Australia-based, DejavuWorld's Cos Russo wanted to create a rich, beautiful game, and didn't want to cut corners in order to rush a half baked game to market. His goal was to create an immersive gaming experience and only release the game upon satisfaction of this goal. The result was Alida, a cross-platform adventure game.

Alida takes you into the world of torn egos, shattered dreams and stolen money. Explore the world of a rock band's dreams, one that sadly never came to be -- it falls on you to find out why...

Even as short generations of technology push the largest game publishers to spend millions on creating real time 3D games, the adventure game market remains vibrant. Releases from The Adventure Company , such as the recent game release based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, and the final chapter of Cyan World’s Myst series , continue to sell well in retail.

Tools, Specifications and Costs

• A 3D modeling and rendering tool for creation of almost all graphics.
• A video editing suite for creating and editing Quicktime compatible video.
• A video clean up tool to reduce overall size of the video for CD distribution.
• General graphics editing suite for raster and vector graphics.
• A development framework with optimized playback of video and image handling.

The tools he selected were: Strata Studio Pro (3D models); Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator (general graphics); Final Cut Pro (video editing); Cleaner (quicktime editing); Revolution (framework).

The entire project was self funded and all work was done by Russo. For this reason, Russo used tools which were either easy to pick up and use without extensive training or tools that he already was familiar with. Russo had previous experience with all tools used with the exception of Runtime Revolution.

I had experimented with ideas and 3D models prior, but the real work did not commence until 1998. I had been inspired by Cyan's Myst and especially Riven. I loved the genre. I felt that producing a game was the perfect amalgamation of all the skills that I had - a relentless imagination, 3D modelling, computer programming, graphic art and music. My background is in the Australian music and film industry.

Having no previous experience with gaming or presentation frameworks, Mr Russo conferred with a knowledgeable colleague about getting a tool that would allow him a very short ramping up period.

I had been informed by a colleague in Germany regarding Runtime Revolution, so I looked at Revolution's web site and downloaded the evaluation version. After working with it for a week or so, I found it to be perfect - the scripting and stack/card environment were familiar to me. The script editor's colorization, formatting, find/replace and debugging utilities enabled easy control over the scripting. The property inspector and the application browser were a clear and easy way to create and control the project objects.

Mr Russo's media commitment to Apple Computer's multi-platform video and media format Quicktime was also a critical factor.

One of the most important features of Revolution was its implementation of QuickTime. All the media work for the Mac version had already been completed - QuickTime movies, video, sound files. So, most of the QuickTime media was ready to go in Revolution.

QuickTime is a digital media format developed by Apple Computer that incorporates digital video, audio, animation, text tracks, and virtual reality panoramas.

Revolution provided exactly the game framework Russo needed to complete his game.

The object oriented programming of Revolution was ideal for Alida's point and click style of gameplay. Each 360° position in the 3D world was described in each card, with movement and media elements triggered based on the users interaction through transparent buttons and graphic objects.

Pre-Visualization and Design

Russo already had a good conception of the game design.

I had a grasp of what was required in the game play from the start. I had all the software tools and machines necessary to produce to project. I had a clear outline of the media content required.

The backstory of Alida is combination of fantasy and real world story :

The rock band Alida builds a giant theme park which incorporates a monstrous guitar that can actually be played and manipulated. As the theme park neared completion, the band grew apart and each member took up residence on different portions of the island. Fast forward fifteen years. The band's manager tries to orchestrate a reunion, but one of the band members disappears onto the island. You are asked by the wife of the band member to seek him out on the mysterious island.

Actual media creation took up the majority of development time. Some media creation tasks were not anticipated but surmounted by using the collection of tools, though primarily in content creation:

At the time of production, computer power and ram capacity was such that 3D models were confined to a limited complexity. This meant that the entire Alida world consisted of many manageable separate 3D models. It was difficult rendering seamless animations from one model segment to another; for example the T-Runner journeys from one area of Alida to another. Sometimes a single animated journey would be the result of renders from 3 or 4 different 3D models and had to be edited together seamlessly in Final Cut Pro. Some of the first animations had to be re rendered.

Other than adding additional staff, Russo could have employed other tools to speed development. For example, Strata Studio Pro is an all in one, modeling and rendering 3D design product. Several tools exist on the Macintosh platform that specialize in outdoor natural scenery, including e-on software's Vue product line or Corel Bryce.

Testing and Release Pattern

The Macintosh version was released first, after some beta testing with a small group of testers. However Russo relied mostly on his own game play tests. After significant feedback from the Macintosh users, he released the PC version 18 months later, incorporating many changes based on customer feedback. Thereafter he was able to update the product from the DejavueWorld's website:

Shortly after the PC version release, I was able to post a patch on the Alida web site to correct a bug - the small size of the Revolution application made it easy to download.

Pre-Release Marketing and Distribution

As an independent game developer with no initial publisher backing, DejavuWorlds had to utilize and rely on direct marketing tactics. This began with pre-release images and backstory on their website, followed by an initial sales release on the internet. The quality of the pre-release back story coverage was critical to the success of the release, and assisted in creating interest in online forums.

I knew that Alida had to be of a certain standard if it was to have any chance. During production of Alida, I did not cut any corners to try and save time and I think that this helped when gamers got their first glimpse of Alida on the web. It was evident to them that a lot of attention (and love) went into Alida.

Mr Russo dramatically underestimated the success of Alida, once released.

I did not anticipate interest from publishers and thus a PC version; I would have preferred both Mac and PC in one release.

Alida was picked up by multiple distribution and publishing companies worldwide. Epic Interactive published the MacOS version of the game in English and German, throughout Europe. Project 3 Interactive published the CD and DVD PC versions of the game with subtitles in English, Italian, French and Spanish, and fully localized in German, Polish and Russian. Got Game Entertainment distributes Alida in US and Canada. The game is widely available through online resellers and retailers, including Amazon, Fry's CompUSA, EB Games and WalMart.

Lessons Learned in the Release of Alida

Pressures of a Single Developer

It's difficult accomplishing a giant project like Alida on your own - usually an established development company will have project management people running the whole thing to ensure the project is completed by the delivery date. The hardest thing was keeping on track, keeping to my own deadlines.

Protecting Intellectual Property

Another decision that Mr Russo would change was the treatment of copy protection.

The most important change I would make is implementation of copy protection. Because of inexperience I did not think about copy protection at all. I think Alida has been illegally 'shared' and copied quite a lot.

International Challenges

I did not anticipate multi language European releases so I did not prepare for multi languages in the scripting. This meant I had to produce different versions of Alida specifically to meet these needs.

Like most international developers, Mr Russo ran into issues with double-byte language releases (support of Chinese and Japanese characters). In order to accommodate these languages after the fact, he had to rewrite some portions of the project to allow characters to appear correctly in menus and dialogs.

It's a Wrap

DejaVuWorlds learned many lessons in the development of Alida that will save them considerable time with their next title. In the meantime, you can learn more about Alida directly from the game website at http://www.alidagame.com.