Author Topic: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)  (Read 24410 times)

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Offline JonLeung

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Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« on: June 15, 2012, 08:24:32 am »
I guess this is a little irresponsible for me to mention so late since I'm such a Tex Murphy fan:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/texmurphy/tex-murphy-project-fedora

This Kickstarter campaign ends tonight...sorry I didn't mention it earlier.

For those of you who don't know, the Tex Murphy games are adventure games that take place in a post-apocalyptic world, but with elements of noire.  Each game is full of humour and intrigue.  And puzzles!  The main character is an old-style P.I. named Tex Murphy, who's saved the world a number of times, but is never recognized as a hero, thus keeping him likeable and humble, and eager for the next case.

The games in the series include Mean Streets, Martian Memorandum, Under A Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive, and Tex Murphy: Overseer.  The last three include lots of live-action FMV, with Hollywood talent.  Under A Killing Moon was incredible in its day - with its live-action and three-dimensional first-person adventuring, and The Pandora Directive is my personal favourite with its intriguing story involving the Roswell incident.  Unfortunately, Tex Murphy: Overseer (which was released way back in 1998(!)) ended with a cliffhanger, which hadn't been resolved.

They have reached its goal of $450,000 to make a new Tex Murphy game, BUT if it reaches 130% of its goal ($585,000) the game will have more features!  It's actually kind of close (like 127%, last I checked), but there are less than 16 hours to go as of now...

I know I often say that I love adventure games, but the Tex Murphy games are incredible and among the best.  If you like adventure games at all, you owe it to yourself to play the previous ones, if you haven't!  The fact that a new one is on its way leaves me giddy, so I hope it can be the best it can be and so I mention this in the hopes that it might reach its 130% goal!

Contributing $15 or more gets you the game, which is an awesome deal in itself.  Higher tiers include Tex Murphy memorabilia (novels, posters, and merchandise like shot glasses and T-shirts), as well as credit to download one or all of the previous games on GOG.com.  You really should take a look.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2012, 08:26:10 am by JonLeung »

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2012, 01:16:19 pm »
There's been many Kickstarter projects recently aimed at reviving dead game franchises like Carmageddon: Reincarnation, Shadowrun Returns, Wasteland 2, Double Fine Adventure by Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert (responsible for the best Lucasarts adventure games), Two Guys SpaceVenture - by the creators of Space Quest and now Tex Murphy: Project Fedora.

It's an exciting time for us gamers who remember all these great games but we should still be cautious. So far, no such project as ever made it to completion, much less to the satisfaction of all who contributed to funding them. It's entirely possible that many of these creative teams will grossly underestimate how costly developing and testing these games is, or that they might be great at creation and poor at management.

I personally hope all the projects I mentioned above are not only funded but end up being successful. The best way to avoid disappointment is to start with the idea that any money contributed to a Kickstarter project is lost from the get go. Most funders only think of the reward levels when contributing when in reality, they're actually funding a project that *should* result in certain rewards *if* the project is successful. Real developers have declared bankruptcy before and smaller, less experienced teams certainly could make the same mistakes.

Anyway, while this project doesn't particularly interest me, I did recently contribute to a Kickstarter project that was successfully funded a week ago, namely the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology, whose goal is to mainly to create a special Turrican Soundtrack Anthology CD set by Chris Huelsbeck, the man who wrote the music for the entire series. By the end of the year, my reward should be a 4 CD set of rerecorded & reorchestrated music for the entire series with a USB drive containing recordings of the original music for all the games as well. Being a huge fan of techno music, I can't wait for the result!
« Last Edit: June 15, 2012, 06:05:12 pm by TerraEsperZ »
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Offline JonLeung

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2014, 07:36:18 am »
The game comes out today!  Exciting!  It'll be neat to see my name in the credits...

EDIT: Figures it would take exactly the amount of time between getting home from work and bedtime to download...
« Last Edit: May 08, 2014, 07:44:19 am by JonLeung »

Offline JonLeung

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2014, 07:56:08 pm »
Finished Tesla Effect just now!  (Funny how I hadn't mentioned the final name of the game in this topic...)  Got one ending, apparently there are five...

Hey, that means I get to see my name in the credits a few more times!  Hey, I'm allowed to be excited for the first thing I've ever contributed to on Kickstarter, aren't I?


Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2014, 03:14:02 pm »
Hey JonLeung, since you seem like a long-time fan of the Tex Murphy games, what's your opinion of the modern games i.e. everything except Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum (which are really showing their age and don't really fit with the style of the series anymore)? The whole series is available on GOG.com (my platform of choice thanks to lack of DRM) and the overall positive reaction to Tesla Effect is making me consider trying the series.
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Offline JonLeung

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2014, 07:35:29 pm »
I also have not played Mean Streets (1989) nor Martian Memorandum (1991).  I have them, but haven't really gotten into them.

My favourite of the three before Tesla Effect is easily The Pandora Directive (1996).  I'm a fan of when a version of real-life mysterious events (in this case the Roswell Incident) is part of a fictional story.  If memory serves, it was a fairly lengthy game, and I liked that there were multiple endings.  There was a lot of disc-swapping though, as there are six discs, though I was lucky that at the time I was playing the game I had a drive that could hold four CD-ROMs at once and knew which ones to access, though I imagine that's not even an issue if you're playing an all-digital version now.

Under A Killing Moon (1994) I also liked for different reasons.  Firstly, it actually introduced me to Tex Murphy - while I'd heard of Martian Memorandum, Under A Killing Moon was the first one I played.  It also had a more comedic tone, though at times cartoony (eg. a guy crashing through a brick wall with a hole of their outline, Tex slamming into a wall and briefly appearing flat - both of which can been seen as flashbacks in Tesla Effect).  Conclusion was epic - who doesn't like having an orbital space station blowing up?  And that's not a spoiler because it's in the trailer, which I remember watching multiple times over and over as well as playing the demo before I got the game.  Even the trailer itself is a trip down memory lane, but you can see that the video is amusing in that only the person currently speaking moves at all.  Well, it was twenty years ago...holy crap, twenty years already?

Tex Murphy: Overseer (1998) I honestly don't remember much of at all, despite it being the most recent game besides Tesla EffectTex Murphy: Overseer, though framed between The Pandora Directive and Tesla Effect, the bulk of the actual game is a flashback and retelling of Mean Streets, so you could always play that if you feel you need the "beginning" of the story, though all these games are, for the most part, pretty stand-alone.  I remember enjoying it, but remarking that The Pandora Directive was much better.  I'm sure that, given the limited number of adventure games there are, I would still recommend it if you have the time, but definitely the previous two first.

I guess the games were ahead of their time.  The 3D environments and lots of (almost) full-motion video were a big deal in 1994's Under A Killing Moon.  Even in 1996 when CD-ROM games were the norm most weren't on a whopping six discs like The Pandora Directive.  I remember 1998's Tex Murphy: Overseer having an actual blinking LED right on each box (at the top of the tower) to grab your attention in the store, and was the first game that I'd heard of to be on a DVD-ROM.  While Tesla Effect is maybe not so groundbreaking other than that they boast 2K resolutions, it's welcome in an age of so few adventure games.  I don't know how it compares to my current favourite, The Pandora Directive, mainly because I haven't gotten all the endings yet, but I do quite like it too, if a bit short (which might not be a bad thing if I have to fully replay it for the other endings).

Okay, my answer turned out longer than expected.  In short, the whole series (or at least from Under A Killing Moon onwards) is not a bad way to spend time for any adventure fan.  It's a shame that Tex Murphy isn't seemingly spoken of as much as it deserves, anytime someone thinks of adventure games, it's always Sierra's _____ Quest games, or the LucasArts games.  Those are all good games too, of course, but Tex Murphy has its own charm - and a unique blend of classic P.I./noir with Blade Runneresque future setting, a mix of humour and thriller - that I think needs more recognition.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2014, 04:36:39 pm »
By the way, way-late thanks for the reviews. I thought it would be appropriate to mention that GOG.com is currently having a summer sale, and all the Tex Murphy games prior to Tesla Effect are on sale for another 14 hours. Looks like the perfect time for me to jump in!
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Offline JonLeung

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Re: Kickstarter: Project Fedora (new Tex Murphy game!)
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2014, 12:18:01 pm »
I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and tackle the other endings for Tesla Effect.  I previously said I didn't think it was as groundbreaking  as other games other than maybe having 2K resolution video, but I take that back.  I heard there's an update that will make it work with the Oculus Rift...you know, for the few who have it.

It would be cool if there are more first-person adventure games that make use of the Oculus Rift (or Project Morpheus or other VR displays)...  VR, by its very nature, is first-person, but though it's a good fit, hopefully doesn't just lead to a whole bunch of shooter games (which I already think there are too many of).  Maybe Tesla Effect can lead the way.  When the Oculus Rift becomes available to consumers, that could be a selling point to people tired of shooters...it would be nice to see that there will be more variety in interactive entertainment besides shooting people up.