Seized by inspiration #1: Ken sent me

Now that the blog is up and running, I'd like to talk about things that inspired (and continues to inspire me) to make this point-and-click game. It's a mini blog series that I'm calling 'Seized by inspiration'.

When I think back to the first time a tiny seed of this project was implanted in my brain, I arrive at a game that was released in the year that I was born. Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. This was my first experience with a graphic adventure. You play as Larry Laffer, a 40-year old virgin. Visiting the city of Lost Wages (a parody of Las Vegas), Larry sets out to find the woman of his dreams. As Larry you could visit many different locations like: a bar, a disco, a hotel and a casino. There was no mouse to click with. Instead, you walked with the arrow keys and typed in the commands that you wanted Larry to do. So I wrote: 'open door', 'pick up rose', 'order drink'. I was just a ten-year-old boy when I played this, but man was it ever exciting. In my opinion just as exciting as action games from back in the day like Commander Keen or Ski or Die. You watched a story unfold. This was a game where I could use my English vocabulary that I learned through watching movies and Cartoon Network. And it paid off, I got really far in the game (although I never beat it). Playing this game felt like the greatest feeling ever. A kid making it through a big city. It was an adventure..

I still hold a great deal of nostalgia for this puzzle-solving DOS game. Now looking back, the game is really not that funny (other games did it better) and it's quite raunchy, which was one of the main selling points actually. Funny enough, I never noticed the obvious sexual themes as a kid. I did always wonder why I had to answer a series of questions to play the game. No age-verification however could stop me from memorizing all the questions and answers. 

What's also really cool is that this classic game will be getting a modern remake through Kickstarter. It's being remade from scratch by the original creator Al Lowe. The game has successfully passed the $500,000 goal, so it looks like Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards Reloaded will see the light of day. I can't wait to play this and lose myself in Lost Wages one more time.