A fun print-and-play graphic novel puzzle game that bursts with adventure. 

Project Mission

As an Art Director, my goal was to set the story in a comic style, dividing the scenes in frames, or a full-page illustration. Choosing the most significant pose for the characters lined with their current state of excitement, worry or discovery, and for the sets and backgrounds, they follow the narration in a balanced composition. Having two male characters in a search for treasure, immediately an Indiana Jones analogy came to the surface, and naturally, we followed this course, resulting in visually pleasing compositions which are readable, economic in elements, and serve their purpose to the player to bring the visual harmony and more importantly clarity in identification the clues and tasks.

The Gilded Carcanet has become a Trilogy so far.

Premise

An ancient treasure has been said to be buried on a small island outside the coast of Turkey. Little is known about it and its existence has been heavily debated in the archeology community. Professor in archeology, Bartholomew Wilson, has always dismissed the idea as a myth. Until now.

Armed only with a mysterious letter and a cheap souvenir from his old friend Edward, Bartholomew and Oscar set out on an epic adventure. Even though they find a very helpful item along the way, adventuring is not easy and their path turns out to be full of challenges to overcome.

The Gilded Carcanet puts you in the shoes of Bartholomew as you try to piece together the answers to the many mysteries of the Aegean Sea. In each chapter, you will face a challenge to solve for our duo to continue their quest.

Don your fedora and bullwhip – it’s Indiana Jones time
The story is told as a graphic novel, with each puzzle marking the end of a ‘chapter’. The artwork is detailed and great to look at, and all the puzzle elements are fully integrated into the scenes.

It’s an interesting format that I’ve not seen before – a refreshing take on integrating stories and puzzles that really pays off. Being a word pedant, I spotted a few typos in the dialogue, but nothing that impacted the puzzles.

The narrative has all the elements that satisfy the adventure nerd in me that wants to be Indiana Jones. You build up a ‘grail diary’, there are maps of catacombs to pore over, and there are ancient texts to decipher. And as you follow Bartholomew and Oscar on their adventure, you feel like you’re an integral part of the team.

 

The Gilded Carcanet PART 1

The Gilded Carcanet PART 2

The Gilded Carcanet PART 3