Adventure Games Live

Adventure Games Live
Type of site
 Online gaming
Available in English
Owner Samuel Stoddard
Website http://www.Rinkworks.com/adventure/
Commercial Yes
Launched 1998
Current status Online

Adventure Games Live (AGL) is a suite of online adventure games on the entertainment website RinkWorks.[1] It features single-player turn-based games[2] run in CGI on an engine written by Samuel Stoddard, who runs RinkWorks and wrote five of the ten games currently available.[3] The suite has hosted some of its games since 1998, putting them among the web's longest-running, continuously hosted games.[4]

Technical details

AGL games are written in a simple programming language called Smash, derived from an earlier language called AGLL (from "Adventure Games Live Language"). Smash is generally intended for producing menu-based adventure games, though it is flexible enough for many other types of single-player, turn-based games as well. The former AGLL language is deprecated and is no longer in use on RinkWorks.[5]

The specification of Smash is publicly available from its page at RinkWorks. Anyone who wants can write a game in Smash, and if they want, send it to RinkWorks for evaluation. Following a period of feedback and extensive playtesting, if the game is approved, it is published on the AGL page.

The Smash source code for the simplest and easiest game, The Trainer, is freely available on the Smash tutorial page. The source code for the other games is proprietary and not available without explicit permission from the authors.

The Smash interpreter that is responsible for running the games on the RinkWorks server is proprietary software written by Samuel Stoddard and not publicly available. People wishing to play AGL games locally on their own computer are free to write their own interpreters, or can use Rex, a Smash interpreter written using wxPython and developed by Andrew Walters (who also developed two of the games available on AGL).

AGL games

The Trainer

The Trainer is the simplest of the games available on the site. It is one of only two games to have been featured on the site from its opening.

As the official description states, "This mini-adventure is a good way to have fun while learning the ropes. It doesn't take long, yet it does a good job of familiarizing you with the features of this site and some of the types of puzzles you'll encounter in the larger games."

The full source code for the game is now available on RinkWorks in the tutorial on Smash programming.

Outlaws of the Sierra Nevadas

As the official description states, "It's 1874 in Caballo Creek, California, where a man can work and live in peace -- at least until recently. Gangs of bandits have been pillaging nearby villages, and you're worried that Caballo Creek might be next. Journey through a landscape chock full of guns, smoke, and saloons in this historical mystery adventure set in the Old West."

Escape From St. Mary's

As the official description states, "You're stuck in math class, and you just can't take it anymore. You want to ditch school, but little do you know that your simple mission will run you through an hilariously outrageous set of parallel adventures. You've just got to get out of here! This exciting adventure game features a richly detailed world, an intricate conversation system, and a handy new mechanism for making use of items you acquire along the way. Find the secret area for an alternate ending!"

Fantasy Quest

Fantasy Quest is the oldest of the games available, as not only was it present from AGL's opening, but it was actually written much earlier in the fall of 1991, as a console game written in BASIC.[4]

As the official description states, "A twist on the old "rescue the princess" plot, this game has you entering a mysterious land of fantasy to save your beloved from evil. Features over 30 interactive characters and over 140 locations."

The game is a lot simpler than most on Adventure Games Live, lacking any real storyline or logical objectives. It is only slightly more advanced than the games created by the author in the collection The Early Years, where the players objectives are seldom more complex than moving through physical obstacles, frequently by killing whatever mythical creature is in his way. However, the game is of interest because of the extent with which it plays with absurdity, frequently bordering on self-parody.[6]

The game was followed by a sequel, which was this time an unabashed parody, written solely to make fun of the original. The ridicule was then followed by a news parody, the Fantasy News Network, which pokes fun at both games. Fantasy Quest has become a veritable franchise now, with RinkWorks even selling T-shirts decorated with the map of the original game.

Fantasy Quest II

This game is the sequel to Fantasy Quest, the oldest of the adventure games on the site.

As the official description states, "Return to the magical land of fantasy and its quaint, inexplicable characters to meet old friends, settle old scores, and save dozens of princesses."

The origins of this game are highly unusual.[7] The idea for the game came about when a chatter mistakenly referred to Enchanted Forest II (an existing game) as Fantasy Quest II. In the surreal fashion of conversations between creative individuals, the others in the chatroom responded as though the latter game did exist, and made references to imaginary situations that supposedly existed in the game, all of which made fun of the original game. The conversation soon moved on, but the idea for a sequel remained in the author's mind.

True to its mission, Fantasy Quest II spends most of its time ridiculing the many absurdities, inconsistencies, and annoying elements of the original game, and, to a lesser extent of all adventure games. For example, characters from the original who apparently had no purpose return which involved and highly contrived explanations of what they were there for. Areas of the game that were inaccessible before are opened up - spectacularly and hilariously. And certain elements of adventure games that seem particularly odd (exchanging unrelated items, having to try an option multiple times to get a result) are played out for maximum comedic effect.

The Game of the Ages

As the official description states, "Based on RinkWorks' fantasy parody novelette, The Duel of the Ages, this game stars you as the lone hope of your village, which has been taken over by the Shadows. To dispose of these foul creatures, you must journey into other worlds and seek the aid of legendary heroes Blood Drops and Darius Longshore. This game features a richly depicted environment and even a secret area."

The parody novelette in question is a collaboration between Samuel Stoddard and David Parker, featuring the characters from each of their fantasy universes battling to the death with each other. Besides general absurd humor, the novelette also makes reference to numerous movies and other items of popular culture, most notably The Princess Bride.[8] It also deals in deeper themes of fantasy literature, including multiple worlds and the nature of magic, and also delves into metafiction.

The Game of the Ages incorporates the characters and the setting of The Duel of the Ages but boasts independent puzzles and plot elements. The game is of particular replay value, due to its well-written prose, and to a 'secret area' searched for by many players.[9]

The Mystery of Brackly Hall

As the official description states, "Lord Brackly's dead, but no one can find his secret vault, rumored to contain the bulk of his very wealthy estate. His will leaves it all to the one who can find it. Can you?"

The game is much simpler than most on the site, both in difficulty and complexity. It lacks a storyline other than the vague objective to "find the inheritance," and the puzzles are rarely more complicated than using an item to get another or to bypass a location. The most memorable location in the game is probably an intentionally frustrating garden maze.

The first game written by a reader of the site rather than by Stoddard, The Mystery of Brackly Hall influenced many other fans of the site to start working on their own games privately.

The Early Years

As the official description states, "In the five years after I wrote my first computer program in 1985, I filled dozens of floppy disks with program after program, mostly games, and many of them adventure games. These efforts culminated in Fantasy Quest in 1991, which has since been ported to Adventure Games Live. The games I wrote prior to that were primitive in comparison—sometimes hilariously, awfully so—but they abound with nostalgia and the charm of innocence. The Early Years is a collection of 22 of these early games of mine, ported to Adventure Games Live with every misspelling and most of the bugs intact."

The quality of the games in the early years varies greatly, from the literally infantile to the fairly complex. At the beginning, only two games are available, but the rest become unlocked as you progress through each one. Self-deprecating commentary appears throughout the games.

To "win" The Early Years, only 12 of the 22 games are required; the remaining 10 are optional. The games are as follows:

The Early Years is written by Samuel Stoddard, and was first posted on January 30, 2005. It has a difficulty level of 3.

The Perils of Akumos

As the official description states, "This futuristic science fiction adventure is devious and intricate. Guide Kenneth Connell in his new job aboard the Corolis space station as he discovers that all is not as it first appears. Something sinister is afoot!"

The game is the most complex on Adventure Games Live at the present. Its many unusual locales include an intricately designed space station, and a 3D network of underground caverns.[10] The puzzles vary from the conventional to timed puzzles, mathematical puzzles and puzzles involving spatial reasoning. The characters in the game are realistic and are richly described. Plus, the game boasts a genuinely engaging storyline.

The game was followed by Trail of Anguish, and there is a third installment in the trilogy planned.

Trail of Anguish

As the official description states, "This exciting prequel spin-off of The Perils of Akumos chronicles the tale of Kendra Connell in college. Can you track down a mystical madman, loose on the campus? Alternate solutions in this game make it impossible to see everything without playing it through at least three times. This game may be played before or after The Perils of Akumos, as you please."

The alternate solutions referred to involve the player choosing different classes to take, and resultantly having to solve different puzzles, each with a separate item as a reward. These items can be used in conjunction with one another in a variety of different combinations in the endgame segment.

The game, along with The Perils of Akumos and the as yet unreleased Starlight Sacrifice, will form a trilogy.

Starlight Sacrifice

Starlight Sacrifice is a game in progress. A preview is available as a demo, as of April 2010. Written by Andrew Walters as the final part in his trilogy (which includes The Perils of Akumos and Trail of Anguish), Starlight Sacrifice has been long in production, originally due for release in late 2001.[11]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Grishny's Tower: Rinkworks
  2. ↑ OnlineGames.net: Adventure Games
  3. ↑ OVGuide: Adventure Games Live
  4. 1 2 "Rinkworks: Timeline".
  5. ↑ MobyGames: Adventure Games Live
  6. ↑ TV Tropes: Fantasy Quest
  7. ↑ RinkChat Archives, 2000
  8. ↑ Rinkworks: The Duel of the Ages
  9. ↑ TV Tropes: The Game of the Ages
  10. ↑ TV Tropes: The Perils of Akumos
  11. ↑ Rinkworks: SOAT Update #2
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