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

Four! IV! “4“! That’s the amount of The Journey Down digital copies that we’ll be giving away courtesy of Skygoblin – the scourge of the skyroads. Participate in our contest, or risk a surprise goblin visit during your next flight.

So… If you want to know more about the game, have a look at our review (2 reviews actually): HERE.

And to win, all you have to do is to answer the following 4 (“four”) simple questions – correctly – and email your answers to igor@hardydev.com.

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If you’re looking at this game thinking you’ve seen it before, you may be right. It is in fact a completely revamped and extended HD version of the freeware The Journey Down: Over The Edge, which was reviewed by HDJ back in 2010. I, however, haven’t played that version, so what you’re going to read is coming from the perspective of someone completely new to the wondrous world of The Journey Down.
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Architecture is perhaps the epitome of human creativity. For thousands of years, it has been one of the most (if not the most) powerful ways of human expression. You can read about Egyptian culture in countless history books, but their culture only comes alive in all its imposing grandiosity when you see those testaments in stone they built. You may have read a thing or two about the power of religion in the Middle Ages, but you only truly experience the meaning of those words inside a cathedral. Even a despicable man as Hitler understood the potency of architecture, making architect Albert Speer one of the most important men in his Reich. (more…)

I stumbled upon one tiny image.

My brain burst into emotions. I remembered getting chewed out by my boss for messing up with a client, being recruited by a secret underground organization, running a smalltime casino in a jazzy little port town, I remembered my good friend who drove me across the land in his madly upgraded company car, exposing corruption, swinging a scythe, and in the end finally getting on a train with the girl I had been chasing all that time. I got chills.

All that came from one single image…

Correct. I remembered Grim Fandango.

“What if I could capture that in my art as well?“, I started thinking.
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Has nothing to do with U2's guitarist.

Over The Edge is the first chapter in the four-part series, The Journey Down. Written and designed by Theodor Waern, the game tells the story of Bwana, a simple fuel station attendant attempting to get he and his sidekick Kito’s plane airworthy in order to take a strange and beautiful woman to the mysterious area known as “The Underland” by going over what is known as “The Edge.” If you haven’t already, prepare yourself for some incredible freeware adventure gaming.

When playing an adventure game

there are many different factors that can make the experience an enjoyable one, some love puzzles, some the visuals, for me personally, it’s the story that has to be great, and a great story needs a great main character to drive it forward. (more…)

How funny can be a game that parodies the classic noir fiction, but happens neither on the Discworld, nor in the skeleton-laden Land of The Dead, but looks like just a “straight” parody of the genre set in our boring Earthrealm? Incredibly funny it seems. Presented in true B&W and equipped with a P.I. hero who likes to provide elaborate narrations full of metaphors, Nick Bounty is a game which stays true to the original detective novel, at the same time being completely crazy.

It all begins with a scene borrowed from The Maltese Falcon – a man delivers a box with mysterious contents (more…)