DIY Games :: Independent Adventuring

2004 has come and gone, and Jozef Purdes finishes off the year with the December edition of Independent Adventuring. While it wasn't the busiest month in the world of adventure games, there were a number of worthwhile releases. Read on for Jozef's thoughts on all the titles.

"A great year in independent adventure gaming was capped by a sleepy month. There have been only a handful of new games, but their overall quality was quite high. Nearly all the titles deserve your attention, and even though none was truly memorable, they would keep you entertained for quite a while.

Niche news

Last month was a month of reviews. Just Adventure reviewed the first two Ben Jordan games, and was quite impressed with them. Apprentice II got its review at Adventure Gamers Underground, and The Quandary posted reviews of Future Boy! and Remedy. Not to be outdone, The Inventory pitched in with The Moment of Silence. The second issue of Reviews Exchange features thirteen new reviews of Adrift games.

Media coverage of independent adventuring didn’t stop there, though. Perhaps the biggest story of the month was a lengthy article in Wired, featuring Maniac Mansion Deluxe. Wolfgang Kierdorf of Bad Brain Entertainment was interviewed at Adventure Gamers, and the same publisher later agreed to a very long and informative interview with The Inventory. The Ben Jordan series developer, Francisco “Grundislav” Gonzalez, had his August Inventory interview reprinted at Just Adventure. Ben Croshaw has written and published his second article about common adventure game design mistakes at the Adventure Gamers Underground.

The Wintermute engine was updated to version 1.3. Most of the update consists of bug fixes and smaller improvements, but the engine now offers experimental support for real-time 3D characters. The Point & Click Development Kit was updated as well, mainly with bug fixes. In addition, the new version also features particle system for animated snow and rain, as well as improved font support. The Adrift Web site got a complete overhaul, and now features a cleaner and more professional look.

Some adventures come and go. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the 1993 classic Labyrinth of Time re-released, for $19.95. The game now runs under WinXP, Mac OS X and Linux. On the other side of the spectrum, Quest for Orgy I is gone. The author got a cease and desist letter from Vivendi Universal, the owner of the Quest for Glory property, and promptly removed the game.

Independent Adventures

$Anthony\'s Essay$

Anthony’s Quest. This is a short game, full of insider jokes that make no sense for anybody but the participants. You play Anthony who needs to write an English essay before the deadline, or at least find somebody to write it for him. The graphics consist of photographs of the school and Anthony’s classmates, which makes me think that the title was originally created for their amusement and only later released to the public. Still remembering Duzz Quest, this game has left me indifferent.

Barn Runner: The Prick Who Came In From the Cold. Blade Runner is a registered trademark and Harrison Ford isn’t funny in his role, which is why the developer of this game may have called it “Barn Runner”. You play as an android hunter who had the bad luck of landing in Kentucky and locking his keys in the car. Even though the game is short, it offers a very deep background of the one non-player character you meet as well as the world you live in, very good graphics and adequate sound. All in all, this has been one of the funniest and best titles of the month.

$Caitlyn\'s Destiny$

Caitlyn's Destiny. It’s not often that an AGI game blows away all its competition. This title has brought back all those fond memories of more sophisticated AGI games, and with its lengthy intro, long and varied gameplay, great characters and even better graphics, it stuck to my hard drive until I finished it. Twice… I can only recommend this game as the best AGI title I played in 2004.

F**k Quest II: Romancing the Bone. Despite its name and the obviously adult-oriented content, this is a superb game; one of the best amateur AGI games I’ve ever played. You are once again Richard, on the quest to sleep with as many women as possible. The story is quite expansive, and in addition to a few familiar characters from the first part, it’ll bring you back in time into the first part, to collect a few items. The graphics are decent for an AGI title, and the puzzles adequate. My only gripe was that there seems to be too much going on at once, which may overwhelm some players.

Other Worlds is one of the longest adventures I played in a long time. You are a young girl who is looking for her lost boyfriend, and in the process discovers a portal to other, strange worlds. Even though the story is rather linear, the game is very well designed with plenty of interesting puzzles and lots of objects to use. The production value is mixed. The sound is quite good, albeit a little loud and distracting for my taste. The graphics consist of hand-drawn objects and people, set in photographed backgrounds. This creates a small problem, as most objects that you can pick up or use are very easy to spot. Still, if you try one title from last month, it ought to be this one.

Princess Marian and the Fountain of Unicorns. Once again, Princess Marian strikes in a short but very cute adventure title. This is not as much a game as it is a Christmas greeting card, and a very good one at that. Regardless of the time of the year, though, you should try this feel-good game out.

The Sleepy Island. This game has left me confused. On one hand, I really appreciated the graphics, sound and the advanced scripting; on the other I truly hated some of the more obscure puzzles and pixel hunting. You play as a Scotsman who goes to sea to find a fabled treasure. Throughout the game, you meet mythical beasts, weird characters and dangerous opponents, but your main problem would be the game difficulty. This is one of the titles where the developer didn’t test the puzzle difficulty on some unsuspecting victims, and so most puzzles require a lot of guessing. They all turn out to be logical, but clicking on the right spot on the screen or finding the well-hidden item you need gets very frustrating.

Interactive Fiction

Back to Life… Unfortunately… You died a long time ago, after many years of wise rule over your lands. Unfortunately, you didn’t manage to produce any real successor, if you don’t count that wimp with severe bowel problems whenever it’s time to decide anything. So the good people of your land have resurrected you, which doesn’t make you too happy. You see, being dead is quite nice, and being alive again is not what you had in mind when you died. So begins your glorious quest to commit suicide in a way that would prevent your further resurrection. The title is very well written, and the story, puzzles and humor are all very original. If this game was included in the IF Competition, it would’ve been a serious title contender.

Darkness reminds me of the graphical adventure Dark Fall II: Lights Out. It takes place in a seemingly abandoned lighthouse, and it’s trying to evoke the same feeling of mystery and dread as the game. Unfortunately, this is not entirely possible for a text adventure, and with the large amount of inventory items, you’ll be more concerned with trying to combine or use them than feeling scared. While I quite enjoyed the game, I was a little disturbed by the fact that all environmental descriptions used both Imperial and Metric measures.

Overall, I was very pleased with the December crop of adventures. AGI games have broken through after a long time, and both titles were fun to play. Other Worlds was long enough to keep me busy for several days, and Barn Runner was funny enough to replay. Add to it a new Princess Marian game, and you get a month to remember.

____

By: Jozef Purdes

Know of a game that deserves mention? Send an email to Jozef and you just might see it mentioned in a future issue!

Still want more adventure game goodness? Be sure to catch DIY Game's monthly adventure game run-down "Independent Adventuring," written by our very own Jozef Purdes. Each month Jozef offers commentary on many of the adventure games released over the prior month. The pertinent links are listed below, look for new editions around the beginning of each month