Adrien de Jong and Sylvain Tagroeg did not necessarily set out to create a new genre. But, in some ways, both did just that upon release hidden people In 2017. Hidden object games have been around for decades – they existed even before computers, when people searched for objects in pictures and printed images – but hidden people This was a specific step. de jong calls hidden people a “discovery” game; There are objects hidden, of course, but the game is about more than just finding objects.
“We wanted to create a very playful, interactive game where our focus was on sparking curiosity for these little worlds and the little stories that unfold,” said de Jong, who intends to expand on hidden people Cosmos in a new collaboration with Tegroeg, revealed The Verge. “That was always the vision for the game, and all the design decisions we made tried to fulfill that sense of exploration.”
In the years since the game’s release, dozens Hidden people-Likes were created. Some of them are clones that copy the art style and even assets in a way that makes De Jong uncomfortable. Many of those games may satisfy the desire to find things, but they lack the joy of games. hidden people. The quest genre has also emerged as a way for developers to inject story and curiosity back into hidden object games. It’s easier to draw a line with hidden people For the likes of “Interactive City Discovery Game” small lifemystery game wind peakhistory search game hidden through timeAnd, now, adventure hidden object game Lost and Found Company
The notion of hidden people Simple: search through pen and ink artist Tegroeg’s expressive, detailed world for a list of objects displayed at the bottom of the screen. You do not have to proceed by clicking, but Search – Click on things to see what happens, what “mouth sound” you hear made by the developer. Perhaps you will uncover what you were looking for. Maybe you won’t. every little detail hidden people It’s fascinating, de Jong said, crafted from hours of intensive play testing.
Lost and Found CompanyCreated by Thailand-based studio Bit Egg, there is a joy that feels similar hidden people. It’s about finding lost items while working for a dragon goddess. It is based on a colorful, magical world filled with thousands of different objects and characters. Little stories are everywhere, and exploring different places will surely uncover secrets. It is clearly inspired hidden peopleAnd Bit Egg co-founder and CEO Richmond Lee said as much in an interview The Verge. signal system, a defining factor of hidden people-Likes is a tribute to the games of de Jong and Tegroeg, but also to the way Bit Egg is trying to elevate the object genre behind static images.
Lost and Found CompanyThe worlds of – an antique shop filled with haunted objects, a chaotic family home in the midst of their morning routine, or a lush vacation spot where tourists fool around on smoothies – are elaborately constructed to tell stories. There is an elaborate story and there are small children playing in every nook and corner. Bit Egg makes lots of little pop culture references Lost and Found Company.; One of my favorites that I invented is a haunted doll which is a reference to the real life doll that inspired me Annabelle Horror movie, and which is locked away in a secret museum near my hometown.
“When we looked at a lot of the hidden object games out there, they were very gameplay-focused,” Lee said. “They have a theme, they give you a lot of material, but there’s not much in the way of characters and story. That’s something we wanted to pursue.”
Lost and Found CompanyThe characters, the dragon goddess Mei and her startup intern Ducky (whom she transforms from an actual duckling into a human), lead players through its story. A mysterious man is stealing from the townspeople, and the duo’s ability to find things restores the people’s faith in the goddess, which had become popular in modern times. It is this story that pulls the different layers together; Everywhere, in all parts of the city, people need help finding their stuff. Sometimes, it’s ingredients to make smoothies, sometimes it’s personal items carried around an apartment complex. There are always some extra things too – little things that reward a player for being curious. For example, I found a submerged submarine when I clicked four different lampposts in the right place, causing the submarine to come up for air.
De Jong and Lee both agree that what makes a good hidden object game is playtesting. You can have a great art style, clever sounds, and a good story, but if the game doesn’t work well, it won’t appeal to players. “It took us several years and it was just trial and error,” Lee said. “Anyone who makes a level has a hard time understanding how hard or easy it might be for someone else. You just have to keep practicing and testing.” Made by Playtesting hidden people It is very satisfying to play. De Jong said this is the core of what he does as a game developer. “You put it in front of anybody and you’ll learn a million things,” he said. “I think I’ve watched players play the game for 200 to 300 hours and I’ve seen little things change based on what I’ve seen players do.”
Of course, placing hidden objects in environments is an art: Lee said that Bit Egg designs a level with concept art before remaking it as an isometric level, Then Putting it into the game engine. “We basically make everything three times,” he said. This is a different process than the one constructed by de Jong and Tegroeg. hidden peopleTogreog begins with ink drawings on paper, which are laid out on a large page and scanned into a computer, then assembled into a game engine.
“He pulls everything, we scan it and put it into the game engine,” de Jong said. “There, one by one, he pulls everything into position.” It is a task that is time consuming and exceptionally precise; hidden people‘The huge factory scale is proof of this. It contains hundreds of small boxes of different types. Animations come later, replacing some of the static pieces.
All that effort goes toward something that feels inherently human: the act of looking. Lee said one could also consider old Chinese and Japanese paintings as a hidden object game. You may not be looking for anything specific, but the broad, detailed nature of these images often leads to small discoveries as you look further. “There’s a really long history of people being fascinated by these neat little scenes,” he said.
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