Since the poor blog is all but dead now, let’s resurrect it for one last purpose before it goes quietly into the good night.

As I’m sure you’re all aware, Adventure Gamers is comprised of a crack staff of more than 25 volunteers from all over the globe, and we cover all new international English-language adventure releases across all major platforms. Then there’s that whole “30-year history of the genre” thing that we’re still trying to catch up on after the fact. Whew! It’s a lot of work, and inevitably some things still manage to fall through the cracks. Not many! But some.

That’s where you come in. And you DON’T need to be a good writer to help!

Sure, we’re always on the lookout for promising writers willing to help with our ongoing preview and review coverage, but there’s room for anyone who’s passionate about the genre and motivated to help in various ways. Read on to discover ways that you – yes, you! – can contribute to making Adventure Gamers even better than it is today. And with apologies to the US Navy, let me just remind you all that it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure!

All requests and applications should be submitted through our Contact Form page or sent directly to me at: .

Screenshots

Send us your pictures! No no, not photos of yourself (especially not those photos!), but high quality screenshots of your favourite adventures. If a picture is worth a thousand words, you can leave our writers in the dust with your contributions in this area. Next time you’re playing a game (or if you’ve stockpiled some already), check out that title in our Games A-Z database, and you may just find a pressing need for more images, particularly for older or more obscure titles.

There are free screen capture programs available to download if you’re feeling ambitious, but for the most part, any keyboard with a “Print Screen” button on it is all the technology you need (well, that and a basic image program to paste it into). It’s that simple, so anyone can do it. Try for a nice selection of interesting locations, characters, and puzzles that reflects the best and most diverse elements of each game (ten pics of the opening cutscene is not particularly helpful). We do ask that you avoid any images that could be considered a major spoiler.

Donate-a-Game

“Why haven’t you ever reviewed Game X?”

Ever found yourself wondering this question? It’s true, even with many hundreds of reviews written, there are lots of older games the site wasn’t around to cover originally, or simply fell through the cracks in later years. So why haven’t we reviewed them yet? Generally, the answer is very simple: we don’t have them.

Since you can’t review what you don’t have, here’s where you can help. If you’ve got older games sitting around collecting dust, not worth the trouble to pawn off on eBay, and you’ve been wondering what to do with them, how about donating them to us? It’d be a huge plus to have a resource pool of older games to review in between new releases. If you’d like to be involved, simply send us a list of all games you’re willing to make available, and we’ll contact you if and when a reviewer is ready to cover any game on your list.

But hey, like we tell the publishers, just because you send them doesn’t mean we’ll agree with you about how good they are!

Freeware Games contributors

Our freeware adventure coverage (formerly known as “Underground Games”) has dwindled down in recent years, and we’re committed to getting back on top of the vast treasure trove of indie games. Reviews and monthly news articles are squarely on our radar right now, and we're looking for people willing to contribute in those areas, plus help maintain and update the information in our games database. New games added, screenshots posted, plot synopses written, release dates noted… that kind of thing. Since freeware games are rarely publicized through regular distribution channels, this job involves routinely scouring the popular indie game websites and blogs for new details. We’re not looking to duplicate the efforts of such sites, merely ensure that the same games are getting proper exposure here at AG.

Interviewers

Doing interviews is a cushy gig. I mean, where else can you make someone else do most of the work and take all the credit for it? Of course, good interviews take proper research, planning, and care, so it’s not as simple as firing off the same question list to anyone and everyone. Developer contacts will be supplied, so if you’re interested in pursuing developer interviews, whether by phone, Skype, or email Q&As, let us know! Regular ongoing contributions will be expected, however, so please, no “I interviewed Person Y three years ago; do you want to post it?” types of offers.

News updaters

If you like your assignments in short, quick bursts, news is where it’s at! Good writing skills are a must, needless to say, but equally important to reporting news in a timely fashion is availability and promptness. The goal is to report all news stories within a 24-hour period of breaking (preferably much, much less), so the more people we have available the better. Most adventure news is publicly announced through press releases and emails, so heavy investigative journalism is rarely necessary (no need to camp out on Jane Jensen’s front yard, even if you want to), so the main role here is simply to condense stories into publicly presentable news items like the ones you see on the home page. Cheesy headline-writing ability is not a prerequisite.

Casual Games reviewers

Yeah, yeah, I can hear the collective groan from the anti-casual space from here, but casual games are a fact of life now, and many of them cross firmly over into “lite adventure” territory. Too many, in fact, as it’s proving impossible to stay on top of them all. We’re not interested in covering garden variety “HOGs” (hidden object games), but we are looking for writers with an interest and ability to review games that clearly blend casual/traditional adventure gameplay elements. (Games like Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove , The Fall Trilogy and 3 Cards to Midnight are some of the titles we’ve reviewed so far.) Volunteers for this position won’t be restricted to writing only about casual games, but this will be the primary responsibility, so only those familiar with casual content already should apply for the role.

And more!

Okay, I can’t really think of anything more, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. We can surely make use of talented artists, videographers, or anyone else who’s highly motivated and simply in need of a role to fulfill. If that’s you, let us know what your interests and abilities are, and perhaps we can come up with something that’s just the right fit. These are all volunteer opportunities, and not all of them are formal staff positions, but we’re all here because of our love for the genre, and everyone’s participation is welcome!