Games in Progress (Aug '26): The Sideways Traveler

Posted on August 4, 2026

The Sideways Traveler is a graphic adventure game that begins in an apartment in Barcelona and eventually opens up to various locations around the city and the world.

I don't want to reveal any more of the story just yet, but I would like to explain my main inspiration for the game.

For a long time, I wanted to make an EGA-style point-and-click adventure game, but I struggled to find the right setting and story. Then I had the idea to create a loose homage to the very first point-and-click adventure game I ever played: Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders from Lucasfilm Games.

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

You play as Zak, a tabloid reporter who stumbles upon a secret alien plot to dumb down humanity.

Along the way, he meets Annie Larris, a scientist and collector of ancient artifacts, and two university students who were instructed by an alien in their dreams to build a rocket ship out of a van and fly to Mars.

Zak visits infamous landmarks such as Stonehenge, the Bermuda Triangle, the Nazca Lines in Peru, the ruins of Atlantis, and, well, Mars.

There is also a two-headed squirrel for some reason.

The inspiration came when I sat down one day and started drawing the interior of an airplane in the style of an EGA background. Zak McKracken prominently featured a plane in which you had to drive a flight attendant mad.

As the background slowly took shape, my mind began to wander, and eventually, the term "Zak-like" emerged. You know, like "rogue-like," but as if Zak McKracken were somehow a genre in its own right.

Zak-like, noun

A game that starts in a small place and gradually opens up into a globe-spanning adventure that may even go beyond our planet.

I remember loving Zak McKracken's ideas when I played it on my C64. The Sideways Traveler is an attempt to capture the essence of what made the game special for me. I don't want to copy Zak McKracken's story, but I'd like to evoke a feeling similar to what I experienced while playing the original game.

For me, one of Zak McKracken's best qualities is the way the game gradually opens up and expands its scope. You start in Zak's bedroom, explore the apartment, and then go outside to wander the streets of San Francisco. Soon after, you take a plane to Seattle, and eventually, you visit various places around the world. You even end up on Mars!

For 12-year-old me, this was mind-blowing, and it's the main reason this game has stuck with me. No other C64 game I played felt this expansive. Emphasis on "felt."

The game wasn't particularly large, actually. If it weren't for the annoying mazes, Zak McKracken's room count would barely be larger than that of its predecessor, Maniac Mansion.

Nevertheless, it successfully conveyed a sense of scope unlike anything else at the time. I hope to capture some of that spirit with The Sideways Traveler.