Broken Age Sale and Production Stats!
Hey folks, did you hear? Broken Age is currently discounted on Steam at it’s lowest price since launch! If you haven’t yet purchased (or have friends/family/neighbors/co-workers/strangers in this situation) now’s the time! Just head right over here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/232790/
To celebrate, we put together this fun little list of Broken Age production stats. Enjoy!
Amnesia Fortnight Development Stream
Your votes have been cast and our final four 2014 Amnesia Fortnight winners have been chosen! Starting next Tuesday, join us on the stream above to watch as we develop the following exciting ideas into full prototypes!
Dear Leader-Anna Kipnis
Mnemonic-Derek Brand
Steed-John Bernhelm
and…
Little Pink Best Buds from special guest Pendleton Ward of Adventure Time fame!
To purchase these prototypes head over to humblebundle.com/doublefine. We’re livestreaming all the craziness every work day throughout the 2 weeks! For those without the time to keep up on the stream, there’s also this lovely playlist of all the amazing 2 Player Productions documentary episodes! For those who want to see join us LIVE, full schedule incoming…
STANDUPS
10:30 Steed
11:00 Dear Leader
11:30 Mnemonic
12:00 Little Pink Best Buds
2 PLAYER PROGRAMMING
12:30-1:00 AF episode debut
1:00-1:30 Other 2PP content
DESKTOP STREAMING
1:30-4:00
See you in the chat!
Amnesia Fortnight 2014 - A Double Fine Production
A note from Tim Schafer
Where does Double Fine Productions get their ideas? Well, when it’s not from Tim eating spicy food too close to bedtime, it’s from Amnesia Fortnight!
Amnesia Fortnight is a lawless, unforgiving, creative supernova - an internal game jam that we started in 2007 as a behind-the-closed-doors-of-the-chocolate-factory kind of a deal, but have now exposed to the public whether they want it or not!
Here’s how it works: We take two weeks off from whatever we’re working on, split the company into small teams, and give each team two weeks to make a game. It’s not easy or fair; but it is exciting. We do it to test out new ideas, and to test out new project leaders who feel ready to have a project of their own. Some of these project leaders will live, and the others, well, they will also live. But they will NEVER BE THE SAME.
For instance, they will all be two weeks older.
The new twist we added in 2012 is that YOU are an essential part of Amnesia Fortnight! You can vote for the ideas that get made into prototypes! And you can watch us making them. 2 Player Productions will be filming the process and posting videos daily. You will see all these games come together from scratch in front of your eyes!
After Amnesia Fortnight is over you can download the actual prototypes and play them yourselves. And then let us know what you think!
How much does this cost? That depends on you. You pay what you want, and decide how much money goes to charity. Yeah, you didn’t even know you were that good of a person, but it turns out, you totally are.
MORE NEW TWISTS! This year we have a special guest project leader, Pendleton Ward, bearded and beloved creator of Adventure Time! He is pitching his own ideas into the AF Thunderdome, and if you beat the average you can vote for which one we’ll prototype with Pen as the Project Leader!
Go back and read that last paragraph again because what we just said is too awesome to just read once.
Now please, watch all the game idea pitch videos and make your selections. Take your time if you want, reading the more in-depth info on each game idea, and discuss them in our forums if you like. But right now, before doing anything else, buy the bundle! Because then we’ll have that whole money thing out of the way and it won’t be awkward.
Who knows? Maybe the greatest game Double Fine has ever done will come out of this process, and you will have been part of it!
Broken Age Act 1 is out! You can play it NOW!
Holy crap. Holy crap! Almost two years after launching the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter campaign, Broken Age Act 1 is now available for EVERYONE to buy and play, RIGHT NOW! All of us at Double Fine are really excited to see what you all think. To celebrate, check out this amazing new trailer by 2 Player Productions—but consider reinforcing your heartstrings first:
We’ve also made Peter McConnell’s beautiful Broken Age original soundtrack available for listening and purchase over at our Bandcamp page. Don’t miss it!
Once you’ve checked out the game, please feel free to head over to the Broken Age forums to share your thoughts with your fellow players! Enjoy!
Broken Age playable for backers now! Preorders open for non-backers!
Double Fine Productions today announced that Act1 of Broken Age, the first graphic adventure game led by Tim Schafer in 16 years, will release on January 28 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Preorders are open now via Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/232790/
The Act 2 conclusion of Broken Age will ship later this year as a free update for all owners of the game. In the future, the game will also ship for Ouya, iOS, and Android.
Broken Age tells the story of Vella Tartine and Shay Volta, two teenagers in strangely similar situations but radically different worlds. The player can freely switch between their stories, helping them take control of their own lives and dealing with the unexpected adventures that follow.
The development of Broken Age began began two years ago in a historic, record-breaking Kickstarter campaign—and Act 1 of the game is nearly here, in all its beautiful, 2D, hand-painted glory, with an original orchestral soundtrack and an all-star vocal cast starring Elijah Wood, Jack Black, Wil Wheaton, Jennifer Hale, Pendleton Ward, Masasa Moyo, and many more.
“It’s been sixteen years since I’ve made an adventure game, almost twenty years since I’ve made a point-and-click, and just shy of two years since I dared the internet to force me to make one,” said Double Fine president and Broken Age writer/designer Tim Schafer. “Coming back to the genre has been like finding an old jacket in a box in your garage that you haven’t worn in twenty years, but once you shake the dust off and put it on you realize it’s an amazing jacket and it still fits, and once you patch the holes in the pockets it could easily take a spot in your main jacket rotation.”
“Oh, and also, in one of the pockets was three and a half million dollars,” Schafer added.
"how do slacker backers get their copy?"
"Its really cool, I like the twist at the end and how the two parts come together. (That isn't a spoiler.. is it?)"
"@doublefine Invader Zim and psychonauts crossover?"
"http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/11640/ is the thread for backers scratching their heads over finding / redeeming their key."
"Raz meets Invader Zim?"
The Cave for Android! It’s real!
You have demanded it, and it has become reality. The Cave is now available on the Google Play store for Android devices.
This brings the list of platforms on which The Cave is available up to approximately four billion. That’s almost enough devices to fill the massive subterranean caverns of…The Cave. And each of those devices contains The Cave. Figure that one out.
Of course, some of those devices are particularly extreme. Dan “Dan Pan” “Dan the Man” “Pan Man” Pangelina, producer on The Cave for Android, had this to say: “Tegra technology has really allowed us to get the most out of The Cave, with 1080p resolution and graphical enhancements that weren’t possible on other mobile devices.” So, just think about that.
It’s available now! So get on it!
"Last update broke it. Now gets black screen and crash on all my devices."
"Raz and Invader Zim must stop A Psychodrainer but Dib membrian has plans to catch the psychodrianer and sent it to mysterious mysteries. Raz and Zim the moive 20??"
"Could there be a Raz and Zim movie in the future?"
"Yep!"
"Awesome! Did you guys port it in house?"
Snapshots caption contest winners revealed!
The judges have spoken. The five finest Snapshots captions have been chosen. Tim and Snapshots creator Mark Hamer pored over the many entries and chose these worthy recipients to receive signed hardbound copies of the book:
Snapshot 1:
“Day 84 in the dogsuit. Gerald is still not on to me.”
-martijn
Snapshot 2:
“Dave would always stop to appreciate a redwood.”
-Kel Winser
Snapshot 3:
“A night to remember starts with the perfect dress.”
-Annika Metze
Snapshot 4:
“Joseph was a french-fry guy.”
-Michael King
Snapshot 5:
“The old man and the sea, the early years.”
-Andrew Goulding
Congratulations to the lucky very talented winners! We’ll be getting in contact to send out your priceless rewards. If you weren’t among the five, worry not–Snapshots is available to you as well, in exchange for money!
"you guys both had great captions! it was a tough decision. thanks for playing :)"
"Hopefully this means I made Tim laugh; in which case I consider us even. -Michael King"
"These are brilliant! :D I didn't win, but I don't even care! :D I love it!"
Announcing Hack ‘n’ Slash: It’s real, and it has algorithms
—-TRACE BEGIN—-
> CONNECT host:www.hacknslashthegame.com port:80
> SEND ApplicationData
>> GET /download/hacknslashannouncement.txt HTTP/1.1
>> Host: hacknslashthegame.com
>>
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS)
Connection: close
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
DOUBLE FINE ANNOUNCES PUZZLE ACTION GAME HACK ’N’ SLASH
Former Amnesia Fortnight Prototype to Launch in First Half 2014, Supported by Indie Fund and friends of Double Fine
SAN FRANCISCO–December 10, 2013–Double Fine Productions today announced that Hack ‘n’ Slash, a hacking themed puzzle action game for Windows, Mac, and Linux, will release in the first half of 2014. A version of the game debuted during Double Fine’s Amnesia Fortnight 2012 internal game jam. It was selected by the gaming public to be turned into a two-week prototype, after garnering more votes than any other Amnesia Fortnight pitch.
In Hack ‘n’ Slash, a young elf uses her computer hacking skills to cheat her way through a classic action/adventure game. The game was funded by Indie Fund, Humble Bundle, Hemisphere Games, make all, AppAbove Games, Adam Saltsman, The Behemoth, Morgan Webb, and Rob Reid as part of a two-game deal that also includes Spacebase DF-9, which released in Early Access Alpha and recouped its investment within two weeks.
“I’ve always loved games with lots of secrets in them,” said Hack ‘n’ Slash project lead Brandon Dillon, “and when I first discovered a hex editor in an emulator, it dawned on me that I could be a kind of digital treasure hunter—no game could keep even its deepest secrets from me if I adventured long enough in its code and memory.”
By subverting old-school gaming tropes with unique hacking mechanics, Hack ‘n’ Slash allows non-programmer players to experience that same sense of mystery and discovery.
“Look, I’m going to be honest with you here: I don’t really understand what’s going on inside this game’s code,” said Double Fine president and CEO Tim Schafer, who claims to possess a degree in computer science. “I believe it contains ‘algorithms.’ But I know what’s going on inside my heart when I play it. And that is joy.”
“We’re psyched to be helping with Hack’n'Slash because Amnesia Fortnight projects are about empowering individual creators,” said Indie Fund partner Ron Carmel, who definitely possesses a degree in computer science. “And I can confirm that this game’s code does contain algorithms.”
Hack ‘n’ Slash will be released for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Steam and DRM-free in the first half of 2014. It will include algorithms.
> CONNECT host:hacknslashthegame.com port:443
> SEND ClientHello suites:TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA certs:x509 random:xIl3HWupPdsvwY94XV3UHtW04aE/wT4X8p7FmdSxW5w=
RECV ServerHello random:Up2+Rmzxa4CFywMpfAMCBn7wJHaiBnwEGslWPq4QaTQ=
RECV Certificate [verified]
RECV ServerHelloDone
> SEND ClientKeyExchange premaster:AwKV0UmxkA/iXZ4Y4NDn0P1Ju/m6GNL10FR7PuJae/83Ghy3Eo+6qDiJwQsNzjyB
... [encrypting provided premaster]
> ENCRYPT
... [computing master key]
... [sending ChangeCypherSpec]
> VERIFY
... [computing verify_data:Tcz7sewhNdF70Xmd]
... [sending Finished]
>SEND ApplicationData
>> ******************************************
>> ***************************
>>
... [sending ApplicationData encrypted_payload:9Uxik4wGjQEoga0gznSZM7H+x4gnbdG9iqVwCOucgvE=]
... [sending ApplicationData encrypted_payload:Z41sWWPE2pPTxXnfbb/ju+g9NGrE/7gMltSvCW2J5aLCjH0R5k8E1iHJydJ1OuguAyZqKPlUDOxVZ6I1dnIJkPBXre5y2wcZU5misdX8Hk+exdqsbpjeDRwQKxwxcOTm]
wqbzvEF9EWuIshMxNfrvhg75TbHD5/WY4dA8m73GW6kX6S7lszdMKCKr3QWz0/2EAwdkU51tyAqEMB1DR87/9PnAXnECqvbVZLWL8MBNgcyd4ri+YzRDF/R+XbJ3qXbRIfuaiJGqjB8AQSYTHdmBIqdcamc6404t5cw0Gx7oRyYmudXx4CZ1D2fpD801jKNOm/Zv0saw3XwF7j0gPvvKZBWmUzwGc9L8PNFkKzsliozmBUxyE3hdRu0L7G5fqviPejgjau3VBC3LI64nvNz8yQ27yoZKpaqAlAV69tnPkwqTGeXgFM6ev4w6CTFUYPHucogo5OJ3V0G0n69k8+aljaeeNTuVzmRML9bHJdzVB4s252NF2PrgPlzGQIgbih7P4unwshrtCLeg8zLF0AApCA==
—-TRACE END—-
"Mmm, I guess passwords are like incantations. Never really thought about it this way. Anyway, congratulations and I'm curious about the real deal."
"I love the sound of this."
"Excellent, let me add that to my "future buys" list."
"AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I DO SO ENSORCELL MATTERS SUCH THAT THE MAGIC OF THIS APPLICATION PRODUCES A RESULT THAT MUST INVARIABLY ENGENDER MAGNIFICENT AMPLIFICATION OF THE DESIRED OUTCOMES THAT WE PRODUCE. AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I THEE BOND INTO REALMS FOREVER INTWINING OURSELVES TO OUR COMBINED DESTINIES WHICH PRODUCE A KIND OF INFINITE REWARD IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MECHANISMS TO AID OUR DISCOVERY OF KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH. AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I REVEAL MYSELF TO BE CAPABLE OF CHALLENGES OF THE MIND AND SPIRIT WHICH STRENGTHEN AND EMBOLDEN MY CAPACITY FOR TAKING CONTROL OVER THAT WHICH WAS ALWAYS OUR BIRTHRIGHT THOUGH SOMESTIMES WE FOOL EVEN OURSELVES TO PROTECT THAT WHICH CANNOT BE PROTECTED. WITH THIS INCANTATION I OPEN THE LOCK CLASPED SIMPLY TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY FOR DEMONSTRATION OF MY POWER. AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I FOREVER OPEN THE BOUNDARIES OF UNDRESTANDING SUCH THAT I ALWAYS REALIZE THE POWERS I HAVE OVER HIDDEN BUT NOT INACCESSIBLE TRUTHS. AND WITH THE MECHANISMS OF THIS INCANTATION I CAN BREAK THE BONDS THAT WERE NEVER REALLY THERE DESPITE THE INSISTENCE OF THOSE PRESENTING THEMSELVES AS WIZARDS. AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I OBSERVE THE FINITE IN THE INFINITE THAT HAS PRODUCED MUCH WONDER AND MAGIC IN OUR WORLD AND COMMIT TO THE PURSUITE OF UNDERSTANDING. AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I DO DECLARE THAT BIRTHRIGHT HAS NO STANDING IN THE CHAMBERS OF WISDOM. AND WITH THIS INCANTATION I DO PRESENT MATTERS SUCH THAT IT IS OBSERVABLE THAT NO CREATURE SHOULD BE RESTRAINED BY THE FEAR OF OTHERS."
"Is this why Brandon had to leave the Reds team? This is great news! I wonder if this trend of AF2012 games getting published will extend to Black Lake as weeeelll? Eh? *winks*"
Elijah Wood in Broken Age!
We are thrilled to welcome Elijah Wood to the cast of Broken Age! He was announced as Shay, the male protagonist, during Spike’s VGX, and we have been really impressed with his voice work so far. Here’s the video we showed during the VGX, which includes some new footage of the game, as well as a bit of background on how Elijah got involved with the project.
Remember, if you’re a backer, the early access beta is almost upon us! Part 1 launches in January, and there have been a lot of backer goodies recently if you haven’t been keeping up. We can’t wait for everyone to get to play the game!
Wil Wheaton joins Broken Age cast—more news at the VGX!
It’s Wil Wheaton! In Broken Age! I love that guy!
Plus a whole raft of other amazing voice actors!
And we’ve got even bigger news coming soon—tune into the Spike VGX stream on December 7 at 3pm Pacific/6pm Eastern to catch it live, along with a demonstration of the game!
""Amount of love" should be a way to review games... Double Fine would therefore have perfect scores. :)"