...

True, but the decision to allow episodic games wasn't too bad. It is clear from the start if a game is episodic and we can decide if we want to buy it. I'm much more annoyed by the decisions to allow DLC and regional pricing.

The game has multiple acts, but I don't recall AGDi/Himalaya ever discussing an episodic release though. My understanding is that they'd like to do more installments in the game's universe, similarly to Quest for Glory, if the game is successful.

You mean release it some six months after it's available for sale everywhere? That sounds like a really smart business plan.

I'm just curious, in all honesty...

... If they had approved AGDI's addition to game devs on here, and put a "newly released on GOG" page as they usually do for games, don't you think that would've hindered their sales for King's Quest 1-3? AGDI even has pages showing the free alternatives on the same page as the items they sell.

Sierra/Activision gave them freedom to release their own remakes of the game for free, in written form, on the condition of no sales profit was made from the item. At the time, there was no current way of purchasing the games (from what I recall). It seemed that they noticed a peaked interest in the games, and afterwords I started noticing the King's Quest Anthology released at game stores, and soon after was on Steam. It was obviously making some money despite being essentially "dead" for sales over several years.

In Sierra/Activision's time on GOG, they've broken it down to three packages to cover what was once only available on the Anthology disk. Releasing a developer who directly promotes their (fantastic) remakes of classic games for free would potentially be (in the eyes of Activision) a direct conflict of interest and profit loss for them. And Activision has a greater volume of games on here.

I could be wrong... and I'm not trying to defend anyone for actions or lack there of. That is simply what came to my mind when thinking about having AGDI on GOG. Anyone else think that could be part of it?

**edit- I also think it would be in poor taste to say something that way, because it would make Activision look bad. A simple "declined" email would suffice in that sort of situation... as frustrating as it may be, it's better than making a large client of yours look like jerks.

I must admit that hadn't occurred to me. I didn't think of acts as independent episodes. I wouldn't buy such a game piecemeal myself. I do take your point, though!

I have no idea, but I don't think so. It's not like they'd be adding the remakes for download, Mage's Initiation is a commercial release that, despite being influence by, is completely independent of Sierra/Activision, King's Quest and Quest for Glory.

I somewhat doubt Activision is even remotely involved. Why would they actively conspire against AGDi but not Infamous Adventures/Infamous Quests (who released VGA remakes of Space Quest 2 and King's Quest 3, and have their own QfG inspired Adventure/RPG Quest for Infamy confirmed for release on GOG) or Phoenix Online (released the episodic King's Quest Silver Lining fan game and have already released Cognition on GOG)? Not to mention that they owe a large chunk of that revived interest in their IPs to these and other fan groups.

...

I wasn't saying Activision was involved- simply stating that GOG might be trying not to open the door for conflict there.

There is difference between Infamous Adventures/Infamous Quests's remakes and Himalaya's... IA/IQ offer a remake of only one game out of a multigame package being sold. Himalaya offers an entire marketed package, giving no reason for a consumer to purchase KQ 1-3. It still seems like a feasable reason to not have them on GOG to me, because from a marketing and finance standpoint, there's more of a chance that adding IA/IQ would potentially increase purchase of the other games, whereas Himalaya addition would almost promise a decline by it's offering a complete package. But regardless, without being told one way or another, we can only speculate.

With Phoenix Online, it's offering a fan game, which is different than a remake. Remake is a copy of the original, with tweaks and/or enhancments, whereas the fan game only has character names and references to the original franchise with a new story. Fan games rarely threaten sales of an original.

I appreciate your points, as i was not aware of IA/IQ's remakes before. It definitely makes me wonder more, as my original point is less likely knowing that context.

PS- I own Al Emmo and have been meaning to give it a try. I have no idea if it's good or not, and I know that GOG tries to generally filter games it sells, especially from indie games. Maybe that'll lend some insite (or not).

I think there's a lot more people trying to get their stuff here since they started releasing Indie games and new games.

But, IIRC, they rejected The Cat Lady for whatever reason and now it's here anyways. Adding wishlist entries for it might be enough to change their minds, but without knowing what happened it's hard to say.

AGDi's King's Quest remakes are not a 1:1 remake, they added quite a lot of story that was never in the originals.

I know we're just speculating, but I don't understand your reasoning, GOG rejecting AGDi/Himalaya over their previous freeware remakes makes no sense to me. Those remakes aren't going to go away by refusing to release Mage's Initiation on GOG. They predate GOG's release of the King's Quest 1+2+3 pack, and AGDi actively link and direct all that download the games to buy and play the originals here.

Damn, just read Chris Warren's statement on the Kickstarter comments. That is frustrating beyond words! Only a few weeks ago, I was mad at Augustin Cordes for releasing the mini-fpp-adventure "Serena" exclusively on Steam. I'm pissed with kickstarted projects in general, for simply don't bothering with their DRM-free versions.

But the fact that gog would reject a (pretty good looking) point&click from a reputable indie dev (that is more than willing to go the DRM-free route and also seems quite sympathetic to gog as a company) for the sake of shitting out even more puzzle platformers is infuriating. Makes me see things from a different perspective: After all, Steam is where the money's at, so why even bother with a platform that will reject anything that isn't a damn puzzle platformer.

This, combined with the news of regional pricing being introduced, is pretty hard to stomach for the gog enthusiast in me...

Anyways, voted for both games, let's hope something will come of it.

I would have assumed Mage's Initiation would be on GOG for reasons already mentioned - sad to hear it wasn't accepted.

Maybe there's a chance GOG would reconsider, like they did with The Cat Lady.

I could explain it, but it involves marketing and business models. It's not worth my time explaining if you're not genuinely interested...

I personally welcome any quality games to GOG. I don't welcome universally bad games, as that degrades the quality of GOG. It seems to me that enough people are interested in Himalaya games that I'd consider they may make quality games (I already own Al Emmo, and played the free remakes).