Software:Keepsake (video game)

From HandWiki
Keepsake
Developer(s)Wicked Studios
Publisher(s)The Adventure Company
EngineCrystal Space
Platform(s)Windows
Release
  • NA: March 29, 2006
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Keepsake is a third person point-and-click adventure game developed by Canadian company Wicked Studios for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows platforms. The player plays as the main character Lydia. The quest starts that Lydia investigates what happened to Dragonvale Academy as she was on her way to meet a friend there, as she arrived she noticed that the academy was deserted. Although the game was met with mixed reviews, the developers endeavour to improve the game by releasing patches.

Plot

Lydia, the main character, has just arrived at Dragonvale Academy, a school of magic. Her best friend, Celeste, agreed to meet her outside the school at a nearby fountain, but when Lydia arrives, the school is deserted and Celeste is nowhere to be found. With the help of a wolf (who claims to be both a dragon and a familiar to a powerful mage) named Zak, Lydia sets out to find out what happened at Dragonvale Academy that caused the disappearance of hundreds of people and to reunite with her best friend.

Gameplay

Keepsake is a third person point-and-click adventure game in which the user clicks areas on the screen to navigate and explore the world. The world is set up through fixed camera angles showing the portion of the area that the main character, Lydia, stands in. The user can click different locations and items to move, activate puzzles or cutscenes, and enter other areas. The game is played through exploring the world and solving puzzles to advance. The total gameplay length is estimated at 15 hours.

Development and release

The engine behind Keepsake is called Glyph. It is mostly built on open source projects. The developers stated that the main reason for that was the cross-platform issue. The game 3D engine is Crystal Space; it works on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. The sound engine uses DirectSound3D, but it can also support OpenAL for cross-platform.[1][2]

The game was first released in Germany by Frogster Interactive on November 19, 2005,[3] and in France by Micro Application on February 17, 2006.[4] The game was also released in various other European territories by Lighthouse Interactive on February 24 with English, Dutch, and Italian localizations, followed later by Polish, Spanish, and Russian ones.[5] The game shipped in North America on March 29, 2006.[6]

A patch was released for the European version which added a map of the Academy to be displayed from the game control console.[7] The map was purely for display; the player could not use it for quick navigation to a room as in Simon the Sorcerer.

Reception

The game received mixed reviews. The game received a score of 5.2 out of 10 from GameSpot,[8] who commented on the game's lackluster plot but interesting puzzles. IGN gave the game a 7.2 rating out of 10, noting the second half of the game "included impossibly difficult puzzles that didn't make sense most of the time".[9] Currently the game has accumulated a 68% rating on Metacritic[10] and 70% on GameRankings.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Interview with President of Wicked Studios
  2. ↑ "Projects Using Crystal Space". http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/Projects_Using_CS#Keepsake. 
  3. ↑ "Keepsake Release-Verschiebung" (in de). November 15, 2005. http://www.frogster-interactive.de/news.html. "Fantasy-Adventure Keepsake ab 19. November im Handel" 
  4. ↑ "Keepsake sur PC" (in fr). https://www.jeuxvideo.com/jeux/pc/00015261-keepsake.htm. 
  5. ↑ "'Keepsake' Goes Gold in Europe" (in en). http://worthplaying.com/article/2006/2/8/news/30892-keepsake-goes-gold-in-europe/. 
  6. ↑ "The Adventure Company Ships KEEPSAKE" (in en). https://www.gamedeveloper.com/press-release/the-adventure-company-ships-keepsake. 
  7. ↑ "Keepsake UK gets a mini-map". adventuregamers.com. http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=1180. Retrieved 2007-05-17. 
  8. ↑ Mueller, Greg (20 March 2006). "Keepsake Review". CBS Corporation. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/keepsake-review/1900-6148028/. Retrieved 25 March 2019. 
  9. ↑ Krause, Staci (2 May 2006). "Keepsake A Keeper". News Corporation. https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/05/03/keepsake. Retrieved 25 March 2019. 
  10. ↑ "Keepsake". CBS Corporation. https://www.metacritic.com/game/keepsake/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved 25 March 2019. 
  11. ↑ "Keepsake". CBS Corporation. https://www.gamerankings.com/pc/930139-keepsake/index.html. Retrieved 25 March 2019. 

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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