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

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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There are fewer things more enlightening about what is really wrong with a game than play-testing, and if you’re lucky, physical play-testing with a real, breathing person. The creator of a game always views things in a certain lens that skews the true perception of what’s going on, what’s needed, and what’s really visible to the player. For instance, in some of the play-tests I’ve had, I would run into a recurrent problem about the player’s visual direction–I want the player to go a certain way, open a certain door, or go down a certain ramp–but what’s the obvious direction for me is not the obvious direction for the player. (more…)

Jarosław Kuczek

Set in 2099 Shanghai Butterfly is an independent cyberpunk adventure game to be released as freeware Winter 2009. It’s an ambitious project with striking graphics and many of the cyberpunk genre’s more hardcore staples. The author of the game Jarosław Kuczek – passionate about android-related projects and the constantly evolving technology, with experiences of such vastly different cultures like Polish, Japanese and Chinese – promises to deliver much more than a traditional adventure game with a few sci-fi gimmicks. Below is everything he told us about his project – from its origins to major attractions – coupled with general thoughts about sci-fi and adventure gaming. (more…)

This original anime series of Captain Harlock from the 70s was my first direct contact with Leiji Matsumoto‘s work. Before watching it I was certainly intrigued by glimpses at the well-known creator’s unique style, but couldn’t really figure out which series from his very large and interconnected body of work was the best point to get started.

What ultimately led me to Space Pirate Captain Harlock was the composer of its music – Seiji Yokoyama – whose work I loved from the anime Saint Seiya and I was actively looking for another production that used his talents. I can right away reveal that I wasn’t disappointed by his work here either – a sometimes epic and sometimes nostalgic soundtrack perfect for illustrating the times of great battles, of great heroes and the vastness, beauty, but also loneliness and sadness of space. (more…)

Being a big fan of the original Captain Harlock TV series from the 70s I looked forward to the new breed of Leji Matsumoto‘s productions. Unfortunately I was mostly disappointed in the way they treated the well known characters and in the quality of storytelling in general. Cosmo Warrior Zero is one of the very few to be actually true to the origins and at the same time presenting some fresh, interesting ideas.

For Harlock fans the very premise is a treat already. We follow Captain Warrius Zero who is a sworn enemy of Captain Harlock and promises to give everything he’s got to hunt down the legendary pirate. The conflict is grounded in the different ways the two men perceive where their honor and duties lie, so it won’t be settled just by the revelation they both have good intentions and qualities they respect a lot. (more…)

As of January 2009, I played a fair amount of indie adventure games released in 2008 (well, just a few of those that were heavily lauded actually). While there are still some last year highlights out there waiting for me, Mental Repairs Inc. is without any doubt the best one I came across. What’s more, although it’s completely freeware it matches (and in some areas surpasses) the technical quality of games that require some kind of financial investment before playing. (more…)