Interviews

A Sequel To The Riddle of Master Lu? Believe it or Not!

Introduction By Randy Sluganski

May 5, 2004

About a year ago, I received a secretive email from a reader asking if I would like to read some emails he had exchanged with Lee Sheldon. The email exchange had inadvertently turned into a mini-interview discussing the never-before-told story of the rumored sequel to the classic Riddle of Master Lu. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, but there was a catch – I could not post the interview anywhere, nor could I speak of its contents. I kept my promise – until now. After writing to the author of the email and asking him if he would reconsider his position, I was thrilled that he now agreed on the importance of presenting this information to the adventure gaming public.

One of our favorite persons has always been Lee Sheldon. How could you not love the guy? Not only was he responsible for one of the greatest adventure games of all time – Ripley’s Believe it or Not! The Riddle of Master Lu - but he also was intimate with all of Charlie’s Angels! Not to mention his voluminous output that includes over 200 television scripts, ongoing tutorials and books, both fiction and non-fiction. In fact, Lee currently has a new book due out in June - Character Development and Storytelling in Games – and it is already available as a pre-order online from Amazon.

Now, before you read our special treat below - that for the first time anywhere goes into detail about the abandoned development of a Master Lu sequel – please refer to Just Adventure’s previous interviews with Mr. Sheldon and our reviews of games he has been involved with besides Riddle of Master Lu: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wild, Wild West and Temujin. His background is truly astonishing.

So why, you may ask, are we only now posting this “lost” interview with Lee Sheldon? Well, all will become clear in a few weeks when we announce possibly the biggest news of the year for the adventure community involving….oops, can’t tell you yet!

Finally, my thanks to good friend Arash Hashemi for allowing JA to post this interview. Following the interview, make sure to read the script for one of the puzzles from Ripley's Believe It or Not!: The Siberian Cipher.

A Discussion With Lee Sheldon

Conducted by Arash Hashemi

Was a sequel to Master Lu ever in production or did it never make it past the pre-production stage?

Lee Sheldon: Never made it past pre-production.

What kind of work, specifically, was it that you managed to do on the sequel?

Lee Sheldon: The game was outlined, with several sections of the design document (like the Geneva section you can find on my website - I still use the trunk puzzle from that section as an example when I give a tutorial on game design and storytelling at the Game Developer's Conference each year) close to completion. The next generation of the engine was also well along as I remember, and we had finished casting the actors. But we never made it to actual production.

Was the story written and completed?

Lee Sheldon: The story was complete, but not all dialogue and specific action had been written. The Ripley people also had me do a version of the outline for a feature film for some undisclosed interested party, but nothing came of that either.

Supposedly the title of the sequel would have been "The Siberian Cipher", but what would it have been about?

Lee Sheldon:"The teaser was the Tunguska explosion. The storyboards were very exciting I remember.

Could you provide some hints about what the story of the sequel would have been?

Lee Sheldon - It featured a race against a mysterious group to uncover "something" that had been a part of the Tunguska meteor, but could also be found at certain other meteor sites in Africa, Australia... I'm not sure now where else.

There was a section centered around the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and another section at the Ripley Museum in New York as in Master Lu. There was a small section in China again to tie up some loose ends from Master Lu, as some major characters prepared to board the Trans-Siberian Express (a major section), and of course at the Tunguska blast site."

Now that the rights are back in the hands of the Ripley people what are the chances of the adventure gaming world ever seeing a sequel to Master Lu?

Lee Sheldon: I wish, but I'm afraid it isn't something I'm expecting.

Since Sanctuary Woods doesn't exist anymore, who if possible, would develop a sequel and would the rights have to be somehow bought back from the Ripley people?

Lee Sheldon: Well, the Ripley people were never eager to spend their own money to produce a sequel, but I'm sure they would jump at the chance to provide a license again, and fork over all the material in their possession. All I have are the design docs, and maybe some of the storyboards. I think it would make a spectacular game with today's 3D technology.

Do you know what happened to Sanctuary Woods? Did they go bankrupt or were they just acquired by some other company?

Lee Sheldon: They were bought by Disney, and were the last in-house Disney development studio. They were dissolved last year.

Was the demise of Sanctuary Woods the only reason Master Lu 2 never made it into full production or were there other reasons for the sequel being abandoned?

Lee Sheldon: That was the only reason. We were heavily into pre-production and had cast our actors.

In your previous e-mail to me, you said something about the next generation engine for Master Lu 2 being well along. I am just wondering, how would it have been different from the engine in the first game? What improvements would it have had?

Lee Sheldon: Ack, technical question! Not my forte. I don't think I remember exactly except that the characters' movements would be more fluid and video windows were going to be bigger.

I feel Master Lu was well ahead of if its time back in 1995, considering the clever integration of digital video and the fluid use of digitalized characters. Would you be able to explain briefly how the digitalization of the real life actors were done and brought into the gaming environment and how the digital video was done?

Lee Sheldon: We photographed the actors against a green screen, then the artists drew over the video so it matched the look of the settings. The talking was animated, sort of synced, but really just lip flaps, so the actors really didn't need to know dialogue except for the close-ups.

End of Interview

An Event-Based Puzzle From Ripley's Believe It or Not!: The Siberian Cipher. Ripley has been locked in a trunk and tossed into Lake Geneva.

542 INT. TRUNK - DAY

Surprisingly, a small light bulb illuminates the interior of the trunk. A brightly coloured banner stuck to the trunk lid reads: THE GREAT GUSTAVE! Ripley is wedged in pretty tightly, his tied hands in his lap. Water is streaming in at every seam, and he's already seated in several inches of water.

A1. LOOK AT BANNER

RIPLEY (V.O.)

The Great Gustave, the magician whose trunk was stolen! My abduction was planned before I first arrived in Geneva!

A2. LOOK AT CLASP

RIPLEY (V.O.)

The clasp looks to be of an unusual design.

B1. PUT LETTER OPENER ON ROPES
Ripley squirms around, forcing his hands to his pocket. Slowly, painfully, he begins to draw the letter opener from his pocket.

NOTE: This action triggers the water level to rise to one-quarter full.

Ripley manages to bring the blade into contact with the ropes on his hands. He saws at them.
NOTE: This action triggers the water level to rise to one-third full.

The ropes part. He frantically saws at the ropes around his ankles.

NOTE: His ankles are underwater. This action triggers the water level to half-full.

The ropes part. As he pulls his feet free, he drops the letter opener. He feels around beneath him.

RIPLEY (V.O.)

The letter opener! I've dropped it!

After a few precious seconds of searching.

RIPLEY (V.O.)

No time to worry about it now!

B2. USE BULB

RIPLEY (V.O.)

I'll never find a way out without light!

B3. USE (KICK) CLASP HARDWARE

(a) IF Ripley's hands and/or feet are still tied:

RIPLEY (V.O.)

Opening the trunk at the bottom of the lake with my hands and feet bound would only hasten my end!

(b) IF Ripley's hands and feet are free, and the trunk is NOT full of water:

Ripley kicks at the clasp. There's a click, but the trunk remains closed.

RIPLEY (V.O.)

What's holding it closed?!

NOTE: This action triggers the water level to three-quarters full.
Ripley has to twist his neck to continue breathing. He greedily sucks in the last spoonfuls of air.

RIPLEY (V.O.)

There must be a fast way out of here for the magician! What am I missing?!

(light bulb)

Ripley! Forget magic! Think science! The pressure has to equalize! I'll have to wait until the trunk is completely full of water...

He takes a last breath and holds it.

NOTE: This action triggers the water to slowly fill the remainder of the trunk.

When the trunk is FULL of water:

Ripley kicks at the clasp. Now that the pressure has equalized, the trunk lid opens a little. He kicks it again.

CUT TO 504 ("HEIST" VARIABLES SET):

B4. PUT WRENCH ON CLASP

(a) IF Ripley's hands and/or feet are still tied:

RIPLEY (V.O.)

Opening the trunk at the bottom of the lake with my hands and feet bound would only hasten my end!

(b) IF Ripley's hands and feet are free, and the trunk is NOT full of water:

Ripley squirms around, forcing his hands to his pocket. Slowly, painfully, he begins to draw the wrench from his pocket. At first he tries to use the wrench as a tool to free the clasp. When that doesn't work, he smacks the clasp with the wrench. There's a click, but the trunk remains closed. The wrench goes back into his inventory.

RIPLEY (V.O.)

What's holding it closed?!

B5. PUT WRENCH ON ROPE

RIPLEY (V.O.)

The wrench is too dull to cut the rope!

B6. PUT WRENCH ON BANNER

RIPLEY (V.O.)

The trunk is too thick to bash my way through!

B7. PUT SHOEHORN ON CLASP

(a) IF Ripley's hands and/or feet are still tied:

RIPLEY (V.O.)

Opening the trunk at the bottom of the lake with my hands and feet bound would only hasten my end!

(b) IF Ripley's hands and feet are free:

Ripley squirms around, forcing his hands to his pocket. Slowly, painfully, he begins to draw the shoehorn from his pocket. He pries at the clasp, but to no avail.

RIPLEY (V.O.)

There's no edges or slots to get the shoehorn underneath.

The shoehorn goes back into his inventory.

B8. PUT SHOEHORN ON ROPE OR BANNER

RIPLEY (V.O.)

Ripley, the shoehorn is far too dull to cut through anything!

B9. PUT PICK HEAD, METAL POST, PICK HEAD/POST, SHOVEL, OR PICK HEAD SHOVEL ON ANYTHING

RIPLEY (V.O.)

There isn't room enough in this trunk!

C1. CHAOS (SHUFFLE)

The following thoughts occur at random intervals until the trunk is three-quarters full of water:

RIPLEY (V.O.)

[The man was an escape artist!] [There must be a way to open the trunk from the inside!] [Think, Ripley!] [There has to be an answer!] [The Great Gustave must have tinkered with the trunk somehow!]

NAVIGATION

Up to the jet d'eau (504), once Ripley has freed himself, and unlocked the trunk.