I just laughed at the irony of tabloids claiming intellectual property, while presenting their stories to be actual fact.The first thing I did in Thimbleweed Park was to tick off a box in the option screen, alongside the regular settings for subtitles and background music, that said "toilet paper over." I did not research any tabloid newspapers since I didn't want to be accused of stealing stories from them. And on top of that it was very funny, I couldn´t imagine Ghostbusters being all serious (I think I´ve read that actually was the plan at some point) so that was a good decision too.Īnd I love that fan site, the front page is great and the "real world" part is very interesting. I think what made Zak special was that while all those things were very present in movies and books at the time most games were either straight up space operas or middle aged fantasy stuff and Zak stood out among all those with a very distinct style. A crew that brings an archeologist on a space mission who can read hyroglyphs and then find out they can breathe inside a big pyramid construction? All elements from Zak. Oh definitly that game came just about the right point in time as the late 80s early 90s for some reason saw a great resurgence of those topics(the Time Life Books came out between 19, the same time all those Lucas Arts Adventure Games and just before the X Files).Īs far as influence goes I know Total Recall is based on an old Phillip K D-i-c-k story, but the idea of a button push filling Mars with air reminds me a lot of Zak.Īnd Prometheus. I think we tapped into something, considering the popularity of X-files!Īnd thanks! If you haven't seen it yet, check out - a fan-created site all about Zaki. Interestingly, for years after completing Zak, while at the checkout stand of the grocery store, I'd see stories in the headlines straight out of the game (or people would forward me stories they've read). I loved books on Ancient Astronauts, and things like that. besides two days of brainstorming with David Spangler up in Tacoma, I looked at other reference info. Zak was a lot of fun, thanks for that! I don't remember these books specifically, but I do know I did a lot of research before diving into the design for Zak. I still enjoy all that stuff but I´m more into James Randi than David Spangler these days. Say David now that I have your attention, something I wanted to ask you like.well almost all my life actually is do you know the Time Life Book series "Mysteries of the Unknown"? I remember my family subscribed to them about the time I first played Zak McKracken and at the time I was blown away because I looked at the books and was like "Wow that stuff in the game all really exists" The X Files and similar stuff was a few years down the road (and I don´t think "In Search Of" ever aired in germany) so those two things simulatously introduced me to all those paranormal concepts. Ron said he didn´t want players to mind too much about saving themselves and consequently I never did and I think it was more fun that way. Originally posted by mfahrnholz:That makes sense, and I think that´s the way it felt to me.
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