Broken Age was Tim Schafer s triumphant (?) return to point and click adventure games. It was crowdfunded on Kickstarter, and was the first game where the campaign got sort of wildly out of hand, in that they asked for like $400k and ended up with over $3 million. Developers everywhere starting looking at crowdfunding and rubbing their chins with suspicious intent, and here we are today.

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Wowee, isn’t this a nice little surprise to help us shake off the Tuesday Wednesday blues? The latest Humble Bundle – Humble Narrative Bundle – has kicked off and, as always, the first tier is in familiar “pay what you want” format, with Steam keys costing a minimum of $1. Thing is, this particular collection’s premier platform features one-time RPS Game of the Month and FMV Game of 2015 Her Story, cyberpunk retro point-and-clicker Read Only Memories, and Nina Freeman’s lovely semi-autobiographical adventure Cibele. Based on those alone this is probably my favourite bundle yet, but there’s more.

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Headlander is the next game from Double Fine, and with news that the project lead from the wonderful Stacking is in charge I’m definitely paying attention. Borrowing the body-swapping concept from that Russian Doll-themed game, Headlander applies it more of a Metroidvania structure, with some lovely 70s sci-fi trappings and the option to graft your head onto anything from dogs to dancers. Take a look below.

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Games are strange in that they’re a medium that inspires devotion but even the most feverish fans often know little about how they’re made. Most efforts to explicate the process are also often hamstrung by the marketing need to put on a good face or by the details being delivered long after the fact by developer’s whose memories have faded.

Double Fine Adventure is different. It’s a twenty-part documentary series about the making of Broken Age where the cameras were there at the very beginning, when the fresh Kickstarter success seemed to point towards a future of infinite potential, and were still there at the very end, when the team size had been whittled away, when morale had been dampened by layoffs, and when crunch had caused people to fall ill. As of last week, the final episode is out and available to watch for free along with the rest of the series.

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It wasn t possible for me to get into exactly why Broken Age Act 2 s [official site] story is quite such a betrayal of the first half s potential in my review. It s all major spoilers. So, with that in mind, the following article contains plot spoilers up to the very end of Act 2.>

While Broken Age Act 2 is a let-down in many ways, not least the dreadful puzzles, for me the complete abandoning of what had seemed so special in the first half is what sucked the most. I’ve explored why.

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Over a year since the first act was belatedly released, Double Fine’s seminal Kickstarter project Broken Age is now complete. Act 1 was bursting with potential, if a somewhat flawed PC adventure. Obviously this review is of the second half of a game, so will contain some light spoilers for the core plot (but avoids most). Can it live up to the potential it suggested in its first half? Here’s wot I think:>

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Rare’s the day we post about game soundtracks here, because by sheer coincidence every member of RPS was born without the ability to enjoy music at the same time as watching pixels flash, but I’ll make an exception. Why? Oh, a combination of this one being a little bit special and my being hopelessly mired in the past, I guess. … [visit site to read more]

Imagine the comedic potential of the second half of something called Broken Age [official site] coming out. Something about how it’s fixed. Jokes about superglue. Jibes about Double Fine being ‘butterfingers’ warning them not to drop it again. You could reference Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again> or Coldplay’s Fix You> [no links, not now, not ever -ed.]. Endlessly entertaining.

At the end of the day, all you’d be trying to do is drag out news that Double Fine have announced plans to release the second half of their crowdfunded adventure game on April 28th.

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Depending on who you ask, the first Double Fine Kickstarter was for an underwhelming adventure game which snaffled up far more money than it needed, or it was for a fascinating warts and all insight into the making of a high profile videogame which at the very least tried to reach for the stars. I’m not sure either stance is particularly accurate – i.e. given the aesthetic quality of the game it’s not at all hard to see how the money got legitimately spent, but equally Broken Age wasn’t the grand point’n’click comeback we’d hoped for – but there’s no question that the extensive and human Making Of documentary series also provided to backers sweetened the deal enormously.

And now the rest of us get to watch it too, for no-pennies. … [visit site to read more]

Broken Age has long blown past its originally projected release date, but the documentary series available to backers continues to be a regular and excellent thing. Each episode goes into the development process in great detail – and in doing so, telegraphs news like this long in advance: Act 2 of the adventure game has slipped from the end of the year and into early next.

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