Technobabylon

Gameplay

Technobabylon has a typical point and click interface. The mouse is used to explore rooms. Left mouse button is used to interact with objects/items/NPCs, and to move character around the environment. Right mouse button is used to examine or observe. A description of examined items is displayed in a text bubble or by voice-over.

Setting

Technobabylon takes place in the cyberpunkish city of Newton, in the year 2087.

Plot

The game opens on a blonde man talking over radio with someone, having found the location of "Latha Sesame" whose records have been hidden. The perspective switches to Latha in the Trance, which she is then disconnected from. When she attempts to leave the apartment to talk to the manager, she finds her door won't open and her communications have been cut. Latha manages to leave, and the game cuts 20 hours earlier to Regis and Lao arriving at what Central has identified as the most likely location of the Mindjacker's next crime.

Development and release

James Dearden initially began working on Technobabylon in 2010 using Adventure Game Studio, as a practice project. Dearden decided on an episodic structure out of concerns of losing interest or energy in the project and leaving the game unfinished. Over the year Dearden released the first two episodes, October and December respectively. After the room escape first episode, Dearden experimented with more worldbuilding in the second episode. Positive response led to Dearden deciding then to begin working out a full plot. In April 2011, the third episode was released. After the third episode, the game "kind of stalled" for four years, where Dearden became trapped in a cycle of his art improving or changing, remaking the earlier episodes, and then having his art change oncemore.

He first met the founder of Wadjet Eye Games, Dave Gilbert, at the 2012 AdventureX convention, where he asked Gilbert what he would have to do in order to gain Wadjet Eye support. Gilbert suggested improving the art of the game, alongside other suggestions. Dearden thought 2D art was one of his biggest weaknesses and decided to seek someone else to create the game's visuals. He contacted Ben Chandler, having been impressed by his work and some of its retro-style, and asked if Chandler would be interested in joining the project. Chandler agreed and, in response, sent Dearden a redone version of the first level. Chandler had a self-admitted weakness with perspective, however, and so Dearden would sculpt out scenes in 3D using Blender, which Chandler would then use as the base for his art. The segments of the game in the Trance were designed to be visually distinct from the "real world" scenes, and were intended to invoke '80s/'90s mental images of "cyberspace".

Chandler was also doing the art for Wadjet Eye Games' Blackwell Epiphany at the same time, and would go on to become Wadjet Eyes' first full-time employee after Dave and Janet Gilbert. He helped make the case of what Technobabylon "could become", and a deal was being arranged between Wadjet and Technocrat by AdventureX 2013. Changes were made between the original freeware episodes and the final game. One such change was the removal of the second episode's opening, where Regis finds a woman who wishes to commit suicide and saves her life. It was decided that the player had no emotional investment in either character at this point, and instead the scene was replaced with Regis and Lao being introduced "on the job". At the insistence of Gilbert the first level was also simplified, as it was now the first part of a long game rather and playtesters complained.

Reception

Technobabylon received generally positive reviews by video game critics, and holds a weighted average rating of 82 from 26 reviews on Metacritic.

The game's story was commended. PC Gamer's Andy Kelly called the game's story "fantastic". Leif Johnson of GameSpot said the game had an "enjoyable story and well-crafted world", praising the use of different perspectives and small moments of humour. Johnson found that Technobabylon's world felt "real" and avoided being "heavy-handed" when tackling issues. Rock, Paper, Shotgun's John Walker called the storytelling "superb", albeit "a little convoluted in places". Walker praised Technobabylon for using "familiar tropes" in "surprising ways". Jahanzeb Khan of Hardcore Gamer wrote that the characters were deep and called it "strikingly mature in its delivery and themes", saying that any violent or adult content did not feel inappropriate.

The puzzles in the game and its gameplay were well received. Kelly generally praised the puzzles, particularly those that played into the setting, but criticised some that involved "traditional point-and-click puzzle absurdity". Johnson called the puzzles "decently challenging" and "always meaningful", similarly praising them. Walker complimented the puzzles as "often exemplary", but criticised a lack of direction in the game's early puzzles. Walker heavily criticised the final level for its puzzles, saying it lost the game's general "joyful sense of coherence". Calling the puzzles "organic", Khan particularly praised some of the game's "verbal negotiations". Though he believed "at times" the game dripped into "the obtuse" like many adventure games, Technology Tell's Lucas White noted the generally more "localised" puzzles, with less backtracking required.

Technobabylon's art design received attention. Johnson called the game's artstyle "simple and increasingly outworn", but noted some "stunning" shots. Though Kelly called the world design "pretty standard" for a cyberpunk setting, he praised its atmosphere and use of lighting and called the art "strong". Khan said the setting was "artistically charged", and described the environments and character sprites as detailed.

Accolades

In 2015, the game won 9 AGS Awards: "Best Background Art", "Best Character Art", "Best Animation", "Best Music and Sound", "Best Voice Work", "Best Puzzles", "Best Gameplay", "Best Writing", "Best Game Created with AGS". It was also nominated for "Best Character". In Adventure Gamers' 2015 annual Aggie Awards, Technobabylon was the "Reader's Choice" for Best Gameplay and Best Traditional Adventure. The game was included as a runner-up for several awards, including as a staff pick Best Gameplay, Best Writing - Drama, Best Acting, and Best Setting. It was also a runner-up for Hardcore Gamer's 2015 Best Adventure Game.

Another Rock, Paper, Shotgun writer, Adam Smith, did a retrospective of the game in June 2016. Smith praised the game's writing, and commented that its high-quality worldbuilding made his memories of the game "already seem decades old". Kelly included it on a list of best PC cyberpunk games. Fellow PC Gamer writer Richard Cobbett listed it as one of the 25 best adventure games. Cobbett called its pixel art "absolutely astounding" and praised its characters and perspectives, its writing, and its "warmth and humanity".