Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 1989 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Charles Cecil (managing director) |
Products | Broken Sword series |
Website | revolution.co.uk |
Revolution Software Limited is a British video game developer based in York, founded in 1989 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody. [1] Its most popular line of games is that of Broken Sword , a series which began in 1996 with Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars . As of 2024, there have been a further four iterations in the series: The Smoking Mirror (1997), The Sleeping Dragon (2003), The Angel of Death (2006) and The Serpent's Curse (2013).
The company's logo was inspired by the 1981 film Excalibur and designed in collaboration with a graphic design firm in Hull. [2]
Released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS platforms, Lure of the Temptress was both critically and commercially a success [3] which helped set the company up for their future game releases. [4] Revolution released the game as freeware on 1 April 2003. [5]
Their next game was released in 1994; Beneath a Steel Sky became a hit on the Amiga and IBM PC compatibles. The game focused on protagonist Robert Foster's abduction and subsequent search for answers in a dystopian city of the future. In that period they also ported Sierra's King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow to the Amiga. Virtual Theatre system was used instead of Sierra's Creative Interpreter because of its much better performance. [6]
Despite the success of Beneath a Steel Sky, it was the company's next game that they would become best known for, and which would have both the biggest critical and commercial success. [7] 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 photo-journalist Nicole Collard, and the two embark on a globe-trotting adventure. The hand drawn graphics, story and characters, and gameplay helped cement 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 1,000,000 copies in the mid-1990s.
In July 2000, the company released their first 3D game In Cold Blood for the PlayStation (later released for Microsoft Windows in October 2000). Set in the near future, the game featured 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 simultaneously trying to work out what plans the dictator of Volgia, General Nagarov, has for this mysterious new chemical and the implications for the world.
In December 2000, the company also released a children's adventure game Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado to coincide with the release of the film The Road to El Dorado . [9]
The company then started work on Good Cop Bad Cop, an action game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. However the game was eventually cancelled [10] so that the company could concentrate on Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon .
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 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox simultaneously, they decided to implement a direct control mechanism for the protagonist, instead of mouse control clicking on hot spots, as this was easier to convert to console game pads. [11]
Revolution released Broken Sword: The Angel of Death on 15 September 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 her find an artifact. [12]
On 1 March 2009, Revolution Software released a director's cut version of their first Broken Sword series, titled Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut , for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms (later on iOS, Microsoft Windows and OS X). [13] According to a Charles Cecil interview with Pocket Gamer, the iOS version of the Director's Cut sold around 160,000 copies by December 2010. [14] The company also announced that The Director's Cut is coming soon to Android. [15]
In October 2009, Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered was made available on the Apple App Store. [16] The Remastered Edition sold around 20,000 copies in its first month and expected to hit 70,000 sales in the first year and 100,000 lifetime sales. [17]
The company announced the remastered edition of the second game in the Broken Sword series on 9 December 2010, called Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered. The game was released in late 2010 on iPhone, April 2011 on OS X and May 2011 on Microsoft Windows. [18]
On 25 July 2012, Charles Cecil posted on his personal Facebook account: "Totally focused on the announce video for our next game. I am thrilled by how it's looking, and can't wait to talk publicly, but completing the video for end of the month – as originally promised – now seems somewhat ambitious." [19] After a short delay, the game was officially announced to be a fifth entry in the series: Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse . [20] The game was announced with a Kickstarter campaign and a video, showing some of the game's graphics and hinting at its storyline. [21]
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. [22] During the Broken Sword 5 crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the company originally put Beneath a Steel Sky 2 as a $1,000,000 bonus stretch goal if the new Broken Sword game raises enough money, but it only raised $820,000 (including PayPal donations). On 24 September 2012, after failing to reach the bonus stretch goal, the company's co-founder Tony Warriner said that "after the huge success of the Broken Sword 5 crowdfunding campaign on Kickstater, it inspired us to begin work on Beneath a Steel Sky 2. Development of the sequel will begin after the release of Broken Sword 5. We're delighted by the recent level of interest in a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky and are currently discussing design ideas for this project which we plan to go into development following the release of Broken Sword 5. We're deeply touched that our Beneath a Steel Sky fans are as enthusiastic today as they were when the original game released in 1994." Beneath a Steel Sky 2 is to be developed for iOS, Android, PC, Linux and OS X. There is also a possibility in looking into a console version release. [23] In a September 2015 interview, Cecil announced that he was working on a story for Broken Sword 6 which would involve the main characters travelling to Germany. [24] In a later interview from April 2020, however, Cecil said he was "mulling around" ideas for Broken Sword 6, while his focus seemed to be still on Beyond a Steel Sky , though he did not exclude the idea that the next Broken Sword game may follow the company's present project. [25]
Towards the end of 2023, Revolution announced [26] that a sixth instalment of Broken Sword was in development, titled Broken Sword: Parzival's Stone, which is scheduled for release in 2024. In addition, a "Reforged" revamp of the first game, Shadow of the Templars, is due to be released in 2024, with updated graphics and other minor changes to the original gameplay.
Year | Publication/Ceremony | Nominated game or person | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | PC Gamer | Beneath a Steel Sky | Best Dialogue | Won |
Golden Joystick Awards | Best Adventure | Won | ||
1997 | Generation 4 [28] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | Best Adventure 1997 | Won |
Quest magazine [28] | Best Quest | Won | ||
2001 | GameVortex | In Cold Blood | Top Pick | Won |
2003 | British Academy Video Games Awards [29] | Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon | Best Design | Nominated |
Best PC Game | Nominated | |||
Best Adventure Game | Nominated | |||
Just Adventure [30] | Best Adventure Game of 2003 | Won | ||
2004 | Game Developers Choice Awards [31] | Excellence in Writing | Nominated | |
2006 | Develop | Charles Cecil | Development Legend | Won |
2009 | Slide to Play | Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered | Game of the Month, October 2009 | Won |
Slide to Play's iPhone Games Holiday Buyer's Guide | Best Adventure Game | Won | ||
British Academy Video Games Awards [32] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | Best Story | Nominated | |
2010 | Adventure Gamers' 2009 Aggie Awards [33] | Best Port/Updated Re-release | Nominated | |
Beneath a Steel Sky: Remastered | Nominated | |||
2011 | European Games Awards [34] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | Best European Adventure | Won |
Order of the British Empire | Charles Cecil | Member of the Order of the British Empire | Won |
Year | Publication | List | Game or company | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Amiga Power | Amiga Power All-Time Top 100 | Lure of the Temptress | 47 |
1994 | 66 | |||
Beneath a Steel Sky | 42 | |||
1995 | 72 | |||
1996 | 84 | |||
2004 | Adventure Gamers | Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time [35] | 17 | |
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | 4 | |||
2006 | Adventure Classic Gaming | Top 10 retro graphic adventure games of all time from PC to consoles [35] | Beneath a Steel Sky | 9 |
Broken Sword: The Shadow of Templars | 3 | |||
2009 | Edge | Top 50 iPhone Games Available | Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered | 26 |
2010 | PCWorld | 25 Best iPad Games [16] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut HD | * |
Pocket Gamer | Top 10-point-and-click adventure games on iPhone and iPad | Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered | * | |
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | * | |||
Metacritic | The Best iPhone and iPad Games of 2010 [36] | 9 | ||
Retro Gamer | Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time... not by LucasArts [37] | Beneath a Steel Sky | 3 | |
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | 2 | |||
2011 | Develop | Develop 100: The World's Most Successful Studios | Revolution Software | 47 |
Brighthub | The Best PC Adventure Games of All Time [38] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | * | |
Gameranx | Top 25 Best iOS Games [39] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | 10 | |
Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered | 9 | |||
Trusted Reviews | 100 Best iPhone Games Ever [40] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | 31 | |
TechRadar | Top 30 best free games you should play today | Beneath a Steel Sky | 4 | |
PC Gamer | 20 free PC games you must play | 9 | ||
Altered Gamer | Top 5 Adventure PC Games | * | ||
Now Gamer | Greatest Point-And-Click Games (Not By LucasArts) [41] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | * | |
Beneath a Steel Sky | * | |||
Adventure Gamers | Top 100 All-Time Adventures [42] | 19 | ||
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | 4 | |||
2012 | GamesRadar | Best point-and-click adventure games [43] | 8 | |
Gaming Enthusiast | Top 10 PC Adventure Games [44] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars / The Smoking Mirror | 4 | |
* | VideoGamer | Top Wii Adventure Games of All Time [45] | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut | 5 |
Top DS Adventure Games of All Time [46] | 1 | |||
Adventure Gamers | Top Adventure Games [47] | * | ||
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars | * |
Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies like Revolution Software and Adventure Soft. It was originally written by Ludvig Strigeus. ScummVM is free software that is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Beneath a Steel Sky is a 1994 point-and-click adventure game developed by British developer Revolution Software and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for MS-DOS and Amiga home computers. It was made available as freeware – and with the source code released – for PC platforms in 2003. Set in a dystopian cyberpunk future, the player assumes the role of Robert Foster, who was stranded in a wasteland known as "the Gap" as a child and adopted by a group of local Aboriginals, gradually adjusting to his life in the wilderness. After many years, armed security officers arrive, killing the locals and taking Robert back to Union City. He escapes and soon uncovers the corruption which lies at the heart of society.
Broken Sword is a series of adventure games. The first game in the series, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, was released and developed in 1996 by British developer Revolution Software. Its sequel, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror, was released a year later, and was followed by Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon in 2003, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death in 2006, and Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse in 2013. A remake of the first game in the series, known as Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut, was released in 2009, and a remake of the second game in the series, Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered, in 2010 for iOS devices; other platforms followed in 2011.
Rolf Saxon is an American actor. He is well known for his voice-over work in video games, movies and TV shows.
Lure of the Temptress is a point-and-click adventure game published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in June 1992 for Atari ST, MS-DOS, and Amiga. It was the first game developed by Revolution Software and uses their proprietary Virtual Theatre engine. The player assumes the role of Diermot, a young peasant who has to overthrow an evil sorceress. The game was well-received and re-released as freeware on April 1, 2003.
The Virtual Theatre is a computer game engine designed by Revolution Software to produce adventure games for computer platforms. The engine allowed their team to script events, and move animated sprites against a drawn background with moving elements using a point-and-click style interface. Upon its first release, it rivaled competing engines like LucasArts' SCUMM and Sierra's Creative Interpreter, due to its then high level of artificial intelligence. The engine was first proposed in 1989, while the first game to use it, Lure of the Temptress, was released in 1992, followed by Beneath a Steel Sky (1994), Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (1996) and Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror (1997).
Charles Cecil is a British video game designer and co-founder of Revolution Software. His family lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he was still very young, but was evacuated two years after Mobutu Sese Seko's coup d'état. He studied at Bedales School in Hampshire, England. In 1980 he began his studies in Engineering Manufacture and Management at Manchester University, where he met student Richard Turner who invited him to write text adventures for Artic Computing. After completing his degree in 1985 he decided to continue his career in game development and became director of Artic. The following year he established Paragon Programming, a game development company working with British publisher U.S. Gold. In 1987 he moved into publishing as a software development manager for U.S. Gold. A year later he was approached by Activision and was offered the position of manager of their European development studio.
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon is an adventure game released on Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 in November 2003. It is the third installment in the Broken Sword series, released six years after the previous instalment, The Smoking Mirror. The Sleeping Dragon moved the series to 3D graphics, and is the only game in the series not to use a point and click interface. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American patent lawyer who flies to the Congo to write a patent for a scientist who claims to have found a source of unlimited energy.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game developed by Revolution Software. It is the first in the Broken Sword series, co-written and directed by Charles Cecil. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris, as he attempts to unravel a deep conspiracy involving a sinister cult and a hidden treasure, seeing him travel to various locations around Europe and the Middle East. The game's storyline was conceived to feature a serious tone and heavily influenced by research on Knights Templar by Cecil, but was also interlaced with humor and graphics in the style of classic animated films.
Tony Warriner is a British video game designer, programmer and co-founder of Revolution Software. At a young age he started playing adventure games, when they were just text adventures. He wrote his first game, Obsidian, while he was at school and sent it to Artic Computing for consideration. Artic's director, Charles Cecil, loved the game and convinced him to license it to Artic, and then to join Artic as a programmer. At Artic he wrote, together with Adam Waring, Ultima Ratio which was published in 1987 by Firebird. In the same year he got a job at Cecil's Paragon Programming, where games from US publishers were converted to European platforms. When Cecil had left to work for U.S. Gold, Warriner started doing 8-bit programming for games. In 1988 he created Death Stalker, published by Codemasters. In the same year he joined Cascade Games, where he worked on 19 Part One: Boot Camp, Arcade Trivia Quiz, and Arcade Trivia Quiz Question Creator. In 1989 Warriner moved to Bytron Aviation Systems based in Kirmington, Lincolnshire, where he wrote software for the aviation industry, David Sykes was his fellow programmer.
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death is a 3D point-and-click adventure game developed by Revolution Software and Sumo Digital, which was released in 2006 in Europe and Australia and in 2007 in North America. It is the fourth iteration of the Broken Sword series, following 2003's Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon. Being released only on Windows, it is the only game in the series not to be released on any console. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American patent lawyer, as he and Anna Maria, a girl with an old manuscript, search for a great treasure that the manuscript leads them to. The game uses a point and click interface, though George's moves can be controlled using a keyboard.
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is a point-and-click adventure video game developed by Revolution Software for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. It was re-released on Microsoft Windows, OS X and iOS as a remastered edition in 2010 and on Android in 2012. It is the second installment in the Broken Sword series, and the first game in the series that does not follow the Knights Templar storyline. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, a young American who is an eyewitness to the kidnapping of his girlfriend Nicole Collard.
Steve Ince is a British writer and game designer, known for his work on Revolution Software titles such as the Broken Sword series, and is working on a freelance basis.
Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is the fifth title in the Broken Sword series of adventure video games, developed and published by Revolution Software, for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS. The game was released in two episodes: the first was made available on 4 December 2013; the second was released on 17 April 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux. The Serpent's Curse was announced on 23 August 2012, along with a Kickstarter project; it was launched for the development of the game, which had been self-funded until the launch, to be completed. The game is presented in HD and returns to the series' 2D roots, with 3D characters pre-rendered and saved in 2D frames. The majority of the funding for the game was raised through Kickstarter, more than $771,000 of the requested $400,000 were raised, and together with PayPal donations, over $823,000.
The Goat Puzzle is a puzzle featured in Revolution Software's 1996 point and click adventure game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars. In the puzzle, protagonist George Stobbart must gain access to an underground dig located in a castle in Lochmarne, Ireland, while avoiding a fierce goat. The puzzle's perceived difficulty is due to it requiring the player to think in a different way to their approach to previous puzzles in the game. Many gamers and critics consider it to be one of the hardest video game puzzles of all time.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut is a 2009 enhanced remake and director's cut of the classic 1996 point-and-click adventure game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars developed by Revolution Software. It was released for Wii, Nintendo DS, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Android and Linux spanning 2009 to 2012. The player assumes the roles of George Stobbart and Nicole Collard, who was a pivotal but not a playable character in the original version.
Beyond a Steel Sky is a 2020 adventure video game developed and published by Revolution Software. Set ten years after the events of the 1994 video game Beneath a Steel Sky, players assume the role of Robert Foster as he finds himself returning to Union City on the hunt for a kidnapped child, only to learn that the city's new utopia state is not what it appears to be. The game's design utilized the Unreal Engine 4, focusing on cel-shaded 3D graphics, including comic book-styled text boxes.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is an adventure video game developed by Revolution Software and published by BAM! Entertainment for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld game console. It is based on the original game of the same name from 1996. and released in North America and Europe in March 2002.