A Hardy Developer's Journal – as written by indie adventure game developers

A tree is known by its fruit, and you could say an adventure game is known by its aesthetics, even though that may be a bit oversimplified. If we apply that principle to Jolly Rover, you might come to the conclusion that this is a children’s game.        The gentle, charming dog characters and background art and the pleasing voices may make you think so. But is it really?

The hint system certainly suggests so, at first. Every couple of minutes, a parrot – in itself a likeable character – pops up, asking if you need help. This can easily get annoying, but fortunately there’s an option to just say no to its incessant offerings of help. When you couple that with the ingenious way in which you earn hints – you have to find crackers throughout the game to feed the parrot whenever you require a hint – it’s actually pretty clever, and not that annoying. (more…)

So, the second installment of Back to the Future: The Game has arrived! I have to say, I was a little disappointed by the first episode; has Telltale delivered this time around?

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I don’t know about you, but I love dreaming. There’s just something magical about exploring that world inside your mind, that you created and that creates you at the same time. (more…)

Gemini Rue, the recently released commercial debut of Joshua Nuerenburger, is an exciting game. Not just in its thrilling story and engaging gameplay, but also in what it means for the future of retro games, as crazy as that sounds. While many dismiss the low-res adventure game genre as an outdated holdover from the olden days, Gemini Rue proves that the style still has very much to offer. With a captivating narrative, glorious pixel art, and a feel of greatness, Gemini Rue must not be missed.

First, let’s discuss the story. It’s the future and mankind has gone intergalactic (naturally). There’s been a huge war and a particularly nasty criminal organization known as the Boryokudan (Japanese word meaning “a bunch of assholes”) has taken hold of much of the galaxy. (more…)

Once again, it’s time to look back on the games of yesteryear and give the best ones shiny digital trophies. The annual AGS Awards are coming up shortly and the nominees were recently announced, so let’s take a look at the contenders for Best Game Created With AGS in 2010. Hopefully, you’ll be more informed about the contenders.

Still, as LeVar Burton said, don’t take my word for it. I highly encourage you to play all the nominees for yourself, as they’re all excellent. This article promises to have 20% more spunk than last year’s.

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When Telltale announced they were developing a series of official Back to the Future adventure games I was pretty damned excited. I had just finished playing through and reviewing the excellent third season of Sam & Max, and, more importantly, Back to the Future is one of my favourite blockbuster, fun, 80s films. One of my favourite film franchises, in excellent hands – what could possibly go wrong?

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The future turns out quite a bit more complicated than the now. The police force seems to not have much use for hard-working, hard-boiled action heroes anymore – it’s up to top class genetics scientists to directly deal with the truly serious crimes.

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