Emerald City Confidential is OUT!

[Dave Gilbert]

Abount ten months ago, I was approached by a games publisher (PlayFirst)to do an adventure game for the casual audience.  I've had to keep mum about the project since then, but the game was just announced on their website so I am off the leash.  I'm really excited to announce...

The magical land of Oz, as written by L. Frank Baum, is put through the gritty filter of 1940s film noir.  Harsh city streets, grey rainy skies, femme fatales, tough guys, trenchcoats, fedoras and plot twists.  It's Oz, seen through the eyes of Raymond Chandler.

You are Petra. Emerald City's only private detective.  One dark night, she is approached by a strange woman named Dee Gale.  It appears Dee's fiancé is missing, and Dee is willing to pay high and above the going rate in order to find him.  Lacking any other prospects, Petra agrees.  What starts off as a simple missing person case soon takes Petra deep into the seedy underbelly of the Emerald City's criminal underground and beyond.  She will encounter many characters both familiar and new, learn several magic spells, and uncover the answer to a dark secret that has haunted Petra all her life.

Features:

- over 40 hand-drawn 2D backgrounds
- over 6,500 lines of spoken dialog for 35 characters
- a story that takes place over 5 chapters.

This game will published and sold by PlayFirst.

Available now! 

Purchase HERE.

TRAILER HERE


Screenshots:


Petra's office.  It's not much, but it's home.


Ruggedo's pub is the best place in town to speak to the criminal element.


Petra speaks with Jack Pumpkinhead, a notorious smuggler.


Petra and her trusty steed, the Sawhorse, explore the far corners of Winkie country.


Petra has run afoul of a ruthless lawyer.


A chat with Betsy Bobbins, a local debutante.

Team:
Writer/designer: Dave Gilbert
Background artist: John Green
Animation and character artist: Flash Potatoes
Programmer: Andrew Goulding (cmonkey)
Engineer: Dan Filner
Music: Thomas Regin

Purchase HERE.

For more details on the game (like character info, concept sketches, and other goodies),  please mosey over to the Wadjet Eye Games website.

[ThreeOhFour]

Excellent! I plan on buying this one when it comes out!

Question: 6500 lines of dialog is probably going to make this a BIG download! Will there be a CD order available for those poor people with terrible internets (ie, me)?

Otherwise it'll probably take me three straight days to download 

Ps, the screenshots looked a little blocky here but when I checked them out on your website they seemed quite ok. Strange - maybe it's just my browser?

[Eggie]

This is fantastic news for humanity.

[Stupot]

 :o Woah!
Looks great.
Will we get to see Dorothy?

[Dave Gilbert]

Ben: Yep!  There will be a CD version to order or purchase in stores, but it won't be available until a few weeks after the release.  I think.  I'll have to check.

Eggie: Thanks!

Stupot: Yep!  Kinda.  Read the plot description again.

[Stupot]

Stupot: Yep!  Kinda.  Read the plot description again.

Ahh, yep, I geddit now

[Ghost]

Well, surprises like this justify my jaw-less avatar.
Jaw just dropped, all the way down.

:o Looks gorgeous! And congrats on getting under PlayFirst wings; they usually have an eye for quality

[Snarky]

Dee... I get it. 

Interesting. I always like the detective aspects of your games, so I'm looking forward to that. Not sure about Oz as a setting--isn't that ground fairly well-trodden? Anyway, I'm sure you'll make it work somehow, and the graphics look good (if a bit stiff in the character poses). The art deco look of Emerald City is a great fit for a noir tone; and I really look forward to another great jazz soundtrack by Thomas Regin. A definite must-buy.

The character descriptions make it sound like the game is based on deep and extensive Oz research (i.e. not just the movie and the Wicked musical, but the whole series of books). I hope it'll still be accessible for casual (and non-) fans.

If you're recording voices now, does that mean that the game is nearly done and you can focus your attention on Blackwell Convergence again?

BTW, the plural of "femme fatale" is "femmes fatales", "not femme fateles". (Ummm... and also, on your website you describe Petra as "a young (if slightly embittered) young woman", and the PlayFirst company description is in a different font than everything else.)

[Rincewind]

Wow, this was truly a nice surprise - I agree with Snarky somewhat on the Oz-setting, but heck, who am I to complain? This does indeed look awesome. And, as always, I'm hooked from the very mentioning of film noir. Great work, Dave, I'm really looking forward to playing this!

While on the topic: It seems as if there's been a lot of Noir-ish-ness in quite a few up-and-coming adventure games recently...
Three Cards to Midnight and Face Noir: The Cat with Jade Eyes springs to mind... I got a very Grim Fandango-ish vibe from the site of the latter, anyways.

[Sam.]

Stores you say? With windows and doors stores?

[Dave Gilbert]

Zooty: yep!

[Vince Twelve]

Sexcellent!

[Ubel]

That is pretty cool! I like the concept so I'll probably get the game when it's done. Good going, Dave!

[Ozzie]

Wow! Looks great!
I don't know much about Oz to be honest, so do I have to catch up on that front first?

The premise reminds me somewhat of Discworld Noir (fantasy world meets film noir)........coincidence?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Yay, it's finally almost done!

[Darth Mandarb]

Very nice!  I love Dee Gale ... subtle and clever   Lookin' forward to playing!

[Moresco]

Awesome! I'm excited to check this out too.  Beautiful artwork, and I really like that thing, the Sawhorse, that she's riding in the one shot.  I want one.

[m0ds]

Looks great, well done Dave!

[Dualnames]

Wootness.. this looks gorgeous,..

[Dave Gilbert]

oh, and snarky:

If you're recording voices now, does that mean that the game is nearly done and you can focus your attention on Blackwell Convergence again?

Sigh.  Alas, not quite.  There's still a lot left to do.  All the dialog is finalized but there is still a ton of playtesting to do and bugs to fix.  ECC is the largest project I've ever worked on!