By Joel Smart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
iPhone and iPad users may be in for a treat this April, with the release of React Entertainment’s long-awaited The Act – an interactive 2D comedy about a lonely window-washer named Edgar.
The idea of an interactive movie has long been a pipedream for gamers. It was quite successfully attempted with the release of Heavy Rain, a dark psychological thriller from 2010. However, its context-sensitive controls were a bit much for the general public, due to the focus on quick-time-events (where specific buttons appeared on-screen directing players to control the action). It was all a bit complex.
The Act seems to be taking the reverse approach, where simply dragging your finger left and right on the screen controls the way the story plays out. Originally designed as a coin-operated arcade game, The Act was designed to play without any buttons. Instead, the game was controlled by a single dial. In one scene, the more you turn the dial to the right, the more bold Edgar becomes in his attempt to meet the woman of his dreams – junior nurse Sylvia. It can take a perceptive eye and a pretty fine touch to be successful. If you become too bold—and turned all the way to the right, it becomes extremely bold—you will frighten her off. In another scene, the dial becomes more literal, with left and right controlling Edgar’s motions as he attempts to give the Heimlich maneuver. If you fail, you’ll have to play the scene again. In the iOS release, the dial has been replaced with a simple, touch-screen finger movement.
In addition to the friendly controls, the game is quite remarkable in that it uses entirely hand-drawn 2D animation – an incredible undertaking for an interactive medium. Seeking only the best, the development team hired former Disney animators. Many who worked on the game had also worked on such films as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Great Mouse Detective, Tarzan, and The Lion King. Omar Khudari, who wrote and directed the game, told CGSociety that the team had even tried filming actors for the game instead of using animation, but it didn’t have the same effect. “We could have used anything… [but 2D animation] was the first thing, the only thing that worked,” he said. “The art form of personality animation has been refined and practiced at Disney over generations.”
The technology used to make it all work was specially-developed for the game, and works by combining different clips in real time. “That’s the trick,” Khudari told CGSociety. “We do a visual incarnation of personality in a canned way with pre-drawn 2D animation. It might seem simple, but it’s hugely complex. There aren’t infinite possibilities, but there is a lot of randomness and a fairly rich simulation in terms of what the characters can do.”
Another unique facet of the game is the genre it fits into. The game is classified as a comedy, or perhaps even a romantic comedy. To say that this is an unexplored genre in gaming is an understatement. It really speaks to the unabashed creativity that has driven this game – there was no market research that led to the creation of The Act. It is, put simply, a labour of love.
There is a strange history to the game, though. Cecropia Inc., designer of the game, run by Khudari and Ann-Marie Bland, cancelled The Act in early 2007. The game couldn’t find publisher support. The interview with CGSociety, cited above, was from 2006. A Gamasutra article from 2004 saw the game already well into development, pushing for a 2005 release. Having failed to deliver the game, Cecropia was entirely shut down in 2008. For a long while, the game seemed dead in the water. However, in 2009, React Entertainment formed. Its first project: The Act. Now, in 2012, the game seems to finally be on track for release. The game’s Facebook page cites an April release. However, given the game’s history, the release date may be subject to change. Kotaku suggests the game could come out anytime between spring and summer this year. Whenever it comes out, it will be one to watch.
The only foreseeable downside of the game is that it doesn’t have the most creative characters or stories, relying on classic, overplayed archetypes—the angry boss, the attractive nurse, the well-meaning hero, the lazy oaf—to sell its classic comedy. Yet, it comes off as intentional. This game is meant as a throwback to the good ol’ days, from the vintage art style to the simple controls. Revolutionary story or not, I’ll take it for what it is – chances are there won’t be a sequel any time soon.
