DarkStar Developer Jeff Williams On Board to Answer Any Questions

DarkStar Developer Jeff Williams On Board to Answer Any Questions

Interview with DarkStar Developer Jeff Allen Williams
Review of DarkStar




I just finished DarkStar, well at least the good ending, I will go back at go through the others. The game is Awesome in my prejudiced opinion. Prejudice because this is one of my favorite types of adventure games. First Person, Solo Exploration, Sci Fi. & Full Motion Video.

Shuffle together the likes of...

Dark Side of the Moon
Rama
Mission Critical

And sprinkle it with the likes of...

Symbiocom
The Dig
The Arrival
Cracking the Conspiracy
Majestic: Alien Encounter

Then throw in some great FMV cut scenes and some cheese that only the Mystery Science Theater team can pull off and you have DarkStar This is not an interactive movie like some that have been made in the past where the player pretty much sits back and has little to do. This is a full fledged Adventure Game with exploration, discovery, problem solving and inventory. I had a great time saving humanity. Jeff I hope you are working on the sequel right now :-)

This is not a review but if you have any questions about the game or its experience I will be glad to to answer them with out spoiling anything.

GreyFuss how many hours of game play did you have ? You said you got the good ending, so there is more than one ending ? Does the ending depend on the gameplay or do you have choices to make that determine the ending ?

hatshepsut

GF, I take your word that DS is awesome, so if you ever want to let it go (trade/sell) may I be the first to ask for it, please?

I agree, the game is all kinds of awesome. I was particularly impressed with the sound and music.
Though my main computer decided to be smart and stop working, so any progress I made has been lost. I have bought another computer to play it, but am yet to set it up.

Edit: I am also interested to know how the endings come about, and how exactly you know if it is the good ending or how to get it?

AlienBZ it sounds like it may be awhile before GreyFuss is completely finished with DarkStar. You might want to go over to the Game Trading Centre and make a post saying that you are looking for DarkStar

Mullane I'm sorry to hear about your computer trouble. I had some computer trouble not to long ago so I can understand the frustration. I hope you get set up soon and back to playing the game

hatshepsut

hatshepsut wrote:

GreyFuss how many hours of game play did you have ? You said you got the good ending, so there is more than one ending ? Does the ending depend on the gameplay or do you have choices to make that determine the ending ?

hatshepsut

Hats

I am guessing that I had in the neighborhood of 20 to 25 hours of enjoyment saving humanity in DarkStar. There is one part of the game that I was stuck in for a few days that took up a long time in problem solving. I won't elaborate on this area, best if you find and discover its challenge yourself.

I haven't as yet gone back to see the other endings and I don't want to give anything away to spoil anyones gameplay. All I will say it is by choice. When, where or how the choice is made is up to the player to discover.

Mullane wrote:

Edit: I am also interested to know how the endings come about, and how exactly you know if it is the good ending or how to get it?

Mullane

I am not sure I want to give anything away especially about the ending as it most certainly would spoil the gameplay. Kinda like going to the movies and somebody tells you the ending before you even sit down.

I saw an ad for it somewhere and it did catch my attention. Every once in a while I think it's good to try something a little different. The store doesn't seem that busy so hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week.

GreyFuss about how long did it take for DarkStar to arrive after ordering ?

hatshepsut

Hi Camaro

Where you been??? Hangin at JA???

I can't remember for sure and I think I ordered on the weekend but it was shipped First Class and took about 3 days excluding the weekend.

I have just been emailing back and forth with Jeff Williams, the creator, telling him how much I enjoyed the game. He is a fantastic guy.

So he is not to busy to answer emails. That is good to know. Did he give you any more insight or tidbits to the game that he didn't give in the interview? Does he have any plans for another game ? A sequel maybe ?

hatshepsut

I am trying to see if Jeff will stop by to answer some questions.


BTW Lady K

You do know DarkStar is for Mac too...

Macintosh System Requirements:
Operating System: OS X 10.3.9 or higher
Processor: Intel 1.8 Ghz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 14 GB

Take a look at this video of an in game cut scene. Listen to Peter Graves words as he speaks. Has a chilling sense to me since he has passed not to long ago. Death

Have you found your destiny...Is your search over?


For those looking for a REVIEW

A couple of quotes from the review

Quote :

For most gamers reading this though, you’ll find Darkstar to be a return to the glory days of both Adventure and PC gaming. The time when actors like Dennis Hopper and Terri Garr happily did games like these. When Myst sold tens of millions of copies. When people anxiously awaited the next Gabriel Knight title. Darkstar wonderfully captures everything people loved about the golden age of PC gaming but also gives us high definition visuals and fully brings FMV into the modern era.

When all is said and done, Darkstar is one of the best indie games I have ever played in my thirty years of gaming. It’s one of the ten best games I have played in 2010. Most of all, it was well worth the wait and then some. Don’t let this thing pass you by simply because it doesn’t have a multi-million dollar ad budget. You’ve been warned.

It would be great if Jeff stopped by to answer some questions. Thank you GreyFuss

hatshepsut

Hi, GreyFuss. Does the game require any on-line activation or internet connection to play, like Tell Tale's Monkey Island episodes? It doesn't mention anything on the system requirements on the game site.

emmanuel5 wrote:

Hi, GreyFuss. Does the game require any on-line activation or Internet connection to play, like Tell Tale's Monkey Island episodes? It doesn't mention anything on the system requirements on the game site.

Nope...all you do is install the entire game from the 2 DVD-DL's, put the disks back in their box and enjoy the game. No online activation or Internet connection is required. Just like the old days.

Looks like I have some catching up to do

winfrey wrote:

Looks like I have some catching up to do

With the size of your to play pile Miss Winfrey and all that you have missed so far this year....will you ever catch up?

Thank you for your answer, GreyFuss. It's nice to see that the game doesn't bother you with annoying copy protection systems. Now I have one more reason to buy it.

GreyFuss wrote:

winfrey wrote:

Looks like I have some catching up to do

With the size of your to play pile Miss Winfrey and all that you have missed so far this year....will you ever catch up?

nope but that does not stop me from wanting more

hatshepsut wrote:

It would be great if Jeff stopped by to answer some questions. Thank you GreyFuss

hatshepsut

Thank you for the invitation, I'd be happy to answer questions about DARKSTAR The Interactive Movie!

It's good to be here amongst so many fans of FMV and retro adventure.

Hi Paradox, welcome to AP. First of all let me congratulate you on the release of DarkStar. I hope you have a huge sucess with it

As I understand the story John O'Neil has been sent on a mission to save the Earth. However when he wakes up some 300 years have passed. So in order to accomplish his mission there will be some time travel ?

Will all questions like what happened to the ship, the crew be answered with the conclusion of the game ?

Are the puzzles in the game logical ? And do they move the story along?
Are there any plans for another game like DarkStar or a sequel ?

hatshepsut

Fantastic...Hello Jeff and welcome to The Point.

I have a couple of questions about the cast...

First, was the original actress that you picked to play Paige Palmer Valli Dawn Florez? Who eventually played Zoe Palmer Pilot of the Westwicks sister ship Northstar and Paiges sister?

And what can you tell me about this man?