Adventure Games - The Genre That Would Not Die!
Veteran game designer, speaker, and author Ernest Adams takes a look today about the state of graphic adventure games - the genre which, contrary to rumors, is still alive and kicking. Just not on quite the "mainstream" front:

The Genre That Would Not Die

As he explains, "Game journalists often glibly announce that adventure games are on the point of extinction, but they're wrong. Adventure games will never again be the dominant genre they once were, but they have a well-established market niche and the overall number of people who play them is rising, thanks to the recent arrival of large numbers of female and casual players. "

He talks about what has changed, what has stayed the same, and offers some praise to the indie game movement that is allowing for these kinds of games (and many more) to hit the market outside of the controls of the mainstream publishing and distribution industry.

From my own perspective - I was one of those people who thought the graphic adventure game was dead, and was pleased to discover a few years back that I was very wrong. I've since bought several (and might actually finish them all one day...) So far, I haven't found any with quite the level of charm and awesomeness of Grim Fandango or Monkey Island - but those are classics among classics.

But we've got some developers with great potential out there, and I've been impressed with what I've played. I agree with Adams. While they've disappeared from the mainstream's radar for the most part, and sales of the top games are no longer tipping the scale on the level they used to in the late 80's and early 90's, the graphic adventure game - as a genre - seems as robust as ever.

Labels: Adventure Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:56 AM (Permalink)