I'm working on a game and am interested what you all look for in a good adventure game (specifically) to make sure they are incorporated. When you vote for the awards what do you look for?
Thanks.
Jonathan Grant
Somebody did a questionnaire on elements of an Adventure game people like and all it proved was that people like loads of different things. An important thing would probably be originality and atmosphere.
Hehehe, I just think it's really funny that your main consideration is trying to win an award ^_^ "Now, what are the exact things I can put into my game that will win me an award at the end of the year...?"
As for the answer, I agree with Meph, it's a lot to do with atmosphere, and lack of bugs and SPELLING MISTAKES. Please, please, please look after your spelling and grammar. Get a friend to check over your script when it's done. Give it a once over with the spell check - anything. I can't say a particular style because I like all styles of games. Originality counts too, and a certain 'neatness' to the graphics.
Good puzzles, good story and good programming. (Good graphics can help as well)
If you want to win awards then you have to show that you alot of work in your game.
Also, look at 7 days, Apprentice 2 and no-action Jackson. It's most likely that they win AGS awards this year.
lots and lots of comedy ;D
Smak me in the face with a frying-pan bizzarness! :-[
I think these are the keys:
1) Good argument. Something original or, if not original, focussed from a new point of view.
2) Atmosphere. Once you have an Story, think how to show it. How is going the player feel like if he were in the game? What emotions you want to make feel to the player?
3) Graphics. This helps a lot. Of course is much better a game with a very detailed graphics than one made quickly with MS Paint. Unless, of course, the atmosphere needs it.
4) Make it with love. The most important thing you must do. It sounds odd, but if you feel right when making your game, it's easier to make it well and the most important, it's easier to finnish it. People also feel that, ¿Do you think that '5 Days a Stranger' was done without attention or without desire? I think Yahtzee was specially inspired. Just an example.
I keep looking for my marbles, but I never find them...
Personally I like games to have an interesting and compelling story. And the puzzles should fit into the story. You know, like all those mechanical/clockwork puzzles in Syberia? Good graphics, sound etc. are just a bonus. And a dash of humor always works! ;)
I've gotten so bored with adventure games lately, I mainly look for one thing:
Innovation.
I want to see something I haven't seen before.
I want a good story, atmosphere and characters. Puzzles are secondary - for me, at least. Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight, Syberia, Dark Eye, Black Dahlia...
...as long as the puzzles aren't as unfair and illogical as Midnight Nowhere's...
What I look for in an adventure game...
1. A good, non-linear story
2. Atmosphere (created by narration, graphics, sound and dialogues)
3. Puzzles that make sense (I simply detest having to keep typing random commands hoping that one of these will be the answer to the puzzle)
4. Well-written text, without typos
In (1) I described the desired story as "non-linear". What do I mean by that? Well, I mean that it should avoid the pitfalls of many adventure games, where you were being led towards ONE and ONLY ONE solution, without being able to play around a bit, taking different actions.
My personal measure is - motivation.
If I play a really artistic, super-funny, mega-atmospheric, ultra-non-linear game and keep thinking: "Why I am doing this anyway?", then it's a bad game for me. A well made game maybe, but still nothing more than a waste of time.
I won't spend days (or weeks) on a game, just to get the points, I always need to feel the reason, why the character(s) are trying to solve the puzzles, defeat the monster etc.
If I finish a game and think "So what?", than I won't vote for it and will silently delete it from the HDD
EDIT:
I just checked the games list - if number of downloads is a measure of what people are looking for, then it is quite descriptive, that any game promising "sex scenes" has about 7 times as many downloads as a comperable one wiht sex:none...Ã, :o
I generally look for good graphics. I'm not a shallow graphics only person, but if a game had crudely scribbled messes done in about 2 minutes I wouldn't play, because theres a fair chance that the rest of the game will be of a similar low quality.
Nice music isn't something you can check before you download, but it does make you remember the game fondly.
A compelling story. Something to make me want to get past that puzzle. That makes me want to go through 11 pointless screens to just to check something. That makes me care about the character. That makes me care about what he is doing.
Something that is important to me. The character should never just be dumped somewhere without being told what they have to do. Not just short term, but what their over all goal is.