INTERIOR - School House, Eastlands

Mrs. Peepers: Okay kids. Pop quiz time! Who out there knows what a garage game is? Bobby?

Bobby: Um, would that be when my dad tells me to clean up the garage and if I do a good job, I get ten dollars?

Mrs. Peepers: Nope, I'm sorry. Ah, Jennifer! You gaming genius! Can you tell us all what a garage game is?

Jennifer: (stands and straightens her plaid jumper and pigtails) Yes Mrs. Peepers. In fact, I have prepared a treatise on the subject. Let me begin . . .

Back when I was still watching My Little Pony and playing with my Punky Brewster rag doll, many an aspiring game designer, unsatisfied with the selection of text adventures available, starting programming his/her own adventures. Games like Zork started from these meager beginnings. The Miller brothers (who are unfortunately not related to me) started the early stages of their software giant CyanWorlds company in similar conditions. (Though Rand, I would love to come and work for you! I'm a writer! You know you want me to come work for you!) Like the greats, every game must start from somewhere, whether it be in the mainframe of MIT or a family garage in Spokane, Washington.

With the worrisome state of the graphic adventure genre, many gamers are turning to these interesting (sometimes notorious) "garage games;" low budget, low technology, and low marketed affairs that come from small teams of aspiring game programmers. You remember Comer? That, kids, is a garage game. What made Comer so successful was the word of mouth spread across the Internet about its graphic quality. When I read this, I knew I immediately had to go to Shine Studios to get a copy and see for myself. Of course if you've played this game, you'll know that I when I say notorious, you know where my finger is pointing. But for more on that, please go read Ray Ivey's review on the subject.

I was recently scanning Ebay for new games and I came across a strange little game called Nacah (Hebrew for "to test, to prove; adventure"). Heralded on its cover as "the Biblical alternative to Myst," it was constructed by a one man developing team in similar style and taking cues for its puzzle design from The Bible. This was an intriguing idea; designing an adventure game that would appeal to the Christian fans of the genre. And trust me, this is a lot more entertaining than Sunday school.

Read any Good Books lately?

Nacah begins in a dark space and you must assume that your first mission is to find the lights. When you turn, you're facing a tablet with a verse from Genesis: "God said 'let there be _____'" Dive into your handy Bible for the answer (preferably the King James version as the game was designed for this translation) and you'll see the answer is "light." Type that on the letter pad below and voila! You now have a crash course on how to solve the puzzles found within the world of Nacah.

For the most part, these puzzles stay pretty straightforward and there is almost no learning curve. It's almost like an open-book exam on verses in the Bible. Varying in degree from a math problem involving the age of Methuselah, the days Jesus spent in the desert, etc., to a timed test that forces you to put the books of the Old and New Testaments in order by choosing the correct book from a group. This one had my heart going and reminded me that, yeah, it's been a while since I've attended church.

I only found two drawbacks to the puzzles. There is an elevator puzzle early on in the game that is pretty confusing and gives little to no clue on the operation of the mechanism. Cheyenne, the designer, included a graphic clue in the manual to help out. Even with this I still had some trouble, but I eventually I persevered. The bigger problem is the collecting of pages. (Red pages? Blue pages?) Along the course of the game, you will have to find six pages that are necessary to complete the game. Due to some navigation issues that I'll address later, these pages are at times very difficult to find and see. It is possible to get to the final stage of the game without these pages and due to the linear nature of the game, it is out of the question to go back and retrieve these missing pages. The same goes for inventory items. So keep your eyes peeled folks!

Um, could someone hand me a flashlight?

After completing the game, I watched the included video on the making of Nacah. For the resources available to him, Cheyenne did a really nice job rendering this world of shadowy caves and lone islands. Though a little dark and faded at times, the scenes are detailed and interesting to the eye, the most impressive of these being the chamber where you take the timed test. There are a few QuickTime movies scattered throughout Nacah and are understandably a bit pixely (is that even a word?) and will leave colored shadows due to the low frame rate. But Cheyenne, I bow to you; with one PC, a generator, and an APS battery, you have created a world much more visually complex than some of the "mainstream" games I have seen out there.

I have my merit badge in direction finding!

Okay, let me quickly talk about the navigation and then we'll move on to my favorite part. Like Myst, Nacah is a first person POV, slide show. Transition between views is quick and at times, very disorienting. This was most notable around the cable car islands in the middle of the game. The page I needed to find there was only visible from one view and I nearly missed it. There are also times when nearby doors or items that need to be accessed will involve nearly three moves in order to get the right approach. But again, I have played "mainstream" games that have worse interfaces (Temujin anyone?) and weren't nearly as enjoyable. As for the cursors, they are fairly intuitive and shouldn't take long to get used to. If you made it through Comer's poorly designed system, than this will be a cakewalk.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Cheyenne! The one-man band!

I really think that if Cheyenne hadn't gone into the gaming field, he should have been a professional musician, sound designer, something! The music in Nacah is excellent and adds wonderful atmosphere to the game. At times, I would stop my playing and just turn up the speakers to listen. You can hear a sample of this during the opening screen, and later on, there is a wonderful piece during the sundial puzzle. In the Behind the Scenes video, Cheyenne demonstrates how he created the music, playing everything from harp to a pan flute. Again Cheyenne, from one musician to another, I bow to you. I'm impressed not only with your playing ability, but with your ability as a composer and arranger.

As for ambient sound, there really isn't very much. There are the usual drippings in the caves and the movement of water when you're topside. In addition, there is a brief spoken section at the end that is a little noisy, but I'm sure this is due to a low bit rate. Since there are no actors in Nacah, there is no other spoken dialogue.

And in the end there was a sailboat, and it was good.

Overall, I really enjoyed Nacah. Though not that long (I finished it in about an hour) it's a good way for kids and adults to become familiar with The Bible. I know I hadn't cracked mine in quite a while, so I'm sure it was happy to see me. Some may turn their noses up at the theme of the game or at its simple design, but guys, this game is worth a look. For me, it was nice to see such a fresh and enthusiastic effort from an independent developer. To go along with my usual "adventure games are underrated" rant, Nacah is the game that Comer was not. Like Ray, I don't like to bash these underground titles, but Nacah is the type of effort I like to see in a garage game, whereas Comer had no chance of saving this genre. I don't think Nacah is that game either, but it takes a step in the right direction. It uses a classic format and beautiful music to teach one of the most well-known and widely debated writings in the world. Edutainment? Maybe. But I never shy away from learning a few new things.

Word has it that Cheyenne is developing a second game right now, called Derek which looks to be a sequel to Nacah. For a preview, check out the Virtue Games website which you can link to at the top. Oh! And I failed to mention you can also buy your very own copy of Nacah there!

I wish you all the best in your future efforts, Cheyenne, and I look forward to playing Derek.

Grade: B

See: The Ten Commandments
Play: Celtica
Read: The Bible (duh!)

System Requirements:

Pentium II 300 MHz
Windows 95 or higher
64 MB RAM
200 MB of hard drive for full install, 4 MB for CD-install
6X CD-ROM
Mouse
Sound card recommended