Game development seems scary

2 Player Productions has been following Psychonauts maker Double Fine for years now. Its documentary, Double Fine Adventure, tracked the crowdfunding and creation of Broken Age with exceptional depth. The twentieth and final installment is out now??, viewable for free on YouTube.

With that, you can see the 12-hour run from the beginning with this helpful playlist. Or if you're not ready to commit, consid?er giving my favorite episode, Walking Around In Our Drawi?ngs, a shot:

"While the series is over the work is far from done," reads today's announcement. "2 Player Productions is in the process of creating a final, definitive release for Blu-ray and digital download. All twenty episodes are being retouched for improved visual quality, blurs that hide story spoilers are being removed, commentary tracks are being recorded for the entire series, and hours upon hours of bonus footage is being gathered to further expand the experience." 

In 2012, I contributed to the Kickstarter specifically for access to the documentary, not the game itself. Matter of fact, I still haven't gotten around to completing Broken Age: Act 1. No regrets.

The post Watc??h the full Double Fine Adventure documentary for f?ree appeared first on Destructoid.

Everyone loves a good story

Who could forget the great Kickstarter boom of 2012? You remember, right? Out of nowhere, this website called Kickstarter suddenly became a focal point for established developers and indies looking to crowdfund the next big title. Though there were certainly game projects that got funded before the boom, the one that really started the trend was from the developers at Double Fine Productions. After their somewhat modest goal was eclipsed several times over, they found themselves at the forefront for the crowdfunding movement. And now three years later, they've finally got their anticipated and hotly debated title Broken Age out to fans and newcomers alike.

Just a few days before the release of Broken Age: Act II, completing the final part of its development, Double Fine Productions invited members of the press to have a chat with Tim Schafer himself, and Destructoid was lucky enough to attend to check out the full game prior to its release. During our talk, the founder of Double Fine had some time to reflect on the challenges of developing the first high-profile crowdfunded game project under the gaze of many fans and critics alike. Though many assume it was the legacy he and the studio had for adventure titles that made the campaign a success, he credits the power of community and relatability for their triumph. 

With the adventure genre now in a renaissance of sorts, the future for the once??-forgotten genre looks to be quite bright.

"It seems like there's been so many people talking about adventure games, people crowdfunding new adventure games," recalled Tim Schafer, the founder of Double Fine Productions and game director on Broken Age. "?It's just that everyone felt that it's okay to talk about it again. We don't have to talk about it like a dead genre anymore, people just?? throw that word around casually, like 'Oh, you're doing an adventure game?' -- it's become normalized now."

With the renewed interest for adventure games in recent years, th?ere's never been a better time to become invested in the once-dormant genre. There was a time when adventure titles were common, and full of optimism, but with a steep decline after the '90s, traditional point-and-click games seemed to have gone by the wayside. But recently, these games have seen a reawakening, thanks in part to developers like Telltale Games and Double Fine outputting a steady flow of titles. And with titles spread across so many platforms (including mobile), they're now more accessible than ever.

The development of Broken Age, which is easily the studio's highest-profile project, has been a unique case to watch. Tim Schafer and the team aimed to create a title that was a true throwback to classic LucasArts titles like Day of the Tentacle, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Grim Fandango -- while also taking advantage of today's technology to illustrate visually vibrant and diverse worlds to explore. With the pretty positive reception the first act received last year, p?eople have been anxious to get their on the final part of the game.

During my session, I had some time to play the PlayStation 4 version of Broken Age along with Tim Schafer. Though I went in mostly blind, as I opted to wait until the full release was ready to play, I still had a wonderful time experiencing it this way. It felt great with the PS4 on a big screen, and adding to this was a sense of playing with a community that chimed in with thoughts and helped with clues for puzzles. It really added to the fun. Schafer hopes that players who've already cleared Act I will start from scratch now that Act II is? out, as he believes many of the references and characters from the fir?st half of the game may have been forgotten by players by now.

Though the developers have launched other titles during the three years of Broken Age's development -- such as Grim Fandango Remastered, Costume Quest II, The Cave, and the beta for their second crowdfunded project, Massive Chalice -- firm interest has still been kept on their work for Broken Age. And? with good reason. I mean, how many other games in active development have a film crew following them arou??nd recording all their successes and missteps for the masses to see?

While they had the challenges of their own project to manage, they also had to deal with the high-profile nature of it following the success of the funding campaign. With everyone watching, the developers wanted to ensure they'd knock it out of the park with the completed ti??tle and not only live up to expectations but also to set a good example for the future of crowdfunded titles. Because whether they wanted to or not, they essentially became the people to follow and emulate.

"We were like, 'We can't obviously walk away from [the Kickstarter project], we made a commitment to fans and to our backers," said the director of Broken Age. "It did feel like the beginning of something, and it did feel like the responsibility to not mess it up, because our game, our studio, and other people's games kind of were dependin??g on it now, and if done well could lead to a whole bunch of things being funded, that couldn't have been funded otherwise. So we definitely felt like there was a lot riding on our shoulders, but we would've stuck with it anyway, because we always finish our games."

The success of the Kickstarter certainly felt like a watershed moment for many. During my interview with Brian Fargo last year for Wasteland 2, the success of Double Fine's project sparked a lot of enthusiasm among many of the "old-school" des??igners looking to explore forgotten genres and franchises. In our chat, Fargo spoke about trust being the cornerstone of the relationship between developers and their community. And I definitely got a sense of that from my visit to Double Fine. There was not only a clear respect for the genre that many of the developers were returning to, but also for the many of backers and fans who have contributed to the title as well.

For better or worse, however, the level of transparency has also contributed to scrutiny over the project. While there have been many successes with crowdfunding over the years, there are also many projects that missed the mark, or outrig?ht failed to deliver. During our talk, I felt that Schafer was humbled by the process, and even spoke honestly about their own stumbles with limiting content and details to backers only, leaving everyone else out of the loop. One of the important things they wanted viewers of the documentary to see ??is what exactly the process is like for game creation -- to give them an understanding of the challenges they often faced.

"A lot of people make games, and they care so much about what they make," he said while discussing the challenges of development. "There are so many hard tradeoffs they have to make, there are features in the game they wanted but couldn't because there are these other things they wanted even more, and I want everyone to see that process, because I do think that when you ship a game everything you see in it is an active choice by someone, and it is, but sometimes it's a miracle the game got done. [...] I don'??t know if they need to think about that stuff, but I like to know that at least some people out there know how hard people work, how amazingly difficult or complicated problems are solved everyday, and all the choices they have to make while making a videogame."

This definitely struck a chord with me. I'm inclined to think that there are many gamers out there who are unfamiliar with the actual process of game development, and assume many features and key aspects of development can be added in and removed as if they were text on a document. It felt very refreshing to see so much openness about game creation. Though that may be in part to due to the needs of transparency for operating a crowdfunded project, I found that it helped to not only give the developers their own chance to tell their side of the st??ory, but also to humanize the actual process of game creation.

While the added publicity of their project added pressure to make sure they did right by fans, it was the kind of pressure they were more than famili?ar with during their time on past titles from the LucasArts era and in recent years at Double Fine. Over the years, ?they've developed games that inspire a lot of love and respect from fans, and making sure they deliver was something that kept them on track.

"It's definitely pleasurable to succeed and fulfill all those promises, and anyone who's kinda hoping we would fail, it's nice to hear their quiet tears in the night. If you listen quietly you can hear them cry into the night," Schafer said while joking about the messages they get from cynical commentators. "But we always have this pressure of trying to do things that the fans would like anyway, now that the fans are actually funding the game, so it's the same group. But you put that kid of pressure on you anyway so you'd make a good? game."  

With the complete Broken Age experience available now, this marks the end of a long and unique development period for the studio. Though it has still got another crowdfunded title in the wings, its first is now out in the wild, ready to be experienced by fans and newcomers alike. But as we've seen in the years since Double Fine's success on Kickstarter, there's no shortage of campaigns looking to reignite the same fir?e that only a few projects can attain. Schafer definitely believes the future is bright for crowdfunded titles.

"I think crowdfunding is here to stay," said a confide?nt Schafer. "I think when people realized you could get organized and make things happen that couldn't be made by the old gate-keeper system, I think that'll always be the case. [...] Basically I think things always go crazy on Kickstarter when there's a great story. I think we had a good story that was new, and also people were saying 'Here's this thing we wanted to happen for a while.' Like this new adventure game, and it hasn't happened, but we could fix that and make it ourselves -- and that's really powerful."

"But there are a lot of other different kinds of stories, be?sides old-timers like me going back and doing the genre again. Just people doing projects no one has ever thought of before, but instantly want to happen, I think there'll be these spikes whenever that happens and continue to be more popular. I mean the things about crowdfunding will change and improve, but I don't think it'll ever go away."

A good story is important. Whether it comes from a struggling developer looking to strike out on its own with a project that was rejected by countless publishers, or from a group of veteran creators seeking to return to a classic franchise all while doing it their way -- crowdfunding has inspired a lot of people with an idea to put themselves out there and hope to find others who share their vision, and to ultimately realize it. And with Broken Age out now, we're approach?ing the end of another story from the folks at Double Fine Pr?oductions.

But as the genre goes, there are always more adventures to be had. It's not often you get to be a part of the revival of a once-dead genre that inspired many to create their own titles, bond with friends and family over the complexity of puzzles, or get caught up in heated debates about what the real ending is for contentious titles. As the name of the genre states, an adventure is an exciting and hazardous journey into the unknown, and the developers of Broken Age experienced just that with their first foray into crowdfunded game ?development.

Regardless of how you feel about Broken Age as a whole, or whether the developers at Double Fine made the right choices, it's hard to deny that it all made fo?r one of the most interesting development periods for a game in years. Whether you view Double Fine Productions as the underdog or not, it still made for an engaging story. And aren't those the ones worth telling?

The post Double Fine Productions aims to rekindle th?e spirit of adventure appeared first on Destructoid.

If I'm reincarnated as a tree, I want to look like this

Double Fine has settled on April 28, 2015 as the release date for Broken Age Act 2 on PC and Broken Age (both acts) on PS4 and PS Vita. European console pla??yers have to wait a day.

There's Cross-Buy on PlayStation, and sav?es are compatible between the two versions.

Not far into Act 1, I became sidetracked with other games and by the time I was ready to pick it back up again, the break had been long enough that it made more sense to just hold off until Act 2 was out. That's the way episodic series tend to go for me these days. Mi?ght as well wait.

Broken Age Comes to PS4, PS Vita April 28th! [PlayStation Blog]
Broken Age Act 2 Release Date Announced [IGN]

The post Broken Age Act 2 will be ready for you ??on April 28 appeared first on Destructoid.

Early 2015

Rounding out the trend of Double Fine games coming to Sony's consoles just short of Massive Chalice, which you should all be playing, is Broken Age. It began as the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter that exploded, the first act came out almost a year ago, and the concluding act is slated for early 2015.

When Act 2 does release on PC, the "comp??lete adventure" w??ill simultaneously release on PS4 and PlayStation Vita. 

In my head, I'm just havin' a lil fun pronouncing the "Age" in Broken Age as ah-gay, like if you were going to make some chicken karaage.  Maybe try it out for yourself! 

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Solutions to select puzzles

Double Fine just released part one of Broken Age to Kickstarter backers this week, and it's a big deal for multiple reasons. Not only is the game highly anticipated, but the Kickstarter itself was full of fanfare and controversy,? mostly for splitting the game into two acts.

Our own Caitlin Cooke is plugging away for a review [which has since gone live], but in the meantime, here are some tips I've collected throughout my journeys in the world of Broken Age. Most of these are at the request of readers who got "stuck" in an area or two, but like all adventure games, I urge you to try and beat it by yourself, and only consult these tips if you really can't progress any further.

Also, there are light spoilers abound, so if you're not a backer and aren't playing, co?me back after January 28 when the game is released to the public!

[Second spoiler warning, ho!]

Vella:

• Like many adventure games, you can double-click the sides of each map to "fast travel" to the next screen or walk faster. Pressing "I" will bring up your inventory (the key can be re-mapped). Using both of these will save you time.

• In order to get the grandpa to give up the goods at the beginning, go grab a cupcake, use it on him, then ask to "split it" with him.

• When you reach the clouds, you'll need to ultimately put three golden eggs in the baskets on the left area of the screen. You'll get one by putting cloud shoes on the ladder you obtain from the character on the right screen.

  The next egg you can just grab after talking? to Jack Black's character -- to reach him, put a fruit from the top area in the left area's basket.

  The next golden egg is trickier -- you'll have to fall on the character that's stuck in the tree by jumping into the northern-most cloud pit on purpose. Then you're free to grab the blue egg, and switch it for the golden one with the blue bird in the central hub.

• To enter the ceremony in the second village, you'll need to talk to the guards first to get their holy tear gas gun. It's kind of ambiguous since you need to select a certain option to get the object. Go to the chum bucket in town and fill up the gun, then use it on the maidens. To solve the guard's riddle, you'll need an item in the cloud village. Backtrack if you need to.

• To defeat Mog Chothra, you'll have to blow out his legs three times, get grabbed on purpose, put the ladder in his mouth, then aim the laser at it.

Shay:

• Shay's story is considerably easier (and shorter), but there are still a few confusing parts. At one point, you'll to venture out in space outside of the airlock, and break free of your suit's limitations.

  Take the can of compressed air and use it on your suit, then cut the cord with the knife found in the kitchen, and use the whipped cream gun found in the ice cream room. The controls are on the top left of the area found in space.

• In order to set course for Prima Doom, you have to attempt to go to the Cozy Cluster, then alter the star chart below the ladder manually with the crochet needle. If need be, you can use this picture for reference as you have the game windowed.

The post Very Quick Tips: Broken Age Episode One appeared first on Destructoid.

This game looks lovely

We're strapped in for this whole VGX thing and oddly enough, one of the better parts has been an extended look at Broken Age, Double Fine's Kickstarter-funded adventure game. CEO Tim Schafer stopped by to reveal another voice actor for the ga?me, Elijah Wood. Guys, he brought Rice Krispy Treats. Guys!

His character, Shay, is one of the two protagonists in Broken Age. He's stuck in a sapceship with an overprotective computer, longing to escape for a more fulfilling life. Beyond Wood, Wil Wheaton, Pendleton Ward, and Jack?? Bla?ck are among those who have lent their voices to the game.

The post Elijah Wood joins the Broken Age voice cast appeared first on Destructoid.

Plays the part of 'the lovable Gus'

Hot off the heels of Day of the Devs, a video was posted on Double Fine's YouTube account today announcing -- and showing proof! -- that Pendleton Ward (best known as the creator of Adventure Time) will be lending his voice to Broken Age. The video's description says that he'll play the part of "the lovable Gus," so it's not clear if this ??will be a character present through the entire game or a one-off scenario where you encounter him.

At any rate, we at least know that Gus will be stuck in a tree, hooked by a branch on none o??ther than his underwear, and it'll be the voice of Pendleton Wa?rd behind the character screaming at you to unhook his underwear. So, basically what anyone would have expected a character voiced by Pendleton to be like.

The post Pendleton Ward joins the voice cast of Broken Age appeared first on Destructoid.

It finally got an official name

From now on, Double Fine Adventure will be known as Broken Age?. At PAX East, the new title for Double Fine's massively successful Kickstarter project was announced.

The point-and-click adventure game revolves around a spaceship-bound boy and a girl who is to be sacrificed to a monster, and is available for pre-order on Windows, Mac, and Linux. $15 gets you the game and beta access, while $30 comes with the game and backer access, including the 2 Player Productions' documentary series following development of Broken Age.

Broken Age is the official title of Double ??Fine Ad??venture [Polygon]

The post PAX: Double Fine’s adventure game is called Broken Age appeared first on Destructoid.