What does everyone think of Myst Clones? Not nescessarily Myst clones, but games with the same type cursors and stuff? Do you like it? Do you hate it? I have a secret that is secret, but I'll tell you it later on in the year. Near the end maybe. If someone manages to guess, don't give it away to anyone, in fact just e-mail me, and tell me what you think I am talking about.

Your making a myst like game perhaps Darrin?

Iam iffy about the Myst clones, some games suit it well like Myst itself Lighthouse aswell guess iam just used to 3rd person games

<img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/pacify.gif" />

-Polo

Iffy eh? I see. Anyone else want to leave their comments about Myst Clones.

I feel that Myst Clones are only dull if you don't know what you're doing and why you're there. And I agree with Polo - I think you're secret is the fact that you're making a game for us!

Everyone knows my secret. True, I am. I am getting help from Jonathon (Dark Fall maker) I am not going to tell you the story, but I worked on the story hard and there are lots of twists to it, and it's a suspenseful game. I am guessing I'll have it done around Spring 2003. I just barely started the game. It's going to be a lot like Dark Fall, as I am using Strata Studio, which is what Jonathon did. I'll release a demo around the end of this year, a little preview of the game. It's going to have mostly outdoor enviroments, and a few indoor enviroments too. I also would like some suggestions on puzzles. What are your favourite puzzles? I don't want to sell a [blip] game, so I need to know what you guys like in an adventure game. All I can say is, with this adventure game, I won't let anyone down. I might've never made one before, but I do know what I am doing when it comes to cool sound effects. The music will be made by me actually. My band. Although we play rock, this is going to be little catchy suspenseful music that will loop in the background. Our site is here: www.listen.to/no-offence
We're going to have some crazy music, but don't get me wrong, it won't be rock. Rock doesn't really fit in an adventure game. I hope I make this game good enough, so that DreamCatcher will publish it. Jonathan tells me that he was approached by 2 publishers, and turned them down. I want to get approached. I'll let you guys judge if my game is good enough, when I release a demo. I'll have a site with updates on the project, and screenshots of the game as it progresses through the year.

As some of you might've noticed, my name is Alex. Darrin, is my idol.

I think me personally you should make a "Shivers" type game <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" />

Unofficial Shivers III Woohaa!!

-Polo

I love Myst clones! I know the term is used as a negative, but to me it screams "play me!" I'm not too big on inventory based games becasue many times the stuff is used in completely illogical ways and I really hate the "just try everything until something works algorithm of puzzle solving". It's also not a real-world type of approach. If you were really in the game environment would you just pick up a bunch of stuff at random without knowing what it was needed for? Wouldn't you look at some problem and say "gee I need a screwdriver, or knife, or matches, or...." and go find what you need?

Give me a good first person Myst clone any day! I am not totally against 3rd person game as I liked Broken Sword and Circle of Blood and King's Quest 7. I guess I'm more into figuring things out than hunting for stuff to use.
Ed

I love Myst-type games. Keep us posted about your project.

Well I kinda hate to tell you this EdA, but there will be a lot of stuff with inventory, as a lot of people like that kinda stuff. Myself for one. It's going to be a game though where you pick up something and say, could be useful. It's not one of those games where you go and pick up one thing, and say this definantly goes here. I am still developing some of the puzzles on paper. I need some more challenging ideas...

I could see myself getting sued for making a Shivers 3. It depends on how good I sell this game. If I sell this game a lot, I'll make an unofficial sequel to something by popular demand... maybe. I was thinking I might make The Others, but with no The, so I won't get sued. I loved the movie, and the game would be a great hit.

Hi,
Congratulations Dangerous Darrin - I'm looking foward to playing your game.

I love Myst, and I do enjoy Myst clones. Sometimes I want to play a third person game, but sometimes I really want to play first person, as myself. I like 3D engines, but slide shows games are good too.

I think it's great that you are doing a game with just yourself, or a small team. That way it will really have the mark of the designer. I look for a game that looks like the same game all the way through, not "done by a committe". I'm also looking forward to your music.

As for puzzles, I prefer "easy" puzzles, unlike many of our veteran gameboomers. I happen to like inventory puzzles, because I have a better chance of solving them. I think word puzzles are also kind of nice, but you don't see them in games very much - I think it's a translation issue. If you are getting a game translated into multiple languages a word puzzle isn't going to do it.

On the visuals (very important to me) I can't wait to see what you come up with. My request would be to not make the visuals too "perfect" - lots of computer generated art looks, well, computer generated. Having something that isn't always single point perspective would be great too. But, I'll be happy to play anything you come up with.

I don't think getting a big name publisher is a bad thing. A person has to eat, pay rent and have some fun! If it works for you, go for it.

Oh, forgot - are you submitting your game to the Independent Games Festival - http://www.igf.com/ .
The festival doesn't seem to be too kind to adventure games, though an adventure game did win last year. Of course, some people didn't think of "Bad Milk" as an adventure game!

I think this is wonderful, Alex, and you know we will be thrilled for you if you can accomplish this. I personally love inventory based games, rather than having to solve machinery puzzles, for instance. Another independent that you might wish to take a look at is Passage: Path of betrayal. I think it is absolutely wonderful that Jonathan is helping you, as well, as he surely knows the pitfalls to avoid.
I don't much like the style of play for Myst or Myst clones, just a personal preference, but some good ones (my opinion, of course) are Celtica, Gordak and Secrets of the Luxor, if you haven't taken a look at them. Outdoor scenery is wonderful if you're exploring, and set to a good musical score and good sound effects, could be a winner.

I think nearly all so-called Myst Clones aren't really much like Myst at all except for the interface. But a point-and-click, snapshot-type interface works fine for adventure games. And I never heard of anyone getting motion sickness from Myst.

Quote:

I also would like some suggestions on puzzles. What are your favourite puzzles? I don't want to sell a [blip] game, so I need to know what you guys like in an adventure game.

Well, you'll never please everybody. Some people like music puzzles, others hate them. Some people are colorblind so puzzles that depend on color recognition would be impossible for them. Some people like sliders, others hate them. If you include puzzles like that, it would be good to make them skippable so they won't hold up the gamers who are unable to do them.
Same goes for action sequences, timed sequences, or dying in the game. Anything that makes the gamer have to repeat the same bit of the game over and over and over again is undesirable. Personally I don't like action/timed sequences or dying and would happily do without them because they make me have to save and restore and mess up the immersiveness of the game.

One thing that is fun in a game is a humorous Easter egg or some other little surprises that you can find that may not be critical to finishing the game, but which make the gameworld seem richer and more like a real place.

I like first person games vey much, I like to be able to look around without having to cope with arcade type puzzles or pixel hunting. A good puzzle is a puzzle that makes you use your brain and not the one that is made ackwad just to make the game look longer. The same goes for tile puzzles and mazes. Lot of people do not like them I do if they are made interesting and relevant to the game.
Keep them coming!

I'm getting excited now!! Indie stuff is good.. who needs a big company telling you what your audience wants! Good luck with the project..

BTW, rock music can work in an adventure.. Full Throttle!! Rest my case! How about putting a cd player in one location as an easter egg with a couple of clips of your music on??

Hugs

Tig

There used to be a great thread will all sorts of do's and dont's aimed at gamemakers and designers, but I can't find it. It's been a while, but I figured you could get loads of good advice from that thread. Oh well...

I love Myst-like games also (note the deliberate use of -like not -clone ). I really don't enjoy timed puzzles, action elements or dying too often if at all!

Good luck in making the game! We will all be cheering you on!

I love Myst, Riven ... and try to get my hands on every Myst-Clone. Sometimes I am playing 3. person games, but my love belong to 1. person games. Hope one day I played them all

Can

Thanks a lot everybody, I have heard what you are saying, and you won't see any timed puzzles. There might be an action sequence, but don't get me wrong, it's not like, oh my god this is hard. It'd be more like take a gun from the inventory and click the man looking at you, action sequence completed. You might die once, but I'll not stop of giving you clues that it will be coming. Once is definantly enough, if at all. Once you hear my story of the game, you'll realize that these things you hate are kind of nescessary. Also, thanks Tigger, I might put a CD player in the game. One story hint, it's in the not too distant future, so some things will be high tech. A CD player, and it'll have a few songs from No-Offence, that'd be awesome.

I'll have a few Easter Eggs to put up my sleeve. It's not nescessarily a Myst Clone, I am just talking at the cursors. The cursors are going to remind you of Myst, with the hand gestures. But, the way I see it, Myst is the best selling adventure game of all time.

Also, http://www.igf.com/ I'm not sure what it is too much, but it'd be awesome to win it. Is it for beginner game makers or something? Thanks for all your support everyone, I really want to make a game that is fun, and, fun to make.

I buy any game that says it's Myst-like....

I love 1st person games.

Good luck with your game Alex and how nice of Jonathan to guide you. <img border="0" alt="[winky]" title="" src="graemlins/winky.gif" />

~Dee

Sweet. Maybe for the back I should put one of the features saying "A Myst like interface, for all Myst fans."

What do you guys/girls think of not nescessarily gore, but blood? Any objections or just don't like it much.

That depends, if it's important to the story or not. Remember, good storylines work when the writer holds true to the "laws" that he's set for his "world". Have you seen the DVD - The Sixth Sense? There's a great interview with the writer/director for this movie, in it he talks about why his story jumped out and grabed his audience. He mentions exactly about "the rules for his world" and how a writer should not break those rules. This way "the willing suspension of disblief" can not be compromised. In the Gaming world ...Dark Fall has it. So did Myst and it's sequels. Good luck, Darrin. We right here for you. You can do this! We believe in you.
Inferno

Oh Alex, I loved The Others! I was watching it and said, "This would make a great Adventure game". I saw a program in my local Hasting's that made Adventure games, but I can't remember the name of it. I think it was 39.95. I started to get it, and try a game based loosely on a cross of The Others and What Lies Beneath. I just have not been inspired yet, I have over 100 unplayed games, waiting for me in the cabinet. I just want to play. I hope you do something based on The Others too! Looking forward to whatever you are working on now. I saw your post before where you spoke of maybe making a game yourself.
I loved the trivia type puzzles in Cassandra Galleries.
Happy game making, Julie

Mist-like is good. But if you let your character die, please be sure to have him/her brought back to that same location. NO ' GAME OVER' !!!, or reloading!! , or "And poor Seth was never seen again" !!!
We might trade your Easter Eggs, and toss you some of the 'other' kind.

When I hear a game described as a "Myst clone", my first reaction oh no not another one. I do not like lonely games with static screens. I like to have a good story with character interaction. If you can't tell I am a 3rd person fan.

Alex, I do admire the fact that you do want to make a game and I do wish you the best of luck in it. Since you are set in making it a first person game, have full 3D movement where you steer(look left/right and up/down) with the mouse and move either with the arrow keys or the right mouse button.

If you decide to have some action elements in it, have it so that if you die, you are placed just back at the scene. Also if you die say three times in a row, give the person the option of either trying again or being able to skip it.

You said you are going to have inventory, so have items in your inventory with a name attached to it.

One last thing, if the game is going to be on more than one CD, one should be able to start the game on whatever CD they are on. Do not force us to start with disk one. Also have an option for a full install no matter how many CD's the game is on.

Lots of people have commented, regarding Syberia, that they wish more things in the environment were clickable... not neccessarily parts of the game, but clickable and a little bit interactive, just to thicken up the immersion level. An example might be a painting on the wall might well be irrelevent to the game & puzzles, but it is decoration. In a first/third person setting, it might be nice to have the protagonist comment on the picture.

I know I haven't expressed this very well... you might like to look at some of the Syberia threads to get a better idea of what I'm trying to say... I'm still on my first cup of coffee of the morning.

Ta-ra,
The Gremlin

Congrat.D.Darrin,
I'm looking forward to playing your game,but...
I do love Myst-clones,but I'd like more to talk about other classic games-clones,a.ex.Obsidian-Shivers-GK-Timelapse-TexMurphy-Azrael'sTear clones.
So my request is:
1)Refer to the above mentioned games
2)First person
3)DIFFICULT PUZZLES,please!!I want to rack my brain for one or two days to solve them, and many notes full on my desk!!Thanks Bombou

Darin,

Myst clones im not sure about, but Myst/Riven were for me the best point and click games ever made (no inventory here!). Personally i still think that no body has made a game to rival Riven as yet. Dont know what it is but Riven has got it.

Good luck, just to think if you managed to better myst/riven well that millions of games sold world-wide. The Miller brothers should be your next stop, if they will give you 5 mins!

Okay people. It's not going to be a lot like a Myst-Clone now. It's going to have tons of ineraction, you click on it, and the character will give a comment, like Nice picture. Great painting, and I'll see what I can do to make some characters, but I might have a few tricks to do differently.

Darrin -

Whatever you do, do not make the puzzles as hard as Bombou wants them to be! Puhleeeeeaazze!!!! <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/pacify.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/pacify.gif" />

Do not make the puzzles Schizm-like. When I found out that I couldn't solve the puzzles without a walkthrough, I gave up and traded it for another game!

Don't make me do that to you're game! <img border="0" alt="[winky]" title="" src="graemlins/winky.gif" />

Believe me, I am probably one of the only ones that HATED Schizm on this board. I didn't like one thing about it, other then the cool graphics. It wasn't my game. It was WAY too hard, and no game should be that hard!

Have you got a detailed idea for the plot in your head (or on paper)? I don't want to sound negative but I'd really advise you not to start the game unless you have a strong knowledge of what's going to happen throughout it. Your posts mention a lot about music, but very little about plot and setting, so I thought I'd better post an irritating comment like that. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" />

As far as puzzles go, I prefer inventory-based puzzles too (when done well) because I feel they can be much more closely intertwined with the plot than mechanical puzzles. Also, they tend to rely on a simple 'Eureka!' moment on the part of the player, without fiddling, thus maximising thought and minimising work. There's nothing to say you can't have both types of puzzle, though.

Action elements in an adventure are fine the way you have described them. The idea is that once the player has worked out what they're supposed to do, the 'action' is very easy to take, right? Like in Full Throttle, or the end puzzle of The Secret of Monkey Island, or that clifftop moment in Broken Sword?

Giving the player freedom to interact with their environment is a very good idea. It all helps to create the impression of a living, breathing gameworld.

Making a game is a lot of work, so the best of luck for the slog ahead.

Yes, I know exactly what is going to happen in my game when it comes to story. I just don't want anyone to know the story until I near the end of completion to the game, then I'll make a website, or perhaps e-mail DreamCatcher and send them a preview edition, so they can see the game a bit, and see if they'd publish it. Don't worry, I know what most adventure gamers want now, and I am going to try my best to give it to you. Yes, the action is going to be easy, not hard. Not like, get that gun and shoot it in 3 seconds or you'll die! It's going to be easy and you are going to be given a lot of time if not unlimited time.

When I think of a Myst Clone, I think of a first person, point and click with lots of exploring, lots of puzzles and things to play with, little to no character interaction......like Myst/Riven, Shivers, Timelapse, Obsidian, Riddle of The Sphinx, Dark Fall, Lighthouse, Amber, Morpheus etc. JMHO.... <img border="0" alt="[winky]" title="" src="graemlins/winky.gif" />

~Dee

Alex, how exciting for all of us!! To hear from you during this process --- facinating!

I'm with MacDee on this. If the description of the game says "...Myst-like..." I read no further and pay my money.

The best of luck to you and keep us informed.

Hey,wait a moment!!
I HATE puzzles Schizm-like,or Rama-like..
But, on my personal opinion,there are different difficulty levels:Schizm puzzles are boring and hard because they include sterile math expressions and equations,or the laws of physics..
Puzzles in Obsidian,or Timelapse,GK2,Overseer,or Riven,or the recent Dark Fall are challenging, but there is imagination,in one word a spark of genius..And,to solve them,you need to take time and patience,and try many solutions..I don't know if you see what I mean,I beg your pardon for my English <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/woozy.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="confused.gif" /> Bombou

Rama puzzles may of been hard but after you complete them you get a pretty [blip] good feeling you have learned something.. my maths aint so good and those math machines in Rama were a pain in the arse but none the less i liked it in the end <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" />

-Polo

I'm 100% with Zanthia - lonely is not for me.... although I've played and loved 1st person, Myst and Riven weren't fun and Schizim was dreadful and I never finished it. One thing that drives me mad about a game is when you have to keep going back to a certain location..... like your room in a hotel that has halls and elevators and 20 different things for you to do before you can actually get there to do one stupid thing and then go back down stairs..... or like trying to find that black dolphin in Atlantis LOL.....
You will find that no matter what you do, there will be complaints..... the old saying "You can please some of the people some of the time....."
Good luck, I think this is a tremendous venture and I wish you all the luck in the world. I can guarantee you I will buy a game from you...... if for no other reason than to say........."I knew him when.............

I've come to read the forums from a hard day of work. I've been slaving away on Strata, and have made a pretty hefty location. The graphics of the screenshots I made amaze my eyes, and in my opinion look like a pro made it. Pretty soon, I'll think myself as a pro.

I like old sayings. "Quote of Prat from Almost Heroes": There's an old saying, White water in the mourning. 'Yes' Chris Farley says. 'That's it." LOL, that's a funny joke. I'll have a few easter eggs that I thought in my head, that made me laugh. This game is going to turn out great. Thanks for all your help and support. I will try to make some challenging puzzles. I'd say making puzzles is the hardest part of making an adventure game.

As much as I'd love to give you all a little preview of the starting that I made for the game today, I can't. I am a developer from now on. I just can't wait to finish this game, and I love to make games, so if this game is a success, there will definantly be another adventure game that I'll make.

DD,it's great you're making your own game... It is exciting,isn't it? I'm also in that gamemaking bandwagon (although sctrictly as an amateur as I don't have 3D skills and my hand drawing is just so-and-so... and my puzzles all seem ridiculous... oh, should I go on?) so I do wish you the best of luck with your project...

One thing I would like is an online hint system - I'm sure it's not easy to do one that works properly - but it's one of those things I always wanted to have in a game... Of course, it shouldn't reveal the solution at the first try and should probably be included in EASY mode (or something) but... well, think about it... I'm one who often gets stuck in games and prefer subtle hints rather than "blatant" WT..

PS Nellie, are you doing your own game? Which is it?

Actually, I might make a Hint message board, but I am going to make hints in the manual, or right on the CD, for every puzzle you'll see in the game...

Yes, it is exciting. You should really not give up. At one point I thought, this is WAY too hard, I don't even want to make a game anymore, but I stuck with it, and I'm rolling in the scenes now. I am making all the locations so fast and so beautiful to look at.

Hehe, ratracer, I recognise you from the AGS Forums. I'm a little surprised we're the only AGSers to ever post here. My game's a comedy-vampire one called Undead Fred. What game are you making at the moment?

D.D., I LOVE Myst-clone games. Is your game going to be slide-show driven? I LOVE those kinds as well, in 1st Person perspective. Out of curiosity, what program are you using to generate your screens/images? I used a program called "Paint Shop Pro" to generate screens, and used them in a "tiny" adventue game I made with the "Adventure Game Pro" program. I LOVED creating my graphics, but I've been on the look out for a program that can make realistic looking scenes with not too much work. Have you ever heard of BRYCE? That apparently was a program great for making 3d scenes, but I don't think it's available anymore, and I never got a copy of it to try. Thanks for doing this, I have a feeling the future of the Adventure Genre really will rest in the hands of independents like yourself.

I'll keep making adventure games til I die. I love it. I am making slideshow. I use Strata 3D, which is a very expensive program, for Plus it's 200 dollars, and for Pro it's 600 dollars, but Plus and Pro aren't really that different. To get a demo go to www.strata.com and if you want to buy it, you can get better prices then Strata's homepage at www.pricegrabber.com The screen shots I make are very quality, and yes Bryce is a good program, but kinda hard. Strata is the easiest program ever in my opinion. Get it before it ends up like Bryce...

What's adventure game pro? Is it a multimedia program? Is it any good?

Best of luck to you Darrin,

> In the type of games we're all discussing here, I really enjoy the "Zip" cursor if I have to revisit areas I've already been to.
> In Timelapse, I thought that the camera idea to take pictures of complicated possible puzzle solutions was a great help for people like myself, who can't draw a straight line with a ruler.
> One of the games I'm playing is Civilization 3, which has a great feature on screen resolution. I initially cranked it way up the first time a played it, and it automatically resets the screen every time I play it. My wife can't stand the high resolution for her use of the computer, and it saves all the back and forth adjustment, and even keeps the icons where they belong. A nice touch!
> Finally, as someone else said, be able to start the game from any disc.
> I can't wait to see the final result!!

FatVladdie

I'll see what I can do about that camera feature. Thanks for the feedback, the game is coming along great. I am making lots of scenes already, with only a little trouble so far. My game will be out definantly before next year. I am thinking around Early Fall, I'm working on this game 24/7 (not literally) but I've been working atleast 8 hours a day. (I have a lot of time on my hands in Summer) I'll still trying to think of some puzzles, but I made one yesterday that made me actually smile, cause I thought, what a nice and fun puzzle to solve.

I know naught about 3D but read that Bryce was quite easy to use... Since I'll eventually have to try 3D I'll check out Strata (I never heard of that before but, then, as I said I know nothing of 3D drawings...)

And, Nellie, I'm doing a mystery with some sci fi elements on it (It's now called The Uncertainty Machine). This project had a major set back as I lost my hard disk - I'll get back to it, though. Chrille (of Pleurghburg fame)posted here some time ago (that's how I was lured to AGS) but doesn't seem he comes here often---

D.D., Adventure Game Pro is a game engine that lets you take graphic files and sound files and put them together in a slide-show driven point-and-click adventure game. You don't create the files with this program, you just put them together to form the game. I downloaded a free version of it and it's really low-end, basic, low-tech, but it did the job for me. What are you using to program your game? BTW, unlike most people, I actually LOVE slider puzzles, so if you could throw one or two in I would be very happy.

Umm, I use Illuminatus 4.5 to do that, which is very easy to use, and is an excellent program, you can get the 30 day trail at www.digitalworkshop.co.uk

My memory is very vague, as I only did 1 or 2 slider puzzles in the past. What is a slider puzzle, name a game with some. (Don't say Shivers, as I've already heard someone say there were some in that game.)

Also, what do you guys think about Slide transitions? Do you think I should add them to the game? I think they look nice, but you guys might think it will take the realism out, or something, I was just wondering. Also, I am working on a web site now, to show some screen shots of the game and soon have a demo, because of working for so long, the game is going to come out sooner then I thought, probably Fall. The site is coming soon, I'll post here when it is ready...

A 'slider' is like one of those keychain games, (they make big ones too ) a lot of little interlocking squares, with one empty spot, and you slide the squares every which way to form a picture, or message, or sometimes just line up numbers or the alphabet. Lots of people confuse a jig-saw puzzle with a slider, but with a slider you can NOT pick up the pieces or rotate or turn them over to move them. You must, what else? SLIDE them around.

The most notorious I know of is the one at the end of the 'Mayan' world in TimeLapse. It had FOUR sliders in one frame, if you got one scene, it locked in place, so you had to work around that part to continue with the rest. Your space to work in got smaller and smaller. Soooo much fun!!

I got it now. I'll see what I can do. It'll be a hard task, I might not even be able to put one in the game...

My game is going great. I actually sent a screen shot to my best friend, and he said, "that's not your game! You have to be a professionaly to make that". LOL