What’s your favorite interface in adventure games? Doesn’t necessarily have to be the most perfect or easy to use; just the one that you’re the most partial to.
Off the top of my head, a couple of low-hanging fruit suggestions (feel free to add more):
- LucasArts “9 verb” interface (Monkey Island 2, Day of the Tentacle, etc.)
- LucasArts “verb coin” (Monkey Island 3, Full Throttle)
- Sierra “icon bar” (King’s Quest V, Space Quest IV, etc.)
- Revolution “Left does/right looks” mouse buttons (Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword, as well most Wadjet Eye titles)
Mine is actually the one in Leisure Suit Larry 7. You click on something and up comes a contextual menu of appropriate verbs. If it’s a door, you can “open” it; if it’s a button, you can “press” it; etc. — and it also has an optional text parser for inputting your own verb.
well, i can’t see the twitter thread without registering, so sorry if i just repeat what was there…
but, for me, there are good arguments for all options. some games are more about freedom of exploring (like Outer Wilds), while Visual Novels or games like Machinarium are a much more railroad-ed story. I think that point-and-click games need to find a balance thou, with a good amount of freedom to not feel trapped or lost. i think that the classic games of the 90s, like Monkey Island, Broken Sword or DOTT did great at finding the balance that I personally find more fun