The Great Neo-Adventure!

(Going into Thade’s castle? I mean, that’s really dumb!)

Do the heroes unerringly fall into a trap?

Does screaming at the computer ever help?

Well, here is your chance to turn the tables, take control and make your own mistakes! Neo-Adventure is based on the early computer games where they consisted solely of text, but made much more interesting by the Neopets Team by adding exciting colours and images.

The game relies on the player’s imagination, and before you say, “But I have no imagination!” it does not take much and just a little bit will bring it to life much more than the latest in high-tech graphics! Each page will have a link at the bottom detailing a choice for you to make. For example, you might be presented with a paragraph of text detailing a fork in the road. One link may say, “turn left” and another “ turn right”. By clicking on one of these links you character might either continue down the road to another obstacle, or be eaten by a giant man eating Tyrannian Skeith! You character’s fate lies in your hands.

There are many adventure scenarios ranging from faerie and pirate quests to a day in the life of a Tiki-Tack Tombola Man. The main bulk of neo-adventures are Neopets based although there are a sizable amount of others. The different adventure categories include battle, comedy, drama, fantasy, instructional, mystery, quest, role playing, science fiction and test/quiz.

Do not see what you’re looking for?

Frustrated that these pathetic attempts are nothing for your advanced intellect?

Do not despair! You can create your very own!

I am currently working on a Terror Mountain treasure seeking adventure. You begin the creative process on the Neoadventure home page by clicking on the create adventure image (simple, huh?). Then you are presented with colour choices and this is where you choose the genre and title of your adventure. If you are stuck for ideas then you can choose to be presented with a random title to get your creative juices going. Do not forget, all these choices can be changed at a later date but before you lock your adventure. More on locking later. Also, if you are still stuck for help at any time, there is the help page.

The next stage is actually writing your adventure. I suggest using a flowchart for planning the pages and lines of plot. For those who have no idea what I am going on about, a flowchart shows step-by-step progression through something using connecting lines and symbols. Now, are you armed with a pencil? A large piece of paper? Then I’ll begin. First, draw an oval with “start” written inside it. This will be your starting point. You can have up to four “exits” on a page, so depending on how many you want, draw straight lines leading away from your oval. These lines then connect to rectangles. Within these rectangles you should write something to remind you of what you want to happen on this page e.g. turns left down tunnel. When you come to write this page, you will read what you have written and proceed to write a detailed version from your notes in the rectangle. When you have filled in all your rectangles you repeat this process again. For example, in your “turn left rectangle” you may wish to have two more options. You then draw two lines going to another two rectangles, which you then label up. The rectangle symbol only applies to pages when they have exits. Some pages will be dead ends; these should be symbolised by an oval with “dead end” or something appropriate written inside it. This also applies to your finish line (e.g. “Yay, you found the treasure! The end.). Continuing this way, mapping out your adventure visually, you won’t miss out any exits and you will save a huge amount of time in the long run!

Now, some final adventure making tips. Images must be from the Neopets servers. I recommend searching through the Neopedia for scenes and characters; shopkeepers and maps can also be used. Searching for items is slightly trickier because you have to know the exact name, you cannot just type “treasure” and hope for the best. By right clicking on an image, then on properties, you will be able to locate the URL of that image and copy and paste it into the image link box. If you are in need of any extra help there is a help link, which will run you through the whole process.

Your adventure will be far more enjoyable for the player if you make it challenging. Adding red herrings is one way, or as an alternative you could be really evil and lead the adventurer so far then drop them in a dead end, all because they took a wrong turn early on in the game. I can say from personal experience that this does not put the adventurer off; it merely gives them the determination to defeat it the next time! Last but not least you must lock your adventure. This will then enable other people to play your completed adventure. The adventure will not be available for editing once you have locked it. If you do unlock it, any ratings you have received and the log of people who have played it will be deleted and returned to zero.

In conclusion, you should definitely check this section of Neopets out. From a quick adventure or quiz to a three-hour questing session I am sure that you will be hooked. The satisfaction of completing a particularly tricky one is fantastic, but do not forget to rate! Your favourite adventures will only ever rise in the ranks if the players rate them, and if you are unimpressed, you should rate so that other players are presented with a correct star rating instead of one boosted by Neofriends.

Now with brain a buzzing and fingers a clicking, go forth, and EXPLORE!