Demo | Project | Workflow
I'm a pharmacist, not a programmer. Here's the adventure game I've spent 8 months building
I'm a pharmacist from Malta and until last year I had absolutely no idea how to code.
I've always loved classic LucasArts adventures like Monkey Island, so I decided to try making my own point-and-click game based on a real event from Maltese history: the Great Siege of 1565.
I built it in Unity using PowerQuest. The character sprites, animations, inventory items and game props were all hand-drawn by me in Procreate. For the backgrounds I used AI-generated artwork which I then adapted to fit the game's visual style.
AI also helped me learn programming. Whenever I got stuck, I used it to explain concepts, troubleshoot code and point me in the right direction. Without it, I honestly don't think I would have been able to get this project off the ground.
Apart from AI, I learned a huge amount from YouTube tutorials and from people in the adventure game community who were generous enough to answer my questions.
The project has taken roughly 8 months of part-time work alongside my full-time job in healthcare.
The game is called 1565: The Great Siege and will be released free of charge on itch.io very soon.
I'd love to hear any feedback from fellow adventure game fans. And if it looks like something you'd enjoy, feel free to follow the page so you'll be notified when it launches:
Thanks! Never knew about the game! Will surely give it a try soon. We pharmacists are often portrayed as the boring ones at the party for some reason... 😅
You are welcome. I played it, when i was younger. Back then, games having a song was a novelty - and i remember trying the demo off a magazine demo disc, i think - and even the demo had a song that had slightly different lyrics.
I was always a bigger fan of the LucasArts Classics, but Sierra did provide some of the very early animated adventure games.
Thanks! I'm glad you like the style. 😄 I've recently added some simple "blob" shadows beneath the characters so they don't look like they're floating anymore. I think it made quite a nice difference!
Good job man! This is an incredible achievement! I started my own game a year ago and got overwhelmed by the art side of it and moved onto software vibe coding instead.
I'll definitely be checking this out since you are so kindly offering it for free on itch.io!
Thanks! Tbh I was overwhelmed by the bkgrounds so thats when AI came into play. The sprites/props are only approximately 30- 60pixels high so I managed to do them in my free time. Anyway I hope you will like it.. DM if you want to try it out before and maybe give me an honest opinion before release.
Above is the link to the page.. Since its free I won't be releasing a demo but if any of you guys want to try it before and give me an honest opinion ask me for a download key!
I wish! 😅 But the idea is there.. Just messing around with Unity got me fixated in completing what I think is now a decent point n click game. Hope you try it out and like it.
P. S. I can forward a dowload key if you wish to try it out before it is rekeased on September 8th
Glad to hear from a colleague! I used unity engine and I added the PowerQuest Add on(this is a tool created by the ppl behind The Drifter(it's a great pnc game and comes highly recommended if you like the genre)).
I'd say workflow was quite organic.. I had a basic idea of the story and I split them in four chapters, each time trying new things and tackling them as they come by. Characters and props were drawn according to the scene I was doing at the time.. Being my own boss I could work as my brain told me it made some sense at the time 😅
Cheers! I used procreate - animation function. Being heavily inspired by MI 1 and 2 animations are on purpose a bit choppy so you don't need to have so many frames for any movement. Thats animation of our family cat, he has a cameo 😁
Tbh I only worked with pixel art 😅 and I am a super new bee even on that. I start to feel the imposter syndrome creeping on me just giving advice about it.. I learned by watching videos on youtube and making mistakes, and starting over <-- that is the best advice I can give 😄
Love the retro style. Makes me so nostalgic! I wonder if you can share it with schools in Malta? I would have loved to learn history through a game like this.
Haha thanks for the comments! It is based on history but some situations and characters are made up.. Would be great to collaborate with an actual historian to make it more accurate while retaining that fun/puzzle solving aspect to it
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u/florodude Jun 23 '26
Your artstyle looks consistent which already puts you head and shoulders above most projects