The purpose of this text is quite simple: to give a person unfamiliar with the genre a general idea of its formation, heyday, and decline, focusing on key points.
For quite a long time, and maybe even longer, there has been a rumor among the people that claims that the quest genre (aka adventure-type games) is dead. It’s impossible to figure all this out right away, since similar games, although released less frequently, still come out. Now, the main driver of this genre is their often initially non-commercial development, or the development
using crowdfunding.
Therefore, at first glance it is very difficult to understand whether the patient is really more alive than dead, or is this just an isolated reflex twitch? And if he died, then why?? What was the medical history, and why did the doctors not prevent the disease??
We will try to find answers.
Don’t switch.
BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Essentially, what is a quest?? Quest is an adventure game that requires the player to solve mental problems to advance through the story. This is the main thing. A situation with more than one plot line, etc.d., we will not take into account.
That is, the influence on the world and surrounding objects is carried out through indirect influence. If in an FPS it’s the other way around – the player drives the plot with impact action, and is the catalyst for events, then in a quest, most often, due to either the deliberate weakness of the hero or the absence of an aggressive action component at all, the player must act with cunning.
Very simply, we can divide all quests into two separate categories. The first is classic quests, where you can include text and graphic adventures. They are characterized by a peculiar, meditative gameplay, without, however, much immersion in the game. This is primarily due to technical limitations.
Speaking about classic quests, it is worth noting that they are not too long in duration, which, however, was compensated by their fierce hardcore nature. This hardcore was mainly tied either to the elementary possibility of screwing up the main storyline, or to the illogicality of the riddles, coupled with pixel hunting. That is, when you methodically click through the entire screen, trying to get to at least something that resembles an object important in the plot, this is it.
It is important to understand here that the epithet “classic” characterizes not the time of release, but the visual and technical styles. That is, for example, the third season of Sam & Max, released in two thousand and ten, is still a typical quest of the classic type, which differs from previous games in the series only by the presence of 3D. Also, all the main features are present.
The second category is either quests of a new formation, or not quests at all, where the “quest” as a technical and gameplay component is no longer such a main element. Meditativeness was replaced by either entertainment or effectiveness. Complex and completely illogical puzzles are not found in such games, due to the abandonment of the already mentioned meditativeness, although there are exceptions.
One of these exceptions is, for example, Myst, which at one time made a revolution in the genre. The differences are clear: the interactivity of the world, first-person view, and the emphasis is more on contemplation, although the puzzles are extremely hardcore.
Moving away from describing exceptions, I will give examples of games such as Fahrenheit, or Amnesia, in which only puzzles remain from the quest, but they are also quite unique, again aimed at great entertainment.
Of course, this matter can be described much more professionally. Action-adventure, survival horror, visual novell. However, we are talking about the “beginning of all beginnings,” so it would be somewhat incorrect to mention the first two here. Visual novels are generally popular primarily in Japan.
That is, as you can https://shangrilacasino.co.uk/withdrawal/ see, if the goal of a classic quest was primarily to tell a story, then a quest of a new formation, or a game with quest elements, wants to draw the player into the story being told. The first is more of a test, while the second is a way to convey some idea. The first is not worse than the second, the second is not worse than the first, they are just different.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GENRE
But he’s really not that young anymore, even by human standards. It’s no joke, the first game in the genre, and not even for a home computer, was Colossal Cave Adventure, developed in nineteen seventy-six by William Crowther, a programmer and part-time speleologist.
The essence of the game is as simple as three pennies. There is a cave in which you suddenly find yourself. All. You need to explore it and gain rating points. The higher the rating, the more well done you are. This is what is called the genius of simplicity.
CCA defined the standards of the text quest genre right up to the eighties of the last century, giving an example of the interface and gameplay that people loved. That is why, little can be said about the game Adventureland, which was released two years after CCA, and outwardly differed from it only in the plot and box design.
However, despite its old age, the text quest cannot be said to be completely and irrevocably forgotten. As part of a larger project, an excellent example of excellent text adventure games can be seen in the domestic game “Space Rangers”.
Regarding the CCA, there is a little confusion about the dates. Formally, the first version was published in 1976, as mentioned above, by Crowther. But in fact, this version is considered lost, and therefore the first version is called the re-release, published in 1977, authored by another programmer, Don Woods.
Everything changed in the year nineteen eighty. The company On-Line Systems distinguished itself, however, two years later it was renamed Sierra Online.
Founded in 1979 by Williams, Ken and Roberta, the company specialized in developing games for the Apple II platform. It would seem like another office that rivets text quests, but no.
Roberta herself didn’t mind playing text adventure games. It is not known for certain how exactly her (seemingly obvious now) insight occurred, but I think there was a phrase like:
– Damn it, Ken darling, why don’t we put some graphics on here??
And so, a year later, Mystery House was released, which is the first graphic quest. This is a very conventional expression, if we say so. All the graphics in it are made up of white stick figures on a black background. However, at that time, it looked much better than text canvases, even though the interface was still text – the point-and-click system was still seven years away.
Mystery House is a detective quest reminiscent of the novel Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie. The player, with a group of people, ends up in a mysterious house. Gradually, one after another, people begin to die. The player’s goal is to identify the killer and find treasure. It’s also quite simple, as you can see.
However, despite this, the game is rightfully considered a milestone. And even relatively recently, in two thousand and nine, it was ported to the iPhone and iPod, which is already an indicator.
The final touch that completed the genre occurred, as mentioned above, seven years after the release of Mystery House. Tellingly, this touch was applied (or rather released) by the well-known LucasArts, which made a very strong mark in the field of adventure games.
The year was one thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven, the quests were actually completely formed. The lack of convenience was not yet felt at that time, since there were not many experiments in this regard. And then Maniac Mansion came out, which was not only quite original in terms of plot, but also brought a point-and-click system. Mouse control, simply put. Quests have become not only beautiful, but also convenient.
The plot in Maniac Mansion revolves around the Edison mansion, next to which, at one time, t.n. Purple Meteorite. Twenty years later, he (don’t ask, the game’s scriptwriter is Ron Gilbert, everything should be clear here without further ado) kidnaps a girl named Sandy Pantz, the girlfriend of the main character Dave Miller. He and his friends enter the mansion to free her.
In addition to the already mentioned point-and-click system, the game was also characterized by features and humor that were very characteristic of the LucasArts studio and Ron Gilbert in particular. For example, while exploring a mansion in the library, the player came across a broken staircase that needed repairing, which was impossible to do in principle, even with the necessary tools. I won’t even mention the red chainsaw with gasoline for it, which became memes in further adventure games from LucasArts.
Three quests, three unique milestones. Their example clearly shows the general development of adventure games, first from the process of bare gameplay – into something more contemplative.
It becomes clear how quests, from the category of games for a small category of people, have won love in larger circles. Subsequent projects, not only from Sierra and LucasArts, only further strengthened and popularized the genre.
GOLDEN AGE AND DECLINE
It would be foolish to think that there weren’t other good projects that pushed adventure games forward, or other equally good studios. However, perhaps only Sierra OnLine and LucasArts can be called two truly significant locomotives of the genre.
After all, it was from their rivalry that the so-called “golden age of quests” was born, which lasted from the beginning to the end of the nineties of the last century.
It was during this period of time that the genre blossomed. The main reason, in addition to the already mentioned benign competition, is the ever-increasing capabilities of computers. Now, the quest was not just a sixteen-color picture, oh no. Sound cards appeared, CDs became popular, and graphic design became more beautiful. The average adventure game has finally turned from a game for a narrow fan into a product for the masses.
However, time passed. The market dictated its own laws. The game was required to meet an ever-increasing standard of computer quality. If for FPS this is not critical and even useful, then for quests it is not beneficial. Let’s be honest, the first (and even tenth) attempts to translate the genre into 3D looked much more eye-popping than the good old 2D design.
The departure from the point-and-click standard also brought its share of negativity to the overall situation and bugs in the gameplay. It is of course understandable that you can get used to controlling the hero using the keyboard, but it is not as convenient as orienting with the mouse.
With the gradual development of the three-dimensional era, FPS and RPGs became much more convenient for a wide range of users, which, among other things, had much more drive, in contrast to the meditative gameplay of adventure games.
That is, it is clear that the situation turned out to be quite negative and twofold. An old fan of quests – he reacted negatively to the genre update. A more modern user – happily rushed into the developing camp of at least the same RPGs, away from boring adventure games. The classic quest as it is has outlived its usefulness. And even despite the release and popularity of games like Syberia or Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, it is clear that this is the exception rather than the rule.
However, the genre is not dead. In essence, it has changed quite a lot, becoming an additional element, somewhere to a greater extent (such as interactive cinema) and somewhere to a lesser extent. There are many examples of this: Amnesia, Heavy Rain, all these games contain an advanced adventure component, with a general emphasis on atmosphere and the desire to convey something to the player. These games have taken quite a big step, from ordinary entertainment to full-fledged works of art, where the main element of interactivity is a quest.
Therefore, it cannot be said that the adventure genre is dead. Of course, classic quests are no longer as popular as they used to be – but even this old man has been given life by numerous amateur projects on free engines.
Any genre changes over time, remaining either leading or not. Quest failed to stay at the top, but connoisseurs will always be able to find a suitable game for themselves, they just have to put in a little effort.
And in general, as wise people used to say in the old days: history moves in a spiral. And therefore, who knows? Perhaps we will also be able to see another flourishing, and live in another golden age, a wonderful quest genre.
