In other news there was a giant interview with Igor Hardy on Rock, Paper Shotgun’s ‘Punk’s Not Dead‘ series. Recommended read!

The game appeared evem on the infamous IGF Pirate Kart 2012.

Meanwhile, Alex van der Wijst released two new freeware games Wages of Darkness and Draculator II. Both strongly recommended (and the latter won Alex an award for innovation)!

When Igor stops being so disgustingly lazy he’ll hopefully show some of his new project two. Be vigilant!

The Snakes out.

Anyways, here are some cool new Snakes-related events that happened on the web since January (+ some older interviews I didn’t advertise here much):

INTERVIEWS:

by The AGS Blog

by Cultural Zest

by Captain D’s Blog

by Adventure-Zone (in Polish!)

SPECIALS:

Gutter Comfort: How Snakes of Avalon became the flawed hero of indie games

What are the Polish Indyans up to? (in Polish)
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AWARDS:

First we got into Top 10 best indie adventure games of 2010 at IndieGames.com. And a bit later Snakes of Avalon received whooping 9 nominations in AGS Awards 2010, but got ultimately beaten in 8 of them by the indeed excellent The Journey Down and in dialog writing by Eternally Us (live footage from the event here). Nevertheless, we then have beaten Eternally Us in return in the annual MAGGIES (Best MAGS Game) competition and got the trophy visible in the sidebar.

Oh, and supposedly as a yet another MAGGIES reward we will be admitted to the newly forming knightly Order of the Maggots.

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NEW REVIEWS:

PlayThisThing

Zombie Apocalypse

Dancing Dame, Drunk Detective

Switched.com

Queek.ru (in Russian)

Here’s that last review translated to English by Anatoly Shashkin:

The creative span of the project is truly impressive – it’s a ballad of a spiritual battle between a hardened drunk and the rest of the world, a small detective mystery that takes place in the static setting… with its own (and a very personal) skeleton in the closet, a hallucinogenic trip diluted in situational comedy, a bloody thriller about relationships between fathers and sons, a parable about the inner demons that have read plenty of science fiction in their spare time and have gone nuts for time travel…

And if Futurama’s Bender made stealing the coolest of all crimes in his time, then “Snakes of Avalon” can be recognized as an almanac of one’s soul redemption though a prism of intoxication, and one more way to do a reality check using just a glass of stale beer… The mechanics and the execution of the idea …are quite simple – an adventure with a sloppy graphic style and no inventory overload + humor that’s not crude + memorable characters + non-stop jazz & soul.
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Finally, a small request: join that lonely FaceBook page of ours, will ya? Updates about Snakes Polish translation and about what has been Alex cooking in the last few months will appear in the near future.

Includes such contemporary hits as Blood Blood Blood, Evil Fishes, Life Flashes by Before The Alcoholics Eye and The Salty Aftertaste of Revenge. As well as the most controversial song of them all – Girls Are Bitches by Ashley Johnston

Grab it before it melts, and leave 6 pennies for our trouble!

“Most games get a recommendation based on the way they play, but Snakes of Avalon is worth experiencing simply for the world it presents. It’s weird and dark and may just contain a deep, hidden message.”

Gamezebo

“It’s a bit difficult to classify Snakes of Avalon – it’s quite a unique game, very impressive cinematically, pretty good from an adventure gaming point of view. I’d definitely recommend that you give it a look.”

Captain D’s Blog

“The guys behind the development of the free Flash point-and-click game weren’t kidding when they say that Snakes of Avalon is a drinking man’s game. This girl adventurer didn’t enjoy this game with her favorite lager, but she did enjoy it with her Vitamin Water and is still having a blast playing.”

Casual Review

“A short adventure game with a whole lot of dark comedy, drinking, and possibly a guy who refuses to leave the loo. You start off more than a bit tipsy at the bar, unable to buy another drink, and believe it or not, things go south from there as you discover a murder plot. Four acts to play through, filled with hallucinations, surreal events, and a lot of mystery. This is one weird game.”

Jay is Games

“Australia has a lot of snakes. Avalon apparently has more. The pitch-perfect humour and blatant popular media references alone make this a must-play, not to mention the spectacular atmosphere!”

Kotaku

Have a look, especially if so far you couldn’t decide if you want to play the game.

REVIEWS:

Adventure games are often hailed as the best genre for storytelling, but I have often found the stories told, while enjoyable, to be light to a fault. Grim Fandango is probably the only time that I’ve found the story of an adventure game to transcend its gameplay; to be a story worth telling in any medium. So I was very pleased to find that Snakes of Avalon has a rich story with layered themes, and would recommend it to any gamer who might enjoy the same.

WingDamage.com

It’s an odd one. It’s completely, unreservedly bonkers. A lot of the time I didn’t have the faintest clue what was going on. Some of the puzzles are ridiculous. But the art style is intriguing, and its bizarre sense of humour strangely arresting. I like it a lot, even though I’m not quite sure why.

PC Gamer

Oh, and the thing does look delightfully odd too, with its deeply cartoon-like art, smart animation, brilliant cut-scenes and lovely background art, though admittedly the music is what will really blow you away. Provided you enjoy your Jazz, that is. And if you prefer listening to it from a dear old scratched record than say one of those mp3 thingies, you’ll be in musical heaven.

Gnome’s Lair

There’s a certain feature in games that I don’t believe has been fully explored to date which is main characters that go out of control, and it is fully enforced in Snakes Of Avalon. Jack is feeble and unpredictable. [...]

All in all, Snakes Of Avalon is more than worth your time. It has an original setting and main character, and a very creative design. It’s also darned funny since I must confess that I really laughed out loud a couple of times. And it’s free. What else can you ask for?

Slightly Deranged

Reviews in Polish:

Independent Gamer’s Blog

Przygodoskop (Adventurescope)

PICKS & MENTIONS:

Igor Hardy and Alex van der Wijst’s Snakes of Avalon is a dark and twisted comedy. The bright and crisp cartoon characters, all with sharp black outlines, stand out well against the softer and more muted style of the background art. As well as in-game sound effects and fully-voiced cutscenes, the game also features a soundtrack from Thomas Regin of Blackwell Convergence fame.

Adventure Gamers

IndieGames Blog

DIYGamer




PLAYER OPINIONS:

In turns funny, sad, and bizzare.

jet_manifesto, MetaFilter

My power supply died while I was playing snakes of avalon! That is how hard it rocked.

maxwell, TIGForums

This ranged from funny (found myself laughing out loud) to just plain scary (I actually jumped in my seat a little during a couple parts), and I was drawn into the game right from the beginning when Jack was trying to tell his story.

KniteBlargh, GameJolt

[...] it actually goes beyond classics like Monkey island and others, this partly comes down to the more adult-themed storyline (without just cheaping out with sex or gore), and that certain feeling of dread/uncertainty wether you are doing the right thing. I especially loved the “good conscience” and the time travel parts.

VomitOnLino, TIGForums

The attention given to the aural and visual qualities of the different spaces within the one room of the bar was incredible. Also, with the third act especially as an example, attention was given to the way in which people inhabit these spaces, and project themselves into these spaces: their conscious and subconscious selves, their memories, their hopes, and narratives.

Terabin, Adventure Gamers

INTERVIEWS:

Cultural Zest

CaptainD’s PC Gaming Blog

In Polish:

Adventure-Zone

DOWNLOAD the new version HERE

But also…

2. Snakes of Avalon is a freeware game with an amazing original soundtrack and touches of brilliance all around, as you probably can tell.

If you enjoyed it, please consider donating, so that these humble penniless game designers can pay for servers, contest entry fees, beer etc. But most importantly, so they feel their game is appreciated.

Donors will be also eligible to get all sorts of cool Snakes of Avalon gadgets (when/if we get any), best deals for future HardyDev associated games, and… more cool things.

Note: If anyone is curious why the game is above version 2.0 already… The game started as an entry for the MAGS monthly AGS competition and it was a very different, very bare bones experience back then.

DOWNLOAD full game HERE

DOWNLOAD HERE!!!

And Happy Hallucinating!

We’ll be grateful for sending us your evaluations of the Avalon experience, so send emails to igor.hardy at hardydev.com.

Also, more goodies to appear on this site, so visit us again in a while!

Release – early next week!

After that, we’re just need a day to take a breath and then you’ll be finally able to see if the long time of waiting was worth it.