So, You Like to Play Games?

Amateur Adventures of Note

There's a truckload more amateur developers out there on the web, quietly turning out fantastic games. Here's a few of my favourites.

• Out of Order by Hungry Software (aka Tim Furnish). What many consider to be the best amateur adventure game so far. It has vibrant graphics, memorable characters and an excellent story. Clever man that he is, Tim Furnish is also the creator the excellent SLUDGE game engine.
• Cubert Badbone by Deirdra Kiai. This is a fantastically fun game by a very talented young lady. Also uses the SLUDGE engine.
• Photopia by Adam Cadre. An incredible, moving piece of interactive fiction. This is what originally inspired me to make my own game.

Adventure Games Sites

Looking to find more stuff along these lines? These community sites make a great place to start.

• Just Adventure is a well-maintained site which focuses more on commercial adventure games. This is the place to find the excellent adventure e-mag, The Inventory.
• Adventure Gamers is a very nicely put together read. They have a fine 'underground' section, which is all about amateur adventures.

Developers

Continue along the path of the adventure game, grasshopper, and you will gain much benefit from these fine folk.

• Deirdra Kiai (of Cubert Badbone fame) has an interesting personal blog-based site. Oo, but even better: check out her latest game, the ambitious The Game that Takes Place on a Cruise Ship while you're there.
• Ron Gilbert's Grumpy Gamer. Ron, of Monkey Island fame, has a fantastically cynical site that he keeps regularly up-to-date. Sounds like his latest plans are quite ambitious - hope you find a publisher, Ron!
• Ragnar Tornquist's personal blog. Ron Gilbert a bit too grumpy a gamer for you? Try this for a healthy injection of optimism. Mr Tornquist directed, of course, the gorgeous adventure The Longest Journey and its fine sequel, Dreamfall.
• Intrigue Games. An amateur development group who are tackling the amazingly ambitious Black Echelon. Good luck, guys!

So, You Want to Make Games?

Make Your Own Adventure Game

Want to make your own adventure game? Good for you!

• SLUDGE by Hungry Software. Nathan's Second Chance uses this one. If you want a game engine that will handle the dirty work for you, there's no engine dirtier than SLUDGE. After a proper scripting language that'll be able to take everything you throw at it? Look no further.
• Adventure Game Studio (AGS). This one allows you to create games in a more point-and-click fashion, but also has an advanced scripting language. Has a huge, loyal community, and with good reason.
• Adventure Developers. Newly reborn as one of the finest sites for, you've guessed it, developers of adventure games. Get help or discuss your work on the forums, be illuminated by the high quality articles and check out other peoples' games. Great stuff.

Make Games In General

There's a world of resources and toolkits out there for the aspiring game developer. Here's just a few starting points.

• Gamasutra. With daily features on everything from advanced programming to storytelling to indie marketing, Gamasutra sets itself apart. If you're making a game, you owe it to yourself to spend some time here. Go on, off you go!
• Only a Game. The extrodinarily large-brained Chris Bateman puts the rest of the net to shame with several article-quality essays on his blog per week. Intimidated at first you may be, but enlighted you will become.
• The Designer's Notebook. Hey, don't let the site design put you off. Ernest Adams (not to be confused with the New Zealand baked-goods manufacturer of the same name), writer of dozens of articles for Gamasutra, has them all archived here. He's particularly interested in the topic of story in games, and where it might be going in the future.
• Pygame. If you're making something other than an adventure (but still in good old 2D), Pygame is your new best friend. It takes the comprehensive SDL libraries (designed for the rather slippery C++ language) and adapts them for the brilliant free Python language.
• Soya3D. Sort of like Pygame, but for 3D. It doesn't quite have the documentation or community or Pygame, but can produce great results with a bit of work. Or, in the case of Upper Orbit's Chicken Chicken, fairly good results for not much work at all!