Beyond a Steel Sky - sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky from Revolution Software

[Curious_Tongue]

Is that in-game footage in that video?

I feel sick and depressed.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

How many virgins I have to sacrifice to make sure this will turn out good?

After Broken Sword 5, too many.

Are you shitting on BS5? It's a great game.

 

[Falksi]

Too colourful by far. Still, might turn out decent. Might.

 

[V_K]

How many virgins I have to sacrifice to make sure this will turn out good?

Just yourself would be enough if it were not too late already

 

[Infinitron]

Poor Twitter attendance.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[MRY]

"more beautifully realised graphic novel style":

"[less] beautifully realised graphic novel style":

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Infinitron]

 

[WallaceChambers]

New preview material from IGN getting a look at some actual gameplay. They get into explaining the "Virtual Theater" mechanic which basically seems like an attempt at making more dynamic, A.I driven puzzles. To be honest though I read through the preview and watched the video but still don't quite understand how it's supposed to work. The puzzles they show off don't look all that different from normal adventure game stuff. Full written preview from IGN.

The game is looking pretty good so far imo. I don't hate the brighter color palette and we've only seen the city outskirts so far. Things may get a bit darker once they actually show off Union City. The only thing that's sticking in my craw is some of the funky animations. But they're supposedly placeholder so I won't judge that too harshly.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/0...-to-cyberpunk-dystopia-25-years-in-the-making

Beyond a Steel Sky Is a Return to Cyberpunk Dystopia 25 Years in the Making
Throw some wurst on the burning wreck of utopia.

The barren, terrifying wastes of devastated Australia are the home for one of the most notable nostalgia-powered trips of recent history: 2015’s Mad Mad: Fury Road. Picking up the legacy of a series thought finished decades ago, original director George Miller blended old-school physical filmmaking with modern techniques to create one of the decade’s most memorable blockbusters.

But Mad Max isn’t the only Australian dystopia that lay dormant for years in wait of revival. Beneath a Steel Sky, released in 1994, is a cult favourite adventure game. Fans have hoped and dreamed of a second game for over two decades. And now, in 2019, the original developers have created a sequel - Beyond a Steel Sky - by combining old-school adventure game design with modern techniques.

Beyond a Steel Sky doesn’t (at least as far as the hands-off demo I’ve witnessed) feature a flamethrower guitar. But - like Fury Road - it’s an ambitious sequel purposefully designed to both satisfy the original’s most devout fans while also acting as an ideal first step for those who may not even have heard of Beneath a Steel Sky.

“It is unashamedly an adventure game” Charles Cecil, CEO of Revolution and creator of both Beneath and Beyond a Steel Sky, reassures me. That means fans of the original are well catered for; you once again play Robert Foster, explore the cyberpunk metropolis of Union City, and there are even verb puzzles. But the way players interact with the world, while rooted in the classic adventure games of the 1990s, has far more modern influences.

This begins with the idea of ‘Virtual Theatre’, a concept actually first used in Revolution’s debut game, Lure of the Temptress, but arguably better suited to a modern 3D games engine that can convey a sense of reality. “Virtual Theater is the idea that characters walk around the world, they talk to each other, they have their own motivations, and that you can subvert the world,” explains Cecil.

“That may sound like a rather basic premise for gaming at large, but it’s a notable step forward for classic adventure games, where characters are typically rooted to the spot and exist purely for the player to talk to. The ambitions of Virtual Theatre also go against the grain of the modern adventure game. Where companies like Telltale evolved point-and-clicks into interactive movies, Revolution is adding simulation rather than scripting to the world of Beneath a Steel Sky. The result is a less predictable world, and one that opens up multiple solutions to puzzles.

It’s almost as if Revolution have added a little dash of the immersive sim to adventure gaming, something that’s made far more apparent in one of Beyond a Steel Sky’s core puzzle mechanics: hacking. Utopia City is littered with access ports to the governing LINC artificial intelligence system, and Foster can break into these and rearrange the code. Just outside of Union City there’s one very simple example in a drinks vending machine. Citizens who approach with the correct ID are served a drink, while those lacking permissions are declined. The machine also has an anti-tamper sensor that sounds an alarm and requests security backup. The LINC hacking interface allows to you switch these outcomes, so the machine can be set to dispense drinks when tampered with, or call security when an authorised customer requests a drink.


As Foster further explores Union City, the hacking systems become more complex. “We can complicate it through what we call ‘nuggets’, which allow you to change the verbs,” explains Cecil. “Then we tie them into the behavior of characters and objects. And we build and layer up puzzles, based on these two premises of Virtual Theater and the LINC hacking.”

Virtual Theatre and hacking are complementary to, rather than replacements for, traditional adventure gaming mechanics. You’ll still be stuffing your inventory full of items and navigating deep dialogue trees. Story is still front and centre, and still created in partnership between Cecil and Dave Gibbons; the co-creator of both Watchmen and the original Beneath a Steel Sky.

““When we put together the Revolution 25th Anniversary collection a few years ago, we got back in touch with Dave and it turned out that he had vast quantities of original artwork,” said Cecil. “There were elements [of a new story]. Even within a couple of years of writing the original, there was storyboards or ideas. So I guess this has been 20 years in the making, because we've been talking about it on and off since then. It's just great that we can finally go ahead with it.”

That story finally begins in an animated comic book that effectively acts as the game’s introductory cutscene. The comic explains how the abduction of a child has forced Foster to journey from the Gap (Australia’s desolate outback regions) and return to Union City, the cyberpunk monstrosity he left behind at the end of the original game. Transformed into a utopia by Foster’s old robot friend Joey, the city’s artificial intelligence has strived to make life better for everyone who resides there. The kidnapped child, however, is the first sign that things may not be as bright as they may seem, and Foster’s return to Union City will gradually reveal the problems beneath the surface.


In adventure game tradition, though, those problems start small: in the game’s opening location on the outskirts of Union City, a trucker has found himself stranded due to depleting his battery thanks to overzealous use of his van’s air-conditioning. Across the road, a child wearing a colander on his head has lost his best friend. And, true to Revolution’s lineage, a group of very angry animals (parrots replacing a goat this time) prevent Foster from breaking into a supply of sausages. While not clear to begin with, all of these problems combine to help Foster break into Union City and learn more about what may have happened to the kidnapped child.

While these puzzles sound extremely traditional. Revolution hasn’t shied completely away from the popular developments in modern day adventure gaming. The last decade of the genre has been defined by moral questions, and Beyond a Steel Sky isn’t passing up the opportunity to include big decisions. “We do have major choices,” says Cecil. “But rather than what a lot of adventure games have, which is that you have a choice and then very quickly you come back [to see the repercussions], we have some key characters and the way that you respond to them will have a profound effect in the way that the ending unfolds.” As such, your decisions will have much more of a slow burn impact, rather than causing the narrative to branch at every conversation. It’s also important to note that Beyond a Steel Sky has one ending, with your choices adding “flavour” to the conclusion, rather than defining it.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Mad Max: Fury Road is how it simultaneously feels both exactly like an 80s Mad Max movie and something new entirely. Those spiky cars, hideous war boys, and erupting dust plumes are recognisably of that universe, but the thrill of that movie-long pursuit was unlike anything the series had previously achieved. Beyond a Steel Sky looks to be doing something similar; the pace and interactions are pure 1990s nostalgia, yet the Virtual Theatre-powered puzzle design and comic book-styled 3D world are beyond anything seen in Beneath a Steel Sky. 25 years beyond it, in fact.

 

[V_K]

They get into explaining the "Virtual Theater" mechanic which basically seems like an attempt at making more dynamic, A.I driven puzzles. To be honest though I read through the preview and watched the video but still don't quite understand how it's supposed to work. The puzzles they show off don't look all that different from normal adventure game stuff.

And that's a good thing, I'd say.
Besides, the "virtual theater" thing featured in BaSS already, they've been using this approach since Lure of the Temptress.

 

[agris]

The word "garish" pops into mind.

 

[MRY]

All sounds promising. One thing that jumped out to me:

“We do have major choices,” says Cecil. “But rather than what a lot of adventure games have, which is that you have a choice and then very quickly you come back [to see the repercussions], we have some key characters and the way that you respond to them will have a profound effect in the way that the ending unfolds.” As such, your decisions will have much more of a slow burn impact, rather than causing the narrative to branch at every conversation. It’s also important to note that Beyond a Steel Sky has one ending, with your choices adding “flavour” to the conclusion, rather than defining it.

I mean, this is what we largely did in Primordia (though we had multiple endings), and it seems to me a little bit of misdirection. Having consequences occur at the ending is a way of eliminating any gameplay changes resulting from your choices -- it is a pure negative in my opinion. It's a necessity, sometimes, to control development chaos, but the way they frame it here makes it sound like a more sophisticated way of handling C&C, rather than a hack for making it purely cosmetic (an example of this in Primordia is that the way you deal with Gimbal at the Courthouse has no effect at all on anything except whether Gimbal appears in the crowd of robots at the UNNIIC in the "fix the UNNIIC" endings).

That said, the gameplay looks reasonably robust, and the Borderlands-style graphics don't seem bad to me!

 

[V_K]

I think their point was to contrast it to Bioware/Telltale-style choices, where you make a choice, see immediate cosmetic effect, and then it's completely forgotten for the rest of the game.

 

[WallaceChambers]

And that's a good thing, I'd say.
Besides, the "virtual theater" thing featured in BaSS already, they've been using this approach since Lure of the Temptress.

I certainly wouldn't be complaining if that's the case. It's just that in every piece of pre-release coverage thus far Charles Cecil has mentioned making the puzzles "more dynamic," "A.I based" and "pushing the boundaries" so I'm wondering how they intend to do that, exactly.

Also I think they're intending this implementation of the Virtual Theater concept to be significantly more in-depth than in their past games. From what I remember in BaSS it was basically just that some characters walked around Union City dynamically but it didn't have an effect on the puzzles. I haven't played Lure of the Temptress, so idk what it was like in that game.

 

[MRY]

From what I remember in BaSS it was basically just that some characters walked around Union City dynamically but it didn't have an effect on the puzzles.

In at least one instance that I seem to recall (stealing something from a fat guy?), you needed to time your actions based on their schedules. I believe they may also have reacted to things going on in the background. That said, I'd put its implementation as thinner than, say, the airplane puzzle in Zack McKracken (a great puzzle, to be sure).

 

[Boleskine]

Charles Cecil – Beyond a Steel Sky interview

Spoiler

Charles Cecil – Beyond a Steel Sky interview

Written by Ivo — August 30, 2019

After his talk at devcom / gamescom, I was able to talk to Charles Cecil about Beyond a Steel Sky, the long-awaited but surprisingly different sequel to Revolution’s 1994 sci-fi classic Beneath a Steel Sky. One of the key points that Charles spoke about during his talk was the goal of creating a dynamic world, continuing on from his original concept of the Virtual Theatre System that was first introduced in Lure of the Temptress.

Below is an abbreviated summary from parts of his talk, which provides an intro to the Virtual Theatre System, followed by a transcript of our interview to delve more deeply into the upcoming game.



Virtual Theatre System
The first aspect of this idea was essentially context-sensitive verbs, which we used in Lure of the Temptress back in 1992. An example of this happens with Ratpouch. You could chain commands together to get him to do something for you. However, in practice that was hard.

The second aspect is the characters (NPCs) walking around the world, which makes the world feel dynamic, makes it feel alive. That was already possible even in 1992.

In Beneath a Steel Sky we evolved Virtual Theatre by moving the context-sensitive verbs component into a system like Linc, which allowed you to influence/hack through Virtual Theatre.

An example in BASS was hacking the elevator using Linc by removing the access for Lamb. His intentions were still to travel down, but because you hacked his access he could no longer do this. It changed how he behaved.


Beyond a Steel Sky
A game in realtime 3D, in which Virtual Theatre evolves again. We have a need to thrill, excite and surprise people. The game is written with Dave Gibbons, again, as Art Director.

The core objective for us is to re-use Virtual Theatre, which we didn’t use after BASS(!). We are attempting to write a world in which dynamic characters walk around and you can subvert the AI system (done back in BASS using Linc). We then layer familiar adventure gameplay on this dynamic environment. Using the Unreal Engine, programming complex behaviours now becomes possible.



In Beyond a Steel Sky, the story begins with Robert Foster living in the Gap, where he accepts an invite to go fishing with a friend. While fishing, from the lake a wolf-like stalker machine emerges and knocks him out. When he awakes he decides to follow after his friend who was abducted, and before he knows it he finds himself back at Union City.

Here his first objective is to break into the city, finding a way through puzzles in which you interact with and change the world. An example of the dynamic behaviour is that the birds fly away if you get near, but if you’re holding food for instance they will follow you. A small example of the dynamic element of the Virtual Theatre System.

The second aspect is Linc hacking. While back in BASS you would use it to hack Lamb’s access to the elevator, now there will be other situations. For instance, a drink dispenser can be hacked to swap a command around. Now alarms sound when a valid access is used, and the alarms draw in a drone, which enables you to get into area you couldn’t before. Still adventure puzzles, but a new evolution.

Ultimately, the puzzles must be logical. Slapstick is easy; logic is harder as obvious things must be hidden.



Ivo Teel: Thanks for taking the time, Charles, to speak with Adventure Gamers! When watching the Apple keynote, I was quite positively surprised to see Beyond a Steel Sky in there!

Charles Cecil: In truth, the Apple Arcade made all the difference. Apple is joyful to work with; their partnership is really a great way for us to introduce this to new audiences as well as talking to our current users. Talking directly to our audience ensures we are more in tune with them.



Ivo: Beyond a Steel Sky is an ambitious project, going back to an old IP but working with new technology.

Charles: The original game was very successful, but obviously a lot of people that played games 25 years ago don’t play games anymore. The vast majority of the potential market now wasn’t playing games back then. What we did do is make the game free when ScummVM made it possible to play the game again (it was originally a DOS title). Which was fantastic.

So there is a hardcore base of people who played it originally, but there’s also a lot of people who played it since (becoming free). But we are absolutely determined that you don’t need to know anything about the original game – it will stand on its own. We will convey through the narrative everything you need to know about BASS. That was one of the absolutely vital points.

In many ways, what I hope is that we bring forward a smaller community than Broken Sword but a very passionate community; obviously if people choose to evangelize the game that is great. But by being part of the Apple Arcade program, that gives us an enormous platform. As Apple says, they are the biggest games publisher in the world, so that’s incredibly exciting and we are very flattered that we were invited to be part of that.

Just to be clear, we do have PC and consoles running as well, with PC and Apple Arcade releases to be simultaneous. For Apple Arcade they cover Mac as well as Apple TV and iOS.

Ivo: Can you talk about the decision to go back to the dystopian world of Beneath a Steel Sky, 25 years later? Always a risk associated with it, as it comes with expectations.

Charles: There are, but we needed to balance the risk of taking back an old IP with expectations versus launching a totally new adventure IP, which is very difficult for developers.

The other thing is that I wanted to work with Dave Gibbons again; we talked about that almost since the original BASS. Being able to support the game with a comic book is fantastic; it can set up the story and provide the motivation to the player for the puzzles and understanding what the jeopardy of the protagonist is and build an empathetic relationship with the protagonist.

I do love Broken Sword and writing Broken Sword games, but it’s lovely to take a break and focus on Beyond a Steel Sky.

Ivo: There are going to be some things that are different, while other things are going to be the same. I’ve seen your talk just now, so I have a better understanding, but can you clarify this further for our readers?

Charles: The main characters are the same, slightly older. The robot Robert built himself while he lived outside the city in an area called the Gap, called Joey – one thing we thought fans would certainly feel disappointed about is if he didn’t make a return.



We felt that due to the time scale, it should be set in Union City. What the original game does incredibly well is suggest the scale of the city, even if there were few locations. So we wanted to ensure that we build on that idea of scale, and the ability to see this beautiful city as you fly through it using the pods system.

For example, you go back up to the industrial section at one point. It’s not the pipe factory because if it was that would be super-serving, but in the distance you see that pipe factory. It’s a bonus if you’ve played the original game, rather than a requirement.

Ivo: How do you feel about the response so far to the 3D style?

Charles: We do have a responsibility to give people what they want, but we have to give it in a different way. We can’t just do another point-and-click, we just can’t. It has to evolve and of course there are people that love point-and-clicks and want it, who of course can be negative about the route that we changed. People were negative about the fact that in Broken Sword 5 we pre-rendered our sprites.

All I would say is, it’s not a 2D point-and-click; it can’t be that (not commercially either), but what we're working very hard on is to ensure that the spirit stays the same. The wisecracking Joey, the ability to get him to do things that you can’t for whatever reasons, the drama of the situation. Spoiler alert for the ending of Beneath a Steel Sky The original game ends with Robert finding out it’s his own father who’s behind much of the troubles he’s in. End spoiler. We obviously can’t do that ending again, but hopefully we have a twist that will be every bit as unexpected and dramatic.

Ivo: One thing I didn’t fully understand until your talk just now is the significance of the Virtual Theatre System. Can you elaborate on that?

Charles: The pure example of Virtual Theatre was the original Lure of the Temptress, and there were several problems with that. First, there was no ability to give people commands layered in with other elements like in BASS. Although on paper it looks fantastic, in reality it just allowed you to send others on jobs you couldn’t do for whatever reason: You don’t quite know why you can’t push the wall down yourself, but you have to get someone else to do it.

Also, athough we had these characters walking around, you don’t choose the subject to talk to them about. All you do is talk to people and then an event rolls over and when you talk to these people the next time they talk about different things and the questions are different.

The way knowledge develops like that is quite clunky. For example, if I wanted to talk about this bottle of water because I picked it up and it was somehow significant to the story, we weren’t able to do that in Lure of the Temptress. Because ultimately only big world events changed what people said.

So that's why when we wrote BASS we limited its use and put in puzzles like where you delink Lamb’s access to the elevator (using Linc), which changes the actions he undertakes, as his motivations are still to take the elevator but he can’t now. That felt very exciting, one of the moments that felt very fresh. You were subverting the system to affect what other characters could do.

Ivo: You’re going to use that in Beyond a Steel Sky, yet you haven’t used it since BASS. What expectations do you have for it?

Charles: As an independent developer, what we were able to do quite some time ago was to come up with a prototype that was very pure in the way that Virtual Theatre and Linc hacking worked. But it was clear that we weren’t conveying the narrative as powerfully as I thought we ought to, which is why we layered the adventure on top of it. Had we been in an agreement with a publisher to finish, we would not have had that ability. Being self-funded gave us incredible freedom and we only really moved forward when we were confident that the balance between these things was right.

Is it the future? I think to an extent, yes, because of what you can do. The principle is that it gives a totally different sense to a game: characters walk around the world clearly driven by motivation, rather than a traditional point-and-click where characters are in a holding pattern and only respond once the player interrupts them.



Ivo: In a traditional adventure game there are moments in which you know you have to do this thing, and you come up with a way for how to do it. But this game has a different way in which it expects you to do that, so you have to spend time figuring out how to also do this new thing. In the example you gave during the talk, a bird might have something in its beak and what you’re trying to achieve is to get it to drop that. There’s many ways you could do that, and traditionally it’s been about how you do it, not what you need to do. You’re trying to turn that around?

Charles: Ooh that’s an interesting way of putting it actually; it’s indeed like that. It’s about what you do rather than how you do it.

Ivo: Could you elaborate on the ‘simulation’ elements as well, as you describe a dynamic world in which people have lives as part of Virtual Theatre.

Charles: I like the word simulation; in a way we are simulating the world, but we are controlling it. At one point I talked about emergent gameplay, but there isn’t true emergent gameplay because we have to script the outcomes. What we can do is have flags, so that a character will respond in two or three ways based on multiple events. I’m wary of using the word emergent, but in the non-pure sense, certainly things will emerge. The term simulation is very nice in that perspective.

Ivo: What role will Joey have in the new adventure, for people that are big fans?

Charles: As before he has multiple shells, with increasingly cool things to do, and you need those to help solve problems!

Ivo: People seem to be apprehensive of the game being 3D and what often comes with that, things like putting action events in.

Charles: I can assure you there are no box-pushing puzzles, as far as action is concerned. There is nothing wrong with action; what you don’t want is to suddenly go from a game that is cerebral and you can sit back and think about it, to one where you suddenly have to press the right button very quickly. We don’t want to do that. I do want to put the player under pressure; I want to have the player ‘die’ if they do the wrong thing, to keep the sense that in this world there is jeopardy.

Ivo: Can you elaborate more on the death concept?

Charles: What I want is to give a sense of jeopardy without people dying; put players under pressure if they don’t respond. As long as they think about it, there is time to figure it out. In Broken Sword 1 and 2 we had death sequences, but it was clear you have a few seconds to respond. Legitimate adventure puzzles, for instance being strangled in Broken Sword 2, you could get killed but had plenty of warning. The solution is there right in front of you. You can play the entire game without ever dying.

Ivo: Will there be an inventory system?

Charles: Oh yes! These are the elements of an adventure game: inventory objects, talking to people, mashing things up, and so on. Like the example I gave on stage, you are Linc hacking, you know what inventory item you’re looking for (a battery in this case) and you know where to get it. The puzzle is set up; you figure it out and get the battery to take back to the truck.

Ivo: Nowadays it seems that puzzles for some need to be easier while others still want them very hard. How are you going to balance that?



Charles: All I can do is ensure that puzzles are logical. Because what happens in this world is driven by motivated and wilful characters (or droids), I hope players will find that as they explore more and try new things, solutions will emerge. I want to get away from this idea of being like a crossword, which is written by one person and you look into their minds and solve the puzzles. Point-and-click adventures are very much like that, as you mentioned earlier. The problem is that if you do something logical that should have solved the problem but it doesn’t work, then the suspension of disbelief is kind of broken. Like hey, that should have worked!

I remember back in Lure of the Temptress, there was a key in the background art (I hadn’t noticed it) and people were very much in disbelief: “How can you have a key there but not let me pick it up!”

Ivo: One major thing that Thimbleweed Park added after release was a hints system. There were several newer players that found the game to be too difficult. Are you thinking of anything like that?

Charles: Oh yes, we absolutely are! But I would hope that as people explore the world, their understanding of it will increase and therefore the understanding of the puzzle emerges. The moment people look up a hint, you again have broken that suspension of disbelief.

In Broken Sword we had a hints system that was very transparent; I think we were the first to do it. Remember the UHS System? I don’t think any other adventures did it; we were first mainstream game that could give you three levels of hints, very inspired by UHS – first a gentle hint and in the end we just said what to do. The problem with that is, the moment you do it, for me I don’t feel as satisfied with the game if I had to look something up. So we’re absolutely thinking of a hint system, but ultimately we want the puzzles to be logical and you feel very immersed in the story.

Ivo: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Charles. I know you have a lot planned for today, so I really appreciate you sitting down with me. Good luck with the further development of Beyond a Steel Sky!

Charles: My pleasure!

 

[cherry blossom]

I don't like the over the shoulder 3rd person camera at all. They probably want to show off the 3d environments but it's such a drag. I want to give commands and watch my character do stuff. Point and click. And watch. The joy of adventures. But now we must press them keys all the time and "get the shoulder". Bleh.

The art direction is nice, though. It wish it were a bit more cartoony and abstract.

 

[FeelTheRads]

The Virtual Theater concept was only really implemented in Lure of the Temptress where you could also (and was required for puzzles) give sets of instructions to NPCs which they would then perform. A pretty underrated game.

 

[LESS T_T]

Steam page:

From Charles Cecil, creator of the Broken Sword series, with art direction by Dave Gibbons, legendary comic book artist behind ‘Watchmen’, comes ‘Beyond A Steel Sky’, the long awaited sequel to the cult classic ‘Beneath a Steel Sky’.

You are Robert Foster. A child has been abducted in a brutal attack. You have vowed to bring him home. But the trail has led you from your community of desert wasteland dwellers, to Union City, one of the last remaining mega-cities in a world ravaged by shattering wars, and political meltdown.

Fortified and impenetrable, it is a utopia in which people live happily under the surveillance and control of a benign AI. But all is far from what it seems...

‘Beyond a Steel Sky’ is a dramatic, humorous, cyberpunk thriller in which engaging puzzles drive a fast-paced narrative set in a dynamic gameworld that responds to – and is subverted by – the player’s actions.

Features:
The World
An adventure set within a dynamic world, populated by willful characters driven by motivations that the player can subvert. In combination with a unique hacking tool, multiple solutions to puzzles emerge from player choices.

The Story
Unravel dark conspiracies, defeat a terrifying antagonist in this dramatic, humorous, cyberpunk thriller, which explores contemporary themes: social control, AI, and total surveillance.

The puzzles
Intelligent puzzles are interwoven with an intriguing dramatic narrative to deliver a compelling gameplay experience.

The Look
A beautifully detailed, comic-book styled world, from the mind of legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons.

 

[ghostdog]

This doesn't sound bad... but I hope Cecil isn't the main writer of the game, the guy is just horrible in that department.

 

[Infinitron]

This will be at EGX on October 17th: https://www.egx.net/egx/2019/the-developer-sessions-2019

15:00-15:40

Redefining the rules of adventure writing: How Beyond a Steel Sky is breaking new ground

Revolution Software founder and industry legend Charles Cecil will take to the stage to cast light on the 40 years of experience he has amassed writing adventure games, all culminating in the forthcoming launch of Beyond a Steel Sky. Charles will detail the many creative and technical challenges that are part and parcel of writing an adventure set in a unique world, populated by wilful characters driven by advanced AI that's designed to respond to – and be subverted by – the player’s actions.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Infinitron]

Spoiler

 

[Infinitron]