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DS Adaptation of Fighting Fantasy Announced

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Should we be excited? Probably not, but I didn't see it mentioned here, so...

http://www.aspyr.com/news/company_news/293

FIGHTING FANTASY: THE WARLOCK OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN for Nintendo DS™ this Holiday Season

ASPYR MEDIA AND BIG BLUE BUBBLE TO BRING AN ICONIC LITERARY SERIES TO LIFE WITH THE UPCOMING RELEASE OF FIGHTING FANTASY: THE WARLOCK OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN


Stunning Action RPG Available for Nintendo DS™ This Holiday Season

AUSTIN, TEXAS – July 7, 2009 – Aspyr Media and Big Blue Bubble have partnered to launch Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for Nintendo DS™. Based on the legendary book series by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a first-person fantasy role-playing game that takes players on an elaborate adventure through the Firetop Mountain Keep, the scene of the first entry in the renowned literary line. With a highly optimized 3D engine, dynamic lighting and highly detailed, full-frame animations, Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain fully immerses players in the dank, eerie depths of each dungeon and passage.

“Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is our most ambitious Nintendo DS project to date,” said Damir Slogar CEO of Big Blue Bubble Inc. “Driven by the vision of bringing next gen console gaming to the handheld platform, as well as our passion for role playing games, we spent the past few years working on a game that will showcase how this FPSRPG on Nintendo DS can and should look.

Mr. Slogar added, “both Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson shared our vision and helped us recreate the world of Fighting Fantasy. The last step was finding a publisher with the same enthusiasm and Aspyr filled this role perfectly.”

“Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain might be the best looking game that we’ve ever seen on Nintendo DS and the opportunity to work with the likes of Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and the talented team at Big Blue Bubble was too good to pass up,” said Ted Staloch, Executive Vice President, Aspyr Media. “The series created by Ian and Steve turned fantasy books into unprecedented interactive experiences. The game that bears the franchise’s name will do the same for RPG gaming on a handheld.”

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain follows a lone adventurer on his travels through the old Dwarven keep within Firetop Mountain. Now the residence of an evil warlock and hordes of foul creatures, the keep is a mysterious and dangerous place from which no one has returned in many years. As players guide the adventurer through the many passageways and dungeons, they develop the character’s abilities and attributes to suit their play style. Enemies will fall before the player’s brute strength with sword and axe, power of the arcane arts, nimble quickness or custom combinations of skills. A wealth of weaponry, armor, potions and enchantments are equipped through an intuitive drag-and-drop inventory system while helpful (or not-so-helpful) NPCs provide guidance, quests, trade goods and skill training.

The Fighting Fantasy book series launched in 1982 with the first title, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Authors Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson created a revolutionary new idea for the fantasy genre: the reader would become the hero of his or her own fantasy adventure in a story that would be part book, part game. After each paragraph a decision must be made: which way to turn, whether to fight or flee, which mysterious character to approach, and what risks to take. Each choice sent the reader to a different page to discover the consequences of their choice, with each read-through ending either in disaster, or with the discovery of the ultimate goal. To date, the series has seen more than 70 titles published and more than 14 million copies sold worldwide.

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for Nintendo DS will be available this holiday season.

About Big Blue Bubble
With over 40 games in its portfolio, Big Blue Bubble is one of Canada’s leading video game developers. By maintaining a strong focus on the development of cross-platform technology and showcasing it through award-winning games, Big Blue Bubble will continue to lead the way in bringing new and innovative concepts to the market.

For more information on Big Blue Bubble and its ongoing projects, please visit www.bigbluebubble.com

About Aspyr Media
Aspyr Media, Inc. is a leading videogame publisher that creates, packages and delivers fun to millions around the world. Hailing from Austin, Texas USA, Aspyr strives relentlessly to ensure a quality experience for consumers and industry partners. To fall more deeply in love with Aspyr and its amazing line of products, visit www.aspyr.com and see just how much fun you can legally have.

Admittedly, I never heard of the novel(s) before this, but I am a sucker for portable RPGs. And a portable First Person RPG? Knowing nothing about the franchise, the developer doesn't exactly fill me with optimism, though...
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Hmmm, reading up, it seems like these books (there were about 60 of 'em!?) were a cross between the Choose Your Fate/Own Adventure books and D&D-like dice rolls. Could be cool?
 

HUELEN10

Member
For a second, I read it as "Final Fantasy", hoping that my reams of a DS FInal Fantasy had been answers. Needless to say, I got owned.

Still, this game sounds pretty neat! I'll read up on it.
 

Coxswain

Member
Huh, no shit, I used to have like 30 of those FF books.

Wonder if they're much fun when you can't just say, "Okay, well, uhh, I don't lose, how about that?"
 

HUELEN10

Member
MightyHedgehog said:
3e7973b70d.jpg

Screens looks fargin' great! Very much in the spirit of the old book covers.
Hmm, I wonder how this would look on DSi...
 

Deku

Banned
Cat in the Hat said:
That looks so awesome, i miss games like these
There's already games like it out today.

Carmack's mobile brand worked on Orcs on Elves for mobile platforms, and EA published it for the DS.

I'm sure you can find it cheap online.
 

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
I had a pile of the old game & choose-your-own adventure books, back when I was a fairly young person.

The Fighting Fantasy books were interesting (and I'm probably going to purchase this to see how it worked out), but I'd actually be MORE interested if it were a straight translation of a book... read through the book, computer run battles using your equipment and stats, scanned artwork, etc..

Someone hurry up and release a DS version of the GrailQuest books.


Edit: Yes, I've tried the homebrew DS ports/adaptions of the Lone Wolf adventure books. I want THAT kind of game design done with other/new stories -- although I really don't care about the synthetic voice.
 

jarosh

Member
whoa so this is an old school first person dungeon crawler? fuck awesome. totally putting this on my radar.


Deku said:
There's already games like it out today.

Carmack's mobile brand worked on Orcs on Elves for mobile platforms, and EA published it for the DS.

I'm sure you can find it cheap online.
yes, orcs and elves is an awesome little game! so underappreciated.
 

Enk

makes good threads.
This looks pretty sweet. The textures and sprites look amazingly detailed for the DS. Since the system got gipped on Orcs and Elves II and Doom RPG this will fill in that gap very nicely.
 
The Destructoid (I think) preview made the sprite animation sound worse than Doom and its ilk, but perhaps they'll improve that in the final version, not that it would ruin the game or anything.
I'm not sure how I feel about this game, it seems totally different to the book, but perhaps the main quest will mirror the original layout. Just looking at an old scan of the book's map brings back a lot of memories :lol
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Nice bump. Interesting interview.
I more than like the list of classic games the developers mentioned as inspiration. :)
 
Wow, this looks great. I've been waiting for this kind of thing (i.e. dungeon-focused, not a big freeroamy Elder Scrolls thing) on some platform or another for quite a while. I think I'll be picking this up.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Wizardry, SMT:SJ and now Fighting Fantasy....i love the DS :D
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
I remember these books!

*goes to bookshelf*

...wow, I have FIVE of these books? I used to love Creature of Havoc and Return to Firetop Mountain. Didn't realise I've also got The Rings of Kether, The Riddling Reaver and Battleblade Warrior to go. Geez, talk about adding to the book backlog as well as the game backlog. Must've been hand-me-downs from my sister...

Awesome they are making a DS game based on it. I too wonder how it translates, but the screenshots look nice at least.
 

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
Someone needs to convert the GrailQuest games over to the DS...

Actually, I'd be happy with a plain digital conversion of the game books, with inventory/etc. automated. The text part appeals more than the 3D thing.
 
duckroll said:
Hopefully this sells really, really well and convinces them to adapt this next:

1z6gzdx.jpg

Ducky, I think I love you. That was my first FF book when I was wee and it rocked my socks (robots + dinosaurs = awesome for my 10yr-old self).

If they announced that and this:

FF19_Zigzag.jpg


I'd be in hog heaven...
 
I used to looooooooove these books as a kid. They were so good. I hope this turns out well, though the general lack of hype isn't filling me with hope. Still, the video I saw of it looked alright.
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
IGN Preview:
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is an impressive looking portable dungeon hacker developed by Big Blue Bubble. In Fighting Fantasy, players choose from three different classes: mage, warrior, or assassin, each with their own attributes in attack, defense and other skillsets. The game takes place in a through-the-eyes viewpoint and controls using the stylus and D-pad combination, and equipping and using items is handled through a simple drag-and-drop interface.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/102/1021394p1.html

Trailer:
http://media.ds.ign.com/media/868/868007/vids_1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcoTldZcOdw
 

Nicko

Member
WOW WOW WOW!! I just saw the trailer on IGN!

Tears literally came to my eyes when I saw the similarities to one of my most favorite games ever: Ultima Underworld.

It's coming out in October too!!!
 

Xanathus

Member
I wonder if they'll let you go through the entire game until the end and force you to lose to the final boss because you missed one of the elemental teeth.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Cool interview and NICE video.
The 2D sprite animation isn't exactly impressive, but it's growing on me.
The 3D engine, on the other hand, looks pretty great and very smooth.

Very much digging the interface, the oodles of equipment you can apply, the stats and skills you can learn upon level up, and the inventory management.

It clearly echoes some of my favorite CRPGs from the 80s and 90s.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Yeah, the IGN video has definitely sold me on this game. Far far better than I was expecting.
Classic dungeon hacky-ness ftw.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Looks like what I wanted when I bought Deep Labyrinth so many years ago.
I really hope this delivers.
 

batbeg

Member
Oh... oh... oh my. Yes please. Some non-sucky music would be appreciated, but otherwise, I am very excited. I mean, just look at this:

300gpxy.jpg


Yummy.

Edit: Just checked Blue Bubbles site - anybody know if the iPhone version releasing the same month is the same as this one? Especially curious to know as they've already mentioned they're working on five iPhone titles in the series.
 

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
Awesome. I love these kinds of games. Actually bought Deep Labyrinth day one (though I pretty much wish I hadn't). Orcs & Elves was great though. Hope this is as good/better.
 
Yep, though I hope IGN's class info in their preview is a tad outdated and the Siliconera referenced style is the one that made the final cut. Custom from the start to make archetypes if you feel like it FTW.
 

soldat7

Member
Yaweee said:
Uh, awesome?

The framerate did not suck, and it looks like a new Hexen. Fucking fantastic.

Oh wow you're right. I've been dreaming of a Hexen or Heretic port to DS for a loooooooooooong time, but this looks like it might be the next best thing.
 

duckroll

Member
The engine looks great, but the trailer was a boring piece of shit. I don't know why anyone would edit a trailer like that with no in-game sound and instead just have a boring single piece of BGM play over long gameplay footage. Kills the entire feel of the trailer, it's as good as watching it without sound. :/
 
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