recover the games of your childhood + Tips and Tricks

Any past time was not necessarily better. And I clarify this before anyone can think that this practical on ScummVM is a vindication of the times in which the technical limitations of games were supplied with imagination and creativity. I am not saying at all that the richness of those arguments has never been seen again in the world of video games, in fact, I would not even dare to affirm that titles such as the first of Monkey Island, The Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max , and so on are unattainable for the current state of the video game world.

Well, that, with this practical article on how to use ScummVM I do not mean to praise the virtues of the golden age of video games, or make it accessible both to those people who were (were) lucky enough to enjoy it at the time, as well as to those who, due to age or circumstances, did not enjoy it at the time, to discover everything they have been losing, and how the point & click adventures marked a before and after in the world of video games.

I am not so pretentious as to pretend something like that, so the only reason for this practical, in which I will tell you how to use ScummVM, is that you can remember old times And take a few years off you Or, if you did not know them at the time, you can see in first person what we talk about when we remember, many, the times of graphic adventures and point & click games.

But first we must clarify that when talking about ScummVM we mean a virtual machine that allows you to use games designed with SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion), a development engine created in 1987 precisely to program Maniac Mansion, one of the great titles of the time. Since then, and for many years, both LucasArts and other studios used it to develop their games and, later, be able to take them to various platforms.

Install and use ScummVM

Although that virtual machine may sound a bit complex to some people, it actually ScummVM is extremely easy to use, but there are some aspects that you should be clear about. The bottom line is that ScummVM doesn’t include games, it’s just the emulator. To play you will need the binaries that, in many cases, you can only legally have if you own the game on physical media. However, many of those titles are already considered abandonware, so it is easy to find them on the Internet, a simple Google search will already give you a huge number of results.

Installation is very simple. To download it, go to its website and download the version recommended for your system, which will be the last stable version. Once the installer is downloaded, run it and follow the steps that the wizard will indicate. As you can see, it is a totally standard installation.

On the other hand, make sure you have the games you want to use in folders (one for each game, with all its files). And what games are compatible with ScummVM? Well, many more than most think, this is the complete list. The most comfortable thing is that you keep all those folders inside one that will be the main one, in this way it will be much more comfortable to add the games. Once you have them organized, double click on the icon to display the main window:

To add several games at once, click on the arrow that appears to the right of the “Add game” button, so that a menu will be displayed in which you will choose Add several and confirm the message that will be displayed. Then choose the folder that contains all the games, choose it and confirm the list that will be displayed

In this way the games will be added to ScummVM and you will be able to use them. To play one of them, select it from the list and press the Play button. In a few seconds you will be able to see it already in the window

As a general rule, the ScummVM menu suppresses the one for each game, making it much more convenient to access the main functions. To access it, during the game, press the Control and F5 keys simultaneously. In this way, the game will be paused and the menu will be displayed, from which you can modify the sound and keyboard settings, as well as save game, load a previous game, etc.