/tags/wormventures/ Recent content in wormventures on MACs Homepage Hugo -- gohugo.io Copyright © 2022, Marcus 'MAC' Röckendorf; all rights reserved. Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-itchio-release/ Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-itchio-release/ It has always been my goal to offer a DRM-free version of the game, and now it's finally here. One year after the game's initial release on Steam, I'm happy and proud to offer a DRM-free version on itch.io. For those who want to try it out first, a demo version is available, containing the complete first of seven chapters. The game is available for both Windows and Linux, offers approximately 12-15 hours of gameplay, and features full German voice acting and subtitles in both German and English. /post/wormventures/wormventures-steam-spring-sale-2025/ Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-steam-spring-sale-2025/ As part of the Steam Spring Sale get 10% off of Wormventures- Barrier 51. now! /post/wormventures/wormventures-game-released/ Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-game-released/ I'm proud to announce, that my point & click adventure game Wormventures - Barrier 51 was released today on Steam. Go and grab it with 10% off for one week: /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-updated-110/ Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-updated-110/ Now that the full version of the game is ready, I have also expanded the demo version of the game to include all the new features of the full version. The most obvious is the newly added post processing, which significantly improves the game's graphics. I have also built a function into the settings menu to switch post processing on and off. Here are all the new features in detail: /post/wormventures/wormventures-release-date/ Mon, 02 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-release-date/ The game is finished and so I can now give a release date. Since the holidays at the end of the year and a Steam event are just around the corner, the release date will be January 15, 2025 I will use the holidays and the turn of the year to look for bugs on various computers, add a little bling here and there and do a bit of advertising. /post/wormventures/wormventures-two-new-trailers/ Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-two-new-trailers/ The first one is a Story Trailer that outlines the initial story of the game. It features the German voice overs but has english subtitles, too. The second one is a Voice Over Trailer to showcase the German voice overs. It features English subtitles, too. /post/wormventures/wormventures-english-translation-done/ Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-english-translation-done/ I just finished the translation of the last line of text into the English language. And that doesn't only apply to in-game text but for images and a custom scripts that generates a puzzle to find the Oracle later in the game, too. That means another milestone is reached. I am not fully convinced about the quality of the translation though. I think it calls for a lot of proof-reading before being useful for anyone, but it was a lot of work to translate the more than eight-thousand database entries (varying from a single word to page-long texts) and that work is done. /post/wormventures/wormventures-nextfest-livestreams-on-youtube/ Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-nextfest-livestreams-on-youtube/ The live streams from the Steam Next Fest where I play the demo version of the game in both English and German are now available on YouTube. Of course I recommend to play the demo yourself, but if you want to watch me playing it you're welcome. German (with voice overs and subtitles): English (with subtitles): /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-updated/ Fri, 16 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-updated/ The demo version available on Steam has gotten an update, which fixes some minor problems with the English translation, improves the subtitles positions and fixes some other minor things. Full change list: Added missing English translations Fixed some English translations Fixed missing version number in the main menu when switched to English Fixed Bob Wormley falling off his cushion Fixed moving and popping subtitles while the camera moves Grab the demo version here: https://store. /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-out/ Sun, 28 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-out/ The demo version of the game which features the first 1.5 chapters is now available on Steam. It's available both in English and German. The German version features full voice overs and subtitles while the English version is subtitles only. Grab it on the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1862080/Wormventures__Barrier_51/ /post/wormventures/wormventures-macos-support-dropped/ Thu, 18 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-macos-support-dropped/ As a game developer, you obviously want as many people as possible to be able to play your creation, but sometimes you have to be sensible... After some time of testing on MacOS, I decided with a heavy heart to no longer release the game for this system. There are too many different problems that have arisen there. For one player the installation via Steam doesn't work, for another it works but it won't start. /post/wormventures/wormventures-press-release-2/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-press-release-2/ Duisburg, Germany - January, 1st 2024 Quick reminder Wormventures - Barrier 51 is a funny classic 3D cartoon point and click adventure solo developed by Marcus Röckendorf (that's me). It will be available for PCs running Windows, Linux or MacOS. A Steam page and a press kit page are available. It will feature German voice overs and subtitles as well as subtitles in English. State of development After a month off of my professional work for diving into full time game development in October 2023 the game is basically finished. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-7/ Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-7/ Post number seven for the series called "GIF-away". Officer James Jacksonworm always tries to help. /post/wormventures/wormventures-statistics/ Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-statistics/ Time to throw around some numbers and do some statistics. Line count I just did an export of all text lines featured in the game. Currently there are 8.167 entries in the database. That doesn't necessarily mean that there are as much speech lines. A database entry could be a one word long caption of a hotspot or a whole page in a book. Word count So maybe a word count is more precise in that matter. /post/wormventures/wormventures-steam-page-localization/ Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-steam-page-localization/ Since I'm solo developing the game in my free time, I won't be able to get it translated into more languages than German (voice overs and subtitles) and English (subtitles only). But at least I managed to get the Steam Store page localized into french, spanish and portuguese, which I am very happy about. Of course I am not able to evaluate the quality of those translations. So if you are a native french, spanish or portuguese speaker feel free to stop by at the Steam page of the game and maybe give me a hint if something seems to be off translation-wise. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-6/ Sat, 09 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-6/ Post number six for the series called "GIF-away". This is what happens when you have a clumsy tail. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-5/ Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-5/ Post number five for the "GIF-away" series. Good things come to those who wait. /post/wormventures/wormventures-first-real-playthrough-finished/ Sun, 26 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-first-real-playthrough-finished/ First playthrough I just reached another milestone in the development of the game. I finished the first real playthough of the the game. For every chapter I collected things that have to be polished and bugs as well. I even implemented some quality of life improvements like the language selection and load / save screens. For example it is possible now to name your savegame instead of only having a time and date as the savegame name. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-4/ Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-4/ Post number four for the series called "GIF-away". Evil villains are a must have. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-3/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-3/ Post number three for the series called "GIF-away". The expenditures for special effects were astonishing. /post/wormventures/wormventures-trailer-2-released/ Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-trailer-2-released/ I just released a new Trailer for the game in English and German. I lately thought about what all the great classic adventure games that I grew up with had in common. What is the essence of a classic point and click adventure? What was it those games taught us adolescents that made us nice, respectful and responsible grown ups? Basically three things came to my mind: Vandalism, theft and fraud. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-2/ Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-2/ Post number two for a new series called "GIF-away". No classic point&click adventure without an ancient, forgotten temple. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-1/ Sat, 11 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gif-away-1/ Post number one for a new series called "GIF-away". /post/wormventures/wormventures-talking-italian/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-talking-italian/ The mob worms on Ugly Island can talk italian now: /post/wormventures/wormventures-sabbatical-over/ Sun, 05 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-sabbatical-over/ Well, my one-month long Sabbatical is over. In fact today (Sunday) is the last day before I get back to my professional work tomorrow. Did it work out as I planned? Was it a "success"? First of all: The game is done. All things I had as cards in my Kanban board have been moved to the "Finished" bucket. And will it release now? Can you play it? No. All scenes, all puzzles, all cutscenes, all characters, animations, dialogues and all coding is done and final. /post/wormventures/wormventures-all-animations-done/ Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-all-animations-done/ The last few days I was busy animating characters and other objects and making cutscenes for the game. And just as the title of this blog post says: "YAMR" (Yet another milestone reached). All animations for the game are done and included into the game. Making animations Bringing in a new animation into the game and using it involves several steps: 1. Creating the animation in Blender Blender is the 3D modeling software I use. /post/wormventures/wormventures-inventory-final/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-inventory-final/ While I was busy creating animations in Blender and bringing those into the game, another milestone was passed: All 128 inventory items are now in the game, including the 3D models, all their icon variations for the inventory windows and they are all in a final state. Working on the animations is a lot of fun even though it is a very demanding task. But after all the work it is fun to watch what was achieved. /post/wormventures/wormventures-fear-scenes/ Sun, 22 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-fear-scenes/ It was about time to revisit some scenes that I personally titled "Angst-Szenen" ("fear scenes" translated literally). Those are scenes that were already done but without an important detail or two, where I knew what it should look like, but didn't have an idea how it could be implemented. Enough procrastination One of these scenes was the "Gangsterschranke" (gangster barrier), a place in the swamps of Ugly Island. I needed some special animations there and I can't get into detail without spoiling the corresponding puzzles. /post/wormventures/wormventures-all-characters-done/ Fri, 20 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-all-characters-done/ When the shit hits the fan Bad news first: Last Monday my hard drive where all my project data was got corrupted and a whole lot of data got lost. The problem was I didn't realize it immediately and had to figure out, what was going wrong. I spent until Wednesday evening to build in a new hard drive, copy all the data over and reconstruct the project (and some others as well) from my backups. /post/wormventures/wormventures-missing-poster/ Sat, 14 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-missing-poster/ Oh no, there is a child missing from the Muddy Maggots Orphanage in Few Pork. The billionaire heir Wuce Brain, whos parents died under mysterious circumstances after a circus show, didn't return last evening. Georgia Pupweazle, the head of the orphanage says: "Well, he went out for his evening crawl and did not come back." Have you seen this worm? /post/wormventures/wormventures-unity-the-killer/ Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-unity-the-killer/ I just wanted to build the final version of the game demo. The only thing missing was one last audio file that I had to record. The recording went without problems and then I wanted to implemented the sound file into the project. When I copied the file over to the right directory and marked it as "Addressable" in the Unity Editor I immediately was completely shocked. What I saw in that moment was, that the new audio file was the only one in the project. /post/wormventures/wormventures-briefingroom/ Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-briefingroom/ I'm currently working on the last missing characters of the game. I had to create some soldiers and a general for a secret military base on Terra Grande Vermis. Here are some images: Another new character is Don Pati. He is part of the family, ya know. Da family! Done is also Worm Doe, a mysterious guy that Looky meets in the city of Few Pork, the capital of Terra Grande Vermis. /post/wormventures/wormventures-translating-recipes/ Sat, 07 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-translating-recipes/ From images to text Today it was time to convert all recipes in the game from images to text components, because else it wouldn't be possible to translate them to other languages. Until now I used images from "Looky - The Adventure" as placeholders, where the recipes are drawn on. The problem with images is, that they are bad for translating. Yes, it is basically possible, for example I use quite some images as textures on signs in the game and have a system in place to swap out these textures based on the current language, but it is much better to have text that has to be translated to be handled by the localization system that is in place. /post/wormventures/wormventures-translation-work/ Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-translation-work/ AC Speech Tool My wifes currently helps a lot with translating the game into english in the evenings. To help with translating and also keeping track of the voice overs I developed a tool a while ago called "AC Speech Tool" (AC stands for Adventure Creator). You can throw in all text used in your AC created game (via CSV import) and work on it here which is way better than working on text in the Unity Engine. /post/wormventures/wormventures-sabbatical-workplace/ Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-sabbatical-workplace/ This is where "Basement Society" comes from... I just took a picture of the place where I will work in full time for the next weeks. Of course this is in the basement of our house. I wasn't sure for some time if I will carry my PC from the living room down to the basement to work on the game or if I will upgrade my PC in the basement (which I usually use for making music) to be capable of doing game dvelopment with it. /post/wormventures/wormventures-new-sky-system/ Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-new-sky-system/ Since Wormventures - Barrier 51 is in a state of feature completion which means every system for doing stuff in the game is implemented and will not change from now on to keep focus on the content, I couldn't help but change my current way to draw skies in the scenes. Yes, I know, it was the LAST system I changed. I promise. But the new solution for sky drawing is so much better. /post/wormventures/wormventures-full-time-develpment/ Mon, 25 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-full-time-develpment/ Seven years gone... After working on the game in my spare time for around seven years now I finally take some time off of work to develop full time for a whole month. The means the loss of a whole months wage for me and my family and the decision was not easy, but it is very hard to keep track of the development if you only have an hour or so every other day to work. /post/wormventures/wormventures-gameplay-video/ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-gameplay-video/ I just uploaded a new video on YouTube which gives an impression of the gameplay and features the german voice overs. /post/wormventures/wormventures-german-voice-overs/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-german-voice-overs/ Voice Overs I thought about implementing voice overs in the game for a long time and it seemed to be something that I could not afford financially and also time-wise. Then I made this terrible mistake at the end of 2022 by recording some test voice overs for one scene of the game. What can I say: It sounds and feels so good and adds so much quality to the game that there is no way around this anymore: /post/wormventures/wormventures-coming-2023/ Mon, 21 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-coming-2023/ As optimistic as my plans were it is not possible for me to release Wormventures - Barrier 51 in 2022. My next (but not less) optimistic guess is until the end of 2023. I`m working on this installment of the game since 2012 now and I wouldn't be happy if the game is not the best I'm able to make. That said there is still a lot to do before the game can be called finished. /post/wormventures/wormventures-stormworm-is-back/ Mon, 21 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-stormworm-is-back/ The three original songs from the jukebox in the Wormhole, a dark and dusty bar on Ugly Island, from Looky - The Adventure found there way back into the brand new jukebox (still from Wormlitzer, the best manufacturer of jukeboxes on planet Vermis). You now will be able to listen to "Stormworm" by Wormy Maiden (or was it "Iron Wormson"?), "Wurm aus Metall" by Gänsewürmchen and "Cyanide", an instrumental track by Machine Worm. /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-update_chapter1/ Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-update_chapter1/ After finishing the demo version I thought that it could be a bit short and decided to not only feature chapter 0.5 but also chapter 1 in the demo. That means, that that there will be a new beta round. With chapter 1 included, the demo will have a lot more gameplay, characters and story to really get a impression of what is going on and what it is all about without spoilering the real plot of the game. /post/wormventures/wormventures-talking-about-ui/ Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-talking-about-ui/ Thinking about UX Nowadays everybody seems to talk about user interfaces in adventure games. Well, maybe not everybody, but I recently watched a video by Point&Click Devlog in which Adam talked about playing a point&click adventure called "Voodoo Detective", which got him thinking about the UI in his own game "The Biggleboss Incident", because it was very well done in that game. That's funny because I just finished a game called "Encodya" which did a pretty bad job with it's UI and which got ME thinking about the UI in my game and UI's in general. /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-beta-playthrough/ Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-beta-playthrough/ Beta testing of the demo version is still ongoing and to help the testers decide what is right and what is wrong with the game I recorded a playthrough of the whole demo and uploaded it on YouTube. Warning It's not recommended to watch this if you are not a beta tester, but instead wait for the demo release which shouldn't be far away. /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-beta-update/ Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-beta-update/ The beta rounds for the demo version of the game were successful and some changes were made based on feedback of the testers: [NEW] Initial language selection on first game start [NEW] Long dialog lists (>5 entries) can now be scrolled with the mouse wheel [NEW] The Escape key can now be used to toggle pause mode [NEW] The Inventory can now be scrolled with the mouse wheel [FIX] Dialog boxes now render correctly in all screen resolutions [FIX] Fixed bug in scene "Village": Looky sometimes slowed down while crawling because he had to push the invisible mailworm [FIX] Music is now stopped when the game is paused [FIX] The Inventory now works in all screen resolutions [FIX] "Remember. /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-beta-start/ Thu, 16 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-demo-beta-start/ Yeah, the demo version of the game is ready! It's available for Windows, MacOSX and Linux and is currently being tested by several people. I'm curious how the game works. The demo itself contains the complete chapter 0.5 which is some kind of interactive intro. The playtime for this should be around half an hour, if you take it slowly. /post/wormventures/wormventures-press-release-1/ Wed, 26 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-press-release-1/ Duisburg, Germany - January, 26th 2022 Official anouncement After several years of development and the launch of the Steam page for the game I guess it is time for an official anouncement. Wormventures - Barrier 51 is the re-development and conclusion of the freeware point&click adventure game Looky - The Adventure which was released 2007. It is not only the long anticipated second half of the game but also a complete re-development of the original. /post/wormventures/wormventures-scene-evolution/ Tue, 02 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-scene-evolution/ Hey there, and welcome to the first Dev Blog post in 2021! This time I’d like to show how a scene evolves from a rough collection of simple blocks and shapes (this is called „grey boxing“) to a finished scene. There are many ways and strategies to make a video game: You could make each scene one by one while working on it until it’s ready which means doing all the modeling, texturing and animations and then combining it to a scene while adding the game logic that is needed. /post/wormventures/wormventures-worms-multiply/ Mon, 07 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-worms-multiply/ Hi there, the last 10 or so days I was busy creating characters for the game. Until then there were only 9 out of a total of around 50 characters ready. In most scenes there were dummy objects, mostly cylinders, that you could talk to. Now, the total worm count in the game is at 23, which means that almost half of the characters are done. And even though some of them are not final it is very motivating to have real characters in the game now that look, smile and laugh at you. /post/wormventures/wormventures-looky-wants-the-chili-powder/ Tue, 24 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-looky-wants-the-chili-powder/ A short clip from the 3D point&click adventure game Wormventures - Barrier 51. This is Looky buying some chili powder from his aunt Emma, who has a small business on Market Island. This video is taken directly from the Unity Engine editor and is a scene from the game itself. But be aware that this is from the alpha phase of the development, so everything is subject to change until release. /post/wormventures/wormventures-worms-run/ Tue, 24 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-worms-run/ From time to time I come back to my worm models to add some animations like last weekend. I added a nice looking run animation to Looky so that when you double click somewhere on the screen and that point is far enough away from Looky, he will run (or better said „jump“) to that point. To have points of interest in a scene that are quite far from each other by design is one thing, but not to have an option to get there fast is another. /post/wormventures/wormventures-history/ Mon, 16 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-history/ Meanwhile “Wormventures – Barrier 51” has a long (and not always shiny) history. The whole thing began 1998 when me and some friends sat together and had the idea to create an adventure game. Since I was drawing comics during my school time with worms as characters and no one of us would have been able to draw a human character and animate it, we thought it would be a great idea to make an adventure with worms. /post/wormventures/wormventures-crawling-the-post-office/ Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-crawling-the-post-office/ A short clip from the 3D point&click adventure game Wormventures - Barrier 51. This is Looky crawling around the Wormcific Ocean Post Office located on Market Island, one of the islands in the Wormcific Ocean. This video is taken directly from the Unity Engine editor and is a scene from the game itself. But be aware that this is from the alpha phase of the development, so everything is subject to change until release. /post/wormventures/wormventures-the-volcano-thing/ Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-the-volcano-thing/ A short clip from the 3D point&click adventure game Wormventures - Barrier 51. What you see here is Looky visiting Aunt Emma's Crispy Hut located on the market place on Market Island, one of the islands in the Wormcific Ocean. This video is taken directly from the Unity Engine editor and is a scene from the game itself. But be aware that this is from the alpha phase of the development, so everything is subject to change until release. /post/wormventures/wormventures-blog-start/ Tue, 10 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /post/wormventures/wormventures-blog-start/ Hi, my name is Marcus and I’m currently developing a Point&Click Adventure called „Wormventures – Barrier 51“. It’s going to be a classic humorous cartoon adventure game with a surprising story and full 3D graphics. Best of both worlds I’m trying to utilize the best of modern 3d graphics, including cinematic cutscene in game (not pre-rendered), dynamic camera movements and close-ups in dialogs and while examining something in a scene, but keeping the classic point-and-click controls, that makes playing an adventure game easy and comfortable for us nostalgics.