Hello everyone. I'm the author of The Secret History of Mac Gaming and writer/director of the documentary series TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming, and I want to share with you a new project I'm working on called Passport to Adventure: The SCUMM Story.



Passport to Adventure will peer behind the troop of three-headed monkeys and into the world's largest ball of twine to discover the inner workings of both the games and the engine that revolutionized a genre. With an expected runtime around three hours and interviews with at least 20 genre legends and experts (most of whom worked on the games covered), it'll be an in-depth developer/interview-led game-by-game retrospective documentary film about the LucasArts and Humongous Entertainment SCUMM games (Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Maniac Mansion, Loom, The Dig, Freddi Fish, etc).

We'll celebrate the greatest moments and the inventive satire, as well as provide a thoughtful and (I hope) insightful exploration of the games' development processes, design/art/music innovations, and cultural impact/influence — with numerous breakout discussion segments scattered through the film to talk about things like the SCUMM University internal training program, the overarching design philosophies Ron Gilbert and co put at the core of their games, the impact of new technologies such as the arrival of "talkies" when the CD-ROM format took off in the early 90s, and so on.

The documentary is in development right now, which in the film world means pre-production — concept work, market research, audience validation, casting, budgeting, etc. I'm working with a company called CREATORVC, which makes high-spec, long-runtime crowdfunded pop culture documentaries. They're best known for the In Search of Darkness series of horror film superdocs, and for the hit documentary Aliens Expanded. I previously worked with them on both their gaming docs — I co-wrote and produced FPS: First Person Shooter, and as noted above I wrote and directed TerrorBytes. I'm writing and directing this project as well, and I've had various versions of this concept in my head for about 15 years — going back all the way to my first paid freelance article.

I'll have more to share soon, but in the meantime I want to ask two things of the AGH community:

1. If this sounds like something you'd like to see get made, and especially if you'd be willing to support it on Kickstarter or some other crowdfunding platform¸ please sign up to our waitlist at scummdoc.com. (And follow us on Bluesky, if you're active there.) We need some clear signals that there's a viable audience for the project, and waitlist signups are the best indicator we have right now.
   
2. Tell me what you think of the concept. I consulted with several notable members of the community late last year on a draft synopsis, including AGH's editor Jack, but I'm interested in what the adventure game community at large would want out of such a documentary and I'm happy to answer any questions.
   

Who is up for another community playthrough?

Here's a place for your suggestions. If you feel up for it, take te lead! We already have one proposition: Perfect Tides: Station to Station, a game that is about to be released. No leader (yet).

If you'd like to play a text adventure community playthrough, post here.

Hey friends! While fighting with my crippling insomnia yesterday I stumbled upon this pleasant surprise of a game and decided to make this thread since I haven't seen a lot of coverage for it. The Jester and the Madman is the continuation of the free game  "Curse of the Old Gods", which you are encouraged to first play upon entering a new game. The latter is a minimal color and resolution slideshow first-person adventure with a lot of filters and a digitalized photograph look. It's a short game that sets the mood for the second one, although nothing remarkable so to speak. The second one upgrades its scope in every category, it has more length, tells a more coherent story, has crisper graphics, adds speech and more importantly has a lot of puzzles. And I really liked the puzzles, they ranged from exploration, to logical - deduction and to elaborate inventory puzzles offering a nice variety never feeling unfair and nicely integrated for the most part to the story. There are a couple of instances that you can die but the game auto loads on the previous screen, also a hotspot indicator and unlimited saves  make way for a relaxed gameplay. I found the game delightfully challenging and the hidden true end was nicely clued along the way and feels satisfying to get (something I can't say for the prequel that essentially sets you up to replay the game even if you are on the right path). The game kind of reminds me of "Lost in time" by Coctel Vision (another game I recommend, especially if you enjoy this one) but I can't exactly pinpoint why. There is not a thematic connection between the two though, "The Jester and the Madman" being a horror Lovecraftian game like so many games the last years. The game is dead cheap that kind of surprised me, but I guess it's justifiable because the creator acknowledges the usage of AI

So many questions!

Do you replay games? Certain ones specifically, over and over? Or just whatever strikes your fancy when there's nothing new on your menu?
How often do you replay those specific games that you play over and over?
 
I'll answer in depth later, but I generally wait 2-4 years before replaying a game, unless there's a really good reason...like Fate of Atlantis with the different paths, for example.

Steam Detective Fest is live this week if anyone's in a mystery mood.

Features some discounts on games like The Seance of Blake Manor (from the Darkside Detective devs), The Drifter, Disco Elysium and Case of the Golden Idol.

Even features the demo of our upcoming game, Five Day Detective, but you've got to scroll down quite a way to find it!  

Thanks in advance!

Both games came out in the last 5-6 years, I think. Both got good reviews. Both have 2d graphics, but Game #2 was more polished looking than Game #1.

Game #1
The developer had a thread about it on the old AG forums.
It was regarded as kind of Broken Swordy, but seemed more humorous and the graphics were a little less pro looking.
Protagonist was a young male, had long or longish brown or dark hair.
There might have been some religious themes.
I think it took place in a slightly BC or slightly AD setting.
There might have been a sequel, or there is/was a sequel in development.

Game #2 -- FOUND! It's The Holy Gosh Darn. 
You played as some sort of angel, but dressed kind of modern, if I recall (not dressed as an angel).
Colorful innocent graphics but...
...the game was actually pretty "blasphemous".
Religiously themed story.
The kind of game that looked G-rated but was actually PG-13 or R rated, so to speak.

I've been digging through sites like itch.io and ags to find some hidden gems, maybe a diamond in the rough. I think the genre owes a lot to the diy (freeware) scene and I intend to put a couple of games in the spotlight every once in a while.

Here's my first selection. 

Celestial Coffee Quest by Wavey Games

It's bright, fun, a little garish and full of adventure. It'll take you about half an hour, which'll mostly be dedicated to puzzles. The music is fitting and enjoyable.

MALLICIOUS by jfrisby, Bani Gala Games 

Like Celestial Coffee Quest, this goes for the EGA aesthetic. It has a survival-mechanic, with health and money, but the approach is distinctly point & click adventure. The kind where you can and will die. A lot of the game is about dialog decisions, there are also light inventory puzzles. More characters and locations than I expected. Music also goes pretty hard in this one.

Pumpkin Happenz - free Point & Click Adventure

This one was recommended by Wild Boar in the free and discounted thread. The developer posted one for the game itself (see link). It's a proper adventure game with some 2011 sensibilities. A lot of info in the thread itself. Soundtrack is good as well.

The Comedy of an Eternal Life by Evan Betterer  

This one's a little rough around the edges and some gameplay elements may be exasperating. That said; the writing is solid. It's bold, ambitious and hits a lot of unexpected and interesting notes. The music is nice.

Cascade Failure by futur_null

A "lost media" adventure, made with an obsolete version of AGS for good measure. This surrealist adventure reflecting on living in a society takes on a  more sombre tone than the others. It is quite fun, though.  I recommend the entire saga (links on the itch.io page).

A small pumpkin comes to life one night on a pumpkin patch in the Midwestern United States. Together with the Halloween ghost Siegfried, he sets out on an adventure. Along the way, the unlikely duo must uncover why the Halloween festival in the nearby small town of Orange Town has been cancelled... something that, of course, does not sit well with a living pumpkin!

Originally developed as a university project in 2011, the free point-and-click adventure finally receives an English text version in 2025.

Welcome everyone! This is a head-to-head tournament to crown the greatest LucasArts adventure box art of all time.
I’ve set up a 16-cover knockout bracket (see below). Each match-up will run for 3 days of open voting.

The rules are simple:

1. Vote based only on the box art, not the game itself.
   
2. Pick your favorite in each match-up.
   

At the end, we’ll crown the ultimate LucasArts cover champion.


So, without further ado… here’s the full tournament draw:

---

First Match:




Vote!

Krams Design, the creator of Anna's Quest, has released the demo for their next game today over on Steam.

It's called The Big Hollow and is a murder mystery - something of a departure from the vibes of their previous game.

I've always loved moody dramatic adventures ever since the Gabriel Knight games captured my imagination when I was a kid, so am pretty excited about this one. (Full disclosure: I also know the dev. One of the nicest guys you'll meet and bonding over our shared love of the genre was a strong foundation for our early friendship.)

I haven't seen the game talked about much here on Adventure Game Hotspot yet, so thought I'd give you all the heads up.

Here's the link to the Steam page:  The Big Hollow: 1982 on Steam