Author Topic: A Lament for Adventure Games  (Read 9898 times)

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Blackthorne

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A Lament for Adventure Games
« on: August 19, 2019, 10:44:08 PM »
I'm going to lament the state of adventure games.  I know there's always some activity, but in my world... it feels dead.

We were carrying the torch for a while, but even most of the folks who used to frequent here don't any more. And I mean enthusiasts/gamers as well as team members of IQ.  Most of us have moved on.

I'll finish the games we have now, but man... I don't see much of a future here at all.  But it was a lot of fun for many years.  We did good things. Met good people. Had a great time.

Just admitting to myself that a thing I liked is pretty much over.


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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2019, 08:35:36 AM »
I think the reality is that a certain type of adventure games are still made and quite successful as far as a niche market goes, but everything else is dead. If it's not post-apocalyptic / anghst filled drama, it doesn't sell. This isn't a slight at those producers, they make some great games, but there's very little variety in the genre anymore. We're not dead though Steve, at least you and I will still make games until we're both dead. I firmly believe that.
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Blackthorne

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2019, 12:54:56 PM »
Yeah, it seems like that - the adventure game niche is very focused on a specific kind of game or theme right now.  I guess it's just what the zeitgeist is into now, and while I enjoy those kinds of games and stories, I like a wide variety of settings, moods and stories. I guess that's why I liked Sierra Games to begin with - there was a variety of settings and places covered in their series.

I know we'll keep making games until our fingers bleed, but man... I was reading stuff from back in 2012...and it wasn't just us, but like so many people making adventure games and we were all so excited.  Only one developer from back then is still making games full time.


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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2019, 05:12:39 AM »
Dave Gilbert? The reason is he does that one genre of adventure game story that people still buy. He does them exceedingly well too, as we both know. My wheelhouse, and I know yours is too, is more sci-fi / comedy or fantasy (or a mixture of those) and anything I've seen from those genres don't seem to sell as well. Heck, if Activision couldn't sell the new KQ, I don't think fantasy adventures are a thing anymore. Yet, I still love them!
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MusicallyInspired

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2019, 05:54:59 PM »
Sad times. :( But I'll always play whatever you guys make!

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2019, 11:09:13 PM »
Let the resurgence begin.
Ahh! The aroma of several adventure games emanates from your person.

Blackthorne

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2019, 12:46:04 AM »
Let the resurgence begin.

I hope so. But I get the feeling people won't ever like games the way we did again.  The KINDS of games, I mean. People will make "adventure" games, but they'll be radically different than the ones we grew up with.


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Chadly

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2019, 05:10:07 PM »
    You know I wish someone would buy/license Quest for Glory and make a new game. That old series is my favorite in adventure/RPG type of games. Sadly I think it's time is long gone, with the advent of 3rd person/1st person games. I really hope someday we could get the monies needed to create Quest for infamy 2: The further adventures of Roehm. :) ;) 8)                 Chadly.
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Kaldire

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2019, 01:21:46 PM »
Can I get a parser game up in this world 

what happened to the love for tass times in tone town?
oorah

hugs all
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Blackthorne

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #9 on: September 03, 2019, 08:42:33 AM »
Yeah, I mean - we love this stuff. But in today's world, this is super, super niche and not the mainstream game software it once was.  People like us love "parser" and retro style games, but it's funny how the larger majority of people who enjoy these games won't pay for them like they would for console games.

It's like music - people want it, but they're not gonna pay for it! Or pay much for it.


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Lambonius

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2019, 03:20:51 PM »
Who would have thought that the kind of obsessive, socially awkward weirdos who congregate to create and share Cedric memes wouldn't be big spenders in real life?
Lambonius...Rarely has our moderating team encountered a forumite as consistently unpleasant as you, and you've burned through far more chances than you deserved. A person really has to try hard to be so obnoxious that they're banned from AG, but you've managed it and then some.

Blackthorne

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #11 on: September 04, 2019, 12:40:00 PM »
Who would have thought that the kind of obsessive, socially awkward weirdos who congregate to create and share Cedric memes wouldn't be big spenders in real life?

Hahah! Weird.

Yeah, I also think a lot of people who liked Sierra games in the 90s were more casual fans than hardcore gamers and that audience just isn't there now.


Bt
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Lambonius

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #12 on: September 04, 2019, 04:17:45 PM »
Yeah, I also think a lot of people who liked Sierra games in the 90s were more casual fans than hardcore gamers and that audience just isn't there now.

There was a recent thread at the Adventure Gamers forum where a guy asked how many of the forum regulars would support a new retro-styled (meaning early 90s "VGA") adventure game, and like 90% percent of the people who responded said no based on the graphical style alone.  Take that for what it's worth.
Lambonius...Rarely has our moderating team encountered a forumite as consistently unpleasant as you, and you've burned through far more chances than you deserved. A person really has to try hard to be so obnoxious that they're banned from AG, but you've managed it and then some.

Blackthorne

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #13 on: September 04, 2019, 11:56:18 PM »
Well, adventure gamers forums regulars suck, so...
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Brainiac

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #14 on: October 02, 2019, 07:11:03 PM »
Personally, I take comfort in the fact that a lot of the things adventure games were known for have disseminated into a lot of other genres that are popular today. The original may be FAR diminished from what it once was, but its legacy is stronger than most.
There is balance in all things. Live in symmetry with the world around you. If you must blow things up and steal from those around you, THAT'S WHAT RPGS ARE FOR!

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7crossroads

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #15 on: October 10, 2020, 10:38:54 PM »
Well.. i am a new fan of the classic adventure genre..
Used to play all sorts of games..but i started to feel the  special flavour in this. Most games make me feel a bit agitaded..i had just abandoned them because life is agitated enough.
But adventure games makes me feel relaxed..the immersive experience, focus on observation skills and deduction, and the storytelling. Its sad, i just entered the room and discovered its a sort of dying hobbie.....
I dont know why you guys like this genre, but for me i found this kinds of benefits..maybe a lot of people out there would
enjoy this too, even if it is a niche thing...probably people who likes more relax paced or even introspective hobbies like
 literature..some kinds of music (like prog rock, etc)...i think all kinds of stuff like that are suffering because they are commercially more difficult and people maybe even have not the time to a more peaceful hobbie.

Anyways, iam playing quest for infamy and enjoiyng a lot, thank you for the game and hoping things gonna be better sometime.

Sorry for bad english

Blackthorne

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #16 on: October 12, 2020, 01:25:45 AM »
Brother, just glad you like adventure games and you like ours!

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Kaldire

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #17 on: October 14, 2020, 06:31:56 PM »
hehe welcome matey

yeah the classic ole school advents
when the internet didnt exist  was mind racking

Sierra online even made a HINT HOTLINE number (you could dial this in some of their games too)
they charged 4$ a minute for hints on parser and click games

LOL

and Lucasarts games well  use everything on everything was the motto
kinda like a tester should

sierras motto
"save early save often"  actually came FROM the coders writing the code\
they just felt it fit in with dying alot in game too!

so games that would or could take weeks or months to beat 
today kids dont want it or it hurts their heads
so they google and beat said games in about 30 min to 1hr

mark darin at ttg's  made his games there with no inv combos just due to the new age kids not understanding
as most of the games required you to mix very odd inv items together.
sam n max example

yep yep

ahh the days of hint books and pay hint lines

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Nowhere Girl

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2020, 03:18:51 AM »
Oldschool adventure games are still being made! I still prefer them, particularly the "quest" type and, of course, with pixel graphics, but it's just not true that the genre is dead.
"FoxTail"!
"The Crimson Diamond"!
"Zniw Adventure"!
"Incantamentum"!
"Feria d'Arles" and "Bull Out of Arles"!
"Betrayed Alliance" (EGA! Text parser! And even made on SCI engine!)!
"Cascadia Quest"!
"Watch Over Christmas"!
"Rosewater"!
"Future Flashback"!
"Darkside Detective"!
"If on a Winter's Night, Four Travellers..."!
"Inspector Waffles"!
"Nine Noir Lives"!
"Born Punk"!
"Theropods"!
"Plot of the Druid"!
"Billy Masters Was Right"!
"Urban Witch Story"!
"Brassheart"!
"The Adventures of Black Hawk"!
"Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure"!
"Backbone"!
Even the new Leisure Suit Larrys (I rather enjoyed them despite being an asexual woman who fully excludes the possibility of personally having sex - no friggin' way!), while being way more commercial than most games on the list (heck, some of them are free, for example "Urban Witch Story", "Betrayed Alliance"...), are, in terms of gameplay, mostly a classic quest. I agree that most of these games are distinctly niche, mostly made for a not very big community of people who just prefer the retro style. But they exists and in fact, it amazes me how much the community is alive! Retro game development is a real community, developers all the time share information about oter games. If the forum feels dead, it seems to me that it's because traditional fora are no longer the dominant form of online communication. Unfortunately for me (for example, I have technically become a member of the Polish Psychedelic Society - but I got nothing out of it, because intragroup communication is Facebook-based...  :-\), I just feel a very strong push away from using social media - sure, I may read them (and this is how I know how alive is the retro gaming community), but I just can't force myself to create accounts because of my very strong need not to be in the majority.

7crossroads

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Re: A Lament for Adventure Games
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2020, 08:58:45 PM »
The appointed problem is the lack of a big enough income to the professionals involved in the making of these games. People will make them for sake of love,eventually,  but it seems to be a hard job to keep on, ad aeternum, if you have  a family to care for, etc..I know nothing about this business, or how much money is needed to make the job profitable..
By the way, i think social media are venomous things too..but in this age, people makes money with adverts, publicity, and huge communities of followers...those things dont demand quality, and in general, au contraire, demands fast and furious  novelties, witch by the rule, made in haste and lacking quality. People dont await enough...
Maybe if the community (if really exists, in the necessary amount) would be more organised, more united and supportive, the cenario would be satisfactory.