The Random Adventure Game News Thread

[HoboForEternity]

anyway do Jane Jensen working on a new game? i played gray matter and loved it, started erica reed and this looks like it is going to be really good too. now i realzied i want her to make more videogames

 

[Sizzle]

Her studio, Pinkerton Road, closed after Moebius turned out... less than stellar and the Gabriel Knight 1 remake didn't do all that well.

After she announced PR closing, there hasn't been any news about whether she's working on anything else (apart from gay romance fiction).

Which is a shame - really liked Gray Matter and Moebius, for all its faults, had that certain spark of past greatness to it at times (too bad it was drowned out by an unlikeable protagonist, bad puzzles, and crap story).

 

[HoboForEternity]

Aw :/

 

[abnaxus]

Her studio, Pinkerton Road, closed after Moebius turned out... less than stellar and the Gabriel Knight 1 remake didn't do all that well.

After she announced PR closing, there hasn't been any news about whether she's working on anything else (apart from gay romance fiction).

Which is a shame - really liked Gray Matter and Moebius, for all its faults, had that certain spark of past greatness to it at times (too bad it was drowned out by an unlikeable protagonist, bad puzzles, and crap story).

I actually wanted a Gray Matter sequel.

 

[Tramboi]

I actually wanted a Gray Matter sequel.

I work with guys who worked at Wizarbox, the company that finished the game, and it seems the production before them was an absolute clusterfuck.
Jane Jensen, the Cole, the dudes from Andromeda... luckily Ron Gilbert seems to be able to write, code and manage a project.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Thats why some parts in the story seems incomplete or messy. They probably couldnt Get everything in.

No jane jensen games are as inclusive and "complete" as the gabriel knight games. I am playing trough 3 now. Its good so far, and 1 and 2 was very enjoyable.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Unfortunately, Gray Matter was mediocre at best - and that's being generous.

 

[Tramboi]

Unfortunately, Gray Matter was mediocre at best - and that's being generous.

Yep, and there are two choices : believe it could have been great if all that was written could be implemented, because of production issues.
Or don't.
Personally, I don't really trust most old glories from the past to manage a project or code anymore. Dave Braben or Ron Gilbert know their shit and kept it up to date, for instance.

 

[abnaxus]

Not only was development a clusterfuck, they had a lot of publisher issues as well. dtp entertainment picked the game up in the end which was a problem on its own (they were the publisher who drove Radon Labs into bankruptcy before getting bankrupt themselves).

 

[CyberWhale]

Dunno if it was already posted...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Pretty certain someone will sue him for stealing their idea of creating crap animations using imagery from renaissance paintings.

My money is on John Cleese and the other Pythons.

 

[Tramboi]

Bob Bates' kickstarter is on !
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1575848200/thaumistry-in-charms-way-a-new-comedy-text-adventu

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...arter-with-a-new-game-in-late-january.112936/

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Sounds like Spellcasting 401: A New Beginning.

 

[Boleskine]

Adventure Gamers 2016 Aggie Award Nominees

Best Story
One of the core components of any adventure, the game’s narrative must engage the player’s interest and imagination. Entertaining in its own right, a good story also immerses the player in a believable game world and serves as motivation to overcome the challenges presented. While often accompanied by quality writing, the plot is a distinct feature that may or may not be ably supported by the actual dialogue.

Goetia
Kathy Rain
King’s Quest
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
Wanda: A Beautiful Apocalypse

Best Writing – Comedy
Arguably the hardest genre to write well, comedy done right has the ability both to amuse and uplift, finding humour in the ordinary and laughter in the unexpected. Often dismissed for not being “serious writing” (oh, the irony!), comedy has long been a beloved adventure staple and deserves appropriate recognition.

Deponia Doomsday
Her Majesty’s SPIFFING
King’s Quest
Maize
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet

Best Writing – Drama
If comedy lifts the soul, then drama explores and challenges it. Though sometimes misrepresented as dry and boring or overly theatrical, a gripping drama simply engages players on a deeper emotional level. Quality writing is essential in maintaining the player’s connection to the characters, game world, and the story unfolding.

Dreamfall Chapters
Goetia
Kathy Rain
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
Shardlight

Best Character
Gabriel Knight... April Ryan... Guybrush Threepwood. These names roll off the tongue of any adventure gamer as a testament to the importance of compelling protagonists in an adventure. But just as important are the villains, sidekicks, and significant supporting characters, which are often the juiciest parts. This category recognizes those who have made the most memorable contribution, regardless of role.

Kathy Rain (Kathy Rain)
King Graham (King’s Quest)
Trico (The Last Guardian)
Nelly Cootalot (Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet)
Renie (Silence)

Best Gameplay
Puzzles are an integral aspect of adventure gameplay, but not the only one. Good pacing, rich exploration, and variety of activities are all factors in player enjoyment as well, all suitably integrated into the storyline. The best games seek the right balance of these elements for the most rewarding gameplay experience.

The Black Watchmen: Season 2 – Enduring Conflict
Obduction
Quern: Undying Thoughts
Wailing Heights
The Witness

Best Concept
A somewhat ambiguous category meant to highlight any unusual, distinctive element. A creative concept can run the gamut from story premise to game mechanics, from stylistic choice to technical innovation. It doesn’t even need to have been successfully implemented, as it’s the idea itself that deserves the acknowledgement in a genre renowned for its conservative approach.

The Black Watchmen: Season 2 – Enduring Conflict
King’s Quest
The Last Guardian
P.O.L.L.E.N.
The Witness

Best Setting
Adventures can transport us to memorable places we’ve never been before, including those we never even imagined. Or perhaps to locales we’ve visited before, but never quite like this, making them feel fresh and new and awe-inspiring all over again. In these games, the setting is like an integral character of its own, inseparable from the story taking place within its borders.

Goetia
The Last Guardian
Obduction
Samorost 3
The Witness

Best Graphic Design
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this category speaks volumes. Regardless of style, this award recognizes games that are not only visually attractive but stylistically distinctive. One look at a screenshot should elicit a “Wow!” followed by “Hey, that’s from…!” This award includes both game world and character design, but not cinematics.

Obduction
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter
Silence
The Witness
Yesterday Origins

Best Animation
From “bustling” city streets that look deserted to clouds that never move, animation in adventure games is rarely a genre strong suit, often the victim of budget constraints. But richly animated adventures add so much to player immersion that any game that goes the extra mile in this area is deserving of appreciation. This category includes in-game character and ambient animations, plus cinematic cutscenes.

The Last Guardian
The Little Acre
Samorost 3
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter
Silence

Best Music
As a complementary element playing in the background, often a game’s soundtrack is noticeable only when it becomes intrusive, but a strong score and attention to timing can add so much to a game’s ambience. A catchy theme song can likewise make game music memorable, and an in-game musical number even more so. Whatever its particular strengths, the game that excels musically deserves its accolades, even if its impact is subtle.

Deponia Doomsday
The Last Guardian
Obduction
Silence
Wailing Heights

Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
Often under-valued by publishers but never by gamers, quality voice acting can enhance a player’s investment in characters as surely as poor acting can ruin it. With so much international localization, voice-overs can be difficult to skillfully oversee, but any game benefits greatly from proper direction and believable acting. This category refers to the overall quality of vocal roles in a game, not to individual characters.

Dreamfall Chapters
King’s Quest
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet
Obduction
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter

Best Sound Effects
As with music, sound effects are frequently given short shrift in adventures, but effective use of audio adds a vital layer of moody ambience. You may not be able to put your finger on the reason, but some games make you feel like you’re really there, and often the atmospheric sounds have drawn you in subconsciously.

Event[0]
The Last Door: Season Two
Obduction
P.O.L.L.E.N.
Samorost 3

Best Non-Traditional Adventure
For a genre that’s remained largely unchanged for decades, it’s actually got a rich history of experimental titles that push the creative envelope in unique, memorable ways. They don’t “evolve” or “redefine” adventures, but rather expand our understanding of what an adventure can be with their bold vision. Purists may resist, but this award honours those games that stretch beyond traditional genre conventions to offer something completely new, or at least present the familiar in imaginative new ways.

The Black Watchmen: Season 2 – Enduring Conflict
Goetia
The Last Guardian
Samorost 3
The Witness

Best Traditional Adventure
Why mess with a good thing? While innovative adventures provide a welcome breath of fresh air, the lifeblood of the genre continues to be the many games that closely adhere to the comfortable, tried-and-true design formulas. Full of inventory and logic puzzles, memorable character dialogue, epic storylines and immersive exploration, they may not have changed much since Monkey Island and Myst – or even the original Zork for some – but they’re no less enjoyable when done well.

Kathy Rain
King’s Quest
Obduction
Quern: Undying Thoughts
Silence

Best Adventure of 2016
As if!! No early taste of the whole enchilada. You’ll have to tune in to find out February 24th for the grand unveiling.

 

[V_K]

Nice to see Goetia getting some love.
The lukewarm reaction it got here saddens me.

 

[Aeschylus]

"Best Traditional Adventure"
"King's Quest"

 

[Tramboi]

Nice to see Goetia getting some love.
The lukewarm reaction it got here saddens me.

Yes it's great indeed.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Hope a Myst-like wins at least one of the nominations. I hear Obduction is not bad for one (still finishing Catyph so hasn't gotten around to that one yet).

 

[tuluse]

Dreamfall Chapters and King's Quest getting any recognition puts the whole exercise into dubious value.

 

[Boleskine]

Voting is open.

2016 Aggie Awards - Readers’ Choice poll

 

[CryptRat]

Released :

 

[Boleskine]

From the GOG thread:

Releases:
The Colonel's Bequest https://af.gog.com/game/the_colonels_bequest?as=1649904300
The Dagger of Amon Ra https://af.gog.com/game/the_dagger_of_amon_ra?as=1649904300

I can't wait for MRY to replay The Colonel's Bequest and tell us it's actually shit.

 

[Infinitron]

The Digital Antiquarian on LOOM: http://www.filfre.net/2017/02/loom-or-how-brian-moriarty-proved-that-less-is-sometimes-more/

Simplicity, however, wasn’t exactly trending in the computer-games industry of 1988. Since the premature end of the would-be Home Computer Revolution of the early 1980s, the audience for computer games had grown only very slowly. Publishers had continued to serve the same base of hardcore players, who lusted after ever more complex games to take advantage of the newest hardware. Simulations had collected ever more buttons and included ever more variables to keep track of, while strategy games had gotten ever larger and more time-consuming. Nor had adventure games been immune to the trend, as was attested by Moriarty’s own career to date. Each of his three games for Infocom had been bigger and more difficult than the previous, culminating in his adventure/CRPG hybrid Beyond Zork, the most baroque game Infocom had made to date, with more options for its onscreen display alone than some professional business applications. Certainly plenty of existing players loved all this complexity. But did all games really need to go this way? And, most interestingly, what about all those potential players who took one look at the likes of Beyond Zork and turned back to the television? Moriarty remembered a much-discussed data point that had emerged from the surveys Infocom used to send to their customers: the games people said were their favorites overlapped almost universally with those they said they had been able to finish. In keeping with this trend, Moriarty’s first game for Infocom, which had been designed as an introduction to interactive fiction for newcomers, had been by far his most successful. What, he now thought, if he used the newer hardware at his disposal in the way that Apple has historically done, in pursuit of simplicity rather than complexity?

When Loom was released in March of 1990, many hardcore adventure gamers were left nonplussed not only by the game’s short length but also by its simple puzzles and minimalist aesthetic approach in general, so at odds with the aesthetic maximalism that has always defined the games industry as a whole. Computer Gaming World‘s Johnny Wilson, one of the more sophisticated game commentators of the time, did get what Loom was doing, praising its atmosphere of “hope and idealism tainted by realism.” Others, though, didn’t seem quite so sure what to make of an adventure game that so clearly wanted its players to complete it, to the point of including a “practice” mode that would essentially solve all the puzzles for them if they so wished. Likewise, many players just didn’t seem equipped to appreciate Loom‘s lighter, subtler aesthetic touch. Computer Gaming World‘s regular adventure-gaming columnist Scorpia, a traditionalist to the core, said the story “should have been given an epic treatment, not watered down” — a terrible idea if you ask me (if there’s one thing the world of gaming, then or now, doesn’t need, it’s more “epic” stories). “As an adventure game,” she concluded, “it is just too lightweight.” Ken St. Andre, creator of Tunnels & Trolls and co-creator of Wasteland, expressed his unhappiness with the ambiguous ending in Questbusters, the ultimate magazine for the adventuring hardcore:

The story, which begins darkly, ends darkly as well. That’s fine in literature or the movies, and lends a certain artistic integrity to such efforts. In a game, however, it’s neither fair nor right. If I had really been playing Bobbin, not just watching him, I would have done some things differently, which would have netted a different conclusion.​

Echoing as they do a similar debate unleashed by the tragic ending of Infocom’s Infidel back in 1983, the persistence of such sentiments must have been depressing for Brian Moriarty and others trying to advance the art of interactive storytelling. St. Andre’s complaint that Loom wouldn’t allow him to “do things differently” — elsewhere in his review he claims that Loom “is not a game” at all — is one that’s been repeated for decades by folks who believe that anything labeled as an interactive story must allow the player complete freedom to approach the plot in her own way and to change its outcome. I belong to the other camp: the camp that believes that letting the player inhabit the role of a character in a relatively fixed overarching narrative can foster engagement and immersion, even in some cases new understanding, by making her feel she is truly walking in someone else’s shoes — something that’s difficult to accomplish in a non-interactive medium.

MRY

 

[MRY]

As always, I love the writing and the research, but disagree with many of the points. In particular, I think it's rather unfair to Zak McKracken and Indiana Jones, both of which I think are really good games.

A few more theoretical observations.

[Loom's UI's] central insight ... was the realization that the game didn’t always need the player to explicitly tell it what she wanted to do when she clicked a certain spot on the onscreen picture. Instead the game could divine the player’s intention for itself, based only on where she happened to be clicking. What was sacrificed in the disallowing of certain types of more complex puzzles was gained in the creation of a far more seamless, intuitive link between the player, the avatar she controlled, and the world shown on the screen.

This seems quite wrong to me. In Loom, "click[ing] a certain spot on the onscreen picture" doesn't actually do anything except give you drafts (in some instances) or very occasionally do something cosmetic. Overwhelmingly, the game does "need the player to explicitly tell it what" to do -- it's just that the verbs are drafts like Open or Twist rather than explicit verbs like, err, Open or Push.

St. Andre’s complaint that Loom wouldn’t allow him to “do things differently” — elsewhere in his review he claims that Loom “is not a game” at all — is one that’s been repeated for decades by folks who believe that anything labeled as an interactive story must allow the player complete freedom to approach the plot in her own way and to change its outcome. I belong to the other camp: the camp that believes that letting the player inhabit the role of a character in a relatively fixed overarching narrative can foster engagement and immersion, even in some cases new understanding, by making her feel she is truly walking in someone else’s shoes — something that’s difficult to accomplish in a non-interactive medium.

This seems like a false dichotomy, and also to somewhat misunderstand the complaint about Loom's ending. As I learned from working on Primordia and sifting through thousands of players' feedback, some of which consisted of complaints about the ending, the complaint isn't a lack of "complete freedom ... to change [the plot's] outcome" but rather the apparent refusal to let the player pursue the seemingly logical end of the character's arc: namely, confronting the final obstacle as a puzzle to be solved rather than one to be run from.

I didn't like Loom's ending very much as a kid, and I'm not sure I particularly liked it when I replayed it recently. I do appreciate that it's doing some different, and to some degree the "leave your foe to her own hell" aspect probably influenced Primordia's ending. But ultimately, Bobbin is presented as a do-gooder character who doesn't run from problems. It's true that he somewhat messes things up in a few instances (particularly with Rusty), but after he reaches the swan lake he sets out to fix the world and undo Chaos's harm. He doesn't particularly seem to want to be a swan -- he does miss his people, but to the extent his character has an arc, its inflection point is when he meets the shepherdess and he seems to want to connect with human beings. The game is about the last weaver coming out of his isolation, about the "Loom Child" finding his place (at last) among humans. Thus, the ending -- in which Bobbin leaves everyone he's met along the way to an endless hell, turns into a swan, and goes to live in outer space with other swans (most of whom were forcibly transformed) -- is utterly out of character. It's not that the player isn't being given "complete freedom" to change the character to fit his fancy, it's that the character has seemingly been changed to fit the designer's fancy and the player has no freedom at all.

I wonder how much of my view of the game is colored by having played the inferior VGA talkie version rather than the old EGA version, but I feel that this article somewhat oversells the game. A lot of it is just pretty dumb without any particular thematic logic. Why is Oz's Emerald City being referenced? Why is the dragon scared of fire (but living in a volcano)? The cleric is pretty uninteresting as villains go, and his motivation is particularly thin. Chaos is more interesting (and more thematic) but at the same time is basically disconnected from the game's core plot point: shouldn't Chaos in some respect be a function of the creation of the Loom Child and not a random byproduct of a cleric wanting to take over the world by raising the dead? If Bobbin's quest had never been put in motion by his mother turning everyone to swans (and a duck), would Chaos have been created? What's the moral reaction to these actions?

Loom is so scraped down to fable or fairy-tale thinness that it really needs a bit more thematic coherence. In a recent random interview I did, I mentioned how good setting design is like key framing (maybe I also mentioned this in a thread here?) -- if the key frames are right, you really don't need the inbetweens at all because the brain can fill them in. Loom's setting and story consists of a few really striking frames, but it turns out that they're pretty bad as narrative key frames because there are no connections that logically emerge between them. Bobbin leaves "Kansas" and encounters a twister on his way to "Oz," and I guess at the end he decides that there's "no place like home" -- but nothing else in the story fits the beats of Wizard of Oz. There is lots of prophesying about the Loom Child, but it turns out that Bobbin's status as a Loom Child is totally irrelevant to anything that unfolds: any weaver's distaff would've led to the same mischief with the clerics. Etc. Etc.

Don't get me wrong: I still love Loom, particularly its art but also the concepts of the the magic system and the Guilds, and Bobbin as a character. The game leaves a very vivid and positive memory. But the article basically holds it out as this brilliant work of narrative that people failed to appreciate, and I don't think that's really apt.

In semi-related news, this RPS discussion of Thimbleweed Park made me sad. I was struck by the fact that she used "friction" to describe not the obstacle between the player's intention and his ability to execute that intention (which I think is a real problem), but instead as synonym for what I understand to be gameplay:

What I realised early on is that my idea of a casual mode is very different from Thimbleweed Park’s idea of a casual mode. The game doesn’t say this when inviting you to pick, but I’d thought that a casual mode would be about reducing the friction as you go through the game, meaning you’d be able to flow through the story rather than hitting the frequent roadblocks I associate with point and click puzzling.

But maybe even more so, I was struck by her impression that the proper adventure game is one without exploration and multi-threaded puzzles:

I’d be happy to sacrifice some of the friction in the pathway through the story if it could perhaps be replaced with moments of confusion and reward elsewhere. Maybe that would come in the form of minigames, but maybe it would be more about having a mode where the puzzles were far more tightly plotted in single areas. ... I wouldn’t want a point and click to go full hidden object adventure, but those games are a useful contrast point because they ultimately offer a similar rigid pathway to most point and clicks for the gamer to pursue. ... Thimbleweed Park’s own blurb says “Today’s players don’t want the same experience they had in the 80s… they want the experience they remember having.” As one of those players (albeit more from the early nineties than the eighties with my pointing and clicking), I remember the stories and the jokes and the puzzles being the experience....

The thing is, most classic adventures didn't have a "rigid pathway ... for the gamer to pursue," and if they do, it's a shortcoming, not a feature.

I actually think the overall tone of her article is totally reasonable -- she takes pains to make clear that she's not advocating for an end to other sorts of adventure games, just that this is the kind of game that she would prefer. But I still am struck that even someone thoughtful, who apparently grew up playing adventure games, would think of them primarily as "rigid pathways" that exist to deliver "stories and jokes," on which pathway puzzles are "friction" that interfere with the players' experience. This couldn't be more opposite from my impression of adventure games as I (re)play them today.

Incidentally, I also think the interface arguments are extremely overstated, though I 100% agree with her in principle. Maybe in older parser games or very early Lucas Arts games there were interface shenanigans, but I haven't experienced a single one in any of the games I've played. My main grievance is not with interface issues as with the use of slow walk speeds, slow animations, and ping-pong puzzle design that create true "friction" between player intent (i.e., "I want to go to such-and-such place and use such-and-such item") and the actual execution off that intent.

[EDIT: To fix mass strikethrough caused by my use of a bracketed s in a quotation. :shakesfist:]

 

[LESS T_T]

Paradigm



Paradigm is a surreal point-and-click adventure game for Windows, OSX and Linux set in the strange and post apocalyptic world of Krusz; a land inspired by a mix of Eastern Europe and the 70’s & 80’s.
Play as unattractive yet over-confident mutant Paradigm; who must prevail through a series of inconveniences on an adventure to overcome the insecure and tyrannical sloth antagonist, Olof!

Demo is available and they are asking for your money on Kickstarter.

Coming soon:

Features

• Classic point and click adventure: Think Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Space quest, Full Throttle.
  
• Surreal 2D Graphics: Pixar meets Fallout
  
• Post apocalyptic: The year is 2026, dial-up is back in fashion.
  
• 70/80’s influences: Paradigm's world is what people from that era imagined it to be; large super computers, space age furniture and floppy disks that can save the world.
  
• Mature content and dark humour: Help the local drug addict and have a hot date with a toaster.
  
• Ugliest protagonist in gaming (maybe): Look at him, Jesus.
  
• Evil sloth antagonist: Some things just need to happen.