What theme would you like to see in an Adventure Game?
 

What theme would you like to see in a future adventure game?

Futuristic, vampire, historic, ghost story, space, under-sea etc. etc. What is the kind of world you'd like to explore in an adventure game that you haven't seen yet?

Don't go into too much detail, just interested to see if there is any general kind of consensus in the community on this kind of thing. The most popular theme I may make into a game :)

Mythological settings from various cultures.
If you've played "The Egyptian Prophecy" you may remember how the gods were real in the game, and your character had to go talk to them and interact with things in their worlds.
It would be interesting to see something like that with lesser known mythologies -- Babylonian, Hawaiian, Japanese, Indian, etc.

I'm with the school of "as long as the story is good, then I don't care what theme it has"... :)

I would like to see more cyberpunk games of the Blade Runner type. My favourite genre and Blade Runner remains one of the pinnacles of the adventure genre.

I'd also like to see a really deep cop game like the old Police Quest games with two difficulty levels - rookie and experienced with the latter needing you to follow procedure strictly.

Many critics criticized the movie "The Book of Eli" because it dealt with the "done-to-death"-theme of a post-apocalyptic world, but in my opinion I almost can't imagine a case where there's too many products dealing with that amazing theme. :)

I'd like to see more of totally unique settings and game worlds.

I know complete originality is impossible to achieve, but such games as Neverhood, Grim Fandango, Myst and Riven or even the recent The Whispered World really grabbed me the way they took you to a place you've never seen before. And they weren't even adaptations of any books or films.

I'd also really like to see more Zork games. But proper adventure games, not the recent attempt to revive the franchise.

You know what I'd like to see as a setting that hasn't been done much before in adventure games?

The real world. You know, like the world as I see when I walk outside my house. No wizards and dragons, no talking rabbits, no futuristic talking computers and aliens, no evil plots by satanic maniacs or fantasy princes & princesses nor bloody murder rampages. That would be really cool.

Weren't there enough of real world adventure games in recent years? True, many of them ended with some fictional twist, but for the most part there's nothing unreal about Tunguska, Nancy Drew or Heavy Rain.

I would also like to see a unique universe. Something in the vein of Zork or Grim Fandango, yes. The theme is not really a case here - just smth original and memorable. There were very few of those settings in recent century. Machinarium is probably a good example.

I'd like to see the surreal underwater adventures of a housewife in a cellar of a spooky mansion in a forest somewhere around Linstead, Jamaica.
In winter.
Around 3:15 a.m.

A cool cyberpunk themed adventure would be my choice for the day.

Tunguska: Alien mind-control technology, far-fetched explanations of the Tunguska event, black robe cultists who are actually aliens. Nothing unreal? :frown:
Nancy Drew: A teen detective investigating monster sightings at a German castle. How often does this happen to you every day? (or any day)
Heavy Rain: Investigating a serial killer's crimes using augmented reality glasses, and trying to save your son from an insane murderer - sound like your everyday life?

Hey, I have enough of real world as it is, I don't need games for that. I play adventure games to get something different, mysterious, exotic, scary, gripping etc. I'd never pay for anything I get for free. :P;)

They offer realistic environment, characters and believable stories.
But if you're expecting real world problems and rutine, why play games then? Wouldn't it be boring as hell or The Sims?
Books, movies, videogames - they suppose to entertain you, or at least to surprise you in some way. Life itself surprises you now and then. Tunguska explosion happened, it is a mystery, aliens were spotted plenty of times. So why is it not possible that tomorrow it'll catch your interest and you'll stumble across some alien mind-control technology and cultists while investigating?

A game based around the Stephen King/Peter Staub book 'The Talisman'. Yes, it's kind of similar to TLJ, but it would still be soooo cool and the book came first!

Also a if any of you guys have seen the old HTV series 'Children of the stones', that too would make a really cool premise for a game. It would be a perfect job for JB after he finishes the Crown series. For those that haven't seen it, click HERE for the first episode. It used to scare the crap out of me as a kid! It's based around a stone and... Well I'm not going to spoil it for you. A warning though, it was filmed in the 70's and the hairstyles and clothing may frighten you as much as the story...! O_o

I really like if the game choose real places, that I may never visit, or never will have the oportunity to, even if I would love to, and so, the games gives me a little glance (peak) on those certain places. :D

I usually like nature themes wide landscapes, sea, island, jungle ,mountains, as I said, nature related. But I also like historical (mostly medieval settings or old cities filled with history and legends)

Anyways, that doesn't mean I don't play other themes too, and the point is that if I like it, I'll play it!

An exception would be a much too dark (too horror) game...:shifty:

A good erotic thriller.

There hasn't really been anything like that since the FMV games of the 90s.

Would it be seen as inappropriate, if I'd suggest my own game to you? It's about a bunch of people in a dingy dive bar: an alcoholic harassing other patrons and a woman that might be seriously thinking about killing her husband for insurance money.

The game includes talking animals though - or at least the drunken guy thinks he sees them.

But don't expect anything epic, or pretty, or happy.

I see what you're saying - entertainment and art should have extraordinary topics as their subject, because this is more exciting. This has been the opinion of game and movie developers since their origins, as well as most forms of art. But other forms have broken that mold - the impressionists of painting rebelled against it by painting everyday scenes rather than religious scenes, or battles, or beautiful nude women. Some brilliant authors write about ordinary, everyday stuff - think DH Lawrence or Joyce who are far more exciting than a UFO-conspiracy novel or modern day crime thriller. Movies are even catching on, even though the majority of them are still about giant explosions and murders. Why not games?

That depends on what you mean by "ordinary, everyday stuff". There are many dramas, romantic comedies, thrillers that deal with ordinary people in ordinary environment. But even then there's something extraordinary thrown in - like a bride that runs away from her wedding, or a dying boy. Something that might hold your interest. I can hardly imagine anyone watching a movie or playing a game where the main hero just wake up every morning, have coffee and spend the rest of his day in an office...

Then again, you may have a point here if developers pay close attention to something else, like interactivity. There was a game called Facade, a real-time artificial-intelligence experiment that took place in an ordinary flat with three ordinary people. It's completely forgotten now, but it was a majot talk at the time it came out.

Trauma is definitely such a game dealing with pretty ordinary human issues, even if it uses a dream world made of broken memories for the player to explore.

I think Return to Mysterious Island was also pretty well grounded in reality - your primary goal was survival. Exploring the environment and making use of it. Well, the game is like that for a while, but later on the Captain Nemo subplot significantly changes (expands?) the tone.

I know Grim Fandango should be left well alone, but part of me would love to see another game set in that world. Perhaps nothing to do with Manny or his extended associates.

It's how it is done that is important. Look at the best novellists, they can make the most mundane tasks - like hanging out the washing - fascinating by the way they describe it. Games aren't at that level yet.

I should bring up the interactive fiction game Bureaucracy by Douglas Adams. You are playing you in ordinary life, and you have to find ways around the obstacles put up by banks, ticket offices, various authorities to get your redirected mail. It is nothing out of the ordinary plotwise, but the way it portrays these situations is great. No one wants to play a game filling out bank withdrawal forms, but Adams makes it incredibly entertaining and challenging.

But that's interactive fiction - it would be harder to do in graphical adventure, though not impossible. The shopping centre section in Space Quest IV comes to mind, which is one of the most memorable parts of the series. (Yes it's got aliens and it's in space, but it could easily be done on earth with humans).

I recommend you play this short, wonderful game, Every Day the Same Dream.

I'd like to see a truely dark psychological thriller with very well developed real flesh and blood characters and an original story filled with twists.

I totally agree - I'd give anything to revisit that world again. Unfortunately I doubt Lucasarts would let me touch that licence. This has always been a fan project that I've been considering ^_^

Some interesting suggestions here - it's nice to see such a variety.

Overclocked was a good game like that. Though personally I preferred the first 2/3 of it to the finale.

Interesting example and all other points. It actually might work, although it requires very good, maybe even exceptional writing, which is rarely seen in modern adventure- or videogames. Again, there might be a suitable form to present it, maybe even the simpliest one like in Peter's example. And this was a really depressing game)

Overclocked is an amazing game, one of my favorites and one of the few games I found actually refreshing but it fell short in the finale and also, the protagonist was very well developed and a real flesh and blood guy but the other characterswere a bit flatter. I'm hoping for a game where all the characters are as fleshed out as David McNamara was. But I agree that Overclocked was a very brave first attempt and a game all developers who want to make a serious AG should at least have a look at.

Agreed. What I really enjoyed in Overclocked is how most of the characters went on to either discuss their positions on violence or to react to it in different ways. Maybe that didn't make everything more realistic, but it certainly made it feel much deeper.

Have you tried Carol Reed mysteries? They are very realistic, yet the stories and the background are quite engaging.

Yes i agree, overclocked was a fantastic game. For once the protagonist wasn't initially someone you fell in love with, but you came to respect despite his flaws.

However, I would say i'm with cyberpunk. I have to admit that i really enjoyed Alternativa, allthough it got a panning from the critics. Anyone else agree?

Hol, you could post a poll with multiple choices, that way you'd have a better idea of people tastes

I would love to play "Fallout: A Post Nuclear Adventure Game".
A great RPG that would maybe work as what Blizzard planed on doing with Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. It already has a great world setting and tons of quality dialouge. It would be interesting to see a P'n'C spin-off :)

Speaking of Warcraft Adventures, don't forget there's an actually released (and pretty much excellent) adventure game set in the Elder Scrolls world - Redguard.

Yeah, worlds created in big franchises from other genres could produce some really interesting results when used for adventure game spin-offs.

I wouldn't mind a Thief: The Dark Project adventure game for instance.

I have to admit that I didn't know about Redguard, I will check it out immediately. And thanks Ascovel I almost went 2 hours without thinking of Skyrim :)

Yes, and I love the Carol Reed games. Although they do feature thefts, murders and so on, which I don't see in my life every day.

Exactly! People aren't like the protagonists in most adventuregames. They don't flow thorugh existence unaffected while cracking jokes. They have emotions and as a result sometimes say stupid things, do studid things, get themselves into trouble and have to wrestle hard to get out and sometimes that isn't even enough. Life is an ongoing struggle. From tiny problems such as there are no clean clothes to wear to big problems such as how do I feed my children? And you can't just solve all the world's problems by solving a few puzzles. If you want to tell a serious story no matter the genre you have to have characters with real emotions struggling to get through and build your story and puzzles around that. Not think of some puzzles, throw in a story and have a character glide through your design while saying some clever lines.

That would actually be a great theme - trying to find food to feed your family in Africa. It is a problem faced by millions every day, yet murders happen to what, <0.01% of the world?

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking of doing - just wanted to get a bit of free conversation on the topic going first :)

Games based in period, especially Victorian era. I'd love a murder-mystery from that time (not Jack the Ripper, though would welcome a good JTR game I guess)

CYBERPUNK, games that deal with the Occult, paganism (Black Mirror series is one of my favorites which deals with some of this)

I'm playing through Dracula 3 right now and I LOVE it, I'd love some more history games that have themes of horror, conspiracy, mystery - and hell, do it in the same technical format - the panoramic node presentation is really smooth, and can really allow a lot of beautiful style. I'd love to see a team really push the limits of this approach.