Adventure Game Guru

94% of adventure games suck. Here are some field notes on how to make ones that don't. Run by @BrianMcInnis87. See also @OcuIart @RorrirnmirroR @Old_School_3D

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

4/4 The best games keep to just 1, 2 or a few elements of movement. Steam rises, characters fidget (Machinarium) the sea jostles, lights flicker (Monkey 2) clouds+shadows shimmer (Full Throttle) wooden objects creak along (The Last Door). What you want are paintings with a pulse.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

Calligram Studio's sadly departed Twitter for bluer skies, but I've now played Phoenix Springs and my previous tweet wasn't even half right. This isn't just one of the major adventure games of the decade, it's one of the major artistic experiences of my life.

Wrote a lil review:

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

@GamesCreed1 @CalligramStudio This game is the furthest imaginable thing from emotionally charged. And that's the brilliance of it. It maintains a stony, detached equanimity, avoids cliché and sentimentality and leaves us to puzzle out its story's mysteries and ambiguities.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

Only first heard of it like an hour ago, but this may well be a major event in Point-&-Click Land. Looks deeply original and impeccably crafted (and DRAWN, holy hell!). Could easily be wunna the big adventure games of the decade.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

In one of the major adventure-game events of the year, Julia Minamata's given us what might be the most impeccable recreation of an E.G.A.-era game I've ever seen. This is an exquisite piece of work.

[Julia Minamata @JuliaMinamata]

The Crimson Diamond is now available on Steam! 10% launch discount! It's a cozy mystery adventure game with an old school style. Check it out! https://t.co/F8z0Ggwsyq 🔍

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

Been adding a bunch of newer releases to my upsettingly complete point-&-click index and God help us we have now passed the FIVE HUNDRED mark! May the next five hundred #AdventureGames be even better!
Oh sweet aunt Mabel PLEASE let them be better!!! https://t.co/DivFx9350U

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

@PointPixelAdv Thank *you* for breaking your back so the world can play this thing.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

I am ULTRA-excited about today's release of The Legend of Skye, which I understand Charles Moya created entirely by himself — which is *astounding*. This thing has some of THE most gorgeous and superbly accurate-to-early-90s-LucasArts graphics I've seen probably EVER.

[Point & Pixel Adventures @PointPixelAdv]

After all this time, the moment has arrived! 🎊🎉

📢The Legend of Skye is now available! 📢

https://t.co/gVOzmhqwHa
https://t.co/Lpg8S6e6hn
https://t.co/vM92tDOMsZ

I greatly appreciate your retweets! 🙌🔄

#pointandclick #pixelart #indiegame #indie #retro #adventuregame

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

In 2013, Thomas Ryder made one of the top ten adventure games I've ever seen: The Silent Age. Today he and his team are finally releasing their new game Midnight Girl and I'm very, very excited.

[Midnight Girl (Out on PC and mobile) @ItalicDK]

Midnight Girl is out on Steam!

This is a big day for us, that we've been anticipating with excitement and fear. Thanks for all your support along the way. We hope you'll enjoy the game!

Play it here (It's 15% off this week): https://t.co/WZuhyTAvmH

#DKgame #PointNClickFriday

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

@AGHotspot @oneshorteye @Cressup @PointNClickGeek @SQHistorian @danielalbu @ConvosCurtis @PhantomFellows @CGGpodcast @jeffreytripoli @decafjedi A fictional adventure is a narrative by definition.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

@SixtusFlaming Ah, thanks. Hadn't caught that. I guess The Dig seems to be the only game where it does that.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

@super_elin (Pssst. That stuff isn't retro. It's vintage. Retro is when something new's made in the *style* of something older. Hence the name.)

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

23/22 Bonus example: I think Grim Fandango's best, most iconic & memorable locale is easily Rubacava from Year 2, and it's about half the game. But all you're trying to do is get outta there. There's very little story content there that connects with the game's broader narrative.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

1/? Short thread on dialogue-/story-heavy adventure games. I'm most of the way through Excavation of Hob's Barrow. As adventure games go, it's one of the best in years. But it's also a perfect example of the dialogue-heavy adv. games that seem to be more common now than ever.

[Adventure Game Guru @PointNClickGuru]

22/22 (Oops, not so short.) My 2 cents are that adv. games are at their best when they're less like a dense, navigable story & more like a sort of big, puzzle-based playground, with a story serving to make the goals clear. Tell the players a story, but don't talk their ears off.