Overlooked – The Hidden Potential of Hidden Object Games – Extra Credits
Extra Credits
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Hidden-object games have a lot of potential for innovation, and in some aspects of design, such as characters, they actually fare better than more popular genres.
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(Original air date: October 9, 2013)
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♪ Intro Music: “Penguin Cap” by CarboHydroM
♪ Outro Music: “Musicolours” by Guifrog
16.12.2021
My mom gets me these every year for Christmas. They are like $5, so I always get 3-5 of them as stocking stuffers basically. I'm pushing 40 and she doesn't know what to buy, but she knows I like computer games, so there you go. Thing is, I actually kinda always look forward to them. I play like one a month when I want something mindless or don't have long to play and want something I can jump in and back out of easily and without fretting over finishing the mission or getting to a save point. And yeah, the new ones really are like old point-and-click adventures. And they were a great way to start showing my 4 year old about gaming on computers. I don't know that I've ever bought one for myself, but I have rather liked receiving them all these years. They do get an unfairly bad rap.
My mom gets me these every year for Christmas. They are like $5, so I always get 3-5 of them as stocking stuffers basically. I'm pushing 40 and she doesn't know what to buy, but she knows I like computer games, so there you go. Thing is, I actually kinda always look forward to them. I play like one a month when I want something mindless or don't have long to play and want something I can jump in and back out of easily and without fretting over finishing the mission or getting to a save point. And yeah, the new ones really are like old point-and-click adventures. And they were a great way to start showing my 4 year old about gaming on computers. I don't know that I've ever bought one for myself, but I have rather liked receiving them all these years. They do get an unfairly bad rap.
Hidden Object games look/sound incredibly boring…
…but now I'm wondering what it would be like to have them in 3D. Kind of like that one part in Metro 2033 when you're opening all the drawers, looking for that file that you needed. Something like that actually sounds kind of fun to me.
I really feel as though you can find a cyberpunk hidden object game if you're willing to search hard enough..
What about miss use of lovecraft
i must have played dozens, possibly a hundred hidden object games… i found a good 3 or 4 i could say i liked or were interesting… the rest were redundant slog fests that had no story, or it was a visual novel broken up by bad, over designed puzzles between chapters (and a boring visual novel at that)… there was one that was a blatant rip off of the second tomb raider game, and i can assure you that it was more fun to play laura croft than to help her with her "long car trip" play book.
and don't compare this to point and click adventures. dont you dare compare this trash to games with more depth and challenges and more story than many GOOD jrpg's! furthermore, this disgusting drek wouldn't hold a candle or even a word to the over complex slog fests of the sub par point and click adventures! this is toxic. over produced, over hyped cheap hunks of poison.
its not the crack addiction of an mmo, its heroin for bord and lazy twits! these arent games, theyre computer programs you fuck around in
I'd love to see a new one on Hidden Object games!
I like ispy
I don't know if it was made back when this video came out, but have James try the Clockwork Tales hidden object game now….if he loves steampunk type stuff.
Mother-daughter stories? Pfft, maybe some of them, but from my experiences, the lion's share of the Hidden Object protagonists are the aunt of the damsel/dude in distress of the game. So much so, it;s a running gag with my girlfriend and myself.
See, 'Aunt' gives you enough emotional attachment to the subject of the game's distress to make it personal; to make it so important to her, but, still holds no actual permanent parental responsibilities or baggage, meaning after the day is saved and the celebration is over, she's still 'free' to live her life.
The main reason cyberpunk hidden object games don't exist, is because finding a quantum resonating flux-capacitor isn't the easiest thing to do.
I… I'm ashamed. After 15 years of gaming, I've never heard of this genre. I didn't know this many games existed! My mind is so blown up.
If you haven't already PLEASE just sit James in front of a camera or something and let him talk about the misuse of Lovecraft in games/modern horror/pop culture etc please I need these feelings to be validated
SIMS THEME IS MY JAM.
ALSO I've played a few hidden object games. Even at a young age, I really loved them, and the fact I was practically ALWAYS a girl. It's really nice.
That outro music sounds familiar.
I didnt even know that genre even existed XD Now, im off to find waldo!
Also wait, is that outro the sims?
… yeah definatally, ive listened to this way to long wating for the sims 3 to load -_-
Ok, now I want to go play a hidden object game! =D The only ones I've ever played are Letters from Nowhere 1 and 2, but now I'm totally gonna play more. Umm.. any suggestions? Anyone? =D
Couldve explained what a hidden object game even IS.
Have you done an episode on exploration/mystery type games? Firewatch, Dear Esther, sorta The Stanley Parable? I always find myself pulled back to these kind of games because I love the feeling of walking into a world with the potential of hiding many secrets. I have been thinking about making a caving based game like these for a long time and the principles behind them are fascinating.
Thanks!
Nancy Drew is amazing
You missed the lesson that was staring you right in the face. Why are we so bad at creating female characters that are realistic? because we are writing them to appeal to a male audience. Why is it incredibly easy for hidden object games to create those same characters? cause they are created for females. Is as simple as that. where there is no need for something it wont grow or happen. Basic evolution if u are living on a planet with twice the gravity and very thin atmosphere you are not going to grow .wings. When You write to Immature male audience , you are not going to develop realistic female characters, and you shouldn't You should just let them exists in media where they are needed.
finally someone on YouTube uses Sims music
Any one else notice that the outro music is the sims 3 loading screen song and in the sims 3 you have the option to replace the loading screen with hidden object game based on the different packs? Only me, okay.
sims music! 🎶 😄
EXTRA CREDITS CREW, I CURSE YOU USING THE MOST POWERFUL MEANS POSSIBLE!!!!!
Ahem, James, could you tell me everything you know about the misuse of Lovecraft in games? MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
We have never seen or heard James in any of these episodes and I love the guy. XD
this vid made me go like "oh yeah hidden object exists"
Three and a half years late on this, but I've been watching this series from episode one over the past few months, and this is the first video I saw that I felt I had to comment on.
My first experience with hidden object games was when I was young and looking through the Wal-Mart video game racks for something I could play on the old Windows 98 computer we had at home. There wasn't a lot. And most of what it was were these hidden object games that came in cardboard packages and looked entirely unappealing. I might have gotten and tried one from my local library, but for the most part, it was a genre I completely ignored until some time in the last two to four years.
A few years ago, Amazon's app store (which has since been replaced by Amazon Underground) had a deal where they had a free premium application available each day. From the day I found out about it to the day they came out with Underground to replace it, I was there, getting that free application applied to my account. I didn't use most of them. I haven't even installed most of them. But there were several hidden object games included. I've played, eh, about four or five of them.
I did find myself oddly drawn into the gameplay of two of them. I dismissed the story, muted my phone, and skipped all the dialogues thinking, "This is a hidden object game. The story is tacked on." After I beat it once, I had the option of playing again with a slightly different story or on a more difficult setting. But I just uninstalled it and said, "Why? What's the point?" I had completely dismissed it as a non-game. Something that was more about selling hints and getting purchased by people who simply saw a cheap game on the shelf and picked it up. It never really occurred to me that they could be good.
Of the ones that I played, two were decent, the rest were bad (terrible gameplay, terrible navigation, the hidden object mechanics, the entire point behind the game, didn't work right, the art made some objects impossible to find and others completely stand out, lots of problems), but these were games I got for free. Games that were part of a special promotion. And they're all on mobile, which while a versatile platform, somewhat limiting compared to PC. I hadn't even thought about the fact that I could have missed something in those games or the genre as a whole because of an assumption that I'd carried over with me since I was 10 years old.
I'm not in the position to go out and buy new games right now, but I know that I"m going to be keeping an eye out for good quality hidden object games from now on. I don't think they'll ever be my favorite kind of game, but they deserve at least a shot. When the time comes, I'll be searching the highly rated ones, finding one of the best, and trying it out. Maybe I'll hate it. Maybe I really do just not get them and their appeal. But maybe I'll find something that I've been missing throughout all my years of gaming.
Thank you for opening my eyes to this. For making me think again about an assumption that I made before I knew any better. For opening an entire avenue of games up for me that I would never have considered before. And of course, for your entire series and the other works you do.
I like this art style the best for this series
You had to put a sims build/buy mode song there. You know if you've ever built an epic mansion how easily they get stuck in your head. Dammit
I had no idea that was a thing
The real joke is that madden would have changed any year. BG
I never thought I'd hear a Sims 3 remix.
How to write female characters, Hidden with Hidden Objected games.
…Sims music as the ending song? NOSTALGIA! 😀
Hidden object games sell more than Madden?
now that it's been a couple years since you talked about it last, would you guys consider doing a follow up episode on if anything has changed in this genre? there were a lot of things you didn't touch on in this episode (presumably for time) that I, and I think probably some others, would be interested in
You wasted the kicking open the door graphic on this episode.
when i read the title, I thought you meant like the collectibles in Donkey Kong. That would be a good video subject.
Can't believe I'm going to comment but, whatever.
A HOG is fairly easy to explain: you have your mouse and your eyes. Hopefully a bit of creativity and a logical mind.
You get a cutscene at the beginning sorta explaining why you are where and what went wrong; something ALWAYS goes wrong. Otherwise there is no story. Either it's demonic or death or even a kidnapping. Sometimes curses. There is always something to fix.
For storytelling and best visuals in my opinion i would play dark parables, or if you want a more 'manly serious' tone Mystery case files is a good place to start. Both are very different in the way they present themselves to the player so keep that in mind.
In both games you find objects also very differently. In dp you find parts of the object while in mcf you find more and get what is useful to continue. Sometimes it wont make sense to you till you use the item other times you can use them more than ones. It all depends on the item and even studio! (I one time had to find 3 sharp objects for 3 different things while, if i kept one, my frustration would have been lower and the game would progress easier)
I'd recommend you a few but rather than that: go to bigfishgames and play a demo! You will get a feel for them: not spending money yet while doing so. Low commitment is key for starting, especially when you get surprised by the story some have.
You have to redo this episode, because you said nothing. You repeat the thing about female characters, but explain nothing about them. Repeated how they are not so bad games, but showed nothing about these games
Pretty sure I played Phoenix Wright 10+ years ago. Court scenes still superior to object hunting though.
I'd love to see another video on the hidden object genre. It's a genre that no one really talks about and just sorta quietly exists
1:56 – Frustrated, LeeLee removes her own head.
what about visual novels?, you haven't talked about this genre yet, have you? I know many people look down on visual novels but there's a lot to talk about and many visual novels worth playing
i saw a lot of episodes you did, and i kinda have to say, its the worst one. not because its bad- it just has a lot less content than your regular videos. it kinda look like you had nothing to say, and the people at the comment seem as confused as me. i cam here to know what is hidden objects game, who is its audience and why, and maybe some tips about how to make them good or, what make them bad. the only things i learned is that they have female characters.
you should consider to revisit the subject. its sound as an iteresting one. and as you said, its not mainstream- so you had a chance to talk about it to people who never heard about them… and it kinda seem you missed them.
honestly, if this video came from someone else i would say its fine. but you can do better.
What? No link to Artifacts Mundi?
Did anyone here ever play "Murder, She Wrote" for the PC? It was WAY more interesting than I thought it'd be, and I'm not even a huge fan of the TV show.
Hidden object games are kinda cool tho
hidden object games are the Australia of the games industry