Tag: Underground Kingdom »

As a huge fan of interactive fiction thanks to a childhood full of Fighting Fantasy and Choose Your Own Adventure books, it's been a pretty exciting time on the App Store of late. Besides Tin Man Games's steady conquering of all things Fighting Fantasy, the release of Sorcery!, and Visual Baker's Underground Kingdom, things have been kicked up a further notch.

That's thanks to the latest Kickstarter campaign, focused on Choose Your Own Adventure books aimed at younger readers and now known as Choose 'Toons. With the Kickstarter just launched, we took some time to chat to Shannon Gilligan, publisher at Chooseco.

"Choose 'Toons are interactive cartoons, plain and simple. There are very abbreviated amounts of text at the choice points, but that's it. Otherwise, you are watching an animated story, with choices!" explained Shannon.

The first app is based on Your Very Own Robot in which the reader uses their parents' robot lab to put together a robot named Gus, leading to some entertaining mishaps. While Shannon told us that there are some "slight amendments and additions", the app is set to follow the book "pretty faithfully".

"It was interesting to adapt because I actually found that typical cable or Saturday morning cartoons are much more physically violent than what's in our books," Shannon noted. "It has something to do with watching vs. reading I think. And it's nothing new. I watched Roadrunner as a kid and it's quite violent, sometimes to the point of sadism. Our eyes are trained to be entertained which might demand certain kinds of less cerebral plot points."

So, young readers and their parents should have nothing to worry about when it comes to the content of this forthcoming adaptation!

The Kickstarter comes with some fairly typical pledge awards, as well as some rather exciting high-end ones such as being able to pay to have one's voice featured in the app. Most thrilling of all, though, has to be the one-off $10,000 pledge. Unlike anything else I've seen before, it gives the buyer their very own Choose Your Own Adventure for real. Throughout the campaign, backers and followers will be asked two questions each week, which will eventually lead to the adventure of a lifetime. While Shannon explained that Antarctica is out because of costs, pretty much everything else is up for grabs. Adventurous spirit and $10,000 to spare? You know what to do.

On a serious final note, anything that encourages kids and their families to read together has to be a hugely positive step. Even better, for this series, it looks set to combine nostalgia for the parents with new discoveries for the kids. We'll be sure to keep an eye on this Kickstarter's progress. For now, check out the campaign page if you're interested in participating or you fancy a $10,000 adventure of a lifetime. The campaign ends on September 12.

With the recent release of Fighting Fantasy: The Forest of Doom, it seemed like the perfect time to take a look at our favourite four Adventure Game Book Apps. The Forest of Doom isn't included here, but consider it a bonus 5th, representing just how great all the Fighting Fantasy conversions are. The Adventure Game Book genre is a strong one on the App Store, so it's been a tough battle narrowing things down!

Sorcery!
Only part one of four has been released so far, but Sorcery! is a great conversion of the much loved series by Steve Jackson. There are nearly 50 spells to learn, plenty of decisions to make and a gripping story throughout. The combat might take a moment or two to click, deviating from typical dice throwing methods, but it all adds to the already beautiful visuals. It's a quite captivating tale.

Trial of the Clone
One of two titles featuring here from, unofficial App Store Kings of the genre, Tin Man Games: Trial of the Clone is a rare thing in the gaming world: a genuinely funny title. Written by Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal creator, Zach Weinersmith, and including the voice of Wil Wheaton, the artistic pedigree is as strong as the content. Telling the story of a clone making its way in a futuristic world, it's an unique tale that is ideal to play again and again, seeking out new endings.

Underground Kingdom
Less focused on combat than the others, Underground Kingdom is the re-imagining of the first Choose Your Own Adventure book, a series popular in the 1970s and 1980s. 23 different endings are available to find, as players explore an alien world in this attractive storybook style app. The artwork is particularly appealing and while it's a shorter read than some of the others here, it's an ideal way to remember a classic series.

Judge Dredd: Countdown Sector 106
It was a close run thing between this and one of the Fighting Fantasy titles, but the Judge has just about inched ahead. Understandably for such a violent theme, there's plenty of dice rolling based combat here, alongside appropriate visuals capturing the spirit of Judge Dredd well. What makes it stand out all the more, however, is the record sheets that come with each perp either killed or arrested. There's always that urge to play another game, just to try to fill the database. Adventure fans, as well as comic book fans, will love this.

Lately, there seems to be a Kickstarter project for everything imaginable. One new exciting project is Underground Kingdom.

The project aims to adapt the work of author Edward Packard, namely his Choose Your Own Adventure books made popular in the 1970s. These books have proved very important to many in the past, myself included, both encouraging literacy and demonstrating how much fun reading can be.

Much like the work of Tin Man Games, Choose Your Own Adventure books are all about taking part in an interactive story and making decisions that lead to many different inclusions.

Underground Kingdom isn't quite under way yet, hence the Kickstarter project. While I for one greatly encourage getting involved with backing the project, we thought it only right to check in with co-founder and project director Felipe Mingo and creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure books Edward Packard and see how they feel about things.

We asked Felipe about the motivation behind bringing back this series of books.

"In (our) search for an app idea," he explained, "we remembered the Choose Your Own Adventure series. We really loved these books as kids, and thought that it would be great to transport the concept of "gamebooks" to digital. When we looked for digital versions, we didn't find any quality apps that would deliver a great experience. We wanted something different, with contemporary artwork, interaction, a map to guide your path... That's when we decided to start working on it and contacted Edward, who was really helpful and licensed us some of his books."

Asking whether the books, starting with Underground Kingdom, will be original conversions or if there will be any adjustments, Felipe explained that "The adaptations of the story are completely original from Edward Packard books. We made some minor changes to the text so it would adapt to today's technology. The artwork is totally new." As you can see from the artwork below, it's pretty glorious to look at and a great re-imagining of the original's style.

Edward Packard explained to us that he believes the "imaginative color art and animations...greatly enrich the adventurous experience" while also stating that he's "delighted, and especially so about delivering them in app form," as well as the "added interactive features [and] sound effects".

While the project is still in the early stages, Visual Baker provided us with some examples of concept art and how the devs there plan to incorporate the feel of Choose Your Own Adventure books into app form. It's looking pretty great, so far.

If you're keen on backing the Kickstarter, check out the Underground Kingdom project page for details of pledge amounts available.