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The Daily Grind: Do you prefer historical settings?
This week, Massively's Karen Bryan attended a GDC talk by Charles Cecil, the creator of Broken Sword, on the topic of writing games that employ history and historical themes. Cecil wisely noted that historical themes tap in to the audience's shared mythology to generate a compelling game and to serve as the foundation for accessible puzzles relevant to the storyline. And yet strict historical themes in MMOs, even when not diluted with more fantastic elements, can also betray immersion -- would it really make sense for a game about the American Revolution to allow female characters to become military generals? Dark Age of Camelot certainly saw its share of success pairing real-world European legend and modern 20th-century fantasy, while its cousin Imperator, set in a futuristic Roman Empire, was canceled in favor of another Mythic game. World of Tanks thrives off historical realism, whereas the upcoming The Secret World is making an art-form of layering myth over mundane. Still, history-flavored games are very much in the minority, perhaps because they allow studios much less freedom of lore design. What do you think -- do historical (or pseudo-historical) MMOs work for you? Do you prefer pure escapism, or would you rather play in a "home-turf" setting whose real-world backstory is your own? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Broken Sword 2 being fixed up for iOS release
With over one million copies sold (according to Revolution Software), the remastered iOS Broken Sword was enough of a success to warrant a similar treatment for the sequel. Wait, did we just say an adventure game sold more than a million copies in 2010? Wow! Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror Remastered, due on the App Store this month, features updated graphics, an "interactive digital comic" by artist Dave Gibbons, and an in-game hint system, just like its predecessor. Revolution has also come up with a clever implementation of "cloud" saving to allow you to keep your progress across multiple devices: it uses Dropbox to handle save data. Update: If you don't want to wait, and don't mind playing on computer, you can get the original version of Broken Swords 2 and 3, along with the updated Broken Sword, from GoG for $7.17 right now. That's $7.17 total.%Gallery-109627%
BBC bringing Doctor Who: The Adventure Games to PC, Mac
The interesting thing about BBC's announcement of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games -- instead of it sounding like farmed-out licensed schlock -- is there appears to be some actual creative weight behind it. Beginning in June 2010, four original "interactive episodes" will release for free on the BBC Doctor Who website. The episodes feature the current cast, and are executive produced by new show-runner Steven Moffat and Broken Sword designer Charles Cecil, with story and script by Doctor Who and Torchwood alumni. It's being developed by Sumo Digital. Piers Wender, head of drama for BBC Wales and executive producer for Doctor Who says, "There aren't 13 episodes of Doctor Who this year, there are 17 - four of which are interactive." The BBC had previously stated it was looking into multiple "experiences" for Doctor Who games. Depending on the quality of the final product, this certainly opens up new trans-media opportunities for network television beyond Flash games and webisodes. And yes, we still wish Telltale Games were involved.
Minesweeper adventure game in the works for OneBigGame
The neat thing about doing something as unassailable and cool as designing a game for charity is that no one can make fun of your ideas without looking like a total jackass. Take Charles Cecil, the man behind the Broken Sword series, for instance. According to G4, he's creating an adventure game based on Minesweeper. It's blogger gold, until you learn that he's making it for charity game publisher OneBigGame. So now, instead of the hilarious gag we instinctively created -- involving making a mustache out of honey and cat hair and then putting it on a mime -- we're just going to wish Cecil all the best. Dammit.
Beneath a Steel Sky is now Inside the iPhone App Store
If you've just completed The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition on your iPhone and are eager for more prettied-up vintage adventure gaming, may we submit for your consideration Revolution Software's Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered? Actually, there's no need for us to, because it's already been submitted ... to the App Store. All right, that was a pretty awkward way to say it, but the point is that you can buy the game now for $4.99, a slightly higher price than the $2-3 designer Charles Cecil expected to charge. But still, a world in which you can buy a classic adventure game for five bucks and play it anywhere is quite a bit nicer than, say, the cyberpunk dystopia predicted by the game itself.Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered ($4.99):
Broken Sword creator designed Disney's Christmas Carol game
Unlike Dante's Inferno, there's a very good chance that the new game based on (Robert Zemeckis's upcoming movie version of) Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol won't make us want to go back in time and apologize to the original work's author on behalf of the industry we love so much. The main reason: it's designed by Revolution Software's Charles Cecil, best known for his work on Broken Sword. Cecil's experience with smart adventure games means that this new game is unlikely to turn Ebenezer Scrooge into a musclebound avenger who tears apart the ghosts invading his home. "The approach I took was to place the player as the hand of fate," Cecil told Develop about the Sumo Digital-developed game, "guiding a very willful protagonist down the road to redemption, and he doesn't want to down that road at all. Players have to interact with people and the environment to make that happen, and it tells the story in really different way. I'm very happy with it." We never thought we'd find a licensed Disney game about Christmas so interesting! Another different way this story is being told: with Cecil's own narration. He did some placeholder voice work, and "the Americans" insisted that it remain in the final game. Though Cecil didn't specify platforms, a game based on A Christmas Carol is set to come out on DS on November 3, just before the November 3 release of the film.
Broken Sword creator working on potential movie version
Can we agree that movies based on video games tend to be terrible? We think we've identified a reason, among many: studios usually make movies based on games that aren't exactly ... story-oriented. Street Fighter? Resident Evil? Tomb Raider? Adventure games, on the other hand, are very story-driven, and would translate well to the silver screen. An adventure game movie could basically work as a reenactment of the game without a floating cursor. The only problem is that they aren't really popular enough for studios to finance such an endeavor. Broken Sword series creator Charles Cecil may get a rare chance to make his adventure series into a movie. "I am in discussions with Radar Pictures, the production company behind Last Samurai and Chronicles of Riddick amongst many other films," Cecil told IncGamers. "We are still planning the project and I have been re-writing the game to work as a film treatment." This film project has been in the works since 2007, but it's comforting, at least, to know that Cecil hasn't given up yet. The recent Wii/DS remake of Shadow of the Templars could help boost the profile of the series, and add momentum to the film.We're a bit concerned, though, that a film adaptation of a game popular in Europe could attract the attention of one of the other problems with movie games: Uwe Boll.
Revolution considering new Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword games
Revolution Software is stepping up efforts to bring back some of its classic adventure IPs. Founder Charles Cecil currently has two games in mind: Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword. The latter series is already undergoing a revival via next month's Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars (Director's Cut); however, Cecil tells VideoGamer this might only be the beginning. If the Director's Cut of Shadows of the Templars for Wii and DS are successful, Revolution might consider doing more Director's Cuts for the other Broken Sword titles. This might even entail completely overhauling the 3D Broken Swords (numbers three and four in the series) into 2D versions for Nintendo's systems. A movie tie-in game could also be in the works, as Cecil reveals that Radar Pictures is interested in doing a Broken Sword film. In the case of Beneath a Steel Sky – another adventure title from the '90s – Cecil says it's "probably going to happen." He's just claiming everyone's too busy to work on it right now. Well, of course; with all those possible Broken Sword projects, it sounds like Revolution will be busy for awhile.
Broken Sword dev continues to mercilessly tease us
Evidence of a Broken Sword game for the DS is mounting. First, there was a petition posted by Revolution Software designer Tony Warriner to register player interest (which, predictably enough, was sky high). Then, a Broken Sword game cropped up in the database of the rarely wrong GameStop. And now, Revolution Managing Director Charles Cecil has dropped some heavy-handed hints about such a title.Speaking to Videogamer.com, Cecil admitted that the petition was "really inspirational," and that the DS was "an ideal platform" for the point and click genre. His final comment on the matter was far more suggestive, however: "I just wish that we were having this interview in about a month's time," he told VideoGamer.com's Wesley Yin-Poole. "Then you'd be asking me much more direct questions!" Hmm.Even though Broken Sword for the DS remains a rumor, we're struggling to think of other ways in which Revolution can hint at the game without, you know, announcing it. Petition posted by developer? Check. Appearance of Broken Sword in GameStop records? Check. And now Cecil's comments? Frankly, you don't have to be a heavily pixellated, world-saving law graduate called George to figure out where this might be going.
