Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure

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Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure
Riddle of the Sphinx.jpg
Cover art
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)DreamCatcher Interactive
Platform(s)PC, Mac
ReleaseDecember 5, 2000
Genre(s)Adventure

Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure is a 2000 graphic adventure game developed by and published by DreamCatcher Interactive. It received a sequel, entitled The Omega Stone: Riddle of the Sphinx II, in 2003.

Gameplay and plot[]

The gameplay is similar to any game in the post-Myst style, where players navigate through 360 panoramic screens and manipulate items to advance.

The game's plot is about a young archaeologist in Egypt who searches for his or her missing mentor, Sir Gil Blythe Geoffreys.[1]

Development[]

"The features, imperfections, and architecture have been replicated for total immersion. (The only recognizable elements we intentionally omitted are the graffiti currently defacing the Great Pyramid and most other monuments.)"

- Riddle of the Sphinx team on meticulousness of design.[2]

The game took five years to make. The designers, Jeff & Karen Tobler, were enamoured by the beauty and intricacy with which the Egyptians built their architecture, as well as the mysteries and secrets they held.[3] The developers aimed to make the 3D models and renderings in the game as accurate as possible, for instance recreating the Sphinx and Sphinx Enclosure in exact detail.[4][3] The team asked an expert to provide an authentic translation and editing of a scroll using the style and grammar used by the royal scribes during Chephren's reign[5] They did extensive research into the history and culture of Egypt, and uploaded a lot of their research onto their website.[6][7]

On the website, the team sold authentic Egyptian merchandise in association with A&E's Merchant Affiliation Program.[8] Riddle of the Sphinx was modeled and rendered almost exclusively with Strata StudioPro, while CyberMesh exports were used for certain occasions.[9] The game contains full-Screen, Interactive 360° Panoramas (QTVR).[10] The game soundtrack was composed and performed entirely by Jeff Tobler.[11]

The game was formally announced on June 10, 1998.[12] In October 1999 it was announced the game would have a Spring 2000 release.[13]

Reception[]

Sales[]

Market research firm PC Data estimated North American retail sales of 4,955 copies for Riddle of the Sphinx during 2000, all of which derived from December.[14] The firm reported another 99,429 retail sales of the game in North America during 2001,[15] and 36,634 during the first six months of 2002.[16] According to DreamCatcher, sales of Riddle of the Sphinx reached 250,000 copies in the United States alone by March 2003.[17] PC Data placed its total North American retail sales for 2003 at 16,747 units;[18] during the first two months of 2004, its jewel case SKU sold 777 copies and its original box SKU sold 1,537 copies in the region.[19]

Critical reviews[]

According to the review aggregation website Metacritic, Riddle of the Sphinx received "mixed or average reviews" from critics.[27]

IGN gave it a 5.3 out of 10, commenting "Is this an oasis of adventure gaming in a barren desert of crap titles? Nah ... it's just a mirage."[21]

The Riddle of the Sphinx website won numerous awards,[28] and the game's soundtrack was highly praised.[11]

Legacy[]

The Omega Stone: Riddle of the Sphinx II was released in 2003.

Riddle of the Sphinx, the second edition, has been continually available on Big Fish Games since 2004 as a download. [29]

The Old World Studios team, consisting of the original developers and new team members, successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign in 2017. The goal was to release an HD version on desktop and now mobile devices. The release is scheduled for December 2020. [30][31]

An earlier Kickstarter campaign was set up in 2015 to have a 15th anniversary real-time 3d edition of the game, but the campaign was suspended early. [32]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2001-02-11. Archived from the original on 2001-02-11. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ^ "Features of ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 19 June 2010. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ a b . 2001-02-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20010210232820/http://riddleofthesphinx.com/credits/credits.html. Archived from the original on 2001-02-10. Retrieved 2017-12-28. Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ . 2001-02-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20010210233519/http://riddleofthesphinx.com/artifacts/artifacts.html. Archived from the original on 2001-02-10. Retrieved 2017-12-28. Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ "Thanks to ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2001-02-16. Archived from the original on 2001-02-16. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "History ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2001-07-08. Archived from the original on 2001-07-08. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ "artiFACTS of ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2001-02-11. Archived from the original on 2001-02-11. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "Authentic Egyptian Merchandise - Merchandise". 2002-06-14. Archived from the original on 2002-06-14. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ "Explore ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2001-02-12. Archived from the original on 2001-02-12. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ^ "Feedback of ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2002-04-21. Archived from the original on 2002-04-21. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ^ a b "Music of ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2013-06-09. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2017-12-28.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ . 2000-06-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20000614151602/http://www.riddleofthesphinx.com/dci_announce.html. Archived from the original on 2000-06-14. Retrieved 2017-12-28. Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ^ "The Riddle of the Sphinx Announced News". 6 March 2005. Archived from the original on 6 March 2005.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ Sluganski, Randy (February 2001). "The State of Adventure Gaming". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on April 14, 2001.
  15. ^ Sluganski, Randy (March 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - March 2002 - 2001 Sales Table". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on June 19, 2002.
  16. ^ Sluganski, Randy (August 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - August 2002 - June 2002 Sales Table". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on March 14, 2005.
  17. ^ Bronstring, Marek (March 7, 2003). "The Adventure Company Europe". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on October 23, 2005.
  18. ^ Sluganski, Randy (March 2004). "Sales December 2003 - The State of Adventure Gaming". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on April 11, 2004.
  19. ^ Staff. "Total Sales for Jan/Feb 2004". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on April 11, 2004.
  20. ^ Dulin, Ron (January 18, 2001). "Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 20, 2001.
  21. ^ a b Steinberg, Scott (January 19, 2001). "Reviews; Riddle of the Sphinx". IGN. Archived from the original on April 13, 2001.
  22. ^ Arbour, Thomas (January 5, 2001). "Adventure Gamer - Reviews - Riddle of the Sphinx". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on April 8, 2001.
  23. ^ Morgan, Cindy Kyser (February 2, 2001). "Riddle of the Sphinx". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005.
  24. ^ Staff. "Riddle of the Sphinx". MacHome Journal. Archived from the original on December 31, 2002.
  25. ^ Saltzman, Marc (March 13, 2001). "Riddle of the Sphinx". The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on March 30, 2003.
  26. ^ Houston, Tom. "Reviews; Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on July 18, 2001.
  27. ^ "Riddle of the Sphinx (pc: 2000): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on July 26, 2007.
  28. ^ . 2001-02-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20010216154928/http://riddleofthesphinx.com/frames/awards.html. Archived from the original on 2001-02-16. Retrieved 2017-12-28. Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  29. ^ "Riddle of the Sphinx - Big Fish". BigFishGames. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  30. ^ "Riddle of the Sphinx: Awakening — EXPLORE the Great Pyramid!". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  31. ^ "Riddle of the Sphinx: Awakening - EXPLORE the Great Pyramid!". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  32. ^ "Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure in Real-time 3D". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2017-12-28.

External links[]

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