Frogwares - 80 Days

Would you like to introduce yourself and Frogwares to the Greek adventure community?

Hi! My name is Alex, I am project manager in Frogwares. Frogwares (www.frogwares.com) is independent game development studio. 80 Days is our fourth game and the first one which we completely made in 3D.

You have taken inspiration from the most famous of Jules Verne's stories. How closely does your game relate to the novel? Could you describe us the story of 80 Days?

We took only the main idea of the original Jules Verne's story - the race around the world. When young Englishman Oliver Lavisheart returned from America, he found out that his parents had prepared a "small surprise" for him. They decided to marry him (in the 19th century such flagrant things were pretty common). At the same time his eccentric uncle (a well known inventor) hastily bat that Philias Fog's journey was not so incredible and that any one can easily repeat it. Being rather old for such a trip he asked his young nephew to make it instead of him in order to protect honour of the family. Of course deer uncle will finance this trip which is supposed to be, from his words, "just a nice cruise - easy as a pie". Oliver agreed and further more it will give him a chance to runaway from his, probably, very beautiful, nice and unknown fiancee. Last thing to mention - Oliver will have to bring four patents which proofs that 4 distinguished inventions belong to his uncle. During his trip Oliver will discover a lot of things about him selves and about his family and meet some good friends and old enemies from original "Around the world in 80 days".

What can you tell us about the main characters of the game?

"80 Days" is a lovely, funny and enjoyable game, so all the characters are joyous and cheerful people. The main hero of the game - Oliver Lavisheart is a bright example of a young Englishman with a good sense of humour, a bit naive, who is enjoying life and is looking for adventures throughout the world. Besides in the game you will meet and interact with more than 100 characters: from sailors and policemen to vampire Vlad, famous singer Scheherazade, Russian Countess, etc.

Would you like to give us a general idea of the puzzles that we are going to encounter in 80 Days?

As for the puzzles in the "80 Days", we tried to create puzzles which would be interesting for players of any age.

Have you indeed included action or arcade elements, as lots of people tend to believe?

Yes, some times there are several ways to proceed in the game - you can use either your brain or a speed vehicle...

What can you tell us about the gameplay and the interface of 80 Days?

Interface is intuitive. Mainly user will deal with inventory, user can change control settings due to his wishes. By default user will have to use keyboard to move the hero (walk, run, crouch, climb) with mouse player can turn the camera and use inventory.

We have read that many technological innovations are to be found in 80 Days, especially for an adventure game. Would you like to tell us which innovations would those be?

There are many unique elements (for adventure genre) in this game. Real time 3D, cloth animation, particle system. One of them is life management system and inalienable part of it is money. Player will have to sleep and eat and it will cost him some money. Of course player can sleep on the street but do not expect that after such night your hero will be in good shape. With money player can rent a car, disguise, bribe...

Moreover, could you explain to us what "playing in real time" actually means?

It means that game world around the player is changing all the time - no matter what he is doing. If you will be too slow - you will lose.

What can you tell us about the graphics and music of 80 Days?

Music was made especially for the game. To create graphics we have visited all cities which are present in our Game and brought around 5 Gb of pictures from each of them.

We have been told that, unlike the North American version, the European version of 80 Days is bug-free. Is that a fact?

European version was released one month later then American one - we spent this time to fix some issues which were found during this month.

Is there anything else you would like to say to Greek adventure gamers about 80 Days?

When we made a decision to create this game, our goal was to make revolution in adventure genre. To create game with system of life management, game where you can earn and spend money - interactive universe with colourful characters. Now it is players turn to decide - succeed we or not, but you will definitely enjoy playing "80 days".

What are your plans for the future? Are you going to work on more adventure games?

We have different plans and already have started to put them in live - for sure they will be in 3D but not all action orientated. Soon we'll finish "Sherlock 3 - Awaken". We also have started to work in absolutely new for us genre but it is not the time yet to speak about this.

And one final question. Some say that point & click adventures belong to the past and that they should stay there. Others believe that it is an undying genre and that will never become a matter that one will talk about only in past terms. Where do you stand on this argument?

I don't think that point&click games belong to the past, you can see that just by checking how many point&click games were released last year. The problem is there were none which could be called "extraordinary" or "superb". It is also true that more and more people prefer 3d games but it is only question of technology.

Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. We wish you the best for your new game.

Thanks a lot for your interest in our game and good luck!