Looks fantastic.

Beta stage? ALREADY?! That's a pleasant surprise!

If you need testers, I'd be more than happy to play it through. What are the system requirements?

System Requirements are likely something like this:

Minimum:
Windows XP/2000
512MB System Ram
1GB HDD Space
Microsoft compatible pointing device
Direct3D 9 compatible video card with 64MB RAM (but tested on as low as a voodoo3)
DirectSound compatible sound card

Recomended: for full features
Windows XP/2000
1GB System Ram
1GB HDD Space
Microsoft compatible pointing device
Direct3D 9 video card with Shader Model 2.0 or better and 256MB RAM
DirectSound compatible sound card

For the record, running on a Voodoo 3 is NOT a good idea.

Hey Raymond,

Malathedra is looking really nice. Haven't been by in a while but the new screens are definitely sexy.

Looking at your game has really got me thinking about some things. Although most people consider the adventure genre 'dead', there is actually an interesting resurgence of the adventure genre currently taking place. I'm not referring to the small bastion of last standers expanding, but rather the casual market place explosion, and its feeding frenzy on new genres.

Casual? You probably cringed like everyone else reading this, but there is serious money to be made there; the number of paying customers is growing rapidly and a need for new types of games is coming into the marketplace. New genres take a foothold much slower in the casual market than other places (you will notice certain genres DOMINATE the top 10 lists for months at a time, first match-3, then click management, now hidden object). However, light adventure games have proven themselves here and there very well -- likely indications that the adventure genre is on the verge of blowing up in that market.

For examples of the current adventure games that are making cash hand over fist check out PlayFirst's Dream Chronicles series, Big Fish Europe's Azada and there is one other bigger series similar to Myst but the name eludes me atm.

Your game could likely be completely mouse driven, has a female for a main character, and has high production values -- these are some of the most necessary components for a casual game to be successful.

Most people on this forum (from my limited experience) are what I consider 'hard core indie devs' meaning they would never remove a feature to make their game more suitable for the casual market, and probably scoff at the mere mention of portals and the like. But the truth is, there is serious financial potential in that sector, and if you can exploit that, why not? I know that MW didn't sell so hot, and I would hate for this game to have the same issue.

Maybe consider contacting some of the big time casual publishers? Reflexive, PlayFirst, Oberon... You may end up finding a nice deal for yourself, and at the end of the day, being a professional game developer is about making games you like and making end's meet.

Hopefully this long-winded message is helpful to you. I just wanted to give my support to your project and wish you the best of luck with it. If you have any questions feel free to drop me an IM. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but have been researching the casual market for quite a while, and have some first hand experience with the pubs, portals and devs that make up the casual space.

Good luck amigo!

Edit: The other adventure series is the Carol Reed series, with the latest release being East Side Story published by Merscom and hitting number 7 on Big Fish :)

Edit 2: After looking at your required specs, you might have a hard time penetrating the casual market. However, I still think if you want to make adventure games and make a good living, the above applies, so who knows maybe your next game? :D

Shadowcomplex:

Thanks for the info, we've started looking at a few portals and are considering weather it'll be worthwhile; it's definetly got us thinking :D