Planned Release Date: Q3 2025

About This Game

Play as secret agents Franklin Benjamin and Virginia West as they attempt to stop a madman with a weather machine in this single-player interactive spy novel. Track down this madman named Zeus and destroy his infernal doomsday device. You may find yourself de-escalating a hostage situation, investigating a crime scene, or even defusing a ticking time bomb. But whatever this mission calls for - it’s time for YOU to bring the thunder, agent!

Your Mission

We have it on good intel that a madman named Zeus is attempting to build a weather device that could wipe entire nations off the face of the Earth. Obviously, we can't let that come to pass!

Track down this madman, unravel his scheme, and destroy his doomsday device. The fate of the world rests on your shoulders and your shoulders alone. This is a single-player game, after all

There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder can be played with just a mouse. Gameplay consists of selecting the action or dialog you wish to take given the situation you’re facing. Although the life of a secret agent is complicated, playing There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder is simple

Lightning Strikes Thrice - Sequel or Standalone

There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder is the third entry in the There's Always a Madman series, but it tells a standalone story. Like a classic James Bond novel or film where you can pick any one up independent of the rest, you can pick this story up without having experienced any prior stories in the There's Always a Madman franchise. However, I would recommend starting with the first game There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight if you care to experience the series in its intended order

Forecast, Then Act

As a secret agent, it's not about who has the fastest trigger finger. Put your mind to good use and make intelligent in-the-moment decisions on how best to handle your current predicament. Only by out-thinking your opponents can you survive to tell the tale

Storm's Brewing

A storm is coming, and only our top pair of secret agents can stop it. Whether you find yourself de-escalating a hostage situation, investigating a crime scene, or defusing a ticking time bomb - it'll take all your spy skills to rain on this madman's parade!

Sounds like a Winner

Although the game is text-based like a novel, an emphasis is placed on visuals and music to set the appropriate mood for each scene, changing based on whether you're in a safe location or you're exposed to danger. It also features a theme song (with lyrics) written specifically for this game

Short and Not-So-Sweet

There's Always A Madman: Bring the Thunder aims to be about the length of a movie for a single playthrough (roughly two hours). During that time, you may very well have to do some not-so-nice things to succeed. But that's okay - as they say, nice guys finish last. And we need you to come out on top

For reference, here are some similar games outside the There's Always a Madman series to help you get a further sense for what the There's Always A Madman games are like: Perfect Dark (and James Bond games like GoldenEye), No One Lives Forever, Alpha Protocol, Mission: Impossible N64, Splinter Cell games, Henchman Story, Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise, Framed, I Expect You To Die, Batman Telltale Series, The Wolf Among Us

Q: Why make this game text-based? Why not use visuals?

A: James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, and Jack Ryan all started off in text format with novels. I believe this is the right move for the project - as they say, the book is always better, so I think a more book-like experience works here. The game's text will of course be supplemented with music to set the appropriate mood, such as whether you're in danger or in a safe spot

Go ahead, agent. Bring the thunder!

Each game in the There's Always a Madman series is designed as a standalone adventure, but if you wish to play the games in order (which is recommended), this is the order of release:

1. There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight

2. There's Always a Madman: Do Your Worst

3. There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder

And don't forget to check out my previous game, the cozy RPG A Weekend in Puzzleburg. There's Always a Madman is technically a spin-off of A Weekend in Puzzleburg since the series is based on the Franklin Benjamin character first seen on a channel from the Puzzleburg hotel room TV

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

"There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder" is a spy thriller, so it does contain some references to violence in keeping with genre norms. However, such instances are equivalent to what would be found in a PG-13 rated film such as James Bond or Mission Impossible. These depictions of violence in "There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder" - though in line with similar spy thrillers - are presented in a tongue-in-cheek manner and are not meant to glorify them.