Tin Man Games, the Australian development company known for their fine collection of Gamebook Adventures have crafted a brand new interactive comic book style gamebook engine and will soon be launching Appointment with F.E.A.R., their first title to utilize the new technology.
Appointment with F.E.A.R. is an adaptation of Steve Jackson’s classic gamebook crafted in a really cool new digital comic book format. Readers get to design their own super-powered defender of justice in Titan City, choosing his or her gender, supername, looks, costume design and even superpower!
The story-line of Appointment with F.E.A.R. follows the life of the superhero across a handful of days as they deal with their everyday normal life, whilst saving the citizens of Titan City from over thirty supervillains using narrative based combat, which unfolds as the combatants trade quips. The aim is to collect vital clues and information that lead to the arrest of these villains, helping them gain hero points and discovering the location of the F.E.A.R. meeting.
How the comic unfolds is in your hands and the choices you make throughout the branching narrative will determine which new villains, super dilemmas, etc you will encounter along the way.
I had a chance to see an early demo of Appointment with F.E.A.R. at PAX East a few months back and the interface is incredible. It really looks and feels just like a digital comic book or graphic novel, except that you have control over what direction the story takes. It was quite remarkable and perfect for anyone who loves comics or just thought that Tin Man’s previous Gamebooks were just too wordy and wanted more pictures.
Neil Rennison, Creative Director for Tin Man Games, said: “This is our first foray into a new area for interactive fiction and gamebooks. Appointment with F.E.A.R. cried out to be presented in a new and stylized way and as the new engine started coming together visually, we knew we were on to something pretty special. We’re looking forward to getting our teeth into some other comic book licenses in the future too!”
While exploring this interactive graphic novel, players will randomly collect trading cards, which are swappable with other players via Facebook. Readers who make ‘clever decisions’ during their adventure, have an increased chance of getting rare cards.
“We’re very excited by this feature because as well as the large number of paths driven by the character in this game, collecting the trading cards will add an extra dynamic as players try to collect them all.” Neil continued.
Appointment with F.E.A.R. is on track for an end of August release, but in the meantime you can follow Tin Man Games’ twitter feed and developer blog for more details.
