Adventure Gamers - Forums

I’m not sure if this is interesting to folks here, but I’m starting a series on adventure game design as I prepare to break ground on a new project. I plan to dissect games, both old and new, and try to find design features that work really well.

At any rate, here’s a link to part 1, where I do a deep dive on the features in King’s Quest V and VI that work well.

I think it’s always an interesting topic. Although i think it’s tricky to stick to a single definition everyone agrees to as it comes down to personal taste what people like(d) in an adventure game.

I’m looking forward to the next part

Thanks! I’m trying my best to be as objective as possible, but it definitely is difficult. As best as possible, I want to highlight features that, at the very least, work well in the game at hand, and why it may make sense in other games.

Any games you’d like to see dissected in this fashion?

Notid1 - 16 January 2017 02:22 PM

Thanks! I’m trying my best to be as objective as possible, but it definitely is difficult. As best as possible, I want to highlight features that, at the very least, work well in the game at hand, and why it may make sense in other games.

Any games you’d like to see dissected in this fashion?

My first thought would be “Simon the Sorcerer”. I can’t recall too much from it, but i remember finishing it and having a strong love/hate relationship with it :-)

I’m tempted to try it again soon-ish, but if at all possible it’d be very interesting to see this game analysed. It’s a bit old though :-S Sorry

That’s a good article and I look forward to the next part! I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick about immersion though - it’s not about realism, it’s about what keeps your head in the world of the game. In fact the concept of the uncanny valley points out that increasing realism can break immersion!

So when you mention the gnome puzzle as being more in keeping with the quirky fairytale setting as opposed to trying to be ‘realistic’, you’re actually saying that it works to preserve immersion. It’s the things that take you out of the story and the world that break immersion, the things that scream YOU ARE PLAYING A GAME - like if you have a sudden pop-up telling you that your score has increased or you’ve gained an achievement.

I’d probably even agree that having a ‘real’ risk of death can help keep you in the story, though there are often alternatives that give the threat without actually having to end the story and rewind. And the repeated dying while you mapped out the desert really did suck.

Phlebas - 17 January 2017 04:53 AM

I’d probably even agree that having a ‘real’ risk of death can help keep you in the story, though there are often alternatives that give the threat without actually having to end the story and rewind. And the repeated dying while you mapped out the desert really did suck.

In his defense, I was going to reply something similar to this as I’m not a huge fan of death in adventure games myself, but he did point out that death (when done correctly and not abundantly) could be OK as long as it’s not too tedious to recover from it (with auto-saves, whatever allowing you to get back in the saddle with just a few clicks).
I think when you do something extremely silly in an adventure (like switching off a nuclear reactor in Maniac Mansion and leaving it switched off despite the alarm going off) death isn’t too big an issue…keeping the fast recovery in mind :-)

Phlebas - 17 January 2017 04:53 AM

That’s a good article and I look forward to the next part! I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick about immersion though - it’s not about realism, it’s about what keeps your head in the world of the game. In fact the concept of the uncanny valley points out that increasing realism can break immersion!

So when you mention the gnome puzzle as being more in keeping with the quirky fairytale setting as opposed to trying to be ‘realistic’, you’re actually saying that it works to preserve immersion. It’s the things that take you out of the story and the world that break immersion, the things that scream YOU ARE PLAYING A GAME - like if you have a sudden pop-up telling you that your score has increased or you’ve gained an achievement.

I’d probably even agree that having a ‘real’ risk of death can help keep you in the story, though there are often alternatives that give the threat without actually having to end the story and rewind. And the repeated dying while you mapped out the desert really did suck.

Thanks!

Yeah this does make sense. The lack of tension means that you become more aware that you’re playing a game. And in that sense, immersion and realism are different. I do think there’s room for awareness of the fact that you’re playing a game. Perhaps the best example of this that comes to mind is in movies. Often times, you see multiple characters’ perspectives at once that the real characters don’t see. Given that, you can predict the way those characters’ stories and interactions go. In a way, it screams at you that you know more than the actual characters do, and thus, you’re in a movie. But it works, and it’s okay.

Thanks again!