[ApGames]

Hi,

I am doing a bit of research on adventure games. I am looking for info for stuff like number of rooms/screens, puzzles and items that can be picked up in classic point and click games ( Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Broken Sword etc). Is there any papers or articles on stuff like this or have anyone done some similar research and is willing to share?

Regards

[Jannik]

I've come across a few design documents.

Grim Fandango:
http://kotaku.com/5077780/tim-schafe...ngo-design-doc

Various design documents on Al Lowe's site (Freddy Pharkas, Leisure Suit Larry 7, etc):
http://www.allowe.com/gamedesign/index.htm

[TimovieMan]

Originally Posted by Jannik

I've come across a couple of few design documents.

Grim Fandango:
http://kotaku.com/5077780/tim-schafe...ngo-design-doc

That's a very interesting document!
And it should help the OP with his question. Especially since Year Two of Grim Fandango is the absolute pinnacle of adventure gaming (and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way).

[ApGames]

Thanks a lot for the links! Looks like I got some reading todo

[gray pierce]

Originally Posted by Jannik

I've come across a few design documents.

Grim Fandango:
http://kotaku.com/5077780/tim-schafe...ngo-design-doc

Various design documents on Al Lowe's site (Freddy Pharkas, Leisure Suit Larry 7, etc):
http://www.allowe.com/gamedesign/index.htm

This is pure gold! Where can I find more of those? Also do you know where I can find scripts (or dialogue docs) I allways wondered what they look like considering dialogues are usually integrated in the puzzles.

[Jannik]

ApGames:
You're welcome.

gray pierce:
Of the three documents I've downloaded, none have dialog, but Torrin and LS7 has cutscene descriptions and "scene descriptions", and GF has cutscene descriptions. I don't think I've found other docs.

EDIT: Ah, the integration part... I don't think the descriptions will help you much then.

[Bastich]

I was hesitant to post this as it clearly marks me as the most incredible nerd ever, but I have counted the number of inventory items in many adventure games. I only counted items with unique icons so if the same icon is used twice, I only counted it once. It also includes state changes. I did this merely out of curiosity so I have probably missed items here and there, but it should be accurate to an acceptable tolerance. Here you go:

11th Hour, The 0
7th Guest, The 0
80 Days 88
9: The Last Resort 19
Ace Ventura 20
Adventure at the Chateau d'Or 6
Adventure in Serenia 24
Adventures of the Smart Patrol 17
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None 98
Alien Incident 43
Alien Virus 70
Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure 71
Alone in the Dark 49
Altered Destiny 27
Amazon 25
Amazon: Guardians of Eden 83
Amber: Journeys Beyond 8
Amerzone 37
Amnesia 33
Arazok's Tomb 25
Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Tale of Orpheo's Curse 16
Ark of Time 114
Aura: Fate of the Ages 65
Backpacker 83
Bad Day on the Midway 0
Bad Mojo 0
Bargon Attack 29
Barrow Hill 39
Beavis and Butthead Do U. 42
Black Sanctum 26
Black Sect 56
Blackstone Chronicles 45
Broken Sword 37
Calixto Island 18
Call of Cthulhu 45
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon 134
Ceremony of Innocence 0
Chop Suey 0
Circuit's Edge 76
City of Lost Children 24
Conquest of the Longbow 26
Corruption 38
Cosmology of Kyoto 57
Countdown 51
Creature Crunch 20
Crime Stories (Martin Mystere) 89
Crime Time 30
CSI 1: Crime Scene Investigation 92
Curse of Enchantia 69
Dare to Dream 1: In a Darkened Room 13
Dare to Dream 3: Christian's Lair 21
Dark Half, The 40
Dark Seed 26
Dark Seed 2 31
Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder 68
Daughter of Serpents 15
Day the World Broke, The 15
Death Gate 108
Delaware St. John Volume 1 12
Delaware St. John Volume 2 18
Demon's Forge 23
Demon's Tomb 32
Dig, The 38
Dream Zone 28
Duckman 23
Dylan Dog: Through the Looking Glass 19
Earthrise 26
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark 156
Emmanuelle 13
Fascination 42
Feeble Files, The 96
Fellowship of the Ring 46
Final Cut 82
Future Wars 26
Geisha 9
Ghost in the Sheet 0
Ghostly Desires 0
Gnome Ranger 49
Gnome Ranger 2: Ingrid's Back! 28
Guild of Thieves 87
Hobbit, The 16
Hollywood Monsters 125
Hopkins FBI 49
Hound of Shadow 33
Hugo 2: Whodunit? 16
Hugo 3: Jungle of Doom 12
Hugo's House of Horrors 11
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream 48
Igor: Project Uikokahonia 39
In the Dead of Night 40
Inherent Evil 36
Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb 40
Innocent Until Caught 71
Isle of the Dead 30
Jack in the Dark 10
Jack Orlando Director's Cut 99
Jinxter 61
Keepsake 44
King's Quest 1 24
King's Quest 2 33
King's Quest 3 45
King's Quest 4 40
King's Quest 5 43
King's Quest 6 58
King's Quest 7 80
Kronolog: The Nazi Paradox 57
Lancelot 20
Last Half of Darkness (2000) 23
Last Half of Darkness: Shadows of the Servants 43
Lights Out 13
Longest Journey 108
Longest Journey 2: Dreamfall 42
Lords of Tantrazz 8
Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes 59
Majestic Part I: Alien Encounter 2
Moment of Silence, The 63
Monkey Island 1: The Secret of Monkey Island 79
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge 112
Monkey Island 3: The Curse of Monkey Island 147
Mystery of the Mummy, The 107
Necronomicon 56
Nibiru 118
Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy 113
Obscure 43
Onimusha 3 156
Oo-Topos 30
Ooze: Creepy Nights 23
Operation Stealth 43
Orion Conspiracy, The 33
Overclocked 61
Paradise 98
Pawn, The 51
Philip Marlowe: Private Eye 16
Planet of Lust 4
Police Quest 4: Open Season 53
Prisoner of Ice 59
Promised Land 5
Questmaster 28
Resident Evil 70
Resident Evil 2 89
Resident Evil 3 125
Rise of the Dragon 27
Runaway 148
Runaway 2 130
Sam & Max Hit the Road 55
Scratches 55
Sea Search 15
Search for the King 23
Secret Files: Tunguska 254
Secret of the Silver Earring, The 67
Secrets of Da Vinci 128
Sex Olympics 22
Sex Vixens From Space 4
Shadow of the Comet 101
Shard of Inovar 10
Shenanigans 15
Sherlock Holmes: Another Bow 0
Shivers 20
Shogun 29
Silent Hill 2 84
Silent Hill 4 66
Silverload 52
Simon the Sorcerer 87
Simon the Sorcerer 2 99
Sophie's World 0
Sorcerer of Claymorgue Castle 24
Space Quest 18
Space Quest 2 18
Still Life 66
Swiss Family Robinson 57
Tass Times in Tonetown 19
Time tio Die (Borrowed Time) 22
Tracer Sanction 18
Transylvania 16
Transylvania 2: The Crimson Crown 20
Transylvania 3 14
Trekboer 19
Universe 37
Vortex Factor 36
Weird: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction 0
White Chamber 25
X Files Game 34

I wish I would have done this for more games. It's somewhat interesting in its own way.

[mart]

Fantastic, thanks.

[TiAgUh]

Good gracious Bastich

Originally Posted by Bastich

it clearly marks me as the most incredible nerd ever

Naaah.

[Jannik]

Another one (fairly on-topic). Steve Ince (Broken Sword series, So Blonde) on why he never uses dialog trees but instead Boolean variables (on/off states). It has examples too:
http://www.develop-online.net/featur...e-Conversation

[gray pierce]

Originally Posted by Jannik

Another one (fairly on-topic). Steve Ince (Broken Sword series, So Blonde) on why he never uses dialog trees but instead Boolean variables (on/off states). It has examples too:
http://www.develop-online.net/featur...e-Conversation

This is fascinating stuff and really useful to me as an amateur indie writer/designer(meaning pretentious prick who writes absolute drivel)

Oh thread, where've you been all my life