The Artful Escape

The Artful Escape
Developer(s) Beethoven & Dinosaur
Publisher(s) Annapurna Interactive
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
Release TBA 2018
Genre(s) Platform game
Mode(s) Single-player

The Artful Escape (previously known as The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti) is an upcoming platform video game being developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur, to be published by Annapurna Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. The title does not have a current release date, though was featured in Microsoft's press conference during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017.

Plot

The game centers on the character of Francis Vendetti, the nephew of a deceased folk-music legend, Johnson Vendetti. Though a musician like his uncle, Francis struggles under the influence of his genealogical relationship to his uncle on his own career. Before his first public concert, he sets off on a journey not only geographically to get away from London, but to also create a new identity for himself to completely stand out from his uncle.[1][2]

Gameplay

The Artful Escape is a platform game, where the player controls Francis in moving him across a musical-infused landscape. Besides running and jumping, Francis has a guitar which he can play to create various effects, such as creating platforms or facing against boss characters.[3] During the game, the player will encounter creatures that they can study to obtain a sound sample that they can use with others they have collected to create their own soundtrack for the game.[4]

Development

The Artful Escape was conceived of by Johnny "Galvatron", one of the founding members and lead guitarist of the band The Galvatrons. Prior to forming the band, Galvatron had studied film and computer animation in college in Melbourne, Australia, but then formed The Galvatrons and had a record deal with Warner Bros. shortly after graduation. During the nearly ten years he spent with the band, he also continued his interest in video games, submitted some articles for various publications and creating small games based on the band's music while they toured Australia and the United Kingdom.[1] Galvatron grew weary from the long tours and had been drawn more into the artistic goals. The band eventually went on hiatus, which allowed Galvatron to pursue other creative efforts, including writing a book, creating a short film, and eventually into game development.[1]

The Artful Escape, as described by Galvatron, is a story in the vein of "David Bowie traveling off from London on an interstellar trip to create Ziggy Stardust".[1] In addition to Bowie, Galvatron cited works by Stanley Kubrick, Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg to help establish the art style he used for the game, as well as using his own experiences from the music touring and the music industry.[1] Some of the character and world designs are based on doodles that Galvatron made in his school books when he was younger.[5] Johnson Vendetti is based on folk music legend Bob Dylan, according to Galvatron.[2]

Galvatron formed Beethoven & Dinosaur, an Australian studio, to work on the game. The studio includes composer Josh Abrahams and programmers Justin Blackwell and Sean Slevin. The studio received $17,000 from an Unreal Dev Grant from Epic Games for The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti in June 2015 to help them develop the title on the Unreal Engine 4.[6] The studio then got approval through the Steam Greenlight program for publishing on the Steam platform in the following month.[1] The studio launched a Kickstarter in March 2016 to secure about $35,000 in additional funds for completing the Microsoft Windows and OS X version of the game.[1] However, the Kickstarter failed to raise sufficient funds, but the studio was able to secure a publication deal with Annapurna Interactive to continue development of the game, and allowing for development of console versions on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[5]

The game, still under the name The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti, was first shown in playable form at PAX East during March 2017.[5] The game had a larger reveal during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 that June as a featured title in Microsoft's press conference, where it was revealed that the game would have a console-exclusive release on the Xbox One.[7]

Beethoven & Dinosaur were the recipients of a small business grant from the City of Melbourne in 2017[8].

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Frank, Allega (30 March 2016). "Why one dev gave up the rock star life for a kickstarter project". Polygon. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  2. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean (June 24, 2017). "The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti: hands-on impressions". Venture Beat. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  3. ↑ de Rochefort, Simone (15 June 2017). "The Artful Escape is the most beautiful platformer at E3". Polygon. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  4. ↑ Conduit, Jessica (29 February 2016). "'The Artful Escape' is what happens when rock stars make a game". Engadget. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 D'Anastasio, Cecilia (30 March 2017). "A Musical Indie Game Starring A Teen With A Cosmic Guitar". Kotaku. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  6. ↑ Cowley, Dana (1 June 2015). "Epic Games Awards Unreal Dev Grant to 'The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti'". Epic Games. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  7. ↑ Frank, Allegra (11 June 2017). "The Artful Escape is Xbox One's most beautiful, rock-filled indie". Polygon. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  8. ↑ "Small business grants recipients 2017 - City of Melbourne". www.melbourne.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
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