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The Random Adventure Game News Thread

Boleskine

Arcane
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
4,045
https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/33670

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A Look at Graphics: Establishing the Scene
Written by Ben Chandler — September 25, 2017

An important element of the graphic adventure game is to make sure that scenery is practical and playable. It has to serve a purpose: it's the backdrop on which the action happens, it's the board on which the pieces are placed by the designer, and this means that things have to be clear, visible and laid out neatly. A lot of the time this can limit an artist in what angles they can use, what framing they can use, and what distance they can use, because there's a fairly specific range of each in which adventure games – especially 2D ones – can work. One way to add variety, however, is the use of establishing shots to break up the scenery, and to show off parts of the world we couldn't normally see.



(Click any image for a larger version)

One example is this scene from the very beginning of Technobabylon. Here we're establishing an era, a level of technology, and an idea of purity/oneness of the figure. A lack of scenery cements the idea that we're viewing cyberspace, in a more “pure” form than the simulated environment that follows, and the focus is centred entirely on the character, who's delivering a monologue. This is a very simple composition that uses well-known symbols to deliver the idea of cyberspace to the players, and establish the tone of the game.

Another example we had fun with was this ruined cathedral from Sharlight. Due to the limits of 2D adventures, we couldn't show the door of the cathedral as well as the imposing size of the building in a single static shot. The solution here was to begin the shot at the very top of the cathedral, with a fairly strong angle that gives a sense of looking upwards, which then becomes less and less pronounced as the shot pans down to the bottom of the scene. This creates a sense of scale that informs players of the height of the structure, and allows them to see the wreck of the plane sticking out of it, and then drops the shot down into a form that we can actually play, without having to use a separate shot.




For the beginning of Unavowed, we're using this skyline both to set the location (the Empire State Building serves as something of a geographic icon) and the tone (the threatening red sky, looming with ominous clouds, suggests danger). Having bold colour in a shot like this really helps to develop the mood early on, preparing players for the story before the first line is spoken, a sort of visual appetiser for things to come.



One of my all-time favourite establishing shots is this scrolling panorama from Full Throttle. Starting from the sky, and rolling down, we get a great sense of distance through the perspective of the clouds and the canyon, which then slowly pulls our attention to the main focus of the scene (and, indeed, the game) – the road. This is a great opening shot to a road adventure, which leads directly into the first animated cutscene, and is a clever use of the limited technology of the time to emulate something of a cinematic camera pan.



Another fun use of a cinematic idea in an establishing shot is in this opening scene from Kyrandia 2, where we see parts of the land disappearing, creating the mystery that we'll be investigating throughout the course of the game. Here the angled horizon line – known as 'Dutch Angle' in cinema – helps to create a more dynamic, intense shot. The energy that this sort of angle brings to the scene makes what would otherwise be a fairly standard scene in terms of content quite arresting and engaging. It's a great way to grab the player's attention at the very beginning of a game and get them interested in the exposition you're trying to deliver.



Speaking of grabbing the player's attention, a fantastic example of setting the tone of a game well is the very beginning of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. The setup is fairly simple: Indy is searching for an item among the college's collected artefacts. Rather than presenting this as a dull warehouse or storeroom, however, the artists used the designs of cultural relics and some bold, moody lighting to make it seem like he's exploring some ancient, forgotten temple. This immediately creates a wonderful mood, getting us into the idea of an adventure to exotic lands before we even leave campus.



Another great use of lighting is in this shot from Gabriel Knight, in which we see the street and morning sky. A paper boy cycling past helps us to understand that it's dawn, rather than dusk, and the presence of Gabriel's motorcycle helps draw our eye to the front of this shot, but most of all the fantastic combination of orange sky and greenish-blue streetlights lends the scene a fantastic atmosphere. This is a very common combination of lighting colours, and it's easy to appreciate how it became so popular for the mood it can create.



This potent colour combination can be seen again in this establishing shot from Simon the Sorcerer 2, where we're shown a full view of a castle, lit by eerie moonlight from above and blazing lava from below. I particularly like how the lines of the castle feel warped and distorted here, in an almost fisheye effect, which helps to enhance the sense of scale and looming feel of the castle. This exaggerated low camera angle really gives a powerful sense of the size of the location and the mood being established before the camera moves to a much closer, more practical shot.



Beneath a Steel Sky uses another great angle in this backdrop, in which we see a helicopter fly past and crash. Much like the Kyrandia 2 scene, the angles here create an intensity not present in more straightforward compositions, and though this type of perspective wouldn't be practical in the playable part of the game, it works perfectly here to establish the setting that we crash into and begin our adventure, and is one of the few chances the artists had to sell the idea of a tall city before things flatten out to allow players to start to walk around.



Similarly, this opening shot from The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the few moments in which the game's artists could convey any sort of height for the Melee Island setting. Seen above from the map screen, or from most of the section's playable locations, the island seems fairly flat. Only in this establishing shot is a real sense of verticality given to the area. Something I particularly like here is the distortion of scale in order to direct the player: here the fire and the arch at the top of the hill are disproportionately large and bright compared to the town and buildings nestled below it, but in exaggerating their size and brightness, the artist has drawn our eye to this location, which leads directly to the following scene in which we move to the close-up.



One particularly novel establishing shot – of sorts – is at the beginning of Broken Age, in which we have the option to choose between our two protagonists, each shown in their own worlds. The lovely symmetry of this dual shot is captivating, and suggestive of two individuals living in very different situations, but in some way connected to each other. Especially beautiful is the way that selecting one's preferred starting point seamlessly pans the shot to whichever side we've chosen, showing more of the background. This transitions from a shot that was initially about the characters into one that shows off more of the setting – whichever one we’ve chosen – making it play to both the foreground and background details at the same time.



Both foreground and background are equally important in this establishing shot from the introduction of Alone in the Dark, in which we see our main character walking up the path, as seen from the vantage point of someone we can't quite see, but whose hands alone create a chilling atmosphere. This is a wonderfully suggestive composition – placing equal emphasis on foreground and background to tell a story and establish a mood in a very clever way. The emphasis is helped especially by the warm lighting on the foreground details, contrasting beautifully against the dark green of the yard, and really bringing the hands to our attention.



Establishing shots are a powerful tool that have been used by many artists in the genre. They help give a sense of scale, of atmosphere and tension before the game zooms into the more practical, playable parts. Their impact on the experience should not be underestimated – it comes down to the old adage urging us to show, rather than tell. It's one thing to inform the player that they're trapped in a crashed plane, teetering over the edge of a cliff, as in the start of Broken Sword 3. Before we get to escaping that plane, however, the designers show us exactly what the situation is, and in doing so, establish our location, our problem, and our atmosphere, all in a single shot. That's the power of establishing shots, and that's why they're such a valuable element of adventure games.



Ben Chandler is an acclaimed adventure game artist and designer who now works with Wadjet Eye. If you enjoy his freelance article series at Adventure Gamers, we encourage you to check out his equally insightful blog about art in games.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Yorkshire Gubbins, "a stupendously original and incomprehensibly daft anthology of hour-long point and click comedy adventures set in the most magical of English Shires: Yorkshire" with bloom and "the best writing and British humour ever in a Yorkshire based game":







Are you safe? Are you clean? Are you normal?
If the answer's yes... you probably don't live in Gubbins. A bride, cloned by a slug monster on her big day. A robot on the run from a "Spork Jogger". Two print and trophy shop owners addicted to LARPing. A celebrity chef with underpants that hold a terrible, terrible secret.

A normal Thursday, then.

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What even is it though?
It's a series of daft hour-long point and click comedy adventures set in a twisted version of Yorkshire, which is basically where hobbits would live if hobbits were tall and angry all the time.

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Key Features
  • Fully voiced by a cast with the same accent they have on Game of Thrones!
  • Beautiful STEGGYVISION bringing the never-ending beige and grim hills of Yorkshire to life.
  • The best writing and British humour ever in a Yorkshire based game!
  • The ONLY game ever to be set in Yorkshire!
  • Experience the unique hexMuse dynamic music system!
  • Regular new episodes!
  • Standalone stories that can be played in any order!

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Episodes
  • #1 - Humble Pie - being the Terrible Consequences Of Ruining Your Best Friend's Wedding.
  • #2 - Coming soon
  • #3 - Coming soon
  • #4 - Coming soon
  • #5 - Coming soon
  • Bonus: Holy Molluscamony - the short pilot episode that started it all. A bride has been cloned by... a slug monster? Again?!

Looks like it took many hints from Thimbleweed Park.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
The St Christopher's School Lockdown, "subversive, irreverent point-and-click adventure set in a prestigious British institute", was Kickstarted in 2013, and is coming today:



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The St Christopher's School Lockdown is a subversive, irreverent point-and-click adventure set in a prestigious British institute. St. Christopher's School has been seized by its student body. Roughly two hundred teenagers (and even one primary schooler) have taken their own campus by storm, staging a lock-in protest against severe new financial rulings. Barricaded within the building and facing pressure from the police, the government and the media, the young St Christopher's crusaders are going to find out how quickly things can go from bad to worse.

The first episode follows Kayleigh, an outsider to St Chris. Due to delicate circumstances involving debt and blackmail, she finds herself seeking refuge within the school. However, she soon comes to realize that she may have been better off outside.

-- A plot inspired by very current and ongoing political events
-- Hand-drawn characters and moody environments in a comic book art style
-- Classical point-and-click adventure game puzzles and minigames
-- Optional side quests and achievements
-- An in-world collectible voodoo doll trading game, featuring a stat-based battle system
-- Roughly ten hours of gameplay
-- Voices on key cut scenes
-- A strikingly original soundtrack by Markus Zierhofer

This game has a great app number: http://store.steampowered.com/app/600000/

It's out now on itch.io: https://classroomgraffiti.itch.io/the-st-christophers-school-lockdown
 

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
9,151
Location
Disco Elysium
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The St Christopher's School Lockdown, "subversive, irreverent point-and-click adventure set in a prestigious British institute", was Kickstarted in 2013, and is coming today:



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ss_ec350f9854e3315e5cd1701d84ca3f446aa16cbb.600x338.jpg


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The St Christopher's School Lockdown is a subversive, irreverent point-and-click adventure set in a prestigious British institute. St. Christopher's School has been seized by its student body. Roughly two hundred teenagers (and even one primary schooler) have taken their own campus by storm, staging a lock-in protest against severe new financial rulings. Barricaded within the building and facing pressure from the police, the government and the media, the young St Christopher's crusaders are going to find out how quickly things can go from bad to worse.

The first episode follows Kayleigh, an outsider to St Chris. Due to delicate circumstances involving debt and blackmail, she finds herself seeking refuge within the school. However, she soon comes to realize that she may have been better off outside.

-- A plot inspired by very current and ongoing political events
-- Hand-drawn characters and moody environments in a comic book art style
-- Classical point-and-click adventure game puzzles and minigames
-- Optional side quests and achievements
-- An in-world collectible voodoo doll trading game, featuring a stat-based battle system
-- Roughly ten hours of gameplay
-- Voices on key cut scenes
-- A strikingly original soundtrack by Markus Zierhofer

This game has a great app number: http://store.steampowered.com/app/600000/

It's out now on itch.io: https://classroomgraffiti.itch.io/the-st-christophers-school-lockdown

interesting. Thanks!
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,109
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Kickstarter for new KING Art adventure game: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/111416884/shakes-and-fidget-the-adventure



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There aren’t enough funny video games out there. That’s a fact! There are tons of comedy shows and movies on TV and on the silver screen… but on PCs and consoles? Nope. We want to change this!
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Shakes & Fidget – The Adventure is all about silly fun. We are not "Citizen Kane", we are "The Naked Gun meets Spaceballs".

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We love crazy point & click adventure games like "Day of the Tentacle" or "Sam & Max", with demented characters, hair-raising stories and whacky puzzles.

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Great cartoon-style graphics by Shakes & Fidget creator Marvin Clifford and tons of 2D animations to feast your eyes upon. And for your audio enjoyment only the best voice actors and an orchestral score!

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It is time for a straightforward, fun 2D point & click adventure game. If you feel the same, we are counting on your support.
 

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
9,151
Location
Disco Elysium
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Cool.

Book of unwritten tale 2 was pretty good. The plot is pretty unfinished, but kingart adventire games are fun. Even that spinoff one.

This probably the closest we will ever have to a relatively high budget adventure game dev after daedalic went to the dark side
 

Sceptic

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
The graphic style looks amazing. If they can just explicitly say they're aiming to make the puzzles as solid as the games they claim inspire them I'll actually have to break my self-imposed embargo and throw money at them.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Cleansuit, "a retro-style graphical text adventure game where you must find creative ways to survive a mysterious serial killer's assault on your home."

You can type "fart" to fart.



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Cleansuit is a retro-style graphical text adventure game where you must find creative ways to survive a mysterious serial killer's assault on your home. Use text commands to manipulate the detailed environment and discover all the unique ways to win and die.

Become the schlubby protagonist who must outwit his would-be killer: Explore your home, collect items to devise a path to survival, and cheat death. Along the way you'll find secrets hidden through your house. Some may help you. Most are lethal.

What will you need to make it out alive? Bring your ingenuity, your curiosity, and most of all your will to live!
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,535


Till and Adrian are in their mid 20s and working at the Space Geekz Corporation, delivering game consoles and arcade machines throughout the whole galaxy in their old rotten space freighter.

But one day, during Adrians regular 3h afternoon power-nap, something went terribly wrong: He wakes up with a big bump on his head, the TV is broken, the sink in the kitchen is clogged, there is no frozen pizza left, and even more worse: Till is gone and the freighter is grounded on an abandoned planet.

What looks like a normal work accident at first, is the beginning of a weird journey through a world full of radioactive crunchy flakes, stock trading cannibals, tasteless videogame parodies and honkyfants with digestive problems, packed into lots of entertaining point & click action from the good old 90s . Of course in pixelated Fake-VGA with amazing 256 colors!

Features:

  • English Voice-Audio & Text
  • more than 100 lovely rendere 3D-scenes in "pixelook" Full-HD resolution.
  • classic Coin-Interaction "talk, look, use" like in the good old days.
  • lot's of weird humor and puzzles to solve
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
A spy adventure from an Iranian game developer called RSK Entertainment:



An operation is being undertaken in the eastern region of the Hawizeh Marshes at night (a relatively remote place from the marshes so that the unique vegetation of this region is visible). The heavy enemy fire, successive explosions, enemy and friendly gunshots from heavy and light machine guns, shrapnel shells and mortar bombs dismember and butcher the soldiers. The sound of cries and groans can be heard from the wounded and the medics throughout the battlefield. The stench of treason hurts one’s nose. Who, and for what purpose, would one betray his own country? One of the most prominent pilots of the Air Force, Asef Mahmoudi, has been taken captive by the Iraqis with a series of critical documents. Any diplomatic move would raise suspicions and is utterly dangerous. The only way is to dispatch one of the most elite members of the commando unit. Rasoul is both passionate and intelligent. Without a doubt, he is the best option. Will he succeed in saving Asef? Will everything go according to plan? I don’t know why the stench of treason still hurts my nose….

Game features:

1. A spy story of a special force agent going into the enemy land until he discovers the truth in fatherland
2. Loyalty to the Adventure genre, more than 10 mini games and tens of environmental puzzles
3. Two main characters
4. Narrating the story in 25 locations and 85 backgrounds with utmost detail
5. 15 characters with more than 80 pages of captivating dialogue
6. More than 20 minutes of motion comic for a more precise narration of the story
7. 60 minutes of engaging goal-oriented music
8. Various stealth gameplays and clothe changings in the form of a classic adventure

Strategy First (gee, it' still alive?) recently has been releasing this developer's games with English translations on Steam:









Check it out if you're interested: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RSK Entertainment
 

Boleskine

Arcane
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
4,045
https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/33736

The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk review
The Good:
A welcome return to Asposia with the same characters, look, and music as before; puzzles present a good challenge; voice work has seen some improvements.

The Bad:
A much darker atmosphere saps some of the enjoyable ambiance of the original; a couple of puzzles sacrifice sense at the altar of perceived difficulty.


Good

3.5 stars out of 5

Our Verdict:

Though still an enjoyable adventure with high production values, The Last Wind Monk marks something of a tonal shift in the series. Part of what made The Inner World so appealing was its charm, and the sequel ends up leaving a little of that behind in favor of a darker story full of challenging puzzles.
Written by Pascal Tekaia — October 20, 2017

When Studio Fizbin’s The Inner World released in 2013, it was a pleasant surprise: an inaugural adventure from a first-time developer that managed to impress with its charmingly animated characters, clever inventory-based puzzles, and appealing subterranean world. With their follow-up The Last Wind Monk, the German team aims to recreate their success by largely sticking closely to the same formula. This approach works – for the most part – but the sequel ultimately comes up a little wanting in some key areas when compared to its predecessor, primarily by emphasizing a darker tone this time around.

The story begins with a bit of a curveball. In the opening cinematic, we see a throng of Asposians gathered in a town square around their wind fountain, being incited by an orator standing at a podium. Off to his side, a guard stands watch over Laura, the first game’s heroine; and a chained man, a member of the flute nose dynasty who use their woodwind-shaped protuberances to summon the wind that keeps this world-within-the-world alive. It’s been three years since Robert defeated the evil Conroy, who had stilled Asposia’s fountains and petrified the flute noses the first time around. Now a man named Emil has taken control over this underground realm, convinced that the flute noses were the ones who summoned the wind gods and eliminated Conroy, and has embarked on a campaign to round them all up and throw them into the wind fountain as punishment.

This sets a less-than-pleasant tone for the game, making the citizens of Asposia complicit in a manhunt for all flute noses, before turning them over to the state for execution. Robert, as we are shown at the outset, has spent the last three years as a stone statue himself, after running through the woods and tripping over the husk of a Basylian. (This apparently happened off-camera, in the space between games, and I kept waiting for an eventual cinematic to bridge the gap between games and get me up to speed on current events, but to no avail.) The first order of business is to find a way to release Robert from his rock prison by taking control of his trusty pigeon sidekick, Peck.

The game utilizes the same point-and-click mechanics of its predecessor, with contextual environmental options popping up on screen when hotspots are clicked on. After freeing Robert, you are able to control both him and Peck, and later Laura, switching between them via a simple mouse-click. Depending on the scene, players will control one, two, or even all three characters to progress. The trio may be in the same area working together with a shared inventory, or separated and attacking a problem from multiple angles. Each character has their own responses when interacting with objects, and each has a unique ability. Peck, for example, can fly but has no hands, so he will often shoot you a withering glare when asked to do something unrealistic, while Laura is physically stronger than the others, and Robert can manipulate the environment via his wind songs.

Receiving a telepathic message from the mysterious Mama Dola after waking in the forest, Robert is given the task of seeking out the eponymous last Wind Monk, who can restore all Asposians back to peace and harmony. Like its predecessor, the sequel deals with some darker subject matter, seemingly packaged as a children’s game, but then ups the ante. Where the first game saw every Asposian facing a slow and torturous death by asphyxiation, The Last Wind Monk takes those same Asposians and effectively turns them into a mindless mob willing to aid a villain in mass extermination. The rounding up and imprisonment of a race of people, and the fugitive element this creates among the persecuted, contribute to a World War II ambiance that feels excessively heavy and at times uncomfortable.

This gives the game a grimmer, more oppressive mood than before, at least during certain sections, which doesn’t jibe all that well with my recollection of the previous game. It’s also hard to ignore the fact that this setup all but undoes the victory achieved in the first game: the time spent originally exposing Conroy’s evil plot and saving the populace seems like it was all for naught when all of Asposia is willing to hold Conroy up as a martyr and completely turn on Robert and the flute noses. It appears racism and bigotry are alive and well in Asposia.

With all of its dark undertones permeating the atmosphere, The Last Wind Monk does still manage a bit of levity here and there by virtue of the oddball characters and topsy-turvy world. On his journey, Robert crosses paths with – and takes pains to appease – a host of imaginative personalities, including a conductor tied to a windmill wheel, a cactus-enthusiast jailer, and a man with a burger and no ketchup in sight, to name but a few. The lethal-to-all-but-flute-noses gorf is back as well, as are plenty of other colorful fauna and flora. While some of the game’s attempts at humor fall a little flat, they do help to smooth out what would otherwise be a particularly dreary backdrop.

One thing that’s thankfully stayed much the same as last time are the inventory-based puzzles, which still offer up a good challenge from beginning to end. The majority of obstacles demand creative solutions, sometimes requiring multi-step processes to be solved. For example, the first area Robert finds himself in can only be exited via a broken-down cable car. You must collect various parts and tools to repair it, but this proves to be no easy task, involving many steps spread over several screens. While Robert is on his quest to seek out Mama Dola’s assistance in locating the last Wind Monk, Laura pursues a more fist-to-face tactic in order to stop Emil from rounding up all the flute noses. Their objectives frequently overlap, but do occasionally lead them down different paths. Each chapter of the game’s roughly ten-hour playtime is an area contained within itself, usually consisting of three or four locations that interlink with each other for puzzle solutions.

Some assistance is provided where puzzles are concerned. Hotspots can be displayed on-screen to eliminate dreaded pixel hunts, and a step-by-step in-game walkthrough is available via the menu to ensure that no one will remain blocked by any one puzzle for too long. However, a few scenarios are a bit over-the-top in their effort to pose a challenge. In one instance, I was hopelessly stuck despite having a clear idea how to move ahead, simply because my progression was gated until I performed a very specific action, which then caused a chain reaction of solutions I’d already figured out but couldn’t put into effect before. Another time, chasing a rat from its hole in a prison featured a solution that, even after looking it up and following the walkthrough step by step, still made absolutely no sense to me.

An issue I had with the first installment – its hit-or-miss voice-overs – has been noticeably improved here. The actors are by and large good, though there is the occasional instance of a voice not quite matching the character, like the smooth-as-silk voice coming out of Mama Dola’s grizzled and wrinkly face. The voice actors for the primary characters have been kept largely the same, meaning Robert’s nasally whine remains unaltered. A nice connection between games is the voice of Conroy floating into Robert’s subconscious from time to time where no one else can hear it, commenting on events and generally putting him down as often as possible. It’s used to clever comedic effect throughout the adventure, but also shows that Robert’s upbringing at Conroy’s abusive hand still has a lasting effect on his psyche, even after being rid of his influence. Dialog itself, which could feel a bit too much like a chore in the previous game, does a better job of hitting the sweet spot, not short-changing naturally-flowing conversation but also not lingering on it for its own sake.

The music is of a similar quality as before, though perhaps not to the same level of success. The lighthearted cartoony score is well-produced and performed, but lacks any real memorable tracks, apart from the themes carried over from the first game. Art and animation are also quite similar, having a very hand-drawn feel to them. The locales this time around are all new, and include such places as a tumble mouse factory, the hidden temple of the wind monks, and a floating cable car station with an inverted pull of gravity. There’s a level of bleakness to be found here too, however, with the red-sigiled banners and barbed-wire chain link fences adorning some of the backgrounds, rather than the whimsical motifs found in the last game.

At first glance, The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk seems like the perfect follow-up to a delightful first entry. And indeed, it proves to have many similarities, with a story, setting and characters that build directly on what came before. Just beneath the surface, however, this game features a darker and more sinister tone than its predecessor, and though it doesn’t entirely abandon its comic sensibilities, this change does impact the overall ambiance quite a bit. The fairly high quality production values and gameplay are comparable, and the puzzles can be quite challenging, so many of the best parts have been retained for fans of the original. Still, The Last Wind Monk follows the example of some well-known movie sequels and treads a more somber path than the first installment, so time will tell whether it will be remembered as fondly.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Long interview with Lucasart (and also recently Thimbleweed Park) designer/programmer David Fox: https://nodontdie.com/david-fox/

Okay. So, my name's David Fox. I'm 64, almost 65.

And I've been involved in the game industry since the late 1970's. So, that's close to 40 years, and I was one of the first people hired for Lucasfilm Games back in 1982, and was there for 10 years.

Yeah. I've seen that you're either employee No. 3 or No. 6.

I guess I was No. 3, but sometimes I say No. 2.

I have yet to read, so not sure if it's interesting enough to make a thread.
 

Don Peste

Arcane
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
4,273
Location
||☆||
Dark Train for FREE – One Year Anniversary

DARK TRAIN is an oppressive steampunk 2D adventure made of paper. Assume the role of mechanical squid ANN 2.35f that is tied to a railroad tamagotchi and deliver the mysterious order for the deceased D. W. Tagrezbung, famous inventor from the Border City.



FEATURES:

  • controls - dynamic, no point-n-click
  • narration - strong, non-textual, situational
  • atmosphere - dark, oppressive
  • exploration - non-casual
  • audiovisuals - paper-made
  • no hints, no help - solve it
IN PRESS:

“If you’re a gamer who loves to explore for the sake of the journey with little concern for the destination, then you should be delighted by Dark Train.” Just Adventure

“Paperash has created one of the deepest and most interesting puzzle games on PC in a while, with a narrative that does not just rest on its laurels after players glance through a single page of lore.” ICXM.net

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LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
The first volume of 8-bit Adventure Anthology, a collection of "faithful remakes" of 8 bit adventure games, includes Shadowgate, The Uninvited, and Déjà Vu.

Yeah, the original Mac versions are already available on Steam, but looks like these "remakes" are based on NES versions. (This anthology also will be released on PS4 and XBOX One.)

Well why not, I guess?



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8-bit Adventure Anthology is a compilation featuring faithful remakes of three of the best 8-bit point & click adventure games ever made. Originally released between 1987-1991, each stand-alone adventure features the same mind-blowing puzzles, graphics and music that mesmerized generations of console gamers!

Now is your chance to play “Shadowgate™”, “The Uninvited™” and “Déjà Vu™” the way they were supposed to be played, with a controller in hand and worlds waiting to be explored! Set within the realms of fantasy, horror and film noir, these three fantastic stories are a must have for those who enjoy traditional adventure games made of tougher stuff.

To enhance your experience, the compilation features a new 8-bit style menu, beautifully composed chip tunes and the most outstanding ‘old TV’ effects you’ve ever seen.

Created by adventure gamers for adventure gamers, 8-bit Adventure Anthology is the perfect addition to your gaming collection and one you won’t want to miss!

Shadowgate™: The wind whistles through the halls as you step through the stone threshold. You’ve just entered Shadowgate, a once shining castle, now an evil, dark smouldering ruin. Swallow your fear and take up your torch. You are the ‘Seed of Prophesy’ and in your hand lies the fate of the world itself.

The Uninvited™: The last thing you remember was a figure appearing in the middle of the road and the sound of your sister’s screams over the screeching tires. When you come to, you discover two horrifying things: your sister is missing and the mansion that now looms before you seems to be calling your name…

Déjà Vu™: It’s 1942 and you wake up in a seedy bathroom with no idea how you got here or, for that matter, who you are. You grab a .38 hanging on the door, stumble up the stairs and find some stiff slumped over a desk with three bullet holes in him. You check your gun. Three bullets are missing. This is gonna be a bad day.

DISCLAIMER: This game is only playable in English.
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,377
Location
Djibouti
Kickstarter for new KING Art adventure game: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/111416884/shakes-and-fidget-the-adventure



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There aren’t enough funny video games out there. That’s a fact! There are tons of comedy shows and movies on TV and on the silver screen… but on PCs and consoles? Nope. We want to change this!
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Shakes & Fidget – The Adventure is all about silly fun. We are not "Citizen Kane", we are "The Naked Gun meets Spaceballs".

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We love crazy point & click adventure games like "Day of the Tentacle" or "Sam & Max", with demented characters, hair-raising stories and whacky puzzles.

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Great cartoon-style graphics by Shakes & Fidget creator Marvin Clifford and tons of 2D animations to feast your eyes upon. And for your audio enjoyment only the best voice actors and an orchestral score!

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It is time for a straightforward, fun 2D point & click adventure game. If you feel the same, we are counting on your support.


Well, this just got cancelled.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,703
Location
California
Not quite The New World, but while you're waiting, here's an interesting text adventure about a seedship that I found via Emily Short's blog:
http://www.johnayliff.com/games/seedship/

Can't vouch for it, but I'm enjoying it thus far.

My high score: Corrupt Information Age Democracy 9011

So I basically recreated 2017 earth. Great.
Arcadia Engaged Post-Singularity Democracy 10816

Game is quite thin, and pretty much random, but I think it's a fun enough way to spend 45 minutes or so.
 

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