PreProduction
Point and Click Adventure Games
Researching and planning to develop my own mobile app.
Point and Click Adventure Games
Examples:
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The Whispered World (2010)
Another Code: Two Memories (2005)
Another Code: R – A Journey Into Lost Memories (2009)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (2006)
Broken Sword (series) (1996)
Machinarium (2009)
The oldest point-and-click adventure game dates back to 1983 with Planet Mephius, released only in
Japan for the FM-7 computer. This was the first game to use the point-and-click interface. A year later,
a similar game was released called ‘Wingman’, also another title released only in Japan but used the
same point-and-click method, however released on the PC-8801 (informally known as the PC-88).
Another Code
The Another Code is a two-part game series about a teenage girl called Ashley Mizuki Robins. In the
first Another Code game she is 14 years old and in the second, we see the 16-year-old Ashley and
how she has changed and matured over the two games. The game is a text-based point-clickadventure game that tells the tale of a young teenage girl's lost memory; the player has to help her
unravel the mystery about her mother's death. The games show the events from Ashley’s perspective,
from meeting her dad after believing he was dead all her life, to solving puzzles. In the game, the
player gets to control Ashley’s decisions throughout the game that change the outcome of different
situations. The player also gets to interact with different objects to make the game more interactive and
not as story based so there isn't a lot of reading for the player. The game focuses mainly on the story
line to involve the players into Ashley’s life and to help her make wise decisions.
The art style in the game is of an anime/manga style, unlike most anime styles, the characters in the
game do not have the big saucer-like eyes that anime characters typically have, or disproportional
bodies like typical anime/manga characters. In the game, all characters both men and women look
believable. I really enjoyed the art style of the game, as it's different to most
game manga/anime/Japanese styled games I've played in the past. The artwork in the game is
definitely something I enjoyed, alongside the scenery in the game. In the game, you control Ashley as
she runs horizontal across paths and the player gets a glimpse of the background setting. The
attention to detail and scenery shown in the game is very picturesque and simply brilliant. The scenery
is definitely something I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated throughout my game play.
Myst
Myst is a mobile game app created by the games company Cyan Worlds - who have self-published
many games themselves, all made for either iOS/iPod/tablets - which can be played on iOS. It follows
the same idea as Another Code with the point-and-click method to get the player around the game.
The game is a first-person journey which takes the player through an interactive world filled with
puzzles and the need to explore in order to complete the game.
In the game, the player plays as a 'stranger' as known by Myst players. The characters identity is never
revealed. You come face to face with a mysterious book. You look into the book and find a panel at the
back of the book that teleports you to the mysterious island of Myst. There, you must explore the island
in search of hints and clues to find out just where you are and how to get back home.
You quickly find two books - red and blue - each with a person inside them. These two people are
brothers, trapped inside the books, and are sons of a man called Atrus. Both brothers claim the other
one killed Atrus and cannot be trusted. The player needs to find out which is telling the truth so that
these brothers can help the player return home.
However, both books are missing most of the pages so their images are fuzzy and hard to understand.
This is where the player must search the island to look for these missing pages to progress in the
game. As the Stranger looks for pages, you find more Linking books which transport the player to
another world or 'Age' as known in the game. The player must solve the puzzles of each age to return
to Myst island, hopefully with a blue or red page in hand.
Throughout the game, the player find multiple pages, including letters from Artus himself to his wife
Catherine and about his suspicions of his library that was destroyed, talking about his suspicions that
one of his sons is responsible.
My Role
As taking on the (imaginary) role of production manager in delivering a variety of game design
documents in preparation for a new mobile game launching, my aim is to create and design
a successful point-and-click adventure game that I could then pitch to a games company. I very much
enjoyed the sound of point-and-click adventure games after I played both Another Code games. The
games really intrigued me, with such a unique story line to the game, the game made the player want
to continue and help Ashley unlock her lost memories. I'd like to stick with the whole game design and
especially the character design as it's definitely something different so caught my eye. My plans are to
keep the artwork and base of the game the same, just to include a different story line that gets the
player instantly wanting to know more as well as having interactions throughout the game so the player
feels part of the adventure.
Research Time!
In a world obsessed with technology, mobile game apps are getting more and more popular.
This is most likely because we carry our phones around with us pretty much everywhere we go, it is
much more efficient to play a game on a handheld device then carrying our Xbox or PlayStation around
with us. For obvious reasons.
The mobile app industry kicked off with Apple's App Store back in 2008. This started a chain of
publishers and developers thriving to put the app industry into overdrive.
When the App Store was opened, there was a total of 10 million apps downloaded within the first
weekend of its launch. That 10 million is now at over 10 billion!
Contributors
Virtuos
http://www.virtuosgames.com/
Virtuos is a massive game developing company, originating from China and started the company in
2004. Just a year later, Virtuos signed their first contract and had set up its European office in Paris.
Since then, Virtuos has developed a lot of games, all successful and the company now stands with
over 1000 staff worldwide, and offices located in Los Angeles, Chengdu and San Francisco.
The games Virtuos have developed are:
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Street Riders
Asphalt 2
Monopoly Collection
The Game of Life
The Enchanted Library
Speed Racer
Dreamworks Super Star Kartz
Dora the Explorer
Ben 10 Ultimate Alien
Ghost Recon Predator
Wolverine
Indiana Jones
Virtuos also created the character art, environment art and props for the very successful
game released for PS3, The Last of Us, including clothing for main characters Joel and Ellie.
iLogos
http://www.ilogos.biz/
iLogos is an independent game production company in Europe. They have been running since 2006
and produce social, browser, mobile and cross-platform games. Their company has over 250 staff, all
of which cover art creation - both 2D and 3D - as well as game design, programming, project
management and more.
Some mobile games the company have developed are:
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Megapolis
Vector
Atlantis Adventure
Banzai Surfer
Stick Run Mobile
Bubble Panda
Emperia
Candy Witch
Easter Rush
These are all successful mobile games that people play daily, this company would make a great
company for me to use in my production of my game because of this.
The Cost
A freelance artist in 3D modelling will on average, working on something that may take a week will cost
around £490 (working 5 days a week, for 8 hours per day). This is around £12 per hour, and £98 per
day. On top of this, you have to bear in mind what objects in your game/scene you'd like..
According to kabits.com, here are the costs paid for modelling objects:
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A barrel, box or crate, £6+
An empty simple warehouse structure, £120+
A series of map objects, pillars, arches, doorways, £300+
A small empty 'industrial' level, no map objects, £300+
A larger empty 'industrial' level, no map objects, £1230+
A 'city' scape level, no map objects, £3070+
A large level including terrain and buildings, no map objects, £3070+
A character model 1000 triangles or less, rigged, no animation, £300+
A character model 2500 triangles or less, rigged, no animation, £600+
A character model 5000 triangles or less, rigged no animation, £1530+
A character model 5000 triangles or less, rigged with animations (walk, run, jump, etc.),
£3070+
Content for small virtual world, £3070+
Content for a large virtual world, £6150+
On average, a mobile app developer will earn around £30 per hour, so around £200-280 per day. They
earn around £35-40,000 per year.
Story
My game is called The Witch's Word and it is a first person adventure game. The player wakes up on
an island, not knowing how they have arrived there. The objective of the game is to explore the island
to figure out how you got there, why you were sent here and to even possibly try to make it back home.
The island is made up of 13 different scenes in which the player can explore for clues. Throughout the
game there are puzzles the player has to solve to unlock hints and clues to help the player find out
what happened to them.
The game is an adventure/puzzle game that uses the point-and-click interface to move around the
map. The game is played by clicking on black arrows that are located on either side of the screen to
move to the next location and to investigate the scene to look for hints; the player can do this by
clicking on objects and areas of interest.
The game will take place in the near future, in the year 2020 and takes place over the period of 6
daylight hours.
Environment
These scenes consist of:
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A beach
A cave
Forest
Hollow tree
A cottage
A rusted gate
Shipwreck
Tree house
Rock pool
Waterfall
Treasure chest
River
Port
Weather
Throughout the game, the weather is constantly changing due to global warming. The weather varies
throughout the different scenes from rain, sun, windy and cloudy.
Features/Game Controls/HUD
The game uses a tap method to control the game. The player taps on items or areas to explore
further. I chose this method as its simple and not complicated so the game is suitable for people
of all ages and people new to games.
I took the simple tapping method from the games I've researched. It is very simple for the player
so they don't have to work out the controls and adjust to a certain type of gameplay.
Screenshot 1
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The game is to be played holding the device horizontally. This will make it more comfortable
for the player to hold their device and to
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The HUD in the game is simple to help the player. The black arrows are on screen to help
indicate to the player which way they can move to explore a new scene. In the bottom left
corner, there are two buttons – an inventory and a pause button. I kept the arrows a dark
colour so they wouldn’t distract the player from the game, to try and immerse the player more
into the game. I placed the inventory and pause buttons in the bottom left so they weren’t in
the way of anything on screen but yet still visible if the player needed them.
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I have chosen to put the arrows in to indicate to the player where they can investigate next. I
have chosen to do this as in most point and click games; players are sometimes confused by
where they can and can’t go. I have included a pause button which is used like a menu button.
You can use this to exit out of the game as well. I have included the inventory button as
players will need to collect hints and clues to help them progress in the game.
Screenshot 2
Concept Art
System Requirements
My game will be available to download on android devices and the App Store. The game will
require android 2.2 and up. Also requires iOS 4.3 and up for Apple products. The game requires
45MB of space available to play.
Bug Fixes
We will regularly test the app whilst in production to check for bugs in the game. This will allow us
to make the game successful and to make sure it has a successful launch. Once we’ve finished
testing for bug fixes, we will release a beta of the game.
Publishing
First we would make sure the game is bug-free and has a simple installation and/or set-up. I
would also set a price, between £1.50-£0.62. We would make a website to promote the game and
to place the product online to promote it online, too. As well as this, we may download or
purchase a Web spider. This will upload our information to hundreds of Web sites to advertise the
game.