"Sierra Online founders Ken and Roberta Williams are getting back into game development after more than 20 years to remake a text adventure from 1976.

As Roberta Williams explained to PC Gamer, the two are working on a graphical remake of Colossal Cave Adventure, suitably titled Colossal Cave 3D Adventure. She says that lockdown boredom also got to them in the past few years, and while feeling out a potential book on Sierra's history to fill their time, she says they ended up "looking for something fun to build and I had the idea of paying homage to the game that inspired our company and changed our lives."

Colossal Cave was released a few years before Sierra was formed in 1979. It was a strictly text-based adventure game developed by Will Crowther and later Don Woods, and it went on to spawn and influence a wave of so-called "Advent" games, including Sierra's 1980 release Mystery House.

"It's a far better game than they first realized!" Roberta Williams told PC Gamer. "There is far more to it than they would ever have believed when they started."

For the 3D graphical remake of Colossal Cave, Ken and Roberta Williams, now operating as Cygnus Entertainment, say they're "reimagining" the original for nostalgic fans as well as modern players while aiming for a "family-oriented" game. Its official website describes it as a "fully immersive 3D virtual reality exploration of underground caves" sporting 143 different locations experienced in first-person. It's currently targeting a fall 2022 launch on PC and Mac with Oculus Quest 2 support.

In more modern remake news, we're due for more information on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part Two later this year."

https://www.gamesradar.com/sierra-founders-return-to-game-dev-with-a-graphical-remake-of-1976s-colossal-cave/

2 years ago

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Boredom, weaponized :p
That's one way to pass the time ^^

2 years ago
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That's great, reading the title I expected a point & click remake but this is still cool.

2 years ago
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Maybe if it does well, i hope more plans for them. I dunno why they never tried a kickstarter when it was still populair..

2 years ago
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Before noticing that the remake was graphical, I was wondering what they were going to do. Change the font?

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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Wish I got bored enough to do something productive :)
Brandon Sanderson started writing a bit more than usual, this couple makes a 143 location game out of a 70's text game...
Here I am...drinking more tea than usual.

2 years ago
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Rather pointless if you ask me. You don't really know what it's like to find yourself in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, unless a game tells you that you are. Having to navigate it in 3D is of course a completely inauthentic experience, just ask Patricia Crowther. :P

I also wonder how they're planning on handling the dragon encounter. For those not in the know, in the original game that exchange goes like this (I'll spoiler it, you never know who's still puzzling on it):
> KILL DRAGON
WITH WHAT? YOUR BARE HANDS?
> YES
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST VANQUISHED A DRAGON WITH YOUR BARE HANDS! (UNBELIEVABLE, ISN'T IT)?

I think you'll agree that's inevitably going to lose something in translation.

2 years ago
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