Broken Age
Latest
Double Fine's Broken Age part 1 hits Kickstarter backers on Jan. 14
Broken Age part one is due out on Tuesday, January 14 for backers of the game's Kickstarter (yes, all 87,142 of them), Double Fine confirmed to Joystiq. Broken Age is the result of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter campaign, which raised $3.3 million in March 2012, after asking for just $400,000. That campaign historically kicked off the level of attention gaming Kickstarters enjoy today. "Haven't shipped a game of my own in 4.5 years, an adventure game in 16, a point-n-click in almost 20. Next Tuesday is going to be exciting!" Double Fine founder Tim Schafer tweeted. In July 2013, Double Fine announced that it needed more money to complete Broken Age, and it would split the game into two parts, the first of which would land on Steam Early Access in January. Sales from the first half of Broken Age and other Double Fine games are intended to sustain production of the second half.
Watch Wil Wheaton as a choppin' chap in Broken Age
Wil Wheaton joins a list of celebrity cameos for Broken Age that includes Jack Black, Elijah Wood and even Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos. Wheaton's character is Curtis, a lumberjack under duress at the hands of sentient trees unhappy with his chop-happy ways.
Elijah Wood joins the cast of Broken Age, first half coming in January
Elijah Wood will be voicing Shay in Double Fine's Broken Age, a new trailer revealed during Spike's VGX show. As previously announced, Schafer reminded us that fans can dive into the first half of Broken Age in January via Steam Early Access.
Tonight's VGX lineup features GOTY in the middle of a world exclusive sandwich
If you plan on camping out with us during our liveblog of tonight's three hour VGX 2013 awards show, you can get a head start on the evening's activities by checking out the schedule of events. Among the noteworthy events for the evening are 12 "world premieres" for games like Quantum Break, Titanfall and Broken Age. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime will also take the stage for a game demo during the show's first hour. Given that an ad for a next-gen Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition showed up today, it would explain the slot for tonight's Tomb Raider-centric announcement during the first hour. Those that are in it for the awards will be interested to know that the Game of the Year winner will be crowned during the early parts of the show's second hour. Additionally, the Best Indie Game will be determined near the end of the show's second hour and Character of the Year announced during the third hour. A few of the awards segments will be determined by fan vote, dictating whether the the Best Action Adventure or Best Sports Game will be announced in the first hour and Best Shooter or Best Studio award will presented in the third hour.
Wil Wheaton lends vocals to Double Fine's Broken Age
Broken Age, the crowdfunded adventure game from Double Fine, has announced a few more key members of its vocal cast. Most notably former Wesley Crusher and current geek celebrity Wil Wheaton. When Broken Age eventually debuts, Wheaton's voice will be spilling from Curtis the Lumberjack, a character originally created to test animations, but who found such affection among fans that he earned a full-fledged spot in the game. This situation would seem odd, but Double Fine is headed by Tim Schafer of Secret of Monkey Island fame, a game whose main protagonist derives his name from a placeholder brush used to animate the piratical adventure-comedy. Rounding out the vocal cast are veteran actors Masasa Moyo, Nicki Rapp and Ginny Wescott. You'd best know Moyo as the voice of Lisa (aka "La Mariposa") in later Dead or Alive entries, while Rapp and Wescott have both previously worked with Schafer on classics like Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle, respectively. Unexpectedly, Alex Rigopulos, co-founder of Harmonix, also appears in the game as some version of his own notoriously music-obsessed self. It's unclear why or how he fits into the story, but it probably doesn't hurt things that Rigopulos has donated a lot of money toward the funding of Broken Age.
Adventure Time creator contributing his voice to Broken Age
Oh, my, glob. Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward will contribute his voice to Double Fine's adventure game Broken Age, Polygon reports. The partnership was shared during the studio's Day of the Devs event, a free-of-charge gathering that has allowed fans to play indie projects from Gaijin Games, Supergiant Games and more. The announcement concerning Ward's involvement was initially made on Broken Age's backer forums, a restricted-access space meant to host discussion between the game's development team and those who donated $15 or more to the project on Kickstarter. The reveal of Ward's involvement follows the September announcement that Jack Black and Jennifer Hale are contributing to the project. The first half of Broken Age is planned to launch on Steam Early Access in January, which is hoped to generate enough revenue to fund the rest of the project's completion. Backers will get access to the first half before those on Steam Early Access and will also get the full game once it's released.
Double Fine, friends gather to demo games at Day of the Devs
Double Fine is gathering some of its indie friends together next month for an event called Day of the Devs, a public showcase in San Francisco that will see Double Fine, Tribute Games, Gaijin, Capybara Games, Supergiant, Honeyslug, iam8bit and Chris Hecker in attendance. "It all started with us just wanting to show Broken Age to our backers and fans," Double Fine brand manager Greg Rice told Joystiq during a phone interview. "And we knew that if we were going to invite those people out, we were going to need a larger space – so we figured if we had the space, we might as well invite some of our friends to show their games." Day of the Devs was concocted as a simple gathering that wouldn't force developers to plan and detract from their own development schedules, Rice went on to say. Developers just show up and demonstrate what they've been working on to anyone willing to attend.
Broken Age reunites Double Fine with Jack Black, Jennifer Hale
Remember when Double Fine got Hollywood superstar Jack Black to star in a video game? Well, it's happening again with Broken Age, the studio's Kickstarter-funded point-and-click adventure in which Black plays the excellently named Harm'ny Lightbeard, apparently the "lifter of clouds." If you've not heard of Jack Black, that means you've not seen School of Rock, and that in turn means we can't be friends - sorry. The other big-name returnee to Double Fine's recording booth is Jennifer Hale, gaming's equivalent of Hollywood talent as far as voice acting goes. Hale has appeared in all video games ever made, but she's probably best known for her role as Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect games. If you have a minute, it's worth going through her game-ography and just gaping in awe at her career. After proving to be be more expensive than anticipated, Broken Age will arrive in halves. The first half is due in January, available via Early Access. Double Fine will use the income generated from the first half to sustain funds to make the rest of the game.
Double Fine's Broken Age goes to Steam Early Access for additional funding
In order to make the version of Broken Age that it has planned, Double Fine needs more capital than the $3.3 million it crowdfunded in March of 2012 through its historic Kickstarter campaign, founder Tim Schafer has said in a backers-only update on Kickstarter. "Even though we received much more money from our Kickstarter than we, or anybody anticipated," Schafer said, "that didn't stop me from getting excited and designing a game so big that it would need even more money." Thus, a new plan was formed: Double Fine will release a refined version of the first half of the game through Early Access in January of 2014, which is expected to generate enough income to sustain production until the rest of the game is completed. Development costs will also be offset by the profits made from other Double Fine games. Folks that backed the original Kickstarter campaign will be given beta test access before the Early Access launch. They'll also get the first half of the game through Steam Early Access and a copy of the full game once it's completed.
Humble Double Fine Bundle adds Amnesia Fortnight prototypes
The Humble Double Fine Bundle has crammed in eight more games today, a collection of Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight prototypes – the results of annual internal gamejams at Double Fine. All eight games are Windows PC only, available to all who plunk down more than the average $8.15 (at time of this writing) for the Humble Double Fine Bundle. The Amnesia Fortnight prototypes include: Autonomous, a first-person sandbox game set in the future; Spacebase DF-9, a top-down simulation where you construct and maintain a space station; Black Lake, an adventure game set in a dark forest; The White Birch is a 3D puzzle-platformer set in a massive tower; Brazen is a co-op action game where four players team up to take on monsters; and Hack-n-Slash is a Legend of Zelda-inspired 2D action-adventure game. Happy Night, a prototype from 2007 and the precursor to Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, is also here, as is 2009 prototype Costume Quest, which eventually became, well, Costume Quest. Finally, there's the 2 Player Productions' documentary compiled during Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight event in 2012. The Humble Double Fine Bundle was introduced last week, as an initial collection of the studio's most recent works: Psychonauts, Stacking, Costume Quest, Brutal Legend and a pre-order for Broken Age, the studio's Kickstarter-funded adventure game. The Humble Double Fine Bundle comes to a close in six days.
Humble Double Fine Bundle offers pre-order for Broken Age
The latest Humble Bundle is all about Double Fine and it includes a pre-order for Broken Age, the game formerly known as Double Fine Adventure on Kickstarter. To secure a pre-order for Broken Age on Steam (PC, Mac and Linux), pay $35 or more. This price will easily net buyers the "pay what you want" games – Costume Quest, Psychonauts and Stacking – and at the moment grabs the "pay more than the average" game, Brutal Legend. Since Double Fine saw such success with tiered payments in the past, there's one more option: Pay $70 or more to get all those games and a Double Fine Bundle t-shirt in black or cream. As always, Humble Bundle payments can be allotted among Humble Bundle itself, Double Fine, and charities Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Humble Double Fine bundle will be available for two weeks, with the clock starting today, May 7.
Double Fine debuts trailer for Broken Age
Double Fine has shared the first footage of Broken Age, the studio's upcoming adventure game starring a girl who is to be fed to a giant monster, and a boy living on a space station with his only companion, a computer.
Double Fine Adventure unveiled as 'Broken Age'
Double Fine Adventure, the adventure game whose progress has been a secret to all but Kickstarter backers, was revealed as "Broken Age" at a PAX East panel today. The website for the game is now live, offering art and plot information to the rest of us outside of the privileged Kickstarter class."Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure telling the stories of a young boy and girl leading parallel lives," the website explains. "The girl has been chosen by her village to be sacrificed to a terrible monster--but she decides to fight back. Meanwhile, a boy on a spaceship is living a solitary life under the care of a motherly computer, but he wants to break free to lead adventures and do good in the world. Adventures ensue."Pre-orders are still available on the site, and provide access to the backer-only forums, as well as all past and future episodes of the documentary series about Broken Age's development, by 2 Player Productions.
