Revolution Co-Founder Releasing Book On Studios' Ups And Downs

When it comes to adventure games, there are few studios more beloved than Revolution Software. Founded in 1990 in York, by Charles Cecil, Noirin Carmody, Tony Warriner, and David Sykes, the studio was behind classic adventure games like Lure of the Temptress, Beneath A Steel Sky, and the Broken Sword games.

Its story has been told on several occasions in interviews, videos, and lengthy features, but now one of its co-founders Tony Warriner has announced they are crowdfunding a book (which has already hit its goal by the time of writing), detailing the studios' up and downs throughout the years.

The book is called "Revolution: The Quest for Game Development Greatness" and will begin in the early 80s as Warriner, a high-school dropout, submits a game called Obsidian to Artic Computing, a local games publisher. It will then cover Warriner's meeting with Charles Cecil, an employee at Artic at the time, and chart Revolution Software's journey through the game industry's "shark-infested waters, where malign corporate forces constantly sought to trick and connive for their own short-term gain."

Other features of the 600-page book include:

• 400+ photos spanning from the mid-1980s to the present day, including studio photos, original line drawings, box art, and magazine advertisements
• Learn about the contracts from hell and the underhand tricks of the corporate games industry
• Read the original Beneath a Steel Sky design document in all its handwritten glory
• Uncover the origins of Revolution Software in deepest, darkest North Wales
• Gain invaluable insight into Tony’s ‘Script’ system, which underpinned all of Revolution’s games
• Get the full backstory on a wealth of adventure classics including Lure of the Temptress, Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword, and In Cold Blood
• Follow the highs and lows as the team repeatedly lurched from crisis to euphoria
• Get the lowdown on collaborations with incredible talents such as Eoghan Cahill, Dave Gibbons, Barrington Pheloung, and Rolf Saxon
• Discover how two CDs’ worth of data was shrunk down to fit on an 8 MB cartridge for the Game Boy Advance version of Broken Sword 1 (it was a miracle)
• Learn about the projects that never were, including Good Cop Bad Cop and Blood Harvest

If you want to back the project, you can go to the book's Kickstarter page, where there are tiers for a digital edition (£25) and a hardback (£35), alongside a hardback special edition (£45). Rewards are expected to ship in January 2023.

We can't wait to get our hands on our own copy, especially to see what Warriner has managed to save from those early Broken Sword titles as well as those canceled projects like Good Cop, Bad Cop and Blood Harvest.

Are you thinking of backing the project? Let us know in the comments!