Following Freeware: October 2012 releases

This month you can become a virtual supporter of an independent game project before deciding whether or not to do it for real. Out in space, a strange robotic being attempts to retrieve his rubber duck, and a cyborg seeks to reveal his imprisonment to his companions. Elsewhere, in England you can flee a creature from beyond or in Ireland you can simply look for a lost lamb. On the adventure franchise front, a long-running fan series gets a translation of its 77^th episode and a short series comes to its cyclical conclusion. All these await in this month’s round-up of releases from the freeware scene.
 

Pledge Quest 1: The SpaceVenture Adventure and 2: Noodle Shop of Horrors

A long-time fan of the Space Quest games, Bea is eager to donate to the SpaceVenture Kickstarter project, Unfortunately, a cat-chewed cable and a missing credit card stand in her way. Having resolved these issues, she settles down to a noodle-based lunch with her boyfriend Roger, only for him to suddenly forget all about the classic game series. It would appear the chewed cable was not an accident. Bea’s cat, Vohaul, feels too much of her money is being spent on Kickstarter projects and not enough on cat food and toys, so he has travelled back in time and wiped Space Quest from history. To save her beloved games, Bea must find a way to pursue her villainous feline companion into the past and set things right.

Akril and Decaffeinated Jedi have collectively taken their love of classic gaming and used it to promote the SpaceVenture project by Two Guys from Andromeda. The graphics have a realistic look somewhat reminiscent of the later Space Quest games, with a fair amount of detail. Bea herself is a large but properly proportioned character, fully and smoothly animated. The first episode is entirely set in Bea’s small apartment, with game posters adorning the slightly seedy walls and a computer placed in a prominent central position. The second episode features a more detailed opening cutscene and involves more locations, including the Sierra On-Line offices circa 1986. The music also harks back to its forebears, with dramatic pieces that would not be out of place in a Space Quest game at appropriate moments. Gentler jazz tunes back up the more mundane action. There are also some sound effects, such as the flushing of a toilet and the clicking of a computer keyboard.