Adventure is a genre of computer and video games typified by exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters, and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based challenges. The vast majority of adventure games are computer games, though console-based adventure games are not unheard of. Unlike many other game genres, the adventure genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film. Adventure games encompass a wide variety of literary genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, and comedy. Notable adventure games include Zork, King's Quest, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Myst. Most adventure games are designed for a single player, since the heavy emphasis on story and character makes multi-player design difficult.
The adventure genre was quite popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and many considered it to be among the most technically advanced genres. While few developers continue to produce adventure games, some still are being released, and the adventure game genre has had some elements carry over into other genres. Games that fuse adventure elements with other elements are sometimes referred to as adventure games (a popular example is Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series). Adventure game purists regard this as incorrect and call such hybrids action RPGs (not to be mistaken with action-adventures, which are platformers with a heavy emphasis on puzzle-solving, such as Metroid or Flashback).
Types of adventure games
There are many types of adventure games, depending on the criteria. Adventure games vary in their subject, interface, setting or plot. A definite categorization can't be done since some of them may belong to 2 or more of the below mentioned 'types'.
Text based
-
The first adventure games to appear were text adventures (later called interactive fiction), which typically use a verb-noun parser to interact with the user. These evolved from early mainframe titles like Hunt the Wumpus (Gregory Yob) and Adventure (Crowther and Woods) into commercial games which were playable on personal computers, such as Infocom's widely popular Zork series. In recent years, a vibrant and creative community of interactive fictionauthors has thrived on the internet. Some companies that were important in bringing out text adventure games were Adventure International, Infocom, Level 9 Computing, Magnetic ScrollsMelbourne House, with Infocom being the most well known. and
Graphical adventure
Graphical adventure games were introduced by a new company called On-Line Systems, which later changed its name to Sierra On-Line. After the rudimentary Mystery House (1980) they established themselves with the full adventure King's Quest (1984), appearing on various systems, and went on to further success with a variety of strong titles.
A number of games were released on 8-bit home computer formats in the 1980s that advanced on the text adventure style originated with games like Colossal Cave Adventure and, in a similar manner to Sierra, added moveable (often directly-controllable) characters to a parser or input-system similar to traditional adventures. Examples of this are Gargoyle Games's Heavy on the Magick (1986) which has a text-input system with an animated display screen, and the later Magic Knight games such as Spellbound (1985) which uses a window-menu system to allow for text-adventure style input.
In 1984 a new kind of adventure games emerged following the launch of the Apple MacintoshEnchanted Scepters the same year, then in 1985 ICOM Simulations released Deja Vu that completely banished the text parser for a point-and-click interface. In 1987 the well-known second follow-up Shadowgate was released, and LucasArts also entered the field with Maniac Mansion � a point-and-click adventure that gained a strong following. A prime example of LucasArts' work is the Monkey Island series. with its point-and-click interface. First out was the innovative but relatively unknown
RPG-like
Adventure games are similar to computer role-playing games (CRPG's), except that the game play is more focused on problem-solving rather than combat and statistics. In general, games that involve the management of player attributes and statistics are considered to be CRPG's, while those that focus solely on puzzles and narrative are considered to be part of the Adventure category. It should be noted, however, that this distinction is an extremely loose one, and many games blur the line between the two categories. In particular, the status of what are sometimes called action-adventure games as members of the category is largely in doubt, with adventure gaming purists (and, to a lesser extent, action gaming purists) labeling action-adventure games as belonging to neither the action nor adventure genres rather than to both.
Some adventure games rely equally on the common adventure elements, but also on the 'character building' of RPGs. The main character(s) usually has a certain "Hit point" meter and a chart of skills. Some puzzles and feats need a minimum amount of skills in order to be solved (like Climbing above 5 to climb a tree and obtain a lost ring) so the player may have to choose one character over another to solve it, or spend time building the skills of the first character. As in RPGs, the games involve battles, the result of which depends on his character's skills and health (and on the player's reflexes in the case of real-time combat). However, these kinds of games don't belong to the 'Action adventure' above. Typical examples include Quest for GloryFinal Battle. and
Puzzle adventure
Adventure games that do not rely on obtaining items, their use, and character interaction belong to this genre. It emphasizes exploration, reading logs, and deciphering the proper use of complex mechanisms, often resembling Rube Goldberg machines.
The plot of these games is usually obscure, and relies on the player's interpretation of the setting and the scenery, and information from the logs in order for him to understand the background scenario. Almost all of these games are played from a first person perspective with the player "moving" between still pre-rendered 3D images, sometimes combined with short animations or video. Typical examples include Schizm, Riddle of the Sphinx and Myst, which pioneered this game style.
Japanese adventure game
The Japanese branch of adventure games, amongst many other terms, includes the genre known as visual novels and have for over a decade been a staple of PC software sales in Japanmanga and animé based upon them). Many (those belonging to the visual novel genre) are more of an interactive novel than a conventional game, and as such have a tighter focus on narrative and more limited puzzle features than their western counterparts. Instead of point-and-click or text parser interfaces, Japanese adventure games are characterised by the use of on-screen menus for everything from interaction to navigation, and the story-lines usually have a strong romantic aspect (with "dating sims" being the main subcategory of the genre). Konami's classic Snatcher was for long the highest regarded game of this type in the west, and it is only very recently that they started to be released here in any significant number (particularly on the Nintendo DS console, and with mystery-solving titles such as the Phoenix Wright series). and other east-asian countries (so much so that popular titles are open ported to consoles, and some even have
Other
A few adventure games have defined themselves as "original" because they distanced themselves from the main adventure genre and put focus on other elements. They are considered unique because they didn't develop into genres.
- The Prisoner (Edu-Ware): Designed by David Mullich, this 1980 game, loosely based upon the television series of the same name, purposefully broke all the conventions of text-based adventures with its abstract "text graphics", hypnotic melodies, intellectual themes, conversational language parser, and attempting to trick the player with deceptions such as simulated game errors. Its 1982 high-resolution graphics remake, Prisoner 2, poked fun at classic adventure games like Colossal Cave Adventure and Mystery House.
- King's Quest VIII: The Mask of Eternity (Sierra): Although it could be labeled as an action-adventure, KQ8 was hard to define because the genre was not popular when it was released. Rather than relying solely on action, it combined many other elements including first-person and over-the-shoulder third-person views (the latter similar to that used in Tomb Raider), riddles, dialogue, inventory and RPG elements such as an extensive array of weapons and collecting experience.
- Hampstead and Terrormolinos (Melbourne House): Written by Trevor Lever and Peter Jones, these games introduced a new element of satirical humor to adventure games in the mid-80s. Although Hampstead contained no graphics, it was of its time in lampooning social climbing. Terrormolinos required the player to survive a two-week family holiday in Spain, and contained simple Donald McGill-style graphics which imitated Polaroid photographs by 'developing' on-screen.
- The Colonel's Bequest (Sierra): Bequest contained riddles and interaction with items and objects like an "ordinary" adventure, but the game focused primarily on communication with other characters and obtaining as much information as possible. The game advanced when the player was present at certain times and places that might reveal information on the plot and back-story. The full score would be attained not for only solving riddles, but for perceiving "suspicious" elements like the relationship between the characters, objects that changed position or traces of information about the killer's identity.
- Loom (Lucasfilm Games): This game was widely hailed as original and innovative, not only because of the plot, but for the entire concept. Unlike other adventure games, this one did not have an inventory of physical objects and puzzles that relied on combining those objects. Aside from basic movement and object-examining actions, the only interactions the player had with the game world was in casting spells, which was performed by playing musical notes in certain sequences.
- The Last Express (Brøderbund): Designed by Jordan Mechner, the designer of Prince of Persia, Express differed from an ordinary adventure game in that it took place in almost complete real-time, meaning that the player had to make split second decisions. In addition, the non-player characters were semi-intelligent, and moved around on their own schedules regardless of the player's progress. The game took place within the crowded confines of the Orient Express and featured a few action sequences that did not require much dexterity to complete. As well, the game mostly lacked inventory items and most of the game required the player to advance by talking to the other passengers and learn about their back-stories, rather than solving traditional puzzles.
;)
