The majority of the puzzles in Broken Age are inventory-based, where you pick up objects and then have to figure out how and where to use them. It’s just there if you get stuck while playing one and want to try out the other for a while. For most of the game Shay and Vella aren’t in contact with each other, so switching between them isn’t required for any puzzles. ![]() Right clicking brings up your inventory panel, including a button to switch characters. Left clicking allows you to move your character and interact with the current scene’s hotspots, including people to talk to and objects to pick up or examine. These two storylines don’t have anything in common at the start of the game, but they eventually intersect in Act II, where you have to help Shay and Vella reach their happy endings.īroken Age is played using a friendly point-and-click interface. Meanwhile, Vella is living in the peaceful town of Sugar Bunting - except it’s time for all of the towns in the region to make their sacrifices to Mog Chothra, and she’s trying her best to avoid becoming monster chow. His home is literally a mothership, just not in the way you usually think of one. Shay is living on a spaceship that meets his every need - washing him, dressing him, feeding him, and thinking up juvenile rescue missions for him to complete (such as rescuing sock puppets from a runaway train). In Broken Age, you control two teenage characters. Previously I reviewed Act I of the title. ![]() And it's great that Double Fine and 2 Player Productions, the video production company behind the documentary, didn't sugarcoat anything: Mistakes and setbacks are given equal treatment to progress and good news.After a seemingly endless wait - which ended up being a little over a year - Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions finally completed Broken Age, their crowdfunded point-and-click adventure game. Now, I wouldn't advise watching the whole documentary in one sitting - the 20 videos that comprise the "Double Fine Adventure" documentary span around 743 minutes in total, which is over 12 hours - but getting to know these people and seeing them manage the many challenges associated with creating a video game is downright fascinating. But while "Broken Age" wasn't the monumental commercial success the company hoped for, the project helped establish Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms as viable alternatives to having publishers or venture capitalists bankroll video game projects. He's written and designed some of the biggest cult-classic games over the last three decades, including two of the beloved "Monkey Island" games for PC, as well as "Grim Fandango," "Brütal Legend," and "Psychonauts," which is easily my favorite video game of all time ( and it's getting a sequel!).ĭouble Fine couldn't have predicted what would happen next: "Double Fine Adventure" raised over $3.45 million from over 87,000 backers to become the biggest crowdfunded video game at that time. If you've never heard of Double Fine, the studio was founded in 2000 by LucasArts veteran Tim Schafer, one of the most beloved figures in the video game industry. ![]() I loved getting to know all of these people through their work and their on-camera interviews, which provided excellent context and color. By the time the documentary was over, it felt like I was saying goodbye to a group of friends. You meet all the key players: the directors, managers, producers, writers, game designers, artists, musicians, programmers, and yes, even those poor souls charged with finding and fixing all the game's bugs. It's incredible to watch all the effort that went into the production of "Broken Age," but I personally loved getting to know all the people behind the project. "Double Fine Adventure" is a rare behind-the-scenes look at how a single video game was produced: the critically-acclaimed point-and-click adventure from 2015 called "Broken Age," which is available to buy on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 4. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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