Online Games
- Web-based, low graphic puzzles or 'action' games intended as a brief distraction from your work. Often mimicking popular styles of "bigger" games (like First Person Shooters or Role Playing Games). Usually feature little or no story lines.
- OR Massively full blown action/adventure install-based games with an online "virtual world" component, featuring fancy graphics, story lines, ect.
Training Games
- Simulation based environments or virtual scenarios intended to mimic real-world skills or situations.
- OR Childrens games using likable characters and puzzles to teach basic skills in a wide range of topics.
So that's what pops to mind when I hear either 'online game' or 'training game'. I know that leaves out a heck of a lot, but those are the definitions that crowd to the front of my brain when I think in those terms. The odd thing is that the CITES Help Desk games don't fall under any of those 4 catagories. Here's how I would describe the current Help Desk Game;
- Web based 2D exploration environment featuring a fiction-based story line with integrated learning content.
That doesn't sound very 'game like' to me. To remedy that, a while back the team decided to invest some time and develop a more linear series of steps which revolve around an item inventory (which was mentioned in a previous post). This isn't the first time we've done this - our first slightly big production (a Halloween adventure aptly titled Escape From Bloodridge Manor) featured a similiar inventory-driven experience. Why did we stray away from an inventory in our proceeding games? Well we were trying to allow our players to have a more 'open world' feel to the game, which nobody was realy impressed by. That, and inventories are really tough to make.
Why do I bring all this up? Well cause while we don't have a functioning inventory just yet, we do have all the art assets in place as of late last week. I'm excited as heck - here's an example image for your viewing pleasure.

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