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Adventuredevelopers.com Returns

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-threepwood-guybrush-threepwood dept.

Courthold writes "After a very long period of downtime, Adventuredevelopers.com has returned, filling the void for all amateur adventure game creators out there. It returns fully equipped with many new articles, and a forum to share your ideas and work with others in the community. Adventuredevelopers is part of the Lucasfan Network (lfnetwork.com) along with other sites such as AdventureGamers and Mixnmojo. Hopefully this site along with others will help revive the long lost genre that is adventure games."

14 comments

  1. Wow. by Moofius.the.Cow · · Score: 1

    Digging through the games listed on the site, I'm reminded of digging through the tras^H^H^H^H bargain/clearance been of CompUSA, of all the old games too old or too crappy to put on the shelves.

    Now now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not tryin' to smear these guys - there's sometimes some good stuff in those bins. Some of these games look fairly decent, like the KQ2 remake. But sadly, others just look like the video game form of fan-fiction. Where's the 'sort by highest rating' option on this site, eh?

    1. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, while I agree some rating option would be nice, calling the games "trash" would be indeed a bit too much. The adventure games (and gamers) were always preffering the story above graphics and naturally the independent developers usually cannot afford to produce commercial quality art/animations.
      Anyway, I'm sure there are many gems that might satisfy even the hard-to-please (ahem) audience. Feel free to add games you consider worth playing, these are games I enjoyed: Apprentice 2, Dead City, Case of the Crabs ...

    2. Re:Wow. by Moofius.the.Cow · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry, but first impressions count. The first game I clicked through on this site was Harvest, in which the author has posted a very poorly designed page, on AOL for chrissake, asking for $15 for his game. WTF? I can get good games like Homeworld out of EB's bins for $5-10 now, and this pretentious wank wants $15 for his drivel when he can't even build a proper webpage?

      So no, I don't feel obligated to pander to this particular dying game genre. These games may indeed have stunning little stories, but they reek of fan-fictionism. Some fan-fiction might be good, but in all honesty the majority of it is trash. So allowing an inferred connection between these games and fan-fiction is not helpful.

      I understand that they might not be able to pull professional graphics out their hat, but without an objective standard that literally says 'This is crap', this little community is likely to drive away folks, like myself, who'd take one look at the poorest offerings and move on. The adventure game market is on its last legs, and without honest evaluations of its games, it might as well put a gun to its head.

    3. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about instead of posting on /. trashing everything under the sun, you just F.O.A.D.

    4. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First impressions count, so judging by one poor example you bash the entire genre/community? Oh how very mature...

    5. Re:Wow. by Moofius.the.Cow · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No.

      The fact that the community does nothing to filter such poor examples and bring more promising examples to the forefront, is indicative of poor direction. There may be rotten apples in every barrel, but you certainly don't leave them lying around in plain sight on the top.

      For dying genres such as this one, it is important to put your best efforts in front, to invite others to enjoy the rare fruits of near-forgotten arts. The Interactive Fiction community does this quite well, even if one doesn't care for their particular genre's style.

  2. QBASIC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it isn't being done in QBASIC, it's not worth playing.

  3. The only article you'll ever need... by PylonHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

    adventure games

    --
    # (/.);;
    - : float -> float -> float =
    1. Re:The only article you'll ever need... by Godeke · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That article does point out a major problem with the majority of adventure games. I don't think we will see many more mainstream adventure games of the traditional mold because of that bizarre "logic" that evolved around the adventure game community.

      The best part of traditional adventure games were story and the triumph of solving a puzzle. The former (story) could be the part of so many more games than it currently is. One of the reasons I loved Half-Life was that there was a fun storytelling mechanism that never removed the player from the game. The latter (problem solving) is found in only a rudimentary form in most modern games (find key, locks magically open). Illogic puzzles are out, story is in: I don't morn that state, except the lack of more Monkey Island goodness.

      --
      Sig under construction since 1998.
    2. Re:The only article you'll ever need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the fake moustache was pretty damn good idea.

    3. Re:The only article you'll ever need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, this is another article you should read, by Ron Gilbert: Why Adventure Games Suck (and what can we do about it)

  4. nada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Adventuredevelopers.com has returned, filling the void for all amateur adventure game creators out there

    Heh, at this point, it fills a void for about four people.

    1. Re:nada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are plenty of people who still love a good adventure game. When Lucasarts cancelled Sam and Max 2 there was a huge lashback at them over it. Bill Tiller (of Monkey Island fame) is creating his own adventure game too, proof that some people still think it can be commercially successful. You can't argue with something that gets a lot of people into programming and graphics and is also fun.

    2. Re:nada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently you have no idea how big this is. Go to http://www.bigbluecup.com

      Most of the games are crap, but there are some gems, and recently some people have actually started innovating the genre.