Hello everyone, I am working on a P&C adventure game and wanted to start a topic to discuss Point and Click adventure genre and how it can be successfully implemented in the modern age, mostly to hear what others think about it. I grew up with point and click adventures, mostly Russian titles none heard about but also such classics as monkey island. It's good fun and often based a lot on humor. However lately I've been seeing certain bias against point and click, especially bias against the control scheme rather than the adventure genre as a whole. While there are still some good titles coming out, like Deponia and The Book of Unwritten Tales, I wonder what is the current state of the P&C games in the modern market. There is obviously still big interest for them, considering success of certain kick starter titles, but what are your thoughts of the genre in the modern gaming as a whole?

Secondly I ponder in general over the implementation of point and click and the evolution of the genre, which I believe has more potential beyond the classics named above. If we take a look at for example The Walking Dead game, by tell tale, it's a shining example of adaption of classic point and click to more modern, action based experience. It is heavily scripted and cutscene heavy, but I felt it was adding to the charm, rather than annoying me. They throw in some quick time events, some action scenes, some choices, yet using P&C at the core of the game even thou they utilize extra controls beyond P&C in certain scenarios. So I wonder, what do you feel modern P&C should focus on, feature wise?

From what I've seen, the general trend of point and click adventure games has been moving more into the realms of the casual gaming market.

Aside from a polished user interface, the bread and butter of a point and click will be the artwork and story telling. Story is going to be king, so you'd be spending your time wisely be developing a solid, compelling story which draws a player into the game universe. Personally, I think the "game" is just the vector for delivering the story to the user in an interactive manner. Everything outside of the story itself is polish and embellishments to create deeper immersion. The story is the foundation of your P&C game. If the story doesn't exist, then you've merely got a few puzzles to solve and the game will fail to capture much interest.

So, the most important questions you're going to be faced with will concern the story being told and the delivery of the story. Show, don't tell. No walls of text! If you must tell the story through text, use dialogue between characters, describe the setting with the scene art, use character body language, keep the words minimalist but potent (each word costs a dollar! So spend your words wisely!), and make sure that the puzzles and mini games make sense in the context of the story.

If the story is done right, the game will be timeless regardless of the future technology. People will come back and play your 8-bit game years later to revisit the story for nostolgia. If the story is shit, your foundation is rotten and all the worlds prettiest graphics and best algorithms won't save you (See: Diablo 3).

Personally, I think the "game" is just the vector for delivering the story to the user in an interactive manner. Everything outside of the story itself is polish and embellishments to create deeper immersion. The story is the foundation of your P&C game. If the story doesn't exist, then you've merely got a few puzzles to solve and the game will fail to capture much interest.

That is something I too came to think of, that many of P&C games are just a medium focused on delivering the story rather then the "fun" gameplay it self. While the latter is certainly a bonus, it feels that the story was main core and focus of games like Monkey Island and the game was just a medium.

From what I have seen, "point and click" has been mostly relegated to children's educational games. There are occasionally puzzle games that are also point and click ... not much else is out there.
The time of Sierra games is long over, however technically Runescape,and Dungeon Keeper are point and click.

From what I have seen, "point and click" has been mostly relegated to children's educational games. There are occasionally puzzle games that are also point and click ... not much else is out there.
The time of Sierra games is long over, however technically Runescape,and Dungeon Keeper are point and click.

I do agree that P&C are not the most popular genre, but that's a bit grim outlook, don't you think, considering certain new titles?

I do agree that P&C are not the most popular genre, but that's a bit grim outlook, don't you think, considering certain new titles?

There is still a place for these games, however their popularity is not great. Plenty of phone apps and online flash games are in this format, but I haven't seen a great point and click for some time now.
I remember when Sierra made all kinds of awesome adventure games. I suspect that the whole FMV game craze killed the traditional point and click adventure game.
HERE is a good example of what I am talking about.

I haven't seen a great point and click for some time now.

What about stuff I mentioned, Deponia, Book of unwritten tales, Sam and Max? I mean not great, but pretty solid P&C games.

I'm surprised there's so much focus in this thread on "casual adventure games" (which, let's be honest, are usually just glorified hidden object games); through the efforts of companies like Telltale Games, Daedelic Entertainment and Wadjet Eye Games, the classic adventure game genre is not only back from the dead--it's actually thriving. In the last three years alone we've seen:

• Yesterday
  
• To the Moon
  
• Blackwell Deception
  
• The Book of Unwritten Tales
  
• The Next BIG Thing
  
• Edna & Harvey: The Breakout
  
• Gemini Rue
  
• Back to the Future: The Game
  
• The Walking Dead
  
• Jolly Rover
  
• A New Beginning
  
• Gray Matter
  
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
  
• The Whispered World
  
• Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
  
• Hector: Badge of Carnage
  

To put that into perspective: From 1986 to 2000, LucasArts--arguably the company most associated with point-and-click adventure games--released a total of 15 games in the genre. The past three years alone have exceeded LucasArts's entire library. They don't all have point-and-click controls, but they're still very much in the vein and in the tradition of old-school adventure games.

What does this mean for the genre? It doesn't mean that there's necessarily a huge mainstream interest in these games (I bet a lot of the people reading this post don't recognize most of those titles, unless you're already an adventure game fan), but it does mean there's a niche for them, and people are buying them, as companies continue to make them. To say the classic adventure game genre is dead is at best an outdated concept.

(Full disclose: ...I make adventure games, too.)

One of the reasons point'n'clicks disappeared for a bit was due to most copying Monkey Island's comedy template. It was over-saturation of a genre where not many were willing to take a few risks. You did get the odd one like Beneath a Steel Sky and The Dig, Star Trek: Judgement Rites, but for most it was witty comedy and silly situations. You would think with LucasArts having access to the Star Wars license that it would have been a no-brainer to make a SW adventure, but not even with Star Wars in the title would LA take a chance...

So stories, visuals, sounds are important...but one needs to consider the character the player controls. How are they affected by the adventure? Do they just collect items or do they leave an impression on other characters that effect what happens later in the game? Although an extremely easy game, Cryo's DUNE was great as Paul Atreidies could call a worm instead of relying on aircraft for travel, and could even increase his mental powers so he didn't have to travel so far to send a message to other characters.

There are so many possibilities with the adventure genre...