Week Three - Origins

"Dreamfalling"

The title of our blog is taken from a computer game, "Dreamfall: The Longest Journey", the second installment in an adventure game series begun with "The Longest Journey", created by Ragnar Tornquist - http://ragnartornquist.com/ .

Roper Klacks may be the most wonderful superfluous villain created for an adventure game. Here's a shot of his house...

Beyond one particular summer in the mid 1980's, where I spent a good deal of time with an Atari 2600, I am not what I'd think of calling "a hard core gamer." Often video games and computer games were something I lusted and drooled over when described by my friends and classmates. I had a subscription to Nintendo Power for a time, though that amouted to Nerd-Porn* for me.

Adventure games captured my attention. Adventure games are usually filled with colorful characters, sometimes trite formulaic ones, and sometimes genre-blasting There is a general order to adventure games, which involves the following:

• Walk around.
• Pick up everything.
• Talk to everyone.

After than, the process became a little murkier, but on the surface was as simple as:

• Go [here].
• Pick up [something].
• Go [there].
• Use [something] on [person/thing].

This process could be layered on top of itself, which would make for whole minutes of game play for the experienced gamer. Possibly hours, if you were somewhat less experienced. And really, who would have thought to "use bridle on snake" (but for the explaination that there were no other reason to use the bridle, since it was after riding the giant seahorse that you finally get the bridle which you had to get by giving the bird to the old lady, who in turn gave you a magic lamp right out of 1001 Arabian Nights....)

Venomous snake becomes flying horse. Makes perfect sense. Of course, I
saw a flying horse on the back of the game box, so I knew
I had to find one somewhere...

Much like any trip to a new place, you would be aided with use of a map, though before the use (or even invention) of the internet, such resources would usually be self-generated. That way, you'd be able to discern just where to go, what could be picked up where, and to whom what could be taken.

As a young boy these games captured and plagued my imagination...I would play games to some dead end, seemingly devoid of solutions, only to fall asleep that night and dream about other possible solutions. Sometimes the answers were obvious. Sometimes, not as much.

In the classic text-based adventure, "Zork", you seemed to be no one but yourself. No one addressed you by a name, and you certainly had no graphic depiction of yourself. (The correct geek terminology is actually AFGNCAAP: Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person.) The games that followed would often revel in the banality of their characters, which would add a greater degree of fish-outta-waterness. Characters like Space-Janitor Roger Wilco would find himself embroiled in a quest to save the galaxy from organically replicated insurance salemen.

(Imagine if Stormtroopers wore business suits and carried
briefcases. Attack of the Clones, indeed.)

Because of the low station of the playable character, the writers, by way of the game, would often take the opportunity to comically berate you for poor decisions along the way. Of course this was very frustrating, but it was also intended to help you laugh at your own mistakes, and ease the sting of failure. After all, you saved your game, right? Right?

Dear diary, why must they render me in 3D for the sequel?
And why did they change Elaine's voice? P.S.: I'm a mighty pirate!

Eventually the characters began to get less...wimpy? Adventure games had to grow with the players, getting more complex. Characters had to be more complex as well. As it seemed that adventure games usually took the premise that all players must behave in a manner that is good, and must display a Holmsian clockwork logic in order to accomplish their tasks. Slowly, this began to change. Characters were allowed, and even encouraged to behave somewhat deviously.

Behold, the only adventure game character who never needed a golden walnut to buy passage across a bridge.

This didn't mean that they didn't do what was right, ultimately. They just had to possess the moral compass of a pirate in order to achieve victory. Also the problem of in-game death was left a quirk of the past, to allow for more focus on story and in-game problem solving. Indeed, it was the brilliance of Tim Schaefer (http://www.doublefine.com/news.php) to circumvent the issue of death altogether, by making the character already dead, in his afterlife adventure game, "Grim Fandango".

Oooooh. Oooooooooh. Bone Waaagoooonnn!

Ultimately, these adventures remain very memorable, sometimes hilarious and poignant experiences in those that have played them. They are escapist joy and storytelling on a new level. Playing adventure games is very much like involving yourself deeply in a book. Your eye-hand reflexes likely won't be challenged much, and you won't wreck your wrists and fingers with manic button thrashing.

"The Longest Journey", and its sequel, "Dreamfall" took bits of what came before, and added something new, as well.

April Ryan - artist/adventurer of worlds. Kinda feels familiar...

Naming the blog "Dreamfalling" does reference the experience of involving myself in a wrap-around fantasy, one that was emotionally stirring and intellectually fascinating. This is not intended as an endorsement or review of the game--simply to say that It Was, for me. The characters and setting engaged me, and I found the story compelling. And I'm not the only one, thankfully, as my girlfriend, Danie, thought so, too. The common journey shared was a connecting point for the two of us, and naming it "Dreamfalling" felt like a natural fit for us.

This blog will be something of a long journey, itself, I hope, when all is said and done. There will be fantasy, and a lot of "go here/pick up thing/talk to man" actions recorded, as well. I hope that I can take you along for the adventure.

*Nerd-Porn - (n.) Any form of media that dedicates itself to the relishing of a particular subject that deals with science, technology, film, ninjas, cartoons, or some combination thereof, and is often stimulating to the point where a less couth individual might suggest, "Hey, shouldn't you be reading real porn?"