SpaceVenture 1: The Fan-tastic Encounter

Space Quest. Two words that cause reflection on the past with a certain degree of reverence. Especially when used together.


"Do You Remember Space Quest?" (by Stacy Davidson)

I have written every which way about the Space Quest series. I shared some of my personal memories in The Treasure of the Sierra On-Line (SQ), explored my sarcastic side in Space Quest 7: Buckazoids from Andromeda, came to my senses in Space Quest: A Greatly Exaggerated Tale of Adventure, and chose the spiritual successor to Space Quest, SpaceVenture, as my number one game of 2013 in The Year of the Adventure Game. You might think that, by this point, I would have nothing else to write about it. Call me a real pantload for punishment, I guess.

The Dark Room: A Twisted Adventure Game

You awake to find yourself in a dark room. Dark in every way imaginable except for the appearance of one very sadistic disembodied talking head. Where are you? We established that! You are in a dark room. You must find a way to escape. If at all possible, before madness sets in.

The Dark Room utilizes YouTube's annotation feature to link together a series of video clips. Each offering different paths for the "player" to take, and each more sadistic than the last. It was devised by a British comedian named John Robertson. Originally put into use as a stand-up routine, it has since then humiliated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Will you be next?


The Dark Room: Level 1

If you are stuck beyond any conceivable help, and want to easily escape The Dark Room, here is a direct link to The Dark Room: Level 2. Reminded of a certain episode of The Twilight Zone yet? Feels a bit like a recurring nightmare, and the harassment only gets worse from here on out.

The Year of the Adventure Game

Something miraculous happened last year. Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions asked for $400,000 on crowd funding site, Kickstarter, to make an old school point and click adventure game, and the world gave him $3.3 million. In doing so, he and his company bypassed the usual publisher route needed to secure funding for a game, and maintained full creative control of their project. People just about everywhere took notice. Among them, a number of past and present game developers from such origins as Access Software, LucasArts, Revolution Software and Sierra On-Line. They all wanted a chance to take another stab at the adventure game genre, which until then, had been regarded by publishers as a genre that did not typically generate a significant amount of revenue. Translation: It did not make as much money as Call of Duty. Could lightning possibly strike twice? Not only did it strike twice. It struck again and again and again. It was a bit like the end of It's a Wonderful Life, with an angry CEO at Activision, Electronic Arts or some other such place playing the part of Mr. Potter. And as a teacher once said, every time a bell rings, an adventure game developer gets his paycheck.

With that said, Happy New Year! This year is going to be very special because all those adventure games that we Kickstarted last year are going to be released this year. To celebrate, I decided to put together a list of adventure games being released in 2013, including a few that were funded beyond Kickstarter.