The Journeyman Project
The Journeyman Project is a series of award-winning first-person science fiction adventure games, created by Presto Studios and released by various publishers, including Bandai, Sanctuary Woods, and Red Orb Entertainment.
Plot
The central story is set centuries in the future, where after horrific nuclear wars humanity united to create a peaceful global society. Due to the establishment of a utopian society, humanity has been invited to join an alien organization known as the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings.
In the twenty-fourth century, time travel is realized by the Journeyman Project, the secret program to construct Pegasus, the world's first time machine. After a brief test period proves time travel is possible, the Journeyman Project is deactivated and the Pegasus device is put under the secret watch of the Temporal Security Agency or TSA for short (also the acronym of its base of operations, the Temporal Security Annex). The TSA exists to prevent temporal rips in the space/time continuum, by which changes in the past can alter the present. The player controls a character named Gage Blackwood, Agent 5 of the Temporal Security Agency. The games revolve around Agent 5's exploits throughout time to save Earth in the present.
Release history
The Journeyman Project
In 1992, The Journeyman Project was one of the first games to use high quality rendered graphics. However, it suffered from performance problems and slow animations due to its early reliance on Macromedia Director. These problems were mostly overcome with the version 2.0 release that was retitled The Journeyman Project Turbo! and published by Sanctuary Woods in 1994.
The story begins with an alien ambassador arriving to finalize Earth's admission into the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings. However, when Agent 5 is on duty a temporal rip is detected, and Earth's history is changed. The result of the new timestream is that humanity is passed over for admission into the alien organization.
The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime
This complete remake of the original Journeyman Project was published by Bandai in 1997 with some of the actors from The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time. Originally announced as a "Director's Cut", Pegasus Prime featured enhanced graphics, sounds, movies, and puzzles. It was released solely for the Power Macintosh by Bandai Digital Entertainment in North America, although it was also developed for the Apple Pippin and Sony PlayStation in Japan. 3DO and Sega Saturn versions were also mentioned in the original product announcement, but are presumed to have been canceled.
The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
Published in 1995 by Sanctuary Woods, Buried in Time was a complete shift in direction for the series, moving away from futuristic environments and instead preferring to go to real-life historical locations. The game also featured a completely redesigned interface and contained many more live-action scenes than the first game.
The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time
Published in 1998 by Red Orb Entertainment, the final installment uses a unique 360 degree interaction system without resorting to 3D effects. It featured impressive production values with the actors and costumes. It was also one of the first games to be developed for the DVD-ROM medium. It was re-released in 1999 with the Windows versions of The Journeyman Project Turbo! and Buried in Time as part of a "Trilogy" box set.
The Journeyman Project 4
Unfortunately, with the closure of Presto Studios in November 2002, it is unlikely that more Journeyman Project games will be produced in the near future. However, a fourth game story has been written and is presumed to be "sitting on a shelf" somewhere. It was originally projected for an October 2000 release and featured Gage and Arthur returning home when they discover a person from their past has re-emerged to endanger their future once again. One environment had even been modeled and rendered [citation needed], but the project was eventually put on hold to concentrate on Myst III: Exile.
See also
External links
- The Journeyman Project Revisioned (Remake)
- Legacy of The Journeyman Project, Adventure Classic Gaming (1999).
- The Presto Studios Archives
- Archived Homepage for the Journeyman Project Turbo
- Archived Homepage for the Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime
- Archived Homepage for the Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
- Archived Homepage for the Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time