manhunter series - what ever happened
The Posting One
designed these two (very weird and almost ahead of their time) Manhunter
games for Sierra back in the early days and then promptly disappeared off
the face of the earth.
the games used the now horrid AGI interface and employed point-and-click
(without a mouse), no typing and a very "myst" like first-person perspective
(all totally foreign concepts to sierra at the time, and something they
would revisit later on to great success... the no-typing point and click
that is.)
these games probably would have been more successful in the SCI EGA days,
which would have allowed more detail, an easier mouse based point and click
interface... but not enough detail where it'd be impossibly gory or goofy
looking with VGA. The idea of using real landmarks in an enslaved future
world (they were set in 2002 and 2003, in new york and san francisco
respectively, i believe) was quite novel at the time. The other Quest games
of the time were better written and sold well, which left the manhunter
games as sort of a forgotten bastard child of sierra. how it even got a
sequel, i'm not sure.
the plot was thin, they left a lot of open story lines and you never were
quite sure what was going on, but the alien menace (the orbs, a bunch of
floating eyeballs) were quite disturbing when i played the games (I was
around 9 or 10 at the time.) they also featured a lot of arcade sequences,
another first for sierra at the time, but probably a mistake. unfortunately,
the second game had a cliffhanger ending, so i'm assuming they were planning
on more. which never did happen.
anybody know what happened to them?
Alan
wrote:
Those games were two of my favorites too. In fact I still have the New
York one. Could be they sold so poorly the designers figured there was
no future in making games, and went to other professions.
I'd LOVE to see a remake of these two, with modern graphics & sounds.
Anyone know what DID happen to the designers?
>AL<
JuntMonkey
The Murrys own a company named Evryware. Evryware made the games, and Sierra
produced them. They have a website:
They're still doing stuff, check out the page. You might also want to try
www.evryware.com/manhunter3. Earlier this year, Manhunter 3 looked like it was
a go...but now there's not even a link to that page from the main site.
They're still trying to get the license from Sierra as far as I know. Also,
interestingly enough, you can contact them at manhu...@hotmail.com. They
will most likely write back to you, I have corresponded with them in the past.
I found out that originally the next game in the series was to be Manhunter 3:
London. I'm not sure if it was creative differences or low sales that
prevented it.
As for Manhunter: New York, I think it is an amazingly great game. I sometimes
like to think of it as the best game ever made - and certainly the best
adventure game ever made. They did a brilliant job of capturing that
depressing, hopeless, and yet somehow strangely appealing feeling, just as
George Orwell did with "1984". Of course, there is a whole hell of a lot of
nostalgia thrown in with my true feelings for the game, but oh well.
Manhunter 2: San Francisco is much longer and harder than part 1. The story
also starts to get somewhat silly...I still like it, but many would be turned
off. And, just like part 1, it ends with "To be continued..."
JuntMonkey
Evryware
Just to set the record straight:
1. Evryware did not leave because of poor sales. Not to brag but...
Manhunter was very profitable and actually was "Game of the Year for 1986".
We are now contacting Sierra about the rights (as JuntMonkey) said, to redo
the originals and hopefully carry-on due to high demand. As little
information as I can give, it will most likely use the Wild Tangent engine
and will be release in small "episodes" (days, if you know the series) and
available for download. The first will be free and the next will be very
cheap, maybe $1 or $2.
2. The Link for Manhunter 3 was taken down because we decided to remake the
originals like I said.
3. Where did Evryware go? We decided to focus on web design and are now also
working with record companies and independent artists.
One more thing, we are looking for modelers, level designers, and texturers
for the game. If you are interested, contact me.
-Thanks
--Michael Murry
--Evryware Inc.
"JuntMonkey" <juntm...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20001124191023...@ng-ma1.aol.com...
Alkis Polyrakis
"The Posting One" <no...@none.com> wrote in message news:NlBT5.37592
> to Dave, Barry and Dee Dee Murray? they (I'm assuming they were siblings)
> designed these two (very weird and almost ahead of their time) Manhunter
> games for Sierra back in the early days and then promptly disappeared off
> the face of the earth.
I don't know the answer to your question, but I agree with you about these
games being great. I think they had really clever puzzles (the arcade
sequences were not funny, but at least you could save the game during them)
and a compelling story. Plus, IIRC, they were the first Sierra adventure
games that had absolutely no dead ends; if you screwed up (say by breaking a
necessary vial) the following message appeared:
To restore would be wise
and we tell you no lies etc. etc.
--
'Error! Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue."
Alkis Polyrakis
Athens, Greece
ICQ #: 10123551
URL: http://i.am/alkis
(Click on the English flag if you're not Greek)