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General discussion (archive)Ask a developer a question: Gabriel Knight(201 posts)(201 posts)
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Posted April 16, 2012
It’s been a while since we’ve had a special interviewee on GOG.com, but whenever opportunity arises, we love to sit down with people behind classic PC games and ask them some of your questions. Today, you have a chance to delve into the process of creating an amazing adventure game like the gripping, captivating, supernatural detective series Gabriel Knight because we have Jane Jensen, series designer and writer, ready to answer 6 questions from the GOG.com community.

Jane Jensen began her career in the gaming industry in Sierra Online, co-writing and co-designing Police Quest III and King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was her first solo game and it was a debut worth the Computer Gaming World's "Adventure Game of the Year" title. The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned followed later and established her position as an acclaimed designer and writer. In 2012, Jane, along with her husband (composer Robert Holmes, who wrote the music for the Gabriel Knight series) formed a new game development studio Pinkerton Road.

What do you want to know about Gabriel Knight series?
Are you interested in the creative process behind creating PC adventure games?
Maybe you want to know more about Jane’s future plans?

Whatever questions you want to ask, now is the time to do so! We’ll select 6 questions to send to Jane along with a few of our own, and the authors of the selected questions will be rewarded with any free classic $5.99 or $9.99 GOG game of their choice. You can submit as many questions as you want until Wednesday, April 18 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Posted April 16, 2012
First of all.... GK is my all time game series.... it's what got me in to hardcore gaming so thank you so much!

So the obvious question is GK4?
If not a game at least write it as a book as was done with 1 and 2?
or were you planning on a new series all together?
finally where are you located and are you hiring?

Thanks ^^

Matt
Posted April 16, 2012
What was your inspiration to make your first game? (Was it a "fist pump" moment?)
Posted April 16, 2012
Why did you choose a career in games? What does it mean to you to be able to write games vs other types of writing careers?
Posted April 16, 2012
How do you work with your inspiration? When an idea occurs to you, do you pursue it immediately, do you write it down, or perhaps let your imagination wander some more? Do you have any favorite "mode" of being creative?
Posted April 16, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed Gray Matter - do you have any plans to revisit the characters of Samantha and David in the future?
Posted April 16, 2012
I'm pretty sure you have a plan for Gabriel Knight 4. Hell, it's even in an easter egg in GK3! My question is: Is the entire story for GK4 ready and what sort of gameplay style did you have in mind for it?

Love your games! In the King's Quest series, KQ6 is my favorite. I actually didn't know you were a co-designer on that game, but now I understand why it's my favorite. Really looking forward to playing Moebius. :-) I really hope you reach your Kickstarter goal.
Posted April 16, 2012
What do you think is the greatest limit of adventure games as a storytelling device, and what is their greatest appeal?

Being both a writer and a designer, what do you feel is the most difficult job between the two? Does it help the development when a single person covers both roles? Did you ever have to sacrifice a part of a story you thought was great, because you couldn't make it fit with the overall design of the game?

Having worked on some "casual" titles, can you tell us what has that experience left to you? Do you think you had to compromise, or did you feel that the final results were in line with your expectations?

You have been in the industry for quite some time now. Where do you think the industry is moving to? Do you like the changes that have happened over the year, for the gaming industry in general and the adventure games in particular?

What's the game that you worked on that you were less satisfied with and why. Same question but for the game you found most satisfying.
Post edited April 16, 2012 by mdqp
Posted April 16, 2012
Gabriel Knight 1, 2 and 3 used completely different technologies: 1 was 2D art, 2 used extensive video and digitized images, and 3 used 3D (which I liked at the time, but many did not).

My question is, after working with three completely different mediums, which one do you prefer? If money were no object, would you go back to the short-lived video era? I realize marketing pressure may have forced design decisions in the past, but freed from that, would you have designed GK2-3 differently?

Jan
Posted April 16, 2012
avatar
dogbus: More than any other time in gaming history, it seems that the early Sierra days were supportive of women with a prominent role in gaming design/development. I can't really think of another company that made its women designers "rock stars" the way Sierra did. Can you talk about the role and freedom you felt you had with Sierra. Was there a recognition internally of the role women were playing in development, or was it all a happy accident?

Thanks
Roberta Williams, for example founded the company.
Posted April 16, 2012
1. What can games bring to storytelling that other mediums (novels, films, etc) can't? What are their strengths?

2. How do you ensure that an adventure game puzzle is compelling and satisfying for the player to solve?

3. What would you like to see the adventure game genre doing more of in the future?

5. How do you design the story for a game? Do you plan it out in advance, and weave in puzzles later. Make it up as you go along?

6. Do you have any regrets about your previous games, things you wish you could've done differently?

7. What do you think was special about the Gabriel Knight games in particular that made them such popular and beloved games?
Posted April 16, 2012
When, if ever, do you think that the average development studio (for PC games) will be routinely able to hire distributors/publishers on their own terms instead of the other way around?
Posted April 16, 2012
1. Who has rights to IP Gabriel Knight series? If Jane had rights would she consider another GK games?

2. since Jane join to 'kickstarter devs' are chances for GK4 bigger than ever? [assuming that JJ have rights to KG serie]

3. i've heard some gossip [years ago] about GK4 setting with ghosts and medieval castles. is there any truth with it? what [other] plans for Gabriel might have Jane?


THX GOG for bringing Jane for 'Ask a developer a question'!

and good luck Jane with kickstarter. i would pay to see another Gabriel Knight.
Posted April 16, 2012
One of the best series of all time!

I replayed GK1 a while ago for the first time in over a decade and noticed many of the puzzles were extremely difficult compared to what we see in games these days. I'll admit I had to check a walkthrough more than once!

What is your opinion on the difficulty of current-generation adventure games compared to the classics? Are there any modern games that stand out for you?

More info on your new studio please!!!!!
Posted April 16, 2012
I noticed your name in the credits for a few casual games I played. Considering the similarities between the two genres, do you think the adventure genre can appeal to the casual game crowd and maybe be revived?
Posted April 16, 2012
What's your favourite game, outside your own creations?

If you could go back and change anything in the Gabriel Knight trilogy, what would you change?

Do you think that gameplay "gets in the way" of storytelling, or do you feel it adds to the experience? Notably, there are usually many complaints about this or that puzzle in adventure games, do you think that plot-driven games can seamlessly include gameplay in them, or there will always be a wall between the two?
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Community
General discussion (archive)Ask a developer a question: Gabriel Knight(201 posts)(201 posts)
(201 posts)