Broken Age to be Broken into Two Pieces

With the game outgrowing its original ambitions, the new plan is to release the first part of the Broken Age saga early next year, and use “Early Access” Steam sales to help push the development of the second episode forward.

The news – which Tim broke in a “Backers of Adventure” update – seemed initially disappointing to those eagerly awaiting the project, but the change should mean that backers will get (part of) the game quicker, ahead of an estimated July 2014/2015 completion date under current scheduling.

Double Fine has been reasonably transparent about the game development process in its Two Player Productions documentary, exclusive to backers. Some have argued that the transparency is simply exposing normal problems with the typical development process.

Worried about fan and backer reaction, Tim Schafer was quick to correct media outlets that had initially reported that Double Fine were asking for more money. Speaking on Twitter, he said: “We are fine, financially. We are using our OWN money to deliver a bigger game than we Kickstarted.”

The Double Fine Adventure – originally code-named “Red” and now known as Broken Age – became infamous when it outstripped its $400,000 Kickstarter goal by several million dollars in February last year. Since then, the site has seen a boom in crowd-sourced independent game projects, including titles such as the critically-lauded FTL: Faster Than Light, Shovel Knight and Stonehearth.