Examining the Art and Themes of Broken Age
Art is a rather subjective thing, appreciating good art is as much on the viewer as it is on the creator.
This is the second in the series, we are looking at a hand drawn example called Broken Age.
Broken Age is a point and click adventure game with an emphasis on the art and story. It’s a coming of age tale starring big name hollywood actors, including Jack Black and Elijah Wood.
This game was noteworthy at the time for breaking the mold in regards to Kickstarter and actually setting the stage for the following video game Kickstarter rush. With Kickstarter being thrust into the public eye, other sites like it eventually started popping up with twits on the funding formula (FIG, Patreon).
Broken Age follows two teenagers in their respective worlds trying to break free from the traditions that seem to have them locked into their course of their lives long before they ever had a choice in the matter.
Let’s get into it!
As with the last article, my main focus is looking at the art, its style and the execution of it within the engine and setting.
We will be taking a peek at the music, animation and play mechanics since when it comes to a game all of these together are what creates the cohesive experience.
While my one true love is Pixel Art, this style is a close second.
A Hand Drawn style, by virtue of what it is, comes with a far broader spectrum than pixel art does. It has less in the way of defining attributes that would narrow its scope than Pixel Art does in general.
If you read children’s books in during your childhood, it would be understandable that Broken Age would stir feelings of nostalgia. It looks as if a children’s story was brought to life. The clouds in the image below are shaded in such a way, with a mix of warm yet muted yellows and soothing light blues and purples, that they truly have a sense of form and volume. What’s more, the shape language works well for both a child’s book and a functional stage for the actual level of the game.
Another thing to point out when it comes to the art is that the characters never feel out of place when moving on top of the background.
The style is consistent but the setting can change how it is perceived. Vella’s areas in part one all have a far more fantastical look and feeling to them, more painterly with a soft touch to it.
When you compare that to Shays areas, the style shifts to a harder feel, more like pencil in some areas then the oil or watercolor you find “Outside”.
The music is solid, I found nothing offensive about it and enjoyed it overall.
That said, I found that the music was the weakest part of the game. When paired with the stand out visuals, the music felt like filler. Good filler, but still something that didn’t add a ton to my experience. I still think the score is worth a listen and I use it as background work music from time to time.
The animation is incredibly smooth in this game, as I brought up earlier one of the things I enjoy is that the characters never feel like they are placed “On” the world, they do not feel superimposed.
The characters move between the foreground and the background seamlessly with no clipping while the shadows follow along as they should.
Another smooth effect is the pan and zoom whenever the scene demands it, in the example below the character is walking from a smaller area into a larger, moving forward changes the scale of the scene appropriately without feeling jarring.
The conversation animations and cuts are well done.We also get to see the different characters up close and are able to pick out nice details that would be harder to see in games like this. In the case below we actually get a close look at the nest that his head is inside of. Notice how expressive the characters are and that what can be referred to as ‘juicy bits’ (hair, dangling parts of clothing, etc) react with the characters.
In many ways, this is the natural evolution of the old Lucas Arts adventure games that Double Fine can trace its lineage back to.
This is a point and click game through and through. Pick up items, try to use them to activate other objects, walk around and click on people to talk to them, rinse and repeat.
The one main mechanic that stands out is the perspective shift that you can activate.
This is the games core storytelling mechanic, telling both threads of the game in a fashion that lets you switch back and forth at will.
There ARE times where you are locked into one path though, the example above is one of those actually. Shay is unconscious and we are forced to progress as Vella.
If you’re looking for a game to share, my girlfriend and I went out of our way to play this together, switching off for each character. We were utterly charmed by its story and the art and both enjoyed the experience of playing in this way.
You can find the game on just about every platform (Windows, OSX, Linux, Mobile, PS4, PSVita, Xbox One, Switch) and even the Ouya if you have one laying around. While it can be a bit difficult at times it is a thoroughly enjoyable game with satisfying writing and a mesmerizing visual style.
Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/232790/Broken_Age/
