AGON
Encyclopedia
AGON is a series of episodic
adventure game
s for Mac OS X
and Microsoft Windows
by Private Moon Studios
. The game uses QuickTime VR
-like panorama
s in a first person
camera mode. The game takes place starting in 1903.
games. The player takes the role of Professor Samuel Hunt, a cultural historian at the British museum, and explores a 3D pre-rendered environment using a 360° field of view and moving between the various locations and interacting with objects and characters by clicking
. In AGON, the cursor will change to indicate what actions players can take, ranging from arrows for movement to a cogwheel for using an object. The player has access to an on-screen dial which can open an inventory and access items; and open files allowing the player to view various documents located in the game. At the end of each episode, except episode 1, the player must face a computer-controlled character in a board game, and win in order to complete that episode. There is a slight discrepancy of the controls between the episodes, for example in Episode 4 the Files section records conversations, whilst documents are stored within the inventory.
In 1903, Professor Samuel Hunt receives a mysterious letter and the first page of a Codex. The page makes references to a demonic 'Black King' and to several board games. The letter mentions the Black King is linked to an artifact in the museum. Hunt informs his close friend, Dr Thomas Smythe, about the artifact, and with Smythe's help, locates the artifact in the stores. Hidden in the artifact is a stone with coordinates and a name written on it, pinpointing a location in Lapland and a family named Vainio. Hunt decides to travel to the twelve locations mentioned in the codex, and find the games, leaving Smythe behind to find out what he can about the Codex.
Arriving in Lapland, Professor Hunt has to find the last descendant of the Vainio family and the board game owned by the family. The story is told in the format of 'Acts', beginning with the player attempting to find a way to the nearby village. Secondly, he must gain the trust of the villagers to find Vainio's whereabouts. Thirdly, he has to find his way across the icy wastes beyond the river to Vainio's hut. The final act involves playing Vainio at the game of Tablut and winning.
The stone Vainio gave to Hunt takes him to Madagascar, searching for a certain Rakotonorivelo, who owns the next board game. However, Rakotonorivelo is the chief of the nearby village, and his treasure has been stolen by an English pirate, who is still on the island. Hunt has to find the pirate, and from him learn the location of the chief's hidden treasure, which is the chief's board game, Fanorona
.
Whilst travelling to Toledo, Spain, Hunt receives a letter from Smythe informing him that the codex pages he has recovered in the previous episodes are fakes. He can do little but continue to Toledo, where he discovers the owner of the board game he is searching for, a young man known for his honesty, has been imprisoned on charges of theft of an ornamental sword. Hunt attempte to prove his innocence, and recover the lost sword to play Francisco Candelas at Alquerque
.
Episode 5 has not yet been released, but will be set in Peking, China.
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
s for Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
by Private Moon Studios
Pierrot (Tamás Z. Marosi)
Pierrot, born Tamás Zoltán Marosi is a Hungarian game designer, musician and producer, best known internationally for his video game series AGON and Yoomurjak's Ring. He is also well known in Hungary as a musician, singer-songwriter and producer of several music albums...
. The game uses QuickTime VR
QuickTime VR
QuickTime VR is a type of image file format developed by Apple Inc. for QuickTime. It allows the creation and viewing of photographically-captured panoramas and the exploration of objects through images taken at multiple viewing angles...
-like panorama
Panorama
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....
s in a first person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
camera mode. The game takes place starting in 1903.
Gameplay
Gameplay in AGON is similar to that in the MystMyst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
games. The player takes the role of Professor Samuel Hunt, a cultural historian at the British museum, and explores a 3D pre-rendered environment using a 360° field of view and moving between the various locations and interacting with objects and characters by clicking
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
. In AGON, the cursor will change to indicate what actions players can take, ranging from arrows for movement to a cogwheel for using an object. The player has access to an on-screen dial which can open an inventory and access items; and open files allowing the player to view various documents located in the game. At the end of each episode, except episode 1, the player must face a computer-controlled character in a board game, and win in order to complete that episode. There is a slight discrepancy of the controls between the episodes, for example in Episode 4 the Files section records conversations, whilst documents are stored within the inventory.
Plot
- Episode 1 - London Scene
In 1903, Professor Samuel Hunt receives a mysterious letter and the first page of a Codex. The page makes references to a demonic 'Black King' and to several board games. The letter mentions the Black King is linked to an artifact in the museum. Hunt informs his close friend, Dr Thomas Smythe, about the artifact, and with Smythe's help, locates the artifact in the stores. Hidden in the artifact is a stone with coordinates and a name written on it, pinpointing a location in Lapland and a family named Vainio. Hunt decides to travel to the twelve locations mentioned in the codex, and find the games, leaving Smythe behind to find out what he can about the Codex.
- Episode 2 - Adventures in Lapland
Arriving in Lapland, Professor Hunt has to find the last descendant of the Vainio family and the board game owned by the family. The story is told in the format of 'Acts', beginning with the player attempting to find a way to the nearby village. Secondly, he must gain the trust of the villagers to find Vainio's whereabouts. Thirdly, he has to find his way across the icy wastes beyond the river to Vainio's hut. The final act involves playing Vainio at the game of Tablut and winning.
- Episode 3 - Pirates of Madagascar
The stone Vainio gave to Hunt takes him to Madagascar, searching for a certain Rakotonorivelo, who owns the next board game. However, Rakotonorivelo is the chief of the nearby village, and his treasure has been stolen by an English pirate, who is still on the island. Hunt has to find the pirate, and from him learn the location of the chief's hidden treasure, which is the chief's board game, Fanorona
Fanorona
Fanorona is an abstract strategy board game indigenous to Madagascar.-Introduction:Fanorona has three standard versions: Fanoron-Telo, Fanoron-Dimy, and Fanoron-Tsivy. The difference between these variants is the size of board played on. Fanoron-Telo is played on a 3×3 board and the difficulty of...
.
- Episode 4 - The Lost Sword of Toledo
Whilst travelling to Toledo, Spain, Hunt receives a letter from Smythe informing him that the codex pages he has recovered in the previous episodes are fakes. He can do little but continue to Toledo, where he discovers the owner of the board game he is searching for, a young man known for his honesty, has been imprisoned on charges of theft of an ornamental sword. Hunt attempte to prove his innocence, and recover the lost sword to play Francisco Candelas at Alquerque
Alquerque
Alquerque is a strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to have been the parent of draughts and Fanorona.-History:...
.
- Episode 5 - The Tale of the Four Dragons
Episode 5 has not yet been released, but will be set in Peking, China.
Games
The episodes are available separately on download, and in anthology form on disc.- The Mysterious Codex - Includes episodes 1-3.
- The Lost Sword of Toledo - Includes episode 4.