List of Game Clichés

[simulacra]

Good tip there with the fingerprint device. It could prove useful in real life.

[Wellington]

A really neat way to fool some fingerprint readers:

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116573,pg,5,00.asp

Now, the trick would be cluing this. The print lifting wouldn't be too difficult to pull off - a discarded CD or something would do it. But getting the player to realize that melting candy will make a readable finger? That's tough.

Possibly a few decoy substances could be included, and attempts to use them would result in failure and a message suggesting that the player experiment with different materials...

[TheYak]

Now, the trick would be cluing this. The print lifting wouldn't be too difficult to pull off - a discarded CD or something would do it. But getting the player to realize that melting candy will make a readable finger? That's tough.

"Hmm..  now if only I could find something squishy and fleshy like that pudgy bastard's fingers"

Something like that?

Only more perfect that he's got an empty bag of Gummi Bears with one of the candies wedged in the keyboard.

[Wellington]

Eeexcellent. This could be an incredible multi-stage puzzle. Could fill an entire chapter.

The player has to:

1) Get a photograph of the guy's fingerprints.

You have: Glass/CD/whatever with fingerprints. Mug. Digital microscopic camera. Superglue. Heat lamp used for lizard terrarium. Small aluminum/tin measuring cup. Cardboard box. Tape. A table near an electrical outlet.

You need to use the process of cyanoacrylate fuming, or "The Superglue Method," to make the prints clear enough to photograph.

[Source: http://onin.com/fp/cyanoho.html]

1. USE box on table. PC puts box on table, on its side, so that there's a work space.
2/3/4/5/6/7. USE lamp on box. Player positions lamp so that it is on the table, poking into the box, bulb facing upwards.
2/3/4/5/6/7. USE mug on sink to fill it with water.
2/3/4/5/6/7. USE mug in box. Player puts it in box. This is needed for humidity. (PC will not plug in the apparatus if this isn't done, and will say "I need a humidity source in there. It's too dry to fume well.")
2/3/4/5/6/7. USE cup on lamp. Player puts cup on lamp.
2/3/4/5/6/7. USE tape on CD, then USE CD on box to hang it in the chamber. Just using the CD directly gives the message: "I shouldn't just toss it in haphazardly. I need it to be better exposed."
2/3/4/5/6/7. USE superglue on cup. Note that we'll assume it doesn't dry, or, alternatively, set a time limit that forces to player to add more superglue if this takes too long.
8. HAND icon on box to close it around the lamp neck.
9. USE tape on box to seal it.
10. HAND on plug to plug in lamp. Time passes.
11. HAND on box to open it.
12. USE camera on now-fixed-and-easily-visible prints. Bingo.

I can't help it... that source page looks so much like an adventure game walkthrough...

How does the player figure all this out?

One possibility would be to have the player watch a forensic detective use a fume chamber earlier, and note down the steps in a handy pocket notebook. The fume chamber wouldn't run on over-the-counter superglue, but the principles would be explained. Also, there would be ample tips as to when the player was on the right track. Another possibility is that the player character is a detective, and says things like, "Okay, I need to build a fume chamber myself, then. Need cyanoacrylate, a humidity source, a fume container, and a heat source."

2) Make a mold.

You have: Computer with camera interface. Inkjet printer. Photo-etchable circuit board. UV light.

(Why would the player have photo-etchable circuit board? Well, you can get it from an electronics store, along with a strong UV source, and the electronics shop guy might actually be a good hint source here. "Is there anyway to print a solid object? I mean, to print something out in 3D?" the PC might ask. And the shop guy would tell you what you needed.

1. USE digital camera on computer. Player character uploads picture. Go to Photo Manipulation interface.
2. USE mirror flip option.
3. USE increase contrast option.
4. USE scale option.
5. USE print to Tray 2: Transparencies.
6. GET transparency.
7. USE transparency on circuit board.
8. USE circuit board on UV light.
9. Use tape on circuit board to make a little wall around the print.

Source: http://cryptome.org/gummy.htm

3) Make the fake finger:

1. Get the mug.
2. Use gummi bears on mug. The PC will remark that it's got white powder on it from the superglue, and automatically dump it out, put in the bears, and add a bit of water.
3. Use mug on microwave. "It takes you a few tries and a few more gummi bears, but you think you've got it to the right consistency now."
4. Use mug of goo on board.

Bingo!

[simulacra]

I think we are going off-topic.

[Wellington]

Nuh-uh! That puzzle is SO going to be a cliché in five years.

"Dude. ANOTHER game with the gummi fingerprint puzzle and the superglue and circuit board? Man, this is even worse than the 'catching the key' thing!"

[TheYak]

Yeah, stop interrupting.  We're forumlating the next generation of clichés.  This is important stuff.

[Snarky]

Oh, and I forgot to mention the most annoying adventure game cliché puzzle ever.

I can honestly say I've never EVER seen that puzzle in an adventure game. People claim it's overused, and I have no idea what they're talking about. (That and slider puzzles. I swear I've only seen, like, two slider puzzles in the 100+ adventure games I've played.) I think I saw this trick on some TV show when I was a kid, though.

A few games that use this puzzle, named as I remember them:

Zork 2 (I believe it was 2)
Lost in Time (Clever but needlessly baroque variation on the theme)
Anchorhead
Zork: Grand Inquisitor
Broken Sword 3
Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Rose Tattoo (I found this by Googling some key phrases, so to speak, and getting the walkthrough)
Dark Fall
Midnight Nowhere (Found by Googling another phrase)
Hugo 2: Whodunnit
And SO MANY MORE.

Yeah, never played any of those. OK, so a couple of those were fairly major titles, but could it be that this puzzle is something mainly found in obscure, low-budget titles?

[TheYak]

I seem to recall it in one of the Tex Murphy games, I'm thinking UAKM or PD but it's been awhile so could've been Martian Memorandum. 

It sounds familiar as an SQ or KQ puzzle as well, but the insidious obviousness of that puzzle has addled me.  The classic version involves a key stuck in the door from the other side, a long, narrow object and a newspaper.  Some game I played used a slice of bread instead of the paper, can't remember which one.

[Wellington]

A few more that use it:

Post Mortem
Alone in the Dark 2
Mystery of Time and Space
Pharaoh's Curse

[Kweepa]

This would make a great MAGS topic - most clichéd game.

[Andail]

It's been featured in comics and movies as well.

Rather strange, still, since it's pretty illogical...I mean, if somebody locks you in a room, they're bound to bring the key with them. Even if they leave the key, you'd prolly have to turn it to push it out, which is hard to do with just a stick/pencil/hanger/whatever.
And lastly, few doors have so wide a crack underneath to allow a paper/slice of bread to slide through with a key on top of it.

IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE!

[jetxl]

If you want into a room you can bash in any wooden door with some dropkicks. Or smash in the window, go outside and smash in another window of the room you want into.

What does it matter if you have to save the world.
But you're not saving the world, you're playing an adventure game.

[Nikolas]

IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE!

Why? I've used it in real life.

But I think that apart from having original puzzles, which is difficult, because you have limited inventory items you can use. You know there are items that you use all day, even in real life, and other items you use once a year (like a condom ). So limited items->limited puzzles. Makes sense...

I think even more difficult is to have original thinking regarding the characters motivation and of course regarding the GUI. I think that here in AGS we have at least a couple of examples that are great at these sectors. One is Mind's Eye and the other is with the blind guy. Insted of look, you have smell, touch, taste and stuff.

That's original!

As well as Mind's eye, (for what I've seen so far) to use as a command, your brain...
Brilliant..

[Snarky]

Hmmm... I've played all the Tex Murphy games, but I don't recall any of them featuring this puzzle. Could perhaps be UAKM. It's been a long while since I played that. I haven't played any of the other games mentioned thus far (well, I've played some KQ games, but apparently not the one that featured this puzzle).

Andail, it really depends on the type of door. In most modern buildings there's no way this would work, but when I went to college in the UK, you could have done this practically everywhere. The doorways had no thresholds, so there was easily an inch's gap between the door and the floor, and the locks were extremely simple, so you could poke out the key with a pen if you wanted. People might not leave the key in the lock if they were keeping you imprisoned, but they might if it was just a door between two rooms, like a study and a library.

[simulacra]

This would make a great MAGS topic - most clichéd game.

Or not.

[Redwall]

If you want into a room you can bash in any wooden door with some dropkicks. Or smash in the window, go outside and smash in another window of the room you want into.

What does it matter if you have to save the world.
But you're not saving the world, you're playing an adventure game.

The thought process that led to Full Throttle?

[bspeers]

* People always tear off the top sheet of a memo pad after writing something on it. However, in order to be fair to you, the player, they press really hard with the pencil, so you know what to do.

While not a bad device since it works / is sometimes useful in the real world, it's very over-used.  I don't know what special techniques PCs have, but I can never make out more than a vague guesstimate of the tablet's prior contents. 

The best use of this is in The Big Lebowski, where it doesn't work at all.  Well, it does *work* I suppose.

EDIT: Ooops, didn't notice the third page, so this comes waaay late in the conversation.

Spoiler

Always use extra letters in your words to come off as a true wordsmith and not a moron

[close]

[Wellington]

The most clichéd adventure game ever would likely be one of the King's Quest imitations that came out following their success.

But... in the interests of trying to top them.

The four most clichéd fantasy plots are Rescue the Princess, Find the Magic Artifact Pieces, Escape the Magical World You Have Been Teleported To, and Defeat the Evil Sorcerer.

The most clichéd horror setup is Trapped in a Haunted Mansion.

The most clichéd mystery plot is the Amnesia Plot.

The most clichéd science fiction plot in adventure games is, surprisingly, not the Alien Invasion (which is oddly not used all that often) but the Ancient Alien Ruins With Artifacts of Great Power Must Be Explored for Unclear Reasons plot.

So, how about a game where an amnesiac spaceman searching alien ruins is transported into a fantasy world via an ancient teleporter and finds that an evil sorcerer has stolen key parts of the artifact  so that he can't go back home until he defeats the villain in his haunted mansion lair and rescues a princess in the process?

Actually, maybe I play too many of these things, but that's starting to sound kind of cool!

[Nikolas]

So, how about a game where an amnesiac spaceman searching alien ruins is transported into a fantasy world via an ancient teleporter and finds that an evil sorcerer has stolen key parts of the artifactÃ,  so that he can't go back home until he defeats the villain in his haunted mansion lair and rescues a princess in the process?

I think it does sound cool! AS long as it's humorous and not Hollywood style!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, maybe I play too many of these things, but that's starting to sound kind of cool!

Maybe you have being playing too many of these things, but I guess you did it when you didin't answer to this thread. 9/12 posts are here. My god, you joined to answer this thread?

Really though, you seem to have researched the cliche subject so... Ok. I salute you for that!

Just one question: I want to make a rpg with a female character. So I'm trying to figure out why should would go into a magical castle (with traps, moving doors, monsters and all). You see I don't see any reason, and I'd hate to put that she has to save the world or that kinda bullshit.

Motivation is what keeps any of us going. And I can't find hers...

What I'm saying is that it's difficult to come up with something original, especially considering the history of mankind. If you sit down and take a look at all the ancient Greek tragedies, it's all there. They're still playing them and it seems to me that Shakespear copied a lot of that stuff (ok... I know to much, but if you think about it, both of these kinds are like soap operas!!!!!!)
Simpsons are getting very very old (Viva El Farlander)
and most of us have the same idea about what colour is 4: red!

:DLook I just joined three threads into one! Good for me

And I'm not making fun! Really. Help me