When Ron Gilbert announced his somewhat sudden departure last week from Double Fine, many wondered what was next for the man who is often credited as creating the adventure game genre as we know it today. Many assumed (or hoped) that it would be another adventure game.
But as it turns out, it's a game that combines puzzles and role-playing, plus pirates. It's also for the iPhone and iPad. The name of the game is Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG, or SSITVTDTUSS:AMMTPRPG for short, according to Gilbert in a recent blog entry.
Gilbert also details the creation of the game. He apparently has long had an affinity for match-3 games and developed on a number of years ago with Clayton Kauzlaric, with whom Gilbert has collaborated with in the past. It was called Realms of Gold and also incorporated role-playing elements.
So what happened? According to Gilbert:
"It was fun, but it was also a little confusing. The game was a RPG, but we were told by the publisher that no one wanted to play a match-3 RPG, so that part of the game was watered down. Of course, a year later Puzzle Quests comes out and sells a billion copies."
Gilbert goes on to explain that he pulled another match-3 prototype out of the closet, one that would eventually become Scurvy Scallywags. A key moment was the major breakthrough that himself and Kauzlaric made:
"… unlike Puzzle Quest – and just about every other match-3 RPG that sprang up after it – in Scurvy Scallywags you actually move your hero/pirate around the board and position her/him next to enemies to do battle. It creates this new layer to the matching that is a lot of fun."
Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG is expected to be out sometime next month or shortly thereafter, for iOS. An Android version is also in cards.
