The Cold Hotspot: Part 3

[admin]

[img src="../pictures/features/coldhotspot3-index.gif"]

Tell us what you think! You can read and leave comments about this [a href="../featuredetail.php?action=view&featureid=34&showpage=1"]feature[/a] below:

[Steve Ince]

Excellent article again.  Looking forward to the next one.



Steve Ince

[Tim]

It's so good to read an article about the state of adventure games that's an informed critique, and not the usual whingeing adventure fans seem to love to do. Keep it up.



"What if it turns out story is god and many gamers view complex puzzles as [an evil] they have come to expect to have to wade through to get to the story and character immersion they crave?" - yup, that's me, pretty much. I'm sure I'm not dumb, so it drives me crazy that I have to visit uhshints.com so much in most adventures. In designing puzzles and interactions, I think maybe we need to work out what constitutes the difference between fun gameplay, and the designer just being deliberately obscure.



Watching my wife's frustration at 'The Longest Journey' (which I myself found fairly easy, except for THAT inflatable duck puzzle) got me thinking at just how illogical a lot of 'adventure game logic' really is.



For myself, I think Gabriel Knight 3 is where I drew the line. I've heard that the plot gets incredibly good, but I just couldn't bring myself to play through it because of the (to me) horrible obscurity of the puzzles, and never knowing whether you could do something now, or had to do something else to 'make' time advance.



Maybe we need to think more about making a fun and interesting world to play in. I think part of the reason that the 'Monkey Island' or 'Sam and Max' games are so well regarded is because there's nearly always something funny to see or do. Those games might not have the greatest plots, but they do provide something more than just a raw treadmill of puzzles. Similarly, 'The Longest Journey' and 'Grim Fandango' do everything they can to give flavour to their gameworlds.



For me, I'd like to take it one step further, and make it so that players can advance the plot almost at their leisure. Who cares if the game is easy? If the characters are engaging, the story compelling, the environments interesting, and (importantly) you are still providing loads of interactivity, then you'll be providing a genuinely different experience for a wider, non-hardcore market.

[Tim]

Something to add to my novel of a comment... For amateur designers wanting to make a splash, I wonder if Flash or Java is the way to go? I've seen so many people playing that 'Escape The Room' flash game. There's amateur adventures out there that are (in my opinion) superior, but Flash gives 'Escape' an appealing immediacy. Many, many people don't want, or know how, to download and install a new game on their system, but they'll play something from ebaumsworld or popcap for hours.

[deadworm222]

"For me, I'd like to take it one step further, and make it so that players can advance the plot almost at their leisure. Who cares if the game is easy? If the characters are engaging, the story compelling, the environments interesting, and (importantly) you are still providing loads of interactivity, then you'll be providing a genuinely different experience for a wider, non-hardcore market."



That's what I've been thinking, too.



However, I still think there's also room for really good puzzles...



I have nothing good to say about Flash.

[Tim]

"I have nothing good to say about Flash." - yeah, I've heard it can be a pain for some things (I haven't really used it for anything serious myself). I still love the idea of people being able to play an adventure game straight off a website, though. It's a shame there's not more options open to developers in this regard.

[Toolman]

Speaking of marketing: The Moment of Silence has gotten an awfully low score in PC Gamer (14%). The publisher should have ''invested'' some money in ''convincing'' the reviewer of that magazine about the qualities of their game, hehe. ;-) That's my marketing strategy ;-)

[JonasKyratzes]

I disagree with the basic idea behind this article. It's a matter of the approach you take; I strongly believe in the ART of interactive storytelling. I have no desire to create 'products' or to sell my stories using marketing - while this may lead to success and recognition, is that what an artist should seek? If my games find any success, it should be by the truth, or fun, or whatever beauty it is that they contain. And if they do not - well, success is not the point of making art. The search for truth is.



Demographics, marketing, target audiences... pah. Give me some passion, some wonder, and instead of conforming to the system, fight against it!

[DCW]

Yeah, I sorta agree, but shouldn't ALL games be artistically fantastic and be really fun and stuff? Marketing is just nessiccary to let the world know about your masterpiece. The beauty of the game is a form of marketing as well, true, but it only attracts a limited number of people who happen to accidentally stumble upon your website or a forum or something.



Besides, good marketing doesn't negate the art of storytelling and whatever beauty it is that adventures contain.



I agree that success isn't the point of making art, but even van Gogh had to make a living ;-)

[Intrepid Homoludens]

"I disagree with the basic idea behind this article....." - JonasKyratzes



Thanks for reading my article. You know, that's exactly the sentiment I used to have when I was studying in art school in my early 20s, and today I still agree heart and soul with you, Jonas. Since you argue on the side of art, let me tell you this. Many of my own friends are artists, and they mostly can't pay the rent and buy food buy just selling their paintings and photographs alone. In fact, many very successful artists often have to compromise every now and then in order to survive.



Let's face it, unless you have a sugar daddy or are a billionaire with nothing else to do, you have to also think of your game AS a product, often times more so than it as an art statement. After all, if your job is a developer you have to sell the game to make a decent living.



That doesn't necessarily mean the game should be bereft of a soul. It can still be infused with beauty, magic, and imagination and THAT is what is grossly missing in many adventure games today. Marketing is simply a way of informing everyone that you have something special to offer them in your game. Never, EVER dismiss the power of good marketing. In the end that is what makes people initially notice your game, and it is you game that ultimately people will love.

[DME]

There's one more point to that which I, a professional rock journalist and an amateur gamer, clearly see. The media receive promo copies of records BEFORE they hit the shelves and, therefore, when they do, potential buyers know about the product, because it's featured in the press, on the Web and on the radio. With games, we have only previews, while actual reviews come later, when many of us have already bought some new game. Add to this demos that quite often appear once a game's released, and you see how bad the marketing is.

[Erwin_Br]

Even worse: PC magazines such as PC Gamer sometimes don't even get a review copy, so the reviewer has to buy the adventure game from a store. At least, that's what two reviewers said in a forum thread at Adventure Gamers.com. Now, that's what I call beyond bad marketing.

[DME]

With music, it's the same, so I don't feel obliged to review anything I pay for with my own money. Still, with the games, there's another aspect: if only reviewers received advanced copies, they could serve as testers (we all have different systems, cards etc on our PCs, ain't we?) and there'd be no need for all these patches. Just remember how long it took for "Myst IV" to emerge and then there were 3 or 4 patches to it! How many will there be for "Fahrenheit / Indigo"?