Re: My Al Emmo review.
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:14 pm
edit: i got to the end of this and realized that it was pretty much just me rambling.. spare yourselves
if it came down to it, i think you guys could make a challenging adventure game with a single cursor..
maybe the single cursor could do the most "obvious" action most of the time.. for a door, clicking on the middle of it would knock, clicking on the handle would open it, and clicking on the keyhole would try to unlock it.. maybe something with the hinges for the occasional squeaky door..
and then, to keep things interesting, when the on-screen object is a bit more complicated than the door example, perhaps the single cursor could bring up a sub-menu of possible interactions suited to the object itself.. the challenge would be in the fact that, ultimately, there are a bevy of objects/items and options to choose from overall.. and, with some good writing and humor (think: Monkey Island), clicking through a mini-multitude of possible actions would still be entertaining...
one way to make this approach really work would be to have almost everything in any given "room" somewhat interactive.. i think a major limitation of the old EGA games was that there simply wasn't enough detail to have several distinct objects and/or NPCs in a single room.. King's Quest fans got used to looking for the one sparkly item in each room--or the one sprite that could clearly be removed from the artwork itself..
i think a lot of adventure games got stuck in that limiting mindset.. lets see a game with multiple solutions to EVERY puzzle.. lets have the ability to pick up anything (within reason) and add it to our inventory.. our motivation to not pick up every damn item we come across could be that it would be rather unlikely that we'd ever find a use for the dustbunnies under a random bed..
if it came down to it, i think you guys could make a challenging adventure game with a single cursor..
maybe the single cursor could do the most "obvious" action most of the time.. for a door, clicking on the middle of it would knock, clicking on the handle would open it, and clicking on the keyhole would try to unlock it.. maybe something with the hinges for the occasional squeaky door..
and then, to keep things interesting, when the on-screen object is a bit more complicated than the door example, perhaps the single cursor could bring up a sub-menu of possible interactions suited to the object itself.. the challenge would be in the fact that, ultimately, there are a bevy of objects/items and options to choose from overall.. and, with some good writing and humor (think: Monkey Island), clicking through a mini-multitude of possible actions would still be entertaining...
one way to make this approach really work would be to have almost everything in any given "room" somewhat interactive.. i think a major limitation of the old EGA games was that there simply wasn't enough detail to have several distinct objects and/or NPCs in a single room.. King's Quest fans got used to looking for the one sparkly item in each room--or the one sprite that could clearly be removed from the artwork itself..
i think a lot of adventure games got stuck in that limiting mindset.. lets see a game with multiple solutions to EVERY puzzle.. lets have the ability to pick up anything (within reason) and add it to our inventory.. our motivation to not pick up every damn item we come across could be that it would be rather unlikely that we'd ever find a use for the dustbunnies under a random bed..