In honor of the release of Grim Fandango Remastered, we have been taking a look at all the games Tim Schafer, nerd-hero-number-one, has directed. Today's entry is his latest, the crowdfunding success story, Broken Age.
Broken Age
Publisher: Double Fine
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Platforms: Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS, Android, OUYA
Broken Age is Tim Schafer's return to the adventure game, the genre that made him a legend back in the 90s when he was with Lucasarts and helping create such timeless titles like Day of the Tentacle, The Secret of Monkey Island and Full Throttle. He ended his tremendous run with Grim Fandango, and that came out seventeen years ago. The world had moved from adventure games by the end of the 90s and early 2000s, and with it, Tim Schafer. 3D graphics were making FPS games more and more ubiquitous and people wanted to be actively engaged, not just clicking on buttons until they worked.
I think, though, that it was simply that the world was not ready for Tim Schafer. The big studio system of the 90s helped him grow, but it was unsustainable for such an unbridled imagination. The rules and how tos and gatekeepers Tim needed to pass through were against him, but he played along because he needed funding for the games. And back then, someone older, wiser and richer than you gave you the money, and with it, a set of dos and don'ts. But there had to be another path, a way to exercise a little more artistic freedom.
In other words, Tim Schafer was waiting for Kickstarter.
Synopsis:
Broken Age is a two part point and click adventure title. The game features an all-star voice cast, such as Elijah Wood, Jack Black, Jennifer Hale and Wil Wheaton among others, who deliver Schafer's own blend of sardonic wit and whimsy. The first act of the game is divided into two sections, the sci-fi adventure of Shay (Wood) and the more fantastical world of Vella (Masasa Moyo). The two stories do not intersect and beyond the general feeling of needing to break away, share little else in common. Players can switch between the two characters at any time during the gameplay.
Life is easy and simple for Shay on-board his spaceship, and he hates it. There is no real danger, yes, but also there is no happiness. No sweetness. Daily life is an endless stream of activities his mother - an AI in the shape of a Sun (voiced, with perfection, by Jennifer Hale) - that have no real consequences. The worst thing that ever happens to him is a HUG ATTACK.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the universe, Vella wishes her life could be a little bit easier. She has been chosen by her village to be part of the town's Maiden Feast, an elaborate part that offers up several young girls to Mog Chothra, a multi-eyed beast that emerges every fourteen years to devour the women. In true fantasy heroine tradition, Vella is having none of that and plots her own survival from the monstrosity.
While the gameplay in Broken Age is simplistic - point, click - what draws you in is the effortless way in which Schafer creates worlds. Never once does either game hit you over the head with long opening cut-scenes about why Shay is in the ship, or what this whole Mog Chothra thing came about. It drops you right in the middle of a sketch, and slowly fills in the colors and shades as it grows along. You have questions about what the heck is going on, but Broken Age isn't telling. It wants you to explore and more importantly, it wants you to engage it. Dig around, test out this or that idea.
Too long we've been told - usually by barking commanders in FPS titles - to 'go here, do this', and we dutifully follow, content to march from Point A to Point B and maybe shoot somebody. Broken Age asks you to explore, to try out different things. It won't punish you - about the closest thing is to dying is falling through the cloud city of Meriloft - but it's also not interested in holding your hand all the time. So go on, point and click everything you can! You never know what you might find.
The Reception:
Broken Age was well received when it was finally released last year, after a period where it looked like it might not make it to sale. The game made numerous top ten lists last year and the iPad version was on the shortlist for best original title at the annual Golden Joystick Awards.
The Legacy:
Due to its age (turns one on Wednesday), Broken Age's legacy is yet to be seen fully. While we may not know about its future, its past is perhaps of even more importance than anything. Broken Age remains one of the top 5 most funded video games on Kickstarter, and was one of the first major success stories the site had back in 2012. Tim Schafer and the crew at Double Fine asked for $400,000, which was a shoestring compared to their other titles (Costume Quest cost $2 million); eight hours into the campaign, the game had reached its mark - a testament to Schafer's legend.
All told, Broken Age raised $3.3m from all its backers, over 800% of its original goal.
Yet, it still was not enough. As of summer 2013, Double Fine started to delve into their own pockets for the cash and, inevitably, a delay. This crossed some of the backers, who were promised a full game much earlier than this. The full project was broken into two acts, with the first act being released via Steam Early Access.
Broken Age's innovation was not in gameplay or design - though its hand-drone images are wonderful - but in proving that a market exists for high profile gambles, fully supported by crowdfunding. Kickstarter was seen as a quaint artist medium before, a place for tiny indie games to battle for survival. While no doubt Broken Age benefitted a lot from its creators pedigree, it still showed off crowd-funding as a viable alternative to more traditional capital sources.
The creator of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, leveraged his own history and experience into a successful campaign for Mighty No. 9. While Brian Fargo, who worked on many games in the 80s, raised funds for the recent release of Wasteland 2 and Torment. Someone would have come along and harnessed the power of crowdsourcing for ambitious projects sooner or later, but the one who did was Tim Schafer.
The Best Moment:
I played through Shay's campaign first and the first "mission" I went on was to help the "injured" creatures down on the planet. Now, the aesthetic of the ship was all weird, like a giant play pen, but it hadn't quite registered for me just what the heck was going on. As I descended into the area - unaware that I was actually still on the ship - I approached the "injured" creature and was immediately attacked.
With hugs!
Not something you expect to find on a spaceship, really. The finale to Vella's storyline is appropriately well done, and surprising. Odds are you know what's coming, but it's still very well done.
The Worst Moment:
Being so unused to adventure games at this point - it had been years - the pace of the game can be irksome. Meriloft, in Vella's storyline, was of particular note. Not "the worst" in that it was bad, but just that it went on a bit too long.
The Best Easter Egg:
Broken Age is an older game wrapped in modern aesthetics. But what if you could take out the shine and polish and create something more akin to the classic adventure titles of old? Well, you can! How one intrepid youtuber managed to discover how to revert the game to 8-bit mode, we'll never know. But he did, and you can, too! Watch the video below!
The Remaster:
No remaster required! It's all fancy and modern and it looks gorgeous. Act 2 has no release date as of yet, but is hopefully due sometime in spring of this year. Good, because we can't wait to see how this story ends.
Where You Can Buy It:
Considering the length of the game, $24.99 is a bit steep. You can pick up Broken Age on Steam and on PS4 and PS Vita today. Or for iPad for $9.99.