Adventure Games

The Adventure game is one of the earliest computer game genres created, beginning with Colossal Cave Adventure in the 1970s. Games are typified by exploration, interaction with game characters, puzzle-solving and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based combat or challenges. The earliest adventure games (such as the popular Zork series) were text adventures, in which the player had to use their keyboard to enter commands such as "go north" or "get rope", and the computer displayed text to describe what was happening. As graphics became more common, adventure games began to enhance (and in time, replace) textual descriptions with pictures. Instead of typing in commands, players were eventually able to use their mouse to click on an item; for example, by clicking on a hand icon and then on a crowbar to pick it up. Most adventure games are designed for a single player, since the heavy emphasis on character and story makes multi-player design difficult.

The adventure genre was very popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s, reaching its peak with the 1993 release of Myst; a first person perspective puzzle game that combined detailed, surreal worlds with minimal dialogue and a casual pace of play. Since then, the genre has suffered a large drop in popularity, become somewhat of a niche genre. Elements of the genre are now often included in other games, such as action-adventures, which combine puzzle-solving and exploration with realtime action challenges or combat.

Unique Aspects

Many adventure games use a narrator to update plot details or to describe the actions on-screen; perhaps the only computer game genre to make frequent use of this literary device. Unlike many other games, the adventure genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of genres such as mystery, horror, fantasy, science fiction and comedy. Because they put little pressure on the player in the form of time constraints or action-based challenges, adventure games also have the unique ability to appeal to people who do not normally play videogames.

Types of Adventure Game

Adventure games can be categorised into a number of sub-genres, depending on their subject, interface, setting or plot. However, many may belong to two or more of the below mentioned types.

Text Based Adventure

Also known as interactive fiction, this form was used for the very first adventure games in which the player typed in verb-noun phrases (e.g. get rope) to direct the gameplay. Examples include Hunt the Wumpus, the Zork series and Adventure.

Graphical Adventure

A style that developed from text-based adventures, in which text was enhanced by graphics. In time, this developed to a point-and-click interface with an animated display screen and movable characters that could be controlled by the player. Early examples include Mystery House (1980), King's Quest (1984), Spellbound (1985), with more modern games including the Broken Sword series (from 1996) and the Monkey Island series (from 1990).

Puzzle Adventure

This sub-genre of games do not rely on character interaction or the gathering and use of items, but instead emphasises exploration, reading logs, and deciphering the proper use of complex mechanisms. Almost all of these games are played from a first person perspective with the player moving between still pre-rendered 3D images. Typical examples include Riddle of the Sphinx, Schizm and Myst, which pioneered this game style.

Japanese Adventure

This style of game is more like an interactive novel than a conventional game, with a tighter focus on narrative and more limited puzzle features than its western counterparts. Storylines often have a strong romantic aspect, and on-screen menus are used for everything from interaction to navigation, rather than a point-and-click or text parser interface. One of the best known games in this genre is Snatcher, by Konami.