[Musenik]

Developer: "Well, Doctor, it's like this. I've been working on a new game, but I'm torn over it."

Dr.: "Literally or Metaphorically?"

Developer: "It's fairly literary, something like Jonathan Swift crossed with Sinclair Lewis, but with high school girls."

Dr.: "Why did you bring your problem to me? I'm a doctor of philosophy."

Developer: "I don't know if it's an adventure game, a casual game, or even an RPG!!"

Dr.: "You do need professional help. Take this problem to the ADVENTURE GAMERS forum, and call me in the morning!"


So, here I am, asking the folks here to help identify the subject of my distress. Here's why I think my company's new game could be an adventure game.

1. There is a world to explore and people to meet. (1920s. small town, USA)
2. There is a 20-hour branching narrative, and you can interact with it via branching dialogs with the people you meet. (high school girls discover something's very wrong in their hometown)
3. You can collect items and use them to help the game progress and solve problems.

HOWEVER, it is also very much a casual game...

1. Mostly when you meet people, confrontations arise, which you resolve with 1 minute mini-games. (Taunt, Fib, Flirt, Expose Secrets...) The first branching dialog doesn't occur until the end of the tutorial, but afterwards they are more frequent.
2. The main way you collect items is by winning them with these games. But there are other ways to collect items.

ALSO, it has elements of an RPG...

1. You recruit a gang of girls to your 'party'.
2. Girls have four 'talents' which improve with gameplay. Each mini-game is based upon at least one of the talents.
3. Each time one of your girls wins a mini-game, they earn an experience point, which are used to improve talents.

JUST A SECOND, I forgot to say above that it's also a boardgame....

1. The world is comprised of four game boards: School, Downtown, Neighborhood, and City Limits.
2. Pawns on the board represent places with one or more people.
3. There are prize cards and character cards and game tokens...

IT IS NOT FOR KIDS! We've rated the content for TEENs and older.

MY BIG QUESTION is... Is this the appropriate forum to mention our new game?

My other question is, can anyone here tell me precisely what kind of game it is? Our site has small downloadable demos (for Windows and Mac) and big screenshots.

Mousechief Co.


I would greatly appreciate your comments and feedback on this thread. We'll be shipping the full game soon, and we might be able to fit in a few good suggestions.


thank you,

Keith Nemitz

[stepurhan]

I'll try to have a look at the demo later but the main thing that leaps out at me from your description is the minigames and the talents your gang can have to help you with them.

How do the minigames work? Are they puzzles to solve or do they need fast reactions? How do the talents aid you in the minigames?

If playing the demo brings up anything else I'll let you know.

[Josho]

Haven't played the demo, but it sounds like the long-lamented Adventure/RPG, which seems perfectly appropriate to discuss here.

But then again, I don't feel that "Casual Game" is a genre in the same sense that "RPG" and "Adventure" are genres, but rather a quality of the game mechanic (e.g., "readily playable in tiny bits"). Many adventure games could fall into that category, albeit messily.

--Josh

[Musenik]

Stepurhan,

The mini-games all wait for your choices. None of them are action based. They are somewhat like puzzles, but all very different an new, except for the taunting game, which I think most gamers here will recognize from Monkey Island. Each game uses the talents differently. For example, in the taunting game, your popularity talent is used a hit points.

Josho,

Do I know you? I sure recognize your avatar, since I ported Phreddy to Macintosh. I agree with you about casual games. I think we support short play sessions as well as one can in an adventure game. I think of RPGs as a superset of adventure games. (I would not say RPGs are better) This game attempts to offer casual gamers the richer experience of the adventure game, by supplying them with something familiar (the mini-games) with something fresh, exploration in an open story world.

From people who've play it, they really enjoy the game. I hope folk here will give it a try. Please let me know what you think. We really want to work the kinks out before we ship.

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!

Keith Nemitz

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by Musenik

Each game uses the talents differently. For example, in the taunting game, your popularity talent is used a hit points.

So the talents give you extra chances to make a mistake in that case. That could be workable in an adventure game setting.

I'll try to have a go at the demo soon so I can give you further comments based on how it actually plays.

[Josho]

Keith,

You ought to know me. We hung out at the Balfours and I kinda designed Freddy along with Al. ;-)

--Josh

[Musenik]

I thought so.

I PM'ed you.