Obviously we had a debate regarding the inherently dubious quality of publishing a discussion of game not yet played through – in normal circumstances, we obviously don’t do this – but here, I thought my inability to proceed contributed some unique flavour to the article. Hopefully this in part justifies my decision alongside the obvious need to have the article published before the end of the competition.

I have no idea how long I will be able to stick to my guns and stay away from using walkthroughs, but so far we have only had to pay heed to to deadlines that make sense internally.

As far as the Space Quest reference (which I tried to supplement with a mention of the Star Trek adventures), I didn’t have the time and, uh, space to explain my own feelings towards the Space Quest series more closely. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m very stubborn indeed, and I didn’t mean to use the Space Quest reference as negatively as it may have come off to someone that doesn’t enjoy the series: I’ve completed each of the games in the past, and while they are punishing indeed, there are obvious merits to them too, one being the magnificent rush that you get from cracking a puzzle that you thought impossible.

My favourites two parts in the series would have to be numbers four and five. How about you guys?

Also, just to set a few things straight:

I hated Space Quest and its need to frustrate the player, so that has never been my intention with any of my games. Oddly enough, most people have told me that Limey Lizard was my easiest game, so I’m not sure how seriously to take your comparison of it to Space Quest. The Transputter puzzle was solved by both my testers without any feedback from me so I figured it was good to go, though I have added some more hints in the dialog and changed up a few things to make it easier on lower difficulties. I do applaud you for not wanting to resort to a walkthrough, though; to me that ruins the entire point behind playing an adventure game in the first place. Thanks for the article, and feel free to drop me an email if you need some hints or something with Hard Space.

-Shane

While I’m not intimately familiar with his catalogue of games, I can at the very least vouch for Besieged!

Now, I only played the EGA version of Larry and I doubt after all this time a 5-pixels moose head would resurface as an idea in my head. Consequently, I think the similar trophy in Avalon is just based on the same bar cliche (a cliche we were very happy to exploit and animate ;) ). The major difference between the bars is that Lefty’s establishment puts more emphasis on “sleazy” and “tacky” as styles in interior decorating, while Avalon is cheap in the literal “dirt on walls, bug-infested and rotting” sense.

That said, I must confess I love visiting all sorts of taverns and inns as locations in games I play. Places like Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, or those which the hero of Quest of Glory series visits, where new crazy, quests are formed from conversations with strange, often mysterious patrons, are my kinds of places. :)

And in response to “what the Arthurian Avalon has to do with all this”, I admit that not that much – Avalon is just a good name for a bar… Nevertheless, the mythical status of Avalon’s name strengthens the “thread of magic realism” you mention. Also, a magical island without any clear location, and easy means of getting onto is a perfect illustration of how the bar location is isolated from the rest of the world (at least in Jack’s mind) and works well with the “outside of any specific time” feel that the combination of old jazz tunes with more modern world elements gives. And lastly, I’m a big fan of Mamoru Oshii’s Avalon. :)

Finally, too bad you didn’t write more about Alex van der Wijst. He is a veteran game maker who created great titles like The Winter Rose, Charlie Foxtrot and Besieged. These are lengthy and complex games, and some of best AGS offerings ever, easily beating in quality the current crop of indie adventure games. It was a blast working together with him on Snakes.

What a great sum up of all the games! Well done. By the way, the solution to the transputter can be found here: http://gamesolutions.efzeven.nl/hard-space-walkthrough-progzmax2010/

Thanks a lot for the tip Leon! I happen to be incredibly stubborn when it comes to adventure games (in more than one way), so A) I am definitely yet to give up on Hard Space and B) I’ll try and work out the solution without a walkthrough for a while longer still!

Good to know one exists, in any case.