Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars is getting a big fancy remaster in Broken Sword: Reforged, and it's currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter by Revolution Software. It will have full Linux support too, as confirmed by the developer.
Somehow I entirely missed the campaign had actually launched, with only 11 days left to go. Seems plenty of people are excited to replay one of the best point and click adventures around, in full 4K with the Kickstarter campaign noting a £50,000 base goal and it's currently on £404,303.
You can pledge to get a digital code (GOG / Steam), or go for two different special Collector's Edition Boxes that include things like a figurine, a USB-C key, a manuscript, game manual and so on.
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Interestingly, they are using AI for the remaster. Here's what they said about their use of AI for it:
What parts of your project will use AI generated content? Please be as specific as possible.
Disclaimer: All training data comes from within Revolution Software. We wanted to use tools that were trained exclusively on our own data, and so we opted to write our own bespoke program in collaboration with The University Of York. Outputs from this tool have received significant intervention by our art team, ensuring that the final product receives the same level of attention to detail as any other artwork befitting the polished standards of a Broken Sword game.
Do you have the consent of owners of the works that were (or will be) used to produce the AI generated portion of your projects? Please explain.
Yes - the training data is comprised of sprites drawn by our animators.
Check it out on the Kickstarter.
You can also follow on Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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pleasereadthemanual Mar 18
This is the first time I've heard of this game, but it looks quite cool. I'm famously bad at point-and-click adventures, but it looks good. When it comes out on GOG, I might buy it.
Very interesting usage of LLM tooling. I wonder what the benefits are; it almost seems more costly and more work to do it the way they're doing it.
Previously, Previously, Previously, ...
Last edited by pleasereadthemanual on 18 March 2024 at 2:12 pm UTC
Very interesting usage of LLM tooling. I wonder what the benefits are; it almost seems more costly and more work to do it the way they're doing it.
It will have full Linux support too, as confirmed by the developer.We'll see.
Previously, Previously, Previously, ...
Last edited by pleasereadthemanual on 18 March 2024 at 2:12 pm UTC
4 Likes, Who?
Interesting that the "how do you specifically use AI" is entirely taken up by a disclaimer about how it's trained, and he doesn't actually say what it's used for.
4 Likes, Who?
rustybroomhandle Mar 18
This is the first time I've heard of this game, but it looks quite cool. I'm famously bad at point-and-click adventures, but it looks good. When it comes out on GOG, I might buy it.
Very interesting usage of LLM tooling. I wonder what the benefits are; it almost seems more costly and more work to do it the way they're doing it.
It will have full Linux support too, as confirmed by the developer.We'll see.
Previously, Previously, Previously, ...
None of your Previouslys are games from this company. All Revolution's games published / remastered since 2010 have had Linux support. Two of them even had Kickstarters.
Beyond a Steel Sky
Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse
Broken Sword: Director's Cut (which is the one being remastered here)
Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror (the remaster)
6 Likes, Who?
This is the first time I've heard of this game, but it looks quite cool.
It will have full Linux support too, as confirmed by the developer.We'll see.
Previously, Previously, Previously, ...
you know this is a remake of a game that already has LINUX support?
when they say there will be a linux version, i am very confident, that they will deliver
they just released a game with linux support: Beyond a Steel Sky
anyways. sadly they wanted to release it Q1. now they have Q2.
but 400k sounds like they gonna remake all broken sword games. i am hoping for a 2D version of 3+4. 3D point and click does not work for me.
1 Likes, Who?
pleasereadthemanual Mar 18
you know this is a remake of a game that already has LINUX support?No, I didn't know that
when they say there will be a linux version, i am very confident, that they will deliver
they just released a game with linux support: Beyond a Steel Sky
This post is the first I'm hearing of this game.
None of your Previouslys are games from this company. All Revolution's games published / remastered since 2010 have had Linux support. Two of them even had Kickstarters.That's good to hear. A track record like that makes them trustworthy and gives that claim weight.
---
But, can you blame me for being skeptical? It's not a small number of Kickstarter campaigns that have promised a Linux version and never delivered it, or delivered it years later.
3 Likes, Who?
2D versions of 3 & 4 would basically be new games, though. Those don't come cheap.
Didn't Cecil say they're not doing the DC stuff for the remaster? It'd be a remaster of the original if that's still the plan. Which is the better idea, to be honest.This is the first time I've heard of this game, but it looks quite cool. I'm famously bad at point-and-click adventures, but it looks good. When it comes out on GOG, I might buy it.
Very interesting usage of LLM tooling. I wonder what the benefits are; it almost seems more costly and more work to do it the way they're doing it.
It will have full Linux support too, as confirmed by the developer.We'll see.
Previously, Previously, Previously, ...
None of your Previouslys are games from this company. All Revolution's games published / remastered since 2010 have had Linux support. Two of them even had Kickstarters.
Beyond a Steel Sky
Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse
Broken Sword: Director's Cut (which is the one being remastered here)
Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror (the remaster)
1 Likes, Who?
I have bought the "recent" Revolution games and they work fine on Linux. And I agree with mylka, remaking those 3D games would be nice, I didn't like the style either. Or a new one would also be nice.
1 Likes, Who?
Very interesting usage of LLM tooling. I wonder what the benefits are; it almost seems more costly and more work to do it the way they're doing it.Maybe they just have/know more coders than artists.
1 Likes, Who?
Interesting that the "how do you specifically use AI" is entirely taken up by a disclaimer about how it's trained, and he doesn't actually say what it's used for.Well, I guess that's what people care about. I mean the questions he's really answering are "Are you arguably ripping off other artists' work?" and "Is the resulting art going to be crap because AI?" and he is taking pains to give a pretty convincing "no."
1 Likes, Who?
Or a new one would also be nice.New one is in the works.
2 Likes, Who?
That's good to hear. A track record like that makes them trustworthy and gives that claim weight.Revolution is my favorite dev. They almost always do the right thing:
Worked together with ScummVM devs for the Broken Sword support.
Made FLOSS releases for older titles (Lure of the Temptress, Beneath a Steel Sky) game data and source code (when it was available. Lure I think was lost?)
Totally cool with fan fiction like the excellent Broken Sword 2.5.
Hired people from the community. (Don't recall if it was from ScummVM or BS2.5?)
Plus of course the Linux ports for their recent'ish games.
7 Likes, Who?
Very interesting usage of LLM tooling. I wonder what the benefits are; it almost seems more costly and more work to do it the way they're doing it.XKCD sums this up, I reckon. At least, this is my programming life...
!XKCD "Automation" post demonstrating that automation is meant to deliver efficiency over time, but never does.
6 Likes, Who?
Absolutely bizarrely, while researching Scottish development studios, today, the same day as this article, but wholly unrelated... I came across EM Studios:
https://www.emstudios.co.uk/?page_id=212
...who worked on Broken Sword! What are the chances.
https://www.emstudios.co.uk/?page_id=212
...who worked on Broken Sword! What are the chances.
2 Likes, Who?
Linux_Rocks Mar 18
0 Likes
rustybroomhandle Mar 18
Man, are they ever going to repair that damn sword?
2 Likes, Who?
Interesting that the "how do you specifically use AI" is entirely taken up by a disclaimer about how it's trained, and he doesn't actually say what it's used for.Well, I guess that's what people care about. I mean the questions he's really answering are "Are you arguably ripping off other artists' work?" and "Is the resulting art going to be crap because AI?" and he is taking pains to give a pretty convincing "no."
Indeed they trained the AI with drawings from the original artist so that it would generate convincing intraframes.
Actual artists are still used to do what the AI is unable to do, like hands and something else I cannot remember.
I'm okayish with that, letting the AI doing the boring task, while leaving the creative part to the humans.
Last edited by kokoko3k on 19 March 2024 at 10:51 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
I have a bunch of GBA games that I got through...totally legit means, and this game is one of them. I played it on a whim, I don't even like point and click games, but darned if I didn't enjoy it. Never finished it, but I'm definitely going to picking this remake up. The only question is if I can talk myself into getting the collectors edition.
And slightly off topic, but the fact that I'm willing to buy a remake of a game I already have for free says a lot about how pointless anti-piracy measures are. If I hadn't already played it, I wouldn't have cared. And I never would have bought it in the first place.
And slightly off topic, but the fact that I'm willing to buy a remake of a game I already have for free says a lot about how pointless anti-piracy measures are. If I hadn't already played it, I wouldn't have cared. And I never would have bought it in the first place.
0 Likes
pleasereadthemanual Mar 19
Revolution sounds like a great developer. While Kickstarter campaigns are infamous for not fulfilling their promises (Re: Sharin no Kuni for a visual novel example, and I've already linked the "nevermind we can't do Linux" examples), some really cool stuff has been funded. This seems like the latter.That's good to hear. A track record like that makes them trustworthy and gives that claim weight.Revolution is my favorite dev. They almost always do the right thing:
Worked together with ScummVM devs for the Broken Sword support.
Made FLOSS releases for older titles (Lure of the Temptress, Beneath a Steel Sky) game data and source code (when it was available. Lure I think was lost?)
Totally cool with fan fiction like the excellent Broken Sword 2.5.
Hired people from the community. (Don't recall if it was from ScummVM or BS2.5?)
Plus of course the Linux ports for their recent'ish games.
Broken Sword may not be the sort of game I typically play, but as I said, it looks cool, and I might buy it when it's out on GOG.
1 Likes, Who?
the fact that I'm willing to buy a remake of a game I already have for free says...that software houses needs to make remakes to fight piracy?
1 Likes, Who?
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