Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon

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Like many other adventure series, Broken Sword has gone from 2D to real-time 3D environments. “The 3D technology fundamentally changes the gameplay interface,” Charles claims. The game uses a simple yet elegant interface in which an icon map plays the central role. Whenever the character approaches an object, different options light up in the icon map. There is no standard set of options, giving the folks at Revolution a wide latitude in puzzle design.

Besides the usual detective work (talking to other characters and using evidence) there are many other types of puzzles in Broken Sword 3. The move to 3D resulted in a much stronger exploration element. Players will be able to climb walls, for example. These actions will be fully integrated into the icon map interface. There will also be stealth action, such as sneaking by adversaries. Finally, there will be self-contained action events, in which the pace of the gameplay quickens and the player is asked to make decisions quickly. These action events will not be about pressing random buttons, but will be tied into the gameplay itself. It should be pretty clear to the player when an action event is about to occur, as the camera will only use cinematic camera points until you are likely to be in danger. (An action event can be seen in the teaser video, where Nico is being run over by a car.)

Besides these gameplay changes, Broken Sword 3 also sports some brand new technology. While the 3D graphics look pretty nice, it will be the small touches that will set it apart. A new ray tracing lighting engine has allowed Revolution to recreate the sunny atmosphere that was so typical to the first game. Night scenes are equally impressive, with some excellent shading applied. Also notable is the game’s facial animation system, adding emotion to the characters.

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A Q&A with Charles Cecil

After the press conference, we sat down with Charles to ask him some more questions about the Broken Sword franchise, fan feedback on the first Broken Sword 3 screenshots, and more.

First of all, why does it say GBA on the BS3 page of your website?

And why didn’t I mention it today?

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Exactly.

Because GBA [Gameboy Advance] would very much be a secondary. It would be a complete rewrite. All projects will arrive end of next year and the GBA will almost certainly arrive later than that. So it’s not on our immediate radar.

So you are going to use the same story from BS3 and build a different GBA game with it?

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Yes, I think GBA games in 3D don’t look great, generally.

Would you say the atmosphere of BS3 is slightly darker than the previous games?

Yes it is, but it is not super dark. There are so many games that are really dark and this is not one of them. We have the humor, we have dialogue that makes you laugh, but we wanted it to be a bit more intense experience.

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