[Collector]

Yes there were a few puzzles, but it seemed as if the player was along for the ride with a few breaks here and there for sneaking or fighting. The answer to to add fight sequences to an adventure game is to make most of it optional (without stealth being the only other option). This allows the people that would have been happier with an FPS to bash brains out, if that is what they want, but not alienate the adventure gamer. From a developer's view it doesn't have to be that hard.

[Terramax]

Whilst I can't speak for other countries, I can that that here in the UK the reviews I read were quite average. 5-6/10. Scores like that generally don't sell games. At least not unless it's part of some major franchise.

It's a bit of a shame as GAME tried a little to get the game sold. At least at my local GAME they did. banners, boxes at the front of the store, posters.

But lets face it, unless it has a massive campaign behind it a game rarely sells well here.

[aries323]

Maybe one of the reasons that Dreamfall didn't sell well was (or were?) that way back in 1999 the (pc) gaming market still were rather small as compared to how the market looks today. Back in 1999 you could probably get by as developer if you sold 50,000-100,000 copies of a game (or thereabouts). Today, you probably will need to sell maybe 1-2 million copies of a game just to break even.

I think the Danis reviews gave Dreamfall about 7 or 8 or so as a rating. And all noted that the stealth and action elements were poorly done and probably wouldn't make gamers who rather would play Halo 3 to buy the game.

I ad mit that my 45+ for the core audience for adventure games may be a bit over the top However, the bbc did a survey on who played games. And they found that especially elder people over 40+ (or so) enjoyed playing
adventure games just like they found that senior citizens, especially women, like to play adventure games. Unfortunately, the bbc threw games like 'bejeweled' etc. in with what we consider to be adventure games.

However, as the gaming industry are becoming more & more aware of women as market potential, they will be more willing to make games that appeal to women and hardcore adventure gamers alike. Women gamers tend to like story, character interaction, some choice & consequence, a reason for the violence and many small(er) things. This is really a good thing, both for the adventure game genre and the rpg genre, I think

[Melanie68]

Perhaps 'older' female gamers like games without any action. However, there seems to be many, many women (younger and older) who play FPS's, RPG's, and platformers. I'm old and I've never played an FPS, although when I'm feeling less stressed about other things, I'd like to tackle the learning curve. The same with platformers and some RPG's (the Japanese RPG's sound more interesting to me).

So, I think it would be difficult to generalize what a female gaming audience would really want (for me at least).

[Collector]

Originally Posted by aries323

Women gamers tend to like story, character interaction, some choice & consequence, a reason for the violence and many small(er) things.

All things that are hallmarks of adventures. There is something very compelling about a strong narrative that you as the player have a great deal of influence on the development of that plot.

Originally Posted by D.C.

episodic chapters.