Broken
Sword: The Sleeping Dragon

Charles
Cecil, Managing Director of Revolution, on Broken Sword 3:

“Revolution
has been built around 2D point and click adventuring and we have great affection
for the genre. However, as technology has moved forward, so new gameplay mechanisms
have developed and the audience for this genre has declined. Games publishers
have therefore become increasingly hesitant about signing 2D graphic adventures.
We wanted to take advantage of new technology to invent an entirely new gaming
mechanic. I believe we have achieved this with the design for Broken Sword:
The Sleeping Dragon.

“However, I understand the concerns of the
many adventure games fans around the world who are worried by our plans for a
different approach. In general, people don’t like change, yet we could not simply
create another game with the same look and feel of previous Broken Sword games.
We believe we have pioneered a new approach to interactive narrative and adventure
game which utilises the power of modern processors with traditional story telling
and adventuring mechanics. We really value the loyalty of the fans of the previous
Broken Sword games and fully intend to deliver a game that deliver the
enjoyment of the previous games–but in a different way. I guess that we must
ask people to trust us.

“First off, we’re keen to exploit the cinematic
and gameplay opportunities made available by a 3D environment while avoiding the
pitfalls of this display mechanism. The original game boasted a style of art which
was unique at the time. We intend to remain faithful to that style, but present
it in an exciting new fashion. The initial thoughts for George you see here are
obviously preliminary artwork–and will continue to be revised. Our goal is to
ensure the in-game graphics look as close to this as possible and that will be
a technical issue. For the first time, we will introduce a living, breathing world,
in full 3D–there will be no pre-rendering in The Sleeping Dragon.

“As
far as the game will go, The Sleeping Dragon will feature an exciting mix
of action and reaction-based puzzles alongside those of a more cerebral nature.
The Broken Sword games were always unusual because they allowed a player
to die–unlike many other contemporary adventures. We will continue this philosophy,
ensuring that players really do need to think before they act. That said, we will
steer clear of convoluted and random sequences–if a player does die, they will
have had plenty of warning.

“We’re investing a lot of time in the control
method. Obviously we want fans of the original games to feel as comfortable as
possible, and to that end we’re investigating ways in which the game will interpret
the commands and realise what the player is attempting to do. There will be plenty
of context-sensitive control in there, too–though we’ll be talking about this
in more detail soon.

“As it stands, we’re still very early into development.
We’re aiming to demonstrate the game’s visual style some time during May. A moving
prototype will be up and running in June. We’re currently in discussions with
a number of publishers, and hope to make an announcement on that soon.

“In
the meantime, we’re in the process of launching The Revolution–a bi-monthly newsletter
to all our fans. That will be the best place to find out the latest on the game,
and we’ll also be inviting some of our members to see the game in development
at some stage in the future. Fans can join at www.revolution.co.uk.