I like this series and the game I'm playing now is certainly another goodie ....
Myths of the World : Stolen Spring.

Glad you are enjoying it!

Ana

There are lots of games in this series, too!

I have played three - and Stolen Spring will make four

I'm going to see if I have played this one. Thanks.

I bought Myths of the World: Stolen Spring a moment ago. I was sold on the game upon discovering an amusing solution to yet another short supply of screwdrivers. These scarcities are obviously occasioned by the hardware, big box, and imagination store closures in story land that mar so many adventures.

Aggghhhhh .... What would the world be coming to if "finding screwdrivers" wasn't a game in its own right !!

I think the obsession with locked away--either in an actual locked cache or via modest pixel hunt--screwdrivers, gas cans, crowbars, rulers, shovels, pruning shears, and just the right cutting tool reflects three things. First, it's gender based, just as trying to build HOPA worlds and characters skewed by action/shooter games is gender based. The constant repetition of tasks like using a magnet or fishing line with hook misses an opportunity to connect with the target audience, becomes tedious, and fails to build dramatic tension. While I was trying to research this idea, I discovered that in terms of plot and character Lisa Brunette covered the subject admirably at a GDC presentation a few years ago. The whole talk is archived and free to watch.

Second, production time constraints in terms of programming make repetition attractive. I sympathize. So why not simply change the objects? "What did I do with that statue of Zoroaster?" or "Where is the saddle for grandfather's favorite Orlov stallion?" take a story in a more interesting direction (for me) than 500 stories in which I have to ask myself where is a screwdriver or car key. Not starting the generator or car or motorboat or even mind meld machine in a deserted sanitarium until I find the gas can which is inside the locked garage whose keys fell into the a drain secured by screws reduces story momentum to zero. In addition, this practice often includes incoherent story telling, such as locking up said screwdriver in an elaborate garden folly cache.

Third, there is reluctance to risk straying from what is incorrectly perceived as part of the formula for success with the target audience. This encourages stagnation in terms of scene to scene tasks, an unfortunate failing because casual games have grown and changed in the last decade in almost every other aspect. (Currently my other two gripes are overblown melodramatic music and lack of puzzle level choice. By the latter, I mean levels of difficulty in much the same way that the book publishing industry offers level selection and delineates the choice in the table of contents of puzzle book.)

One characteristic of HOPAs that has won me over to the format probably comes straight from action/shooter influences. As a rule HOPA gameplay moves faster than gameplay in most standard point and click adventures. Something else to do is always coming up. The shift to more to do increases the developer's responsibility to tell a coherent, intriguing story in terms of task to task construction. Fast pacing results in a cumulative effect that is negative if as a player I can only anticipate yet another screwdriver or crowbar or other quotidian object locked up for no discernible reason on the other side of town.

I enjoy the occasional appearance of traditional tropes like the screwdriver which is why I like the twist in Stolen Spring. The twist increases my tolerance of later traditionally constructed tasks. My objection is to the endless repetition of these.

(Edited to include a hypothetical question inside a game that is not straight out of mythology. I had never heard of Orlovs until a moment ago when I googled slavic horse breeds. I mention this to show how quick and easy it is to pose different questions.)

Interesting observations. I played a game earlier this year (I need to start writing titles down) where I'm pretty sure that when presented with a mini-game/puzzle, I was presented with the option of casual or hard. And, as I stated before, I also played a game where I was given the option to turn awards/achievements notifications off. These implementations were great.

The music used in these games can be a selling point for me and the developers who get it right are to be commended. Certain games have stayed in my mind largely due to the music that was used.

This is meandering away from the topic thread. I would be interested to know for those who have played this series, which would be the favorite.

Marian, by the sheerest coincidence I am playing Grim Tales: Color of Fright, which is quite a good game with fresh approaches and great graphics that balance out a small and inevitable low level of traditional tropes and illogic. Color of Fright allowed me to choose casual (read: for those with slow reflexes) over hard in a whack a hunter mini game. I was grateful. If reflexes had not been involved, I would have chosen hard.

"Stolen Spring" is MY favourite, Marian

8dognight, that is quite a coincidence. Congrats to Elephant Games for including that feature in the game.

Stolen Spring duly noted, Mad - I haven't played that one yet, so I will keep it in mind.

Mad, I think my favorite is Of Fiends and Fairies. I almost didn't try the demo on it. I have an unpleasant memory from four or five years ago of a different game with a fairy helper that wouldn't shut up or stop fluttering to hot spots.

But I downloaded the Fiends and Fairies demo based on reviews and because I like the Celtic mythos. Then the lovely introductory music beckoned me inside, so I thought okay, I'll put a toe in.

To my surprise, I settled happily into this version of monomyth, enough to play again a month later, making Fiends and Fairies the second game I have played through twice since the recurrence of my game obsession, general game neediness, and drive to understand what works and doesn't work in terms of HOPA construction along with what elements make me forgiving of typical HOPA failings in one game but not another. Fiends and Fairies and Nutcracker are the only two I have replayed in their entirety.

Hi 8dognight

I replay lots of my games - especially Adventure games "proper".

But both my Casual and RPG collections also get the treatment !!

[Truth be told I just have WAY TOO MANY games for my own good ]