Broken Age - Double Fine's Kickstarter Adventure Game

[Blackthorne]

Christ's sake, no room for cocaine in my game's budget. I had to huff fucking Whip-It's off a can of ready-whip to get high enough to write an adventure game.


Bt

 

[Keldryn]

I backed the "Double Fine Adventure" Kickstarter as soon as I found out about it, but I didn't really have the time to play Broken Age when it finally came out.

I have been playing it with my 4 1/2 year-old daughter the past two nights before putting her to bed. I read the different conversation options to her and then let her choose. She is very excited to play it. After playing for about half an hour on Saturday night, she was bugging me ALL DAY Sunday to play again.

Because of this, Broken Age is awesome. I don't care how it compares to classic adventure games of the 90s, I don't care if it's too easy, and I don't care whether or not Double Fine mismanaged the project.

When we're done with this one, I'll introduce her to some of the classics. We're playing on my iPad, because she knows how to use it but has never used a mouse or trackpad before. I bought The Secret of Monkey Island for it this morning ($5 again), as she likes pirate stuff.

 

[Grunker]

Because of this, Broken Age is awesome. I don't care how it compares to classic adventure games of the 90s, I don't care if it's too easy, and I don't care whether or not Double Fine mismanaged the project.

lol

"my 4-year-old smiled, I declare this a success"

you should review it for the codex

 

[Irenaeus]

Jesus Cristo

 

[groke]

Looks like it's a hit with the target demographic then. Well done, Tim.

 

[RPGMaster]

Broken Age is a hit with the same demographic who find empty cardboard boxes to be an excellent source excitement and mental stimulation.

 

[Redlands]

Broken Age is a hit with the same demographic who find empty cardboard boxes to be an excellent source excitement and mental stimulation.

Hey, none of that nonsense please!

Empty cardboard boxes provide longer, more mentally challenging gameplay than Broken Age.

 

[Whisky]

Yeah, man! I made a time machine with a cardboard box when I was 6.

CAN YOU MAKE A TIME MACHINE IN BROKEN AGE!? I THOUGHT NOT!

Spoiler

I haven't played it or followed it. Maybe you can, I dunno.

 

[Goat Vomit]

I didn't expect much from Broken Age, even if it just had played like a very long Wadjet Eye published game with higher production values I'd be very satisfied. Shit, I would still have been happy if the game was running on scumm as long as it had the same spark and charm as adventure games of old. I expected very little yet I got disappointed.

A first episode of three that was made for tablets and produced with a very young audience in mind? That's not why I opened my wallet, Tim. Why the hell did they blow all their money on celebrity VAs and overpaid hipsters working on ridiculous amounts of cutesy flash animations when going the animated film quality route was the last thing such a game needed? I just wanted DotT 2 FFS, it's not that hard guise. Thank god there's still real indie devs around making proper adventure games.

 

[Blackthorne]

I do wonder when the second part is coming - after this new debacle for Double Fine (with Spacebace Early-Access being shutdown), I just wonder how their other projects are progressing.

Bt

 

[J_C]

I do wonder when the second part is coming - after this new debacle for Double Fine (with Spacebace Early-Access being shutdown), I just wonder how their other projects are progressing.

Bt

Me too. What bothers me is that the documentary also seems like to be at a halt. There wasn't any since 9th July.

 

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, I feel like I haven't heard much about Broken Age in months. I guess I also just wonder what kind of effect this game is going to have on other adventure games - ones not made by sizably larger studios. I feel like it makes people wary of the whole genre again when you have something like this kind of.... slacking, I suppose?


Bt

 

[Outlander]

Inb4 Tim declares Broken Age finished as it is

 

[J_C]

Yeah, I feel like I haven't heard much about Broken Age in months. I guess I also just wonder what kind of effect this game is going to have on other adventure games - ones not made by sizably larger studios. I feel like it makes people wary of the whole genre again when you have something like this kind of.... slacking, I suppose?


Bt

It won't have any effect on the genre, at all. Don't worry.

 

[Boleskine]

2 Player Productions commented on the reason for lack of updates or new documentary episodes recently.

What’s up with the next Broken Age documentary episode?
There are one or two more things that still need to happen on BA before we can wrap this episode up to our usual standards. I understand folks are eager for a video update while the game is in production (I would be too, in your shoes), but this series needs to stand on its own after the game is released and part of that is making sure that each episode has a satisfying/logical ending. We’re basically waiting for that last musical note to complete the measure. Cutting that short would just “sound” wrong.

Also, after the major story reveal at the end of Act 1, it was inevitable that doc coverage on Act 2’s production would slow down a bit. There isn’t much of the game we can show without spoiling that so it requires a little patient and careful navigation on our part. The content we have is still interesting and informative; it just takes a little bit more time to collect it.

In the meantime…Yes, we are keeping ourselves busy with other projects around the studio; the Massive Chalice series in particular (I’ll elaborate on that a little further down in this post). There is a new Sidequest with another BA team member in the works, so you can expect one of those in the not-too-distant future...

 

[m_s0]

Yeah, I feel like I haven't heard much about Broken Age in months. I guess I also just wonder what kind of effect this game is going to have on other adventure games - ones not made by sizably larger studios. I feel like it makes people wary of the whole genre again when you have something like this kind of.... slacking, I suppose?


Bt

Let's face it: Kotick was right all along. 3 years and way over 3 million bucks for a short, easy, simple and linear 2D "oldschool" adventure game. Whether you like Broken Age or not, DF's dropped the ball big time. No wonder Ron Gilbert decided to bail.

I do wonder when the second part is coming - after this new debacle for Double Fine (with Spacebace Early-Access being shutdown), I just wonder how their other projects are progressing.

Bt

I bet Grim Fandango HD is coming along nicely with all that evil publisher money

 

[Irenaeus]

This kickstarter was a catastrophe colossal proportions.

 

[felipepepe]

That's probably what's happening... they'll rush Grim Fandango to get some cash and finish the rest of the games.

But Broken Age won't give them more money, since everyone that bought Act 1 gets Act 2 as well. By their own logic, they should drop it, like they did with DF-9.

 

[m_s0]

They did announce that the Act 1 sales were enough to pay for Act 2 shortly after Act 1 came out.

Then again, the entire thing was supposed to be paid for since the very beginning so who knows at this point.

 

[ghostdog]

They'll get some sales, many people are waiting for the finished product before buying.

 

[buzz]

No wonder Ron Gilbert decided to bail.

Ron Gilbert is equally bad or maybe even worse than Tim Schafer. He's not the asshole Tim is and I like he occasionally posts some design notes on Maniac Mansion/Monkey Island, but his latest games don't even try to pretend they're adventure games anymore. The last thing he did was a Candy Crush clone.

He did say this back in August so who knows, maybe we'll see his shot at a modern adventure game as well.

 

[Irenaeus]

Hopefully it will be something not entertaining to 4 year olds.

 

[m_s0]

No wonder Ron Gilbert decided to bail.

Ron Gilbert is equally bad or maybe even worse than Tim Schafer. He's not the asshole Tim is and I like he occasionally posts some design notes on Maniac Mansion/Monkey Island, but his latest games don't even try to pretend they're adventure games anymore. The last thing he did was a Candy Crush clone.

I don't think that (/I'd like to think it doesn't) proves anything. He likes to work in small teams, and he made that Scurvy game with one other guy. I'd at least wait until he makes another adventure game - then we'd have more of a basis to place any sort of judgment. I did like the post about his take on Monkey Island, especially the points about the difficulty and the way he'd handle dialogue:

Four - It would be a hardcore adventure game driven by what made that era so great. No tutorials or hint systems or pansy-assed puzzles or catering to the mass-market or modernizing. It would be an adventure game for the hardcore. You're going to get stuck. You're going to be frustrated. Some puzzles will be hard, but all the puzzles will be fair. It's one aspect of Monkey Island I am very proud of. Read this.

...

Eight - There would be dialog puzzles. They weren't really puzzles, but that's what we called them. Being able to tell four jokes at once and meander and getting lost in the humor of a conversation is the staple of Monkey Island. No one has done it better since. Just my opinion.

...

Sixteen - If I used Kickstarter, there would be no fancy videos of me trying to look charming (as if I could). No concept art or lofty promises or crazy stretch goals or ridiculous reward tiers. It would be raw and honest. It would be free of hype and distractions that keep me from making the best game I could. True, I wouldn't raise huge sums of money or break any records, but that's not what I want to do. I want to make a game.

That's what I wanted from DFA to begin with. Some of what he says comes across as a direct reaction to DF's Kickstarter, honestly.

Some of those guys have to still be capable of making a decent game, right?

He did say this back in August so who knows, maybe we'll see his shot at a modern adventure game as well.

https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/496423482423406592

 

[RPGMaster]

2 Player Productions commented on the reason for lack of updates or new documentary episodes recently.

What’s up with the next Broken Age documentary episode?
There are one or two more things that still need to happen on BA before we can wrap this episode up to our usual standards. I understand folks are eager for a video update while the game is in production (I would be too, in your shoes), but this series needs to stand on its own after the game is released and part of that is making sure that each episode has a satisfying/logical ending. We’re basically waiting for that last musical note to complete the measure. Cutting that short would just “sound” wrong.

What a bunch of self-important pretentious c-nuts.

You're making a documentary about a video game. And not a very good one at that.

 

[J_C]

What a bunch of self-important pretentious c-nuts.

You're making a documentary about a video game. And not a very good one at that.

Fuck off! One can say lots of shit about BA, but the documentary is very well done.

You're making a documentary about a video game. And not a very good one at that.

So while you are complaining about the documentary not being a high quality, you want them to don't care about quality and put out the episodes in whatever state it is in. Idiot.