Hi Steve,
1. Broken Sword 1 is my favorite game of all time. I think its because there were so many locations.TLJ was great in that way too. I'm wondering why everyone has abandoned point n click when those 2 games were the greatest story telling games of all time (for me).
2. Did you ever feel creatively stifled? Like were you running to Mr. Cecils vision or yours?
Broken Sword 3 was great...I still love George's voice and sarcasm....but did you feel 100% confident in the direction of the series?
3. I know its money and adventure games dont sell and blah blah blah but what does your heart tell you? If you were going to make an independent game what would it be like?
Thanks

1. Market forces. BS1 sold a million copies, but in today's climate you couldn't hope to sell that many copies of a PnC game. Because quality games are expensive to make, you have to look at maximising sales on other platforms, which leads to a different interface in general.

2. Certainly not stifled. While the games were always Charles's vision, because he had the final say in everything, we worked very closely together to define that vision. You can never be 100% happy about anything, but for me the direction of the series was exactly right. If I had the opportunity to refine aspects of all the games I'd be tempted, but only in areas like the interface or the crate puzzles. But that's just hindsight, really.

3. I'd like to create a game that operated on a much more human level, rather than grand world-saving. Not that there is anything wrong with the latter, just that it would be cool to explore how you could keep the interest alive from an engaging character-driven game.

Your answer to #3 is interesting...that sure would be refreshing!

For me, some of the best moments in the Revolution games are when the characters interact well with one-another. Imagine taking that to an extreme...

One more question - were Duane and Pearl members of the CIA? or just tourists?

If I told you the answer to that I'd have to kill you.

That cracked me up!

When you say interaction between 2 characters...what would you say about romance in a game (any genre). Think its lacking? The Final Fantasy series does incredibly well and I wonder what part of that is due to the battle system and what part is due to the relationships between the characters. I would love a similar story - less random battles!

I love most of the FF games, though the random battles only seem to exist to fill out the gameplay time and I get bored of them very quickly. I also think that the FF games are a long way from fulfilling their full potential as far as story and characters go, but that's mainly because they insist of filling them with kids and teenagers, but then don't seem to write them particularly well. The older characters tend to be a little "posey" and are there for effect rather than real dynamic interaction.

A true romantic game would have the depth of conflict and character development of Notting Hill or Something's Gotta Give. This will be the next big breakthrough in games.

You know, as I write this, there isn't a breath of wind but it's raining like crazy. The lush greenery outside is being washed clean by the downpoor and our hero stares out of the window with a wistful look on his face. Then he spots her, walking across the field at the back of the house with her dog...

I sort of felt there was a romance going on in BS,but wondered if it was one sided.Although George did not say much out right to Nico his many actions toward or about her gave me the feeling that he had a love for her even he could not say it outright,but that ios true of alot of us males.I never felt that there was a return of interest on Nicoles part.Love is not all hugs and kisses or even words.I always wondered what the romantic possition between the two was suppose to be.I often got the feeling esp in the first two BS games that after they ended they would wind up being to gether or at least a little more closer

Much of the romance happened between games. If you notice, in the introductions to both the second and third games there is the statements that they had something going for a while. then things got in the way: George's father died and he had to return to the States; Nico's struggling career caused problems.