Game of classics

Ghost Simulator from Neil Gaiman

In the spring of 2014, the game “ Wayward Manor” (“Peregacious estate”) should be released, the plan of which belongs to Nil Gaiman. The writer and screenwriter, author of “American gods”, “star dust”, “Anansy’s children” and other wonderful books, the creator of the cult series of “Sand Man” does not need special performances. Why did he decide to take up the computer game? According to Heyman himself, he was going to create something similar for a long time, but did not want to put his plan into the form of a story. The reader had to not only observe history, but actively participate in it - and then the computer game came in handy.

Tizer "Wayward Manor"

The Wayward Manor plot is pretty reminiscent of Wilde's Canterville Ghost. You find yourself in the role of a friendly ghost, firmly intentionally riding from the family who has instilled in his house. However, Gaiman considers the films seen in childhood - “Arsenic and old lace” ( Arsenic and Old Lace , 1944), “ Blithe Spirit , 1945),“ appearing for dinner ”( The Man Who to Dinner , 1942) - that is, eccentric Comedies and grotesque horror stories. Judging by the teaser, drawings and screenshots, a cheerful Gothic farce is obtained, reminiscent of both a comic book and a board game. Deliberately angular characters - the Baddd family, butler, maid and trying to break into the mansion - are painted by the commander Chuck BB .

An independent studio “The Odd Gentlemen” , which has existed since 2008, is being developed. On their account, for example, is a rather cute arcade “The hardships of P.B. Winterbottom ( The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom ), designed in the style of silent cinema, in which the main character has to hunt for pies using copies of himself ( SIC ).

The creators of Wayward Manor turned to the help of crowdfunding (very effective in the case of independent computer games) and, most likely, it will be more than successful if you take into account the number of fans of the Neil Gaiman. Moreover, not one of the large network platforms like Kickstarter is used to raise funds, but the project website itself. Another crowdfunding project, “Ever, Jane” , proves that not only fantasy attracts gaming developers in the literature.

Jane forever

Go out into the street. She is almost deserted, only two girls are talking at a neighboring house. Cleling them with an assessing look, you decide that they are no lower than you in the situation in society, and click on the “bow” button. Girlfriends respond to the court's gentleman Knicksen. Now you can approach them and share the last gossip to denigrate a long -standing opponent, Lord Montgomery. This is what the gameplay in the MMORPG “Ever, Jane” looks like.

In the fall of 2013, a video appeared on Kickstarter in which a lady named Judy Tyrer spoke enthusiastically about her project. "Will you, for example, sacrifice happiness to increase your social status?" - She asked, describing the game based on ... on the world of books by Jane Austin. The computer graphics in the trailer looked, to put it mildly, not the best, enthusiasm and seriousness Tyrer looked almost comical, but by December the project safely raised $ 109.563 of the necessary $ 100,000. And, perhaps, people who decided to support him will not lose.

Cleling them with an assessing look, you decide that they are no lower than you in the situation in society, and click on the “bow” button.

The fact is that Judy Tyrer is a real veteran of the IT industry: she began her career with the first electronic training system Plato ( Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations ), worked at Sony Online Entertainment and created “Second Life” Linden Lab and perfectly imagines the MMORPG mechanics. In general, the situation in which an experienced professional suddenly decides to stop working “for uncle” and begins at his own peril and risk of engaging in a dream project, it seems that it becomes more widespread in the gaming industry - in order not to go far for examples, it is enough to recall the recently released game “ The Novelist” . And this cannot but rejoice.

In "Ever, Jane", traditional characteristics of characters for role -playing games are used in an unexpected manner; It is necessary to maintain your social status, visit the evenings called, manipulate, flatter and spread gossip. The main features of the character are “status”, “happiness”, “kindness”, “duty”, “reputation”; An increase in one of the features will inevitably lower some of the remaining. It is claimed that the character is not created according to the template - it is necessary to get used to it, to play out the selected role, while observing the rules of etiquette.

Gamers are mocking the demo version of "Ever, Jane"

So far, only editorial fans will be able to play a demo version available for downloading -boobs instead of characters, dull landscapes and crooked interiors catch longing, the set of actions is also quite limited. But in the future, Tirer and her team promise balls, card games, an expanded set of intrigues, the ability to control the estate, a musical mini-game and other joys of life-it is hoped that the developers will be able to carry out everything that was conceived. In any case, the army of those wishing to become Mr. Darcy or Jane Bennett has already supported them.

Game of Thrones: attempt No. 5

Let us return to fantasy from Jane Austin: in December 2013 it became known that Telltale Games is working on the HBO Game Game series (rumors about this went back in November, but the developers refused to officially confirm them). I must say that George Martin’s novels from the “Song of Ice and Flame” cycle and the series based on them were still not too lucky with official game incarnations (if you do not take into account board games).

The first computer game on Martin’s books, the Strategy “A Game of Thrones: Genesis” (2011), turned out to be mediocre, if not a failure. The role of Game of Thrones (2012), developed by the French from Cyanide , despite the more or less valuable plot, scared away with obsolete graphics, sound quality, animation and combat system (its creators produced simulators of sports management and fantasy parodia for American football). The first attempt to adapt the world of “Game of Thrones” for social networks also caused mixed reviews. In 2012, George Martin and HBO granted the right to make such a game to no one well -known startup Disruptor Beam . As a result, users received a half -dried, formally free product to test the outcome of each action endlessly - or pay to play normally. Although Game of Thrones ascent and got into the Facebook TOP for 2013 - but in the section “Choosing a team” ( Staff Favorites ). Finally, since 2012, Bigpoint specializing in browser games has been working on MMORPG (multiplayer role-playing online game) Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms . That, in fact, is all - and this is if there are millions of fans of books and the series. It is clear that fans do not sit back and make up for the absence of worthy official games in the “Game of Thrones”, releasing their thematic mods (modifications) for other games.

Games on the basis of which mods are created can vary greatly. For example, “A Clash of Kings (Game of Thrones)” is based on the popular role -playing game “Mount & Blade: Warband” (role element here, however, is deeply secondary in relation to battles and the action). In the territory, this large -scale mod covers the entire Westeros and the western part of the Essos continent. There is a mod for the Medieval 2 strategy: Total War , which turns it into Westeros: Total War - but here the whole game predictably comes down to war.

The original mod was created according to the Skyrim role -playing hit from Bethesda SoftWorks . The Game of Thrones Adaptation Mod for Skyrim fully rewrites all the texts of dialogues, the names of cities, quests and objects, the names of characters and gods - so that the action does not take place in the rebellious province of Skyrim, but in Westeros. This is a rather witty solution, since the atmosphere and plot of Skyrim really resemble the world of Martin's books in general terms (even some names echo, for example, Winterhold and Winterfell). Here, the internecine war is in the same way, the north is opposed to the southerners, and dragons appear in the sky for the first time in millennia. As a result, the Imperials become Lannisters, the Nords - northerners of Westeros, General Tullius - Lord Taiwin, and the rebel Ulfric - Eddard Stark. Of course, in the current state, the local version of Westeros is full of absurdities (in addition, the audio files remained the same, not combining with new texts). But playing this option “ Skyrim” is very funny, and fans of the series will surely delight the armor borrowed from there, options for the emblems and the appearance of most characters.

For those who are more attracted to the battle and not loved visual images from the series, namely the world of Martin’s books - with all the intricacies of political games, the details of fictional chronicles and dynastic marriages - the choice of mods is somewhat limited. Since 2007, the Fan Site of “Ice and Flame Songs” has been there a text-game “Blood of Dragons” online game, but this can be captivated only by the most hardcore and old-school fans of Martin's books. The best option, perhaps, is the A Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings 2 . There are no spectacular battles and colorful armor from the series, but you can plunge into intrigues with your head and visit different eras of the history of Westeros: from the invasion of Targaryen to the events of the last novels of Martin. There are many options for the development of the plot: for example, an Bronn mercenary from a strain knight can become the Lord and even the founder of the new dynasty if he managed to get Sansa Stark or another important person in his wife. Of course, playing this mod is truly interesting only if you read the cycle books and are well oriented in them, otherwise you are unlikely to learn all these manderli and Hornwoods. Mod is still being finalized, a new version has recently been released.

Well, a separate entertainment for lovers of minecraft - “ Westeroscraft” , an attempt to recreate the entire continent from the world of “ice of ice and flame”. Even if the word "minecraft" does not tell you anything, look - the process of the occurrence of Westeros from millions of cubes is fascinating.

What "Game of Thrones" should be expected from Telltale Games ? Perhaps it will be more than a game on the HBO series than a game of Martin’s novels. The studio, founded in 2004 by former Lucasarts employees, has long filmed the gaming adaptations of television series and films: “CSI: crime scene”, “Back to the future”, “Jurassic Park”. The most successful of the released games, “ The Walking Dead” , is based on the comics on which the series of the same name was shot, and recently the studio released the excellent game “The Wolf Among Us” in the Fables comics series.

The leisureness of the developers and the desire to release games with separate episodes constantly cause complaints, but you can close your eyes to these shortcomings because of the comic book aesthetics perfectly conveyed in the same “The Wolf Among us” . So the chances of success with the new game embodiment of the Game of Thrones are very great. The main problem of TELLTALALA developers is that they work very slowly, and the projects are now gaining a lot, and this may affect the initial result - although, of course, TELLTALE GAMES is interested in the new Game of Thrones to be impeccable.