Guppyworks presents HCA - The Ugly Prince Duckling

[JacobBuck]

Hi there,

My name is Jacob Buck and I am co-owner, Development Director and Producer at Guppyworks. We are a new developer just released our first game after three years. Though we're a new team the core people have many years of experience making games. Personally, I've been involved in more than 45 pulblished titles.

Guppyworks's first game:
HCA � The Ugly Prince Duckling is 3rd person adventure/action game taking place in the Copenhagen of the Golden Age around 1820. You control the 14 year old H.C. Andersen who arrives to Copenhagen to pursue his dream of getting into the Royal Theatre and become a famous actor. The game is a combination of a traditional quest based adventure, some action mini-games and a simulation of people living in the city. We wanted to create an adventure for both children (8+) and families hoping to also reach the players who are neither adventure bufs or avid gamers. Still hoping of cause that adventure games will enjoy the game.

www.hca.eu:
Our website features more details on the story, screenshots, trailer, wall papers, and much more including details about H.C. Andersen and a number of his most known fairytales translated into multiple languages. Unfortunately, we do not yet feature a playable demo.

The game was released a month ago in Denmark and and was awarded "Best childrens and youth game of the year" at the D3 expo in Copenhagen:

Check out a photo of me accepting thhe award:
http://www.dailyrush.dk/features/gal...ages/ss151.jpg

Also, it has reached above 80% in any reviews I've seen so far in the most danish media. The game was released in Norway, Sweden and Finland a few weeks ago and in Germany (and most of German speaking countries) this week and will be released in Poland in a few weeks. Further releases planned versions are in Russian, French and of course in English.

I'd be happy to answer questions mainly regarding this game. We are now working on a new game that I can't tell you much about yet.

[axelkothe]

and in Germany (and most of German speaking countries) this week

which was nearly unnoticed by the adventure gaming community since there was absolutely no promotion for the game from the publisher. And I couldn't find it in the shops either - so don't be surprised if the sales are disappointing...

[JacobBuck]

I've been on vacation until yesterday (to recover from long crunch), so I am not fully aware of exactly what marketing Brain Game did so far, but as far as I know it can be purchased here:

http://www.braingame.de/produkte/produkt_g12_50.html

[Davero]

We wanted to create an adventure for both children (8+) and families hoping to also reach the players who are neither adventure bufs or avid gamers.

Does it mean that the game needs player almost only to click and watch, and there isn't much for adult person to racks his brains over?
What is the average time needed to finish the game?
Is the story typical fairytale interesting especially for children or do you implement there also elements which can be interesting for older players (you know, children can watch Shrek laughing because of some things, adults because of others and both can have fun)?

[Tomsess]

Why had you chosen to make a game about a Hans Christian Andersen tale?

And why did you choose THIS fairy tale?

[JacobBuck]

It's certainly more than just click and watch. There are many different types of tasks and I've had many adults tell me that they enjoyed them. But interaction is straight forward and does not require a lot of very quick movements. But you still need to use your brain and imagination.

It's hard to define an average time to finish the game. The less avid player might spend 7-10 hours, while the hardcore gamer would probably spend 5 hours or less. If you get stuck in the maze and do not figure out how to get out you can spend forever

The story is NOT one of HCA's own fairytales (we belive he told them well and we don't want to attempt to do better). In stead we wanted to tell new stories partly based on his own life (which was certainly a fairytale in itself). As a Danish developer and HCA was last year celebrated the entire year we found this to be interesting and when discussing the idea with many publishers world wide the idea was appreciated.

The story has several layers speaking both to children and adults. There are details that adults will find very funny but young children will not get. This is very much like HCA wrote his stories. And the game is also entertaining for people to play together. The story is a mix of elements from some of HCA's known fairytales combined into a new fairytale where we mix his own authentic life story (the Ugly Duckling was in fact based on his own life as he considdered himself as an ugly duckling who wanted success at the theatre to no avail but turning into a beatiful swan as a writer) mixed with a story about a princess and a kingdom cast into shadow by evil and darkness and HCA having to forget about his ambitions and save the day. At least - this is what we atempt to do in the game

[PolloDiablo2]

Further releases planned versions are in Russian, French and of course in English.

Can you give an estimate of when the English version will be published? I am interested in this game but my German is not good enough to play a game in. Not in any hurry though, I have lots of unplayed or unfinished games. Just curious ;D

[JacobBuck]

I've had problems loging for a while, so I did not see your question. The US version has just gone gold and will be released by the end of March 2007:

http://www.adventurecompanygames.com...rince_duckling