For starters, Avarice wouldn't be confined by the resolution limitations that have bogged down past games. Whereas DOS could only expect to address 640x480 comfortably newer GUI based operating systems are only limited by the video cards on the PC. As such Avarice is capable of scaling up it s view window to accommodate even the highest resolution that OS/2 can muster with different sets of graphics available depending on the resolution. Another limitation was also breached as Avarice is capable of displaying all of its graphics in 16.8 million colors.
But this wasn't enough since even lowly Windows 3.1 could perform these feats was well. The next quantum leap in gaming technology was to figure out a way to leverage the object oriented technology that made OS/2 so powerful and easy to use.
The way to leverage this underlying power was to apply it to another situation that most people are familiar with, reality. That is in order to create a world where objects would behave in a similar manner as those in real life. The trick the designers use was to create object hierarchies that would give objects in the game fairly complex characteristics without having to be program them individually. This would also enable some objects to modify others and others stills to behave as containers.
With that technology, every object in the game can be manipulated the way that it could be in real life. This means that shirts in Avarice can be folded, or if you have a blow torch, burned. Oranges can be peeled and sliced open, or if you have a screwdriver they can be poked. The endless possibilities that these options made possible were integrated into the game so that some areas require the player to use multiple objects in conjunction to solve a puzzle.
Technology is nice but often the appeal of an adventure game comes down to the story. In this case the story would be an intriguing yarn about the protagonist's uncle and the experiments he conducted on his secluded island estate.
It seems that the uncle, Kindel O'Hara was involved in a number of sorted affairs that changed him in a number of ways before the story of Avarice takes place. First there was that terrible Running River toxic waste scandal which involved Kindel s company, O'Hara Industries. Then his wife died under mysterious circumstances, although some implied that Kindel was involved. So it was no surprise when O'Hara Industries launched it's new space station that . . . Well you'll have to play the game to find out the rest.
So now that there was a story the only element missing was the graphics. The graphics in Avarice in keeping true the game s idea of showcasing OS/2, were created with OS/2 s only ray-tracing program, at the time, the perennial freeware favorite POV Ray. Using POV Ray, the designers were able to get the eerie feeling that Kindel s island estate was supposed to convey and make the graphics look professional enough to compete in today's highly competitive game market.
So that's the story of Avarice. In order to tell you more we would have to give away the secrets of the game. So come on in and join the fun. After all the opportunity of a lifetime awaits on O'Hara Island.
Everything in the Avarice world is an object.
In this example, you find an orange. Look at what you can do with the orange.
Players can peel the orange, break the orange into parts, burn the orange, throw the orange pieces...
...or even eat the orange --virtually.