Following P-Diddy’s article yesterday on his experience of Prison Architect this weekend, next up is Kimmy with her best of Rezzed 2013. And after getting to meet the guys from Red Thread Games, you can probably guess what she’s going to pick…
Kimmy says:
Back in February, I became an official backer for Red Thread Games’ project for Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey on Kickstarter. Within just three days of its launch on 09 February 2013 it had already hit 75% of its $850,000 goal and was successfully funded in just over a week. The fact that the campaign received a total of $1,538,425 from 21,858 backers across the world is proof that fans are eager for the long-awaited sequel to the acclaimed The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey to be made.
I loved the original point-and-click adventures and they’re still in among my favourites today, so as soon as I heard that a Kickstarter project was going to be launched for the creation of a third in the series I was straight on board. And when I found out that the developers were going to be taking part in a session at Rezzed after we got our tickets – well, I knew what I was going to be doing that weekend.
The Longest Journey begins the story of April Ryan, destined to try and save the Balance between two parallel worlds: the chaotic and magical Arcadia, and the technologically-advanced Stark. Dreamfall continues April’s tale and introduces Zoë Castillo, a Stark resident investigating her ex-boyfriend’s disappearance and other mysterious occurrences.
During the developer session on Saturday, Ragnar Tørnquist, Dag Scheve and Martin Brusgaard took to the stage to talk about Dreamfall Chapters and show off some exclusive gameplay. The game centres on Zoë and the other characters’ fight to protect and balance and in the section demoed we were shown the cyberpunk city of Europolis. Our heroine had to hack a robot using code stored on her mobile phone: but would she save the machine, who had a sweet little girl’s voice, or order it to blow itself up?
This question allowed Tørnquist to show off a new feature introduced in Dreamfall Chapters. The developers wanted to stress the importance of consequence, with Brusgaad saying: “We want to make choices that matter. So we don’t want to carpet-bomb the game with these kind of choices, but we want them to feel important and that they do actually have consequences. You see later in the game what that decision led to.” After a vote from the audience, it was decided that the bot would be sent on a suicide mission (we’re a horrible lot).
During the presentation I remember thinking, “This game looks awesome, I want it” – and then I remembered that I’m already signed up to get my copy when it’s available next year! We got the chance to chat with the guys and get a few photos afterwards and I’d like to say a big thank you to them for giving me my now most-prized possessions: our business cards with their signatures, and note from Tørnquist saying: “May the Balance be with you!”
My new prized possessions – “May the Balance be with you!”
Sadly, we were only able to attend Rezzed for its first day this year so we missed the panel discussion on the subject ‘Is storytelling in games getting any better?’ the following day. But during this, Tørnquist disagreed with statements made by George Lucas earlier this month which suggested video games carry no emotional weight in the way they tell stories.
The Red Thread Games founder said: “Games are where storytelling is being experimented on the most. Take Journey, one of the best games I’ve ever played – it tells an amazing story through pictures and sound that you just wouldn’t see in a TV show. [Lucas’s comments] made me so angry because I’m currently playing The Last of Us… I’m not going to spoil anything but the beginning of the game sets up this great emotional connection. The controller turns on and your heart does not turn off. You feel desperate.”
We got the chance to chat with Red Thread Games, what a lovely bunch.
Lucas predicted that it will take another five years for gaming to discover its own Titanic. But I’m inclined to agree with Tørnquist here: titles like The Last of Us, The Walking Dead and BioShock Infinite show us that they’re quickly becoming as capable of providing emotional experiences and connecting with their audience as much as film. And besides, I’d rather play any of them than sit through Titanic any day.
If you missed out on the Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey Kickstarter project but still want to get in on the action, head over to Red Thread Games’ website where you can become a PayPal backer and get a downloadable copy of the game when it’s released in November 2014. And watch out for W1ngman’s ‘Best of Rezzed 2013’ article tomorrow on Frambosa’s Sneaksneak.
