14 DAY TRIAL // Games have started to tap into a brand-new source of inspiration. With Dante's Inferno bringing to life Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and probably proving to be a huge hit, it seems developers are willing to take things further. Charles Dickens and his "A Christmas Carol" were chosen as the foundations for a new game to accompany the film animation with the same title. The Disney animation will be out in theaters on November 6 and will be directed by Robert Zemeckis and brought to life by the voices of famous actors like Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman or Michael J. Fox.
Develop got to talk to Revolution Software's Charles Cecil and managed to get a few details regarding the game. “I was approached by Disney to design a game based on a Christmas Carol and it turned out to be really fun. I believe it's very important for games to be able to broaden their horizons. If we, the industry, can start embracing classic works of literature like Dickens, then that's really breaking down a barrier there." And he is right to say so. Plenty of games have suffered from a lack of proper storyline. Focusing on graphics and gameplay, lately games seem to lack a certain depth in the plot and no longer make the player feel like he's part of the universe he is thrown into.
Cecil was originally part of the design team but ended up taking part in some other stages of the development. According to him, he took part in the voice recordings, but did so without much of a choice in the matter. "I designed the high level and some of the low level, and then Sumo Digital designed the rest. But also, I did some place holder for the narration, and despite my protests, the Americans insisted that my voice be used for the final game. They simply said I had to." Oh, the horrors and tragedy of the sacrifice the creative process demands.
In game, the player will have to act as an influencing force in the destiny of Ebenezer Scrooge. Gamers will become "the hand of fate, guiding a very willful protagonist down the road to redemption, and he doesn't want to [go] down that road at all. Players have to interact with people and the environment to make that happen, and it tells the story in [a] really different way. I'm very happy with it." Charles Cecil said.