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Steve Ince
File:Steve Ince.jpg
Occupation(s)writer, video game designer
Known forRevolution Software, Juniper Games
Notable workBroken Sword series, So Blonde
SpouseJune Sutherby
Websitehttp://www.steve-ince.co.uk/

Steve Ince is an award nominated writer and game designer who once worked at Revolution Software and now works on a freelance basis. He has been working in the game industry since 1993 and he was involved in the development of most of the titles in Revolution's game catalog. Though probably best known for his work on the Broken Sword series, he has worked on many games published by other companies, including Revistronic's Wanted: A Wild West Adventure (script editor) and Wizarbox's So Blonde and Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle (writer-designer). He also designs his own games such as Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso and writes and designs casual/hidden object games, such as Rhianna Ford and The Da Vinci Letter and two Special Enquiry Detail games. Ince is also a creator of various comic strips and he frequently writes on aspects of game design. In 2006 his book, Writing for Video Games was published.

Biography

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Before entering the game industry, Ince earned a degree in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1979). After a few jobs, including writing and drawing a cartoon strip for a local newspaper, he managed to get a job at Revolution Software in February 1993, about two years after the company was founded. He stayed with the company until 2004, but became involved again after Revolution began publishing new versions of its Broken Sword games. Originally he was employed by Revolution as an artist to initially work on what would become Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, but he also worked on Beneath a Steel Sky, which had already been in production for some time. As he was also doing a lot of organizing, Revolution's MD Charles Cecil asked him to become producer of the Broken Sword game. He became the producer of the sequel Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror too.[1][2]

As producer, Ince sat in on a lot of story and design meetings, and in time he became more and more involved in the designing and writing side of the games. For the third episode in the series, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (2003), he co-wrote the story and the dialogue, and became lead designer on the project. When the fourth game, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (2006), was first being discussed, he was asked to be involved, but he was already working freelance and committed to another project (So Blonde), a great opportunity for him to write a whole game almost from the ground up.[1]

Besides his work on the Broken Sword series, he also worked on other games by Revolution: Disney's Story Studio: Disney's Mulan (1999), In Cold Blood (2000) and Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado (2000). In Cold Blood was the first game where he had a big hand in the writing and design; in fact it was the first game for which he wrote any dialogue.[2]

In May 2004, after Revolution had to let go most of its members because a project didn't get signed, Ince set up a new website, Steve Ince Solutions, where he offered solutions for writing and design in the game industry.[3] In the next month he became a writer for AllintheGame Ltd., one of the biggest UK talent agencies for voice acting and production.[4] In the same month he added a blog Writing and Design,[5] a spin-off of his older blog Life in the Crescent at his existing website, Juniper Crescent.[6] He was also working on comic strips,[7] and in 2004 a collection of Juniper Crescent and The Sapphire Claw became available as Crescent And Claw, Vol. 1 (BookSurge Publishing).[8]

On April 29, 2005 Ince launched Juniper Games, a label under which he would develop his own games.[9] He added a new website and announced his debut game, Juniper Crescent - The Sapphire Claw,[10] based on his comic strip Scout the One-Eyed cat.[11][12] Because lack of funding the game, with its complex art and animation, wasn't finished.[13][14] During this time he also worked as script editor on Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure (Revistronic, 2004), as writer on The Three Musketeers (Legendo, 2005), and as script editor on Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (Awe Games, 2005).

On August 26, 2005 Ince announced a new company, InceSight, through which he offered his skills and experience to those developers and publishers in need of a proven professional in the fields of writing and game design.[15] On November 16, 2005, Juniper Games presented an arcade-style adventure game entitled Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso.[16][17] The game was based on his online serial comic strip Mr. Smoozles,[18] and became available for download in September 2006. It became free to download in June 2008.[19]

Besides working on new games in this period, Ince also wrote a book called Writing for Video Games (A & C Black, 2006). Previously he had already written on game design,[20][21] and in 2006-2007 he wrote down he wrote down more of his ideas in a series of Developing Thoughts.[22] After the extensive series Ince continued to publish on aspects of game design.[23][24][25]

Other games Ince worked on since then are The Witcher (CDProjekt, 2007); Delicious - Emily's Tea Garden (GameHouse, 2008); So Blonde (Wizarbox, 2008); Delicious - Emily's Holiday Season (GameHouse, 2009); Rhianna Ford and the Da Vinci Letter (Green Clover Games, 2010); Alice in Wonderland (Gimagin/Merscom, 2010); Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds (Floodlight Games, 2010), So Blonde: Back to the Island (Wizarbox, 2010), and The Whispered World (Daedalic Entertainment, 2010).

For So Blonde Ince was contacted by Wizarbox, who's crew had already done some concept work of the main character, some of the locations, and they had an idea for the story. They brought Ince in to develop the story, but in a way he became the public face of the game,[26] and he went to Leipzig and Paris on promotional tours.

When Revolution started to update the first two Broken Sword games for newer platforms and game portals, Ince became involved again (Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (Director's Cut, 2009) and Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror (Remastered, 2010). During this time he also worked on Spare Parts (Ea Bright Light, 2010), Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds (Floodlight Games, 2011), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (CDProjekt RED, 2011), and ScanMe (ScanMe.com, 2011).

Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds, written and designed by Ince, is one of his other casual/hidden object games.[27] The critically-acclaimed detective adventure game debuted on the Mac App Store in January 2012.[28] It was followed by a sequel the following year, Special Enquiry Detail: Engaged to Kill (G5 Entertainment, March 2012).[29] So Blonde also got a follow-up, Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle (Wizarbox, 2012), that is set back in pirate times.[30] Ince gave some video interviews to introduce the game.[31][32]

As of February 2012 Ince is represented by the SMART Talent agency.[33]

For Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, Ince received a nomination for Excellence in Writing at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2004.[34] In 2008 he received another nomination from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain in the category of best Video Game Script for the game So Blonde.[35].[36]

Ince lives with his partner, June, in the quiet wilds of the East Yorkshire countryside. They have a tabby cat, Merlin, and a number of unnamed fish in the garden pond. He has three sons, Shaun, David and Jason, as well as three granddaughters, Caitlin, Leilani and Selene and a grandson, Louie.[37] On his website Steve Ince, Writer, Game Designer he has a blog on Writing and Design, and he also writes a more personal blog called It Happened So Fast.[38]

References

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  1. ^ a b Mulrooney, Marty (March 10, 2010). "In Conversation With Steve Ince, Video Game Writer & Designer". Alternative Magazine Online. Cite error: The named reference "Alternative Magazine Online" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b MacDonald, Laura (2003). "Interview with Steve Ince". Game Boomers.
  3. ^ "Steve Ince Solutions". Steve Ince Solutions.
  4. ^ Remo, Chris (June 16, 2004). "AllintheGame signs Steve Ince". Adventure Gamers.
  5. ^ "Writing and Design". Life in the Crescent. July 19, 2004.
  6. ^ "Juniper Crescent". Wayback Machine. August 12, 2003. Archived from the original on 2003-08-12.
  7. ^ "juniper-crescent.com - the home of Steve Ince's comic strips". Juniper Crescent.
  8. ^ "Crescent And Claw, Vol.1". BookSurge.
  9. ^ Barton, Matt (October 1, 2008). "Steve Ince". Adventure Classic Gaming. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Juniper Crescent - The Sapphire Claw". Juniper Games.
  11. ^ Allin, Jack (April 28, 2005). "Juniper Crescent - The Sapphire Claw". Adventure Gamers.
  12. ^ Schneider, Jan (May 4, 2005). "Steve Ince". Adventure-Treff.
  13. ^ Cadenas, J. (August 2007). "Interview with Steve Ince". Aventura y CÍA. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Broekhuis, Erwin. "A word with Steve Ince". Adventure Developers (undated).
  15. ^ "INceSIGHT Press Release". Steve Ince's blog Writing and Design. August 26, 2005.
  16. ^ "Juniper Games site re-design and two new games announced!". Steve Ince's blog Writing and Design. November 16, 2005.
  17. ^ Danyboy (November 14, 2006). "Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso - An Interview with Steve Ince". Mystery Manor. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "Mr. Snoozles". Steve Ince's website.
  19. ^ "Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso". Juniper Games.
  20. ^ Ince, Steve (July 2004). "My fingers are blistered and bleeding: writing for games". Gignews at WayBack Machine. Archived from the original on 2004-07-03.
  21. ^ Ince, Steve (March 15, 2005). "Interaction Density: Has the Player Got Plenty to Do?". GameDaily at WayBack Machine. Archived from the original on 2008-12-24.
  22. ^ "Developing Thoughts". Steve Ince's blog Writing and Design.
  23. ^ Ince, Steve (June 16, 2010). "The Conversation". Develop.
  24. ^ Ince, Steve (October 21, 2010). "Designing Puzzles Backwards (Part I)". Game Design Aspect of the Month.
  25. ^ Ince, Steve (October 29, 2010). "Designing Puzzles Backwards (Part II)". Game Design Aspect of the Month.
  26. ^ Clausen, Peter (2008). "Interview with Steve Ince". G Wie Gorilla.
  27. ^ Carter, Vanessa (May 27, 2010). "A smart mystery where the detectives are better seen than heard". GameZebo.
  28. ^ "G5 Entertainment brings Special Enquiry Detail: the Hand that Feeds to Mac on January 5". Gamasutra. December 21, 2011.
  29. ^ "Special Enquiry Detail: Engaged to Kill Launch Trailer". GameSpot.
  30. ^ "Captain Morgane website".
  31. ^ "Steve Ince Captain Morgane Interview". YouTube.
  32. ^ "Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle -Steve Ince Interview Trailer". GameReactor. March 1, 2012.
  33. ^ "Agency representation Smart Talent". Steve Ince's blog Writing and Design. February 23, 2012.
  34. ^ "4th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". Game Developer's Choice Awards. 2004.
  35. ^ "Writer's Guild Awards 2008 Shortlists Announced". The Writers' Guild blog. September 20, 2008.
  36. ^ Noon, Gemma (April 9, 2010). "An Interview with Steve Ince". The Literary Project.
  37. ^ "About Steve Ince". Steve Ince's website.
  38. ^ "It happened so fast". ithappenedsofast.wordpress.com.
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