Matt Charlton

They just don’t make them like they used to.

That’s an overused term by all accounts these days and is often applied to so very many things.  Many of these things are pure nostalgic throwbacks with rose tinted glasses to a “better” time when things were different. 

I think computer gaming is one area where this is a valid figure of speech, for the most part.  I know there are some pretty damn good games out these days across a wide variety of platforms, but something keeps taking me back to the good old days. 

There are some games which I wish we could erase from history, but others where I’m really glad that conservative efforts such as ScummVM are keeping the dreams alive. 

I’ve spent most of this evening playing through Day of the Tentacle.  I remember first buying this from a computer fair oh so many years ago.  The game came with a hints FAQ that was sealed with a sticker to prevent accidental exposure to puzzle hints.  I also seem to remember a lot of fun with the sound.  Back in the days when memmaker ruled and it was all about the first 640kb of RAM. 

You had to have a special bootdisk for games that only loaded your sound card drivers and your cd-rom drive drivers, special autoexec.bat and config.sys, heh that was fun.  Probably explains why I like poking around in a Linux console so much too. 

Today’s gamers never had it so easy with their plug and play technology.  I remember plug and play when we used to call it plug and pray.  I also remember having a PC mag that detailed the upcoming processor technology named MMX (MultiMedia eXtensions).  I think the POD racing game was one of the first games to take advantage of that. 

Heh, that was back when you could have a Cyrix CPU too, wow, memories are flooding back now.

Anyway, Day of the tentacle.  It’s all about the story.  All of those Lucasarts classics – The Secret of Monkey Island, Full Throttle.  Even the non-LA games like Beneath a Steel sky.  I can sit down and play through these games from start to finish and have fun – even though I’ve played the game a gazillion times before.  It’s like watching a really good movie.  An interactive movie.  Where I call the shots.

“if my body were being controlled by some demented, sadistic puppet-master”

Bernard Bernoulli- Day Of The Tentacle

Sure your First Person Shooters are good for a bit of mindless fun (and some are good for thinking fun – bioshock is a thinker for example), but the point and click adventure game is your thinking man’s game.  Where you can take your time to work out just what you need to do with the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle or just who you need to speak to in order to find out the secret of Monkey Island(TM). 

You couldn’t die (for the most part), there was never a case of you doing something so stupid that you couldn’t complete your task) and you could always find a way to get ahead in navigating. 

There’s no doubt that I like a broad variety of games, but these particular ones hold a special place in my heart.  It’s a shame that so many companies felt that the time had passed and cancelled such projects as Sam and Max 2 (which turned into a bunch of episodic games, weren’t a patch on the original though) and Full Throttle 2 (WHY LUCASARTS, WHY????).

Before the PC, I remember having Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island on the Atari ST.  No messing around with memmaker on that system :p

Monkey Island is a particular favourite of mine too.  The first two are probably the only ones written in the true spirit of the whole thing, probably because they were done by Ron Gilbert.  Some of the dialogue in that game is just simply priceless.  Without a doubt the best part of the game for me is when you’re learning the skills for swordfighting. 

Guybrush Threepwood “You fight like a Dairy Farmer”

Scary pirate “How Appropriate, you fight like a cow!”

The Secret of Monkey Island

I remember my dad buying Full Throttle, again from a computer fair.  Back when games came in cd cases inside huge unnecessary boxes.  I miss those things, at least you felt like you were getting something for your £30.  It had a slightly different menu from the push, pull, give, use block I’d been used to, but it worked surprisingly well.  Again, the dialogue, story and gameplay made it an amazing game. 

Ben “You know what’d look better on your nose?”

Bartender “What?”

Ben “The bar” *THWACK*

Full Throttle

We need more games like this back in the mainstream, there’s still a market for them.  The adventure game studio provides an engine with which to build your own games and there are hundreds available for download.  You’ll even find some from Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation fame). 

Some of the games are even worth a play through.  There’s a fan version of an Indiana Jones game coming out (when it’s done, it’s not been in development for quite as long as Duke Nukem Forever though)

I can’t tell if my love for these games stems from me playing them as a child or just because they are so damned good.  I do know the world is a worse place with out them though. 

This has been my first decent content post for a while, I missed writing, hopefully it won’t be too much longer before my next post

Come back point ‘n’ click adventure games, we miss you dearly.

This was going to be my Dear Santa letter – I was going to save it in draft, but I started to reminisce, so I’ll sort out my Christmas list in another post. 

This will be my 27th Christmas.  I know as the years have gone on, Christmas has felt less and less like it used to do.  I mean – we can’t carry on coming down the stairs to piles of presents laid out by our parents now can we?  I do miss the safety gate at the top of the stairs though.  Dad going down to check if “Santa had been”.  Then the mad rush as the four of us tried to get to the bottom of the stairs as quickly as possible. 

I wouldn’t mind digging out those camcorder tapes actually, it’d be nice to watch my reaction as I got the various bits and pieces. 

I remember Christmas mornings filled withsetting up board games (sticking stickers on things, putting batteries in things, building things).  I remember (and I’ll admit to) playing Mall Madness with my sisters.  that was a cool game.  Dreamphonewas very, very gay though.  That was where you had a phone and a bunch of cards with pictures of boys who may or may not fancy you and you had to phone them.  When you found the one that did fancy you it said “You’re right! I like you”.  Errugh.. It’s disturbing on so many levels. 

You can’t get lego like you used to either.  I had a fantastic castle, a really good fire station too.  It’s not even as though it’s just me getting older – I’ve looked, the lego that you get today is shite in comparison.  I’ve found that with a lot of the things we grew up with.  Take the Millennium Falcon.  The original one released in the 80s was miles and miles ahead in build quality.  Back then you could get a proper toy. 

I need to get hold of an Argos catalogue and have a look through.  I used to love doing that as a kid.  Whether or not there will be anything in there that I want and/or need is another question. 

I nearly bought myself one of those ball bearing Rollercoasters, it’d been reduced from £80 to £52 at the Gadgetshop.  My sensible head told me I’d play with it once and it’d go back in the box, so out of the basket it went.  I hate it when that happens.  Doesn’t seem to happen when it comes to gaming though.  If its gaming related, and I want it, I get it.  Unless its one of those gaming rocker chair thingies.  As cool as they are, I haven’t been able to buy one yet.  I’d have nowhere to put it when I wasn’t using it. 

I used to love Christmas.  I don’t think I ever stopped loving it, it’s just SAD inhibiting all of the joy.  That and Sue working the majority of it in the past put a real downer on it for me.  I can’t even begin to express in words how glad I am to be working at Frog.  It’s fantastic and I really love it.  It’s amazing how much a difference to your quality of life work can make.  This year I can’t wait for December 1st. 

Christmas music is going in the car, Christmas ringtone, watching the Christmas classic films, putting the tree up, decorating the room.  Who knows – I might even send Christmas cards. 

Christmas does change as you grow up, it’s less about the presents you get and more about the presents you give.  Seeing the reactions and smiles on the faces of the people that you love as they open what you’ve bought them.  I guess moving away from home makes it a little harder to feel like I belong.  I lived in that house for 6 years but it feels like I never did, my bedroom was reallocated before I’d even left – but that’s what you get when you have a big family.  And I love them all dearly. 

When you move away from home to start your own family, Christmas becomes more of a personal thing, especially until you have kids.  If your other half ends up working you start to wonder what the point is.  I know I’ve played WoW on Christmas day before because I’ve been back home on my own!

Not this year, we’re going to have the best Christmas ever. 

Santa Claus is coming.

I remember what I was going to write now, I got waylaid talking about video games. 

The biggest problem with SAD is or at least it seems to be getting people to understand.  I know when I mentioned it at work there were a few awkward smile, laughs even – I know when I’ve mentioned it to my mum she’s been like “don’t be silly”.  Its a tricky one.  In the one hand people not realising its a serious problem kinda makes me feel like its not so big an issue, on the other hand it pisses me off when people don’t take me seriously. 

I mean, I can’t control it and I have no control over when and where it seems to affect me.  I can seem fine and dandy one minute, reclusive and withdrawn the next.  Its also hard for Sue to understand.  I mean its not necessarily anything that she’s done that’s upset me or “put me in a mood”, its just something that happens. 

Sometimes I just want to be alone, over times all I want to do is surround myself with friends and good conversation.  I’m funny like that. 

Not ha ha funny.

Its depression, but not proper depression.  Especially not when it’s controlled by the amount of light you’re getting.  I mean I know some people do take pills for it, I know a few weeks ago I would have jumped at the chance of something to ease the numbness, now I’m not so sure. 

I’m going to bed shortly, its not even 8, Sue doesn’t even finish work until 8:30  Its just what I feel like, just feel like lying down, putting a DVD on.

I’m going to finish this post with some lyrics courtesy of Snow Patrol

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?