Wadjet Eye's Dave Gilbert is one of the best adventure game designers around, and together with artist Ben Chandler he's responsible for the likes of the Blackwell series and Unavowed. He's also been experimenting with Unity and, under a fake name, entered AdventureJam 2019 and produced a 3D short. He's decided it's time to share it.
Old Skies is a brief sci-fi yarn where a time-traveller from the future has been sent back to our era to stop someone from messing with the timeline. There are a couple of very simple puzzles, a city street to explore and you'll be done in five or ten minutes, depending on how much time you spend just wandering around.
The game was designed in a morning, with Gilbert not involving anyone at Wadjet Eye. The assets were taken from the Unity store and the voice acting, which is one of the short's strong points, was provided by professional voice actors volunteering at the game jam. The point, says Gilbert, was to keep things fair.
While the art and animation are simple, it's all effective, but it's the writing and world-building that made me gloomy when the credits rolled. With only a few minutes and just the basics, Gilbert's managed to create intriguing characters and a time travel conceit that, while extremely familiar, has promise. I would absolutely play more Old Skies.
Wadjet Eye is known for its 2D adventure games, both as a publisher and developer, but it's starting to dabble in 3D adventures. The sequel to Technocrat Games' Technobabylon, for instance, has sprouted another dimension, while long-time Wadjet Eye artist Ben Chandler has been experimenting with 3D tools and Unity. Gilbert's decided to join them, in the hopes that it will allow him to better understand the game he's publishing.
You can download Old Skies for free here.
