Geekly Articles each Day
📜 ⬆️ ⬇️

"Adventure Games Are Not Dead" - a genre that did not die (the cycle "Stories of the Game Industry")



I want (by my standards briefly) to touch on the topic of recent years, which sounded like “Quest is dead” exactly like touching on the voiced in the comments to the previous article, where I was confident enough in the adventure genre (like it). ) was long dead.

I was very embarrassed. Because my friend is alive and well. The proof of this will not be my words, but the chronology of his life. Rather, the chronology of the birth of his children. The guy turned out to be extremely prolific, and still, despite his advanced age, he continues to darn the kids.
')
In addition to this, I would like to touch on the topic of Rumors and “Sensations” created by people. You all heard the cries of “We are all cranked!” And “We will die this year!”. The last time we died, if my memory serves me last 2012th year. So we are entertained by the media. In my memory, the Ends of the World were at least five pieces.
Each time with truly dilated eyes, panicked rushing about attendants in the doorways. Even the mother-in-law a few months ago, shaking hands triumphantly, was gloating “darling!”. Several times, famous people were buried BEFORE their death, thereby creating "Interesting Rumors." But we are not in the gateway, not in the agency OBS, and on Habré. We are able and love to analyze. We are able and like to think.

Is it not obvious that this is also happening with these unfounded statements about the death of certain genres? That all this is just a mechanism for the birth of Rumors and Cheap Sensations. It is sad that people do not consider it necessary to get acquainted with the information, continue to rush through the streets of network cities, happily shouting "PC will die soon!", "PC is living out its last years."
It is extremely difficult to believe that all of a sudden ... the largest in terms of its technical capacity platform has disappeared, as well as a laboratory for the development of many software and non-software prototypes, which then creep away to neighboring industries and platforms. The largest experimental site of the world dissolved in the air, and without any alternatives on the horizon. It’s not hard to believe, it’s hard to imagine.

I want to reassure you warning that all the historical information, along with thoughts about the gaming industry, about casual games, I put in a small container. It is closed and securely stores what does not look like statistical information. So you can easily pass by focusing on the main message of the article - the adventure genre did not die. It takes no more than 5 minutes of your attention.

Dig up the grave and make sure that nobody was in it.


Pandora's Box

Historical information, thoughts, experiences



It would be blasphemous not to mention the definitions of this genre. It would also be blasphemous to torment representatives of the technical community with frankly lyrical digressions. Therefore, this article will be very concise, like a well-dried rusk. In places of a long cracker, in theory, you should not have looked here.

To begin with, the Quest is a subsidiary of a larger Adventure consortium. If you believe Vicky, the Adventure is:

Adventure game (synonyms: Quest (transliteration. English quest - searches), Adventure (English adventure) - one of the main genres of computer games that require the player to solve mental problems to advance the plot. The game's plot can be predetermined outcomes, the choice of which depends on the player’s actions.

"... The very name" quest "(English quest) was a proper name and was used in the name of computer games developed by Sierra On-Line: King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest. In the 1990s, adventure games were very popular, including in Russia, where they were entrenched and the term “quest” became the common noun ... "( source )

I was quite satisfied with this definition throughout the years of the existence of this genre. Even after the term “quest” lived a rather long life by the standards of the gaming industry, the more advanced wording “point-and-click adventure” came to be used by players, so called because the player had to search the screen in search of objects, information zones and clicking on them thereby causing either information or performing any actions with objects.

Subsequently, already in our time, another wording appeared for games based on the mechanics of "point-and-click adventure". They became “I-Spy” and “Hidden Object” (in the Russian version “find items”). The last two names are the abyss of casual games that once filled the market, continue to fill it to this day. Despite the fact that in most cases they are “simulators of finding 20 bananas on the screen”, they use point-and-click mechanics as their base.

Among such representatives of the world of games there are very curious projects, which compare favorably with impeccable graphic design and riddles, the complexity of which is orders of magnitude greater than the complexity of the riddles of classic quests. However, I do not consider them full-fledged quests.

I am confused by the reluctance of developers to move on, gradually complicating projects and bringing them to the level of the original copyright games. I understand why this is being done, and this is precisely where the root of my bias towards them lies.
The genre of Casual Games, aimed primarily not at creating the original game, but at extracting guaranteed profit by creating a stamped product. I would even say a deliberately stamped product without attempting to take a step left or right. A step to the left and a step to the right some time ago (some 2-3 years in the opposite direction) were not welcomed. The reasons are clear - you need to survive in the market. I can understand it, but I cannot accept it.

I understand that they are beautiful, wonderful and that with their help you can have a good rest, but it seems to me that all genres should be represented on the market, and not just those that are guaranteed to knock out a coin. Thank God, this and the past year have become a turning point for the industry, and now everything has started to change. It's time to get out of the swamp.

Casual games are a consequence of the crisis in which the industry found itself. In those years, many domestic offices were at the bottom of the sea, and the main genres of domestic games, mostly produced so far, were casual, social games + MMOs (where without them). At that time everyone was trying to survive. Do not drown. The concept of the author's game and the author's project have sunk into oblivion.

I do not place responsibility for the crisis on social and casual games, but I have no doubt that they turned out to be serious nails in the lid of our common coffin of the otupupleniya and the customization of the game mechanics.

For me in this regard, the fate of the Russian company Phantomery Interactive is very indicative. Releasing the wonderful "Sublustrum" and "Phobos 1953" they fell silent. It is not known whether they are going to do something like this, but it is known that their subsidiary brand “KramBamBoo! Games »releases after the mentioned projects of the game - Legend of Vampire, Asteria, Speed ​​League. What is it? Social games, or otherwise - games for social networks. Then you can not continue. Studio - survives. Just as dozens of other studios survive.

Anyone can be made to watch a bad film for many years. In time, he will become familiar. Over time, it will become a measure of quality, and it will be possible to launch another program of dulling. In the language of programmers, until ...

I consider the situation not as a game developer. Because then they will ask me the question “And then myself? Himself then? I myself have chosen the path of starvation, and I will never agitate others on it. I do not release no social or casual games. I don't want to make money that way. I do not want to bear responsibility for this. Each such game is a nail. In my understanding, it is better not to release anything than to release something like that.

True ... this is a bad position for a businessman. Bad. So you will not earn money. So you will not become a skillful businessman. What…

... I do not pretend.

Note: Being an ideological revolutionary and a staunch opponent of both this genre (casual games) and the concepts of Dulling and Casualizing Game Mechanics, I recognize my bias and commitment to the Independent Developers' Camp (indie-developers), which, in my understanding, are now diligently correcting Industry’s mistakes. The convenience of managing the game is not part of the concept of customization, I admit that many of the old games have extremely inconvenient controls and that now this control has become polished to shine.

I understand that such statements can be interpreted as racism regarding games. But I will stick to the point of view that the game should not only “relax the player”, but also develop it. Bringing small discoveries into his life. Like any good book or movie - ask him questions. Make him think and worry. Carry him eternal values. This does not apply to entertainment games, and of course, does not apply to all games.

I, just like you, will be happy to play the next Grand Theft Auto, will knock out brains, bring up prostitutes, etc. It is not that someone writhes holy, and someone villains. The point is that people need to think whether they want it or not. To turn a person into a fallen man in the street is very easy. The path back is sometimes not possible. This topic is well described in the film “The Man from Boulevard des Capucines” and a number of other great films.

Fetching the games of class of Buryazh, remove it immediately, Eat it immediately, Dress it immediately, Dance it immediately, Marry it immediately, and so on ... until actions that could be associated with the word Immediately run out - a bad idea.

Having finished this little excursion (which could not have happened), let us finally get to the essence of the question. A number of people believe that for a long time the Quest genre was dead, and only now the Industry has awoke, the revival of the Quest as a genre has begun.

“And only now ...” I will allow myself to quote Grigory Gorin from the author of the script “That Munchhausen”:

- How so? 20 years, everything was fine and suddenly such a tragedy?
- Excuse me, Mr. Judge, the tragedy lasted 20 years and only now everything should be fine.
- Explain more.
- I explain in more detail.


In order to quickly end this and stop wasting your time, I will give a chronological list of projects with years. For each year, several quests will be selected from those that were on the market at that time. You understand perfectly well that if in one year a lot of adventure games came out, then I would have to choose only the most famous ones so that the article would not turn into a board of honor.

It is important for me only to illustrate the life of the genre, and not to impose on you someone's taste preferences. Everyone has his own, and it is always sad for me to see someone trying to force them on another (on the Web, alas, this is a regular phenomenon).

I will also add that I am impartial in this case. I'm just doing a sample. I will not voice affection or dislike for any particular games, just as I will not talk about hot love. At least in the body of the article. For me now it's just a game. Just products in the adventure game market. Elements of the illustration that there was no corpse.

Starting in 1999, since the period from 1990 to 1998 is considered the Golden Age of quests and needs no introduction. Let's finish approximately in 2013. If there are enough comments in the comments to the article with wishes to tell about this epoch (Golden Era), I will do it with joy. If not, you will have to limit yourself to this information.

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012


2013 I did not enter. We live in extremely curious times now. And we observe very spectacular revivals, we see a new hope for all the old games. For all calibers of existing old games. Therefore, it is too early to sum up any results. Exactly how to talk about someone's demise.

You understand what kind of thing ... well, if there would be a break ... what games wouldn’t work out - then you can understand the rumors. But ... they came out, didn't they? Yes, not everything is presented here, I apologize to the fans, made a sample to illustrate what they were. Dial ten for each year did not work. First, brings the memory. Secondly, some of the past years were really not the best for adventure games.

In 1999 Adventure became the swan song of The Longest Journey, an incredible brainchild of FunCom, Amerzone still did not reach the quality of Syberia, which appeared 2 years later in 2002 and "saved" the quest genre by winning universal recognition. 2 years in my understanding is not yet such a gap to talk about the death of the genre. If he were, of course, this gap. A year before the rescue operation, Runaway came out: A Road Adventure was warmly received by the public, and a year after Still Life was rescued.

Of course, this was not enough and it was not at all like the Golden Era, of course it is worth recognizing this. But it was too early to talk about the death of this market segment. Comparing the magnificence of the 90s and the period from the 2000th 2009th, a sharp decrease in the release of adventure could be noted, but every year some developers tried to please the player with at least one or two or three noticeable stars in the sky with a handful of less bright ones. Despite the sad and depressing description of this period, several quests were published at once. By and large, almost always the ten have been typed, or even more. Is it like the death of a genre?

Adventurers themselves with their hands would tear off new adventure games in the Golden Epoch style, but a few developers moved through the Time of Troubles very carefully. The crisis as an evil aunt with a scythe mowed down all the unwary, and the Crowdounding mechanism has not yet been invented. It was better to cling teeth to the best days and lay the foundation for a new world, which the developers did. He pledged. Currently.

Adventure lovers themselves are largely to blame for the birth of rumors and can be understood. Born on the fields of the brilliant era of games from Lucas Arts and Sierra On-Line, it was hard to accept the fall of the colossi. In part, this caused a wave of pessimism and decadent slogans.

As a summary ... if we talk about troubled or difficult days, like death, then we can say that Russia is permanently dead and has long been. He wakes up ... leads the murky gaze of the living dead to the rest of the world ... does not find a brain in the vicinity ... and dies again. I would not make such hasty statements. It all depends on the point of view. Someone and 10 games a year is not enough, but someone is enough. Recently, in the comments, I heard that a score of 9 and 10 is disgusting. It is worth thinking about the adequacy of the alarmists and the rumors carrying.

If it is worth talking about someone's death, then just making sure of it. And that can be embarrassing.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/180237/

More articles:


All Articles