Independent game developer Private Moon Studios has embarked on an ambitious publication strategy for Agon, a graphical point-and-click adventure game in the same style as Myst. The seven-person developer lacks a worldwide publisher or distributor, so outside of their native Hungary they are offering Agon as a serialized, downloadable game, unveiled over 14 chapters. Three of the chapters have been published so far, and you can download them and try them out before you register.
In Agon, it’s the dawn of the 20th century. You are a middle-aged professor from the British museum, and you’ve discovered an anonymous letter that takes you to twelve corners of the world to learn the rules of a long-forgotten board game that you hope to one day exhibit in your museum. You must find the keepers of the games and its rules as you uncover secrets that hint at a legend of doom.
The game features scenes pre-rendered in 360 degree panoramic views. Each scene features hot-spots that you can examine more in depth or travel to, as you solve puzzles, look for clues and uncover confounding and challenging mysteries.
In addition to the graphical adventure game, Private Moon Studios has created NetBoard, an online version of a board game called Tablut that players will encounter in the second installment of the Agon series. Alas, it’s for Windows only — though Private Moon Studios said they are planning on making a Mac version at some point.
The three chapters unveiled in the Agon saga so far are entitled “London Scene,” “Adventure in Lapland” and “Pirates of Madagascar.” A fourth, “Lost Sword of Toledo,” has been unveiled but hasn’t yet been posted. Each chapter measures from 201MB to 289MB, so make sure to download them using high-speed Internet access. Each installment costs US$10 to register.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.3, 700MHz or faster CPU, 16MB VRAM.
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