Doctor Who – Adventure Game

 

Doctor Who – Adventure Game is just what it sounds like. You take control of the Fourth Doctor in this original graphical adventure that sees him visit many locations and encounter many foes – all of which are inspired by “real” locations from the show’s “classic era” (1963-1989), and along the way you have to solve various puzzles – some of which are also inspired by events from the TV show. Along the way you will encounter and interact with known characters such as Sarah Jane Smith, K9 and enemies such as Daleks, Cybermen, Krotons and others.

The game itself is inspired by games like Pyjamarama and the classic LucasArts adventures games. You walk around the scenery, uncover items by examining things and then use those items to solve puzzles which will allow you to get further into the game. So grab your Sonic Screwdriver, hop into your TARDIS and get out there and explore the galaxy. Enjoy.

 

Download for Windows XP and above. (15.5 MB)
Download for Mac OSX. (20 MB)

Current Windows version v1.0 (released October 19th, 2017).
Current OSX version v1.0 (released November 13th, 2017).

MAC OSX note:
Please be aware, that the games I’ve ported to OSX doesn’t run on newer OS’s. I bought my MacBook Pro in 2011 and have never updated it, so I can assure you that the games still work. BUT Apple has removed “Legacy support” from their operating systems, and since the language I’ve used hasn’t been updated to support newer OSX versions, the games won’t run on on newer and updated machines.

Here’s four screenshots from the game.

The Doctor in the TARDIS consoleroom at the start of the game.
K9 is there too – he gives good advice…sometimes.

 

Telos – an early location in the game. This is from the story “Tomb of the Cybermen”.

 

A stasis room from the second location. This is from “The Ark in Space”.

 

This location is from late in the game and is inspired by “Resurrection of the Daleks”.

 

Video coming here … as soon as someone makes one I can pinch. 😉
 

Gameplay description:
The only movement in the game is left and right, which is used to walk between the locations in the game (there are also keys to pick up, drop & use items). As you move around the scenery you will come across places you can’t pass, but through dialogue you will get hints as to what you can do to get past them. You have to EXAMINE things to discover where you can USE the items that you will find in the game.  Sometimes it will take more than one item to solve a puzzle (in one case 4) but usually just one or two. Sometimes an item will disappear after use and sometimes it won’t … some even have to be used more than once. Keep in mind that all items in the game has a use – there are no “red herrings“.

Generally you should examine everything in the game and in most cases you will get some dialogue if there is a “hot zone”. After examining something the game may not give more hints, but that doesn’t mean that the same place won’t be made active again later if something else has been triggered in the mean time.

There is a savegame option (one slot), so you can exit the game any time you like and return to it later. It’s a relatively short game though. It has 46 locations and about 50 tasks or events that has to be triggered and assuming you know the solution to all the puzzles, the total game play time is less than an hour.

 

Hints:
Sometimes the puzzles many not seem logical – because while some are inspired from the classic Doctor Who show … some are just a bit silly. If you’re stuck and can’t find out how to continue, try using all items on all the “hot spots” you’ve found (the Brute Force method) and hopefully you will figure out how to progress. If you’re still unable to find the solution you’re welcome to ask me by E-mail or on Twitter.

 

Why this and why the 4th Doctor?:
Nostalgia, that’s why. This is something I’ve wanted to make for years – a graphical adventure game set in the Doctor Who universe and Tom Baker was “my first Doctor” and he is – to me – the best Doctor, so playing as him was a no-brainer when designing this game (but I do like ALL the classic Doctors.) I’m not as fond of what’s been made since 2005 but that’s another discussion. I am still (somewhat) a fan of the show since its revival in 2005 though. The gameplay here has been inspired by games like Three Weeks in Paradise and Everyone’s a Wally for the ZX Spectrum as that kind of gameplay is very suited to the universe the game is set in.

 

Installation:
On Windows; Unpack the ZIP file and you’ll end up with a folder called ‘Doctor Who – Adventure Game‘ which contains the game files. Run the programfile to run the game. The game has been tested on, and works on (at least) Windows XP to Windows 8.1.
On OSX, mount the DMG file and then run the game as is, or move the folder with the game to somewhere else. Then click the programfile. Then play 🙂

The game saves information about sound and its keys to a configuration file to the game folder. To reset the settings just delete this file. A new one will be written instead.

 

Controls:
Use the left & right ARROW keys to control your character. You also have keys to PICK UP and DROP items, USE/EXAMINE something and entering your TARDIS (the USE key or UP). You can also press S to view a log of the dialogue in the game. And finally ESC to quit. All keys (except ESC) can be redefined to whatever you want.

 

Copyright:
This game is coded by Søren Borgquist – AKA. Sokurah, 2017.
All graphics by Lobo.
Design, copyright and intellectual property for this game is held by Søren Borgquist – aka. Sokurah & Lobo.

The Doctor Who trademark is owed by The BBC.
This game is (except for borrowing their intellectual property) not affiliated with the BBC.
Thanks to the beta testers: Havard, Alfie, Adam & Michael.

 

Bugs?
(Windows): Things were going well until we added the music. Suddenly we encountered issues with either sound effects or music not playing sometimes, while they would play at other times. I don’t know what causes it, but the issue pops up after playing for a while. Usually around the last level (London). It seems to be an issue with the fmod sound driver, but I don’t know for sure. It’s like, when X-number of sounds has played it starts dropping sounds. The fix is easy though: just save your progress, exit the game and then start it again. .

 

Version History:
V1.0 for PC – released October 19th, 2017.
V1.0 for Mac – released November 13th, 2017.