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Praise for Game Quest
Reader Reviews:
Everyday readers have been kind enough to review Game Quest on their blogs and websites:
- Review by Deirdra Kiai (click here for original review)
I honestly planned on spending my day catching up on some homework and getting some work done on that article I’m supposed to be writing for Adventure Gamers. Instead, however, I ended up voraciously devouring my recently-acquired copy of Leopold McGinnis’ Game Quest. I’m sure it goes without saying that given the fact that I couldn’t put down this book no matter how hard I tried to do so, it is absolutely imperative that every single one of you reading this blog goes out and buys their very own copy. (The sooner you do so, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to take advantage of the launch discount!)
And now, the obligatory review. Game Quest (in case you didn’t already click on the link I kindly supplied above) is a novel not-so-subtlely based on the true story of Sierra On-Line and the death of adventure games. Although I’m more of a LucasArts fangirl and admittedly haven’t played very many Sierra games, the fact that the book was even about adventure games at all plus the added bonus of it being written by a witty fellow Canadian was enough to get me to buy it. Furthermore, being independently published, I got to feel all special about supporting underground arts and that sort of thing.
The start of the book was, admittedly, a bit “meh”. Not a bad “meh”, but more of an it’s-all-right-but-not-spectacular “meh”. Most parts, I found quite funny, particularly the names of many of the characters and organizations that parody their real-life counterparts (Will and Kendra Roberts, Madre Games Entertainment, Swarthy Victor, Dan Destroyem, Heather Hüterguns, and so on) and the subplot involving an unscrupulous coffee chain that bore a striking resemblence to Starbucks. Others are somewhat crude, especially those involving pervy eleven-year-old boys and immature hax0rz in chatrooms, and I should probably stress that this is definitely not a book to be read by young children, given its various PG-13 situations.
However, as I kept reading the book, it got better. Exponentially better, I daresay, hence my stating earlier that I couldn’t put it down. I don’t know how to say this without resorting to cheesy cliches, but the story rose above and beyond my expectations. The characters became people I cared about, and the theme of independence and innovation versus marketing and pandering to what is “cool” rang hauntingly true to the struggles I face in my own life. I can honestly say that upon finishing this book, I’m prouder than ever to be as involved as I am in independent game development.
Still, as always, my measly words couldn’t possibly do this novel justice. Just go buy it and read it already. Yes, that goes for those of you who aren’t adventure game fans as well, because this isn’t just a book about adventure games. It’s a book about being creative and staying true to yourself. And plus, you’ll get to support an independent writer who’s being creative and true to himself in the process. :)
- Review by kalbzayn (click here for original review)
[Game Quest] is very good... Once I got into the story I started getting frustrated that I didn't have more time to devote each day to reading it. Then as I got close to the end I just gave up on the other things and plowed through it.
The book is about a computer game company that goes through a hostile takeover by a large company in the 90's. You get to see the takeover through several of the employees from the owners of the company down to an intern, and also the owners' daughter who is a senior in high school when the book starts.
I kept expecting the book to get weird and run off into odd computer geeky passages, but Leopold McGinnis does a good job of writing a novel, not a gimmick.
The emotions of each character are explored fully during the various stages of the takeover. You also get to see the details of how these cold business events happen. Having gone through several downsizing, corporate restructuring events in the past, I can verify that he captured the helplessness the normal employess experience.
The book starts with a bang. The first two chapters are very entertaining. Then there's a block where I thought the pace slowed a bit until the takeover really kicks into gear about a third of the way through. From there on, everything moves quickly and keeps you wanting to read more.
As a bit of a computer geek, I had high geek expectations going into the book. I quickly realized this book is really much more about how people react to the cold, bottom line that companies work under today. There was enough residual geek to keep me satisfied, but none of it would even come close to bothering a non-geek.
Everyday readers add their own reviews here:
- Just as addictive as Sierra's classic adventures - just TRY to put it down! - Brandon Klassen, 2006-04-04
- - , 2008-05-10
- - , 2008-06-15
Online Readers:
The first half of Game Quest was serialized online, one chapter every week, for almost a year. Here are some things people had to say:
- Excellent! I was so impressed I even made a news post about it at Infamous Adventures. Keep up the good work. - Broomie
- This is great stuff! Very nice read, keep it up. :) - ThreeHeadedMonkey
- Great story, by the way, can't wait to read more good sir! - Blackthorne519
- i laughed so hard. i've been waiting around for someone to write something like this, so it was a pleasant find. i sat through and read the first thirteen chapters back-to-back, pretty much - the more i read, the more intrigued i get. - greywolfe
- It's fantastic. An amazing effort to the Sierra community. Well done, Leopold! -Robin, Vintage Sierra
- I started reading this at work, and had to stop to come home and stuff. I'm only now able to continue but by god, I wish I didnt have to go to bed soon so I could keep reading. It's awesome. - Kinoko
- wow! this is pretty incredible. i love it. - Bilal Kidwai
- Funny dialogue, good chapter; keep up the good work! I love this story, man! - Gamma Jack
- Hey, the novel's great! I've been keeping up with it for sometime now. - Vroomfondel
- Hey I really enjoyed that first chapter. Reminded me of those days back when I was a young chap. I shall be looking foreward to the rest of the chapters to read what you have to say. Good stuff - auhsor
- Nice book. I'm holding my seat until the next chapter. - The Mystery
- This stuff is pretty good. :) looking forward to the next chapters. - largopredator
- Wow, I am impressed. This would get me to play IF games. Heck,I want to play one now. - Andrew Edmark
- An interesting read so far! I do remember playing this type of game... guess that puts me in the "old timer" category - LOL. ;) I'm looking forward to the next installment. - Carolyn Conlin-Lane
- it really got me hooked... - Andrew Tutte
- More!!! I want more! I'm really enjoying the read. Thanks Leopold! - Adrian Tough
- Well done. This is shaping up very nicely. - Grab
- The first chapter is excellent! I'm looking forward to the rest. - Charlemagne
- nice! i've definelty been following the novel - i now have a reason to look forward to Fridays, besides not having classes. :) - Steffi Evenstar
- I really enjoyed the first chapter, still waiting for more to come. Keep it up! - nihilyst
Critics & Lit Folk:
Some zines, magazines, websites and individiuals in the lit industry have been kind enough to review Game Quest. Here is what they have to say:
- McGinnis seems to get into the heart of all his characters that range from teen girls to company presidents… The story is engaging and very readable… It is a well-drawn world that any reader can relate to, with contemporary concerns and present day issues… Overall, [Game Quest] is a fine achievement and a vast coverage of places, ideas and people seldom seen in a first novel or, for that matter, most novelists mature work.
- Tom Hendricks, Musea (Click here to read the full review!)
- Game Quest drew me in and hypnotized me, cool story. Anyone who actually reads [Game Quest] will take it seriously...but it's also funny and FUN! Didn't feel like I was reading through a 500 page book. I think FUN is one of your best talents, a lot of writers would kill for it. Would Hemingway have blown his head off if he was FUN? Nah, he would have driven his car off the Grand Canyon! I think you've got a very enjoyable story here...
- Pat Simonelli of Litvision
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Game Quest is a book that's hard to put down. Be sure to lather on the sunscreen if you happen to take it to the beach
- JMWW litzine
With the advent of the X-Box and Playstation, computer games like those developed by Sierra On-Line during the 1980s and 1990s seem almost quaint. So does the family-oriented company culture that Sierra boasted during its heydey. In homage to an industry giant and its progressive corporate values, the fiction novel Game Quest by Leopold McGinnis tells of the rise of Madre, a close group of employees run by Will and Kendra Roberts in the backwoods of Northern California, who design innovative games that are the envy of the industry. That is, until Will hires his first CFO to handle their growing business. And then a rival company, EGO games, designs the first 3-D shoot-'em-up, in direct opposition to Madre's text-based quest adventures. But wait, then there's the hostile takeover attempt by an inferior by resource-richer corporation. What's a company to do? Throughout it all, Madre keeps making games. And their fans keeping loving them.
McGinnis follows closely the rise and fall of Ken and Roberta Williams' Sierra On-Line empire, even down to the the games and designers. In fact, it's surprising that Sierra On-Line didn't commission McGinnis to write a biography, so vast and deep is his knowledge of operations and events. It is a painful read at times, knowing what is coming, but it is always engaging. There is also a side plot that closely resembles the emergence of beheamoth Starbucks coffee, represented here by Ché's Coffee Revolution. There is also the coy theme throughout of text-based commands, like those Kendra begins to think as she slowly loses her grip on her daughter and her company: "Make coffee."
The only thing unwieldly about Game Quest is its size. At 500 pages, a good fifty or even one-hundred pages could have been lopped off, mainly interior drivel from the characters that does little to move the plot: "". However, even with its extra thickness, Game Quest is a book that's hard to put down. Be sure to lather on the sunscreen if you happen to take it to the beach
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Leopold McGinnis is a good writer. The novel is full of detailed scenes and dynamic characters, and it has a well-structured plot... [is it] Worth the money? In my opinion, yes.
- Adventure Gamers.com
If you've been playing adventure games as long as I have, you're probably familiar with the story behind the rise and fall of Sierra On-Line—and possibly still bitter about it. For those who don't know the story, the gist of it is that husband and wife team Ken and Roberta Williams started the company in their garage in the late seventies. They hit it big with King's Quest and launched several other Quest series that went on to define and dominate the graphic adventure genre throughout the eighties and early nineties. One of Sierra's best qualities was the way they communicated with their fans. If you were a Sierra fan in the eighties, you knew the names of every single one of the company's game developers and had probably received a personal letter from Sierra or spoken to someone from the company on the phone at some point. Sierra was like an extended family for adventure game junkies.
Then, in the mid-nineties, Ken and Roberta sold the company. At the time the sale seemed like a smart business decision, but within a couple of years all production on adventure games ceased and the facilities in the Northern California mountains where so many classic adventure games had been born and developed were abruptly closed. Just like that, the studio that spearheaded an entirely new form of gaming ceased to exist.
That's the Sierra story, and give or take a few details, it's also the plot of Game Quest, a novel written and independently published by Leopold McGinnis. The first part of the novel was serialized on the author's website in 2005. Then he self-published it, and is now selling the book for $17 USD — a little pricey for a paperback, but comparable to a budget adventure game. Worth the money? In my opinion, yes.
Game Quest follows the doomed final years of Madre Entertainment, a homegrown software company nestled in the Sierra Madre mountains. The discerning adventure gamer will recognize dozens of links between the fictional Madre and real life Sierra. The company's husband and wife founders, for starters. In Game Quest they're named Will and Kendra Roberts (get it?), and while he spends his days running the company, she oversees the development of Fantasy Quest, Madre's flagship series. As the book opens, Will has just decided to move all of Madre's corporate operations down to a new facility in San Francisco, so he can focus on the game development side of the business in Madre's home office. It's a good time for Madre—the company is successful, they're churning out well-received games, and the employees are happy. Even if you don't know exactly how the book is going to end, it's clear from outset that everything's running a little too smoothly. Something's about to go very wrong for Will, Kendra, and the Madre crew.
There's more to this book than Sierra's infamous Chainsaw Monday. McGinnis takes us inside the heads of many of Madre's employees, and also into Will and Kendra's family life. Kendra, who's sick of working on Fantasy Quest, is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, talking to herself in text-parser sentences and believing that the buff main character from a popular shooter is following her around the resort during the family's Hawaiian vacation. Will, who considers himself a cowboy of sorts and loves Mondays and wearing his red tie, drives a petition to prevent a local coffee house from being bought out by a big franchise, a valiant gesture that foreshadows the hostile takeover of his own company. And their insecure daughter Heather starts to find herself when she makes a friend over the internet and holds her own in a GLOOM tournament against the head of Ego software, proving that girls can be just as good at violent games as guys. As much as Game Quest is about Madre, it's equally about the Roberts family, which is interesting considering that none of this is based on real Sierra events (as far as I know). It's almost as if McGinnis has two books here: one a fictionalization of Sierra's downfall; the other an original story that grew out of that fictionalization.
Game Quest is a long novel, nearly 500 pages, with a lot of short, punchy chapters that jump from one point of view to another. The book is entirely written in third-person perspective, but this shifts among at least a dozen characters, most of whom are Madre employees. Sometimes these shifts work and sometimes they don't. I liked how McGinnis introduces the reader to many members of the Madre team because this strengthens the impact of the company's downfall, but all the bouncing from character to character prevents the reader from really getting to know any of them. The one character I felt I knew the best by the novel's end was Will and Kendra's daughter Heather—who, incidentally, doesn't seem to be based on any of the real life players in Sierra's drama. Although I admire McGinnis for conveying the collective concerns of a large group of people, all of whom have a unique personal stake in Madre's future, I wish the narrative had been a bit more focused, maybe on only three or four of the characters. Then again, I like to get inside characters' heads. Your mileage may vary.
Even so, I read Game Quest ravenously over the course of a few days, which I hardly ever do. The pacing is good, the plot interesting, and the writing light and occasionally funny. Unfortunately, the shtick I think was meant to be funniest was to me the most annoying aspect of the novel: the cute plays on people's names, game titles, and even brand names. Besides Will and Kendra Roberts, some of the other characters include Art Loel (designer of the R-rated Swarthy Victor games), and Sci-Fi Quest designers Geoff Rogers and Tim Wilco. (If you don't get the joke here, you need to read up on your Sierra history.) If it were just the characters' names, maybe I wouldn't have minded so much, but almost every brand mentioned in this book is made up too, which drew me out of the narrative as I was reminded, over and over, that these characters didn't really exist. Madre is full of employees who drink Kepsi Kola, swing by the MacClownBurger for lunch, and play games like Dan Destroyem and the ever-popular action/adventure Crypt Destroyer in their spare time. Once or twice, these jokes would have been okay, but after a while all the pseudo references started to grate on my nerves, which is a shame because otherwise I really enjoyed the book.
This really seems like a small quibble, though, when I consider how much about Game Quest there is to like. Leopold McGinnis is a good writer. The novel is full of detailed scenes and dynamic characters, and it has a well-structured plot. Game Quest lacks some of the polish of professionally-published titles, but then again, so did many of Sierra's games, and those are still considered classics. This homegrown labor of love is a fitting tribute to the Sierra that used to be, and a great read for anyone with even a little nostalgia for those good old days.
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Do you like to read? Have you ever heard of video games? Have you ever seen coffee? Were you alive in the 90's. Then you need to read Game Quest by Leopold McGinnis. [...] Leopold has a fast paced, humorous, refreshing style that keeps the story moving quickly during these early chapters. He hints at some of the future conflicts giving you just enough to want to keep reading more. And, you can. Since the middle of last year, he has been publishing a [chapter a week] on the Game Quest website. Nearly half of the more than 500 page book is online.[...] How often do you get to preview a significant portion of a book before you actually pony up any cash?
Read the full pre-review here.
- Kalbzyan
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All Contents Copyright ©Leopold McGinnis 2003 to present. All Rights Reserved.
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500 Drama Packed Pages!
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58 Chapters!
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Over 20 Unique Characters!
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More than 25 8-bit Illustrations (made by the author)
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Game Characters Come to Life!
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Death Matches!
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Women Gamers / Game Designers!
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Cool-Hunters!
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Coffee Chains!
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Bonus material! (via this site)
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