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Revolution 60

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Revolution 60
Developer(s)Giant Spacekat

Revolution 60 by Brianna Wu is a video game, an interactive fiction concerning a team of four women working in an anime-themed special forces unit to liberate a space station.

Giant Spacekat first demoed Revolution 60 at Pax East in March 2013, where the game was listed as one of the 10 best indie games of the conference.[1]

Originally targeted to release in late 2013, the development schedule was extended. In July 2013 the company ran a Kickstarter campaign, asking for $5,000 to accommodate the extra time, and to fund a PC release of the game in addition to iOS. The fundraiser brought in $12,728.[2]


Development

Production of Revolution 60 began in 2011, approximately 1 year after Brianna Wu met animator Amanda Stenquist-Warner through an advertisement on Craigslist [3]. The initial version of the game was to be a top down Turn-based strategy, along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, although Wu chose a change in direction to a 3D game after seeing Infinity Blade.[4]

After briefly hiring contractors, Wu and Stenquist-Warner hired Maria Enderton as Lead Developer/Technical Artist, who had been a school friend of Warner's [5]. Artist Frank Wu provided designs for the spaceships (including the Dragonchild fighter ship and the Death Lotus capital ship) as well as the space station N313. Carolyn VanEseltine (ex Harmonix) provided input to the combat, upgrade system and overall difficulty curve [6]

Amanda Winn-Lee provided voice acting, after Wu had been impressed by her previous Anime performances. [7]

The game was created for a total budget of a few hundred thousand dollars, and was released for iOS devices in July 2014. The app is free to download and playable up to a certain point, after which a single in-app purchase is required to complete the game. Wu acknowledged her dislike of microtransactions, and wanted the balance between a one-off cost yet still allowing players to try the game [8]

Wu, who described the sci-fi themed action-adventure as "Heavy Rain mixed with Mass Effect", was credited as head of development.[9] Wu described the art style as inspired by Space Channel 5 and Sailor Moon [10]

Reflecting the almost all-female development team, the game features an all-female cast.[11]

The game has 24 endings, with no 'correct' ending, based on the player's decisions and actions throughout the game [12]

Technical

Revolution 60 was developed on Unreal Engine 3 using UnrealScript. Due to a desire to include a rich storyline, emphasis was placed on character expression with more detail in the face and hair to avoid having to express emotion solely though a bunch of gesticulation [13]. While this allows for more emotion and communication in the cut-scenes a trade-off occurred due to hardware limitations, requiring less detail on the body of the game characters. This was the primary factor in the design decision to employ the 'skin-tight suits' [14].

For increased expression, the character of Holiday has a 'staggering' 78-83 bones in her model mesh, with the majority of bones making up her face and hair. [15][16]

Reception and critical response

The Guardian describes it as "a cartoonish science fiction adventure for smartphones, notable for its all-female cast and cinematic story, a rarity on mobile platforms."[17]

One reviewer on Pocket Gamer called it intelligent and "hugely entertaining". Another cited some issues with pacing and a heavily linear storyline, but overall found it "enjoyable and compelling."[18][19]

Kotaku stated "I Can't Get Enough Of This Sexy Sci-Fi Spy Thriller" [20], explaining "As the credits rolled for Revolution 60, Giant Spacekat's science fiction spy adventure for iOS, I felt the familiar pang of loss I feel whenever a great game ends."

Macworld called Revolution 60 the most ambitious iOS game you'll play this year[21], giving it 4.5/5.

Sequel

Giant Spacekat has stated there will be a sequel: Revolution 62, where many of the original characters will reappear. Wu stated that Giant Spacekat would be attempting to recruit Felicia Day in a voice acting role for a main character [22][23].

The sequel would use the Unreal 4 engine so there would be a high likelihood of a Android port. [24]

A male Chinese-American character called Chase will appear in the sequel. [25] He is briefly mentioned in conversation by the characters in Revolution 60.

  • [1] Revolution 60 website
  • [2] Revolution Raver interview with Frank Wu
  • [3] The Art and Science of Spaceship Design I: The Xiezhi from Revolution 60 by Frank Wu
  • [4] An Interview with Artist Frank Wu

References

  1. ^ Montanez, Angelina (March 26, 2013). "The 10 best indie games of Pax East 2013". Evolve. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  2. ^ "Kickstarter: Bring Revolution 60 to PC and Mac". August 30, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  3. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 31:50.
  4. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 34:00.
  5. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 38:30.
  6. ^ "Isometric 11" (Podcast). Event occurs at 15:00.
  7. ^ "Isometric 11" (Podcast). Event occurs at 15:00.
  8. ^ "Isometric 11" (Podcast). Event occurs at 34:00.
  9. ^ McClatchy, Todd Martens (August 13, 2014). "The women behind the sci-fi adventure 'Revolution 60' work for gender parity". Southern Illinoisan.
  10. ^ "Isometric 11" (Podcast). Event occurs at 7:06.
  11. ^ Starr, Michelle (30 July 2014). "Revolution 60: A game by and about badass women". CNet. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  12. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:29:30.
  13. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:12:00.
  14. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:07:00.
  15. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:11:00.
  16. ^ https://www.unrealengine.com/showcase/revolution-60
  17. ^ Stuart, Keith (October 17, 2014). "Brianna Wu and the human cost of Gamergate: 'every woman I know in the industry is scared'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  18. ^ Slater, Harry (September 30, 2014). "Revolution 60, the hugely entertaining unique action adventure, is on sale right now on iPad and iPhone". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved October 18, 2014. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ Grannell, Craig (July 25, 2014). "Revolution 60". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  20. ^ Fahey, Mike (July 27, 2014). "Revolution 60". Kotaku.
  21. ^ Caldwell, Serenity (July 28, 2014). "Staff Picks: Revolution 60 is the most ambitious iOS game you'll play this year". Macworld.
  22. ^ "Isometric 11" (Podcast). Event occurs at 20:50.
  23. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:04:00.
  24. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:05:00.
  25. ^ "Debug 44" (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:24:00.
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