ScummVM Testing For Zork Nemesis and Grand Inquisitor

ScummVM has just announced full support of two new games in their daily builds, Zork Nemesis and Zork: Grand Inquisitor.  In order to support these games in the next stable release, they need people to help them out by playing through them and reporting any bugs they find to their bug tracker so the ScummVM team can squash them. They also need people to submit screenshots for the games.

When you're done testing, don't forget to let the team know whether you could complete the game and post links to any bugs you submitted to their tracker in this post on the ScummVM forums.

I Am Now Helping Out the ResidualVM Wiki Too

As you probably know, I'm a big fan of the 2D adventure game interpreter suite ScummVM and its sister project for 3D adventures ResidualVM. I have been helping out the ScummVM Wiki since 2006, since I really wanted to help out the project in a big way, and I can only submit a few minor patches since I'm not skilled enough in programming to help out the project that way.

I have decided to ask if I could help out on the ResidualVM wiki as well, since I want to help out that project in a bigger way than my minor compilation fix patches, but as with ScummVM, I'm not skilled enough to do much more than that, programming wise.  Happily, the ResidualVM team has also graciously taken me up on my offer to help out.

It was fun watching ScummVM grow while I was a part of the documentation side of the project.  It will be even more fun to watch ResidualVM grow, as it's at an early stage of multiple engine support at this point, and there's a lot of buzz going around for more potential future engines all the time. :)

Point and Click Adventure Review: The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 Chapter Three

The third chapter of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 picks up steam, delivering a solid story with a great cliffhanger, that works perfectly as the middle frame of this epic saga.

The story picks up where the last chapter ended, with Wilbur contemplating his life.  He doesn't have long to do so, however, as he is soon joined by one of his previous companions, the elf princess Ivo.  The group is finally getting back together, although they are separated by a border that they must figure out how to overcome.  While they are doing this, they still have to try to piece together the story behind the events that brought them back together in the first place.

The puzzles here are among the most well done of the game so far, especially a puzzle that occurs in the middle of the chapter that involves ancient gods.  The gods themselves are quite humorous, and excellently voiced, and the puzzles related to them are quite fun to finish.  The rest of the characters are well voiced as well, as usual.  The voice of Wilbur, especially, does a great job here expressing many different emotions as he is in an inner turmoil over exactly where he fits in things.  The locations are all once again well done, with a bleak look to fit the tone of the chapter, but with a lot of detail that makes them fun to explore.  The music is once again also a high point, delivering the excellent film quality score that lends to the epic nature of the story.

The story itself is the most engrossing of the game yet, as things are starting to look pretty bleak for our heroes.  King Art Games stated that this could be the darkest chapter of the game, and it certainly is that.  However, all is not gloom and doom, as the trademark humor of the series is in full swing here.  The aforementioned gods do a lot to bring much needed light to the proceedings, as do Wilbur and Ivo themselves, especially in their interactions with each other.  The excellent balance of humor and seriousness is a major factor in making this chapter the best yet.  The cliffhanger at the end also manages to outdo the already excellent cliffhangers of previous chapters, with an ending that tugs at your heartstrings and then leaves you anxious for more.

The third chapter of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is the best yet, with excellent puzzles, interesting new locations, great new characters, and a story that deftly balances humor with seriousness.  The voice work and film style orchestrated soundtrack continue to be in high form here, and the cliffhanger is the best of the game so far.  The game is now at the middle of it's story, and it has really hit its stride here.  If the rest of the game continues the high standard set here, we're in for quite a ride.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Chapter Two Review

Chapter Four Review

Broken Age Coming To Retail From Nordic Games

Those who didn't back the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter at a tier high enough to get a boxed copy have a chance to get a retail version of Broken Age (although not the same one as the one on the Kickstarter, as that one is a Kickstarter exclusive).  Nordic Games will be publishing Broken Age at retail in Europe and North America shortly after Act 2 is released online.

The Kickstarter boxed collector's edition will be arriving at some point after that, since it also includes the documentary, and that can't be mastered until the final episode of the documentary is released.

In other Double Fine news, they have started a new YouTube series with 2 Player Productions called Devs Play, where Double Fine developers play through and talk about games from time gone by, and sometimes are joined by the developers of those games.  They've covered Aladdin and Lion King for Genesis, Mother, Earthbound, and Mother 3, and Gauntlet for the Nintendo DS so far.  They'll be playing through The Legend of Zelda, Doom, and speed running through Psychonauts with a YouTube speedrunner who has found some techniques to speed through the game by way of glitches (and the Psychonauts team will be there to talk about the glitches, which should prove interesting).

Aviary Attorney on Kickstarter

Aviary Attorney is a rather interesting Kickstarter campaign.  It aims to tell a story of a bird brained attorney named Monsieur Falcon, who will attempt to bring criminals to justice through gameplay like Capcom's Ace Attorney series.

The thing that makes it unique is that it uses characters, items and backgrounds from public domain 19th century literature, with character art by J. J. Grandville in the "Public and Private Life of Animals" books. The music is also from the public domain, as it will use transcriptions and adaptions of French romantic composers, most notably Camille Saint-Saëns. Even the font used in the game is over a century old.

The kickstarter has reached £6,000 over its £7,000 goal, and there is four days left in the campaign. So if it sounds interesting to you, head over to the Aviary Attorney kickstarter and pick a pledge tier.

Adventure Gamers Interview With Dave Grossman

Adventure Gamers has posted an informative interview with Dave Grossman about leaving Telltale, joining Reactive Studios as chief creative officer on their interactive audio dramas, working with Bill Tiller on Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler, and hints at future projects.

On the subject of the latter, he's going to be helping out with another game project that had a successful Kickstarter, but he can't talk about that yet.  Even though he's working from home now, 2015 certainly looks to be a busy year.

SpaceVenture Coming In 2015, Josh Mandel Will Co-Write It

The SpaceVenture team finall posted an update with news about the space themed game by the Two Guys from Andromeda, the creators of Space Quest.  They've hired Josh Mandel on as a writer.  If you don't know who Josh Mandel is, he's honorary third guy of Andromeda, who co-directed Space Quest 6, as well as Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist, and most recently Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded and Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold.

The bumps they have been having have been ironed out, as the main problems have been on the programming end, and that is going much more smoothly now.  They are now on the final third of game development, and feel confident that the game is on track to be released some time in 2015.