Adventure Game Concepts

Here are my notes that I have collected while researching What is an Adventure Game and What makes a good Adventure Game?

Defining an Adventure Game

  • Original adventure games
    • Adventure
    • Zork
    • King’s Quest
  • Storyline
    • Story is important in AGs but not everything
  • Problem Solving
    • AGs present problems that the character must solve within the context of the story
    • AG problems are not solved by shooting or real-time running/jumping/ducking.
    • Solutions should be difficult to discover but easy to perform
  • Deterministic or stochastic (randomness)
    • AGs are deterministic meaning that they have the same result when the same actions are taken
    • In contrast, Role Playing Games (RPGs) are stochastic meaning that they have a randomness factor (rolling a die) and the same user actions will often lead to different results.
  • Definition
    • QUOTE: an adventure is the “deterministic, intellectual problem solving in the context of a story” (source: Ref#1)

(IN PROGRESS)

Properties of an Adventure Game

  • Story/Plot
    • Background story is the history (game world and character) before the game starts
    • Story can be explained up front (intro or first few sections of the game) or revealed during game play (non player characters, notes)
    • Plot is what is learned during the game (can be captured in a journal)
  • Gameplay
    • This is a combination of all actions performed by the player’s character
    • Gameplay is not the method (key presses, mouse clicks) used by the player to control the character
  • Challenge
    • Overcoming different types of obstacles, including:
      • inventory based problems
      • dialog trees
      • machine twiddling
      • sliders
      • timed sequences
  • Linearity
    • 2 types
      • Geographic… path the player takes through the game world
        • Player can be led through a single path (linear)
        • Player can be allowed to roam freely (non-linear)
      • Gameplay… the order challenges can be solved
        • Specific sequence (linear)
        • No sequence, allowed to solve in any order (non-linear)
    • Hybrid where player moves through a linear sequence of chapters but can roam freely within the game world of each chapter
    • Another type of hybrid leads the player along different branches of the game solving challenges in sequence within each branch, but the branches can be played in any sequence
  • Relevancy
    • Believability of the challenges within the game world within context of the story
  • Constraint
    • 2 types
      • time… set time period to complete the challenge
      • geography… access to parts of the game world is restricted until specific challenges (or maybe game branches) are completed

What makes a good Adventure Game?

  • Game World
    • Well defined world at the start
    • Populated with characters that are not part of the gameplay (plot)
    • Player’s character helps to define the world, not just discover it
  • Linearity
    • No right/wrong
    • Linear… more control for a stronger plot, but player may feel too little control
    • Non-linear… player has more control and immersion in the game world, but risks becoming lost and not knowing what to do next
  • Relevancy
    • .
  • Reasonable Challenges
    • .
  • Real-Time Challenges
    • .
  • Death
    • .
  • Difficulty
    • .
  • User Interface
    • .

References

  • Ref#1: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/features/105/
  • Ref#2: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/features/423/