The Quest For The Rest
Open the game- Brand
- The Polyphonic Spree
- Year
- 2004
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Amanita Design
Objective
The Polyphonic Spree released "Together We're Heavy" in 2004 and wanted a way to introduce the album's music and the band's whimsical, robe-clad identity to listeners that felt like an extension of the art rather than a banner ad. Amanita Design, already known for atmospheric point-and-click adventures, was commissioned to build a small game around the record instead of a conventional promo site.
Solution
The game opens on a hand-drawn desert scene where three tiny robed figures — stand-ins for the band — wait for the player's cue. There's no menu, score, or instructions: the player simply clicks on objects in the landscape, and the trio reacts, triggering the next step of a small chain of cause and effect. Solving each scene's sequence of clicks moves the group into the next world — first the forest, then the ocean — with a different song from the album playing throughout each one. There's no dialogue or text to read, no timer, and no way to fail; a full playthrough runs just a few minutes, ending once the third scene resolves and the last song plays out.
- 1
The game opens straight into a hand-painted desert with no menu, HUD, or instructions: three tiny robed band members stand on screen while a song from the album plays, and the cursor is the only tool for finding what in the scenery can be clicked.
- 2
The player solves environmental point-and-click puzzles by clicking scenery objects, which cycle through visual stages with each click rather than responding instantly: cactus growths must be clicked repeatedly until they bloom and drop fruit, which wakes a sleeping beast that drags a cart bearing a balloon, and clicking a hose then inflates that balloon until it lifts all three characters out of the scene.
- 3
A second scene, set in a forest under a different song, has the player click a path of platforms and creatures in sequence — mushrooms, then a branch — to advance a character across the screen, using an object drop to startle an animal out of the way and repeated clicks on foliage to expose a hidden passage.
- 4
The forest sequence continues with a stem-and-insect chain: clicking a flower puts the character on a swaying stalk, and a follow-up puzzle requires clicking a darting dragonfly at the exact moment it passes close by — a miss simply fails silently — before climbing a reed to exit the scene.
- 5
A third, underwater scene blocks the path with a giant octopus; the only interactive point is a small creature peeking from coral, which the player must click at the precise moment a fish swims past, triggering a chain reaction that clears the octopus out of the way.
- 6
The player boards a submarine and operates its controls by clicking a hatch and porthole to zoom into a control panel, then trying three levers in turn to start the engine, surface, and move forward — completing this sequence ends the playable portion and moves to a closing scene built around the band's reunion.
