I honestly can’t think of anything that I’m excited for. I already read the latest Pendergast novel by Preston & Child. I’m sort of looking forward to season 2 of Alex Cross. 
Baaaah. Entertainment is no longer entertaining.
Ohhh: Forgot about The Odyssey. Majorly looking forward to that.

Flake has been out for a couple of years, and there hasn’t been a text walkthrough for it until now.

Flake walkthrough

While not a masterpiece, it’s a pretty decent game … and cheap.

Join us tomorrow where we watch the premier of the Adventure Game Fan Fair Panel - Sierra Days. As you might imagine, the panel has the legendary Sierra devs reminiscing about the heyday of Sierra Online. There will be some things that you have not heard before!

https://youtu.be/hv4KjMO-cJQ

Hello all,

I've been working on my next game, which is a revisit of my original series of adventure games from 15+ years ago, and finally have a few screens ready to show.  It is a supernatural detective trilogy that I am compiling into a single game with all 3 chapters.  Rather than move onto another new game with new content, I've decided to expand on my older existing games with a bit of new content, primarily as an exercise to teach myself how to draw and do digital artwork.  There was enough AI-based pushback on Nothmere over the several years I was developing it that I figured I might as well learn how to draw and do the entire thing myself rather than depend on starting with Generative AI for the background artwork.  I'm using the program Paint.Net for everything, so it isn't super professional, but between watching videos and reading up on digital art forums, I've decided on the art-style I want, and Paint.Net is just my speed   Some image comparisons are below.

Here is the breakdown on the game from my website:

The Murran Chronicles Revisited is a fully modernized collection of the original supernatural adventure trilogy, rebuilt from the ground up with expanded content, updated gameplay, and all new hand-drawn high resolution artwork.

The series began in early 2009 with The Murran Chronicles: The Jersey Devil, my very first game release. This short introductory episode introduced players to Ken Murran and set the foundation for a world filled with mystery, folklore, and paranormal investigation.

At the end of that same year came The Murran Chronicles: Talons of Terror, a longer and more expansive entry. This sequel featured a more complex storyline, deeper detective mechanics, and a broader exploration of the supernatural themes that define the series.

The trilogy concluded in 2011 with The Murran Chronicles: Lifedrinker of Landsdowne, a full length adventure that delivered a much richer narrative experience, more intricate puzzles, and the most in-depth gameplay of the series.

All three of my original games, released under the Weggieware name, are available for free download from the Wraithwood Games site.

The Murran Chronicles: Revisited brings all three games together in one enhanced collection, featuring:

• Completely new hand-drawn graphics in 1920×1080 resolution, upgraded from the original 640×480 filtered photograph visuals
  
• Expanded story elements, new puzzles, and additional content across all episodes
  
• A modernized 2-click interface:
  

                         Left-click to walk and interact
                         Right-click to examine the environment

This revisited edition preserves the spirit of the original trilogy while reimagining it with contemporary presentation and refined gameplay, offering a new way to experience Ken Murran’s supernatural investigations.

Before & After - Kitchen Scene

    

Before & After - Living Room Scene:


   

Before & After - Neighborhood Scene:

     

Before & After - Neighbor's House Scene:

     

I'm really enjoying Cairn. Anyone else playing yet?

Essentially, your goal is to climb a mountain and live to tell the tale. And I've got to say, it's pretty engaging...

There's such a neat sense of progression to the game, too - planning your route, overcoming the obstacles and setting up camp to eat/sleep/repair equipment. It's also fun to stumble upon the little stories scattered about from previous climbing attempts as well as the native people who called the place home.

Gameplay wise, it feels a bit like Jusant (which I also loved), except more realistic and challenging - with resource management and the like.

Here's the Steam link if it sounds like your kind of thing!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1588550/Cairn/

This is a point-and-click puzzle game with no dialogue, actions, or combat elements.
After humanity disappeared from Earth, the robots at the Earth Post Office continue to operate. The postwoman from the Heaven Post Office was shot down, scattering letters everywhere. Although she eventually retrieved the letters, she still needs to evade the scrutiny of the Earth Post Office… Solve puzzle levels by clicking or dragging with the left mouse button to help the protagonist escape her predicament. There is no text in the game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4025420/PIS/

---

P.I.S.=Postal Inspection Service

The game is simply too difficult and demands too much too quickly.

I am completely inexperienced when it comes to climbing passages and feel completely overwhelmed. If you feel the same way, you should think carefully before buying this game. Don't be fooled by YouTube videos in which players rock through the locations in a few minutes – it took me hours!
I have now uninstalled the game.
The farmer's wife's crypt was the last straw: when I jump, I land in the embers, and the character won't run to the ledge on the right. Then I do the quest “A Tale of Decay,” arrive at the waypoint, and find nothing I can do. Anyone who likes playing this kind of game probably also enjoys banging their head against a wall until it bleeds. It's pure masochism/sadism, depending on which side you're on.

There are no instructions on how to build or even restore houses.

With the skill trees, I was at least able to figure out the general direction based on ten years of WoW experience. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance here either if you haven't played something similar before.

Conclusion: The game demands too much from the player too quickly. It's only for players who have experience.

First off, I want to thank the moderators for creating this forum and I want to say that I'm not creating this topic in bad faith, but to find out where certain lines are around game discussion. I'm happy to follow whatever rules the moderators set, they are just a little unclear at the moment.

Sex and adventures games have a long history with games from Sierra like Leisure Suit Larry and French developer Coktel Vision having explicit nudity in them. More recently, FMV games like Immortality even have (simulated) sex scenes in them with actors. Since the latter is included in the site database, I'm assuming it would be an example of a game that is okay to both mention and talk about as long as we aren't posting screen shots with nudity in them.

However, there are also narrative games that are sold on PC storefronts like Steam, itch.io and GOG that are quite a bit more explicit and are often age restricted. In the news last year many of these adult games were removed from Steam and itch.io (in some cases only temporarily) to comply with payment providers. On some other forums, I have seen rules banning these type of games from being discussed at all or even mentioned by name, which is why I am creating this topic.

In many cases their artistic value may be low, but in other cases they are some of the highest rated games on itch.io and the vndb and many would argue that they do have artistic value and are worthy of discussion. If a list of specific games would help, I'm happy to provide it to the mods.

I don't want to make too big of a deal with this so to simplify, my interpretation of the rules currently is that no explicit screenshots should be shared or links to game pages showing explicit images. On the other hand, no specific games are banned from discussing or mentioning as long as the discussion around them doesn't become too overtly sexual. Would that be a fair assessment?

Again, happy to follow any rules that are set, even if I disagree with them, and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post and to reply.

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, Jack suggested I come join up and let people know about my new game that I just released, Nothmere.  I'm not a game developer, I'm a longtime fan of adventure games who kind of stumbled into making a full length adventure RPG.  Growing up, I played all the Sierra and Lucasarts games, Quest for Glory being my all-time favorite.  I created some games about 10-12 years ago in AGS, which were learning the engine, learning how to code, etc.  I won some AGS awards with those games back in the day, and about 3 or so years ago I decided I wanted to play around in AGS again in my spare time after work and events with the family, so I began developing Nothmere as an homage to my favorite game series of all time, QFG.

After about two years of development I realized it had gotten a bit out of hand and turned into a whole big thing that I never anticipated, a fully fleshed out and full-length adventure RPG.  I decided to put it on some Adventure Game facebook groups I'm in, and the responses there gave me the drive to keep it going, put up a website and put the game on Steam.  I just released it last weekend, and so far the reviews are all positive (fingers crossed).  One of the reviews suggested I post it here, but since I'm not about self-promotion and all that, I reached out to Jack instead, who suggested I go ahead and post, so here we are

The game has a playable Demo if anyone is interested, and I set the price very cheap since it's not exactly an AAA title and I'm not exactly a professional game developer.  Here is the info on the game:

SYNOPSIS

You awaken alone on a cold, rocky shore beneath a moonless sky, dragged from the sea through a sewer pipe with no memory of who you are, how you arrived, or why you’re still alive.

Beyond the beach lies Nothmere, a remote town nestled deep within an inescapable ring of jagged mountains. No one leaves. No one ever has. Every soul who arrives does so the same way you did: broken, memoryless, and stranded.

Despite this, the town endures.

Nothmere is protected by powerful magical wards embedded into its stone walls, holding back the void creatures that stalk the surrounding wilderness. These defenses are maintained by the town’s Mage guild, while order and survival are enforced by the Warrior guild.  Thieves lurk in the shadows, secrets whisper through alleyways, and every citizen carries gaps in their past they cannot explain.

As you explore the town and its outskirts, you’ll uncover fragments of truth about Nothmere’s origins, the nature of the wards, the monsters beyond the walls, and the terrible cost that keeps the town standing.  What begins as a search for escape becomes something far more unsettling; the realization that Nothmere exists for a reason and you may be part of it.

Your choices will determine how the story ends.  Will you preserve the fragile balance that keeps the town safe? Will you uncover a way to break the cycle? Or will you doom Nothmere, and everyone within it forever?  In Nothmere, memory is a weapon, sacrifice is inevitable, and some truths are buried for a reason.

Trailer



Screenshots

         


FEATURES

• Retro point-and-click Adventure RPG developed in the AGS engine, heavily inspired by the Quest for Glory series.
  
• 1920 x 1080 resolution
  
• Customizable (drag-and-drop) GUI
  
• Play as a Warrior, Thief or Mage (or a hybrid combination)
  
• Full timed day and night cycle
  
• Puzzles which fit each character class, each with separate solution paths
  
• Full RPG stats, with branching dialogs depending on character intelligence, speech skills, etc
  
• Experience from completing quests, vanquishing monsters, and progressing the story levels the player up. Stat points added each level
  
• Scrolling Combat Text effect inspired by World of Warcraft so gained experience, health, magic, as well as HP and MP used/taken scroll up from the character as it happens
  
• Equippable inventory system with bonus stats on armor, weapons and jewelry
  
• Equippable items from basic junk items to epic gear for all classes
  
• Potion system with temporary stat buffs, purchasable from vendors
  
• Full shop system with multiple vendors, each selling different types of items
  
• Separate buy and sell functionality, with prices dependent on reputation and speech skill
  
• Dynamic quest log that updates as you progress on the various quests
  
• Spellbook with learned spells
  
• Battle system with spells, special attacks, etc based on class and abilities
  
• Stupid humor and easter eggs to old Sierra and Lucasarts games mixed in throughout
  

AI Disclosure - Since there are people who feel very strongly about AI, I wanted to put this out front and foremost so as not to anger anyone.  As I mentioned, I'm not a developer, I'm a middle aged IT guy who is knowledgeable about everything except art.  Therefore I used GenAI to create the raw images for this game and then massaged/edited/manipulated them by hand, did the animations and such for them myself using paint.net (as I said, I'm not the most graphically talented person), and used them in the game.  All sounds/music are by real people credited for it, and I did all the coding, dialog, storyline, etc.  If GenAI art makes you twitchy or upset, please keep that in mind about this game.


LINKS
My Website:  Wraithwood Studios  (Includes downloadable demo of the game)
Steam Site: Nothmere on Steam (Includes game and demo, trailers, screenshots, info, etc)

Thanks,

Bill

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.