ThunderPeel2001

Rightly or wrongly, I don't think ScummVM has ever been aiming for software preservation in an archival sense. Just look at the UI in LucasArts games running in ScummVM, for example. The "Are you sure you want to win?" pop-up gag in MI doesn't look anything like the original modal window. Nor do any of the save screens (even the really pretty Last Crusade one). But there's also functionality differences: The way you can save any time you like. Or the fact that you have basically unlimited saves whereas you were often limited in early LucasArts games. Then there's all the filters they added to make the games look "better" that have been there since the beginning. Just to be clear, I'm not having a go at anyone who appreciates software preservation. I do too. (Part of me actually wants to sit and listen to the Amiga floppy drive sounds again as SOMI boots up ) I just think ScummVM has always been about getting the games up and running, and less about preserving them. (Personally I wish the "alternate" save windows that tried to preserve the original look in ScummVM hadn't been abandoned, but it apparently has.)

I feel you're being a bit sensitive to this. We have no idea what their plans are, and more importantly we have no idea what any new film might be like. Honestly it just sounds as though her character has worked really well in the new Indy and they're thinking of a spin-off just for her. If that spin-off is great, then what's the issue? I don't care where characters come from, or if they're part of a franchise. Marvel have made 20+ very enjoyable movies. Are they "milking a franchise" or are they making good films? Just look at The Matrix 4. Nobody was particularly excited until they saw the trailer. A good film is a good film. Let's just judge whatever comes on its own merit. Plus Phoebe Waller Bridge is amazing.

Hmm. These are straight up bugs once you look at the code and see what's going on. It's just like when they re-enabled the blocked dialogue tree in Grim Fandango. I think worrying about bugs being fixed is taking preservation to another level ("I want to play the version where I can't ask Domino about his plan!"). You always have DosBOX for the die-die-die-hards who want to see the original versions. I'm glad ScummVM is merging these fixes myself.

And you didn't share the crowd-funding project here? (Or was it top secret?) That's some incredible work! Incredible! (Although I want to nitpick the left side of Monkey Island on the map -- it's what fans do! ) Well done

His work was incredible compared to ILM's. They probably only hired him to stop him showing them up!

I had to dig it out. I love it! It's in keeping with his more recent style, which I like just about as much as his old one.

I opened a bug for this months ago: https://bugs.scummvm.org/ticket/11948 I hope one day someone fixes it. ScummVM is heavily reliant on volunteers, obviously. What they've managed to do is really quite a miracle. Especially with games like Blade Runner where they've added lost scenes and puzzles, etc. But yeah, when you're a die-hard like us, it can be frustrating that things aren't pixel perfect -- even though they have a continuous stream of pull requests, there's endless work to be done! (I have daydreams of finally committing time to the project, becoming an amazing coder, and fixing all the niggling issues that bother me.) I managed to persuade one amazing person to fix the clocktower bug in the CD-ROM version of SOMI. Turns out the CD-ROM version of the game has a ton of weird bugs in it, as if a developer tried to bug fix it by reading the code. That particular one has bugged me for decades. The dev fixed a few more things like this, too: https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/3239 https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/3252 https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/3253 https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/3211 They're a damn hero, I tell ya!

I don't believe it supports Rift (or Rift S). (And Psychonauts Rhombus of Ruin doesn't support Quest II -- so annoyingly I can't play it, although I believe DF/@Spaff are looking into it.) The whole VR space needs some unification really.

Damn. It's already sold out again

Damn. LucasHacks was amazing!

I didn't know this game was popular enough to warrant such attention?

I think there's still time to become and investor, if that floats your boat, too.

With no deadline on when to deliver them. Ha. I can just imagine Ron limiting it to one a day.

Ha. A decent interface for emulators was going to be my second project. Crazy. I can't believe you're making a 2D game engine just to use as an interface Realistically I don't know how much time (or talent for that matter) I could contribute. I am but a lowly PHP web developer with an incredibly intense job and vague aspirations.

Agreed. That's insane. Still by my rough calculations you could do it in five, extremely boring and carpel tunnel syndrome inducing, hours. (I timed myself writing 40 signatures in one minute.) Ron's too smart to agree to something like that, though? Is he going to stamp them or something instead?

Nice! Thanks for the quick history lesson. I didn't realise Disney had cut a deal. They bought spent $4billion and then had to pay extra for the upgrades. Crushing.

Paramount always owned the distribution rights to Indy... did Disney definitely buy them, too? Or just the character and likeness that Lucas owned?

This was going to be my project during Lockdown if I got furloughed... it never happened.

How does anyone seize power in a democracy? By being a populist demagog of course!

I seem to remember that Wolpaw was an employee at Double Fine? One of the first? I'm sure there's account by him talking about the sewage overflowing and how it was too much for him. But I may be misremembering. Either way, he's back at Valve as of Jan 2019. https://www.denofgeek.com/games/half-life-portal-writer-erik-wolpaw-returns-valve/

Ah, so it was only a short-term thing? Interesting.

Yes! All of this.

Does anyone know if Erik Wolpow is still a co-writer? Haven't seen his name in a long time.

Crystal Skull has a totally weird unreality to it. It's not quite fake and not quite real. I couldn't put my finger on what I was seeing... turns out it wasn't (all) a soundstage. They shot on location but augmented it with CGI jungle. Taking real footage and making it look fake. (Lucas's attempt at pushing the technology.) Also, talking about things that didn't work: Cate Blanchett's character. I don't understand how she was so dull and forgettable. I couldn't tell you a single thing about her (it's been a long while since I watched it). There were so many secondary characters and I didn't feel I got to know anyone them. And while I've been dumping on Lucas for pushing for things, I guess Spielberg did get his way too: “What people really jumped at was Indy climbing into a refrigerator and getting blown into the sky by an atom-bomb blast. Blame me. Don’t blame George. That was my silly idea. People stopped saying ‘jump the shark.’ They now say, ‘nuked the fridge.’ I’m proud of that. I’m glad I was able to bring that into popular culture.” – Spielberg

Lucas gave up his rights to work on the fifth movie when he sold Indy to Disney. He didn't have to do that. He could have kept LucasFilm and just shut it down. Of course I don't blame him for not doing that. $1 billion is a lot of money! And he earned it by creating two of the most popular movie franchises in history. As a result we get the modern sequels... but to be honest, they've largely been great. At least in my eyes. Certainly no worse than the video games we've enjoyed over the years, and often better. Personally I'm glad we have them (well, except the last one). Lucas was never going to make Episode VII, VIII, and IX. I would love to learn what his rough plans were though. It would be nice to Lucas and Spielberg to finish off the series, but again, Lucas had his chance. He pushed for all kinds of things that Spielberg didn't want in Crystal Skull. I don't know if you've read Frank Darabont's original script. It had its faults, but it was overall better than what we got in the end. Darabont fought Lucas on so many things, but he lost, too. Lucas is stubborn, which is great when he's right... (Related: Zemekis refused to allow them to redo the special effects for BTTF.) James Mangold is a talented director. Spielberg is Executive Producer. It might actually turn out to be a return for form for Indy... I mean I sincerely hope it is. I'd rather not have another Indy movie I don't feel like watching. And maybe Ford still has some life in him. Fingers crossed!