azis
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Um, if someone can be generous enough, I thought to ask if one could talk with me a little while. If you're interested, can you kindly reply? It's basically about adventure games, particularly in the point & click style.

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

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Sure, post your questions here and I'll try to reply if I can

azis
Level: Roachling

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So, can you tell me about your background? And another question for starters, how long have you been working on adventure games?

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

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Ok. Background wise, we're from different parts of the world - you can see some short profiles here: http://crystalshard.net/index.php?p=2

I started working on adventure games around 2004 when Radiant asked me to help with A Tale of Two Kingdoms - the community at AGDInteractive was pretty lively at the time and lots of people were trying to make a sierra style game or a remake. I found the community on a random Google search when I was thinking about KQ

Around that same time, Corby also began work on a QFG-like game (Project Katrina, then Heroine's Quest: The Legend of Fair Spring).

So we've all been going at this for a while now!

azis
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There were two games that I have played which you might have worked on;'A Tale of Two Kingdoms' & 'Heroine's Quest'. In your perspective, what do you think about them if you reflect your experience about them(as in if you have tried playing them or view other stuff about the game). Also, what do you think of the two other games; 'Beneath A Steel Sky' & 'AR-K'?

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

Rank Points: 22
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Hmm, well ATOTK was released nearly 7 years ago, whereas HQ:THOR was 6 months ago... the design in HQ:THOR is generally more polished because Radiant took on board the feedback people gave for ATOTK.

It's hard to give a cold eye review of projects which you spend years working on... but I think we're proud of both games, especially HQ:THOR. I personally like the open-world nature of both and particularly the non-linearity in ATOTK (it was fun to test because there were lots of multiple solutions and Radiant would end up implementing things I thought should work). But I really like the integration of mythology in HQ:THOR. (ATOTK also takes character names from mythology, but the myths aren't actually really woven into the story in the same way that HQ does).

I must be ashamed to admit, but I've never played BASS or AR-K so I can't give an opinion on those. Personally, I'm not a very big gamer (don't have much time for that nowadays anyway), and I haven't really played that many adventure games myself (aside from a handful of Sierra games). The others on the team may have though

azis
Level: Roachling

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From your perspective, what do you think about adventure games of today, especially in the point & click genre?

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

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Well, without having actually played any of the modern style adventure games released over the last decade and a bit (I really haven't played that many games!), it seems there is a general trend towards story driven linearity and games which are designed to not be too hard, in order to appeal to the casual gamer. I suppose the porting of games to phone / tablet plays a part in this, because a lot more people have easy access to games and can play for a few minutes without having to boot up a computer.

There's nothing wrong with that, it just means some people will like it, while other people, who prefer a challenge, will not. For these sorts of games, they really need to have strong story to keep people engaged though.

What I do like to see in game design itself are puzzles which are well thought out, where the designer has considered other possible reasonable solutions. With a lot of linear games, I imagine that there is often only one solution/action that needs to be done in order to progress, which I would personally find frustrating if I get stuck (which possibly also explains why games are generally considered to have become more simple as well). It's another reason why I like open world design with more than one puzzle going on at a time, because it gives me flexibility to do other things rather than being stuck at one point only, with no way to proceed.

azis
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If you were to create your own game, what would you want to put in it? A well-written story, memorable characters, loads of adventures, awesome combat and/or well-thought puzzles in it, maybe?

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

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All of the above , though combat is optional (depending on the story and the design, it needs to fit in well).

azis
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To be frank, I do have weakness in terms of story for games since I did some with a lack of story and I haven’t make adventure games. What is your advice for a student like me who wants to make an adventure game in the form of point & click?

Fizzii
Level: Goblin

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I'm not a writer, so I can't provide much advice on that. But I think it's important that the premise is logical (fully consistent with itself) and that your main character's motivation is clear. That way, players will be able to get into the game more and understand what their goals are.

The other thing is to try and get feedback from people, and with time you'll get better at it, same as for anything else

azis
Level: Roachling

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Ok, thanks for your generosity in giving me the things that I would require for my research

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[Last edited by azis at 06-07-2014 04:03 PM]