Revolution Software: История британского разработчика игр.

British video game developer

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.

The company's logo was inspired by the 1981 film Excalibur and designed in collaboration with a graphic design firm in Hull. Released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS platforms, Lure of the Temptress was both critically and commercially a success, which helped set the company up for their future game releases. Revolution released the game as freeware on 1 April 2003. 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.

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. The game was quickly followed by a well received sequel, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror. According to Charles Cecil, each of the first two Broken Sword games sold around a 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.

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 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. 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.

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). 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. The company also announced that The Director's Cut is coming soon to Android. In October 2009, Beneath a Steel Sky – Remastered was made available on the Apple App Store. 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. 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.

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." After a short delay, the game was officially announced to be a fifth entry in the series: Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse. The game was announced with a Kickstarter campaign and a video, showing some of the game's graphics and hinting at its storyline. 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. 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 (inc. 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. 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. 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. Towards the end of 2023, Revolution announced that a sixth instalment of Broken Sword was in development, entitled 'Broken Sword Parzival's Stone', which is scheduled for release in 2024. In addition, a revamp of the first game 'Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars: Reforged' is due to be released in 2024, with updated graphics and other minor changes to the original gameplay.

YearPublicationListGame or companyRank1993Amiga PowerAmiga Power All Time Top 100Lure of the Temptress47199466Beneath a Steel Sky421995721996842004Adventure GamersTop 20 Adventure Games of All Time17Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars42006Adventure Classic GamingTop 10 retro graphic adventure games of all time from PC to consoles9Retro GamerTop 20 Adventure Games of All Time not by LucasArtsBeneath a Steel Sky3Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars22011DevelopDevelop 100: The World's Most Successful StudiosRevolution Software47BrighthubThe Best PC Adventure Games of All TimeBroken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars*GameranxTop 25 Best iOS GamesBroken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut10Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered9Trusted Reviews100 Best iPhone Games EverBroken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut31TechRadarTop 30 best free games you should play todayBeneath a Steel Sky4PC Gamer20 free PC games you must play9Altered GamerTop 5 Adventure PC Games*Now GamerGreatest Point And Click Games (Not By LucasArts)Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars*Beneath a Steel Sky*Adventure GamersTop 100 All Time Adventures19Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars42012GamesRadarBest point and click adventure games8Gaming EnthusiastTop 10 PC Adventure GamesBroken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars / The Smoking Mirror4*VideoGamerTop Wii Adventure Games of All TimeBroken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut5Top DS Adventure Games of All Time1Adventure GamersTop Adventure Games*Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars*