It’s always interesting to me when a classic game gets remade, or when a style of game finds life from a new studio. Take, for example, the point and click adventure of the 80s and early 90s. Titles like Shadowgate, Leisure Suit Larry, and King’s Quest sold by the truckload, and then one day – they were gone. Action-based games took their place, until one day a studio like Telltale game along and brought the genre back to the forefront of gaming, thanks in part to the rise of mobile games. In any case, you can’t talk about those classic adventures without talking about Dave Marsh’s body of work. The original Sherlock Holmes games, Shadowgate, Uninvited and Deja Vu – these were all Dave’s games. And today on Steam, you can get a classic collection called The 8-Bit Anthology which includes Shadowgate, Uninvited, and Deja Vu. We met up with Dave and Farah Nasri of publisher Abstraction Games, to discuss this return to the classics.
Bill: What’s the driving reason behind bringing these games back now?
Dave Marsh: Well, in 2012 I started an indie company called Zojoi and reacquired the rights to all the adventure and mystery titles I worked on in the ‘80s and ‘90s with the sole purpose of either rereleasing them, reimaging them or creating new games based on the properties. I assembled a small team to pretty much tackle them one at a time, starting with rereleasing three of the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective FMV titles with full-screen video. We then kickstarted and reimagined Shadowgate in 2014 and remastered the original Mac and Apple IIGS versions of the MacVentures (Shadowgate, The Uninvited and Déjà vu: A Nightmare Comes True). After that, we started having a conversation with Abstraction about bringing the new Shadowgate to the PS4 and they mentioned the 8bit versions of the games. I got pretty excited about this! After all, it was the fans of the 8bit games that helped kickstart Shadowgate again. So we worked out a deal with KEMCO (who originally did the coding on them) and after that things just seemed to fall into place. Abstraction has done a great great job on these titles!
Farah Nasri: To me, it felt like the perfect moment to bring back some of the best old school point and click adventure games that might have been forgotten by the players. We are in an era where there is a lot of emphasis on high performance and high resolution, and with 8-bit Adventure Anthology: Volume I we are able to show that new is not always better! Make no mistake – even though these are originally classic NES games, they feel everything but old: the funky chip tunes that can be heard throughout the game, the beautiful pillar box pixel art and a variety of different ‘old TV effects’ really give you that nostalgic feeling while the controls and user interface feel really intuitive which makes it feel like a modern game for both console and PC
Bill: Are there any you wish you could have included but weren’t able to?
Dave Marsh: Only Déjà vu: Lost in Las Vegas. That title came out with the original Déjà vu on the GBC. We have talked about releasing that but it will depend on how well this anthology does ?
Farah Nasri: I really want to know what the community would like to see! Since most of these games were released before I was even born I think this is a perfect way for some of the “younger” generation players to get to know some epic point and click adventure games.
Bill: What kind of games do you play today? What drives you in this era?
Dave Marsh: I continue to play adventure, mystery and walking simulator games. I love creating stories and there are some great stories being told out there. Developers like The Chinese Room, Telltale and Campo Santo continue to push the adventure genre in cool directions. When we re-imagined Shadowgate, we specifically concentrated on the story more and pulling the puzzles more into the narrative. It’s a pretty awesome time to be an adventure player with so many great titles being released across multiple platforms.
Farah Nasri: Where should I even start! I graduated with a major in Japanese studies, so I’m kind of a slave to JRPG’s (especially the Tales series). However, if I had to pick two series it would probably be Danganronpa and Dark Souls. I just love the storytelling and character development in Danganronpa and I really dig the art style. The Dark Souls’ series just give me goosebumps when I battle against giant creatures with epic music in the background, and the feeling of accomplishment of finally being able to defeat a boss is great!
Bill: Are you worried about how many folks will just hunt online for solutions to riddles you created decades ago?
Dave Marsh: Not really. In fact, I needed to use a few of those solutions to remember a puzzle or two when I was play testing these new versions lol. The Internet has certainly changed how easily players can get hints on games (I remember players literally calling our office back in the 80’s to get hints!) and I’m cool with that. Adventure games can be quite challenging and finding a solution or two can make a big difference.
Farah Nasri: Basically every game has a complete guide somewhere on the internet these days, so I don’t think there’s a difference if the game was released 30 years or 3 weeks ago. And the real hardcore puzzle solvers won’t need help anyways! I mean, I didn’t look up any guide or asked for help… I was stuck at the first door in Shadowgate for five hours after which I rage quitted the game, but still!!
Bill: Given the Indie uprising on the Nintendo Switch, what are the chances of getting the Anthology there?
Dave Marsh: Right. I’m very excited to see the indie scene on the Switch (SHOVEL KNIGHT!) We’ve talked about bringing the Anthology to the Switch but wanted to get these out first on the PS4, PC and XB1. So, I guess the answer is, we’ll see. ?
Farah: I hope so! I think it would be a fantastic addition to the game library of the Nintendo Switch.
Bill: What did you think of the updated Shadowgate and how it went over with folks?
Dave Marsh: Well, considering we made it we think it’s fantastic! Seriously, we loved re-imagining this title. Shadowgate was the first game I had ever made (along with my biz partner Karl Roelofs). We ported the game (along with the other MacVentures) to over ten different platforms but it wasn’t until I saw some games from the past coming back that I realized how much I wanted to remake it. We didn’t just want to re-release it with better graphics (which are stunning btw). We wanted to have many of the same locations but rework most of the puzzles to make them fit a better story narrative. Rich Douglas knocked the soundtrack out the park and we were able to offer the player a lot of other fun options (like listening to the original chiptunes, old-school and modern UI, multiple difficulty modes, etc.) So, yeah, we love it!
Farah Nasri: I really loved the rework of the original Shadowgate. I took me a while before I realized that it was originally an old point and click adventure game. The artwork is just gorgeous, and the soundtrack really gives the game an extra dimension.
Bill: Will you be making new games now?
Dave Marsh: We’ve been working on a new adventure now for the last three years (using our new 3D engine.) We’re hoping to announce it early in 2018 and release it on PC, XB1 and PS4 later in the year (with a VR version following soon after.) We’ve never taken on something of this scope before so we’re pretty excited about it. Considering we’re a small developer, Valve, Sony and Microsoft have been super great in providing support to us and it’s been a real joy to work on something completely new!
Farah Nasri: We just finished working on the DLC for ‘Ark: Survival Evolved’ for Studio Wildcard, and are working on a PS4 and PC version adaption of the visual novel ‘428 Shibuya Scramble’ from Spike Chunsoft, and some other projects as well. I can’t say too much right now, but make sure you keep a close eye on Abstraction Games!
