DGC Ep 491: Alone in the Dark (part two)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1992's Infogrames classic, Alone in the Dark. We talk a bit about its structure again, and also discuss the tension between the adventure game and the use of combat, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
More of the house?

Issues covered: translating Greek and Latin, trial and error, the overwhelm of options, the tension between verbs and adventure game, usability problems, telegraphing the wrong information, tunnel vision in development, a great QA department, the value of a new tester, trying to do many things, taking too few notes, thinking too systemically, a 2D space for saving, holding to play an animation, going a different direction from RPG-derived 3D games, combat states and action choices, stun locking, animation timing for combat, analog aiming for ranged combat, how to get hints in 1992, an unkillable suit of armor, feeling disempowered, the save slots, misreading a long death animation, a reward for failure, revealing that something is going on elsewhere in the house, being wrong about Louisiana, bringing in New England, many rooms and many possibilities, having the pixel hunt, showing you're done with a room in later games, getting stuck and letting your brain chew, Tim the maker of an amazing game, it takes a team, getting out of the way.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Emily Wilson, LucasArts, Day of the Tentacle, Dark Forces, Beyond Good and Evil, King's Quest, Space Quest, Dave Grossman, Tim Schafer, Ultima Underworld, Ultima (series), Wizardry (series), Prince of Persia, Out of This World, Pirates, Resident Evil, Little Shop of Horrors, Sierra, Dragon's Lair, Eternal Darkness, Jonas, Star Wars Republic Commando, Warren Spector, Deus Ex, Adam Piper, Sir Ian Livingstone, Eidos, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
More AitD

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