The State of Adventure Gaming

By Randy Sluganski

Adventure Sales Figures

All sales were provided by PC Data and are for the month of June 2001. These figures do not reflect international or online sales.

It is interesting to note that children's adventure games are selling better than ever. LucasArts's Escape from Monkey Island and most of Dreamcatcher's older products also continue to be steady, if not spectacular, sellers, reinforcing our theory that adventure games don't fizzle out and over the long run match the sales figures of most action games.

The biggest disappointment is without a doubt Myst 3. Even though it has broken the magical 100,000-copies-sold barrier, it also had preorders of close to half a million copies. Poor marketing has already convinced many retailers to lower the retail price on Myst 3, a fate that has similarly befallen Stupid Invaders, another above-average game suffering from poor marketing by the same company--Ubisoft.

Gilbert--Not So Good, Mate

The adventure newsgroups are often a contentious but valuable forum by which to obtain information and to gauge the reactions of the adventure community to new games and ongoing adventure discussions. It is rare to find a professional brave enough to tread into these potentially dangerous waters, but recently Lorne Laliberte, the writer for Gilbert Goodmate, took public his frustration with the development company, Prelusion. According to his postings, many of the members of the team that developed the game have never even been paid thanks to some fancy legal wrangling and Prelusion declaring bankruptcy:

"Technically, 'Prelusion' didn't go bankrupt, or at least 'Prelusion Development' didn't, as far as I know. The company originally known as Prelusion ceased to exist over a year ago ... it changed its name to Global Minds after an ownership change. Our contracts were all rewritten to refer to Global Minds, and it's Global Minds who went bankrupt (some time in May I believe ... I just found out a week ago though).

"Prelusion Development was formed by the original members of Prelusion in Sweden, back when they needed to incorporate to apply for a loan I think. (I believe it had something to do with buying shares in Global Minds before it went bankrupt, but I'm shaky on the details.) They still exist as a company, but as I understand it they don't own any of the rights to Gilbert Goodmate any more, and won't receive any royalties either. With luck they'll manage to find enough work to rebuild their company.

"I just can't bring myself to pay for a copy of it--especially when the team won't be seeing any royalties on sales since our contracts were voided by the bankruptcy. There's just something wrong about having to buy a game you spent two years working on. :)

"According to what I was told, the publishers/distributors and the Global Minds bankruptcy estate are the only ones who will make any money off the game."

While the above more than speaks for itself, it is also a perfect example of why the long production cycle of an adventure game is a detriment to potential investors in today's volatile gaming atmosphere.

(This segment was compiled from public postings on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure newsgroup. Requests to Global Minds, Prelusion, and Lorne Laliberte to respond to the contents of this article went unanswered.)

You Boys Done Spanked That Monkey to Death

I realize that I'm just asking for irate emails from the Monkey Island community, but I've recently been reading more and more postings from LucasArts fans demanding another sequel or even a prequel in the Monkey Island series.

I'm beggin' ya, LucasArts, resurrect Grim Fandango, kick-start a sequel to Full Throttle, unearth The Dig 2, anything but another Monkey Island. Readers from around the world are voicing their thoughts on this matter. From Germany: "Nein, monkey kaput." From France: "Monkey? What monkey? We eat monkey brains." From Spain: "No moro Monkeyo Islando." From Poland: "What is this Monkey Island? What are computers?" No matter your native language, it's a world-wide phenomenon--no more Monkey Island!

(On a side note, a big thumbs up to Sarah and the editors of Mixnmojo for working so hard to keep their community strong)

Here We Go Again

A few years ago, the adventure genre almost entirely disappeared. Part of the reason was the constant bashing from the gaming magazines. Part of the problem was the companies that made the adventure games totally ignored the hardcore adventure community and instead relied on the sources that were bashing their games to market their product, and by that time the true adventure gamers had moved on to other sources of information--like Just Adventure. Over the years, we have provided publicity and laid the foundation for many games that may have otherwise never have been mentioned, much less reviewed in any of the major magazines or webzines--games like The Longest Journey, for example. So to say that we were dismayed by the following press release from Funcom would be an understatement.

"250,000 Copies of The Longest Journey Sold Worldwide

"Durham, NC--June 22, 2001--With the highly-anticipated upcoming launch of Anarchy Online, Funcom is proud to announce their critically acclaimed PC title The Longest Journey, released last November, has proven to be the best selling adventure game in years. Since the North American release, 250,000 copies have been sold worldwide with 90,000 units being purchased in the U.S. alone. Along with this news comes a price drop in the U.S. to a suggested retail price of $29.99.

"Funcom has taken home an armful of awards for The Longest Journey from the gaming industry with this title being voted Adventure Game of the Year in 2000 or Best Adventure Game by PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, IGN, GameSpot, and GameSpy among others. Ragnar Tørnquist, the game's designer and producer, was also nominated for Excellence in Game Design at the Game Developers Choice Awards in March of this year for the story in The Longest Journey. While a trend in the industry has been to focus on hard-core, complex action, Funcom has proven that many players also seek a different type of interactive experience where the focus is on an in-depth story in a game that is relatively easy to play.

"Despite a small marketing budget, the strongly held notion that adventure games don't sell well, and a 'Mature' rating due to some strong language, Funcom has managed to successfully take The Longest Journey beyond the core gaming market. The game has continued to sell well even 8 months after the initial release. Amazon.com selected this title as one of the 10 Best Games of 2000 and The New York Times said 'The Longest Journey stands a better chance than any game in years of reawakening the adventure game in America. It also has the potential to pull in women without putting men off.'"

Thanks for nothing, Funcom. We'll be sure to remember you too after the big-name, usually adventure-less magazines and webzines you so covet turn down your requests to preview your next adventure project. Sour grapes--you betcha.

The Real Mystery Is Whether Those Druids Are Wearing Tightie Whities or Boxers Under Those Robes

I've been fortunate enough to have played either full or beta versions of most of the pure adventure games scheduled to be released the remainder of this year, and the one that looks to be a sure winner is Mystery of the Druids. Well-written and clever, it truly evokes the good ol' days of adventure gaming when quality was the norm.

House of Tales, the German company that developed Mystery of the Druids, is devoted to producing adventure games specifically, and they hope to provide worthwhile competition to developers Arxel, Index, and Cryo. Their development team is comprised of adventure fans who are not "interested in mainstream ego-shooters and 3D action dungeons. They want to tell suspenseful tales and dedicate their work to the numerous players on earth, who, like them, wait excitedly for the release of hot new adventure games, who are first at the counter and afterwards are non-responsive for weeks."

I recently had an opportunity to talk with the House of Tales team and was surprised to learn that this is truly a cutting-edge, modern-day crew. Unshackled from cubicle walls and a 9-to-5 workday, staff members' offices exist in the privacy of their homes or from wherever their laptops may be at any given moment. The team is composed of specialists from the fields of programming, graphic design, character design, game design, and music composition. They hold board meetings in the middle of the night, file everything digitally, and have mobile fax and telephone lines that can be forwarded to wherever they are working. They are truly 100% virtual and are fully maximizing today's technology.

Mystery of the Druids has been in development for two years now and is already a success in German-speaking countries. Let's hope that English gamers also feel the urge to attempt to solve the mystery.

Jack's Back

In what I believe to be a first in the industry, a director's cut of a game is about to be released. Many movies by well-known directors will often be released as director's cuts on DVD after the initial theater run. The director's cut usually consists of deleted scenes, storyboards, interviews with the actors, and so on.

Zuxxez Entertainment of Germany has decided to rerelease Jack Orlando the Director's Cut, which is strange considering that the original game was never even released in many areas of the world. In an attempt to deduce the reasoning behind this business decision, I spoke with Dirk P. Hassinger, a member of Zuxxez's board of directors:

Why have you decided to do a director's cut of the game so many years after the game's original release?

There was no release in the states. GT Interactive bought the rights and never released it, because it was a native DOS game. Now we have made a new engine and updated the product to today's needs. Please do not think about the cartoons, paintings, and music being [considered outdated as they were] made five years ago. Today it would not be made differently.

What is in the director's cut of Jack Orlando that was not in the original?

We have a 90-page document about this issue. There are hundreds of changes. Almost all of the riddles have been redone. There is an additional "light mode" for beginners, and we added 11 new scenes.

Is the Director's Cut meant to see if there is enough interest to make a Jack Orlando 2?

Let's have a look first at how the new Jack Orlando does. The development of such a classic adventure cost several million USD. Don´t forget that there have been 120+ people working on it.

I have to admit that this is the most splendid idea in ages. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see other companies do the same! Imagine deleted scenes or alternate endings from Gabriel Knight, or your favorite adventure game, becoming available. There is a whole new market here waiting to be exploited. The North American distributor for Jack Orlando the Director's Cut will be JoWood Productions, and there will be a Mac version. In the meantime, if you do visit the Zuxxez site, all of you B-movie freaks should make sure to check out their new Troma game.

Joke of the Day, Week, Month, and Year

Yes, I am once again speaking of the UbiSoft public relations department. Would someone forward them the following from the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary:

public relations (n)--the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution; also: the degree of understanding and goodwill achieved.

The word "goodwill" seems to not be in their vocabulary (in fact, UbiSoft seems to harbor "negativewill" toward anyone who questions their marketing policies). Recent attempts to get a response from their public relations department concerning their marketing of Myst 3, Stupid Invaders, and Dragon Riders of Pern have been met with stony silence. As have futile attempts to get UbiSoft's side of the story as concerns the closing of Rivenguild.

Consider the following: Myst 3 plummeted from the top ten in sales after only three months, the quickest a major release has dropped from the charts in recent memory; the European localization was delayed by three months even though those close to the project insist in private that the European version could have been released at the same time as the North American version; and, though UbiSoft will not confirm this, sources claim that the much-ballyhooed Myst 3 DVD has been cancelled. Stupid Invaders is one of the worst-selling games of the year even though it has had mostly positive reviews in The New York Times and many of the major gaming magazines. And have you even seen an advertisement for Dragon Riders of Pern? I attempted to contact the staff of Red Storm, the developers of Dragon Riders, but is seems they have all moved on to other companies since the UbiSoft buyout. None of the above are bad games--but not a one of them has been properly marketed. You cannot advertise adventure games on IGN and Next Generation and expect them to sell. Different genres have different audiences, and console players are not (yet) adventure gamers.

Of course, when it is clearly stated on your "Mission" page that a top priority is to "Make Rayman®, one of the 10 most popular cartoon characters in the world in 2005" ...

Oh my, I just want to bitch slap him! Mr. Sunshine here, boys and girls! I just adore Mr. Randy (and he does have a cute little tush), but all - he - does - is - complain! But Mr. Sunshine is so darn happy to be back that I have a rocket in my pocket. Now let's light my big long fuse and get this show off to a bang.

UbiSoft. Why does Mr. Randy abhor them so? How can anyone dislike anything that is soft? Bunnies are soft, slippers are soft, cute little bunny slippers are soft, and Ubi is soft. I could see his point if they were named UbiHard. Even Mr. Sunshine doesn't like things that are hard. Well, at least not most hard things, if you know what Mr. Sunshine means (wink, wink). So what if UbiSoft forced the Rivenguild to close? Those Myst lovers need to learn to fight for themselves and quit being such pansies.

And speaking of pansies, Big Al of Playing Games Interactive has the best selection of rare adventure games on the internet. Big Al (and the boys in the back room don't call him Big Al because of his height, if you catch Mr. Sunshine's drift) is an adventure gamer's best friend in more ways than one.

Does Anybody Have an Elephant-Sized Pooper Scooper?

Later this week, we will embark on the biggest extravaganza in our history as we begin a 100-copy giveaway of Microids's Road to India. If that is not enough, we shall also be giving away exclusive Road to India mouse pads; these are limited-run collector's items. We work with a lot of different adventure companies helping them to promote their games, but even I have to admit that Microids is going one step further--there are also plans afoot to give away Road to India bookmarks in a major bookstore chain, and at the bottom of every bookmark there will be a link to Just Adventure and our Road to India contest. Now that's how you promote an adventure game!

To DVD or Not to DVD, That Is the Question

Dreamcatcher and Project 3's Myst-killer, Schizm, has yet to be released, and it is already causing quite the controversy. It seems a handful of gamers in Europe, where the five-CD version has already been released, are complaining about the inferior quality of the compressed CD graphics, while others are negating the complaints and have nothing but praise for the CD version. I have played the CD version but not the DVD version, so I cannot compare the two, but I do know this ...

In an unprecedented move, Dreamcatcher will be releasing the CD and DVD versions simultaneously sometime in October (unlike UbiSoft, who backed out of their promise to release both versions of Myst 3 at the same time). The DVD version will feature more gameplay and extra puzzles. If you own a DVD player, then this is your chance to make your voice heard and prove that there is a market for DVD games on the computer. If you have been looking for a reason to purchase a DVD player for your computer--well, Schizm is your excuse. If you don't currently have a DVD player and maybe aren't getting one until year's end or early next year, maybe we can convince Dreamcatcher to include a coupon to allow the CD purchaser to upgrade to the DVD game for an extra $10?

Am I the Only One Who Ever Notices These Things?

The September issues of Imagine Media magazines are running 16-page inserts to advertise their newest addition--XBOX the Official Xbox Magazine. Now keep in mind that Imagine also publishes PC Gamer, PSM the 100% Independent PS2 & Playstation Magazine, and Next Generation, to name but a few.

On page 12 of the insert is a Q&A that features the following:

Q: If you're official, won't that affect the way you guys cover games? Are you working for "the man"?

A: Being official will definitely affect the way we cover games. Because we're "official," it means we'll get the big exclusives, have inside information, and generally know what the hell we're talking about. Additionally, being official gives us the power to be absolutely independent. We won't back down because an advertiser wants a "nicer" score, and we will always be able to deliver the absolute truth. We answer to the readers and nobody else.

So what are they saying here? That magazines that are not "official" cater to advertisers and award higher scores to keep their advertising? Hmm ... PC Gamer, Next Generation, and PSM are not "official," so is Imagine Media telling us that their own magazines award higher scores to keep advertisers? In fact, PSM takes pride in being "independent" and proudly states that it has no corporate sponsor. But according to the Xbox Q&A, this would mean that they "rig" their reviews. I'm so confused.

A Blast from the Past

For those of you who (like me) still have fond memories of adventure gaming pre-1990, do yourself a favor and visit the Computer and Book RPG/Adventure Museum. Issues of Questbusters--the world's first RPG/adventure newsletter--are available for perusal, along with classic Commodore 64 games that are gone but not forgotten. Anyone remember the Howard the Duck adventure game? Labyrinth? Wasteland? Those really were the days.

In the Wings

Exclusive North American reviews of Watchmaker, Runaway, Hollywood Monsters, Jekyll & Hyde, Schizm, and Dusk to Dawn. A feature article by Audrey Wells with the anonymous creators of the King's Quest remake. A review of adventure gaming legend Bob Bates's new book, Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. New previews by Harriet Gurganus, monthly Majestic updates from Ray Ivey, classic adventure game reviews from Adam Rodman, a new Almost Adventure column from Matt Desmond, thrice-weekly Eye on Adventure updates from Cindy Kyser, and don't worry, we'll find something to keep Tom Houston busy. We have new Top 10 Lists on the way, and Valerie is updating the JAVE daily.

Red Herrings

When will some Hollywood genius make a movie out of a literate game like Gabriel Knight instead of this Final Fantasy crap we are being force-fed? The most enjoyable part of the movie was the 15 minutes when I dozed off. Let's not forget Tomb Raider--have you ever seen a more boring and soulless action flick? And the snippets I've already seen for next summer's Resident Evil movie have been laughable to say the least.

I've said it before and I'm sticking to my guns: Majestic is nothing more than a gimmick that won't last. What do you do to top randomly telephoning players late at night? Knock on their doors at 3 a.m.?