The Random Adventure Game News Thread

[belated]

Zojoi recently twitted to ask which one should be remade now that Shadowgate was quite successfull ("for what it is" (TM)) so I'm expecting Deja Vu or Uninvited to be remade sooner or later.

I'm just waiting for http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=367724566 ...
Preferrably all nine of them.

 

[ghostdog]

The original MacVentures are available on Steam now, and pretty cheap too: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/59404/

Zojoi recently twitted to ask which one should be remade now that Shadowgate was quite successfull ("for what it is" (TM)) so I'm expecting Deja Vu or Uninvited to be remade sooner or later.

Daum ! I just realized that the new Shadowgate has been released.

So much incline, so little time...

 

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, now that Shadowgate is out, I want some Deja Vu and Univited!!!


Bt

 

[Jaesun]

Daum ! I just realized that the new Shadowgate has been released.

So much incline, so little time...

I did not play the original but I really liked it. Well worth every penny spent on it. <3

 

[kaizoku]

Braid's creator new game
http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/06/the-witness-money/

Blow spent roughly $200,000 to create Braid and it made him a millionaire. Blow said in 2012 that he was funneling all of the money from Braid into his next project, a Myst-inspired puzzle game called The Witness that he's been working on since 2009.

...

Since starting development on The Witness in 2009, the game has at least tripled in size, from eight hours to 25-40 hours. The Witness dev team, nine people credited in full and eight additional contributors, hit a development milestone last month: All of the game's puzzles are complete. There's still plenty to work on, but the creative heavy lifting is done. There are 677 puzzles in The Witness currently.

Blow generally keeps gameplay details vague for fear of spoiling The Witness' main focus, but he says there are 11 different puzzle areas, and to "beat" the game, players will need to solve seven or eight of these. Each section has a different number of puzzles, and some areas can be completed without solving every puzzle therein.

"It's a pretty flexible game that way," Blow says. "But if you solve all the areas, of course, you might get a little something extra. Or a lot."

 

[Jaesun]

That's........................ interesting (I like Mystlikes). That music was terrible.

 

[Infinitron]

Toonstruck released on GOG: http://af.gog.com/game/toonstruck?as=1649904300

Thanks Herve!

 

[Infinitron]

The Digital Antiquarian did a multi-part review of Brian Moriarty's seminal text adventure, Trinity. It's very literary, with more historical context than actual discussion of the game: http://www.filfre.net/tag/trinity/page/2/ (read from bottom to top)

In the concluding post, he takes a dig at plebeian reviewers like Scorpia that MRY might appreciate.

Like A Mind Forever Voyaging, Trinity seemed destined to become a casualty of an industry that just wasn’t equipped to appreciate what it was trying to do. Traditional game-review metrics like “fun” or “value for money” only cheapened it, while reviewers lacked the vocabulary to even begin to really address its themes. Most were content to simply mention, in passing and often with an obvious unease, that those themes were present. In Computer Gaming World, for instance, Scorpia said that it was “not for the squeamish,” would require of the player “some unpleasant actions,” that it was “overall a serious game, not a light-hearted one,” and then on to the firmer ground of puzzle hints. And that was downright thoughtful in comparison to Shay Addams’s review for Questbusters, which tried in a weird and clunky way to be funny in all the ways thatTrinity doesn’t: “It blowed up real good!” runs the review’s tagline, which goes on to ask if they’ll be eating “fission chips” in the Kensington Gardens after the missiles drop. (Okay, that one’s dumb enough to be worth a giggle…) But the review’s most important point is that Trinity is “mainly a game” again after the first Interactive Fiction Plus title, A Mind Forever Voyaging, so disappointed: “The puzzles are back!”

Even Infocom themselves weren’t entirely sure how to sell or even how to talk about Trinity. The company’s creative management had been unstintingly supportive of Brian Moriarty while he was making the game, but “marketing,” as he said later, “was a little more concerned/disturbed. They didn’t quite know what to make of it.” The matrix of genres didn’t have a slot for “Historical Tragedy.” In the end they slapped a “Fantasy” label on it, although it doesn’t take a long look atTrinity and the previous games to wear that label — the Zork and Enchanter series — to realize that one of these things is not quite like the others.

Moriarty admits to “a few tiffs” with marketing over Trinity, but he was a reasonable guy who also understood that Infocom needed to sell their games and that, while the occasional highbrow press from the likes of The New York Times Book Review had been nice and all, the traditional adventure-game market was the only place they had yet succeeded in consistently doing that. Thus in interviews and other promotions for Trinity he did an uncomfortable dance, trying to talk seriously about the game and the reasons he wrote it while also trying not to scare away people just looking for a fun text adventure. The triangulations can be a bit excruciating: “It isn’t a gloomy game, but it does have a dark undertone to it. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.” (Actually, it is.) Or: “It’s kind of a dark game, but it’s also, I like to think, kind of a fun game too.” (With a ringing endorsement like “I like to think it’s kind of a fun game,” how could anyone resist?)

Trinity‘s commercial saving grace proved to be a stroke of serendipity having nothing to do with any its literary qualities. The previous year Commodore had released what would prove to be their last 8-bit computer, the Commodore 128. Despite selling quite well, the machine had attracted very little software support. The cause, ironically, was also the reason it had done so well in comparison to the Plus/4, Commodore’s previous 8-bit machine. The 128, you see, came equipped with a “64 Mode” in which it was 99.9 percent compatible with the Commodore 64. Forced to choose between a modest if growing 128 user base and the massive 64 user base through which they could also rope in all those 128 users, almost all publishers, with too many incompatible machines to support already, made the obvious choice.

Infocom’s Interactive Fiction Plus system was, however, almost unique in the entertainment-software industry in running on the 128 in its seldom-used (at least for games) native mode. And all those new 128 owners were positively drooling for a game that actually took advantage of the capabilities of their shiny new machines. A Mind Forever Voyaging and Trinity arrived simultaneously on the Commodore 128 when the Interactive Fiction Plus interpreter was ported to that platform in mid-1986. But the puzzleless A Mind Forever Voyaging was a bit too outré for most gamers’ tastes. Plus it was older, and thus not getting the press or the shelf space thatTrinity was. Trinity, on the other hand, fit the bill of “game I can use to show off my 128″ just well enough, even for 128 users who might otherwise have had little interest in an all-text adventure game. Infocom’s sales were normally quite evenly distributed across the large range of machines they supported, but Trinity‘s were decidedly lopsided in favor of the Commodore 128. Those users’ numbers were enough to push Trinity to the vicinity of 40,000 in sales, not a blockbuster — especially by the standards of Infocom’s glory years — but enough to handily outdo not just A Mind Forever Voyaging but even more traditional recent games likeSpellbreaker. Like the Cold War Trinity chronicles, it could have been much, much worse.

 

[MRY]

Trinity seemed destined to become a casualty of an industry that just wasn’t equipped to appreciate what it was trying to do.

It was the Depression Quest of its day, I guess.

 

[Infinitron]

Trinity seemed destined to become a casualty of an industry that just wasn’t equipped to appreciate what it was trying to do.

It was the Depression Quest of its day, I guess.

Funny, but it really wasn't, since it DID also have puzzles and such. Pretty good ones, IIRC. It was the full package. The other Infocom "art game", A Mind Forever Voyaging, was kind of the "walking simulator" of its day, though.

 

[MRY]

Yes, if it had been a post about AMFV, the joke would've been easier (and I would've gone with Gone Home). But I had to play the hand Digital Antiquarian dealt me.

Incidentally, I kind of liked Depression Quest when it was called Rameses. I haven't played ZQ's remake though.

 

[Gozma]

AMFV is the one Infocom title I've ever played more than a couple minutes of, and one of maybe 5 text adventure games all told (most of those being 30 minute- 1 hour games by the guy that did Photopia). Guess I should give the whole genre another couple shots. Did anyone ever make text adventure game "remasters" that could have something like a flash map on the side so they didn't have to use the go north-south-east-west convention? I always found that annoying as hell for some reason, like trying to have an imagined literary reality at the same time as a graph paper map reality split my brain.

 

[Infinitron]

AMFV is the one Infocom title I've ever played more than a couple minutes of, and one of maybe 5 text adventure games all told (most of those being 30 minute- 1 hour games by the guy that did Photopia). Guess I should give the whole genre another couple shots. Did anyone ever make text adventure game "remasters" that could have something like a flash map on the side so they didn't have to use the go north-south-east-west convention? I always found that annoying as hell for some reason, like trying to have an imagined literary reality at the same time as a graph paper map reality split my brain.

A "remaster" isn't necessary. Infocom's games all used an interpreted format: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-machine

I'd be very surprised if there aren't fan-made Z-machine interpreters with auto-mapping functionality.

EDIT: Actually, it looks like I might be wrong about how common that is.

 

[MRY]

Gozma: I'm sure there are such mappers, but the problem is that adventure games don't always adhere to a consistent scale (which is unobjectionable) or to consistent directions (which is harder to stomach). In the latter case, there are plenty of games where Room A has a NE exit into Room B, but Room B has, say, a W exit into Room A (rather than a SW exit). I'm not sure exactly how to manage that from a map standpoint, though I could see some possible approaches.

Like you, I've found large-scale IF / text adventure games hard to get into. (For me, it's not just the mapping, it's the overwhelming quantity of things to do.) Nevertheless, there are a lot of indie IF games I've loved, having had the same entry point you did (Adam Cadre's work). Some good places to start would be Metamorphoses by Emily Short, Anchorhead by Michael Gentry (I think I'm attributing it correctly), and Spider & Web by Andrew Plotkin. I've been out of the scene for over a decade, but back in the day I found all those games manageable, well-written, and engaging.

 

[Jaesun]

A mysterious letter from a certain "A.B.C" is sent to the famous detective announcing a murder which is about to be committed. Even more worrying is the disconcerting confidence of the serial killer, who does not hesitate to mock the police forces and question Hercule Poirot's intelligence!
The chase will lead the player around England for an investigation against the clock in which it will be necessary to be observant, quick-witted and level-headed.

In the video, discover new characters and different scenes from 1930s England, always in a very appealing graphic style, which promise many great moments of suspense!

The A.B.C. Murders adventure game is due to be released summer 2015 on PC, Mac, PS4 , Xbox One in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German​

 

[Redlands]

A mysterious letter from a certain "A.B.C" is sent to the famous detective announcing a murder which is about to be committed. Even more worrying is the disconcerting confidence of the serial killer, who does not hesitate to mock the police forces and question Hercule Poirot's intelligence!
The chase will lead the player around England for an investigation against the clock in which it will be necessary to be observant, quick-witted and level-headed.

In the video, discover new characters and different scenes from 1930s England, always in a very appealing graphic style, which promise many great moments of suspense!

The A.B.C. Murders adventure game is due to be released summer 2015 on PC, Mac, PS4 , Xbox One in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German​

That voice acting... Christ. Did one of the developers get drunk and then realize they didn't have a trailer recorded yet?

The problem with adapting detective novels - particularly, the better-known ones - into games is that the ending's are usually pretty well known, so either you tell the same story (usually in an inferior format) or you change it (often in a way that just seems random). Agatha Christie's ones also have the added difficulty: the real strength of Christie's writing came from her knowledge of people and the society in which she lived. While it's possible to do adventure games which are more investigative and suit this style of mystery (the Laura Bow games, for example, since her plays are an obvious inspiration for at least the first game), it's rarely done. For more physical evidence-based detectives like Holmes, the standard adventure game formula works pretty well (though they have their own difficulties). Add to that that most fictional detectives have skills well beyond most players, and it seems a bit jarring to play as one of the world's greatest detectives... bumbling around unable to solve relatively simple problem.

Also, would it kill people to adapt some non-Poirot, non-Marple stuff for a change? Some of her stories outside of her two main detectives are really fucking interesting.

 

[Astral Rag]

David Suchet or GTFO.

 

[Jaesun]

In a Nutshell
From the indie games studio that brought you Master Reboot comes a new first-person sci-fi adventure game that will take you on a journey through the deepest, darkest recesses of your soul. Soul Axiom is a psychological thriller, combining elements of exploration and puzzle solving gameplay with a compelling storyline.

The Game
Explore Soul Axiom’s rich environments and immersive story to unravel the mystery of your life, and your digital afterlife. You will be taken on an intriguing voyage of discovery, through beautiful, haunting locations, facing challenges that will lead you into danger on your mission to unlock your identity, your story, your mystery. But beware: some mysteries are better left unsolved.

Currently available on Early Access here the game will be released Q2 2015.​

 

[Sceptic]

The problem with adapting detective novels - particularly, the better-known ones - into games is that the ending's are usually pretty well known, so either you tell the same story (usually in an inferior format) or you change it (often in a way that just seems random). For more physical evidence-based detectives like Holmes, the standard adventure game formula works pretty well (though they have their own difficulties).

I think the best detective "pure" adventure game I've played in this respect is Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes. They completely made up the case, as you can tell from the title, but Mythos did a great job capturing the specific feel of Holmes mysteries, with a crime that seem to make no sense at first, and that you have to solve with a combination of interrogation, careful observation of crime scenes, and since the novels mentioned many times Holmes's interest with chemistry, a healthy dose of laboratory analysis. And since Holmes's trademark is his insane sense of observation, everything you can look at in the game world has a detailed description. It was a fun game, and it worked really well as a Holmes story, better than most of the other game adaptations.

 

[Bubbles]

I think the best detective "pure" adventure game I've played in this respect is Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes. They completely made up the case, as you can tell from the title, but Mythos did a great job capturing the specific feel of Holmes mysteries, with a crime that seem to make no sense at first, and that you have to solve with a combination of interrogation, careful observation of crime scenes, and since the novels mentioned many times Holmes's interest with chemistry, a healthy dose of laboratory analysis. And since Holmes's trademark is his insane sense of observation, everything you can look at in the game world has a detailed description. It was a fun game, and it worked really well as a Holmes story, better than most of the other game adaptations.

Case of the Rose Tattoo did the same things, but without "press R for detective vision" and with better puzzles.

 

[Sceptic]

Case of the Rose Tattoo did the same things, but without "press R for detective vision" and with better puzzles.

I heard about the sequel many years after it was released but never tried. Looks like this is as glowing a recommendation as it can get, and I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

 

[tuluse]

The problem with adapting detective novels - particularly, the better-known ones - into games is that the ending's are usually pretty well known, so either you tell the same story (usually in an inferior format) or you change it (often in a way that just seems random). For more physical evidence-based detectives like Holmes, the standard adventure game formula works pretty well (though they have their own difficulties).

I think the best detective "pure" adventure game I've played in this respect is Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes. They completely made up the case, as you can tell from the title, but Mythos did a great job capturing the specific feel of Holmes mysteries, with a crime that seem to make no sense at first, and that you have to solve with a combination of interrogation, careful observation of crime scenes, and since the novels mentioned many times Holmes's interest with chemistry, a healthy dose of laboratory analysis. And since Holmes's trademark is his insane sense of observation, everything you can look at in the game world has a detailed description. It was a fun game, and it worked really well as a Holmes story, better than most of the other game adaptations.

Blade Runner does a pretty good job with scratching that investigation itch. Interviews, crime scene clue gathering, using the computer to enhance images.

The free game Donna: Avenger of Blood also contains some investigation stuff.

Neither game is very Holmesian though.

 

[Sceptic]

Blade Runner does a pretty good job with scratching that investigation itch. Interviews, crime scene clue gathering, using the computer to enhance images.

Oh yeah, there are others. I should've been clearer, I specifically meant games based on the "mystery" novels like Christie, Doyle and so on. Redlands mentioning that the formula would work with Holmes is what reminded of Lost Files. If we move away from that then Blade Runner is pretty good as you mentioned. The Tex Murphy games are also good to various degrees, but Mean Streets in particular nails the "detective work" aspect perfectly.

 

[ghostdog]

I also liked that Watson kept a journal in the Lost files, where he wrote everything you did in the case and it was almost like an actual SH novel, but you could also search entries and track back investigation notes. It was pretty neat.

Case of the Rose Tattoo did the same things, but without "press R for detective vision"

Huh ? this is the first time I hear about the "press R for detective vision" thing.


Case of the rose tattoo is pretty good too, but I like the first one better. I'd say they're equal in story/puzzles, but the classic 2D graphics in the serrated scalpel where much better than the pre-rendered actor sprites in the rose tattoo.

 

[abnaxus]

There was a text-based Sherlock Holmes for the Commodore 64: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/529/Sherlock+Holmes+-+Another+Bow.html