14 DAY TRIAL // Jane Jensen, the video game creator best known for her work on the Gabriel Knight series, believes that a strong story is essential for the long-term success of all titles in the adventure game genre, but that other factors also play an important part.
The developer tells VG247 that, “I would say that – to me – the most important thing is the story. The story, characters, the world have to be interesting, and that it’s suitable for a game, that it can be dramatic, emotional and fun.”
She adds, “Then with puzzle design – I’m a big believer in having puzzles that are well integrated into the story, as opposed to just random ‘tic tac toe’, or logic puzzles that are just stamped on top of a world, and that they hopefully advance the plot and the character’s journey.”
At the moment, Jane Jensen is working on a new video game called Moebisu, which has been fully funded using the Kickstarter crowd-funding service.
The developer also has a new studio, called Pinkerton Road, and will use its resources to develop other adventure titles, although a return of the Gabriel Knight series is not yet planned.
Jensen is also working with Phoenix Online on another adventure series, called Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller.
Moebius will tell the story of Malachi Rector, an antiquities dealer who is best known for his meticulous work ethic.
His store is destroyed in a fire and a billionaire named Amble Dexter hires him to document a number of mysterious events.
The first case involves a woman dying in Venice and Rector discovers that the incident is part of a wider conspiracy which seems to deal with the supernatural and could change the very nature of life.
Players will have to use traditional adventure game mechanics to push the plot forward and decide how their own action will shape the world of Moebius.