Indiana Jones Adventure World

Indy's brother

New member
Indy's brother said:
There's been little, if any, attempt to keep the public interested in the idea other than not shooting it down completely (Kathleen Kennedy's comments aside).

Great, thanks to a Facebook post of Mitch's, I get to eat my words after only 7 hours this time:

adventurejonessplash05.jpg


For those of you unfamiliar, this game is produced by Zynga, the same people we have to thank for Farmville, Cityville, Empires & Allies, Frontierville, and Mafia Wars. From the link:

Since Adventure World's release last week, many media outlets dubbed it "FarmVille meets Indiana Jones." It seems that Zynga took those allusions to heart, as the company has teamed up with Lucasfilm to make good on those hit-generating remarks. Zynga just announced that Indiana Jones will soon make his way into Adventure World this October.

In fact, it appears that the game will be completely rebranded with the Indiana Jones name, according to the above image. The teaser depicts the familiar Adventure World logo, but now reads, "Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game." To us at least, this implies that Zynga Boston's debut game will incorporate the Indiana Jones brand throughout (and perhaps permanently). The wording of Zynga's announcement certainly steers us toward this conclusion:
Zynga is proud to announce that we're teaming up with Lucasfilm to bring Indiana Jones - the KING of lost idol hunting, bull whipping, holy grail-ing and flying (but not landing) - to your favorite adventure game. Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game will be coming soon to a browser near you.

So. Although it's obviously a money-making enterprise, it's hard not to see a game like this putting Indy in every SoNet-ing person's face for a good year at least. While probably not the overall intent of this game, the latent effect is that it should keep public awareness/interest in the franchise at some kind of healthy level.

So fine. I'm wrong about something. It's been known to happen. Occasionally, though so don't get cocky.

EDIT: Though this post was in reference to a previous post of mine in this thread, if it belongs in the Indy Video Games forum, it won't hurt my feelings any more to be wrong twice in one day.....
 
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Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Moved then. I wonder if the first Indy game of the decade will have some semblance of a plot? I don't play Facebook games, though I'm amused by their Desktop Adventure quaintness. I'm sure we'll be treated to screenshots aplenty.
 

Indy's brother

New member
I've never played them, either. They just seem so lame, and since I have every modern gaming console, why should I bother. But my opinion of these games is completely inconsequential. What I am interested in seeing is whether this game will be even come close to the success of Zynga's other offerings. And if so, how it will impact Lucasfilm/Lucasarts. Most importantly (to me) will it generate more interest in developing another console game? Then further down the line, toys, and most unlikely but not completely out of the realm of possibility more interest in another film, or at least an animated television program.....
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Indy's brother said:
I've never played them, either. They just seem so lame, and since I have every modern gaming console, why should I bother.
They're not exactly my cup of tea either, but despite that, we can reverse-engineer the whole point of existence for games like these from this very statement.

For a dedicated gamer, they may not seem to be worth their while. But a person who might shy away from picking up a Xbox controller can still happily invest hours upon hours on these little gems of social media gaming. They're very important pieces in making video games a truly mainstream form of entertainment.

Even some irony is able to sneak in in the form of the fact that despite spending as much time honing their virtual gardens as somebody else is leveling their orc hunter, these people don't regularly identify themselves as "gamers", and might sometimes go as far as shun them publicly.


It's an Indiana Jones product residing in one of the hottest media environments of our day, and as such, might make some unexpectable ripples in the fandom and the franchise.
 

Indy's brother

New member
Finn said:
It's an Indiana Jones product residing in one of the hottest media environments of our day, and as such, might make some unexpectable ripples in the fandom and the franchise.

This.

I let my curiosity get the better of me and I've been tooling around with it a bit in the last hour. It's certainly not the kind of game I usually find myself in, but it's got it's share of challenges as far as managing your resources. The aspect that I'm not excited about is the constant prompting of the game to contact other people for supplies. This of course, is the niche for these games, and that which fuels their popularity. For that reason, I can't bring myself to be too critical of it; it's just not my format. Besides I've been dialing back my social networking a great deal these days, anyway.

Perhaps someone a little more familiar with these types of games would be willing to give us a fair and balanced review...?
 

Icybro

Member
The hundreds of Facebook posts from extended relatives imploring me to trade a bushel of beets or whatever turned me off Farmville and its ilk before I even really knew what it was . . . but what the heck, if this one's got the Indy seal of approval, I gotta try it. So far, I don't hate it.

The telegram from Indy at the beginning is cool, but I get the feeling that (and the new name) may be the only direct tie-in to the franchise . . . for now, anyway. I wonder what "Indy is coming in Oct!" means? Maybe that they'll get to use the real "Raiders March" instead of the knock-off version currently employed? Or will the character of Indy himself make a personal appearance in the story?

My one concern is the constant pop-ups asking me to "share" my experience or invite friends to "join the adventure," which I guess is par for the course. I'm not interested in bothering my friends and relatives with this game, but I'm worried I won't be able to get the full Indy experience without engaging in the social aspect. Anybody else here in a similar situation? Wanna be Facebook buds? PM me. We can trade beets, if that's what it takes.
 

Lao_Che

Active member
Finn said:
It's an Indiana Jones product residing in one of the hottest media environments of our day, and as such, might make some unexpectable ripples in the fandom and the franchise.

Ideally. I wonder who contacted who?
 
Icybro said:
My one concern is the constant pop-ups asking me to "share" my experience or invite friends to "join the adventure," which I guess is par for the course. I'm not interested in bothering my friends and relatives with this game, but I'm worried I won't be able to get the full Indy experience without engaging in the social aspect. Anybody else here in a similar situation? Wanna be Facebook buds? PM me. We can trade beets, if that's what it takes.

Exactly. I'm shying away from it because of that but I'll prolly revisit once the Indy content debuts. Then...we'll see.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
neverAcquiesce said:
Exactly. I'm shying away from it because of that but I'll prolly revisit once the Indy content debuts. Then...we'll see.

Yeah, that's my plan as well. I started, picked up the machete, and then simply decided to wait.

After all, I've still got to work up the patience to play the rest of Staff of Kings...
 

Icybro

Member
Alright, so I'm a few days in, and now I'm kinda at the point where I can't do much unless I start paying (not gonna happen) or add some friends. I checked out the Zynga forums, and I could add some random Vietnamese cross-dressing Farmville addict, but I'd rather add a real Indy fan. (Not that I have anything against Vietnamese cross-dressers.) Anybody?

Let me sell it to ya . . . Everything about the game screams Indiana Jones. The similarities are so obvious and omnipresent that I have to believe Lucasfilm would be filing a lawsuit against Zynga right now if they hadn't decided to join forces. You play a bullwhip-wielding, fedora-donning archeologist in the 1930s, searching for the fabled lost city of El Dorado. (How many different El Dorados does that make in the Indy universe, now? Four?) And technically, there is official Indy content already: as mentioned earlier, the telegram that kicks off the game is from Indy. I imagine the game play was largely inspired by Farmville, but some elements remind me a little of that old favorite, Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures.

Eh?? Anybody in?

Also: In the promo art, anybody else think the Raiders-style Y in "Indy" looks funny? It's wider than the Y in "Indy" in the old Last Crusade Action Game box art, and the right stroke is shorter. I would have thought Lucasfilm would have standardized all the letters of the alphabet in that typeface ages ago.
 

The Drifter

New member
"You need 50 shovels, 150 pickaxes, 800 strands of rope and one fedora to advance a fraction of a level. Send your friend's a request for these items or buy a card at your local department store!'

Thanks, but no thanks.
I've been down this road and I refuse to play another game like this. Even if it is Indiana Jones related.
 

Icybro

Member
Y'all are missing out. Zynga just introduced an "Indiana Jones mailbox," which promises to deliver letters from Indy every 36 hours or so. Indy just called me a "deskjockey" and encouraged me to "watch [my] step!" Classic Indy! Lucas and Spielberg really have their work cut out for them with Indy 5, if they want to outdo the excitement of these letters!

Seriously, this better not be the extent of the game's integration with the franchise. At a minimum, I want me some John Williams music and a personal appearance by Indy himself every now and then. Is that too much to ask?
 

Junior Jones

New member
Icybro said:
Seriously, this better not be the extent of the game's integration with the franchise.

It does say "Indy is coming in Oct!" so I'd assume there will be more Indy content by then.
 

Crack that whip

New member
Same here. I assume the mailbox is kind of a "teaser" for things to come.

Of course, obviously this game will still always present the kind of "casual" gaming typically associated with these Zynga Facebook games, but that's not necessarily a bad thing (nor do all players of such "casual" games appear to take them so casually, as far as I can tell). I think this game has lots of promise (and heck, even if it stayed exactly as it is forever, I think it's arguably already more fun than a few other Indy games I've played, and it's mostly free, to boot).

(Just started playing, obviously, and enjoying it despite slow going. (y) )

Icybro said:
Also: In the promo art, anybody else think the Raiders-style Y in "Indy" looks funny? It's wider than the Y in "Indy" in the old Last Crusade Action Game box art, and the right stroke is shorter. I would have thought Lucasfilm would have standardized all the letters of the alphabet in that typeface ages ago.

You know, I'd have thought the same thing, but I've noticed the same thing before, even on some of the posters. The exact design of the logo varies a bit between different one-sheets and so on (IIRC, if you look at the "Indiana Jones" in the title on the advance and release posters for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you can see some differences, even though those two posters came out just months apart and for the same movie).
 

Icybro

Member
Crack that whip said:
The exact design of the logo varies a bit between different one-sheets and so on (IIRC, if you look at the "Indiana Jones" in the title on the advance and release posters for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you can see some differences, even though those two posters came out just months apart and for the same movie).

Lordy, you're right! The A's in the advance poster are muscling out the letters they follow (the second I and second N in "Indiana"). That's awful. I can't believe I didn't notice it before . . .
 
Crack that whip said:
You know, I'd have thought the same thing, but I've noticed the same thing before, even on some of the posters. The exact design of the logo varies a bit between different one-sheets and so on (IIRC, if you look at the "Indiana Jones" in the title on the advance and release posters for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you can see some differences, even though those two posters came out just months apart and for the same movie).

Right you are.

indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-poster-0.jpg
indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-poster-1.jpg


Markedly different. How about that.
 

HoosierTrooper

New member
I'm playing, but really hope the further integration ups the Indy cues. So far, I've been muting the game music and turning up some John Williams as I play. :D
 

Icybro

Member
So, for those of you not playing, it's October, and there have been some interesting additions. Certain missions are branded with the Indiana Jones logo, and these appear to be part of a quest that Indy is personally overseeing . . . not on location, of course, but from his office at the National Museum. His letters now bear the museum logo first appearing (I think?) in the Lost Journal, published around the release of KOTCS; and Indy's familiar signature. (Anybody know when/where this signature made its first appearance? The Indiana Jones Khyber Bowie Knife from 1989, maybe?)

n1WxW.png


Anyway, it looks like somebody's spent at least a little effort putting the Indy stamp on the game. Still no John Williams' score, unfortunately, but I'm reasonably satisfied.
 
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