1. Fight Club

2. Adventure Games by Ben Chandler

You may or may not know this, but Ben Chandler has made a ton of cool little adventure games using Adventure Game Studio. He is a fantastic artist and also a really great game designer. All of his games are available on his blog, but the one that really spoke to me was the game ‘Hope’. Ben Chandler and Steven Poulton created Hope in 48 hours and it’s a great simple adventure game. It’s simplicity is the reason it caught my attention so much, it showed me that an adventure game doesn’t have to be an epic tale, it can be short and sweet and still give the player a feeling of satisfaction.

Reference in Entrapment:

Well, the receptionist  is named Ben after the inspirational designer behind all of these games.

3. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I read The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde while I was still in the designing phase of Entrapment. It’s a great book and was really the first story to investigate the disturbing psychology behind split personality disorder and the human conflict of good and evil. This is something I wanted to get across in Sam’s character and the book also introduced the idea that split personalities would take on a different physical form, which I also used for when Sam turned into Sam 2 as I dubbed him, or “Evil Sam”.

Reference in Entrapment:

If you look at the book case in the bedroom, Sam will say there are books by Robert Louis Stevenson before claiming not to know who he is.

4. 5 Days a Stranger

Easily one of the best series created with AGS, the Chzo Mythos games were created by Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw, now mostly know for his work on Zero Punctuation. It was mainly the art style that I took from this game, but it has a great story, atmosphere and great puzzles. It also involves a serial killer, which is also an important them of Entrapment.

Reference in Entrapment:

The Bathrooms in the two games share the odd item of furniture (The toilet, the sink, the rug).

5. Two Face (Harvey Dent)

Another Character that explored dual personalities, Harvey Dent is a tragic figure and embraces his psychological disorder. When working on the story for Entrapment, I realized that nobody ever has two good personalities? There is always one nice one and one really really bad one. I wanted Sam’s evil side to show on screen and using Two Face as a reference helped with that.

Reference in Entrapment:

Two Face – Harvey Dent – The Dent Hotel. I didn’t just make names up you know, I put a lot of thought into naming conventions.

6. Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes

These to fantastic British Television Drama series focus on the lives of people who have accidents and wake up back in time. The theme I took from this is the waking up, filled with confusion as Sam Drake does when we first see him in Entrapment. If you haven’t seen Life on Mars (The British Version), then I definitely recommend it.

Reference in Entrapment:

The main protagonists in the series are Sam Tyler and Alex Drake, a mash up of their names gives you Sam Drake.

7. Technobabylon

Another great  series made with AGS. Technobabylon is a series with great characters and a great story. The first game is also an escape the room game, so it draws similarities with Entrapment in that respect.

Reference in Entrapment:

When testing the game, it was made clear that the player needed more insight into why Sam had this psychological disorder. The opening of Technobabylon Part 1 involves a mysterious conversation between unknown people. I used this mechanic to add a small back story to Sam’s past (although you don’t connect this until later).

8. Sin City

Frank Miller’s Sin City is a phenomenal graphic novel series. It explores a dark gritty world, which is mostly conveyed through internal monologue. I used a lot of internal monologue within Entrapment for Sam Drake and I like to think that I kept Sin City and other graphic novels in mind when writing down Sam’s thoughts.

Reference in Entrapment:

Sadly, there is no direct reference to Sin CIty within Entrapment, maybe the black and white video tape section could count?

9. Doctor Who

I’m a huge fan of Doctor Who and it wasn’t the brilliant science fiction elements that I took from it for Entrapment (as there are none), it was the strong female roles within the series. The Doctors companions (usually female) all have strong characters. Martha is the only female in the game and I wanted her character to come across as a strong compassionate one with her conversation with Sam. I looked to Doctor who for that.

Reference in Entrapment:

I used the first name of one of the Doctor’s companions, Martha Jones, as the name for Sam’s wife as she was meant to come across as a strong woman.

10. Saw

Horror films aren’t usually my thing, but I really enjoy the saw films. The whole mythology around the Jigsaw killer and the games that he makes people play are brilliant. I totally used the idea of a serial killer that traps you in a room and you have to escape. I love the whole Escape the Room genre such as Crimson Room and Entrapment is basically an escape the room game, with serial killers.

Reference in Entrapment:

As well as being an important point in the story, the camera in the bedroom closet is a nod to the Saw films.

Well that’s it, an extensive list of inspirations to me when I made Entrapment. The one that I left off of the list was perhaps the biggest inspiration of all, my fiancee Sam Oliver. She was always there to give me a kick up the back side when I needed one and if it wasn’t for her I probably would have never finished the game.

This Blog Post is a little late, but on Friday 20th January, Entrapment was released along with 13 other games as part of the AGS Bake Sale. The AGS Bake Sale is a bundle of games created with Adventure Game Studio and you pay what you want for them. The minimum spend is $1.50 (around £1.01) and you get instant access to download all 14 games. Here’s a list of the games included:

Entrapment
The Rail
Falling Skywards
9 Months In
Ben Chandler: Paranormal Investigator – In Search of the Sweets Tin
Abner the Amazing
Barn Runner: The Rich Dame Who Cut The Cheese
Fragment
Indiana Rodent and the Raiders of the Lost Cheese
Ram Ghost
Red Volition
Zombie Attack
Retina

So what are you waiting for?

BUY ENTRAPMENT NOW!*

*Entrapment comes with 13 other awesome games. All proceeds go to the charity ‘Child’s Play’. Minimum Spend of $1.50 USD.

There has already been some pretty extensive coverage of the bundle on several gaming news sites:

N4G

Gnomes Lair

Indie Game Mag

Rock Paper Shotgun

The Reticule

PC Gamer Reviews and News

SFX 360

Gamezeebo

Jay Is Games

The Escapist 

Dealspwn

Gamers Heaven

Nukezilla

Girl Gamer

Lamazoid

Our very own Stuart Lilford, creator of Entrapment has been busy too. He has had two interviews around the Bake Sale:

The AGS Blog - We find out more about the background of Stuart Lilford and the Development of Entrapment.

Cubed Gamers - Will Ross of Cubed Gamers who attended Adventure X asked Stuart about the future for Lightbulb Games.

The AGS Bake Sale website is LIVE. On it you can find a list of all the games included in the bundle as well as information on the games themselves. There is also an option for people to input their Email addresses so that as soon as the Bake Sale is available, you will receive an Email so that you know when you can get this bundle of awesome games including Entrapment from Lightbulb Games.

I have taken the liberty of answering some frequently asked questions about the bundle below.

How much will this bundle of awesome games cost me?

One of the great things about the bundle is that you name your own price. The minimum spend is $1.50, which works out at around €1.17 or £0.98! So for less than a Pound, you could have a great bundle of 14 games. Obviously, there is an incentive to pay more than this.

What is the incentive for me to pay more than 98p?

All of the proceeds are going straight to charity. Not only are you getting a great bunch of games complete with hours of fantastic gameplay, but you get the added satisfaction of helping out the charity Child’s Play, who help to give sick kids in hospitals the joy of video games.

What games are included in the AGS Bake Sale Bundle?

Well, there’s Entrapment from Lightbulb Games. The rest of the games are also awesome and are on the Bake Sale website, so please visit and don’t forget to add your Email address, so we can notify you when the bundle is ready for purchase.

The AGS Bake Sale Bundle Official Website

If you’re feeling generous, donate to Child’ Play directly: