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

Patrik Spacek's (MISP's Captain Smirk) remade MI1 background from way back (click for more of his work)

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Right off yet another adventure of gargantuan proportions, not paying attention to the storm clouds gathering above him, Guybrush “mighty pirate” Threepwood sets once again to fight the evil zombie demon pirate LeChuck off the shores of some odd Caribbean isle. They will fight ship to ship, wit against voodoo,  over Guybrush’s lovely wife – an adventuress in her own right – Governor Elaine Marlay. Yet in truth, the only way Guybrush can get in one piece out of this confrontation is by combining several strange objects he keeps handy in his pants… OK, this time he keeps them under his coat as well. (more…)

Ben There, Dan That, so now it’s Time Gentlemen, Please! This is a series not to be missed by lovers of classic adventure gaming seeking journeys to alternate realities of complete insanity. Of course it so happens that they’re filled with a strangly logical logic that makes all the wonderful puzzles so wonderful. (more…)

After the gruesome events of 03-03-04, Sam doesn't have more to do than try to shoot apples on his little buddy's head.

Igor asked me to write a review of the second best Adventure Game I’ve ever played – Sam & Max: Season One (recently renamed to Sam & Max Save the World). And that’s just what I’ll do.

I initially discovered Sam & Max after being curious about all the references made in Monkey Island, I saw them mentioned on Easter Egg lists and things but I never really knew just what the hell it was. So when I came across a copy of Sam and Max: Hit the Road I took it and ran home with it. What immediately got me was the two protagonists’ unique personalities – especially that of Max. (more…)

Are adventures perceived as old and rusty?

As a long time adventure gamer, it has constantly amazed me over the years how the genre has gone from being gloriously at the forefront of interactive entertainment in the early 90′s, to now emerge as the downtrodden and shunted, would-rather-be-forgotten cousin of computer games in general. I often wonder why there has became such a sharp contrast in critical opinion of these games?

By no means am i suggesting that an adventure game, by its nature, will be a good one. Certainly, the classics of the genre often seem behind us, with the shift of Lucasarts in particular towards 3D Star Wars and Indiana Jones games indicating that this won’t change anytime soon.

Still, it saddens me to realize that a lot of good adventure games seem to be put down now simply because of the genre they happen to come under. Take, for example, the following review (from a well known British newspaper). (more…)

There is progress to report. Lots of it. And I can back up my words with all kinds of progress bars, progress gauges and recorded line counts (currently at 15.06%) that are now available to see at the official website here and here. The important news is that from dozens of applicants we have now finally chosen an actor to play Bob (the guy dancing on the right). The lucky person gave a performance completely different to what we discussed for the character’s traits, but still somehow won us over. The second important news is that we have publicly released a sort of WIP or demo of a patch that gets your copy of Secret of Monkey Island 100% voiced (but you’ll be grateful only for the aforementioned 15%)! (more…)

This little comic strip was originally created to sweeten the reading time for people brave enough to venture into my giant-sized, almost philosophical essay Gamer’s (illusion of) freedom about how games limit your actions to the extreme and make you love it. Still, the comic is a minor masterpiece in itself, so it should be made possible to be admired by everyone. (more…)