A team of Barnett college students has released a demo of their SCUMM-based adventure title, Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth.

SCUMM, or "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion", is a powerful scripting language by Grumpy Gamer Ron Gilbert. It has long since entered its dotage and been replaced by upstarts like the GRIME system (created for Grim Fandango), but has found new life in the continuing efforts of independent adventure game developers who prefer their players to do exactly as they're told, with none of this "nonlinear" jibba-jabba.

The game, Fountain Of Youth (known by many as FoY) is a freeware point and click adventure game with a similar style to the classic LucasArts adventure, Fate of Atlantis. It is being developed by an international team of enthusiastic fans of both Indiana Jones and point & click adventures.

A ten-room playable demo is available on the site right now, so I checked it out. Man, it brought me back (I miss you, Guybrush!). It's a pitch-perfect replica of the old LucasArts SCUMM games, with all the artistry, gratifyingly bad puns, and tantrum-throwing frustration that those titles entailed. It has all-new art, music, and story; a comprehensive website; forums; and the vague language of all volunteer-based freeware projects: "We'll let you know when its ready, so check back then!" Well okayyyy.

Not particularly encouraging, but the demo seems hopeful. I wish them luck and I'll be checking in. Eliza Gauger

Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth Homepage [Barnett College]

UPDATE: An observant reader pointed out that this game is actually being developed with the general point-and-click engine Adventure Game Studio, which allows users to create remarkably SCUMMlike games. Fooled the hell outta me!

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