08 March 2009

Adventure games ain't dead!

I grew up in the "golden age" of adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Quest for Glory, and Legend of Kyrandia. This is definitely my favorite genre of games (followed closely by action-adventure games like The Legend of Zelda and Prince of Persia).

Adventure gaming, in the commercial sense, is pretty much dead, though a few games have been released for the Nintendo DS such as the Phoenix Wright series and the upcoming Broken Sword remake.

However, I recently discovered the Adventure Game Studio (AGS). It's a user-friendly GUI editor for creating your own adventure games. It takes care of most of the programming, allowing game creators to focus on graphics and story. People have used it to create 992 games! I guess I know where to go now, if I'm really really bored...

I think AGS is wonderful for the gaming community. There are way too many first-person shooter, slasher type games (think: Halo and Grand Theft Auto) that mainly appeal to men. Adventure games are one of the few genres that appeal to both genders. With AGS, women can make games that appeal to them. For example, check out Cirque De Zale by Rebecca Clements. An interview with Clements can be found here.

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