FAQ
Q: Are you affiliated with the people who made the original "Space Quest"-games?
A: Nope. "Vohaul Strikes Back" was made by the fans for the fans.
It has never been the intention of Team VSB to gain money from this project.
The rights to the original "Space Quest"-games are currently owned by Activision.
We can only recommend that you support Activision by buying the original games, and that you send some well-deserved love over to the now-reunited Two Guys from Andromeda, the designers behind "Space Quest", who are now developing a brand-new "SpaceVenture."
Q: Have the Two Guys from Andromeda played your game?
They know of it, but have yet to play it.
Given that it is always difficult to see someone else take control of something you created, the Guys have been somewhat reluctant to check out fangames.
However, we have their blessing, and Scott Murphy has actually stated that he will checking out "Vohaul Strikes Back" and the other fan projects at some point.
Q: Hey, I think I paid money for this game...
A: Then you got ripped off. Due to the nature of this game, it will always remain a freebie.
If you know of anyone profiteering from this, please contact us so we can take action.
Q: Will there be a voicepack?
A: Yes! We are currently working on the talkie version, which will also include a substantial number of bugfixes and other tweaks.
If you want to apply for a speaking role, please read these instructions.
Q: What programs did you use to make the game?
A: For the game itself, we used Chris Jones' free Adventure Game Studio engine.
All 2D animations were done in Flash while 3D animations were done in Maya.
The majority of the music was made with Image-Line FL Studio. Subsequent audio editing was done in Audacity.
For collaboration, we used Subversion/TortoiseSVN, MediaWiki and phpBB.
Q: I'm running another system than Windows. Can I play "Vohaul Strikes Back"?
A: Feel free to try the Linux installer - it was built on Mandriva Cooker. Let us know if there are problems with your version of Linux.
There's also a version wrapped in a Wine wrapper which should be compatible with the Mac.
AGS games have also been reported to run fairly well on Windows emulators on other platforms, so you may have some luck with these.
If you find any other configurations that work well, please let us know and we'll update the FAQ.
Q: Are you the guys who remade "Space Quest II"?
A: Nope, that would be Infamous Adventures.
However, Andres, P.C. and Frederik all lent a hand on Chris' own game "Space Quest: Incinerations."
Q: How does this game fit within the rest of the "Space Quest"-canon?
A: While we would be hesitant to define anything fan-made as being "canonical," Chris Ushko made a nice little chart that describes how we believe the fanmade games fit within the official canon. Beware of spoilers.
Note that this picture was completed before the release of "Space Quest -1", which obviously takes place before all the other games.
Q: How large is the game?
A: It's difficult to objectively measure something like this, but by our estimate it's larger than any installment of the original Space Quest series. The only other Space Quest game we know of that can compete with (or even beat) VSB in that respect is our sister project, "Space Quest: Incinerations".
It's also tricky to accurately measure certain aspects of the game (e.g. What is the exact difference between a playable and non-playable room? What makes two similar death sequences unique?), but here are some of our approximations for what the game contains:
- 90 playable rooms
- 70 speaking characters
- 8000 lines of dialogue
- 7700 sprites
- 50 pieces of music
- 80 inventory items
- 60-70 unique ways for Roger Wilco to die
Q: I'm working on a game of my own. Can I borrow some resources from yours?
A: Depends. We are very much on the fence regarding "ripped resource"-games because ten years of development has led us to believe that fangames get better if you use your own material.
We have lent our sprite of Roger Wilco to the mini-game "The Mysterious Cartridge" as that was created to draw attention to the Two Guys from Andromeda reunion. We are generally not averse to supporting a good cause, so please get in touch with us if you have a similar project in the works and believe we might be able to help.
As for people who use our material without our permission, we obviously cannot take legal action against them. Nor do we really want to.
That said, please consider the alternatives. Get a proper team together and make a product you can be truly proud of instead of stealing other people's work. Trust us - it is worth the effort.