About the Goals in Graphic Adventures

[edmundito]

I've been trying to come up with a new game, but I'm totally stuck. So I've been trying to analyze/study adventure games to see if I will somehow get guided into coming up with a story for my game.

Anywho, about 10 minutes before I posted this, I realized that most (or all?) adventure games share common goal categories... and here's the two that I found:

1) Quest - I think this is probably the classic goal in adventure games... the whole goal would be to get something or to achieve something. For example, in The Secret of Monkey Island, Guybrush wants to be a pirate so the quest is do three trials to become a pirate (and eventually there's other quests like rescue Elaine and such, but they're still quests). Same thing on King's Quest I (hence the name?), where the quest  is to find those three things (the mirror, the shield, and the chest?).

AGS Games that are quest-styled include: Rob Blanc (all three), Calsoon 1/2, I Spy, King's Quest VGA, odysseus kent... I think you get the idea.

2) Mystery - Basicly, the player/main char has to figure out what in the world is going on. I think this is more of a recent category and there are a lot less mystery adventure games than quest adventure games. Myst is the only comercial example I can think of, but games like Pleurghburg, 5 days a stranger, Out of Order, Sol, Larry Vales, etc. kind of follow this style. I guess the player has to do more investigation than anything; you sort of have a mission, but it's not really a quest.

Some games are kind of a mix between the two. Grim Fandango is kind of a mystery because there's all that corruption going on, but I think it's mostly a Quest adventure because every time you get to play you have a mission... either get the eggs, or escape, etc. So, there's mystery in the story, but the gameplay is mostly quest-based.

Anyway, I'm sure there's other goals that I haven't figured out yet, so feel free to reply to this message and post them. Also, you guys can also point out goals for other kinds of games.... maybe it'll help us analyze adventure games better and also steal stuff from other categories

[Barcik]

This is quite a basic thing in all computer games - there is a basic goal the player needs to acheive, because otherwise, theoritically, there is nothing for the player to do.

[edmundito]

This is quite a basic thing in all computer games - there is a basic goal the player needs to acheive, because otherwise, theoritically, there is nothing for the player to do.

Of course there's always a goal, but what kind of goals are there? that's what the whole post is about

[Minimi]

I know a goal, it's a square, and in a soccer game you have 2 of the same goals, and yet so different!

But serious... There is also a goal called - Informative, wich is a game to give you information and knowledge about for example, myths, history or a mindopener.

There is also a goal called Fun, where the whole game is about nothing but weird subjects that got nothing to do with eachother, but are funny anyway.

[MrColossal]

i think you'd have to redefine your original goals cause quest could also mean mystery where someone is "questing" for the answer to the mystery

the conflict that is present in just about every game [be it blatant [doom] or more hidden [Sims]] can come in many many forms.

there are many levels to monkey island [a dangerous game full of occult symbols] where guybrush is in conflict with something/someone and he has to overcome it, passing the three trials is filled with it's own smaller conflicts and the large over arching one being LeChuck himself/itself/zombieself.

the whole man against nature idea has been used through videogames but usually is less interesting ways than man actually against nature. out in space searching for air cannisters [RTX Red Rock and Doom 3] but it's slighty more subtle than just putting the person in a room with a large demon to kill or a locked door and an inventory full of biscuits and flutes.

i'm stopping now cause i don't know what else to write...

goodnight everybody!

[Lucidium]

Whenever I've come up with storylines for adventure games, they usually contain a mix of quest and mystery type goals that work together.
I'm not sure (I only just thought of this, so I might be wrong), but I think most commercial adventure games also work something like this:

1) Initiating event which removes the main character from their regular routine (Otherwise the game would probably be quite boring).
2) Obvious initial quest, which is usually quite small or mundane.
3) Mystery which presents itself as the player goes about the initial quest.
4) Small quests which are required to find out about the mystery.
5) Main, overall quest which is revealed through finding out about the mystery.

For example, the first Broken Sword game:
1) George witnesses a murder.
2) George goes off to find out where the assasin went / what he was after.
3) Mystery about the Knights Templar and the assasination victims presents itself.
4) Quests such as going off to Ireland, or Spain, give you info about the mystery.
5) Whole mystery is gradually revealed, and you end up going off to the final showdown.


Of course, I might be completely nuts . Can anyone back me up on this?

[Ytterbium]

1) Initiating event which removes the main character from their regular routine (Otherwise the game would probably be quite boring).
2) Obvious initial quest, which is usually quite small or mundane.
3) Mystery which presents itself as the player goes about the initial quest.
4) Small quests which are required to find out about the mystery.
5) Main, overall quest which is revealed through finding out about the mystery.

I agree that a lot of games use this formula. Here are some:

Grim Fandango:
1) Manny steals Meche's commision from Domino, and gets caught up with Sal in the revolution.
2) Manny tries to find Meche.
3) The corruption in the DoD becomes clear.
4) Manny...um...wait...uh...this doesn't really follow the formula.

Uh, let's see...Beneath a Steel Sky:

1) Robert is taken from the Gap to the city.
2) Robert needs to figure out how to escape the city.
3) Robert learns about LINC, and what problems it causes.
4) Robert does a variety of things, like get Phoenix access, becomes a member of the St. James club, etc...
5) The big thing that I don't want to give away happens.

That worked a little better. Let's try another more obscure, but classic, game, Torin's Passage:

1) Torin's parents are captured by Lysenchia.
2) Torin tries to find his parents.
3) Torin learns more about just who Lysenchia is, who his parents are, and all the stuff I don't want to spoil.
4) Torin progresses into the planet.
5) The whole plotline is revealed at the end.

This formula works for almost all games. Almost all. Grim Fandango doesn't really follow it, making it a bit more cinematic and unique than other games.

[RickJ]

IMHO, an adventure game is just another story telling medium,  the same as a book, movie, or play.  They all require the basic elements of drama (i.e. plot, characters, resolution of conflict, etc).  An adventure game, however, differs in the fact that it requires the viewer's intellectual  participation in order  to progress through the story.  

The primary goal of any adventure game is to progress to the end of the story.  But I don't think this will help break your mental block.   The way I approach this is to:

1.  Setting - write a paragraph describing the setting when and where the story to take place.  

2.  Characters - Populate the setting with characters.  Write a one or more paragraph(s) biography of each of the characters.  Include their  phyiscal description, personality, vocation, and their relationship with the other characters.  

3.  The characters and setting are all interrelated so it will be necessary to make a number of itterations of setps 1 & 2 above.  

For me, the story starts writting itself once I know who the characters are, what they are like, and how they are likely to interact with the other characters.  It's much easier to invent plot in this case.

Hope this is helpful.

[Ytterbium]

I started with the setting for my game, but I didn't really set up the characters until after I had the basic plot in place. I knew I wanted it to be cyberpunk, taking place in a big, futuristic city, like the one in Beneath a Steel Sky. I knew that I wanted it to have stuff to do with computers that you hook into and look at stuff through your own eyes (also inspired by BASS, it would be like LINC-space). And I decided it should be about a computer gamer whose friend dies at a LAN party when his computer overloads, and then he learns that it was really a murder...only after sketching that out did I decide it should be about a 16 year old named Keith Xavier whose dad is an alcoholic and has a dog named Xyzzy. I'm still trying to figure out the rest of the plot, but story development can take place any way you want. Sometimes ideas just come to you at the most unexpected moments.