Adapting a point-and-click adventure game to NES

[BioMechanical Dude]

Here's a question: If you had to port a third-person point-and-click adventure game (King's Quest, Secret of Monkey Island) to the NES, would you keep the point-and-click aspect of it or would you invent a new control scheme?

The point-and-click interface is clearly designed for a mouse, so if you've played such games on a console, you'd know how clunky it feels with a controller. Then again, there are games like Clock Tower, that actually make it work, but those games are made for systems, where the controller has more than two buttons and the interface itself had to be simplified. Not to mention that the clunky controls reinforce the feeling of helplessness, which fits the horror genre. If you were trying to port something like King's Quest, on the other hand, it wouldn't really work.

So how would you make it work with a different interface? I have this idea: Let's say we have a pretty simple interface. The player can walk around, examine and interact with objects. Obviously, there wouldn't be a cursor to control the character with. Instead, you would move them around with the D-Pad, examine things with the A Button and interact with things with the B button. When using an item, you press either Select or Start to go to your inventory. You then select your item and later you press the B button when you want to use it. In order to know which objects you can interact with in a given location, there would be a bar somewhere on the screen, that displays the object's name when you're near it. (I'm not sure whether it should be at the top of the screen or near the bottom, above the space reserved for descriptions. I'm guessing the latter, because the player will look at this part more often) Also, it would flash the name in a bright color, before changing it to a slightly darker color to notify the player that there's an object they can either examine or interact with.
There can be some problems with this, though. What if there's an object that the player has to examine, but it's too high up for them to reach? Also, some games like to change camera angles, when entering certain locations. For example, the player goes through a doorway, facing left, but because of the change of camera angle, once they enter the room, they're facing down. I'm not sure what would be the best solution to solve these problems.

So, do you think that would work? Do you think such games should retain the point-and-click interface, even when being ported to consoles like the NES? Do you have your own ideas for an interface, that would replace the point-and-click one? Let me know.

Thanks!

[tokumaru]

The point-and-click interface is clearly designed for a mouse, so if you've played any such games on a console, you'd know how clunky this interface feels with a controller.

I loved Scooby-Doo Mystery on the Genesis. As long as there are no situations that require actions to be taken quickly, I don't mind moving the cursor around with the D-pad.

[DRW]

I can't tell you what alternate interface would work since I never played these kind of games. But if you want to find out whether the interface should be changed at all or if it also works with a d-pad, you should try out the NES version of "Maniac Mansion" to see an actual games like this on the NES.

[tepples]

The interface you describe, walking around and pressing the "use" key to take a closer look and/or interact with something, is almost exactly that of Animal Crossing. It displays the item's name above the player and item in a thought bubble and binds examine/use to A, pick up to B, and inventory to Select. It in turn derives from plenty of older console RPGs and adventure games.

[thefox]

There are some existing point & click games on NES. No point in reinventing the wheel until you have looked at them.

Here are some:

- King's Quest V
- Nightshade
- Maniac Mansion
- Maniac Mansion (Japanese version by Jaleco)

[psycopathicteen]

Don't forget about "Cookie Monster's Cookie Mayhem!"

cookie monster.png (3.29 KiB) Viewed 3619 times

[Kasumi]

The Phoenix Wright games were originally GBA releases in japan, and the d-pad cursor worked fine for their investigation parts. But GBA also has more buttons to switch between moving, searching, talking etc.

Shadowgate and Deja Vu are two more point and clicks on the NES. You could maybe do some clever things using button holds as hot keys (select+up=talk, select+down=begin searching the picture, select+left/right=move).

[Gilbert]

I once thought of it and mucked up a demo showing how Loom^TM can be adapted to the Famicom. Note that this was only done for fun and the demo was (more or less) just a static screen. It didn't really do anything.

Actually Loom^TM had a port to the PCE Super CD-ROM, which was mostly identical to the original and used the joypad to move the mouse pointer. Personally I think it works quite well, so actually it may not always be necessary to redesign the UI.

[thenewguy]

Early 3rd person adventure games were not point and click. You walk around using the keyboard and type stuff in. It might be easier to use a control scheme along those lines with a menu instead of typing stuff in. The problem with point and click on an NES is that it's slow, and pathfinding is going to be an issue.

Having said that, it's always great to see new unique titles. If you want to use a point and click interface, I say go for it. It'll definitely be unique

[rainwarrior]

Don't forget the recent Larry and the Long Look For a Luscious Lover homebrew port.

[thefox]

pathfinding is going to be an issue.

Well, they managed in Maniac Mansion.

If you want to know how it was done, check out this interview (starts around the 6 hour mark): http://www.twitch.tv/handmade_hero/v/28507308

[BioMechanical Dude]

A lot of you have recommended me some NES point-and-click adventure games. I have played most of them and that's one of the reasons that got me thinking whether such games should be done with an alternate control scheme. Controlling the characters in those games can be clunky and uncomfortable.

Shadowgate and Deja Vu are two more point and clicks on the NES. You could maybe do some clever things using button holds as hot keys (select+up=talk, select+down=begin searching the picture, select+left/right=move).

Not that these are first-person adventures. Here there's no other way, than to use the point-and-click interface. I was talking about third-person adventure games. Also the select + d-pad control scheme is an interesting idea, but it'd be much more convenient to just have a menu with the actions.

Early 3rd person adventure games were not point and click. You walk around using the keyboard and type stuff in. It might be easier to use a control scheme along those lines with a menu instead of typing stuff in.

Yes, the early Sierra adventures are what inspired me to think of this in the first place. The menus have to be a bit streamlined, though. Parker Bros. made a port of the original King's Quest for the Sega Master System and the menu had so many actions and objects, that it was kind of overwhelming.

Having said that, it's always great to see new unique titles. If you want to use a point and click interface, I say go for it. It'll definitely be unique

Well, I was never going to make a game. Besides, if I wanted a point-and-click interface on the NES, it probably would've been more streamlined, like the one in Clock Tower for SNES. The question was what to do, when porting such games to the NES. So far, the interface feels clunky on most ports. And let's not get into the confusing mess that is King's Quest V for NES.

[Bregalad]

You should look at Portopia, very great point&click for the NES, where the interface was mostly adapted so that there is less point and click involved. This was actually a prototype for Dragon Quest's interface.

[BioMechanical Dude]

Ah, yes. I believe this was the game that originally inspired Hideo Kojima to pursue a career as a game designer. The interface is relatively streamlined, as far as I can tell. However, once again, this is a first-person adventure. The movement in this game is basically switching from screen to screen. I was specifically talking about third-person adventures, where you would move a character on the screen. This is where some of the problems with this interface come from, at least in NES games.

[psycopathicteen]

Seriously, nobody is questioning if the Cookie Monster game is real?