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

It’s taken a while, but after a few months, the third chapter of The Dream Machine is upon us. After getting reacquainted with the controls (not that they’re very complicated, but what few controls there were I’d forgotten), I was soon exploring this wonderful dream world again. The first two chapters impressed with their very atmospheric handmade sets. Can this chapter do the same? (more…)

Erik Zaring

I had a chance to chat with Erik Zaring and Anders Gustafsson, the two brilliant minds behind The Dream Machine, and pick their brain about their game, their influences, and their dreams. This is the result. (more…)

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…)

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…)

In modern times great adventure games don’t come in big shiny cardboard boxes and on multiple CDs. In fact very often they are just one click away from you in your internet browser.

Among some of the best of those are the works of Mateusz Skutnik of Pastel Games. His episodic adventure games resume consists of such well known series as Submachine and Daymare Town.

These games despite simple interfaces offer complex, creative puzzles in visually fascinating hand-drawn game worlds full of eerie atmosphere and a kind of surreal beauty. (more…)

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Yesterday was yet another one of my birthdays…     And Today I die… Released that very day… Was the best birthday surprise I could have hoped for. Refreshing, oneiric and inspirational.  And Today I decided to try to bring more people’s attention to this excellent game and some other titles I associate with it. (more…)