By Randy Sluganski

Already a huge success in Germany, Mystery of the Druids is an old-fashioned point-and-click adventure that will be released in North America in mid-September 2001. MOTD is the creation of House of Tales, a development company devoted to creating adventure games. We spoke with Tobias Schachte, the game designer for Mystery of the Druids.

Is the story within the game based on fact or fiction--or elements from both?

The story starts where our history books end. The story itself is fiction, but everything is based on historical facts. For example, the "Breton Legend" the captain tells you whilst in Carmors, about the castle owner of Carmors, does actually exist. Also, the world concept of the Druids, e.g., the interpretation of the elements, matches history.

Why an old-fashioned point-and-click adventure rather than an Alone in the Dark-style direct control action/adventure?

I find this type of control horrible. Absolutely uncontrollable. We wanted to design the controls as simply and hassle-free as possible, so that even newbies can intuitively find their way around. With Alone in the Dark, the fun stopped for me after the first three scenes--because the controls weren't intuitive--and we wanted to avoid that.

German reviews have made special mention of the sound within the game--can you tell us why it is so special?

In this production, we strongly focused on a perfect acoustic conversion. We have very good and clear voices as well as a very diverse classical soundtrack. The music consists of single passages that are mixed during the game. This way no song is played twice, which avoids monotony. The soundtrack and the sound effects are mixed with Dolby Surround multichannel technology guaranteeing perfect and spatially localizable playback for all players with matching equipment.

Is there anything in particular that fascinates you about the Druids?

The Druids are old--very old. As a priest class, they have survived the longest on this planet. But they were much more than that--they were magicians, politicians, scientists, and teachers. The knowledge of the Druids was handed down from individual to individual. There were no written documents nor uniform directives. They were all individuals. There were good and bad Druids, and also benign and bloodthirsty ones.

The game has been out in Germany for a while now--what has the reaction been? Are you pleased with it?

Since the game was released, we have been in contact with many gamers. We braced ourselves for a lot of criticism--since MotD is our first oeuvre--but almost everyone liked the game very much. At the end of the production, we didn't even know anymore if the game was actually exciting--you couldn't really judge that when you're working with the story every day for two and a half years. But the feedback was that many people found the game very atmospheric and thrilling and literally couldn't be pulled away from it. This was our goal in the first place.

Have you been able to avoid the point-and-click clichés such as illogical clues and moments of frustration when you find yourself stuck?

I think that is not an inherent problem of point-and-click control, but rather of any game with logical puzzles. The definition of "indirect logic"--the famous "thinking around corners"--is stretchable. If I know the solution, I believe "that's logical!" But if I only know the question, I need to think around corners first--and if these corners are different from those in the game, then you're in a dead-end street real quick. In such a situation, to think around corners again is difficult--but that's the appeal of games. Take chess, for example: here, too, you always find solvable situations but just can't think of the solutions. That's exactly the fascination with chess, and that's why I like to play chess.

To prevent excessive annoyance, we have included a lot of dialog in the game. True, you don't need to listen to large parts of the dialogs--but they are still helpful. Furthermore, a nice community has emerged in the forums at www.house-of-tales.com, which is always ready to provide fast tips for people who are stuck.

Is there more than one solution to any of the puzzles in the game?

There are no optional puzzles--puzzles I don't need to, but can, solve, and which provide an additional understanding.

The game seems to be a curious mix of occult horror and with the occasional laugh. Why did you not decide to do a "horror" or "comedy" game, instead of mixing the two? Do you think the mix you have chosen works?

Yes, it does work, as the reactions to the German version show. There are no real belly laughs in the game--rather, small "smilies" which mostly play on the little peculiarities of our and the persons' everyday life. I think the fact that the dialogs are not all too sober and serious provides a fine contrast. Isn't it nice to be able to experience shudders as well as laughs in the same game? Does it work? Well, I think that's exactly the secret formula of X Files.

Why do you think no one seems to be making point-and-click adventures any more? Do you think the public wants more, or is this an exercise in self-indulgence on your behalf?

I think there's a large target group for adventures. Unfortunately, many classic adventure developers try to jump on the bandwagon of modern 3D technology. But it's not always about technology--there are many gamers who don't choose their games for the number of new graphics effects they use, but for the stories they tell. It's not about appearance, but about content. The story needs to be told, and the point-and-click-adventure was chosen for the possibility to tell this story.

This is House of Tales' first title. Has it turned out the way you would have hoped, and where do you go from here?

The story fascinated our players--and that's pretty much everything we had set out to achieve. Now I'm working at CDV, developing a 3D adventure that has a usable interface for a change. My goal is to bring the flair of the 2D adventure to 3D, a challenge that to my mind nobody has stood up to yet. Martin Ganteföhr is working on a new 2.5D game, based on an improved MotD engine, which will be published under House of Tales.

Do you think real-life Druids compare to the Druids in the game?

Well, real Druids haven't been around for thousands of years. I think our Druids could very well have been real Druids--maybe they did have a ritual for transferring power and knowledge, maybe there are heirs of the Druids--who's to know? What if it were true?