Mata Hari

[ThunderPeel2001]

I've only just learned that the two guys behind Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis have teamed up to create a new adventure game called 'Mata Hari'. I need to know more about this and/or discuss it!

http://www.matahari-game.com

What does everyone think? Will it be another lame adventure game that flies below the radar or will it be another chunk of the post-LucasArts renaissance along with Sam & Max?

[toblix]

I remember Hal Barwood talked about this when he was interviewed in one of Warren Spector's lectures. He mentioned something about there being some mini-games and mentioned the "token system" mentioned in the game features secion. I remember not being amazed when he described it, but I think it's along of the lines of not distinguishing between physical inventory and abstract clues and pieces of information. A key to a door is treated the same as the code to a safe or the knowledge that the police commisioner is gay, in every way.

[Marek]

I recommend reading these two articles I wrote for AG:

http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,776

http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,785

My optimism about this game has been tempered by over a year of no new info though. There's good ideas at the heart of it but I don't know yet what to think about the execution.

[toblix]

I always found dialogue-tree puzzles awesome. Lucasarts have made some fine ones.

[DanJW]

Bioware RPG's have become great at dialogue tree puzzles. The Neverwinter Nights dialogue editor is amazing for having fun with tokens and the like. The mod community has come up with some amazing applications built on it, way beyond anything you ever see in commercially released games.

[Erkki]

Bioware RPG's have become great at dialogue tree puzzles. The Neverwinter Nights dialogue editor is amazing for having fun with tokens and the like. The mod community has come up with some amazing applications built on it, way beyond anything you ever see in commercially released games.

Sounds interesting... I didn't play NWN, the beginning of the game didn't seem that interesting. Are you talking about NWN or NWN 2? Have any links to the mod community stuff? Perhaps I should take a look.

[DanJW]

Sounds interesting... I didn't play NWN, the beginning of the game didn't seem that interesting. Are you talking about NWN or NWN 2? Have any links to the mod community stuff? Perhaps I should take a look.

I'm mainly referring to the first game, although the community for NWN2 may well have caught up by now. In both games the campaign straight out the box isn't anything special - the expansion packs are much better and stand alone. But there are user-made modules that rival Bioware or Black Isle themselves for quality.

NWVault is the place to go for the community downloads. There's a heck of a lot of stuff there though, so I suggest you start with the Hall of Fame entries, whether it's modules or custom scripts or assets or whatever.

The NWN games are by far the best "build your own RPG" engines available. With just a little imagination they can easily be used to make a no-combat adventure game too (and have been). Granted it will have to be in a medieval setting, unless you want to get into asset replacement (which is an option, but most people don't have the time and recources for that).

BTW, The Witcher was built on the first NWN engine.

Edit: ooh, the next big thing for the mod community will be Dragon Age, Biowares upcoming fantasy RPG, that has finally broken away from the shackles of D&D. I can't wait to get my grubby little mitts on its toolset.

Edited September 14, 2008 by DanJW

[Erkki]

Thanks for the info, Dan! I'm mostly interested in the community stuff that has done interesting things with dialogue. Do you remember any specific modules that stood out in that regard?

(I started working on a 2D game engine and will want to look for ahem... inspiration for a dialogue system at some point)

PS. sorry for the off topic

[DanJW]

Here are the scripts that are tagged for "conversations". To be honest though I remember picking up so many helpful little odds and ends, and making a few of my own, that I couldn't remember any specifics. Some of the other custom scripts may also involve the dialogue system, the only way to find them would be browse. You could always ask for suggestions on the Bioware forums.

"Demon" includes a custom dialogue-driven mini-game, based on some kind of pokemon-style card game I believe. The author, Adam Miller, is one of the best module builders (in fact I think he's employed by Bioware now) and his previous series, Dreamcatcher, is also very inventive.

Also check out the winners and runners-up of the writing contest that Bioware held. These are short and combat-free, and there are some real gems there.

Mata Hari looks interesting, if only for the setting and choice of protagonist.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Hurrah.