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Amateur Adventure Games - Jester - 08-07-2008
Hi,
I just thought I'd write up a little post here for those who might be interested in free, amateur adventure games. I have no connection to the site, just stumbled across it, and figured some people might be interested over here.
Adventure Game Studio
I've been playing through many of them lately, and some of them are surprisingly well-made and entertaining. They're also free, which really helps for the gamer on a budget. None that I've played has taken more than an afternoon to complete, so they make excellent pick up and go time wasters.
The games are made using Adventure Game Studio, and are almost all modelled after the Sierra and Lucasarts golden age games. (King's/Space/Police Quest, Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, etc...) Some are even explicitly copies of those games, reworked with improved interface and graphics (KQ1 and 2, Maniac Mansion.)
The site has a good "blue cups" rating system that ranks the games quite well. All the 5 cup games, almost all the 4 cup games, and many of the 3s are worth a look if you're interested in this kind of thing.
Some personal favorites:
The Chzo Mythos series: 5 Days a Stranger, 7 Days a Skeptic, Trilby's Notes, 6 Days a Sacrifice, Trilby: Art of Theft
Made in earlier days by the now-famous Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (fullyramblomatic.com), these horror-themed games are well designed, and, if you play them late at night with the lights off, can be genuinely creepy. Trilby's Notes is the standout for strong writing. Trilby: AoT is an arcade-style stealth game, surprisingly challenging and smooth to control.
Spooks, Nanobots
Made by The Ivy, these games are more comedy-oriented, but with a wonderfully wicked sense of humour. Worth playing for The Ivy's writing alone, and Vince Twelve's scripting makes them solid games as well.
What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes are Closed
One very long puzzle, excellently and innovatively presented. It's funny, it's depressing, it's the best shuffle puzzle I've ever played. Not a typical adventure game, but worth a look for the puzzle fan. By Vince Twelve.
Duty and Beyond
An atypical puzzle game, long and well thought out, with graphics reminiscent of the original Lemmings. Quirky and more fully realized than even many commercial adventure games. By Mordalles.
There are many, many others that are worth playing, but those are my favorites. I find these to be a more appealing alternative to mindless free puzzle games for late-night time-wasting.
Cheers,
-Jester