If your answer is, ‘well not a lot really, no more than the idea that it can be used to curse people and even hurt them, like that kid in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the one who uses that voodoo Doll thing to torture poor old Indy. Or the cursed frozen yogurt that Homer gets in The Simpsons, the one with the harmful potassium benzoate.’If that’s your answer, then chances are you haven’t played the first Gabriel Knight adventure game from Sierra. Or maybe you have and have simply forgotten about the part where you sit through a university lecture, the one with slides, teaching you all about the origins of this African religion.Released in 1993, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, was one of the first major computer games to be described and marketed as a strictly mature and adults-only affair.
More importantly, it marked a shift in adventure game development in certain quarters, one that would see more fleshed out stories, character development, and an almost novelistic approach to design. Above all, it proved that a pulpy and violent mystery novel with supernatural undertones was a perfect fit for the genre.
READ HISTORY BOOK
Like the character in her game, Jane Jensen was a failed novelist when she sent her resume to Sierra. Well, failure is probably too strong a word, after all she had graduated with a degree in Computer Science and was working as an engineer at HP - i.e. Hewlett Packard, i.e. the poor man’s IBM, in the late ‘80s.Let’s just say that up to this point certain publishing fat cats at certain fat cat publishing houses had rejected her manuscripts. And probably on the grounds that they weren’t tell-all biographies about Milli Vanilli.And like many people during this time her first taste of adventure gaming came from playing a King’s Quest game, namely King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. She immediately fell in love with both the genre and the games coming from Sierra, so much so that she sent them her resume along with samples of her writing in the form of a short story.
At this time adventure games were the premiere forms of interactive storytelling so a budding writer with a technical background was able to see not only their appeal, but potential as well.
As games were growing more complex, so too were graphics and animation becoming more sophisticated, and this naturally opened the door for more detailed storytelling. With that in mind Sierra was hiring people for a new team dubbed the ‘writers block’, which would focus primarily on fleshing out game dialogue, backstories, and even stuff for the game manuals packed alongside a stack of floppy disks.A creative environment, especially the one at Sierra, was exactly what Jane was looking for and taking the job was a no brainer, even in the face of a considerable pay cut. As it turns out, writing a few lines for Sonny Bonds in Police Quest III pays less than writing complex networking routines for HP.
But it was after doing exactly that, as well as writing for some other games like EcoQuest, that Jane Jensen got the chance to co-design and co-write a new adventure game from Sierra. A new entry in the very series that drew her to the company in the first place.
A KING’S STORY: THE GRAHAM CHRONICLES
By the early ‘90s the King’s Quest series had already entered the world of VGA graphics and voice acting, as seen in King’s Quest V. When development began on the inevitable sequel, Roberta Williams, the creative force behind each entry in the series so far, decided to take on a more complementary role.Sharing the workload on this new King’s Quest was a conscious decision made on Roberta’s part, as at this point in her career she naturally wanted more time to spend with her family. Working alongside Jane Jensen, King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow would become the most narratively rich entry in the series.For Jane this was an experience that allowed her to familiarise herself with not only writing dialogue for a game or in shaping its story but also in the design of its puzzles, interface, and working with new technology.
As expected, King’s Quest VI was also very much another technological leap for Sierra: for the animation they filmed actors and used the technique of rotoscoping to trace each animation frame before putting it into the game.
The introduction sequence itself also included some very primitive computer generated (CG) animation, that although now looks very dated, was one of the earliest appearances in such a high profile release.
Even with these advances King’s Quest VI was still released at a time when games hit stores on floppy disk first, with enhanced CD-ROM editions shortly after.
The industry wide shift to include more multimedia aspects like animation, voice, and recorded music had already begun, however, so the next project that Jane would work on would focus more on the enhanced CD-ROM edition first and the floppy disk version second. It would also take all the technological advances first seen in King’s Quest VI, to the next level.
And by ‘next level’, I of course mean 11 x 3.5” floppy disks. Which is what Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was released on, alongside the CD-ROM version, in 1993.
OPEN DOOR TO ADVENTURE
As the head of Sierra, Ken Williams was the sort of boss that most people assume would exist in a development studio but rarely does. The sort of boss that let his designers create games as they saw fit, and if they sold well, allowed them to work on the next one.This was, in one way or another, what happened with the first Gabriel Knight adventure, a game that would provide a much more complex and mature narrative experience than something like Police Quest, Sierra’s only other real-world crime-based adventure series.Where Gabriel Knight would set itself apart from other games coming not only from Sierra at the time, but other studios as well, was in the focus placed on story and character development.
When given the opportunity to design and direct development on her own game, Jane Jensen looked to the mystery genre. Jane felt that this structure would suit an adventure game, and puzzles based around this kind of narrative seemed like a perfect fit. A good mystery novel or television series usually follows a protagonist investigating a crime where details slowly emerge in a fashion that keeps a reader or viewer’s attention, satisfying the sort of innate curiosity found in all of us.“
Where Gabriel Knight would set itself apart from other games coming not only from Sierra at the time, but other studios as well, was in the focus placed on story and character development. Taken as pure numbers and data, this translates to thousands of lines of dialogue in the form of voice and text, well above any other Sierra game released to date.Voice acting was still a relatively new thing for games in 1993, as going back even just a few years to 1990, King’s Quest V was one of the first fully voiced games to see a release on CD-ROM. But that was a game where the voices were supplied mostly by Sierra employees, with the end results not really being able to stand any sort of test of time. It was the very definition of amateur hour.
With Gabriel Knight featuring a layered story with not only large volumes of dialogue but also mature themes, Jane and the producers at Sierra knew that it needed to be believable. With that in mind they needed professionals, so they looked to the one place where actors seemingly grow on trees, and the streets, much like an adolescent’s timely homework, are paved with gold stars.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA
Famously, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is known for featuring the voice talents of Tim Curry in the title role and Mark Hamill in a supporting role, both sporting thick southern accents. As thick as the swampy, humid, and cultural atmosphere that permeates the entire game.Set in New Orleans, with a story based around strange killings that look like voodoo rituals, the voice work in the game is both exceptional and at the same time cartoonish and over the top. It’s a balance that works, a credit to both the writing and the voice actors, which helps sell the historical and realistic aspects of the game in addition to the supernatural.With the premise of voodoo murders and rituals one would expect a game from the early ‘90s to be anything but respectful to the culture and history of this relatively obscure belief system. In execution Gabriel Knight is something of a revelation, featuring well-researched information and history carefully woven into the story.
Covering the religious aspects of Voodoo, in particular the brand practised in New Orleans that happens to feature a hefty dose of Catholicism, it also features a treasure trove of information on the city’s history and what makes it such a fascinating place.Even when Gabriel Knight does sometimes cross the line from fiction to purely factual exposition, you can tell that it does so because the creators are genuinely fascinated with the subject. This was a narrative born from impeccable research, and it's certainly one of the most impressive aspects of Jane Jensen’s achievement with the title.
DAY 1
As the game begins Gabriel Knight finds himself in his bookstore after a night of restless sleep and vivid dreams, ready to continue his research into voodoo and the recent spate of killings the local news is calling ‘The Voodoo Murders’. Under the guise of research for his next novel he’s able to convince a local police detective, Mosley, into giving him information on the case in return for a role in his book.Also helping out is the sole employee of his bookstore, Grace Nakamura, who never fails to point out Gabriel’s tendency towards chauvinistic behaviour. Whilst still being attracted to his roguish demeanour.Plus, Gabriel Knight has that leather jacket with white t-shirt and perfectly messy blond hair look that the ladies seem to adore.Gabriel Knight stands out... because it’s one of the best examples of a detective story in gaming... Piecing together bits and pieces of history, both about the crimes and Gabriel himself, is the game’s biggest allure and its most definable quality.
Split into separate days in much the same way a book is split into chapters, the structure of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and how it plays feels very different to other Sierra adventures of the day.“
As a detective story the majority of the game is built around routine and discovery. This is seen in the simple things like Gabriel having a cup of coffee and talking to Grace at the beginning of each day, but also plays into the entire experience, as a lot of what you end up doing is visiting and re-visiting places and speaking to people both old and new.
Something like that may sound like it would appeal to a specific audience; those that are interested in crime novels, and that’s not a bad thing. And if you’ve visited a place that still actually sells books you’ll know that’s a pretty large chunk of the market.
Gabriel Knight stands out even amongst similar games, however, because it’s one of the best examples of a crime story or detective story in gaming. Even those that aren’t fans of dialogue trees and lengthy dialogue scenes can still marvel at the deliberate pace of the story and the carefully plotted revelations. Piecing together bits and pieces of history, both about the crimes and Gabriel himself, is the game’s biggest allure and its most definable quality.The ending has real punch too, and certainly left me feeling that it was well worth the time invested.
A MESSAGE FOR DR. J
Outside of the focus on dialogue, which goes so far as to include a separate interrogation icon for character interaction and the ability to replay and listen to all pertinent chats via a tape recorder, there are still plenty of traditional adventure game puzzles. And this is where the game stumbles a little bit, mainly thanks to sections that seem to assume the player is undoubtedly the lovechild of Poirot, Columbo, that guy from Bones and Sherlock Holmes.And Sherlock Holmes isn’t even real...Getting an annoying mime to follow you in the park in order to distract a beat cop long enough to decipher an address from his radio? Fine, and not that hard to work out.
Getting a donut cart to go to the police station so it can distract the desk clerk long enough for you to sneak into Mosley’s office after his disappearance? Makes sense, even if it relies on some pretty strict timing.
Writing a message on a tomb using a voodoo alphabet in exact prose calling on a specific character via a barely referenced nickname and asking him to bring a seemingly random object to a voodoo ceremony?
Err, what?
Taking notes when playing a game is something that developers no longer rely on. Gabriel Knight, however, was made at a time, and within a genre, where it was an expectation on the part of the designers, and this then naturally played into the structure of some of the puzzles.
The most basic form of this that appeared in a lot of early games looking to extend their playtime is by throwing players into a maze where they then have to map out not only pathways, but also some cause and effect into their scribbling. “Okay, so this room here has the crazed voodoo maniac in it that will kill me, I’ll just mark that down with a skull sign and ‘Do Not Enter!’ And unlike my stupid brother, I’ll know not to enter that room. If he comes in here one more time I’m going to kill him, all voodoo like. You hear me Alex? I know you’re reading this!”
Ahem, so the end sequence of Gabriel Knight falls neatly into this category, but its execution is handled quite well and doesn’t feel all that out of place.
As mentioned above, it’s the voodoo alphabet part that’s the killer. (No, not the actual killer. The figurative killer.) After getting input from an amateur voodoo priestess the game does provide most of the alphabet already deciphered but what it doesn’t do is provide the specific clue that you need to leave a message using it, or that it needs to ask for something specific.Let’s backtrack a little bit to set the scene. Gabriel has just found out that there’s going to be a voodoo ceremony sometime on St. John’s Eve (which is like the voodoo Halloween) and he needs to find out where, so he can attend and check it out. In a roundabout way that’s all that players really know, which means they’ll need to use their own detective skills to work out the following.
Step 1. Come up with the idea to somehow track someone or something to the secret meeting.
Step 2. Figure that Mosley should have a tracking device in his office somewhere so sneak in and steal one.
Step 3. Place the tracking device inside a ceremonial coffin, called a sekey madoule, found at the Voodoo History Museum that the suspicious Dr. John runs.
Step 4. Figure that you should probably remind Dr. John to bring the coffin to the ceremony.
Step 5. Head to the cemetery and on the tomb with the weird writing on it, rub that out and write, using a partially deciphered alphabet, a message asking just that.
Step 6. Make sure you use a nickname for Dr. John because that makes it feel more voodoo-y.
Step 7. Decide that the message needs to be exactly “DR. J BRING SEKEY MADOULE”
Step 8. Wait for the ceremony to begin.Now, without a walkthrough or even a hint guide it’s entirely up to the player to work out all of the above, in its entirety, and without any clear hints. One would expect at the very least some sort of inner monologue that says something along the lines of “Hmm, if only there was some sort of way to get a message to these guys, and track them to their meeting,” but no dice.
It’s especially weird, because something like that would have fit in nicely - being one of those hunch things that detectives get all the time and all. You know, the sort of detective train of thought that usually doesn’t pop into the head of most people.
Instead, what you get is basically nothing, a voodoo message deciphered days earlier that didn’t feel all that important at the time, syntax wise, and a casual reference or two about a ceremonial coffin said in passing.
Coupled with a distinct lack of hunch-having on the player’s part and you have a bafflingly, needlessly difficult puzzle.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING SIERRA EFFECT
Even so, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers does an awful lot right, and one area that deserves to be highlighted in particular is its more forgiving attitude to dead ends and unexpected deaths. This, after all, was a Sierra game, and if it followed the pattern established by other titles from the studio, you’d expect Gabriel Knight to get run over when trying to cross the street if he failed to look both ways, or to die painfully from paper cuts when choosing to read the daily paper without gloves.When the stakes are raised and tension is running high, having the player able to die makes sense and actually adds to the experience. Death is no longer simply punitive, but meaningful.
This isn’t the case, which is quite a different feel for a Sierra adventure, and is coupled with the fact that there is no real time limit; the story progresses only when players have completed certain tasks. This can get frustrating in parts where it sometimes isn’t clear what there is left to do on a particular day, but it’s a far cry better than the alternative. Which is not being able to proceed because there’s something that you forgot to do that you no longer can. Sierra-style.“
There are moments when you can die, but these only occur when the stakes are high. Walking into a scene involving a ritualistic sacrifice without a disguise? Well that would mean that poor old Gabriel also finds himself on the wrong end of a ceremonial knife. Awakening evil spirits that then go on to inhabit mummified corpses? Start running, or else Gabriel will end up like Brendan Fraser. (That is, without a career post-Mummy.)But in these examples and others, when the stakes are raised and tension is running high, having the player able to die makes sense and actually adds to the experience. Death is no longer simply punitive, but meaningful.
Let's Play Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
CLOSE DOOR UNTIL NEXT TIME
The success of the first Gabriel Knight adventure game was undeniable, and quickly put it on the map as one of the more revered Sierra games. And rightfully so; it was a rock solid detective story with a distinct setting, great writing and strong production design. Which is no small feat for a first time director.A second game was naturally green lit, and in a strange choice, would again follow in the footsteps of Roberta Williams. But this time the game it would be following was Phantasmagoria, with 1995’s Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within utilising a similar user interface to that game in addition to live action footage.
Yes, even Gabriel Knight got swept up in the FMV craze of the mid-90s. (And below is the image gallery to prove it.)Did it feature bad acting, dated costumes, and cheap looking sets? Sure did, but unlike Phantasmagoria there was also a good game in there too. The puzzle design for one thing was leaps and bounds ahead of anything seen in Phantasmagoria and the story itself followed the structure first laid out in Sins of the Fathers, this time dealing with mysterious wolf attacks.
Werewolf attacks, the best kind.
In a way the bad acting, and cheap looking sets and effects are part of its appeal even to this day. By no means was it a cheap game to develop - it did have a budget in the millions, but it also has that campy quality usually associated with a classic B-Movie. And in that spirit, it also happens to have one of the most iconic cover designs of any computer game from that era.As a series, the adventures of Gabriel Knight would unceremoniously end with a third and final game released in 1998; one that utilised full-3D graphics in a time when the term ‘blocky’ referred to in-game characters being made up of what looked like maybe a dozen or so polygons. For comparison's sake, most game characters today are made up of tens of thousands.
Not long after that third and final Gabriel Knight game was released, however, Jane Jensen’s career sort of came full circle, as she finally became a published author. With a string of novelisations based on the Gabriel Knight games as well as some original work, she was able to prove that she was just as capable writing as she was designing a game.
Sadly, Blame it on the Fame: The Milli Vanilli Story. An Unauthorised Biography by Jane Jensen, remains unwritten.
In Journal Entry # 16 - We go into the distant future of 20xx where a detective going by the name of Tex lives Under a Killing Moon. Kosta Andreadis is a freelance writer and musician based in Melbourne. He likes his comedy absurdist and his music disco-tinged. Check out his tunes, his Twitter and hey, why not join the IGN AU team on Facebook?