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The 13th issue of the PDF magazine for adventure games, The Inventory, is released and is ready for download from the front page of www.justadventure.com

The 13th issue is dedicated to independent adventures and you will get the chance to read reviews of:

- The Apprentice
- The Adventures of JP & Cosmo
- Patrimonium
- Out of Order

You also get to read an article by Mark Lovegrove on cancellations and how can independent developers deal with them.

You will also get the chance to read interviews with the newly founded White Birds Productions (formed by the people who worked for Syberia) and an interview with Dreamcatcher Europe.

Feel free to add your comments/suggestions on the latest issue.

[Sealed Lips]

Join The Inventory’s adventure project!

Did you ever dream of becoming a game developer? If so, this might be your chance to break your way in the computer game industry. We have formed a development team and our goal is to create a 3rd person adventure game, inspired by movies like American Beauty and Donnie Darko.

The game, which is called Sealed Lips for the time being, will use full 3D graphics. It will feature a cinematic soundtrack and an innovative point and click interface. The gameplay will be reminiscent of games like Gabriel Knight, The Longest Journey and Syberia but it will also present players with new tasks to solve that escape the typical boundaries set by previous titles of our genre.

We cannot give a lot of details regarding payment right now. We will be able to discuss more about that later on, after we have had some meetings with publishers that are going to take place in the middle of March.

We are currently looking for concept artists, 3D modelers and storywriters. Storywriters with a background in psychology or criminology will be preferred.

Send your applications to sl_adv@yahoo.com

Dimitris Manos
Editor of The Inventory
Project Leader of Sealed Lips


PS: I apologise if this thread should be in another part of the forum. The moderators are more than welcome to move it to another part in such a case.

The 11th issue of the PDF magazine for adventure games The Inventory, is ready for download from the front page of www.justadventure.com . The 11th issue of the magazine contains:

- An extensive interview with Al Lowe, the first one of the legendary developer behind the Larry series since the announcement of the new Larry game. Read what Al has to say about the possibilities of him coming back to game development.

- An interview with Philippe Gaude, producer of the upcoming first person thriller Jack the Ripper, due to release in February 2004.

- A preview of the upcoming AGS mystery adventure Shadowplay, a game deeply influenced by the Gabriel Knight games and by David Lynch movies. Also a preview of the upcoming thriller Midnight Nowhere

- Reviews of Black Mirror, Law and Order 2 and Larry 7.

- A new fan fiction section. The first fan fiction we publish is called Lost Wind, it is written by Ugarte and is based on the Quest for Glory saga.

All this and much more in the latest issue of The Inventory, that you can download for free along with all the other past issues at: http://www.justadventure.com/TheInventory/TheInventory.shtm

If you have any comments, complaints or questions you'd better keep them to yourselves. Just kidding. Feel free to post anything you have to comment on the latest issue.

Yep finally I am playing a great adventure again after a long time. I haven't finished the Black Mirror yet, but so far I can say that it's the best adventure I've played in a long time.

Puzzles are logical, innovative, smart you name it. There is no pixel hunting. The story is progressing smoothly and more and more questions arise as you continue playing. The only bad part so far is the voice acting but there are so many good parts about Black Mirror that you forget about it. It seems to be long as well. I've put already more than 8 hours into it and it seems like I haven't reached the middle of the game yet.  

But as already said I haven't finished it so this is just my impression so far. If it goes on like this until the end though then we are definitely talking about a classic. Another tiny drawback I just discovered is that the game has only 24 saves, and I've spent all of them on chapter 2. Why do developers limit the number of save slots  

Nevertheless, if this game continues like it's going now then it is a must buy for all pure adventure fans.

Interference, sorry for your keyboard But you should give a developer some slack for just one bad puzzle in 4 top-class products. Every developer has one of those, i.e. Ragnar Tornquist and the rubber ducky.

I didn't like the cat puzzle either btw, but on the other hand that game also included Le Serpent Rouge which is imo the best puzzle ever made. It is based on a real document and on a real geographical place, it is challenging enough to keep your interest high and your brain working but not illogical enough to send you to a walkthrough, and it is as well-researched as probably no other puzzle. Might be wrong of course, cause I haven't played every single last adventure out there, but from those I've played this is the best puzzle I've ever solved.

Not to mention the storyline. Mixing real facts and history with fiction and the paranormal has not been achieved so well not even in movies... But of course everyone has his/her own opinions about games and developers.

Here comes the offical announcement The PDF magazine for adventure games, The Inventory, celebrates 1 year of life by interviewing Jane Jensen, the best developer to have ever graced our genre. Download the latest issue and find out all the latest info on Project Jane Jensen. The interview also covers all the previous games Jane has worked for, like the award-winning Gabriel Knight series.

Furthermore, read The Inventory's new endeavour. The development of an adventure game. Are you a developer or an artist? Do you want to join? Find out all about it in the new issue.

Apart from all that the 10th issue features:
- Interview with DTP, one of the biggest European adventure publishers
- Reviews of URU, Tony Tough and In Memoriam
- Previews of The Moment of Silence and Cypher
- Get the chance to see for the first time the box cover of Syberia 2 in our Adventure Gossip section
- Puzzle page dedicated to Gabriel Knight
- Jokes by Al Lowe, creator of the famous Larry series
- Learn about the 'Prince of Persia Syndrome' in the Hydra

This plus much more on the latest issue of The Inventory, which you can download for free from the front page of www.justadventure.com

P.S. I saw a note about it so I might as well comment on it. The boycotters do not affect The Inventory or me at all. It's their rght to download or not download the magazine and actually it doesn't play a big role for me. It's not like I'm loosing money or anything.

I love the fan scene and I think the Inventory has showed that numerous of times, being the only magazine who gives fan made adventures the same exposure as commercial ones. We are also preparing a couple of previews for the next months of games here from the AGS forums. Will there be people that hate our magazine? Of course, there's no publication in the world that is universally liked. The reason I didn't announce it here last night was that it was quite late and I was tired

[Mega interview with the developers of Broken Saints]

The 9th issue of the PDF magazine for adventure games The Inventory is ready for download from the front page of Just Adventure (www.justadventure.com).

The features of the 9th issue are:

- Mega interview with the developers of Broken Saints, award winning flash series and upcoming adventure game. An article-tribute to the flash series is accompanying the interview.

- Interview with Eric Viennot, creator of In Memoriam, an adventure that uses the Internet, Full Motion Video and puzzles to create a chilling experience.

- Interview with Lori Cole, creator of the Quest for Glory series and Mishell Baker, co-writer of the upcoming Quest for Glory novels

- A 5 page preview of URU: Ages Beyond Myst by Carla Melloni

- A new puzzle page called Solve It, by our new author Justin Peeples

And...
- Preview of Journey to the Center of the Earth
- Review tribute to Quest for Glory 1, probably one of the most innovative game in the entire adventure history
- Review of Agon, the new episodic adventure, by Justin Peeples
- Jokes by the legendary Al Lowe of the Larry Laffer fame, in the Al Lowe Show
- The latest adventure gossip by Carla Melloni
- Review of the month of Thorgal: Odin's Curse

This and much more in the 9th issue of The Inventory.

Let the download begin.

Let's put it this way, Little Willy is young and used to the current crop of games. The fancy high res good graphics kind. Should he write off Monkey Island because the graphics are no good according to what he's used to?

What a shame.

I think you got me all wrong. I never said that good graphics mean the latest 3D technology with 3400x2900 resolution. I think Monkey Island has great graphics. Outdated but still great. And if you want my honest opinion it has better graphics than some recent commercial adventure games (i.e. The Watchmaker). It is just another style of representation imo...2D with low resolution.

I agree that "fan made games" are good but to compare them to commercial games seems wrong.

I strongly disagree. The best two adventures in the last 2 years were imo Syberia and King's Quest 2. Yes that's right, KQ2 beats the hell out of the most commercial adventures out there. And Ozzie would definitely rate high in my rankings as well.

better graphics don't actually contribute to the game.

I disagree. I understand why you say that, it is your personal opinion after all, but as a reviewer it is my duty to judge each and every last one of the game's characteristics from the story to the box that it comes in.

Just a suggestion. Maybe you could have a section in the inventory just fo amature games or something. You know the short but good ones. I don't know, you seem to have a lot to do already, so maybe that isn't a good idea.

Mods writes an article in The Inventory (started last month) which is called Talking Dead, and I have given him the freedom to write whatever he wants in it. He's more than welcome to plug fan made adventures through this article if he wants to. I had also given the www.adventuredevelopers.com site as a source for 'gossip' to our adventure gossip author. And I just realised right now that I should give the ags page as well. I'll do that right away.

I hope people don't misunderstand me. I want the fan scene to grow and prosper. If you check our mag we have 2 previews each month and one of the two previews is usually a fan made adventure. We have almost 2 interviews every month and our three biggest interviews so far has been Syberia, KQ2 and Indiana Jones FoY.

Furthermore I want through our mag to pull more people in the adventure genre in general. I've posted in several non-adventure and even non-gaming forums (science fictions forums and history forums for example, and I'm soon going to invite comics fans to read our magazine ...I'll use the comic strip as a bait ) inviting people to come and read the Inventory. And these people are much more likely to try out a fan made adventure if they see good looking screenshots. If you've ever browsed a magazine fast I'm sure you've noticed that you usually pay attention to the photos and you occasionally stop when you see something interesting.

And one request please. Give some links as well with the names of the adventures you are recommending.

Awww Dimi come on. You can't just judge games by their graphics.

You definitely can't judge a game solely on its graphics, but in my opinion it is a decisive factor on whether a game is good or not. Otherwise there would be no reason to try and create as better graphics as possible. I know many people have a personal preference when it comes to which one of a game's characteristics will play the most important role for deciding whether a game is good or not. Some will say that if the story's good, they don't mind some bad puzzles. Others say that if the puzzles are good, why do you need a good story. Some people will say that if the graphics are not good they are not even going to touch a game.

On The Inventory, when we review games, we use the following formula for coming up with the 'overall' final grade for a game

(Story x 2 + Gameplay x 2 + Graphics + Music) / 6 = Overall

With this formula we do give story and gameplay a higher importance than graphics and music, but at the same time we do not rule out music and graphics from the overall grade of the game. Now why would we want to show preference to fan made adventures with good graphics?

A) Because we can only cover X games each month on The Inventory out of Y games that exist out there. Making good graphics to accompany your game is a process that requires a lot of hard work. Especially when it comes to people who undergo such projects with no budget at all. So if we have to choose from the Y we might as well choose the X ones that are putting more effort in their projects.

B) Because we want to show through The Inventory that fan made games are as good as commercial ones. I am sorry if this sounds harsh, but some people out there might disregard the whole fan-scene because they played one or two fan made adventures that were not exacly top notch. And let's not hide behind our own fingers... not all fan-made adventures are really good enough to compete with the commercial ones (recent or older ones). I think in order to promote the fan scene we have to highlight its best first of all.

I don't mean to offend the rest who create games that don't have the state-of-the-art graphics. I am sure it takes a lot of time and hard work to create those games as well, and I admire all the fans out there for spending that time. But in the end, we will have to choose and we have to choose the best. And Mark, feel free to write about any fan-made adventure you want in the Talking Dead article regardless of their graphics   . I am talking more about interviews-long previews coverage.

We've always been fan-friendly through our magazine, The Inventory (http://www.justadventure.com/TheInventory/TheInventory.shtm) and be sure that we will continue to do so. I would appreciate it if you guys pointed out some fan-made adventures that you think are worth covering in a magazine with mass appeal.

We are mostly interested in games that have professional graphics - to give you an idea of what I mean with professional, some of the fan-made adventures that we have already covered are KQ2, Ozzie, Space Quest Prequels, Indy Foy, KQ9 and Space Quest 7- and that are quite long (i.e. we wouldn't be interested in an adventure that can be finished in half an hour) with a good gameplay and a descent interface.

You can mention both adventures that have been completed and that are 'under development'. Thanks.

[- For the first time in gaming history a comic strip based on upcoming adventure game by Emerald City Games.]

The 8th issue of the PDF magazine for adventure games, The Inventory, is ready for download from the front page of Just Adventure (www.justadventure.com). On the 8th issue you will find:

- For the first time in gaming history a comic strip based on upcoming adventure game by Emerald City Games.
The strip will be featured on every issue of The Inventory up until its release date, which is still undetermined. It will hopefully give the community a look into the world and characters of the upcoming game.  Emerald City Games and The Inventory are excited about this new type of promotion, which is the first of its type in gaming history.

- 5 page mega preview of Syberia 2
A preview with the first screenshots from the 3rd world of Syberia, The Youkol Village, the latest information regarding the game and a mini interview with the PR manager of Microids, Cedric Orvoine. Find out also what Microids holds in store for us in the future!

- Preview of Space Quest 7
The fan based upcoming adventure whose creditcs include even Josh Mandel, gets uncovered on The Inventory.

- The Al Lowe Show!
The Inventory is proud to present to you the creator of the magnificent Larry Laffer series, Al Lowe and his compilation of  the best jokes for last month.

- Interview with Legacy Interactive
The developers of Law & Order 2 are talking about everything surrounding their Law and Order series.

- Interview with Screen 7 Entertainment, developers of Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth.
The developers of the fan based adventure that brings the whip back in Indy's hands and the mouse back in ours, come in The Inventory lounge to talk about their future plans and their game.

- Reviews of Runaway, Salammbo and Fatman

-All the latest adventure gossip
Written by our very own Carla Melloni, also known as Carla, or Mallia Gedde

- Talking dead
The new column by Mark Lovegrove, project leader of Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth talking everything about adventures.

Let the download begin...

The 6th issue of the adventure PDF magazine The Inventory is ready for download from Just Adventure ( http://www.justadventure.com ). In the 6th issue you will find:

- Interview with the developers of CSI
- Previews of Legacy: Dark Shadows and Space Quest Prequels
- Review of the Month: Post Mortem
- Reviews of The Watchmaker and Monkey Island 3
- Lots of gossip around TLJ2, Syberia 2, Black Mirror and other adventures...

and much more (actually not much but a little bit more but saying much more sounds very cool...oh yes...and EXCLUSIVE screenshots and all that).

Feel free to make your comments on the new issue (as long as they are positive...nahh just kidding...make negative ones as well ).

I don't know if you already know this, but I'll post it anyhow. There is a new fan made adventure from Germany called The New Adventures of Zak McKracken. It had been released in German for some time now, but since April the 10th it is available in English as well!!!

Go to this page to download it: http://www25.brinkster.com/lucasfangames/  

(for free of course). I've played it since last night and it is fun like hell!!!! Totally loyal to the older Lucasarts adventures. And damn funny too...