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Every Month, the Editorial Page with one-quarter byte... Summer, 2000's "Two Bits" are titled : The Current State Of Adventure Games, Part 2[OR: "Okay, wise guy, what is the problem?"]Admittedly, I had a lot to say about adventure games, in last month's "Two Bits." Yes, removing text adventures' absence from the reason for adventure's demise, was a pretty big pill to swallow. Some might retort, if not that, then what (or who) is to blame? That is the real debate at hand. At the 1999 GDC (Game Developer's Conference), there was a serious discussion on adventure gaming, and why the genre is failing. Jane Jensen, in a guest editorial at The Adrenaline Vault (October '99), had her own thoughts as well. As a man who's mostly been the buyer of adventure games, though, I have my own thoughts, and I'd like to share them with you here : 1) Poorer puzzles. Even classic puzzles become dull, from overuse; I can't believe how many times the "Towers of Annoy" was used, which was never a fun puzzle to begin with. Resorting to identical, overused puzzles is like a "wide selection" buffet consisting of macaroni and cheese and stale bread. Add some variety!
2) Poorer storylines. Even once-great storytellers were reduced to not-great work. In the finale to Steve Meretzky's "Spellcasting 301," cow manure is thrown on your stepfather with a magic spell; the third time in a row Steve had used the exact same ending. It's almost as if he wasn't even trying anymore. Unfortunately, neither was anyone else.
3) Open Endings. Do open endings sell movie tickets? RARELY, unless the movie is "Empire Strikes Back." With adventures, you're essentially asking the buyer to pay for an unfinished story. The buyer often decides to wait until the story has actually ended, upon the release of a further sequel. Trouble is, game companies saw these less-than-stellar-sales of the open-ended sequel as lessened interest in that series as a whole, and cut many adventures before the open-ending was ever resolved! Darkseed2 and Manhunter: San Francisco are just two such examples.
4) Sad, BAD Endings. While movies that have unhappy endings are often labeled "artistic," it's debatable how artsy they'd look if theatergoers paid $50 to see them. In Phantasmagoria, the purported "heroine" slices, dices, and throws acid on her cursed husband; a husband SHE is responsible for cursing! In 11th Hour, your goal is to save Robin Morales, and you can't(?) In Man Enough, all your dates were "just acting" to like you; a practical joke! All the above game's companies were either bought out or went bankrupt completely...and for good reason.
5) Overused locations. In nearly all 3D games, no "level" is repeated. Textures, perhaps, though not areas explored. In adventures, it became commonplace for you to simply explore the exact same area over and over...and OVER. Even a 7-disc game like Phantasmagoria included the exact same house, on all seven CDs! YAWN.
6) Icon interfaces. As I said last month, text interfaces were not as flawless as most "remember" them to be. They had their share of flaws! However, icon interfaces are not unlike curing the disease by killing the patient; even the best of puzzles is reduced to point-and-click simplicity. Enough.
7) REALLY cheap graphics. Let's be blunt; most 1990's adventures made a step backwards in graphics! This wasn't a case of 2D overshadowed by 3D; Baldur's Gate and Diablo were both great, with 2D graphics that were colorful, well animated, and inspired. Aside from Sanitarium and Blade Runner, most of the recent adventure games, for years, have resembled Saturday Morning Cartoons; WHY?
8) Publicity. Action games are hyped, hyped, and hyped, years before the title is released. Don't think this takes a lot of money; all you need is to send free demos, screenshots, and storylines to whomever previews games online, and you're halfway there...for very little expense. Adventures so far, however, seem to just "come out"; the game developer shouting from his front porch would provide better publicity, in most cases.
9) Shoddy Demos. Demos for action games are HUGE. Wow, thinks the gamer; if this is what I get for free, the final game will be COOL! Comparatively, here's the typical adventure demo: talk to a single character, pick up a piece of paper, read it, walk off the screen, then get kicked back to windows. Wow, thinks the gamer; this game must really SUCK...
10) Release what you'd play yourself. This is the big one; stop releasing merely what you thing "might" sell, based on pie charts and surveys. Make sure what you create is a labor of love; what you'd buy yourself, if it was on a store shelf! You'd be surprised how many people would by it, too. Trust me. Once again, I'm Techtite, and these are My Two Bits...
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