• Log In | Sign Up

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Top Games
  • Search
  • New Releases
  • Daily Deals
  • Forums

Adventure Gamers - Forums

Welcome to Adventure Gamers. Please Sign In or Join Now to post.

You are here: HomeForum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread

Post Marker Legend:

  • New Topic New posts
  • Old Topic No new posts

Currently online

Support us, by purchasing through these affiliate links

   

What is your definition of an “Adventure Game”?

Total Posts: 187

Joined 2005-01-25

PM

Iznogood - 26 August 2014 04:33 AM

I define Adventure games as: A story driven game where you progress through the use of logic and intelligence, and through exploration of the game world.

“Exploration” is often mentioned in these definitions, and I always wonder:

1) What does exploration mean? (There are plenty of one-room adventure games, for example. If it just means examining, learning about and interacting with the environment, isn’t it nearly devoid of meaning as a description of gameplay?)
2) In what way does it help distinguish adventure games from other computer games? (Don’t almost all computer games, from Civilization to Super Mario Bros. to Wolfenstein, involve exploring the game world?)
3) Why is it a more essential characteristic of adventure games than, for example, having conversations/interacting with NPCs?

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1235

Joined 2013-03-31

PM

Lucien21 - 26 August 2014 04:37 AM

the official definition http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17547

Heh…I guess if someone on staff at Adventure Gamers thinks it, it MUST be official.  They are the official taste-makers of the genre, after all.  Wink

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1235

Joined 2013-03-31

PM

after a brisk nap - 26 August 2014 10:37 AM

“Exploration” is often mentioned in these definitions, and I always wonder:

1) What does exploration mean? (There are plenty of one-room adventure games, for example. If it just means examining, learning about and interacting with the environment, isn’t it nearly devoid of meaning as a description of gameplay?)
2) In what way does it help distinguish adventure games from other computer games? (Don’t almost all computer games, from Civilization to Super Mario Bros. to Wolfenstein, involve exploring the game world?)
3) Why is it a more essential characteristic of adventure games than, for example, having conversations/interacting with NPCs?

That’s a good question.  I’ll take a stab at explaining what I think of when I use that term to describe an essential feature of an adventure game.

For me, in an adventure game, exploration should be non-linear, something done at the player’s own pace, without a time limit or imminent threat of death (though there are some exceptions—Shadowgate 2014’s banshee curse comes to mind.)  Barriers to exploration should either be natural and obvious (geographic barriers in the scenery, for example), or puzzle-walls (i.e. you have to solve something to progress beyond that point.)  Invisible walls like in Telltale’s Back to the Future would be examples of bad exploration gameplay.  Smile  Exploration should be open enough to allow some degree of wandering and the ability to work towards more than one task at a time.  These tasks can be as simple as clicking on hotspots to learn more about the world, talking to NPCs, or working towards a larger puzzle solution (ideally MULTIPLE puzzle solutions.)  Ideally, exploration would allow the player the freedom to examine all manner of objects and details within the game-world in order to learn more about world, the game’s lore, etc.  A game with great exploration gameplay would ideally have quite a few areas to explore and a lot of interactive objects to be examined and manipulated.

Just considering the above explanation, games like Telltale’s Walking Dead WOULD be adventure games—just adventure games that were really bad at the exploration part, since it’s so limited in those games.  That’s why I’d also add puzzle-solving to the mix—it’s especially great when the two can be combined—when the barriers to further exploration involve solving a series of puzzles.  I guess technically, Walking Dead would still fit, but again, it’d be a game that was really bad at the puzzle solving part.

I also like the comment made earlier about puzzles driving narrative, narrative driving puzzles.  That’s another good way to think about it.  I would also add “puzzles driving exploration,” “exploration driving narrative,” etc.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 8471

Joined 2011-10-21

PM

Intense Degree - 26 August 2014 04:57 AM

In short, I believe that everyone has their own definition of what an Adventure Game is and all of them are wrong. Wink

I would say that all of them are right. Wink

But I’d also argue that all of them are irrelevant. Our genre is the broadest there is. If you don’t like a certain subgenre, then there are still plenty of others to choose from.
Any definition is ultimately just a label, and the quality of the game itself is more important than the genre it falls under.

Our genre has a lot in common with the action-adventure genre (Tomb Raider, Uncharted), has a lot in common with the RPG genre (Anachronox, Planescape: Torment), has a lot in common with platformers (Abe’s Oddyssee, Little Big Planet), has a lot in common with pure puzzlers (Lemmings, World of Goo). Where we all draw the line is subjective, but frankly, it doesn’t matter at all.

Any of these games that fall in genres that have a lot in common with AGs are going to interest a great deal of AGers as well, so they at least belong here. If not under ‘adventures’ then under ‘general’ (with this site’s definition as the main divider).

I don’t think there is (or will ever be) one true definition that will cater to everybody (not even by consensus). So I say we stick to the closest we’ve got (which is this site’s definition by proxy) and stop worrying about the details. We’ll never all fully agree anyway. Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

Avatar

Total Posts: 131

Joined 2014-04-11

PM

Roberta Williams nicely sums up how I feel:

“Playing a King’s Quest game is like playing a beautiful fantasy film, where you play the lead actor, the director and the audience all at the same time.”

She is talking about KQ, but I think her comments can apply to adventure games as a whole.

Controlling the actor and directing the action means that the player is given the FREEDOM to explore as much or as little as he/she wants.

What also sets adventure games apart from other genres for me is the lack of both repetitive combat and heavy focus on stats. Whereas RPG’s rely on abstract mechanics, adventure games are more like watching (and also directing and starring in) actual fantasy films, as Roberta says. Note that this isn’t the same as interactive movie, which implies little control given to the player, who, in such games, merely unlocks unplayable scene after unplayable scene.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 143

Joined 2013-12-19

PM

Lucien21 - 26 August 2014 04:37 AM

Personally I’ve always gone with the official definition http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17547

Games focused on puzzle solving within a narrative framework.

Sounds about as dead simple a definition as you can get for adventure games.

     

Adventure Gamer Since 1992

Avatar

Total Posts: 3933

Joined 2011-03-14

PM

after a brisk nap - 26 August 2014 10:37 AM
Iznogood - 26 August 2014 04:33 AM

I define Adventure games as: A story driven game where you progress through the use of logic and intelligence, and through exploration of the game world.

“Exploration” is often mentioned in these definitions, and I always wonder:

1) What does exploration mean? (There are plenty of one-room adventure games, for example. If it just means examining, learning about and interacting with the environment, isn’t it nearly devoid of meaning as a description of gameplay?)
2) In what way does it help distinguish adventure games from other computer games? (Don’t almost all computer games, from Civilization to Super Mario Bros. to Wolfenstein, involve exploring the game world?)
3) Why is it a more essential characteristic of adventure games than, for example, having conversations/interacting with NPCs?

1) I think Lambonius has already answered that for me.

2) Sure many other kind of games also includes exploration, and many even does it better than most AG. But defining what AG is, is not that same as defining how it is different from other types of games, the fact that it is also part of other types of games, doesn’t change the fact that it is also an important part of adventure games.

Also imagine Myst or Myst-clones without exploration! Remove the exploration from these kind of games and there really aren’t much left. Of course not all AG are myst-clones and exploration plays a larger role in some games than in others, but it is nevertheless an important part of AG and if you completely remove it then it isn’t an AG imo.

3) Not all AG contains dialogue and NPC, and there are other ways to tell a story than through dialogue, eg. having a narrator tell the story, finding different texts or video bits, that you can use to piece the story together yourself etc. Having conversations/interacting with NPCs would be a too narrow definition and it is also kind of already included in “A story driven game”.

Jim Purcell - 26 August 2014 07:08 PM

Games focused on puzzle solving within a narrative framework.

Sounds about as dead simple a definition as you can get for adventure games.

I’m not a big fan of the word ‘puzzle’ as
a) It is a bit too narrow a definition and people who don’t already know AG will immediately thing of jigsaw puzzles etc., and not of the many different kinds of logical challenges we face in AG. 
b) You then have to define what a puzzle actually is.

Intense Degree - 26 August 2014 04:57 AM

In short, I believe that everyone has their own definition of what an Adventure Game is and all of them are wrong. Wink

Perhaps, but it can still be fun to discuss. And it can even be useful like when somebody at a party says they have never heard of Adventure Games and you need to come up with a good explanation, which actually happened for me recently.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

Avatar

Total Posts: 7432

Joined 2013-08-26

PM

Advie - 26 August 2014 09:30 AM

‘Sit back and relax, no one will harm you’.
that is about it.

I like your definition, Advie. I wish it were true, but even Roberta will harm us trusting players. Tongue

after a brisk nap - 26 August 2014 10:37 AM

1) What does exploration mean? (There are plenty of one-room adventure games, for example.

I’ve been racking my brain… one building, one ship, one train, yes, but not one room. Give us some names, please?

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

Avatar

Total Posts: 8720

Joined 2012-01-02

PM

Karlok - 27 August 2014 08:02 AM
Advie - 26 August 2014 09:30 AM

‘Sit back and relax, no one will harm you’.
that is about it.

I like your definition, Advie. I wish it were true, but even Roberta will harm us trusting players. Tongue


Oh, thanks karlok!, but now sit back, relax and restore a saved game Tongue

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 1350

Joined 2009-04-28

PM

Iznogood - 27 August 2014 07:35 AM

Perhaps, but it can still be fun to discuss. And it can even be useful like when somebody at a party says they have never heard of Adventure Games and you need to come up with a good explanation, which actually happened for me recently.

Absolutely, and I hope no one took my poor attempt at humour to be saying it shouldn’t be discussed, it is a fun and interesting topic.

What I was really trying to say is that I think it is really hard to get a definition that even the majority of people would agree with and that is because of the disparity between everyone’s own ideas of what constitutes an adventure game.

For instance, I saw that the site gave Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons the Aggie for best AG last year. I hadn’t played it so couldn’t comment. Not long afterwards it came up free on Playstation+ so I was pleased to be able to dive in and see what the fuss was all about.

I have to admit that I didn’t finish it, but the couple of hours I played revealed (to my mind) a decent puzzle-y or vaguely platformer-y type of game which I simply cannot see as an adventure game. More like The Hobbit (the console version and not the text adventure) than what I would consider to be an AG.

Now I am not criticising the site or anyone else who thinks differently to me, but my personal opinion is that I cannot agree with any definition of adventure games (as I think of them) which includes this game. Obviously there are others - maybe a majority of others - who wouldn’t accept a definition that doesn’t include that game or games like it.

I should say that I am not necessarily a hardcore traditionalist and can easily see something like Gone Home or Dear Esther as an AG but not Brothers, for some reason I find quite hard to explain. I think it may be the “action” type elements of traversing the landscape and the way of interacting with things which just feels more “action-y” to me than “adventure-y”. That leads me back to my poor definition in my previous post - Brothers just didn’t feel and play like an adventure game in my own opinion. However as others doubtless disagree then my own definition (whatever it is) is wrong! Laughing

     

3.5 time winner of the “Really Annoying Caption Contest Saboteur” Award!

Avatar

Total Posts: 1368

Joined 2012-09-28

PM

1. A game with situation-specific intellectual puzzles…
This means little or no action reflexes required from the player, and that puzzles have a meaningful relationship to the story. So a lemmings game, although having puzzles and even a piece of story presented after each “level” does not count because they are only superficially connected. “Situation-specific” also rules out RPGs where items have a fixed use - apple heals, a sword kills, etc. It is up to the player to interpret the world around them and this is part of the challenge. You might also say there are “no rules”!
2. ...with a sense of story progression…
An adventure game’s story has a beginning, middle and end. In a game like The Incredible Machine nothing happens between each puzzle - the puzzles are the focus. In an adventure game the story is the reason for wanting to solve a puzzle, and when the puzzle is solved something happens other than moving on to a new puzzle. So even though the 7th Guest’s puzzles consist of mini-games, they are connected to a larger moving narrative.
3. ...on a small, personal scale
This rules out “god games” like Populous or Civilization, or people-management games like The Sims. Adventure games are usually about one or two protagonists, and not whole tribes or cities. It is a journey of one or several individuals. I have not seen an adventure where you play as an entire city (although that would be interesting!). When you begin an adventure you are stepping into the shoes of someone inside the game.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 7432

Joined 2013-08-26

PM

Consensus on a definition is virtually impossible, but consensus can be reached on individual games. Have a hundred adventuregamers judge the top hundred list of this site: adventure yes/no. I’ll eat my hat if the resulting short list doesn’t fit AG’s criteria.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

Avatar

Total Posts: 990

Joined 2009-05-08

PM

Karlok - 26 August 2014 05:55 AM

I played Valiant Hearts for 30 minutes last night. All I did was throw bombs and avoid getting killed. Is it an adventure game? I was disappointed.


You know what? You bring up a really good point and I liked Valiant Hearts even with its uneasy mix between story and gameplay. After seeing this takedown of the game from Mr. Bunnyhop (

) I realised that I may have overlooked flaws because I’m so used to game logic.

Throwing a grenade to cause an explosion that will reveal a platform you can walk over makes absolutely zero sense in the real world. However, it’s just second nature to think that way in a game. Is that bad? I dunno.

     
Avatar

Total Posts: 6584

Joined 2007-07-22

PM

An adventure game is really nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.

powered by Advie

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

Avatar

Total Posts: 7432

Joined 2013-08-26

PM

thejobloshow - 30 August 2014 02:00 AM
Karlok - 26 August 2014 05:55 AM

I played Valiant Hearts for 30 minutes last night. All I did was throw bombs and avoid getting killed. Is it an adventure game? I was disappointed.


You know what? You bring up a really good point and I liked Valiant Hearts even with its uneasy mix between story and gameplay. After seeing this takedown of the game from Mr. Bunnyhop (

) I realised that I may have overlooked flaws because I’m so used to game logic.

Hey, that’s a great in-depth review! I should watch more youtube reviews instead of trudging through pages of written text.

Throwing a grenade to cause an explosion that will reveal a platform you can walk over makes absolutely zero sense in the real world. However, it’s just second nature to think that way in a game. Is that bad? I dunno.

No not necessarily bad, but it does bother me in the context of the First World War. From the very first I felt that the edu part jarred with the tainment.

I have another complaint. When I see the option “Resume”, I assume I can resume playing from where I left off. Silly me. The bloody game made me do Freddy all over again! GGGGGGRRRRR! I still kind of like Valiant Hearts, but I’m not one hundred percent sure I’ll finish it.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

You are here: HomeForum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread

Welcome to the Adventure Gamers forums!

Back to the top