by Alan Danzis

For a fan of old school Sierra adventure games or full motion video (FMV) games, I couldn’t be happier with the projects happening on Kickstarter right now. Al Lowe bought back the rights to Leisure Suit Larry and is remaking the first game, Chris Jones is looking to make a new Tex Murphy game and the creators of Space Quest and Gabriel Knight franchises both have new projects.

But I want more. MORE.

I’d love if other franchise creators came out of retirement or returned to franchises that had long since moved on from—but fans like me haven’t.

Here’s 8 games I wish would get a remake or a sequel on Kickstarter. Keep in mind: some of these games have gotten fan-made recreations over the years or even iOS/XBOX XBLA ports of their original game. That’s not good enough.

These are the franchises where I’m hope at least some of the original creators or publishers will return to the franchise that made them famous. And show us something new and extraordinary.

(Be careful of spoilers in case you’ve never played the games before.)

1. The Police Quest Franchise

Police Quest was a beloved adventure game series published by Sierra between 1987 and 1993. The first three games were created and designed by former policeman Jim Walls; the fourth game and the eventual evolution of the series into the SWAT franchise was spearheaded by Daryl F. Gates.

The first three Police Quest games starred Sonny Bonds who fought evil drug dealer Jessie Bains. In Sonny’s third and final game, Police Quest III: The Kindred, he fought against a partner with unscrupulous intentions and a connection with Jessie Bains’ brother, Michael Bains. In the end, his partner is killed, Michael surrenders and Sonny’s wife, Marie, is pregnant.

Police Quest appears to be one of the few Sierra franchises that doesn’t have any fanmade projects currently in the works. There’s no proposed Police Quest IV—well, one that stars Sonny Bonds. And no proposed remake of the second game (the first game already had a VGA remake) like many other Sierra games of that generation—Space Quest 2, King’s Quest 3 (actually there are two!) and Quest for Glory 2 all have fan remakes.

Jim Wells could return and do a proper sequel—perhaps we see what it’s like for Sonny to be Chief of Police or maybe even his son or daughter enters the Police Academy. Either way, it would be fascinating to see how Sonny would react and adapt (or not adapt) to the way police work is done today. Not just in a world of CSIs, but a world of cell phones, DNA analysis and more.

It’s time for Sonny Bonds to report back for duty. And if not, I’d love a sequel to Blue Force or Codename: ICEMAN.

(Sources: Wikipedia, Police Quest Omnipedia)

2. The Indiana Jones Franchise

While there hasn’t been a complete shortage of Indiana Jones games in the last few years, the best ones in the franchise were published in the late 80s and earlier 90s and were point-and-click adventure games. The best one was the universally beloved, Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis. It was a completely original story that had nothing to do with the movies. (Though the game based on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade wasn’t bad at all actually.)

To help remove the stain of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom and the Crystal Skull, it’s time for a new Indiana Jones adventure. Besides the solid plot and writing, Fate of Atlantis was notable for the ability to choose between one of three paths, resulting in different branching storylines, cut scenes and more. Like only a handful of games of its time, the Fate of Atlantis offered two additional reasons to completely play the game over again.

It would be great to see a remake for iPad or iPhone – LucasArts did re-release the first two Monkey Island games – but I’d also love to see a new original story. As fun as the LEGO game was, there’s nothing better than an original story like Fate of Atlantis.

If Tomb Raider can get a reboot next year, and Uncharted continues to be a franchise that sells well, the time is right for Indy to make a return. Just not with aliens.

(Sources: Wikipedia)

3. The Carmen Sandiego Franchise

Carmen Sandiego spawned more than 15 PC games between 1985 and 2001, and three television shows. The last game, out in 2001, was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Treasures of Knowledge which abandoned most of the puns from the original games in the franchise and even the kind of gameplay fans were used to. There are more games in the franchise planned, but some focus on math and not geography, what the franchise was originally based on.

While we got a remake of the original game, it’s only available on Facebook and it’s a bit more cartoony than fans might remember. Depending on how sales do – you purchase in-game currency – perhaps we will get a proper PC game.

Because of the longevity of the franchise, it would be great to see a game that spanned decades, starting with the 80s when the games started and ending now in the ‘10s. The amount the world has changed with the fall of Communism and growth of Africa and the Middle East would make for interesting and challenging questions.

Hopefully as an ACME Agent though, you wouldn’t have to deal with Homeland Security…

(Sources: Wikipedia, CarmenSandiego.com)

4. The Lode Runner Franchise

One of the original platform games was Lode Runner and its most famous innovation at the time was the ability to create your own levels—back then, almost unheard of. The original 1983 version has been ported to many next generation consoles such as iOS and XBOX XBLA. The last completely new original game was a 3-D version for the Nintendo 64 in 1999.

One of the most popular versions was a Sierra version – Lode Runner was originally a Broderbrund title – called Lode Runner: The Legend Returns. Sierra even released an online version of the game in 1995 called Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks’ Revenge. The online version allowed two Lode Runners play at once.

Imagine a next generation multiplayer game where the monks were all controlled by other human players. Or, in single player campaign, you strategized to trap the Lode Runner, known as Jake. I mean… after all… it seemed like Jake was obsessed with stealing your treasure.

(Sources: Wikipedia, The Lode Runner Museum)

5. The Wing Commander Franchise

Wing Commander isn’t a franchise that’s gotten a lot of love these days. A terrible film starring Freddie Prinze Jr. didn’t help. Nor did the various spin-offs that have come out over the years, including an XBLA dogfighting game called Wing Commander: Arena.

What I want is a true sequel that’s in canon. You can maybe count Wing Commander Prophecy as the start of the new trilogy, or you can ignore it and make a true Wing Commander V, taking place after Wing Commander IV.

I’m also a sucker for FMV games, and would love if they could coax back some of the original actors—even the Joker himself, Mark Hamill. Wing Commander IV had a budget of over $14 million just for the cut-scenes and nobody makes games like this anymore.

Mass Effect proved a sci-fi story game set in space can work, but it unfortunately never let you get into the cockpit and dog fight. Halo: Reach gave us a decent level, but it’s time for Wing Commander to make a return.

After all, if Star Trek can get a successful reboot that doesn’t ignore all that came before, why can’t Wing Commander? Imagine a Wing Commander V that incorporated time travel…

(Source: Wikipedia, WCNews.com)

6. The Gabriel Knight Franchise

The Gabriel Knight franchise isn’t just known for incredible story-telling in giving us the world of novelist and Schattenjäger Gabriel coping in a world of voodoo, werewolves and vampires; it was also known for being willing to try different graphical concepts.

The first game featured “computer-generated, partially rotoscoped graphics as well as scanned comic book art.” It also employed some very well-known actors like Tim Curry Mark Hamill (of course!) providing the voices. The second game was a FMV game, which was becoming popular at the time. And the third game was in full 3D, which again, was the style at the time. (Unfortunately, Mark Hamill was recast and someone else voiced his character of Detective Mosley).

Original series creator Jane Jensen herself says she’s open to doing Gabriel Knight 4 if her new studio becomes a success. While Activision currently owns the rights to the franchise, as Al Lowe has shown, perhaps Jensen can wrestle them back.

The only question is: what style will Gabriel Knight 4 take on? If today’s popularity is any indication, it’s either a first person shooter or a third person action game.

Which might actually be kind of cool…

(Sources: Wikipedia, Digital Trends)

7. The 7th Guest / 11th Hour Franchise

There are already a few FMV games on this list, but it would be hard to not to include the franchise that actually started the industry. Trilobyte came out with the 7th Guest and eventually its sequel the 11th Hour. It was a puzzle game, but for the first time ever, it included real actors in cut scenes—though in the case of this game, they appeared in front of the backgrounds green-screen-like. (It should also be noted that their 3D at the time was top notch.)

While both games solidly wrapped up their plots, Trilobyte had planned a third game called The Collector, but it never came to pass when there was a fall-out between founders Graeme Devine and Rob Landeros.

Landeros, however, has resurrected Trilobyte and they recently released the 7th Guest on iPad; 11th Hour was planned, but as of now, it has been postponed “indefinitely due to serious technical challenges.”

Using sales of the iPad game and Kickstarter, Landeros could easily bring The Collector back to life.

(Sources: Wikipedia)

8. The Quest for Glory Franchise

Up until a few months ago, perhaps not many outside hardcore Sierra fanatics knew of the Quest for Glory franchise. But thanks to its release on GOG.com recently and the fanmade remake, it’s seen a resurgence as people begin to experience the adventure game RPG for the first time—or the first time in a long time.

We almost didn’t get the fifth and final game in the series, but fans pressured Sierra for too long for them to resist. The fifth game, however, was quite a departure for the series. It went from an adventure game with RPG elements to an action game with adventure elements.

However, many of the beloved characters from other games made a return, and the idea of the Hero competing to be King can be seen as something the games had all been building toward.

At the same time, it would still be amazing to see Lori Ann Cole and Corey Cole to return to their beloved franchise for a sixth game—maybe one that either reboots it, or starts off with a new hero. You could play as their son or daughter, but their DNA would be based on the attributes your hero had, still allowing you to import your character from previous games, as you had always been able to do.

(Sources: Wikipedia)

About the author: Alan Danzis is a senior PR professional in video games among other industries as well as a passionate media enthusiast. You can follow him on Twitter @adanzis.