Pixelsocks: Can you describe your game for me?

Joshua Nuernberger

Joshua: Boryokudan Rue is a full length point-and-click adventure game made by me and a musician, Nathan Allen Pinard. The game is highly story-driven. It has two stories, sci-fi and film noir, interwoven into one. The dual story line is kind of different because you can swap between the characters at various moments.

Also there’s an action system, but it’s not arcade-style. It’s more tuned for adventure gamers, so I hope you won’t be frustrated with it. There’s also a kick verb, which is something Monkey Island did not have. There’s also a notes and names system where do detective-style investigation.

Pixelsocks: Can you unpack what “full-length” means?

Joshua: I’d say that it’s about as long as Monkey Island or Fate of Atlantis: about four to eight hours. There are about eighty rooms in the game.

Pixelsocks: I’ve read that the action system tunes itself to the player’s skill, is that accurate?

Joshua: Actually it isn’t. The system is focused around two main mechanics. One is cover: so if you don’t do anything, you won’t be instantly killed. The second mechanic is breathing. You have to time your shots to efficiently deal with your enemies. For example, you press shift to start filling a meter, and when it’s in the right range, you can get a head shot. So you have to match the cover timing with the breathing timing.

Pixelsocks: Why did you chose to build your game with Adventure Studio?

Joshua: It has never given me any problems and it can always do what I want it to. I’ve just been using it for years and I don’t see the need to move on to another engine.

Pixelsocks: Adventure games took a turn for the cartoony some time around Day of the Tentacle, but your game’s aesthetic is closer to The Secret of Monkey Island. Why did you go in that direction?

Joshua: It’s a style that I’m used to. I’ve found that this resolution and this art style will let me produce a lot of backgrounds very fast. They don’t look that bad either; they look sketchy and washed out.

Pixelsocks: Would you recommend that strategy to other developers who are starting out?

Joshua: Yes, but I’d never attempt a game like this from the get go. I made another smaller game a couple years ago. I learned what works and what I need to do to finish a game.

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Tags:   boryokudan rue · GDC · gdc 2010 · IGF · IGF 2010 · joshua nuernberger · Student ShowcaseNo Comments

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