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If you have any Zak-related news, please let me know! |
| August 16 2008 | Updated a few pages: a full size stupidy
machine, more about microwaves, a photo of Leslie Edwards,
what David Fox would do different if making Zak today, more fun Zak art, art from Pit Porta (what happened to the original BTAS art),
some more Zak videos
(I haven't included screenshots, to discourage
downloading - they're hosted locally and I can't afford
the bandwidth if every visitor downloads them!), and a
shot of Zak on the GP2X. Also,
another review, some ASCII art, and various other bits and pieces. I
also added home links to the screenshots pages (long overdue!) and fixed the home page image, because Firefox was blurring it when
it was scaled. Shame and embarassment time: back in March I completely missed the International House of Mojo special feature on Zak McKracken. Which is ESPECIALLY embarassing because I helped to write parts of it, and they have nice links back here. In my defense, I was pretty busy at the time. Sorry! Zak-site hasn't had many updates recently, for two reasons. First, I'm extremely busy on my own game: Enter The Story. (In a few years, Enter The Story will include a tribute to Zak McKracken, but not yet). Second, the big news is the release of Zak2, and that does not need archiving. Zak-site is primarily an archive, not a news site. (The news page is only here to let you know the archive is still alive.) An archive is a storage place for material that might be forgotten. That's why I started this site, back in 1997: I was disturbed that great Zak McKracken web sites (like Mindbent) suddenly disappeared. Right now, Zak 2 is in no danger of disappearing, and it isn't forgotten, so it doesn't need archiving. Besides, if I take graphics and text from a live web site that's called stealing. But if Zak 2 is ever forgotten, or the Zak2 site disappears, then public interest takes over, and I'll run around and archive as much of it as I can. Meanwhile, ZMAR has been cancelled, so if anyone has any inside information, or anything they think should be archived here, please let me know! Thanks. Finally, if anyone wants to send any screenshots from the new Zak 2 game, I'll host them here! |
| July 2008 | (Accidentally lost this entry, but you didn't miss anything) |
| May 25 2008 | ZMAR has closed down! I am in shock! This was the original fan project, from back in 1996. They had many delays and problems over the last few years, so this is not a complete surprise. But this is not the first time ZMAR has appeared to 'die' - every other time it came back to life with a new team. If I hear anything more I'll keep you informed. |
| April 30 2008 | First reviews of Zak2 are in, and they like it. A lot. :) |
| April 22 2008 | The party's over, and Zak2 is being downloaded around the world! See the photos here! |
| April 7 2008 | check out this great new Flash trailer for the Zak party! (click on the speech bubble to start) |
| Mar 28 2008 | Zak McKracken 2: Between Time and Space big launch party Saturday April 19th in Cologne Would you believe it. I take ONE DAY away from the computer, not checking my email, and they go and announce THE RELEASE DATE OF ZAK MCKRACKEN 2: BETWEEN TIME AND SPACE!! That's right! RELEASE DATE! This is not a hoax! After all these years! Can I write a sentence without ending in an explanation mark and using CAPITALS!? NO I CAN'T! In case you missed that, Zak McKracken 2: Between Time and Space: big launch party Saturday April 19th in Cologne After twenty years, it's finally happening (7 years of developing BTAS, 20 years since Zak1)! This is the big one! Want to go to the party? Sign up here! Loos like 2008 is the year of the Zak sequels! Zak McKracken 2: Between Time and Space: big launch party Saturday April 19th in Cologne |
| Mar 24 2008 | Great news! Zak McKracken and the
Lonely Sea Monster is not dead! Thanks to Klatz, who
emailed the developer and got a detailed reply. The
game was originally scheduled for July 2007, but took a
bit longer than expected. The good news is the game is
still in production! It should be well worth the wait. And for those who missed it, the TV feature about Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space is now online, with English subtitles! Visit zak2.org for links and more details, or see it on YouTube... have fun! |
| Feb 25 2008 | More news! An unofficial Zak McKracken remake
is being planned! Visit http://www.zakmckracken.org if you want to get involved. (Please note: the web site isn't up yet, so all debate it taking place on the author's Transformers site). This is from the press release: Hello and welcome to the unofficial Zak McKracken Remake Project. We are anxious to get this project underway. But we are looking for some to join our team. This is what we have currently: *Programmer *Writer for story and Dialog *Minor Voice Role- Actor *Webhost *Italian Translator What we need more immediatly: *Assistant Story and Dialog writer (Looking for Max two more People) *Background Graphics Artist, Colorer, touchups or all in one. (What I am looking for is a cross between "Day of the Tentacle" and "Curse of Monkey Island". I want the crisp clear graphics of CMI, but the goofy look of DOTT). An example of this can be found here: http://energon-plant.com/zakmckracken.org/zak2room.jpg As far as background artists go, I can use as many as possible. There will be a process for this. We sketch the background based on what we need. We then See how we can improve it.Then trace it onto a digital image basically. Touch it up. Color it. Add shading and other needed essentials. Then we touch it up for one more final time. After the main background is done, we do the same for objects in the room, like a bed or a desk, etc.. These will then be placed as objects in the room in the game engine. *We are looking for Character artists. *We are looking for animators for helping with both the background/character/gui/inventory animations as well as with animators for cutscenes. *We are looking for musicians. We basically want to modify the original music content, but to sound more modern and with a mix between and alternative and hard rock sound. *Anyone looking to help with designing a GUI and inventory items. Needed, but not as badly: *Translators for: German, Spanish, French and several other languages. *Voice Actors. Just remember some of these characters in the game: Zak, Annie, Leslie, Melissa, Caponians and Caponian king... There are several other characters, but these are the main ones. In order to join, here are the steps: 1) Find the right thread for the job your looking for. 2) Sign up and post what role you want to have in that department. 3) Provide on the forum, a link to some samples and try to wow me. In other words, make it the best you and show it to me. Just because your work may be incredible does not mean that you will automatically be accepted to the team. We are looking for a unique style for music, acting and art. Please provide more than one or two samples of your work. We want to see that you can be consistent in your work. So, if your applying for backgrounds, draw two or three of the typical work you can do. Same with Voice Acting and music. 4) Wait for me to get back to you. What are the requirements to join the team: 1) Noone will get paid. If someone offers a donation to you, thats fine. But dont tell me about and dont sell any work related to the project. 2) Since noone is getting paid, I do not require constant work from you guys. I would like a status on what you did during the week every week, not to pressure you, but just to know that your still interested in the project. We understand that life comes at you fast and you have family, religion, school and many many other things. So I wont be upset if work doesn't progress as quickly. I am full aware that this project may take years to complete. So there is not pressure. 3) You must be a team player. Even though we have programmers and writers, it doesn't mean that you cant voice your opinion about features or about story lines etc... We all need to get a long and be able to communicate well. Everyone is important on the team. Tips on rapid progression of the project: *Set aside time in your schedule. Take 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes a day to think about what you want to do and how to do it. Then once a week or two weeks, take an hour or two and work on the task. *Communicate with team members *Accept criticism. *Try to find a way to keep yourself motivated for the project. Possibly play the original game over and over. Look at fan projects, fan stories, fan art. Think of the outcome once the project is over. It could be something to add to your resume. It could be a reason for you to be famous in the end. Perhaps if this goes well, we can create a commercial game together. Find ways to motivate yourself continuosly. *Improve on your skill with PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! Benefits of joining the team: *Your remaking the greatest game of all time. *Your gaining experience and adding something to your resume. *Your improving on your skill. *You will get your very own @zakmckracken.org email address *You will be mentioned in the credits *And surely there will be much much more. So, if your interested in joining, please sign up in the forum. Thanks for your hard work. Any private questions, please email me at joey@zakmckracken.org -Joey DiPerla Team Leader |
| Feb 19 2008 | So much news!!! Zak
McKracken 2: Between Tme and Space was on German TV. These
links are from the Zak2 site. The main video is
pretty big (80 meg) but well worth watching: plenty of
footage from Zak 1 and the almost-released Zak 2: http://www.giga.de/show/telespiel/00143510_zak_mckracken_special/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxJBsL3b-Tc http://www.stage6.com/user/Draidis/video/2231336/Zak-2---Between-Time-&-Space# http://inkscape-tutorials.com/files/Telespiel_mit_Marvel.avi http://www.giga.de/show/telespiel/00142602_achtung_aus_aktuellem_anlass/ English translations to follow (I hope!) More news! Kind of. I just found out about another Zak fan site that has some features missing from this one: especially a ton of screenshots from the 256 color version of Zak: visit http://selmiak.pytalhost.com/selmiak/games/zak/zake.html More news! MixNMojo are plannign a major article on Zak, with interviews with all the main people. More news when it happens! More news! I also have some new graphics and stuff to add to this site, but I only have a few minutes so that'll have to wait for the next update. See ya! |
| Feb 9 2008 | Added a new MP3 file to the music page - thanks Christopher! |
| Feb 6 2008 | Amazing new giant box art. Amazing work by 'Laserschwert' rebuilding Steve Purcell's original. Over ten megabytes, and that's the compressed JPEG version! |
| Feb 1 2008 | "New" ZMAR graphic - see the forum for details. Thanks to everyone who sends stuff in! |
| Jan 23 2008 |
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| Jan 16 2008 | Oh boy! I really goofed! I got the early history of the two big Zak sequels totally mixed up. I think it's fixed now. Sorry for the confusion! |