Doctor Who goes episodic... but not with Telltale
I know there are a couple of threads about this, but I thought I'd make a new one since there's been official news here.
You might know Sumo Digital from games such as Virtua Tennis and New International Track & Field, and of course Charles Cecil as the creator of the Broken Sword series. The games will be released for free (the BBC can't charge for its content) through the official Doctor Who website.
So there we go! Apparently it was commissioned in early 2009, so this has been planned for a long time. Here's an indepth interview with Stefan Moffat and Piers Wenger for more details about 'The Adventure Games'.
Broken Sword creator Charles Cecil and Sheffield-based studio Sumo Digital have been signed up to make Doctor Who: The Adventure Games.
The episodic, PC/Mac games are billed as an extra four episodes for the new 13-show series five run which began in the UK during the Easter weekend.
But most importantly: the games are made in very close collaboration with the show's new production team - and they are completely free.
The Adventure Games consist of four downloads of around 250MB featuring the eponymous Doctor and his companion Amy in encounters with iconic enemies - actors Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have supplied their likeness and voices to the game.
You might know Sumo Digital from games such as Virtua Tennis and New International Track & Field, and of course Charles Cecil as the creator of the Broken Sword series. The games will be released for free (the BBC can't charge for its content) through the official Doctor Who website.
So there we go! Apparently it was commissioned in early 2009, so this has been planned for a long time. Here's an indepth interview with Stefan Moffat and Piers Wenger for more details about 'The Adventure Games'.
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That is really awesome that Dr. WHo gets game, and that people are following telltales example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Doctor_Who_video_games
The wii one was confirmed fake by nintendo a while back.
Sumo worked on the last Broken Sword game too (The Angel of Death). The involvement of Cecil Charles bodes well, as does Steven Moffat overseeing the project and ensuring it's "aligned" with the TV series and generally feels like a Who experience. It'll be interesting to find out more about the gameplay.
That's awesome! It means I have nothing to lose except my respect for everyone involved in the project, and precious moments of my own existence.
I'll wait to see more before allowing my usual overexcitement to run rampant, but it sounds promising!
EDIT: Some screenshots from Tech Digest.
See your doing what I do, so proud.
How is Doctor who aired other their? On bbc worldwide? Or on SciFi (syfy?)? I know they don't bother with filters on the bbc worldwide stuff (on Youtube, they haven't filtered out their old doctor who episodes (1960's->80's) that they uploaded onto their channel, or at least thats what i gather from the comments.
Some Concept art
A world full of danger and mystery
A creepily familiar alien skyline
All new corridors to run down
A new alien world of adventure
Exploring icy caves
And some Gameplay Snaps
Thats London, i think, although the caption reads How much for a taxi to Gallifrey?
What's Amy seen?
The Cybermen are coming (one thing i would like to point out, is that they aren't the cybus industries parallel cybermen!)
More images on the official Doctor who website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_100408_01/adventure_games
In the US, I think it's on BBC America. In Australia, it's on the ABC (which is funded by the Government).
In fact, Australia's ABC's iView (similar to BBC's iPlayer or other channel's streaming video) will get the new Doctor Who next Friday, 2 days before it airs on broadcast television here.
I'm hoping the games are made available to other networks that air the show for free, or the BBC just realises there's no point trying to DRM a game they're releasing for free and just allow anyone to get it worldwide.
I doubt there would be anything in a Doctor Who game that makes it unsuitable for all ages... well maybe parents should stop their 5 year olds from playing it alone, but ages 10+ are pretty safe with Doctor Who.
Yep, that's London - a ruined Trafalgar Square in fact.
Game looks good though
Because Revolution only has two full time employees now (based on an interview with Cecil in February this year), they get in freelancers and the like or use another studio when making their games (like Sumo Digital). I'd guess the BBC went to Cecil about the project and he got Sumo Digital involved.
As for Revolution, I don't think BS5 will be here anytime soon. In a recent (last month) post on the Revolution forum Tony Warriner stated what they are currently working on now:
(broken sword) pc/mac director's cut
(broken sword) iPad director's cut
a new-ip non-adventure Pocket-Revolution game
a new-ip Revolution adventure design
the broken sword movie script
I really need to go back there. I didn't recognise it without the mock-energy efficient seethrough house that was there last time...
Ah, well. At least someone else is getting into the episodic adventure game business. Competition can be troublesome at times, but if you're the only one doing what you're doing, you just can't help but feel unsettled that nobody else is even trying it. That and there wouldn't be as much incentive to improve.
True, but seeing as the doctor who games are going to be free, it's not going to affect TTG's profits too much (given that Sam&Max S3 can only be bought as a whole, and will have at least the first episode out by then, so most people will have already payed for it)
WHAT?! Awesome!
Actually, IGN recently mentioned that the Bioshock movie already is in pre-production, which is good news
Also, hooray for more adventure games!
Hmm... did they actually approach the Beeb? I know that a couple of Telltale people on this forum made remarks along the lines of "yes, we think it's a good idea, too, wonder how we can go about it..." but was there any more to it than that?
Remember, in any case, these BBC games are not a commercial activity. If the BBC want to move into a moneymaking game, there's still a chance....
Well, because it was tendered out, the way it would have worked if TTG were on board instead, would be roughly as follows:
TTG: We can do this really cool looking thing, and we'll do it for $xx,xxx
BBC: Okay, you've got the contract, sign here
TTG: *signs here*
BBC: right, here's $xx,xxx - go make our game!
Long story short, TTG would still have made a lot of money!
Well, they were still looking for a developer back in late January. Click here
Stephen Moffat realises there's more to computers than virtual pong?