Much to our surprise, The Path has ended up second in this year’s Quest3D Awards.
When you start the game you immediately notice this game is different. Your first instruction is “Stay on the path” and visit your grandmother. If you do so the game ends and you start over. What could be the intention behind this game? This game offers an experience no other game can so this alone makes it deserves a spot in our Quest3D awards.
Quest3D is the authoring tool that we used to create the game. It is mostly used for architectural visualisations. So the winning projects are usually these amazingly photographically realistic spectacles. Hence our surprise.
Quest3D is a great tool to make games, though. Especially for the code-allergic and the artistic (like us). Its realtime visual programming system is second to none. That’s right, both The Path and The Endless Forest were created by connecting little virtual blocks together with little virtual wires. We believe that one day, this style of programming is going to supersede coding, much like C++ and Javascript have removed the need to punch in zeroes and ones today.
This is part of the “source code” of The Path, in the Quest3D editor. There’s hundreds of little flow charts like this and together they make the whole thing tick. And look pretty. 
Congratulations!!!!!
Do you honestly say that it’s not so difficult to handle this kind of programming instead of the old way?
I couldn’t imagine, that a fantastic (and miraculous) game like The Path can made of this colorful boxes and lines…
Thank you.
It’s still difficult. Programming always is. But somehow, expressing interactive/generative things in a visual way is a lot more fun (and efficient!) for us. Programming in code makes our heads hurt. It’s safe to say that we would not have been able to make The Path in any other application. But easy it has never been exactly. It’s difficult in a different way, which makes it easier for some people.
What a prestigious award! Nothing beats recognition from the creators of the platform you used… it’s like them saying that this is an example of the best that can be done with what they’ve created. And that, in my book, tops most game or game expo awards. Cheers!
Wow, congratulations!
I really enjoyed The Path, and it was the one that introduced me to the world of independent games (I’ve since tried World of Goo, Braid, etc.). But unlike other indie games that use conventional gameplay, what struck me was the whole contextual narrative form, like a movie that plays out but you can guide the little details about it.
For an indie 3D game I was mighty impressed with how lovely it looked. It’s this and Zenoclash and I think The Path was a bit prettier. The art direction was superb in that it would probably be just as beautiful using a different 3D engine, but I suppose the whole workflow of Quest 3D was more advantageous. I think I looked up the engine after seeing it mentioned in The Graveyard… I took one look at the price (I live in South East Asia btw, so any software beyond 200 bucks is really pushing it) and said to myself, “no way”.
Though I had a good 3 years of C experience, that was back in high school and college and I just totally forgot most of it save for the basics of object-oriented programming. I think I’ll take a second look at the tool although I probably won’t be able to afford it for a while. Right now I concentrate mostly on providing 2D artwork for story-based games, until I solidify a good narrative of my own.
I really, really want to take a dive into 3D, but I struggle with even the simplest tasks of making 3D models in Blender and importing them into moddable FPS engines. In fact I totally fail at UVunwrapping lol. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle a full suite with waypoints, AI, and all that jazz just yet.
I wish Quest3D would export to iphone, though. The vignette style of ‘gameplay-less’ and more story/experience-focused games would actually fit the portable platform in providing episodes of interactive cinema.
Just realized you released Fatale! Gonna try it soon!
The Graveyard and Fatale were made with Unity. The Endless Forest and The Path with Quest3D. Unity does export to iPhone. But has not visual programming interface.
WOOHOO!!! Congrats to the Path team and ToT!!
@DaFool– Fatale is GORGEOUS–thought-provoking, mind-turning, heart-wrenching.
Reran it yesterday while in a quiet place alone, with nothing but the sound of rain on the roof and a warm cup of coffee in my hands.
Congrats To You ALL!
This is great news, and probably no surprise to Path and Forest fans.
Looking at the odd interface for Quest reminds me of MAX.
Fatale, btw, is a dream. I love luv luv the artwork. That’s why I don’t consider you guys code heads, but rather as artists. Your medium is quite new, that’s all.
Thanks for the shining example. Now we all just have to live up to it. GROAN! That’s not going to be easy, you set the bar pretty high!
Thank you.
There’s no bar here, Julie. It’s a choice. A choice for every artist to use this medium. Very few people make this choice. We feel extremely lonely. :_( So please join us!
This is fantastic! Congratulations!
I also dream of the day when programming can be done in a graphical interface. I find this concept very intriguing from a human factors point of view. Maybe as the concept gains ground there will be some interesting research on this. Maybe I’ll even get to do that research since I’m in a human factors master’s program.