Acknowledgements

BENNE is the product of a lineage going back over 40 years. Starting with the Sierra On-Line graphic adventures of the 1980s, and continuing through the point-and-click classics that followed, adventure games are a unique and magical genre of gaming. The first I ever played was King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. I remember sitting with my dad, at the age of 6, walking Rosella through this magical forest, and asking my dad, "How do you spell 'open door'?" at the dwarves' tree cottage (we had to type out the actions back then). Even then, I was trying to convince my dad to help me build an adventure game. But it was 1989, and the tools for doing that with your dad in the basement were nonexistent.

But not anymore! In 2023 I woke up from a vivid, impactful dream (which I can't remember, unfortunately), and I said to myself "You're almost 40. You've spent a lifetime acquiring skills in digital creation. It's time to make a point-and-click adventure game." And I spent the next three years dedicating much of my free time to that pursuit. And I could not have done this without some very important influences:

Dad and Mom

My dad taught me personal computing from a young age. I owe so much of my career, my hobbies, and my life to him. He's a great dad.

My mom taught me to create. She encouraged all my weird creative projects when I was young, and I get a lot of that drive from her. She's a great mom.

My beautiful wife and kids

The source of all the love and joy in my life. Endless inspiration and energy. Sufferers of my weird obsessions. Extraordinary game testers.

Adventure Game Studio

I never actually made a game with AGS. But I recognize it as a central touchstone for point and click. When the genre was having its low period, after the 90s when shooters were the hot thing, AGS quietly kept the point-and-click flame alight. After all these years, still going strong. Many of BENNE's design patterns trace back to AGS.

The Indie Adventure Game Community

Over the years, I've had the pleasure of being part of an incredible community of independent adventure game developers. People who share their knowledge, answer questions, make tutorials and devlogs, organize game jams, and encourage each other to keep going. I've learned an enormous amount from these people, and their generosity and enthusiasm have been a huge inspiration for BENNE.