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In most newer games there seems to be in-game rewards called "achievements." The first game I ever saw do this was Portal. I've now seen many other games do this as well. Some notable examples include Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source and Dragon Age: Origins. Since these achievements are usually showcased in your account profile on Steam, I suppose it's no surprise that four of the five games I listed were created by Valve.

Anyway... one day after I had been blown to smithereens by a Demoman in TF2, I got to thinking: "Why not make achievements for Adventure Games?" I doubt any Adventure developer would actually do that (although BioWare makes achievements for their games, but they primarily create RPGs), but it'd be neat nonetheless.

So here's my idea: We create our own achievements for whatever Adventure Game(s) we want. Obviously, none of these will be official; however, it might be fun and creative.

So choose any Adventure Game you want (you can do multiple games and multiple achievements) and create what you think would be a cool achievement. This isn't a contest, so no one is judging your work. This is strictly for fun.

Here's an example I made for Adventure Games:


Other examples include TF2's set of achievements. You can view them by looking at my profile on Steam (click on the "personal achievements" tab). I chose TF2 as an example because ALL of that game's achievements are humorous in some way. Many of them involve pop culture references and puns.

You mean like...

Stair Master
Go up and down a spiral staircase without saving or loading?

Datadog wrote:You mean like...

Stair Master
Go up and down a spiral staircase without saving or loading?

That's the first one i thought of aswell

Magic hand: in Larry 1, earn $500 (or how much was it) on the Slot machine without saving/loading

Stunt driver: in PQ1, race across the highway and get off the ramp without crashing while maintaining speed.

Police Brutality
Kill or injure any non-criminal you meet in the PQ games.

Knife Try
Stab a man's hand with a dagger by accident or on purpose in Manhunter: New York.

Swim Team
See how far you can swim in the KQ games before dying.

Do You Kiss Your Mother With That Mouth?
Type nasty and perverted messages to everyone you meet.

I Can Read Faster Than You Can Speak!
Turn off the narrator's voice.

"C" Is For Cookie... And Cat
Bake a surprise treat for Manannan and give it to him.

I'm Going In, Cover Me!
Put a condom on Larry before having sex with the hooker.

I Don't Kiss On The First Date
Avoid getting kissed by the alien in SQ2

Live Long And Loot Prosperously
Show the Thief's Sign at the right time and place.

Material Girl
Flirt with the money changer in QFG2.

Bad To The Bone
Fight and defeat at least three bikers in Full Throttle.

I'm Not Left-Handed!
Defeat the Sword Master in The Secret of Monkey Island.

Here's an obvious one.

Scott Murphy's Entertainment
Kill Roger Wilco in every possible way.

Minimalist
Complete the game with as little score as possible.

Incidentally, this sounds like an interesting idea for my KQ2SCI remake project (assuming I ever get back to it). Anybody have any ideas for KQ2?

MusicallyInspired wrote:Here's an obvious one.

Scott Murphy's Entertainment
Kill Roger Wilco in every possible way.

Or Al Lowe's Entertainment
Humiliate Larry Laffer in every possible way.

QUALITY READING ACHIEVEMENT (LSL1)
- Read the bathroom wall till you get the "Ken Sent Me"

HOOKED ON HOOKERS (LSL1)
- Safely engaging in sexual intercourse with the hooker

MIND CONTROL (LSL1)
- Successfully using the remote enough times to get the pimp to move

THAT FAWN IS SO "SUITE" (LSL1)
- Successfully get out of the ropes after Fawn ties you up in LSL1

CHECK YOUR FLY (LSL1)
- Using the rope & hammer to get the Spanish Fly

Off the top of my head.

I was in the pool! The water was cold!
Use the zipper icon on every character in LSL6.

All-Nighter
Complete "Quest for Glory 1" without sleeping.

I'm not listening! La-la-la-la!
Just stand around and ignore the Genie in KQ6 each time until he goes away.

The Quicker Picker-Upper
Empty every waste basket at ScumSoft in SQ3

Two Problems With No Stones
Kill the Orat and the Spider Droid at the same time by luring the Spider Droid into the Orat's cave.

Nursery-Rhyme Justice
Push the witch into her own boiling cauldron after sneaking into her house.

Blue Hedgehog Award
Complete King's Quest I in under 10 minutes.

(PQ1) By The Books
Turn down the sexual advances made by a woman Sonny stopped for speeding and write her a ticket.

(PQ1) Screw The Books
Accept the woman's proposition and waive her speeding ticket.

(PQ2) Cheap Date
Order the least expensive meal while out to dinner with Marie.

(C:I) This Sure Looks A Lot Easier In The Movies!
Successfully command and pilot your submarine.

(LSL1) Big Roller
Cheat by restoring your game when losing in the casino.

(LSL Series) Help, My Life's In Jeopardy!
Fail the entrance quiz 10 times.

(LSL Series) Man Whore
Sleep or attempt to sleep with every woman you meet.

(SQ1 & 2) Who's Roger?
Name your character something other than "Roger Wilco."

(CoC) Unworthy
Fail to rescue all three knights.

(CoC) Worthy
Successfully rescue all three knights.

(TCB) Miss Masochist
Discover all ways to kill Laura Bow.

(QFG Series) In It For The Long Haul
Keep the same character from the first game to the fifth game by importing him.

(QFG Series) Honor Bound
Become a paladin.

(QFG Series) Long Live The King!
Accept the crown and become the King of Silmaria.

(QFG Series) My Kingdom For A Horse!
Allow Elsa to become the king (or queen, in her case).

(QFG Series) Shopping Spree
Purchase as many items as you can, even if you don't need/can't use them.

(ALL Sierra Games) Perfectionist
Achieve a perfect score.

Heh - got a screen shot of an actually "Achievement" screen and modified it to one of my previously mentioned ones... though I changed the name (just to see how it looks)... but get this when sleeping with the hooker in LSL1... This one is for remember to "Cover it up" (safely engaging in sexual intercourse with the hooker)!

Finding that damn dollar bill in LSL2... (only thought of it because of the image game)...

EDIT: Merged my topic with DPX's topic (thanks for pointing out the previous thread!) since they're VERY similar. DPX's was adventure games in general, I was more focused on Sierra. But really, it's close enough to merge together!

Was just thinking - these days, "Achievements" are "everything" to most gamers. They want that score, those points.

Most achievements are phrased in a pretty fun way (or in some way directly related to what you've done - often being a pun).

So, for example, turning Manahananananan (or however you spell that evil wizard's name in KQ3) into a cat, you might get:

"Achievement Unlocked - You're A Magic Man" (Magic Man, being a song from the band Heart).

So if you were to "modernize" some classic Sierra games - what are some achievement announcements you'd come up with (for which game, and what action). And even if someone has come up with an Achievement idea for an action (for example turning Manahahahahahaananana into a cat), and you come up with one as well - post yours too! Don't shy away just because someone posted one for something that you had an idea for!

AGDI's KQ3 Redux already has achievements of a sort. You only figure out which ones you got at the very end of the game.

As for adventure game achievements, I'm a bit conflicted. I really like achievements, but I just don't think they work well with that genre.

At their best, achievements are a goal to work towards. So when you're playing the game, you're both trying to win and trying to reach all those goals. This way, they can also point you toward experienced you might have missed otherwise. In an RPG, you might have achievements associated with optional side quests, or with maxing out your level, or with acquiring unique equipment, for example.

That sort of thing would be tricky with adventure games, though. There's generally just one story that every player ends up following. The only way to play it "better" than another player is generally via a better solution to a puzzle, or via doing collection things that are irrelevant to the plot (e.g. getting the assorted treasures in KQ1 and KQ2). It would also be extra important not to give puzzles or plot points away in the achievement descriptions, while still telling the player enough that they know what they need to work towards. Finding a balance there is difficult.

Also, it's in the nature of adventure games that a lot of achievements would be missable. Adventure games tend to have many points of no return (e.g. some world-changing event happening or you moving to a new area) and one-time events. That means that, if you didn't get the achievement at the time, you can't go back to get it later. At the same time, however, adventure games don't generally have replay value (aside from playing again much later). Playing the game through again immediately after winning is generally no fun, but playing the game super carefully (probably with a guide open) to make sure to get the achievements the first time through also isn't fun.

Some games enable achievement hunting by either giving you quick access to replay certain missions or by just opening up the world as sandbox once you've won, but I don't really see those working for adventure games.

The alternative would be to just have only achievements for actions that are required for winning the game. So the percentage of achievements gained would roughly correspond to the percentage of the game played, and winners would always have 100%. For most types of game, that sort of thing is very unsatisfying (although still better than no achievements at all), but it might be the best option for adventure games.

adeyke wrote: As for adventure game achievements, I'm a bit conflicted. I really like achievements, but I just don't think they work well with that genre.

You sir, put way too much thought into this!

I was just looking to make a thread, that could have some fun "Achievement titles" (if they existed in Sierra games).

For example, in LSL1 - getting the Pimp to move out of the way, using the TV remote could be:

"Achievement Unlocked - Pimp My Ride!" (which ties into the Pimp thing, as well as making a reference to that old MTV show called "Pimp My Ride"

Or, sleeping with the Hooker upstairs:

"Achievement Unlocked - Hooked On A Feeling" (which is a reference to the Hooker/Hook and a reference to the song by the same name, now made pretty famous {again} because of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie)

Or even, if you properly used the condom before sleeping with the Hooker:

"Achievement Unlocked - To Protect And Serve" (obviously a reference to the condom protection, and a reference to the police motto of "To protect and serve")

That type of stuff.