After nine years of patiently waiting, could it be true? Darkstar finally being released?
MSTies everywhere have eagerly awaited seeing the original cast of their favorite cow-town puppet show in their own, genuine space opera, only to be disappointed by missed release dates for some time now. Some have doubted that the project would ever be completed, but nobody stopped hoping.
While we’re not advocating holding your breath or anything, the newest information is that the project is now content-complete and is in final beta testing in Canada. Once that’s complete in January, it will be in the hands of the suit guys who will figure out when “Darkstar” will be released.
That’s where you come in. The studio would like to gather some information to help them package the product and refine their demographics prior to release. If you need to refresh your memory about the project, check out this brand new trailer. Our pal Director/Producer guy J. Allen Williams also answered a few basic questions on what the lowdown is at this point. You can read them after the jump.
Oh, and this counts as the weekend discussion thread.
Q: Why has it taken so long to get “Darkstar” out to the public?
A: There have been several issues that have caused us to miss self-imposed deadlines. The primary issue is that we just kept coming up with ideas to make it bigger and better, and each tacked on months, sometimes years of production time. We’ve also had technological setbacks with CGI and authoring programs we use that put us behind the eight ball, but in the end these were a blessing in disguise, as ultimately it improved the final product. We’ve been pretty much content complete since the end of ’08, and that’s when we moved into the realm of publishing and legal issues. The crash in the economy has slowed us down a bit, because many of the publishers have no money right now, and others are being very careful about how much they put into third-party productions, and rightfully so.
Q: So it’s definitely coming out.
A: It is definitely coming out.
Q: What is the purpose of the survey you’ve offered up here?
A: Solely to get a good handle on who our demographic audience is. Age, gender, what consoles they prefer, stuff like that. We have decided to release DS first on PC/MAC only, then do consoles later in the year or the next year. There are only five questions, and they will help us quite a bit to put this together the way our demo would want us to.
Q: Where is this survey available besides this website?
A: Darkstar has three basic niche markets that we are very interested in catering to specifically. Obviously this one, because of the presence of Trace, Mary Jo, Joel, Josh, Frank and Beez. Also, the fact Peter Graves is our narrator seems to be of great interest to the Misties. But also there is the RUSH factor, with 24 songs from the band, so we’re working with the RUSH Power Windows site on that end. Clive Robertson, the lead actor in Darkstar has a decent following, so we’re working with his fansite out of Belgium. And there are a few sites out there that cater to this specific type of game project that the survey will appear on. Of course it will be on the Darkstar website for folks that have been following it there as well. This survey is aimed at the core fanbase of a product like Darkstar.
Q: What’s next for the project?
A: The hard part, the business side of things. But that’s well under way, and data from this survey will sure help us out. The easy part was working with an amazingly talented and funny bunch of folks like the ones from Best Brains. It was a true privilege getting to know MJ, Josh, Joel, Beez and Frank. My friend Trace hooked me up with the group, and it’s been so nice working with them. I truly hope MSTies enjoy Darkstar.
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Hey, if they can make this work, get it out, and have people enjoy it, power to them. I certainly don’t have anything against people putting out a product even if there’s just a small group of fans for it. It isn’t my cup of tea, but for the sake of everyone involved and to all the fans, I wish them luck all the same.
It reminds me of some of the games I helped design and create back in the day at LucasArts. Very reminiscent of projects I worked on like “Rebel Assault II” and “Jedi Knight” that contained a lot of full-motion video.
Looks kind of fun. I will definitely check it out when it’s released.
I used to play games, but being poor made me lose interest early on. I still might pick this one up though. It looks sci fi enough for me. Plus the MST connection. I thought I’d post a comment instead of “I comment that I have no comment” that seems to sum up too many posts this time.
@46, Raptorial Talon
““I am a huge dork, but I don’t play video games.
Got to draw the line somewhere.””
“The hell? This is really out of curiosity instead of hostility, but you do realize that there are lots of college-age (and older) jocks and other high-school stereotypes besides “dorks” who now play video games on a weekly basis, right? The old standards about video games being for little kids and “uncool” for grown-ups is melting away as people raised on video games continue to enter the workforce.”
Listen chief, if you wanna play games, cool by me. Don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun. But I gave up the video game life about ten years ago (after being “raised” on them). Too much of a waste of time. I got books to read and music to listen to and, you know, the world to explore and interact with, so, yeah. Gave up the games. Also, I don’t buy the arguemnt that video games are more accepted in the mainstream just because some college aged and work force types still play em. This just proves that these types are stuck in a form of arrested development and can’t evolve beyond what they dug when they were 12 years old. Also, it sounds like you know some pretty dorky jocks. :smile:
Finally, don’t be so sensitive to the term “dork.” If you notice, I used it to refer to myself in my original post. I wear the tag proudly, because the reality is, EVERYONE IS A DORK ABOUT SOMETHING. Star Trek. Comics. Elvis. MST3k. Food. The Bible. Everyone dorks out on something. Even video games.
So yeah, to quote TVs Frank, “LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY!!”
DORK DORK DORK DORK DORK! Man, that feels good.
EVINRUDE EVINRUDE EVINRUDE EVINRUDE EVINRUDE! No, I guess that doesn’t quite work, does it.
“Listen chief, if you wanna play games, cool by me. Don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun. But I gave up the video game life about ten years ago (after being “raised” on them). Too much of a waste of time.”
Oh, hey, I know what you mean there. I cut myself off from nearly all computer gaming (and internet forums) about three years ago, and since I mostly play video games socially nowadays I don’t get wrapped up nearly as much as I once did, time-wise. I’ve got too much else going on to justify that.
“I got books to read and music to listen to and, you know, the world to explore and interact with, so, yeah. Gave up the games.”
One can do both. This I know. ;)
“Also, I don’t buy the arguemnt that video games are more accepted in the mainstream just because some college aged and work force types still play em. This just proves that these types are stuck in a form of arrested development and can’t evolve beyond what they dug when they were 12 years old.”
Gotta disagree there. This stuff is way more mainstream than it used to be. We’ve got whole TV channels revolving around games and other tech stuff now (not that I bother with that, personally), whole circuits of people who play certain games professionally, and in general a huge industry serving the entertainment desires of millions of people. And with stuff like Guitar Hero and a lot of Wii games, whole new demographics that never before participated have been brought into the fold – including a lot of older adults.
Granted, though, childhood nostalgia-ism has also increased, and I know a lot of folks who still like their old-school Nickelodeon and their Disney crap. Me, I don’t buy into that. Most of the stuff I saw as a kid was junk, although it was marginally better junk than much of what’s out there today.
“Also, it sounds like you know some pretty dorky jocks.”
Actually, Halo and other similar games are par for the course for most of the athletic types I’ve met, as well as for the military guys I know (Marines love their first-person shooters, I can tell you). My point is that geekiness in general has become increasingly mainstream over the past decade or so.
“Finally, don’t be so sensitive to the term “dork.” If you notice, I used it to refer to myself in my original post.”
I did take notice. That’s why I made sure to include the line about curiosity-not-hostility, so you’d know I was kind of perturbed but not offended per se.
“I wear the tag proudly, because the reality is, EVERYONE IS A DORK ABOUT SOMETHING. Star Trek. Comics. Elvis. MST3k. Food. The Bible. Everyone dorks out on something. Even video games.”
See, we have a difference of terminology here. To me, those things are *geeky.* Dorky where I’m from has connotations of “dumb, naive, corny, tacky, clueless,” whereas geeky basically means something more like “culturally isolated, cult-classic-ish, stubbornly non-mainstream.”
Where I am, I’m proud to say that I’m a geek, but I’d be ashamed to think of myself as a dork. (“Nerd” is more along the lines of “stuffy, bookish, pedantically intellectual, overly enthustiastic about knowledge,” to cover the third word of this trifecta. I’m definitely also a nerd.)
“So yeah, to quote TVs Frank, “LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY!!””
I hear that.
Kudos to #34 for mentioning Tex Murphy. I always get giddy whenever I see my various, separate worlds of nerdboy fandom intersect in even the most minute of ways.
I’m so looking forward to ‘Darkstar’, though more as an interactive movie fan than an ‘MST3k’ one.
Oh god.. looks like MYST in space, .Its not gonna have a bunch of PUZZLES to solve is it?
the “solving the puzzle point and click went out , what like 10 years ago? when this was concieved!
if i have to go get blue pages and red pages and bring them back to TVs Frank I am going to give them SUCH A PINCH!
wow, just let people do their thing.