welcome back into the adventure gaming community!

[Diduz]

First of all, I am too happy to see Noah & Hal coming back into the adventure gaming community. I think adventure games need a change of pace and some freshness and I cannot think of anyone better suited for the job! ;D
I have some questions for you I'll keep posting in this thread.

1) NOAH: I've read your name in the "thanks to" credits section in "Return to Mysterious Island" by Kheops Studio. What exactly did you do on the game? I think its "survival mode quality" matches in some way the gameplay nature the original The Dig was supposed to feature.

[Diduz]

2) What's a "puzzle" for you? Do you think that "getting stuck" is mandatory in designing an adventure game nowadays? What's your approach designig Mata?

3) Have you been playing Telltale's games? I would be curious to know your take on their new style. I think they're doing a tremendous job. Is their successful activity one of the reasons which brought you back into the trenches?

[Noah_Falstein]

That credit was the result of a long conversation I had with Alexis Lang, the designer. I met him when he was working for Cryo and we had a wonderful time talking about game design issues. Then when he was working on Return to Mysterious Island we met again at the Imagina conference, and discussed the game and also the original novel, which had been a favorite of mine as a child. I was quite surprised to see the credit, he was really being very generous to mention me considering how little I had to do with the game, it was really his work. But I do like the way the game turned out.

[Diduz]

Thanks for the reply, Noah. :-)

I'm adding another question.


4) I suppose the player will be able to complete Mata Hari without experiencing everything the game has to offer, because you mentioned a "point system" a la Indy's IQ. Will there be a way to keep track of the things the player has NOT done yet, through a percentage display or something like that? I'm saying this, because I like to know I've done everything I could when I leave and adventure game behind me. ;-)

[Noah_Falstein]

2) Puzzles take many forms, although at the deepest level they are often a lock and a key. But getting the player stuck has never been a goal. The ideal puzzle should seem very hard, but with a little attention and patience, be fairly easy for everyone to solve. The objective is to make the player feel smart, not for the designer to feel smart because they've made a puzzle no one can solve without going to the Internet! We set out from the beginning to make Mata Hari a game that focuses more on characters and an evolving story and not complicated gadget puzzles.

3) Our colleague and friend Dave Grossman is working with Telltale, and they're doing very well. I have to confess that I personally prefer designing Adventure Games to playing them, but I think they've taken a good approach. But Dave and I had collaborated to help on the design for a Leisure Suit Larry game a few years ago that was never released, then he went on to Telltale and later DTP contacted Hal and me. So there's a personal connection, but as far as I know nothing official beyond that.

4) Yes, and yes. It is one of the ways we have found to make a game fun for both casual players and experts (and I think we can see which category you are in).

[Diduz]

Ok, roll on!!!!
Here's another one:

5) Are you going to direct yourselves the English dubbing of Mata Hari?

[Noah_Falstein]

I don't think that is currently planned.

[Noone]

Can you tell, the game's originally made in English or in German? Do you know what language it will appear first on?

[Noah_Falstein]

Well, as typically linguistically challenged Americans, we've been doing all our work in English and the 4Head and DTP staff have been wonderful about accommodating that. So the original dialog is all in English, but will certainly be translated to German. Beyond that I will have to defer to someone from DTP. At GCDC when this game and So Blonde were announced, we thought it was amusing that the two Americans were creating a game about a Dutch heroine set primarily in France, while Steve Ince who is British had a game with an American protagonist.

By the way, Hal informs me he has been having a lot of trouble posting which is why I'm doing so much of the talking here.

[shae]

I have to confess that I personally prefer designing Adventure Games to playing them

Wow. Is that possible? :) Or is it just a mild preference, rather than a semi-dislike to playing?

I can see that as a possibility for someone who concentrates only on writing stories, but you get involved in much more of the gritty technical gameplay details, no?