First, some answers and explanations about The Collector

[donroberto]

I have had many inquiries over the years and months regarding the status of The 7th Guest Part III: The Collector. I apologize to those of you to whom I never replied. I was actually awaiting the day I would finally get around to creating a forum in which to address those questions and to established an ongoing dialog with all of you. Well, as you can see, that day has finally arrived.

The Collector has only gotten as far as a game design and story outline. The concept was developed in coordination with Lunny Communications in Vancouver, BC. The main direction was not mine, but I contributed and molded many of the ideas in an attempt to keep within the spirit of the first two titles in the series. The Collector outline documentation can be viewed at http://www.trilobytegames.com/collector/

The rights to the T7G properties are all tied up at the moment. There is no final game design. There are no concrete plans or designs to create and distribute the third game in the series.

I know there has been much discussion on other boards about what this game should be. I invite you all to bring those thoughts here to this forum to share, develop, to continue to extend and expand the dialog.

[SpIrIt]

First things first: Im extremely pleased that youve put this forum online, its a sign of life and it gives me hope for a third part... I really hope you can pull it off to create this game...

Just some of my thoughts:

- The voice of Henry Stauf cannot be that of anyone else than that of Robert Hirschboeck.
- It should be played inside and/or around the mansion.
- The musical score should be of the same quality as that of the original (maybe even done by Team Fat if such a thing is possible)
- Is there any way to contact Matthew J. Costello and/or Craig Shaw Gardner? Maybe they have good ideas for a storyline...
- The puzzles and storyline should be the players main objective (not to many riddles or searching throughout the house)
- Items that should be in the game: The ouija board, The stain glass window, The gandfather clock, The Chapel/Altar and the mouse cursors (skeleton hand, bobbing brain, spinning eyeball and chattering teeth)
- It shouldnt be too modern (by that I mean: the story could be occuring yesterday as well as 50 years ago... no cellphones, PDA's etc...)
- "Ego" can be anyone... Maybe you can even be a ghost, entity, a former guest, a drifter who during the game becomes like Stauf or Stauf's kid sister wich he killed when they where kids (or something like that  )
- It would be cool if the previous guests or murdered children would appear to warn you to go back
- Either a hintbook or hint function or no more AI puzzles...
- Can you maybe do something with Stauf's childhood or familymembers or with the entity that possessed/inspired him in the original game?
- The black cat on the stairs (look closely at the cover artwork for the original, the cat is really there) could be your guide or the one to lure you into the house... maybe he is an embodyment of Stauf?
- It should be a dark game with a suffocating abiance/mood

Please pardon my misspellings... My English isnt that great...

[Peniche]

Hi Bob!
Well, first of all, and once again, it is great to know that you're coming back and that 7th Guest saga is alive and still breathing.

I wrote you an email couple of weeks ago, which I was very pleased to get your answer telling me about this forum.
Nowadays I'm 26 years old, photographer, filmmaker and still a great enthusiast of T7G and 11H.
I've been following the development of The 13th Doll, which for me, is the best proof of how good your games were and also, a great and beautiful tribute to you and all the team involved on both games.
Well. as for The Collector, if it happens it will indeed be a success! I recently bought the old Novel Book of The 7TH Guest and I got a different point of view from the game which lit up again the old flame and made me go back to the computer and play it once again.

Now, I saw the old The Collector trailer (which I posted on Youtube, I hope that is ok) and the only thing that bothers me, is the parts where the player would actually play, such as the part of the labirinth or the Ship. Well, in my opinion, those should not exist. Try to keep the game as it was, just puzzles and a beautiful enviorament , but of course, exploring to the max the power of new technology with massive textures and graphics. I looked for ages for a copy of the 11th Hour for 3DO, but unfortunately I found out that it was never released right?

Anyway, I'll be following this forum and giving my opinion whenever I can.

All the best,

Andre Peniche (from Brazil)
www.flickr.com/photos/311
www.andrepeniche.com
www.gomademascar.net

[donroberto]

- The voice of Henry Stauf cannot be that of anyone else than that of Robert Hirschboeck.

This seems to be popular necessity #1.

- It should be played inside and/or around the mansion.

This seems to be popular necessity #2.

- The musical score should be of the same quality as that of the original (maybe even done by Team Fat if such a thing is possible)
- Is there any way to contact Matthew J. Costello and/or Craig Shaw Gardner? Maybe they have good ideas for a storyline...

I would love to work with Fat and Matt again. They remain good friends, although we are far apart and only communicate infrequently.

- The puzzles and storyline should be the players main objective (not to many riddles or searching throughout the house)

I find this thought to be appealing. I suppose navigation and exploration is "been there, done that".

- It shouldnt be too modern (by that I mean: the story could be occuring yesterday as well as 50 years ago... no cellphones, PDA's etc...)

Yes, it should be timeless.

- "Ego" can be anyone...

The issue of the identity of Ego was a seminal one. We abandoned that with 11H, but that basic concept is worth returning to. I would like the story and the experience to be about self-discovery. Not to sound too pretentious, but at some level, that is what good art is all about.

- It would be cool if the previous guests or murdered children would appear to warn you to go back

I love children. Especially murdered children. 

- Either a hintbook or hint function or no more AI puzzles...

I certainly believe in offering hints and even solutions. A game should never present a potentially impassable roadblock.

I recall putting up some resistance to including AI games. I wanted to keep it pure logic problem solving. The logic puzzles are more like golfing where it is you playing against and solving the problems presented by the course and the elements. The AI games are more like tennis matches where it is you against an opponent. I didn't particularly care to mix the two.

[donroberto]

Andre,

Looking through your photo sets on Flickr. Some very stunning work.

[SpIrIt]

Thanks for your elaborate reply on my thoughts

I wish there was more I could do to help.

Ive tried running T7G via ScummVM and it works like a charm, ive got the music going and everything.
Now im going to try to run it on my Windows Mobile Phone, should work

Btw: its so cool that Stauf himself is on the forum too... it just makes shivers go down your spine

PS: I had to rip the audio files to a mp3 format in order to be able to play T7g via Scumm without using the CD. When I did so Gracenote told me that my version of The 7th Guest was a European version... So my question is... what is the difference between the European and the US version... or are there even more versions that differ (1st "limited" release and later releases?). I own a re-released version, it says "The White Label" on the discs.

Edit: The 7th Guest runs on my phone but it doenst run smoothly, its slow although the game (navigation inside the house and puzzles). Its a problem with processor speed because when the midi is finished playing the hickups are almost over. So my phone is just not fast enough... strange considering the PC I first used to play T7G on... I own a HTC Tytn II by the way... should you want to try this, its probably better if your phone has a faster chip than mine.

[insanelycool]

I was so excited to see that another 7th guest sequel was being developed. Unlike some of the others here I think the idea is sound. I like the new setting of a museum, and the evil of human history. In the trailer I saw what could be seen as some kind of action in a dark tunnel maze holding a sword. We need more like this. In fact the idea of having different modes might be just what the doctor ordered for this game. If you don't like puzzles you can play a more exploratory action oriented game. If you don't like exploring and action then there is a puzzle for every occasion with the second mode. The third mode would prolly be my favorite because we can combine the two together. I think the problem with the first two games was timing more than anything, they were dos based, and that made for a smaller target audience that is computer savvy; and the game market for dos wasn't as widespread and accessable as windows games or console games are today.

Is it out of the question to bring the first two up to date for a windows vista/7 and cross platform console release? I know its hard enough just to design a new game, but I think the first two games would shock people and give them something they may not know even existed. I wasn't very big on puzzles until I had the pleasure and excitement of finishing a few of them from T7G.