The Neo-Indie Scene

How digital distribution and social media have opened

up extraordinary commercial and creative

opportunities for independent developers

Charles Cecil

20th November 2014

The birth of the home computer era -

1981

Adventure B – ZX81 (1981)

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time

Lure of the Temptress

Atari ST / Amiga / PC (1992)

• The game reached number one in the British GALLUP charts at the beginning of July 1992 and remained in the top twenty for most of the rest of the year.

• It received reviews which included:

• 95% from Generation 4 (France).

• 94% from Joystick (France).

• 92% from ST Format (UK).

• 92% from Amiga Format (UK).

• ST Action rated the game as the best adventure game ever.

Beneath a Steel Sky

Atari ST / Amiga / PC (1994)

• The game went straight to number

one in the GALLUP charts in April

1994.

• Reviews included:

• 95% from CU Amiga (UK) with

the summary “One of the

greatest adventures ever.”

• 94% from Amiga Format with

“Utterly Brilliant!”

• In May 1995 the game received the

prestigious Golden Joystick award

for the ‘Best Adventure’.

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars

PlayStation / PC / Mac (1996)

• Broken Sword was published by Virgin Interactive

Entertainment on PC and by Sony on PlayStation.

• Sales of one million units worldwide.

• Awards included:

• Best Quest of year by Quest magazine.

• Best adventure of year by Generation 4.

Broken Sword 2 – The Smoking Mirror

PlayStation / PC (1997)

• Published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment on

PC and by Sony on PlayStation.

• Sales of one million units worldwide.

• Reviews included

• 94% from Superjuegos (Spain).

• 9/10 from Official PlayStation magazine (UK).

• 9/10 from Edge (UK).

• Voted 5th best game ever published by Official

PlayStation magazine readers

(ahead of Resident Evil 2, Crash Bandicoot 2 and

FIFA ’98 - the latest versions of each game at the

time).

The PlayStation Age (1996-2006)

Broken Sword 3 – The Sleeping Dragon

PC / PlayStation2 / Xbox (2003)

• Published by THQ in Europe and

Dreamcatcher in North America, Marvelous

Entertainment in Japan.

• Nominated for 3 BAFTA awards / Best Writing

by Game Developer (US)

Broken Sword 4 – The Angel of Death

PC (September 2006)

• Published by THQ in Europe. Dreamcatcher in US

The iPhone (2007)

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s

Cut

iPhone / iPad (March 2010)

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars – Director’s

Cut

iPhone / iPad (Jan 2010)

Features:

•Whole new story arc added, with 2 hours of

additional gameplay

• Addition of contemporary first person

perspective minigames

• New facial expressions drawn by Dave

Gibbons, co-creator of Watchmen

• Help system incorporated – ensure that

player won’t get frustrated.

• Enhanced audio – both music and voices

12 Days of Christmas

Broken Sword – the Serpent’s Curse

Kickstarter – Revolution

Broken Sword – the Serpent’s Curse

Kickstarter – Revolution

Kickstarter – Revolution

Broken Sword 5 – the Serpent’s Curse

Charles Cecil

charlesc@revolution.co.uk