Adventure Gamers - Forums

I actually totally agree with AdorableMogwai. I absolutely prefer the hand-drawn look. Enjoy playing those games soo much more. They have more of a timeless, classic feel.

However, I might let Al Emmo slip into the list, since I love the AGDI/Himalaya people to pieces, but I see why the characters are considered too 3D looking.

How about games that are well into production, like Himalaya’s Mage’s Initiation or IQ’s Quest for Infamy?

AdorableMogwai - 01 May 2013 07:41 PM

I’m sorry Monkey Island 4 can’t be on the list, but for the people who really enjoy the animated LucasArts style games, Monkey Island 4 was what ruined the Moneky Island series. To compare such an obviously CG, and rather ugly game like that to the Pendulo Games doesn’t really make sense outside of a technical, pedantic argument about shading or something or other. They are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Like I wrote before this is very simple, we are not interested in technical arguments. It can be decided with a simple question. If an average person who doesn’t know about the actual techniques used to make these games (like me) were to look at a particular game, would it remind them more of an animated cartoon or more of a Pixar movie?

I’m an average person and I wouldn’t know what a Pixar movie looks like. That’s the thing - there IS no average person. Monkey Island 4 looks ugly to you but pretty to me, while to me Runaway looks absolutely hideous. Both look like cartoons (because they are cartoons).

All we’re saying is you need SOME technical criteria. Going entirely on how a game “looks” doesn’t work. If you said you wanted a list of of 2D, hand-drawn, non-computer shaded games that would be absolutely fine. As it is, we have some FMV but not others, some computer-shaded games but not others, some in 3D but not ones that look like “the Sims”.

You say it’s simple but no, it’s really not. Your definition of “animated cartoon” is obviously incredibly complex and all you need to do is spell it out so we can understand it.

Blackthorne - 01 May 2013 05:03 PM

Yeah - you know, I’m a fan of all 2D stuff - I mean, that’s what I do!  I know Al Emmo had the pre-rendered 3D characters, but I also know a lot of hand-editing went into each frame of the characters as well, by an artist in Photoshop.  I can see why Monkey Island 4 wouldn’t be included, but there are examples, like Al Emmo, where 3D was used as a development tool, but the game was fully produced in 2D.  The backgrounds are hand-painted, the GUI is all hand-made.  There’s no rendering in engine.  Or Heart of China, which is clearly a 2D animated adventure game, though it used hand edited photo-references for the characters.

Bt

I know you’re a 2d fan and I’m very glad the adventure game community has someone like you developing games like Quest for Infamy, which has been one of my most looked-forward to games since I found out it was being made.

Heart of China was removed because there’s not much actual animation in it, and is more of a picture/text adventure.

As for Al Emmo, I really wanted to include Al Emmo. But I remember when I discovered Al Emmo and actually played it, I had high hopes and was only disappointed. After re-watching some gameplay footage, I feel like my memory serves correctly. The developers almost got it right and could have made a great animated adventure game, but they did the CG character thing that looks like the Sims and they blew it.

Imagine there’s a table with 2 glasses of orange juice, except one glass is from oranges that have just been plucked off the tree and squeezed, and the other is filled with watered-down Sunny D. They both superficially look like orange juice, and any argumentative person who happens to like watered-down Sunny D could certainly make the case that they’re the same thing, and that the watered Sunny D is just as good, but it isn’t really. We all know it isn’t. There’s a world of difference that becomes apparent when you actually drink it, just like with these ambiguous games. They may look like the real thing on the box, but you start to play them and then you go “oh..these characters look just like the Sims, or this game (Normality) uses the same engine as Duke Nuke’em, etc.”

I’m making a list here of the authentic animated adventure product. If someone doesn’t like animated games, if they have a fondness instead for CG games and watered down Sunny D, they probably shouldn’t read this list because it might make them indignant, as we have already seen a few examples of this happening to people already.

We have had a lot of good contributions of games that clearly fit this list, but as the list gets bigger people will become more and more stumped and start grasping at straws. At the beginning of the list it was easy, now that the list as grown bigger people is when people are starting to mention the ambiguous games that really don’t fit.

There are still some animated adventure games out there, I already know of some that I’m about to add. So try to think of these, instead of things like the first person shooter adventure Normality and so on.

Quest1 - 01 May 2013 07:53 PM

How about games that are well into production, like Himalaya’s Mage’s Initiation or IQ’s Quest for Infamy?

I am very much looking forward to these games and they will be added upon release, along with Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded, Night of the Rabbit, The Inner World, and others.

It seems that animated adventure games are making a comeback, as more animated adventures were released in 2012 than in any year since 1995. It looks as if 2013 is continuing the trend.

There’s also animated cartoon-like games like

Kingdom : The far reaches

Shadoan

Merlin’s apprentice

Labyrinth of Crete

Yeah, well, really this is AdorableMogwai’s list, so basically it’s his rules.  If this were a community list, I’d see the inclusion of some games that have been excluded.

Bt

Clock Tower (1995):

Return of the Phantom (1993):

Dragonsphere (1994):

By the way, I love the idea of making this list. I think my taste in adventure games (graphics-wise) is exactly the same as the originator of this thread’s.

tomimt - 02 May 2013 06:15 AM

Now it looks like your criteria is “do I like the game, if not it’s out” and this seems to condradict your own rule set here, as despite cell shading, Pendulo’s games do use 3D characters.

This.

Can we get a mod to change the title of this thread to “Games AdorableMogwai Likes”?

Seriously, what started out as a good thread has now become subjective bullshit.  Let’s move on, people.  Nothing more to see here.

The only 3D characters that seem to be allowed are the ones that are made to look hand-drawn. Makes sense to me.

Tlön: A Misty Story (1999):

Museum Madness (1994) (educational) :

Noctropolis (1996):

Pepper’s Adventures in Time (1993) (educational):

Master of Dimensions (1996):

Wayne’s World (1993):  http://www.abandonia.com/games/602

Time Paradox (1996):  http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/26110/

Trick or Treat http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/trick-or-treat/screenshots/gameShotId,92549/
Universe http://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/universe/screenshots/gameShotId,397387/
U.F.Os http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/ufos/screenshots/gameShotId,417616/
Cruise for a Corpse http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/cruise-for-a-corpse
Where Time Stood Still http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/where-time-stood-still/screenshots
Wrath of the Gods http://www.mobygames.com/game/win3x/wrath-of-the-gods/screenshots/gameShotId,218588/
Blackstar Agent of Justice http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/blackstar-agent-of-justice/screenshots/gameShotId,137316/

Quest1 - 02 May 2013 10:22 AM

The only 3D characters that seem to be allowed are the ones that are made to look hand-drawn. Makes sense to me.

Again, it’s subjective.  I loathe badly animated 3D characters and badly rendered 3D games, but I loathe arbitrary and subjective rules in list making more.  The “rules” in here are merely a matter of one person’s personal taste, without any concession or discussion.  It’s not a community list - it’s “Games AdorableMogwai likes.”  Which is fine - it’s his thing, and he can do that, but I don’t really see it as engaging many others here.  Discussion occurs when you include people who agree and disagree.

Bt