Never fear, my friends…Larry Vales: Reloaded is not on hold, or canceled. We just ran into a bit of delay getting the art prepared.

Harry Day (my man with the finger-paint) would prefer to finish something called “school” (whatever that is) before he commits too much time to this. Hopefully we can get some great stuff together over the Holiday break.

Until then, I will start to make serious decisions about which parts are going to which voice actors, so get your auditions in if you’re interested. Let’s say that I’ll start making my casting choices on…January 1?

Yes. Let’s say January 1. You’ve been warned, everyone who hasn’t gotten to it yet…

I was away for a week, working on nothing whatsoever, but now I have returned, and—perhaps—some peeks at the game’s art will soon follow.

My favorite part of flying is when the plane starts to descend, and slowly you see the little houses appear. You might even see some tiny cars driving around or something, and you realize that even though these little houses have little people in them leading their own little lives, it looks like you could just reach out and crush them with your thumb.

Then the plane descends further and the houses get bigger and it looks like you could only destroy them by jumping up and down on them for a while.

Eventually the plane lands, and you decide to use axes and sledge hammers instead.

I’ve gotten a few more auditions since my last post. I’m still expecting many more but—and this is an enormous relief to be able to say this—they’re pretty great, on the whole.

Given the choice I’d like to keep the voice cast down to a handful of versatile actors/actresses who can handle several parts each, but, obviously, we’ll see how it goes. Without question the parts will go to whomever I feel fits the character best.

One thing I’ve noticed is that a few people are keen to take what I’ve written, and add their own punchlines. And I whole-heartedly encourage it. It keeps the game fresh and, hopefully, will allow me to replace some of my bum jokes. In fact, I think when I send out the final scripts I’ll keep key sentences and phrases in bold, things that must be in the final performance for story/puzzle reasons, and allow everyone to improvise somewhat around it.

But we’ll see. I think this will help keep the voice talent enthusiastic about what they’re doing, but don’t worry…it won’t interfere with the overall classic Vales feel. For one I’ll be doing the narrating myself, and since I’m also the writer it doesn’t matter if I improvise–you’d never know the difference. And if an actor has a really great joke in mind that doesn’t actually fit the game (or detracts from it) then it’ll have to go. Or be rethought. Trust me…this will make the game better, but I won’t allow it to become one of the lousier episodes of Whose Sideburn Is It Anyway.

Developments:
– Puzzles are (basically) mapped out and ready to go
– Some concept art should be posted after Thanksgiving. That depends on my artist, naturally.
– Keep those auditions coming. What I’ve heard so far is great…if you sign onto this game, you’ll be working in very good company.

Voice auditions are trickling in…and I have to say I’m pleased with them on the whole. In fact, one of my potential actors…

aww, hell. I’ll be honest…I’ve only gotten one submission so far. But he DID audition for several characters, and it WAS impressive. Not perfect, but damn good, and if even half of my actors turn in something half as good we’ll have a really great game on our hands.

Of course…they still have to turn in something.

So hey, get your stuff in now, while your competition is nil. And while I’m really, really bored at work.

Everybody who emailed me or posted here regarding voice acting should have a helpful Word document in their inbox as we speak.

If you did NOT receive this document, let me know and I will resend it. It’s not too late to apply, everyone…but make sure you inform me of your interest as soon as possible, otherwise all the parts will be cast. And nobody wants that. Especially me. Because then I’d have to go make a game.

If any questions linger that were not answered by the .doc, just post here or email me back and I’ll respond to them as quickly as I can.

Thanks to a surge in potential voice talent, I’m inclined to make some brief notes here.

- Make SURE you email me at chickenbrutus (at) yahoo (dot) com with Larry Vales in the subject line. Posting here that you’d like to voice a character is great…but if I have no way of reaching you, I can’t send you the appropriate materials.

- I was being intentionally vague with the character list so as not to “spoiler” the game. I’ll reply to everybody interested with a more exhaustive cast list, as well as an idea of the type of readings I expect for the characters.

- Feel free to disregard my interpretation of the character’s voice if you feel you can bring something substantial to the part. The great thing about voice acting is that we can bring the lines to life on a whole other level.

- I’ll also send a series of dummy lines to read for casting purposes. These are suggestions only…they don’t reflect the content of the actual game and if you’d rather perform different lines of your own choosing, go for it. Do whatever you think will best convey to me your idea of the character, and the way you intend to perform him/her.

- This job is unpaid! I want to make that perfectly clear. Larry Vales is freeware…and while I appreciate the hard work everybody is prepared to put into this game, the final product itself is its own reward. Sorry…but I don’t intend to charge for it, so there’s no income to split amongst the talent. Of course, it will make for an extremely quirky entry on your resume, and there’s a chance that some very sad individual out there will masturbate to your character. Not that that’s a selling point, but I feel obligated to inform you of that up front.

- The voice acting will come very late in the development process. It’ll come, basically, after the game is entirely built otherwise. This is so I won’t have to round everybody up again because I had a new / different idea which rendered the previous recordings useless. So while I’m keen to get the parts cast, be aware that the actual scripts won’t be coming your way for some time.

- I’ll do my best to email everybody who expressed interest by the end of this weekend, and I very much look forward to the first batch of auditions. I may post some of the more interesting ones here.

…but not the title screen of Larry Vales 3. Or whatever the hell it’s called. But I figured I’d swap out the sweeping Scotish vista for something at least moderately associated with the new game.

I’ve also finalized involvement with a graphic artist and a score composer (talented, lovely men, the two of them) which means the only real involvement I’m still looking for is…YOURS.

Yes, because I will need a small group of dedicated (and untalkative!) playtesters, and also some voice talent to help bring my characters to life. You should a tab to the voice acting page just below my spiffy new (circa 1999) header image. Click there to see this game’s returning friends and to offer me your oral services.

Since I am working with Harry Day in terms of graphic design I probably won’t have much to show off until the game is well under way. After all, I’d hate to have to tell him that a piece of work he did for me is no longer useful because my plans have changed.

“Harry, I really appreciate that 12 minute long sequence in which the hordes of flaming zombies travel through time and assassinate Hitler, but I think I’ve decided that I’ll need a ferris wheel to spin out of control into an orphanage instead.” That’s a good way to lose my artist.

So I won’t be asking Harry for anything (apart from a walk-cycle and maybe a title card or something) until my game design process is essentially finished. Which means it might be hard for anyone to believe I’m working on the game at all.

Hence the following:

Totally the final schematic of the whole game no doubt this is it

This is also why I’m not doing my own art.

There. It’s started. See? No major spoilers there (though, if you could decipher it, which you can’t, there would be a whole lotta teasers), and it’s evidence that I’ve devoted one side of a sheet of notebook paper to the game so far. Which might not sound like a lot, but how much have YOU devoted to the game?

Yeah. Yeah, I thought so.

Also, I’m still looking for voice actors. I’m going to cast them sooner than I had originally planned…mainly because I really, really, really need to be sure I can find a good Larry. So even if you yourself are not interested/able/talented enough to contribute, please tell your friends and see if we can’t make a great casting choice together.

I’ve got big things planned for this game. Stay tuned.

I’ll be posting more about the game’s official story at some point…I’m still working through a lot of it myself…but there are a few things I can divulge right now:

- The game, as expected, will be produced in the format of the classic Sierra adventure games of old.
- There will be an innovative, not-necessarily-linear structure to the game, allowing for a lot of freedom in terms of sequence and puzzle solving.
- A strong mystery element to the game, with a plot that unfolds a little more whenever progress is made.
- Full voice acting for every character.
- A commentary mode that will be unlocked upon completion of the game, allowing the player to make a second pass through the adventure, clicking on special icons to hear background on the puzzles, characters and situations. (With plenty of dips into trivia for Larry Vales: Traffic Division, Larry Vales II: Dead Girls Are Easy and the aborted Larry Vales III: Time Heals All ‘Burns.)
- Plenty of the charm and humor that made Larry Vales a success in the first place.

Larry Vales: Reloaded will be a very different game in some respects, but at its core it comes from the same place as the original classics, and I hope to be able to please its long-time fans as well as appeal to the needs of new, younger gamers.

Also, all of the girls have enormous hooters.

How long has it been that I’ve been breaking my promise of a third Larry Vales game? It feels like it’s been years. Also, it’s been years.

I began development of Larry Vales III: Time Heals All ‘Burns almost as soon as Larry Vales II: Dead Girls Are Easy was finished. The demo—really the first chapter of the game—was released. It promised some improved graphical stylings, a darker approach to storytelling and a floating chicken with no head. That’s as far as it ever got.

For a while I assumed my interest in the project would pick back up. It never did. I’d get emails asking when it would be done. Eventually I started replying to them with a simple “never.”

Now, however, I am going to slightly redefine my answer. But only slightly. Time Heals All ‘Burns will not be finished. A third Larry Vales game will be released instead. But it won’t be Larry Vales III. It’s called Larry Vales III in the header of this page so I can snag curious Googlers, and it will probably be referred to as LVIII by people who like inaccurate shorthand. It’s not exactly a series reboot, but it’s not, strictly speaking, a sequel either. It isn’t really not a prequel. It kind of takes place in the same universe as the other games, but it’s entirely standalone. For the most part.

Obviously this has cleared up any confusion you may have about the game.

It’s called Larry Vales: Reloaded. It’s going to be very funny. It’s not the game any of you are expecting it to be, but it’s exactly what Larry needs. And, at long last, it’s in development.

Bookmark this page. I’ll be posting updates as they occur.