In February of 1996, a studio named TerraGlyph Interactive released its first two games, *Hansel and Gretel and the Enchanted Castle* and *Rumpelstiltskin and the Labyrinth of the Lost*, for MS-DOS, Windows, and Macintosh. A third fairy tale game, *Buster and the Beanstalk*, would arrive the following month for those platforms. At the 30-year mark, I thought this sub would appreciate a retrospective on this forgotten company.

TerraGlyph was founded in Chicago by adventure game veterans from ICOM Simulations, the makers of *Shadowgate*. Throughout their lifespan, TerraGlyph exclusively released games aimed at children (their *Beowulf* adaptation for teens became vaporware), and all but the first two of their releases had a kid's franchise license. They released a few games on consoles, but most of their work was on PC, and a lot of them were point-and-click adventures. Their biggest success would be *Scooby-Doo: Phantom of the Knight*, released in 2000. Sadly, they would close their doors the following year.

In preparation for this post, I played both *Hansel* and *Buster* for the first time.

*Hansel* has really fantastic animation, which makes sense when you learn that TerraGlyph's animators came from cartoon legend Don Bluth's studio. I especially love the difference between the duo's fluid movement and the jaggedness of the witch. The game has a slow start, but it really picks up when Gretel is trapped by the witch in the castle and you take control of Hansel. Finding the objects that trigger hidden shortcuts is a delight, and the fact that you'll be forced back into your cell if you waste too much time gives this portion a real sense of urgency.

*Buster* has significantly worse gameplay, as there are no items you must find to access anything important and there is no penalty for clicking on the wrong item or being idle for too long. I also hated the ending, which >!reveals that you, the player, are the giant!<. The main improvement *Buster* has over *Hansel* is in its clickable objects, as there are up to 3 different animations for everything you can click on. And instead of the amateur cast of *Hansel*, *Buster* has the established voice cast from *Tiny Toon Adventures*, though which you prefer is a matter of personal preference.

Both titles (along with *Rumpelstiltskin*) were exported to a lot of countries and translated into many languages. Language learning appears to actually be one of *Hansel*'s hooks back in the day. Given that its development coincided with the American moral panic around video games, I have a feeling they wanted to emphasize that "educational" aspect so parents wouldn't be scared.

"Click Into the Magic": 30 years of TerraGlyph, a forgotten adventure game studio