We literally received dozens upon dozens of questions for Jane Jensen! Since many of the queries were similar in nature, we decided to not specify who submitted specific questions. We hope all of our readers have enjoyed our two-part exclusive interview and want to once again thank Jane for her cooperation and devotion to the adventure gaming community and Just Adventure.

Is the future of Gabriel Knight in question? In numerous interviews, Jane Jensen mentioned that she would have some kind of closure for Gabriel. Does that mean she will definitely write a GK novel if a GK game doesn't come to fruition in the future?

Yes, I'd like to see closure for the series eventually. I would do a book if a game doesn't work out. But that decision I want to put off for a while.

Is there any other company that might be willing to buy the rights to Gabriel Knight, or is Sierra even willing to sell the rights to the series to another company? If so, would Jane Jensen work at another company to design more GK games?

If Sierra ever sold the GK rights, it would probably be as a package deal with other Sierra properties, and it would not occur soon. I think it will be a few more years before they decide these properties are dead for good. But if that were to happen, I could certainly work with the new owners, providing I had the time and interest at that juncture, and that we could work out the contract details.

What did Jane Jensen think about Tim Curry's voice acting? Many gamers and gaming magazines tore the game apart due to this as well as the use of archetypal characters. Furthermore, why did Jane decide to use archetypal characters in the game rather than design complex characters that behaved realistically in the game?

I thought Tim was great in GK3. I used more archetypal characters in GK3 for several reasons. First, because the feel of the engine made me think an Agatha Christie kind of plot would work best, with multiple red herrings. This type of traditional mystery plot often uses archetypal characters (watch Death on the Nile with Peter Ustinov as an example). Second, because GK3 was such a sharp return to an animated sprite look, I thought the more "recognizable" characters would work better than the type of complex characterizations used in GK2, an FMV game. There's a limit to how much drama you'll get with cartoons. I decided to lean more heavily on the humor of GK1 and other older adventure titles.

How does Jane Jensen feel about the increasingly mixed reviews GK3 got? The U.S. computer gaming magazines lambasted GK3, while European magazines mostly praised it.

I'm thrilled about the response the game has gotten in Europe, particularly in France and Belgium. That tells me I did my homework. I do think a game like GK3 is more likely to be appreciated in Europe because the culture there is steeped in history, while in the US, pop culture is so comic-book like, into immediate gratification. In the US, GK3 has gotten some great reviews and awards and also horrible reviews. I think the computer gaming industry has become cynical and anti-adventure game, but I think GK3 also pressed the point. I mean, I knew when I wrote it that it was a wonderful story to me but that it was also more esoteric, more bizarre than either of the two, much less traditional horror. For those who were expecting a vampire hunt, that wasn't what GK3 was about. I've gotten letters from people who really get it and love it, but also people (particularly the teen male audience) who were disappointed that it wasn't Bela Lugosi and dripping fangs (to me the idea of beings after the bloodline is much creepier, but then I'm weird). The hype about "saving the adventure game" also hurt it, I think, and the general reputation of the series. Being a series you have preset ideas out there, and that can be good thing for generating initial interest but it can also be limiting. Personally, I don't want to do exactly the same thing over and over, I want to try new things. People can get really upset if you change the formula at all!

How is GK3 doing in Europe compared to in the U.S. in terms of sales and feedback?

I don't get a lot of feedback from our European offices, but again, the reviews I have heard about have been great and the sales are reportedly strong.

Many gaming magazines are redefining the term "adventure game" to fit in action/adventure hybrids such as Outcast. How does Jane Jensen feel about this? Does she think that action/adventures should be officially recognized as its own genre?

I dunno. I'm an old-fashioned adventure gamer, so to me games like Outcast aren't adventure games. But what do I know? It's a new world out there in the industry.

According to Revolution Software, the publisher of the Broken Sword series, sales for the Broken Sword games were better on console than on the PC. Does Jane Jensen think that the GK series would fare better on consoles instead of PC?

I've been discussing console games with Sierra's management recently, and they don't think there's ever been anything like a traditional adventure game on console. I haven't seen Broken Sword on console, so I don't know exactly how they modified it (if they did). I do think there could be a new audience there, but unfortunately, the companies most primed to make console adventures are probably too burned on adventures on PC to try it.

What were some of the reasons Jane Jensen made Gabriel more like the way he behaved in GK1 than in GK2? Many fans were angry and confused about that. Does she think that she overdid the emphasis on how Gabriel behaves like he was in GK1?

I think a lot of what you're seeing is the difference in the actors more than the writing. Tim and Dean have very different takes on the character. As far as the scripting went, Gabriel is not that much different in GK3. He is much more confident on this case and much better and smoother at the detective work. That's a growth from GK1 and GK2. As far as his relationship with women is concerned, he never had all that much of a turn-around in GK2. Most of the time he and Grace were apart and his response to her letters showed that he had no interest in her even as partner. In GK3 he has accepted her fully as partner and it is clear their friendship has deepened and is far more comfortable. However, he's got incredibly cold feet when it comes to romantic commitment. I think the dialogue he has with Mosely about it at 1,12p outlines pretty well where his head is at. Also, part of the theme in GK3 was about family, and the game's ending (not to give spoilers) has Gabriel finally getting his comeuppance for his behavior with Grace. In order to make that comeuppance work, especially for those new to the series, I had to clearly show Gabriel's "flaws." I think GK3 is the first in the series to really deal with that part of Gabriel directly and uncompromisingly, so it may seem more acute than you remember it. But that's Gabe, and believe me, he's had this one coming for a long time! Personally, I just don't think Gabriel was likely to ever turn around on this issue without getting a fairly big pie in the face first. The end of GK3 and my plans for GK4 were that pie.

I'm not sure if Randy remembers who I am, but I'm one of those twitchy fingered, 20 something males who actually prefers adventures over any other genre of games. That said, what I would like to know is this; did Myst, and its tidal wave of clones, kill the adventure game market? Most hard-core shooter fans that I know didn't even own a PC until after Myst came out. Does this mean that so many of these caffeine wired, grade-school reading level, desensitised troglodytes only know the darker side of adventure game history? Don't get me wrong, I loved Myst, but only because it was something very different from previous adventure incarnations. I can understand why so many people hate the game, especially if it was the first adventure they had ever played. It's very slow paced and a thinking man/woman's game. It was after Myst was released that Sierra seemed to have taken a turn for the worse and LucasArts games lost some of what made them great. Did the industry as a whole decide to try and copy Myst or put on hold all new projects until they fully understood this phenomenon, until finally the market had dried up, leaving the void to be filled by the shooters?

I don't think Myst was the downfall of adventure games, no. True, there were a gazillion Myst rip-offs, but personally I don't feel it influenced the traditional adventure game designers that much--it was too different. I think games like Doom, etc., have been much more influential on what's happened to adventure games than Myst.

Do you have any plans to start your own software house? It seems like a trend if you look at Lucasarts and Sierra.

No. Bottom line, I'm selfishly interested in my own creativity/writing time, and don't want to hassle with any business crap. Hey, I even hate to balance my checkbook! Also, my interests are too broad. I would like to do future work in interactivity, but I also want to do books and maybe even screenplays. So I don't want to commit full-time to starting an interactive company.

GK3 is a great game. Thanks for bringing it to us. Q: Why is Gabe so dumb and Grace is the only intelligent one? Playing the game together with my wife, it was frustrating that Gabe never realized things as fast as us and never asked Grace about her research when it was her solving the mystery all along. In a real situation, Gabe and Grace would have frequently exchanged information that they gathered on their own. It's frustrating to play someone so slow as Gabe in a mystery adventure. Does Jane have something against Southern men or what?

Well, first of all, you have to realize that there is some amount of story structure that's required. If I had Gabriel and Grace spill everything to each other at every moment, it would really screw up the plotline! It's difficult to work with two egos in a game--very difficult, and one of the ways to accomplish it is to keep their arenas separate. In GK2, they weren't even in the same locations at all. In GK3, they're much more integrated but they still needed separate actions, puzzles, etc. The answer is that Gabriel does the suspect hunting and Grace does the LSR stuff. As it turns out, this is completely in character. Gabriel is based on several men I know, my husband included. Whenever I try to show him charts I've made or go into details about something I've read, his eyes glaze over completely! He's not dumb in the least, he's just not into certain kinds of detail the way I am. Gabriel and Grace have very different brains. Gabriel's job in GK3 involves tracking the various suspects, spying, interrogation. In doing that I don't think he's "slow" at all. He plays dumb sometimes when he's interrogating someone, but that's just part of his schtick.

Hi! Jane, this is your fan Leonardo from Uruguay (S. America). I hope you remember me! First, congratulations for GK3 and for your book Millennium Rising! Both of them show your excellent work, creative, fun, entertainment you always shows in your products! I know you are working on a new book! Hey! Aren't we lucky? In an interview that I've just read of you on the 'net, you said that you'd like to make a game with real actors but in a 3D environment, that this is a kind of dream of you! I agree with you absolutely of course, but you said something like there is no technology right now for this! So, I want to know if you have played the Tex Murphy games, like Pandora's Directive, Overseer, etc., or Dark Side of the Moon that is a new game of Southpeak, excellent games that has something "similar" to what you and us want to see in adventure games, I mean, what is your opinion about these games? Do you like the technology they show, or do you want something different? Ah! There is news about Sierra is doing an adventure game, this is kinda official! Do you have something to do with this game?

The Tex Murphy series is different from what I have in mind. The games weren't fully real-time and also they were in first-person, which I wouldn't want to do in a GK game. I haven't seen Dark Side of the Moon, though. Sounds worth looking into. As for the adventure game Sierra is rumored to be doing, they're not doing one to my knowledge. Mark Seibert (producer of Mask of Eternity) is doing a game, but it's not strictly an adventure any more than MOE was.

I read an article in Newsweek recently saying that game designers want to be regarded as artists. The author of the article, however, said that games cannot produce emotional responses like a piece of art (he gave the example of an Akira Kurosawa film). Do you think that game-making is an art? Do you consider yourself an artist?

I consider myself a writer, and I think the interactive fiction medium is as valid a writing medium as TV, film, or books. I've seen the Newsweek article and others like it. Obviously, the reporter has never seen any of a dozen wonderful PC games that do evoke emotion, from Infocom on up. However, when it comes to console games, I'm not sure he's that far wrong.

I have played two of your Gabriel Knight games, and I am a big fan of them. I have played Gabriel Knight part 2 and 3. Some critics have complained that Tim Curry has an awful Southern accent in part 3, but I actually enjoyed hearing him play Gabriel Knight's voice. If you are going to do a Gabriel Knight 4, are you planning to bring either Tim Curry or Dean Erickson back? Thanks for listening to my question.

I really couldn't say. It depends on whether the role is filmed or voice-over. It also depends on a lot of other factors that might be present when we begin casting. Frankly, I don't even want to think about it until I have to! It's a rather political question, as you can imagine. :)

Many people have listed King's Quest 6, which you worked on, as their favorite King's Quest game. Would you be willing to do another King's Quest game, providing Sierra would give you the rights to do so?

I would love to design another King's Quest. It's a great series, and I had a lot of fun working on KQ6. If anyone's seen NBC's The Tenth Kingdom recently, I actually really enjoyed that and it reminded me of what I'd always liked about King's Quest. Unfortunately, I don't think Sierra's planning a KQ adventure anytime soon.

The Laura Bow series only lasted two games, but those that have played it really loved it. Seeing as how the second game, The Dagger of Amon Ra, took place in a museum, I know your excellent research and history would be an asset to the series if a third game were made that took place on the Andrea Doria (which makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the game) or somewhere else. Again, providing Sierra would let you, would you be interested in reviving the series for a third installment? BTW, thanks for the Laura Bow Easter egg in Gabriel Knight that provided insight as to the outcome of the Laura Bow/Steve Dorian relationship! The third game could deal with that as well. It'd be like a female Gabriel Knight for the 1920s.

Again, I am a fan of the Laura Bow series, and would be happy to design one (assuming I had the time). But I don't think Sierra's thinking along those lines either!

If they were to sell, would you be allowed to go to work for the purchaser so as to keep the continuity and integrity in the series?

I'm an independent contractor, so it's really not a matter of being "allowed." I have no obligations to Sierra, exclusive or otherwise. If someone else bought the GK series, my working on it would depend on their interest and my finagling an agreeable contract.

Does she play computer games? If so, what ones stand out as her favorites?

I played a lot more before I began working in the industry. I find it's the old thing of a professional chef not wanting to cook at home. But I have played many of the adventure games out in the past 10 years or so. My all time favorites are Monkey Island 1 and 2, the first Laura Bow, and the Manhunter series. Old, old stuff, I know. Lately, I'm more into puzzle games like Hoyle, Freecell, Ishido.

What is she working on now?

I'm working on a new novel called Dante's Equation and will probably be on it until June/July at least.

Millennium Rising portrays a very dark future for mankind. Does it reflect her personal beliefs, or is she just getting that stuff out of her system so she can be all sunshine and goodness and light from now on?

Me, goodness and light? Get real! I actually have a lot in common with Chris Carter. The weird sh*t just fascinates me. I love, for example, to read conspiracy stuff (secret CIA camps with guillotines, et al.) just because it's so around the bend. MR is a result of a fascination with this kind of thinking. Yes, when I read the apocalyptic stuff it scares me. I had a very religious upbringing, so there're a lot of lingering brainwashing urges down inside that get triggered by this stuff. However, in my rational moments, which are most of them, I don't believe in the apocalypse. I think life has a way of not making large and sudden changes, and especially not supernatural ones. Overall, I'm optimistic about the future. If I have any serious worries, it's over environmental issues, not religious ones (she said, driving her SUV away into the sunset ...).

How come Millennium Rising is being called her "first" novel when she already wrote those two Gabriel Knight books?

The GK books are considered "tie-in" novels like Star Trek novels. As for why this disqualifies them as "real" novels, don't ask me. But I didn't argue with Del Rey because I thought it was probably better from MR to come from a clean slate, not to have the GK stuff linked with it. Some people in the literary world are awfully snobbish about "computer games."

How are sales of Millennium Rising? If she makes the big bucks as a novelist, will that affect her decision as to whether to do another GK game?

MR sales? Well, it didn't hit the bestseller list, but it's been selling steadily, well enough for Del Rey/Ballantine to plan a big push for the paperback (Jan '01). So that's good news. What you're really asking is the status of my book career, and at this moment it's reached the point where I can finally make a living at it. It's not a great living, but it's a living. That makes me very happy, because I'd like to be able to pick and choose my interactive projects from a place of integrity not desperation! Yes, I still want to do interactive fiction, but only if I can do a project I really believe in--which translates to a product in which I can tell a great story.