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Reshaping the very core of the prolific adventure game genre, its specifically designed Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion engine evolved such a charismatic, inimitably creative vibe that it would invent a new subgenre defined by many simply as ‘LucasArts adventures’.

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Quid Pro Quo / Exchange Puzzles
Inventory / Combination Puzzles
Timing Puzzles
Distract-n-Grab Puzzles
Maze Puzzles
Escape Puzzles
Disguise Puzzles
Cryptogram Puzzles
Memory-based Sequence Puzzles
Logic Sequence / Device Puzzles
Repeated-Action Puzzles
Dialogue Puzzles
Forced Dialogue Puzzles
Riddles and Logic Puzzles
GUI / Board Puzzles
Dead Ends, Red Herrings and Faux Puzzles

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"I was making my own games, programming them, doing all the artwork, the production, level design, and everything because I didn't have anybody else to do it for me."

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As discouraging as the state of the adventure game genre has been in the past several years, there is actually progress and betterment being achieved, if we stop and look closer. There are some trends being explored, new technology investigated, alternate ways for us to get games, and a gradual increase in games with more personality as well as higher quality. More importantly, there looks to be a hint of designing adventures to be more inviting and attractive to a larger market.

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There are a number of places where we've gone wrong in game stories so far. Most of the problems spring from two basic misunderstandings:











Story is dialog.
Story doesn't matter.










Sure, story is partly dialog. And a cake is part frosting. But here's a large fact that I'll elaborate on in just a moment: Story is CONFLICT.

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Nippon Ichi is a bit of an odd company in the contemporary game world, as they release very niche titles exclusively, and actually manage to succeed. Their bread and butter is the 2D strategy RPG genre, something the industry as a whole has started to shy away from, in favor of mainstream acceptance. After releasing two titles through third party publishers (Mastiff and Atlus, respectively), Nippon Ichi, which means "Japan Number One", has made the move to America. We had a talk with Nippon Ichi Software America's marketing coordinator Jack Niida about his thoughts on the Japanese industry, pleasing your fanbase and niche genres as sustainable business.

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GET LAMP is a documentary about Text Adventures (later Interactive Fiction), the storytellers who created them, and their unique place in the history of computer games. It is being created by Jason Scott, director of "BBS: The Documentary", located at bbsdocumentary.com. If you wish to be notified of progress of this project (expected to be filmed in 2006) or think you would like to contribute information, please write jason at jason(at)textfiles.com.

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Another analogy can be made between games and music—specifically, with the emergence of rock and roll in the 1950s. Like games today, it was a new art form that was condemned for encouraging bad behaviour among young people. Some records were banned from the radio, and others had their lyrics changed. Politicians called for laws banning the sending of offending records by post. But now the post-war generation has grown up, rock and roll is considered to be harmless. Rap music, or gaming, is under attack instead. “There's always this pattern,” says Mr Williams of the University of Illinois. “Old stuff is respected, and new stuff is junk.” Novels, he points out, were once considered too lowbrow to be studied at university. Eventually the professors who believed this retired. Novels are now regarded as literature. “Once a generation has its perception, it is pretty much set,” says Mr Williams. “What happens is that they die.”

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This month's Depressingly Common Adventure Game Design Flaw:









TELL ME A STORY







A game with a poor story gives you the entire background in a few paragraphs just before playing, with some crude objective like 'rescue Princess Dumbo', and then the game trundles on with no major events until her royal braindead majesty is recovered. A good story is told all throughout the game, not just right at the beginning. Think of Grim Fandango. That's got one of the best plots in adventure gaming history, but how much of it are you aware of at the start? Very, very little, and it's only towards the end, through conflict after conflict, that you finally realise your true objective. Treat exposition like cheesecake. Give it out in small portions and no one will get a sick tummy.

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In a recent story from BBC News, Tim Rylands, a teacher at Chew Magna Primary School, Bristol, UK, is using the adventure game Myst to teach his young pupils.








Running counter to the media frenzy over gratuitous sex and violence in video games, the students are actually learning from the game to develop visual language skills which, according to Rylands, help them to be more imaginative with problem solving in real life. It also fosters a more social and inspiring learning climate where the children can take their time putting their heads together to solve the game's many puzzles.








For his progressive endeavors Rylands was awarded the BECTA (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) honor this year for his use of technology as a teaching tool. Furthermore the school's national attainment levels have shot up dramatically. But most importantly, the direct results can be seen in the students themselves as they moan when class is over, not when it starts.

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