A Hardy Developer's Journal

Has nothing to do with U2's guitarist.

Over The Edge is the first chapter in the four-part series, The Journey Down. Written and designed by Theodor Waern, the game tells the story of Bwana, a simple fuel station attendant attempting to get he and his sidekick Kito’s plane airworthy in order to take a strange and beautiful woman to the mysterious area known as “The Underland” by going over what is known as “The Edge.” If you haven’t already, prepare yourself for some incredible freeware adventure gaming.

When playing an adventure game

there are many different factors that can make the experience an enjoyable one, some love puzzles, some the visuals, for me personally, it’s the story that has to be great, and a great story needs a great main character to drive it forward. (more…)

How funny can be a game that parodies the classic noir fiction, but happens neither on the Discworld, nor in the skeleton-laden Land of The Dead, but looks like just a “straight” parody of the genre set in our boring Earthrealm? Incredibly funny it seems. Presented in true B&W and equipped with a P.I. hero who likes to provide elaborate narrations full of metaphors, Nick Bounty is a game which stays true to the original detective novel, at the same time being completely crazy.

It all begins with a scene borrowed from The Maltese Falcon – a man delivers a box with mysterious contents (more…)

For this month’s Dev Intro we conducted an interview with the studio behind that striking Briefcase Romanin game – the surreal little thing which emerged totally unexpected with a superb HD trailer last month and has instantly become the talk of the town. While the game being announced as a participant in the XBox Dream Build Play contest gave a bit of an impression that it might become available only for that particular platform, fortunately this isn’t the case at all – the creators confirm a PC release as well!

So what is it all about? Well, in the center of the game is that very (very) strange briefcase you see… (but you can’t that well see on the screens here, so watch it in the excellent trailer below) (more…)

Emerald City Confidential succeeds first and foremost as an adventure because it tells a good story. I cannot emphasize even  nearly enough how much this game has surprised me with its gripping narrative with a fresh take on the already well known Land of Oz and its inhabitants. (more…)

I haven’t written about Frantic Franko for quite a while, but it doesn’t mean my work on it doesn’t move forward at a crazy pace! I didn’t make it with the demo in May as originally intended, but it is pretty much ready now – just undergoing some testing. The big premiere is next week! It’s quite a large demo by my standards. It covers about 33% of the whole game, has both alternative puzzle solutions and special features not required to finish it. It also offers plenty of opportunity to get to know the main character – the grumpy psycho that he is. Hopefully the experience will be something truly memorable for the players. (more…)

Everyone enjoys a good, long fantasy (fairy-)tale depicting the adventures of a true hero. It’s a pity then that it’s so difficult to come by an adventure game that matches this seemingly broad description. The days of regular King’s Quest and Quest for Glory entries with occasional great one-shots like my personal favorite Death Gate seem to be long over. The few new games that encompass traditional fantasy elements tend to push them towards cartoony slapstick and parody rather than offer a serious treatment of the genre.

Similarly, most new adventure games suffer from shortness, often even choosing an episodic format of publishing – not the best fit for an epic story of heroic daring-do. It is then an experience not totally unlike that of a starving hobbit coming upon a delicious feast to finally play an adventure game which not only captures the spirit of epic fantasy, but it is able to feel fresh, exciting and have a personality all of its own. It is a game that fully deserves the title Tale of a Hero. (more…)