Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure

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

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

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."[22]

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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. . 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. {{cite web}}: 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. {{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. "Music of ... Riddle of the Sphinx!". 2013-06-09. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2017-12-28.{{cite web}}: 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. {{cite web}}: 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.{{cite web}}: 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. Arbour, Thomas (January 5, 2001). "Adventure Gamer - Reviews - Riddle of the Sphinx". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on April 8, 2001.
  21. Dulin, Ron (January 18, 2001). "Riddle of the Sphinx: An Egyptian Adventure". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 20, 2001.
  22. Steinberg, Scott (January 19, 2001). "Reviews; Riddle of the Sphinx". IGN. Archived from the original on April 13, 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. {{cite web}}: 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.
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