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Revolution 60
Developer(s)	Giant Spacekat
Publisher(s)	Giant Spacekat
Engine	Unreal Engine
Platform(s)	iOS
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Revolution 60 is an adventure video game developed and published by Giant Spacekat for iOS platforms. The story is centered on a team of four women working in an anime-themed special forces unit, attempting to liberate a space station.

Giant Spacekat first announced Revolution 60 at PAX East in March 2013. Originally targeted to release in late 2013, the development schedule was extended. In July 2013, the company ran a Kickstarter campaign, asking for $5,000 to port the game to PC and Mac, in addition to iOS with the release targeted for August 2014. The game was released for iOS in July 2014. It received mixed to positive reviews for its story and gameplay and won the 2014 iOS Action Game of the Year award from iMore.

Setting and plot

Revolution 60 is set an unknown time in the future, where political issues have grown between the US and China, and space has undergone major militarization. A US orbital weapons platform has malfunctioned and is drifting off course, triggering a possible political incident. An elite team of spies called Chessboard, led by Holiday, disembark onto the station with the aim of reestablishing control with the onboard AI.

Gameplay

Revolution 60 combines multiple game elements, focused on a touch-based system on iOS. The player mainly controls the character Holiday. Exploring is based on paths outlined by circles on the screen. By touching a circle on the sceen the player can explore the appropriate area of the weapons platform. When dialog occurs, the player is offered a choice as to what the protagonist will say. What the player chooses affects aspects of Holiday's character.

Combat is grid-based and occurs in real-time. Holiday starts with a single melee and ranged attack, with successful hits building up a power bar that unlocks a special attack. The opponent will utilize one of several melee or ranged attacks. Both opponents can move within the grid, though Holiday is restricted to the first 2 rows. Completing combat awards experience points to Holiday which unlocks options within a talent tree.

In-combat special moves and particular events within the storyline trigger a quick time event, requiring the user to follow a shape on the screen in iOS, but in the upcoming Windows version it will be similar to the approach used in The Typing of the Dead.

Development

Production of Revolution 60 began in 2011, approximately a year after Brianna Wu met animator Amanda Stenquist-Warner through an advertisement on Craigslist. The initial version of the game was to be a top down turn-based strategy, along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, although Wu chose a change in direction to a 3D game after seeing Infinity Blade.

After briefly hiring contractors, Wu and Stenquist-Warner hired Maria Enderton as lead developer and technical artist, who had been a school friend of Warner's. Wu's husband Frank provided designs for the spaceships (including the armored transport Xiezhi, the Dragonchild fighter ship, and the Death Lotus capital ship) as well as the space station N313. Jenna Hoffstein, a freelance developer, designed the combat system from the ground up. Ex-Harmonix employee Carolyn VanEseltine refined the combat system, upgrade system, and overall difficulty curve.

During development, Wu provided a development diary, initially through App.net then through her Twitter account. She would outline difficulties faced such as designing a talent tree suitable for seasoned gamers and newcomers. Not wanting to alienate core parts of the market, VanEseltine organized a testing pool of players in order to best represent their intended market, equally splitting "self-described gamers" with casual gamers and between men and women. This created problems in the development, as some men in the test group were described as "very antagonistic and negative toward choices and tweaks that made the game inclusive to everyone else".

In July 2013, the company ran a Kickstarter campaign, asking for $5,000 to port the game to PC and Mac, in addition to iOS. The fundraiser brought in $12,728. Wu acknowledged her dislike of microtransactions, and wanted the balance between a one-off cost yet still allowing players to try the game. Wu, who described the sci-fi themed action-adventure as "Heavy Rain meets Mass Effect", was credited as head of development. Wu described the art style as inspired by Space Channel 5 and Sailor Moon. Reflecting the almost all-female development team, the game features an all-female cast. Amanda Winn-Lee provided voice acting, after Wu had been impressed by her previous anime performances.

Because of feminist criticism, Wu declared the characters' figures for the sequel to Revolution 60 would be more realistic, saying, "Having learned to draw from anime is not a great basis for running a studio that’s held up as a poster child of feminism. To say it bluntly, I screwed up... I think we can do better portraying body types going forward."

In January 2015, Wu announced that the game would be on Steam Greenlight. She mentioned that the PC version would allow you to type the emotions you experience from the game.

Technical

Revolution 60 was developed on Unreal Engine 3 using UnrealScript, with Autodesk Maya used for animation before porting it into the Unreal Development Kit.

Due to a desire to include a rich storyline, emphasis was placed on character expression with more detail in the face and hair to avoid having to express emotion solely though "a bunch of gesticulation". While this allows for more emotion and communication in the cut-scenes a trade-off occurred due to hardware limitations, requiring less detail on the body of the game characters. This was the primary factor in the design decision to employ the "skin-tight suits".

The game was initially written around a film-style screenplay; however, based on feedback at PAX 2013, it was considered overly-reliant on long cutscenes and was rebuilt around continuous interaction.

Reception

The game currently has a 73/100 on the video game review score aggregator Metacritic based on eight critics, and a 71.67% on GameRankings based on six reviews. The Guardian describes it as "a cartoonish science fiction adventure for smartphones, notable for its all-female cast and cinematic story, a rarity on mobile platforms." Macworld also praised the game, noting "the most ambitious iOS game you'll play this year". Kotaku's review was also positive, remarking, "as the credits rolled for Revolution 60...I felt the familiar pang of loss I feel whenever a great game ends." RPGFan called the game "an absolute winner". 148Apps gave the game Editor's Choice, while remarking it being "probably the closest thing we’ll ever get to another No One Lives Forever."

Response from other outlets were more mixed. TouchArcade praised the plot, but argued the game " to deliver in terms of gameplay". Pocket Gamer said that the gameplay was "variable", adding that it can have an odd effect on the pacing of the game. Paste called it "an interesting, if underwhelming, melange of elements you’d be hard-pressed to find in another game, let alone one on a mobile platform."

iMore awarded Revolution 60 the "iOS Action Game of the Year" award in 2014, noting that "the modeling is gorgeous, the animation delightful, the music engrossing, and the voice acting outstanding."

Sequel

Giant Spacekat has stated there will be a sequel titled Revolution 62, where many of the original characters will reappear. Wu stated that Giant Spacekat would be attempting to recruit Felicia Day in a voice acting role for a main character. The sequel is planned to use the Unreal 4 engine so there would be a high likelihood of an Android port. A male Chinese-American character called Chase is also slated to appear in the sequel. He is briefly mentioned in conversation by the characters in Revolution 60.

References

1. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 31:50. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
2. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 34:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
3. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 38:30. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
4. ^ Stenquist-Warner, Amanda (September 18, 2014). "REVOLUTION 60: BUILDING A CONNECTION WITH PLAYERS". gamesauce. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
5. ^ Wu, Brianna; Dow, Georgia; Myers, Maddy; Lubitz, Steve (July 21, 2014). "Isometric 11: We Were All Terrible in 2010". 5by5 (Podcast). Event occurs at 15:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
6. Spicer, Christian; Cannata, Jeff (November 24, 2014). "DLC 50: Straight Up Batman '66 It". 5by5 (Podcast). Event occurs at 23:30. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
7. "Kickstarter: Bring Revolution 60 to PC and Mac". Kickstarter. August 30, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
8. Wu, Brianna; Dow, Georgia; Myers, Maddy; Lubitz, Steve (July 21, 2014). "Isometric 11: We Were All Terrible in 2010". 5by5 (Podcast). Event occurs at 34:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
9. McClatchy, Todd Martens (August 13, 2014). "The women behind the sci-fi adventure 'Revolution 60' work for gender parity". Southern Illinoisan.
10. "Isometric 11" (Podcast). Event occurs at 7:06.
11. Starr, Michelle (July 30, 2014). "Revolution 60: A game by and about badass women". CNet. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
12. Wu, Brianna (December 11, 2014). "Why Revolution 60's Body Proportions are Changing". Retrieved 11 December 2014.
13. Parfitt, Ben (February 4, 2015). "Brianna Wu's Revolution 60 appears on Steam Greenlight". Market for Home Computing and Video Games. Intent Media. Retrieved February 5, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
14. "Game Development with Giant Spacekat of Revolution 60 with Brianna Wu, Amanda Stenquist Warner, and Maria Enderton". DevChat.tv (Podcast). March 20, 2014. Event occurs at 4:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
15. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 1:12:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
16. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 1:07:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
17. "Revolution 60 Critic Reviews for iOS". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
18. "Revolution 60 for iOS (iPhone/iPad)". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
19. Stuart, Keith (October 17, 2014). "Brianna Wu and the human cost of Gamergate: 'every woman I know in the industry is scared'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
20. Caldwell, Serenity (July 28, 2014). "Staff Picks: Revolution 60 is the most ambitious iOS game you'll play this year". Macworld. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
21. Fahey, Mike (July 27, 2014). "I Can't Get Enough Of This Sexy Sci-Fi Spy Thriller". Kotaku. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
22. Chandran, Neal (July 27, 2014). "RPGFan Review - Revolution 60". RPGFan. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
23. Minor, Jason (July 24, 2014). "Revolution 60 Review". 148Apps. Steel Media Ventures. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
24. Musgrave, Shaun (August 4, 2014). "'Revolution 60' Review - This Revolution Should Have Been Televised". TouchArcade. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
25. Grannell, Craig (July 25, 2014). "Revolution 60 review - iPad reviews". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ventures. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
26. Patel, Ansh (September 1, 2014). "Revolution 60 Review (iOS)". Paste. Paste Media Group. Retrieved February 7, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
27. "iMore Best of 2014 awards". iMore. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
28. Wu, Brianna; Dow, Georgia; Myers, Maddy; Lubitz, Steve (July 21, 2014). "Isometric 11: We Were All Terrible in 2010". 5by5 (Podcast). Event occurs at 20:50. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
29. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 1:04:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
30. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 1:05:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
31. Rene Ritchie (August 14, 2014). "Debug 44: Brianna Wu, Amanda Warner, and Revolution 60". iMore (Podcast). iMore. Event occurs at 1:24:00. Retrieved December 24, 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Revolution 60 at IMDb
• Revolution Raver interview with Frank Wu
• The Art and Science of Spaceship Design I: The Xiezhi from Revolution 60 by Frank Wu
• An Interview with Artist Frank Wu

• 2014 video games
• Adventure games
• Indie video games
• IOS-only games
• Kickstarter projects
• Crowdfunded video games
• Unreal Engine games
• Video games featuring female protagonists