What Are Adventure Games?
Adventure games are story-driven and often take place in fantastical worlds. They typically involve a lot of puzzle-solving and inventory management. They also usually feature an immersive environment and character development that follows literary conventions.
As technology improved, clumsy basic vector graphics gave way to more aesthetic imagery drawn by professional artists. Some games like Sky: Children of Light use high-definition, animated backgrounds.
Storytelling
Adventure games rely on storytelling to engage players. They are not based on combat and can be played at a slower pace than other video games. But effective storytelling requires time, consideration and effort to develop. Even the latest AI-generated dungeons, like 2019’s popular AI Dungeon, require a quality narrative and logical sequence to succeed.
The first adventure game to popularize the genre was Colossal Cave Adventure, a text-based system that allowed the player to explore a simulated underground cave. It inspired graphical adventure games such as Zork, King’s Quest, Monkey Island, and Syberia.
In the 1990s, Chunsoft developed a series of acclaimed visual novels that blended immersive gameplay with character development and narrative. These titles, including Otogiriso, Kamaitachi no Yoru, Machi and 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, set a standard for modern adventure games that combine action with story. This trend has continued into the 2000s, when developers released innovative franchises that pushed the boundaries of the genre.
Puzzles
While puzzles are a major component of Adventure Games, they should never feel arbitrary or disconnected from the story. They should provide a sense of accomplishment once solved, and should nudge the player forward through the story. The best puzzles are a natural extension of the gameplay, such as interacting with secondary characters to accumulate clues or using items in the environment.
The classic example of a puzzle in an Adventure Game is the inventory puzzle, where players must comb through an environment to find items with unique uses. These items can then be used on other objects in the environment, such as unlocking a door with a key, putting on a cloak to hide in a room or using a flute to play a musical composition.
The best way to design a puzzle is to limit the area of investigation, so that the player doesn’t stray far from a location and return in the hope that they will discover a new clue. This can be accomplished by a cut scene, a visual gimmick or simply keeping the needed elements of the puzzle in close proximity to each other.
Character development
Adventure games typically take place in fantasy or fictional worlds and feature an immersive story with characters the player must interact with. They are usually character-driven, and include a wide range of puzzles and exploration. The genre has a strong narrativist tradition and has influenced other gaming genres, including action games.
The story of an adventure game can be divided into two aspects: back story and forward story. The back story is the history of the world prior to the player taking control. It may be revealed early in the game through documents or introductory segments, or it may be fleshed out during play by interacting with NPCs or reading notes.
Forward story is the story the protagonist creates during gameplay. It may be in the form of journal entries or dialogue, but it is important that the character is well-developed and has a story to tell. In addition, forward story should have a sense of urgency, which can be achieved through time constraints.
Action
Adventure games often include action elements, such as combat or time-based challenges. In the broadest sense, a game that requires quick hand-eye coordination, reaction time and a good ability to deal with stress can be considered an action adventure.
The earliest adventure games were text-based, such as Will Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure, which he developed for the Atari, Inc. 2600 home video console. Later, Sierra On-Line’s graphic adventure games took advantage of the new technology to use bitmap graphics and animations.
In addition to requiring strong storytelling and puzzle solving, an adventure game must have an interesting world for the player to explore. The world should be populated with characters that live there and are affected by the player’s actions. This is one of the main differences between an adventure and a Role-Playing Game (RPG), where character stats are much more important than in action adventures. It should also contain interesting and engrossing challenges that make the player proud to have solved them, rather than wanting to kick themselves for having such a hard time with them.