Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure video game developed and published by Double Fine Productions. Broken Age is Tim Schafer's first team play back to the genre since 1998 Grim Fandango , and released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One platform. This game was developed in two rounds; which was first released on January 28, 2014 (two weeks earlier for Kickstarter supporters), and the second was released on April 28, 2015. The retail version of the full game for Windows, OS X and Linux, published by Nordic Games, was released on April 28, 2015.
Broken Age begins with the working title of Double Fine Adventure as a crowdfunded Kickstarter project promoted by Double Fine and 2 Player Productions in February 2012. Originally, the target of $ 400,000 was set to cover costs development and filming of the documentary, it became the largest crowdfunded video game project at the time, raising more than $ 3.45 million from over 87,000 supporters in a month. It remains one of the highest-supported crowdfunded projects of any type, and its success helped set up Kickstarter and other crowdfunding mechanisms as a viable alternative to traditional venture capital and funding the publisher for a niche video game title. The development of the game was recorded by a series of episodic documentary films produced by 2 Player Productions.
Video Broken Age
Gameplay
Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure game, where player-controlled characters can be directed to move around the screen, check objects, and talk to non-player characters to learn more about the game world. The game has two playable characters, each located in a separate world; players can switch from one character to another through the game interface at any time, but instead this character does not interact in any direct way. The game uses context-sensitive action rather than using a verb-like list that the early adventure game will use, since Schafer states that basically, "there's always one verb, 'interacting with'" and choosing with a more modern approach. Each character has a separate item inventory as they collect objects; the item can then be used by dragging it to a context sensitive area on the screen or in combination with other inventory items.
Maps Broken Age
Plot
Round 1
Broken Age tells of two teenagers with no clear connections, each "trying to destroy tradition in their life".
Vella Tartine (voiced by Masasa Moyo) is a young woman living in Badlands, a land ravaged by Mogs, a gigantic creature coming from outside the wall called the Plague Dam. They were comforted by the sacrifices of young girls in a number of Maiden's Feasts held in various villages. They appear every 14 years for the girls. Vella was chosen to be sacrificed to Mog Chothra at a party in his hometown, Sugar Bunting (formerly a city made up of soldiers named Steel Bunting) but concluded that if the monster could be killed, the ritual could end. He finds a way to escape the attack of a wild beast and ends up at Meriloft, a small colony resting on a cluster of semi-solid clouds. They dealt with the aftermath of their own Party, asserting their conviction that the ritual was catastrophic for their people and had to end. He then finds his way to the local port city, Shellmound, where they prepare for their Party. There he found the Temple of the Dead Eye of the Lord, which turned out to be an ancient spacecraft, Maloruna, half buried by sand. He was able to wake his pilot, Alex, from a three-hundred-year stasis, and he helped him to install a ship's scanning system to fire lasers at Mog Chothra when he appeared for the Feast. Vella's plan was successful, and he was able to bring down the creature.
Shay Volta (voiced by Elijah Wood) is a young man and apparently the only passenger on the Bossa Nostra spacecraft (Bassinostra), an "incubator ship". The ship's computer has two artificial intelligence bits (AIs). The daytime computer AI, named "MOM", acts as a mother figure for Shay, occupying him with a childish "mission" and a tedious routine, while preventing him from learning about or exploring anything further than the outside of the ship. At night the AI ​​computer acts as a father figure to Shay and better understands Shay's desire for independence, but seems too busy to spend time with Shay. The computer insists that it is part of the Project Dandelion, the last attempt by its native planet, Loruna, to protect Shay (the only survivor of his race after the destruction of the planet) and try to find a home for him. When Shay sneaks into the ship's abdomen, he finds a dark passenger named Marek in a wolf costume. Marek claims that, unbeknowningly, the war rages in the galaxy, and tells Shay that he needs his help to save some innocent creatures who have been imprisoned in various regions of the galaxy as a result. Marek guides Shay through various missions against computer knowledge and control, trying to save a number of creatures at each location before their positions are found by enemy forces. During one of these rescues, Shay refuses to leave the last creature behind, causing the ship to be attacked, and trapping Marek under a pile of rubble. In the next chaos, Shay fainted.
Round 1 ends when Vella discovers that Mog Chothra is a mechanic. Shay appears bewildered from the inside, revealing that his belief in space is only part of the illusion and that he unknowingly controls Mog Chothra. Vella tried to punch Shay but failed and fell into Mog Chothra's mouth. The mouth closes behind her, leaving both trapped in their own world, unsure of what to do in their new environment.
Round 2
Shay, who was trapped outside Mog Chothra, was reminded that the AI ​​ship was actually his real parents; his father, Ray Volta, was trapped outside with Shay, warning that his mother was still trapped inside. When Ray tries to find his way back inside, Shay, who recovers from his shock from the outside world, looks around as the ship takes off, leaving them stranded there. Shay meets Alex, knowing that he is the previous subject of the Project Dandelion. Alex was born on his ship, Maloruna, Diamond Age Dandelion Cruiser. His parents never showed him a picture of Loruna. They lived for about 20 years after the accident (280 years ago), and then died three months apart from each other; their death is one of the reasons why he went to crysolation. Before his ship accident, Alex talks a cello named Marek who tells him to hack control and save innocent creatures, like Shay, who realizes that they actually capture the girls.
Shay offers to help fix Alex's ship to return to Loruna, where Alex believes Shay's ship is heading. Meanwhile, Vella (accidentally reactivated the autopilot computer) works by entering the ship and meeting Marek, who is still pinned under the wreckage. Marek directs Vella to enter the control room to stop Shay's mother, Hope Volta. Vella pretends that she is Shay to cheat her mother to open the door, but they both quickly locked inside. Marek reveals himself as Marekai, a member of a race called Thrush. Marekai tells Hope that their world is dying so he goes and finds salvation, as many people have before: they are Mogs. It turns out that Loruna is not a planet but a kingdom outside of the Epidemic Dam. He then directed the ship to deliver Vella to it. Meanwhile, Shay makes his way through Shellmound and Meriloft to find a section to repair Alex's ship and return to Loruna. He retraced Vella's journey and spoke to the people who interacted with him in Act 1 and his family, as they searched for him.
Back on Vella's side: Vella frees herself and Hope, and the true nature of Project Dandelion is revealed: Thrush, believes the rest of the creatures on this planet to be filled with illness, barricades themselves with the humans they manage outside the Dam Epidemics, and from generation to generation, modify their normal human DNA into "superior"; but also lose certain qualities necessary for survival. The Dandelion project has been used to send human children accustomed to humans from their normal human population who can find special girls through Maiden Celebrations to "right" their lineages. Vella is one of Shay's chosen among the other Maiden (who are alive but captured), and Thrush plans to kill him to insert genetics into them.
Knowing his potential fate, Vella created a bomb from the core of the ship's power to destroy the hangar where Mogs were kept. After planting the bomb, Hope and Vella set up the ship to escape. Meanwhile, Shay helps Alex reactivate his ship and they arrange a direct course for the Epidemic Dam, accompanied by Shay's father and Vella's family. Just outside the gate, both ships collided and Thrush began to attack the ship, both of which were trapped in autopilot. Shay and Vella work together to cause Alex's ship reactor to overheat, melting the two ships together. Everyone except Shay escaped, and Vella and Hope pushed him to jump to safety; Shay jumps, just missing the ledge, but is saved by the glorious sacrifice of one of his robots, Gary Grabbin. The fused vessels immediately solidified, forming a bridge between the mainland and the Dam Reservoir. Shay and Vella finally meet. After a moment's hesitation, they smiled at each other.
In credit order, it shows that Thrush was overthrown from power, the Plague Dam was destroyed, and humans from Loruna and Badlands formed a peaceful alliance. Many images in credit include famous people, animals, and machines shown throughout the game living a much better life.
Development
Announcements and fundraising
Double Fine Adventure was announced through the Kickstarter project that was initiated on February 8, 2012. The idea came after Double Fine Schafer's team was interviewed for 2 Player Productions, an upcoming Kickstarter-funded documentary film on Minecraft game . After the interview, Schafer and 2 Player discussed the idea of ​​a production company making a documentary about Double Fine as a future project. Double Fine already has experience as a studio that was filmed during the development of Psychonauts for the G4 TV series episode Icons . When 2 Players complete the Minecraft project, around November 2011, they want to make a more in-depth documentary, admitting that Double Fine has the right kind of environment in which such a documentary would be possible. Both studios started working on specific projects, but Schafer noticed that publisher breakdowns would make an honest depiction of game development impossible. Double Fine does not have the resources to finance the game itself, and 2 Players do not have the capability to fund the film, so the two companies choose to fund the project-kickstarter, the Schafer method has been seen successfully used to collect a much smaller amount for independent game developers. The creation of a new game was originally considered "sort of as a sidenote" by Schafer to accommodate the filming of the documentary.
The adventure game genre is chosen to offer the public a product that would not exist without their support, and help differentiate the project from the work of the publisher-funded developer. Schafer, veteran of LucasArts, has long been associated with adventure games, a genre that has long been labeled as a commercial niche, especially since the release of Schafer himself Grim Fandango . In his speech to the public, Schafer argued that funding for such a project would be very hard to come by, stating "If I go to publishers now and install adventure games, they will laugh on my face." Ron Gilbert, former designer of LucasArts' other adventure game on Double Fine, has long expressed this sentiment, writing on his personal blog, "From first hand experience, I can tell you that if you even say the words" adventure game "in meet with publishers , You can pack your cool concept art and go away.You will get a better reaction by announcing that you have an outbreak. "Schafer explains that the game will not be a" museum "or" nostalgia ", but" It will be fresh and felt modern and feels like what the next game is if I make one directly after Grim Fandango ".
Drive Kickstarter was launched in early February 2012 so, regardless of its success, Schafer will be able to talk about it during the 2012 Game Developers Conference in early March. Double Fine set a goal for this project for $ 400,000, with $ 100,000 allocated for film production and $ 300,000 for the game. While this is the biggest goal of any gaming project in Kickstarter, it is the company's lowest budget, and a fraction of the previously downloadable game budget, which costs about $ 2 million. Schafer admits that games made for this budget will "hobble," and that the budget is chosen because it is the absolute minimum that he thinks can make adventure games for him. Both initially envisioned a total budget of $ 200,000, a typical fee for the iOS game, but Schafer had doubts about whether Double Fine could provide the game for a low fee.
Incentives are given to those who promise $ 15 or more, including the game itself, early beta access to games, access to private community areas to discuss games, prints, and invitations to meet with the Double Fine staff. Further awards were added through the second update of two weeks into the effort, including digital soundtrack, physical copy of the game and documentary, and an art book. In launching the Kickstarter project, Double Fine claims it is the first major studio to use the model for game funding.
Within nine hours, the Kickstarter project has exceeded the $ 400,000 target. Within 24 hours, it has surpassed $ 1 million. When the funds collected came close to $ 1.35 million, Schafer noted that the total had exceeded the budget for Day of the Tentacle ($ 600,000) and approached the budget for Full Throttle ($ 1.5) million ). Kickstarter said the day after it began that Double Fine's efforts were the most successful to date, has attracted more supporters than previous efforts in the site's history while others have noted that this is the second project - the Height Doc project to be the first - to achieve more of $ 1 million in funding through Kickstarter. The Double Fine project passed the $ 2 million mark on February 20, 2012, twelve days after fundraising began. Kickstarter closed on March 13 with over $ 3.3 million from 87,000 supporters, and with another $ 110,000 promised by premium supporters such as Days of Wonder and Alex Rigopulos. Schafer states that the total funding is almost equal to the budget for previously downloadable titles, Costume Quest and Stacking , as well as the previous LucasArts game, Grim Fandango .
The Kickstarter page is updated with the promise that additional funds will be used to increase the production value for games and movies, and deployment on additional platforms. Subsequent updates by Schafer confirmed that additional funding would support development for Mac OS X and Linux platforms and select iOS and Android devices. In addition, the game will have voice acting for the English version, and include text localization for French, German, Italian and Spanish. Schafer also stated that a free digital rights management version of the game will be available after the release. With additional funding for better production value, Schafer estimates it will likely take about a year to complete the game, losing their original release in early October 2012. The release in the second quarter of 2013 has been predicted by Double Fine, then postponed to September 2013. In 2013 DICE Summit, Double Fine, and Ouya announce the partnership, ensuring that the Ouya console will be the only game console where Double Fine Adventure will be released at launch, in addition to the version for personal computers.
After Kickstarter, Double Fine launched the "slacker backer" program, which will allow players to pre-order games through their sites for a fixed fee, giving them access to the documentary and beta versions of the game once it's released. The lazer backer option is also offered as part of the Double Fine Humble Bundle in May 2013 for those who purchase bundles at a fixed price level.
Game development
Broken Age started development under the codename "Reds", after Red's Place, following the Double Fine tradition of basing code names in the local Chinatown bar. Since Schafer did not write anything while the development time began, early efforts focused on making the game machine, art style, and answering technical questions. The open source game platform Moai was chosen as the foundation for the gaming machine. Nathan Martz, technical director for Double Fine, stated that the open source nature of the Moai allows them to easily change every aspect of the codebase, while also supporting all targeted platforms.
Programmers create test games involving red robots, while artists create artificial test scenarios to form art and animation styles inspired by art illustrations from mainstream artist Nathan Stapley, as well as to find answers to basic interface questions. Sequences involving unnamed loggers and cabins in the forest were made and the team decided to use a skeletal animation system using a segmented 2D character. After Schafer built the basic storyline, involving stories tangent to a boy in the world of science fiction and a girl in the fantasy world, the concept artists gathered for "art jam" to exchange ideas and produce concept art for game creatures and location. Schafer also asked the community for ideas, some of which were later illustrated by concept artists.
Schafer reevaluated the state of the project in July 2013 and acknowledged that at their current level, they will not be able to complete the game until 2015. For the first time in the company's history, Double Fine decided to ask for help from outside the studio, employing SuperGenius to help art and animation. Double Fine also realizes that they will run out of Kickstarter funds before 2015, both requiring them to drastically reduce the project or change their release plans. Schafer chose to adjust the schedule and divide the game into two rounds, allowing them to fund the second half with money generated from the first sale. They have noticed that breaking the game into two parts will naturally correspond to events that have already occurred at the midpoint of the story, making the split relatively simple from a production perspective.
The first playable version of the game was released on the Initial Steam Access platform in January 2014, allowing Double Fine to earn revenue from sales to fund the remaining developments while obtaining additional test input before releasing the final version of the first action. The initial rejection of this announcement made Schafer clarify that they were not asking for more money to develop the title, and that "we use our own money to give the game a bigger one than our Kickstarted". In the end, the first action is considered finished and polished enough to pass from the Initial Access on January 28, with the second half being released as a free update later this year. In February 2014, Schafer confirmed that they have obtained sufficient from the sale of Act 1 to complete the development and release of Act 2.
In October 2014, producer Greg Rice announced that Schafer had finished writing the second half and the end of the game. Although the second action is anticipated to be released in 2014, Schafer announced in November 2014 that it will take additional time to ensure the quality of Act 2 meets expectations and encourages release back to early 2015. Double Fine can use feedback from first release actions to improve and change some aspects of the second. One complaint of the first act is the simple nature of the puzzle, which Double Fine difficulty escalates to Act 2. The team also includes a nod to the growing fan theory of the relationship between Shay and Alex as a running joke on both acts. The final game is planned from the beginning, before the game is divided into Acts; Schafer says he has taken effect from the final credits of My Neighbor Totoro, which gives epilogues in the form of simple drawings alongside credit runs, to tell the fate of all the characters. He prefers this so the narrative end of the game before the credits can be focused only on Vella and Shay, instead of having each character appear to speak a line or more to explain their fate.
The retail version of this game, which contains both actions, for Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms will be published in partnership with Nordic Games, which has helped to bring the release of the game's previous retail game Double Fine in 2014. The retail version will be released near the release of Act 2 for other platforms. Limited Run Games will publish a retail edition for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in June 2017.
Some of the voice actors working on the Double Fine game previously voiced characters in Broken Age, including Jennifer Hale, Richard Horvitz, Nick Jameson, Nicki Rapp, Ginny Westcott, and Jack Black. Other voice actors include Elijah Wood, Pendleton Ward, Wil Wheaton, and Masasa Moyo. Alex Rigopulos, the greatest supporter of the Kickstarter campaign, voiced a character designed in its resemblance; Schafer decided to effectively characterize Rigopulos people in ways and appearances to minimize the amount of voice acting required by Rigopulos. Days of Wonder is the second largest supporter, and through them, Double Fine includes characters from the conductor of the Days of Wonder's
Peter McConnell, who worked with Schafer in many games before, composed music for Broken Age. McConnell initially planned to use only a small ensemble for a musical score but, as the game progresses, he realizes some parts require greater orchestral sound. The score was finally recorded by wind and string ensembles in San Francisco and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, with McConnell overseeing the last recording session with Jory Prum mixer from a distance from Fairfax, California. The score for the first half was released as a soundtrack album on the same day the first half of the game became available to the public. Soundtrack was released on vinyl in September 2016.
Documentary
The development process of Broken Age was recorded by 2 Player Productions as part of the Kickstarter project. In 2011, Paul Owens of 2 Player Productions wrote an e-mail to Greg Rice and Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions with the proposition to create a documentary series that maps the development of a game from beginning to end. Some Kickstarter money is set aside for documentaries. The documentary was originally only available to supporters, but by March 2015, the company had started providing free episodes for YouTube. The documentary is credited for being honest, open-minded about the game's development process.
Reception
The game's first action was well received by critics, scoring 76/100 on Metacritic's review aggregation website and 82.70% in GameRankings. Adam Sessler of Rev3Games gave Broken Age Act 1 a 4/5 called it a beautiful game with beautiful and funny writing. Justin McElroy, writing in Polygon highlights the character of the game as "grounded as approaching absurdities and difficulties with bold and sincere sincerity" gives the game "a kind of depth that is very often lacking in other 'funny' games". Within a month since the release of the first deed, Schafer confirmed that its sale would be sufficient to cover the remaining development costs for Law 2.
Act 2, released over a year later, received the same overall response, with a Metacritic score of 73 and a GameRankings score of 73.74%. Nevertheless, many critics see the second act as a disappointment following its first success: John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun praised the art and voice of acting, but criticized Law 2 for reusing the location of Act 1 and the lackluster end, following up his review with a long article that expanding his critique of the story. Other critics have similar complaints, including Justin McElroy, who is in renewal for the 1st Act review, disappointed by too much confusion in the second half. He also echoes general criticisms of frustrating frustrations, which many reviewers find far more difficult than in Round 1, especially if players try to pick it up without repeating the first half.
Impact
The success of a fundraising campaign has made crowdsourcing a challenge for publisher (and control) funding for multi-million dollar projects. John Walker of Rock, Paper, Shotgun quickly pointed out that this poses no great threat to publishers on a large scale, but adds that it will force publishers to ask themselves questions like "Are we really in touch with our audience's desires? ". Johnny Cullen of VG247 compares Double Fine Kickstarter with the release of Radiohead album In Rainbows , sold by the band through their website in a pay-what-you-want model before physical printing, without the intervention of the music publisher. Cullen noted that the previous crowd-sourcing model did not work for some game developers, and did not expect it as a guarantee of success for future ventures, as he believes Double Fine is a unique studio with a dedicated fan base, an aspect that is not shared by all developers.
Initial comments are largely framed by Double Fine as exceptional, citing Double Fine's reputation, experience with underserved genres, and history of difficulties with publisher funding as the reason why the Double Fine case is unique. Initially, many remain skeptical that such success rates can be replicated. Schafer further agrees that the success of the Double Fine Kickstarter will be somewhat difficult to replicate for other games, even for Double Fine, as that would require the project to be a "good story for people to get behind".
The initial fears that this success will be resolved are terminated when new projects emerge. When the Double Fine Adventure campaign closed, Brian Fargo from inXile Entertainment launched Kickstarter to fund the development of the Wasteland 2 sequel, which met its $ 900,000 target in funding within two days. , and eventually raised more than $ 2.9 million. Double Fine Adventure brings 61,692 new users to Kickstarter, and greatly increases platform visibility and survival for game project funding. Within six weeks of the launch of Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter, the site raised more than $ 2.9 million (excluding Double Fine projects) for video game-related projects, compared to $ 1.7 million for the category in the previous two years, as well as increasing the amount of incoming funding to projects from all categories. In October, Project Eternity exceeded Double Fine's funding record, further suggesting that the crowd-funding model will continue to be part of the game's landscape.
The success of Double Fine Adventure has had a very visible impact on the adventure genre, inspiring some other adventure game developers to use Kickstarter as a means of returning to the genre. Within a few months of being released, the creators of Broken Sword , Gabriel Knight , Leisure Suit Larry , Space Search and < i> Tex Murphy all managed to increase the amount that exceeded Schafer's original goal of $ 400,000.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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