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Revolution Software

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Revolution Software
Company typeIndependent video game developer
IndustryInteractive entertainment
Video game industry
FoundedMarch 1990
FounderCharles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes, Noirin Carmody
Headquarters
York
,
England
Key people
Charles Cecil (Managing Director)
ProductsLure of the Temptress
Beneath a Steel Sky
Broken Sword (series)
In Cold Blood
Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado
Websitehttp://revolution.co.uk

Revolution Software Ltd. is a British adventure game company, based in York in northern England.[1]

The company was originally founded in 1990 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody, and is Europe's most successful developer of narrative-driven games. Responsible for writing hugly successful adventure games, including Beneath a Steel Sky, and the Broken Sword series which have sold over 4 million copies worldwide and have earned £100 million.[2]

The company was founded with a view to create the company's first game, Lure of the Temptress with the Virtual Theatre Engine, which they also used to develop Beneath a Steel Sky in the first two games in the Broken Sword series.

The company ha also developed a game called In Cold Blood, and a game based on the 2001 DreamWorks' animated movie, The Road to El Dorado.


Company history

1992-1994: Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky

Released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC, Lure of the Temptress was a reasonable success and set the company up for their future successes.[3] Still fondly remembered today, Revolution made the game Freeware on 1 April 2003.[4]

Their next game really created the company's reputation for high quality adventure games. Released in 1994, Beneath a Steel Sky became a major hit on the Amiga and PC. The game focused on protagonist Robert Foster's abduction and subsequent search for answers in a dystopian city of the future.[5] According to Revolution Software's official Facebook page, Beneath a Steel Sky sold around 300,000 to 400,000 copies.[6]

1996-1997: Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars and Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror

Despite the success of Steel Sky, it was Revolution's next game that they would become most well known for, and which would have both the biggest critical and commercial success. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars was released for PC and PlayStation in 1996 and was later ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002. The game revolves around the story of George Stobbart, an American tourist whose holiday in Paris is rudely interrupted by a bombing. Investigating, he runs into photojournalist Nicole Collard, and the two embark on a globetrotting adventure of epic proportions. The hand drawn graphics, story and characters, and gameplay helped make the game a major hit, and cemented the company's reputation for story driven games.[7] The game was quickly followed by a well received sequel, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror.[8] According to Charles Cecil, each of the first two Broken Sword games sold around a 1,000,000 copies in the mid-90's.[9]

2000-2001: In Cold Blood and Gold and Glory: the Road to El Dorado, Good Cop Bad Cop cancellation

Sony asked the company to make a new game after the commercial success of Broken Sword on the PlayStation console. While working on this game, In Cold Blood, the company also developed a children's adventure to coincide with the release of the film The Road to El Dorado in 2000.[10]

In Cold Blood was released in March 2001 for the PC and PlayStation, and was Revolution's first 3D game. Set in the near future, the game focused on John Cord, an MI6 agent. Sent to the fictional former soviet region of Volgia, the player embarks on a mission to investigate a newly discovered substance, Blue Nephrine. However, Cord is betrayed and must work out by whom, while also trying to work out what plans the dictator of Volgia, General Nagarov, has for this mysterious new chemical and the implications for the world. While the game was generally well received, it was not as big a commercial success as expected.[11]

After this, the company embarked on Good Cop Bad Cop, a 3D action game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. However the game was eventually cancelled[12] so that the company could concentrate on Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon.

2003-2006: Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon and Broken Sword: The Angel of Death

Released in November 2003, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon featured 3D graphics, and moved away from the 2D point-and-click style of older games. As the game was developed for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox simultaneously, they decided to move to a direct control mechanism of the protagonist, instead of mouse control clicking on hot spots, as this was easier to convert to console game pads.[13]

Revolution released Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, on September 15, 2006. At the start of the game, George is working as a bail bonds clerk, when he falls in love with Anna-Maria, a woman who asks George to help him find an artifact.[14]

2009: Broken Sword - Director's Cut and Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered

Revolution released the remake of the first in the series of Broken Sword on March, 1 2009 , named Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut, for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms (later on iOS, MAC OSX and PC).[15] According to a Charles Cecil interview with Pocket Gamer, the Director's Cut sold around 160,000 copies by December of 2010.[16] Revolution also announced that The Director's Cut is coming soon to Android.[17]

During October 2009, Beneath a Steel Sky - Remastered was made available on iPhone app store for iPhone and iPod touch devices.[18] Accordin to Charles Cecil, the Remastered Edition sold around 20,000 copies in it's first month and that they expect 70,000 sales in the first year and 100,000 lifetime sales.[19]

After the release of Beneath a Steel Sky - Remastered, Charles Cecil and Dave Gibbons stated that a sequel could be likely and that iPhone would be the ideal platform.[20]

2010-2011: Broken Sword II - Remastered and Broken Sword 5 announcement

Revolution announced the remastered edition of the second game in the Broken Sword series on December, 09 2010, named Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered. The game was released late 2010 on iPhone, April 2011 on Mac OS and May 2011 on PC.[21] According to Revolution Software's official Facebook page, Broken Sword: the Smoking Mirror - Remastered sold over 250,000 copies on iOS.[22]

Charles Cecil announced Broken Sword 5 is coming soon in an interview with Pocket Gamer.[23] Cecil also confirmed that Revolution will start making 2D games again in a video interview with Adventure-Treff. [24]

Games

The following is a list of games developed by Revolution.[25] [10]

Game Publisher Platform Year Average Review Score
Lure of the Temptress Virgin Interactive DOS, Amiga, Atari ST 1992 57.50%[26]
Beneath a Steel Sky Virgin Interactive DOS, Amiga, Amiga CD32 1994 76.67%[27]
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Virgin Interactive Entertainment (PC, Mac), Sony Computer Entertainment (PS1) DOS, Windows, PlayStation, Mac OS, Palm OS 1996 80.83%[28]
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror Virgin Interactive Entertainment (PC, Mac), Sony Computer Entertainment (PS1) Windows, PlayStation 1997 73.09%[29]
In Cold Blood Sony Computer Entertainment/Ubisoft (EU), DreamCatcher Games (NA) Windows, PlayStation 2000 68.86%[30]
Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado Ubisoft Windows, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 2000 60.40%[31]
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon THQ Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 2003 82.53%[32]
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death THQ Windows 2006 75.03%[33]
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut Ubisoft (Wii, DS), Kalypso Media (PC, Mac) Windows, Mac OS X, Nintendo DS, Wii, iPhone, iPad, Android 2009 80.87%[34]
Beneath a Steel Sky - Remastered Revolution Software iPhone, iPod 2009 90.00%[35]
Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered Revolution Software iPhone, iPad, Mac OS X, Windows 2010 n/a[36]
Broken Sword 5 Revolution Software Windows 2012 n/a

References

  1. ^ "Official Revolution Software Website". Revolution Software.
  2. ^ "Revolution GamesFacebook Info". Revolution Software.
  3. ^ "Lure of the Temptress". Revolution Software.
  4. ^ "Lure of the Temptress Freeware". Revolution Software.
  5. ^ "Beneath a Steel Sky". Revolution Software.
  6. ^ "Revolution Games Facebook Page Beneath a Steel Sky Sales". Revolution Software.
  7. ^ "Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars". Revolution Software.
  8. ^ "Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror". Revolution Software.
  9. ^ "Broken Sword sold around 1,000,000 copies". Adventure-Treff.de. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ a b "Gold and Glory: The Road to El Do Rado". IGN.
  11. ^ "In Cold Blood". Revolution Software.
  12. ^ "Good Cop Bad Cop Canceled". IGN.
  13. ^ "Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon". Revolution Software.
  14. ^ "Broken Sword: The Angel of Death". Revolution Software.
  15. ^ "Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut". Revolution Software.
  16. ^ "Revolution's Charles Cecil on Broken Sword 2 and why it's the best time ever to be an indie". Pocket Gamer.
  17. ^ "Revolution Software to bring Broken Sword and a mysterious new game to Android". Droid Gamer.
  18. ^ "Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered". Revolution Software.
  19. ^ "iPhone's Beneath a Steel Sky on track for 20,000 sales in first month". Pocket Gamer.
  20. ^ "Beneath a Steel Sky 2". Pocket Gamer.
  21. ^ "Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered". Revolution Software.
  22. ^ "Revolution Games Facebook Page Broken Sword Sales Sales". Revolution Software.
  23. ^ "Revolution already working on new Broken Sword game". Pocket Gamer.
  24. ^ "Quo Vadis 2011 - Charles Cecil Interview". Adventure Treff.
  25. ^ "Revolution Software - Games". Revolution Software.
  26. ^ "Lur of the Temptress Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  27. ^ "Beneath a Steel Sky Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  28. ^ "Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  29. ^ "Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  30. ^ "In Cold Blood Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  31. ^ "Gold and Glory Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  32. ^ "Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  33. ^ "Broken Sword; The Angel of Death Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  34. ^ "Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  35. ^ "Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
  36. ^ "Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered Average Review Score". Game Rankings.
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