I wouldn’t consider myself a “gamer” by any stretch of the imagination.<\/p>\n
Just watch me try to play Halo – I’ll run around in circles, button-jamming before somebody mercifully puts me out of my misery.<\/p>\n
And that’s common across games that involve me running around with a gun.\u00a0 With the exception of Portal<\/a> (which was incredible), the whole first person shooter genre kind of bores me.\u00a0 I’m not really impressed by amazing 3d graphics, or physics\/particle engines.\u00a0 I just…don’t care.\u00a0 I just don’t get the same pleasure out of blowing up and shooting enemies that other people seem to.<\/p>\n I like something a bit more cerebral.\u00a0 I like story (which is why Portal is an exception).\u00a0 I like puzzle solving.\u00a0 I like thinking <\/em>for a character, not just running around, pulling the trigger for a character.<\/p>\n And this is the way it’s always been for me.<\/p>\n But ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a real passion for adventure games.<\/a> I used to play all of the old Sierra stuff…Kings Quest I-VI<\/a> (before it turned lame – VII onward), the Space Quest series<\/a> (5<\/a> being my favourite, but I have a soft spot for the original<\/a>), the Gabriel Knight<\/a> series…<\/p>\n And that’s just Sierra.\u00a0 LucasArts brought about Sam and Max<\/a>, Day of the Tentacle<\/a> (a masterpiece), The Monkey Island Series<\/a> (also brilliant), The Dig <\/a>(my personal favourite), Full Throttle<\/a>, Grim Fandango<\/a>…<\/p>\n There was Myst<\/a>, and Riven<\/a>. So good.\u00a0 And can’t forget Zork<\/a>.<\/p>\n Simon The Sorcerer 1, 2, and 3…<\/a><\/p>\n I loved these games.\u00a0 I still love these games.\u00a0 I love being integrated so deeply into an interesting story, and having to rely on my wits and intelligence to solve problems.\u00a0 I get a cerebral kick out of solving the various puzzles that the game designers throw at me.<\/p>\n And what these games all compel me to do, without fail….is:\u00a0 to make one.\u00a0 Make an adventure game.\u00a0 Tell a good story.\u00a0 Suck the player in, and throw puzzles, deep character, and thick story\/plot at them.\u00a0 After I finish one of these games, I usually end up Googling “how to make an adventure game”, and spending the rest of my night reading up on it.\u00a0 And anytime I’m on a holiday break, and have nothing to do…I always gravitate to the subject.<\/p>\n I’ve read all about LucasArts SCUMM<\/a> and GrimE<\/a> engines…Sierra’s AGI<\/a> and SCI<\/a> engines… Adventure Soft’s AGOS engine…\u00a0 and I’m grateful for the ScummVM<\/a> and FreeSCI<\/a> folk who share my passion, and have allowed me to play all of these old games on my Linux box.\u00a0 Reading about these engines just makes me want to use them to build my own game.<\/p>\n I could try to use a number of closed-source adventure game engines out there – I hear the Wintermute engine<\/a> is pretty good.\u00a0 So is Adventure Game Studio<\/a>.<\/p>\n But somehow…they never satisfy me.<\/p>\n