Hello!
I'm Fatal, and I'm new to these forums but this isn't an introduction thread. What I am here for is, as the title might suggest, to discuss inspiration and emotion for point-and-click graphic adventure games, and to garner how other other people tend to think up their ideas. As the Executive Producer and Lead Writer of an indie game studio who is now interested in the avenue of point-and-click adventure games, I've been brainstorming ideas, alone and with the team, about what sort of starting project we could work with. However we are struggling to come up with a solid concept as we have thus far managed to pick apart each concept we have thought up. We have all trawled these forums in search for information of all sorts; the most popular games (and the successful commercial ones) tend to be serious dramas, horrors or crime thrillers. The light-hearted and comical nature of the old Lucas Arts games seems to have all but evaporated from the major market. Is this true? Is it perhaps wiser to go with a more serious edge than a non-serious one for the sake of being accepted, or are people awaiting the revival of the old comic toned adventure games?
As for the specific genres and settings, we've thrown this ball around and around. For a comic adventure game, we don't want to work with pirates (since it's perhaps best to veer clear of the classics) but we want an element of adventure, exploration and exoticness to the game. We're had a look at the idea of a medieval peasant-to-knight tale but that's been done, but we've also looked at the possibilities of doing a medieval detective tale filled with anachronisms. Then again, speaking of detectives, we've looked at other potential genres. The two main serious genres that we've considered in great depth is horror and crime. I'm a self-published crime author so the latter is far more natural but I am worried about making too cinematic. Besides, a crime thriller adventure game would require a few hours of content before I could consider it well-paced and intriguing and going from knowing nothing to attempting to wrestle a feature-length video game isn't just difficult for me, but for the poor developers who would be working on this. Sure, this could be a chance to introduce our characters in a similar manner to how television shows sometimes structure their pilot (begin at the end of an investigation, a chase ensues, the detective catches him, introduction credits and theme music before the actual case of the episode begins) but the problem is how to make it fast-paced and tense during a chase when the person is thinking "alright, how do I break open this door using a pack of gum, a cigarette and a Glock 22".
How have people entered the Adventure Game Studio scene? Each of us has experience in developing video games so we aren't amateurs in that sense, but we won't pull off an immediate hit with the most custom experience ever. We want to create a short-but-sweet experience that introduces emotion, whether that be a laughter-inducing comic adventure game, or a fear-inducing horror adventure game, or even a shocking crime thriller adventure game, or something different. However, instead of the constant in-team discussions, we've decided to consult the experts here: You, the one reading this.
What are the "in" genres, and what are people hoping for?
What games have managed to induce emotion from their consumers best?
What settings are well-received, and where do people gain their inspiration?
What genres are best to work with at the beginning, and what is best for a short-and-sweet trial approach?
On behalf of the team, I appreciate the time invested in reading this, and hopefully the time invested in responding.
I'm Fatal, and I'm new to these forums but this isn't an introduction thread. What I am here for is, as the title might suggest, to discuss inspiration and emotion for point-and-click graphic adventure games, and to garner how other other people tend to think up their ideas. As the Executive Producer and Lead Writer of an indie game studio who is now interested in the avenue of point-and-click adventure games, I've been brainstorming ideas, alone and with the team, about what sort of starting project we could work with. However we are struggling to come up with a solid concept as we have thus far managed to pick apart each concept we have thought up. We have all trawled these forums in search for information of all sorts; the most popular games (and the successful commercial ones) tend to be serious dramas, horrors or crime thrillers. The light-hearted and comical nature of the old Lucas Arts games seems to have all but evaporated from the major market. Is this true? Is it perhaps wiser to go with a more serious edge than a non-serious one for the sake of being accepted, or are people awaiting the revival of the old comic toned adventure games?
As for the specific genres and settings, we've thrown this ball around and around. For a comic adventure game, we don't want to work with pirates (since it's perhaps best to veer clear of the classics) but we want an element of adventure, exploration and exoticness to the game. We're had a look at the idea of a medieval peasant-to-knight tale but that's been done, but we've also looked at the possibilities of doing a medieval detective tale filled with anachronisms. Then again, speaking of detectives, we've looked at other potential genres. The two main serious genres that we've considered in great depth is horror and crime. I'm a self-published crime author so the latter is far more natural but I am worried about making too cinematic. Besides, a crime thriller adventure game would require a few hours of content before I could consider it well-paced and intriguing and going from knowing nothing to attempting to wrestle a feature-length video game isn't just difficult for me, but for the poor developers who would be working on this. Sure, this could be a chance to introduce our characters in a similar manner to how television shows sometimes structure their pilot (begin at the end of an investigation, a chase ensues, the detective catches him, introduction credits and theme music before the actual case of the episode begins) but the problem is how to make it fast-paced and tense during a chase when the person is thinking "alright, how do I break open this door using a pack of gum, a cigarette and a Glock 22".
How have people entered the Adventure Game Studio scene? Each of us has experience in developing video games so we aren't amateurs in that sense, but we won't pull off an immediate hit with the most custom experience ever. We want to create a short-but-sweet experience that introduces emotion, whether that be a laughter-inducing comic adventure game, or a fear-inducing horror adventure game, or even a shocking crime thriller adventure game, or something different. However, instead of the constant in-team discussions, we've decided to consult the experts here: You, the one reading this.
What are the "in" genres, and what are people hoping for?
What games have managed to induce emotion from their consumers best?
What settings are well-received, and where do people gain their inspiration?
What genres are best to work with at the beginning, and what is best for a short-and-sweet trial approach?
On behalf of the team, I appreciate the time invested in reading this, and hopefully the time invested in responding.