WallaceChambers
Learned
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2019
- Messages
- 311
I think that there's actually quite a few people who like traditional P&C puzzles. In my experience from introducing friends to the genre, the biggest issue is the anxious sense of thinking that they missed something several screens back, which is gonna happen a lot in a hardcore open-ended adventure game. I think that's why room escape adventure games are popular. The basics of the gameplay are exactly the same as traditional adventures, and some of the puzzles can be really tough, but you're always assured everything is within the one room.
I've noticed the same frustration watching the adventure game let's play series "Mostly Walking." Whenever playing an old school adventure, the guys have a blast at first. Then the game starts opening up, the amount of potential wrong answers increases dramatically and the frustration sets in. I think the balance general audiences prefer is either have complex puzzles or be open ended, but not both. Having a map screen that lets you know when you've collected all the key items in an area, like modern Resident Evil games, might help.
Also, yeah, the aesthetics hurt a lot of indie adventures. A lot of them look pretty bad, even within the realm of pixel art. In addition to that, I don't think most millennial or younger gamers enjoy that conventional fairytale fantasy look of King's Quest games. I definitely don't. I eventually came to appreciate those games despite how they look. So games that mimic that style are already limiting themselves to mostly older players, and they'd typically just replay one of their favorites over buying a new game, I'd imagine. Whereas a game like Fran Bow gained steam, in large part because of it's gothic/horror aesthetic that's a lot more popular (especially with streamers). Even a game that didn't even do it particularly well, like Sally Face, is surprisingly popular. Detention is another game that did well with similar aesthetics.
I've noticed the same frustration watching the adventure game let's play series "Mostly Walking." Whenever playing an old school adventure, the guys have a blast at first. Then the game starts opening up, the amount of potential wrong answers increases dramatically and the frustration sets in. I think the balance general audiences prefer is either have complex puzzles or be open ended, but not both. Having a map screen that lets you know when you've collected all the key items in an area, like modern Resident Evil games, might help.
Also, yeah, the aesthetics hurt a lot of indie adventures. A lot of them look pretty bad, even within the realm of pixel art. In addition to that, I don't think most millennial or younger gamers enjoy that conventional fairytale fantasy look of King's Quest games. I definitely don't. I eventually came to appreciate those games despite how they look. So games that mimic that style are already limiting themselves to mostly older players, and they'd typically just replay one of their favorites over buying a new game, I'd imagine. Whereas a game like Fran Bow gained steam, in large part because of it's gothic/horror aesthetic that's a lot more popular (especially with streamers). Even a game that didn't even do it particularly well, like Sally Face, is surprisingly popular. Detention is another game that did well with similar aesthetics.
