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Old 12-06-2006, 06:16 AM   #82
mart
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP View Post
mart, have you actually played early SCUMM games? They all do feature interaction with hotspots in the main gameplay window, so I am not sure I understand where you put the distinction. I agree that some Legend's games could be called a middle ground between text parser and point'n'click, but not LucasArts'. SCUMM is pure point'n'click, just as much as King's Quest V. There is simply no practical difference between a list of verbs and a list of icons, or between a list of nouns and a graphically represented inventory.
Speaking about misunderstandings. I thought I had already explained the misunderstanding about the difference between text and object icons and the multiple icon cursor, and why it was in my opinion important to distinguish between kinds of point-and-click interfaces (if one intends to give an adequate description of the influence of a company on game design).

As we both know, using the Scumm interface in Monkey Island 1 for instance, the player points to a list of words in an interface window and selects an action, and then he or she points to (and clicks on) a character or object in the action window. Same goes for the object icons in the hidden toolbar in KQ V. So it is double point-and-click so to speak. No difference there, except that the text icons are replaced by the object icons and that they were hidden.

But King’s Quest V offers an alternative, which was new in the series. One could play the game without the object icons, so in fact the object icons in the hidden toolbar were superfluous. Sierra offered the player “the old way” and “the new way” so to speak (though the object icons were already new compared to KQ 4). With this new method, a special text or object interface window is no longer needed, which - like a hidden action interface - allows for a bigger action window. The player could use the mouse cursor directly in the action window to interact with characters and objects, and by right clicking the player could cycle through the (four) actions that were offered by the interface. The new cursor in the Curse of Monkey Island – the gold coin - was more or less based on the same principle, except for the fact that all action options were present at once.
The “practical difference” is of course this (multiple) icon cursor, which avoids special windows with text or object icons, and which foreshadowed the interface that is used in modern adventures. But I had said I would pass on this subject and I think I should stick with it now, for I fear I become a bit or even quite boring.

Last edited by mart; 12-06-2006 at 06:56 AM.
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