team to develop a game but unfortunatly there where non.

Now you could say: You are working in your C++ Project as the only one, so why don't you want to work on a SCI Game. Simple ... i started my project about 12 years ago and i am still far from finish!!!
If i would start an Adventure Game i would like to finish it - lets say - within 2 or 3 years. But as the only one it is very unlikely to reach that goal.

@bobdevis
The reason why i would use SCI Companion is because it is "original". Sure i could use "Gimp" to draw an EGA picture and although it might has the look of an EGA picture it would not have the feel of it ... at least not for me.
Regarding the employability ... i am just a hobby programmer. My profession is something completely different!

MusicallyInspired · Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:40 pm

Fair enough.