Big Sushi interview

Sorcery! 2 has now been out just over a week, and several thousand people have entered the city: some of them have even left again. It's been an exciting week for us, trawling the internet on the look-out for reviews, which ranged from enthusiastic 5/5's like this one on Slide To Play to this 8/10 Silver Award-winning review on Pocket Gamer which reads like the reviewer had something of a harder time of it. The overall result is good - our Metacritic score is 88, three points up from last time around..!

Releasing a game is a nerve-wracking experience: you never quite know whether people will love it, or hate it, or simply ignore it and let it slide into oblivion, and you can get a sense of that from listening to this interview we did with the guys at Big Sushi FM, a few days before the Cityport of Traps hit the App Store. (If you haven't listened to a Big Sushi podcast before, you should: they're one of the best around, with a knack for having rich and diverse discussions with the designers of games that talk as much about the people and the art as the games themselves.)

In this episode, John and Landon talk us down from our gibbering worries about whether or not Sorcery! 2 is any good, and we discuss the development of the sequels new mechanics, dragging in comparisons to GTA, Assassin's Creed IV, Shadow of the Colossus and a whole raft of other titles along the way. We also tease a new project that we'll be working on in parallel with Sorcery! in 2014.

So, if you've got a spare hour and think games are interesting as well as fun, take a listen. And if you're still not sure about whether Kharé is the game for you, here's a video review by Bradley Cummings of BoardGameGeek.com that we thought provides about as good a summary of "what the game's got" as any we've seen. Enjoy.

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A

I bought an iPad just to have the chance to play Sorcery!. This book in particular (Khare' Cityport of Traps) has a deep meaning in my personal life. I've been dreaming for an RPG which would exploit the massive potential the series has. Still, I had to give back the iPad (tedious other issues), when exactly can we expect the Android version?

Thanks for your attention, keep up with your job!

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S

Fantastic game! This is by far the greatest rendition from gamebook to digital app. Beautifully designed interface, interactive battle scenes and intriguing narrative. I absolutely love the seamless flow from one sequence to another, it made for a really immersive experience–especially with the great sound effects in place. Truly a phenomenal experience!! Found myself playing the game over and over to figure out every single possibility. Might I suggest an option to delete cloud saves as the players please? Players like me accumulate too many of them and found some saves to be inferior to the others. I would greatly appreciate the implementation!

Two exciting questions I have though,

1. Will you be considering adaptations of other gamebooks? (could be the numerous Fighting Fantasy titles or other series.)

2. What kind of other projects is inklestudios involved in?

Regardless, I can see many great things to come for the passionate developers and talented artists of inklestudios. Because not only do you provide a wonderful game, you also deliver an unmatched gameplay experience, adding value to an already stunning game. Good luck!

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J

Thanks for the feedback! To answer your questions:-

  1. We'll be looking at doing projects with a similar kind of flavour, definitely, but maybe in slightly different genres. Fighting Fantasy is definitely *out*, as Tin Man Games are doing those. But there's a whole world of genres and stories to try...

  2. We do some work with Penguin in America - see our round up of the year post for more about that! Then there's also inklewriter, and SECRET SECRET SECRET.

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I

Done and done. Well, hopefully - I just sent the review to the App Store and hope it posts soon.

Thanks again for this brilliant, devious game!

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I

Thanks so much for the amazing job you've done of bringing Khare to life! "Cityport of Traps" was the first Sorcery! book I read when I was a youngster and it's always had a very special place in my imagination.

Your game has been so great to play in part because the tweaks and additions you've made make the game feels every bit as good as my 8-year-old self remembers the book being.

I'm fascinated by the connection between narrative and interactivity and love the way you've combined the urgency and decision-making of the book with a more expansive (and much fairer) sense of exploration. I also loved the way that time passes in the city - coming back to the fair after hours and witnessing the chaos was a very satisfying and surprising addition to the original fair scenes.

And then Swindlestones... Awesome. A great game-within-a-game mechanic and wonderfully integrated into the narrative. I actually found myself rewinding after Swindlestones games partly to ferret out new information, partly just because the basic game itself is so much fun.

Thanks so much for this wonderful game. Can't wait for the Serpents!

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J

Thanks! It's always great to hear from people who've enjoyed the game - sometimes it feels we get nothing but bug reports!

If you felt like stopping by the App Store and leaving a review there that'd be fantastic - we've just done some updates so it's looking quite bare at the moment!

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A

Hi! first at all I'm a Spanish player ( sorry my bad English ), both of them games are awesome! I enjoy too much with the many options in the journey to found the crown, I waiting very exited to April new part, I have one question, your team thinking about a Spanish translation?thanks for revived an amazing adventure to ours phones so well, really you do a great work, greetings!

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S

The email is sent if you need a another screenshot lemme know or if you need a broader view of the map let me know as well.

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S

I followed what you said and replayed back up to tarot card reader (with the newest update) and still cannot progress when reaching the first junction again. Sorry to sound frustrated but I do love this game and the previous I just have tons more magical items then I did in my first playthrough and I don't wanna lose em! Thanks for your help and feedback on how to fix it.

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J

Email us a screenshot of your route, maybe?

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S

I did find a bug within the game that's is very frustrating.. If you circle around after looking through the abandoned mansion and meeting the creatures with the false fortune teller Sirsi and link back up to the first junction.. You can't move! You literally cannot move anywhere else.. As and if trying to rewind all I do is crash! I found all these clues but I can't progress? Very irritating bug or if it is designed to do that it's a very bad one..

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J

You should find if you update the app, the latest version fixes this issue. (You'll need to replay that last location, at the least -- hold down the avatar to replay the last spot). Apologies, but there are a *lot* of possible routes in this game! We missed that one.

The rewind should not crash, though, that sounds more serious. Drop us an email if that keeps happening. (info -- at -- inklestudios -- dot -- com)

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AL

Thanks will post the review.

Can I have a clue on how to meet VIK?

And a clue on the spell for the temple? I tried LUK but I am not clear what it does.

Thanks for your help, sorry if this is annoying but I love this game enough to want to find absolutely everything.

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AL

Hi

I finished the game and have to say it was fantastic and have explored pretty much every location that I could find. I really think you could easily charge more for the game.

Three(ish) questions:

A) is there any way to stop/meet Vik?

B) the spells on top of Courgas shrine is it just guess work finding them and besides for TAK do they have any purpose?

C) will it be worth switching to other gods? Or will it be impossible to complete the final book like in the original?

Now to post my review can I time travel forwards to April or will it be June :-)

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J

Glad you enjoyed it! To answers you questions -- stop Vik, no; meet him, yes. Of Courga's spells, there's one other in particular which is pretty powerful and can affect what happens next, but you can do just as well without it. For C, we'll never make it impossible to complete the final book (that would be pretty bad); otherwise, other Gods have their advantages and their disadvantages!

Thanks for getting in touch, and do drop us an App Store review if you would, they really help. Cheers!

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M

Excellent game with many options to explore. Could do with a bit of proof reading as there are quite a few grammatical errors. Also there does not seem to be a way of equipping the magic sword instead of the one you normally use.

In another update would be nice to see some more mini quests expanded like the man-eating grass, slavers or the various sewer entities.

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J

Hey! Glad you enjoyed the game. So you know, the legendary sword is automatically equipped - the game always uses the best sword you're carrying.

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