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 / / 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 (UK).

• ST Action rated the game as the best ever. 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’. – Shadow of the Templars PlayStation / PC / Mac (1996)

• Broken Sword was published by 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 / (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 [email protected]