The trailer features our romantic cut scenes, lush soundtrack, and fun puzzle activities.

We’re excited that the game is really coming together.  We’re currently finishing up and tweaking various gameplay elements, art, and audio while also addressing all the suggestions and bugs our beta testers found.

As the game’s release month begins, be sure to check back often for more news on the game!

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Before our game goes live in April, we have to go through an extremely important process.  We need to send out several advance copies of the game to a group of unbiased people who will play through the game and give us all kinds of FEEDBACK – tell us what they like, what they think is frustrating, what is too confusing or too fast, and report any bugs (problems with the game) that they find.  This is an extremely important step in the development of a game since as developers, we often can’t spot our own problems, because we know the game TOO well!

In return for scouring our game nice ‘n clean, Beta testers not only get to see an advance copy, they get their name listed in the game’s credits.

Who should this select group of testers be?  Well, here’s our chance for another CONTEST!  The first 50 people who post about Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box in some form on the internet will become Beta testers!

RULES:

1. Post about our game somewhere publicly accessible on the internet – your blog, youtube, a forum, etc.  Your post must contain a link to www.passionfruitgames.com.
2. (What we are NOT accepting for now: Twitter/Facebook/Myspace updates, or commenting anywhere on the PassionFruit website.  We also reserve the right to declare a link “invalid” if it contains inappropriate content.  –>For those of you who don’t have blogs, the easiest thing to do is find a romance or gaming site and post about our game in a comments area or a discussion forum!<–)
3. Paste the link to your post below, in the COMMENTS area for this page!
4. Before you submit your comment, make sure you have entered a VALID EMAIL address for yourself – that is the email we will use to contact you about Beta testing.  Note: your email will NOT be visible to the public.
5. The first 50 people who post VALID links will be added to our Beta tester list!  Accepted Beta testers should receive an email from us within 48 hours of posting – if you do not receive an email (and have checked your spam box), there was most likely a problem with the email you submitted (e.g. there’s a typo in the email or your mailbox is full).  You’ll need to contact us via our contact page.
6. Beta testers will receive an advance copy of the game in early March, and will have their names listed in the credits of Tiger Eye.

BETA TESTER RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. We will ask testers to play through the game as far as they can get (we’re guessing it will take 4-6 hours to complete a playthrough of the Beta build).
2. Any time a tester spots a bug in the game, or finds something particularly annoying or confusing, we’ll ask them to report it via a private Beta tester web page.
3. At the end of the playthrough, we’ll ask testers to fill out an online survey about the game.

Have fun!

Four of our artists created four different character concepts for Long Nu after reading exceprts about her in “Tiger Eye,” the book our game is based on.  We thought it would be fun to let our fans decide which concept best matched their own vision of “Long Nu.”  These were the candidates:

And the winner, carrying more than 50% of the vote, is…

Long Nu #3!

Long Nu 3

We did get a lot of comments that this Long Nu was almost perfect, but looked too old.  We’ll work on incorporating that feedback into her final character model.

Thanks to everyone who voted and/or commented!

1.       What’s your favorite part of your job?

My favorite part of any acting job, voice, tv, film or stage, is the chance to be something I’m not.  I find that especially with voice acting, where what you look like doesn’t matter at all, you can stretch yourself in so many different directions and become people you have no chance of being in real life.  Getting to voice a tall, buxom, blonde bombshell, for example, when in reality I’m a bit of a mouse, standing just under five feet tall, is kind of exciting.  Or reliving my childhood by voicing a whiny child is so much fun.

2.       What’s the most challenging voice character you’ve ever had to perform?

My first voice acting job ever was a video game.  I was playing the lead and hadn’t seen the script beforehand.  I showed up at the studio and basically had one take on each line – and the lines were out of context.  I only saw what I had to say, not what was being said to me before or after.  It was total on the job training!  There I was trying to cold read each line in one take and actually try to figure out in the split second before I read the line exactly why i was saying what I was saying!

3.       As a voice actor, do you do certain exercises or lead a certain type of lifestyle that keeps your voice in good shape?

I started off as a singer, before becoming an actor and then a voice actor, so yes, my lifestyle very much revolves around keeping my “instrument” healthy.  Singers notoriously carry two things with them at all times:  a water bottle, and a scarf – and I’m no exception.  When I’m working, I do a vocal warm up every day, and when I’m not, I usually do some kind of vocal work or singing a few times per week.  I also try to squeeze in a singing lesson at least once or twice a month.

4.       What are some differences between voice acting and stage acting?  Do you find one more challenging than the other?

The main difference between the two is subtlety.  With stage work, you can show so much more through means other than your voice.  Your eyes, your posture, your costume even, can add so much to what you are expressing.  With voice work, you have your voice, and that is all.  Every nuance in your voice counts, every detail.  I once had a director tell me that he wanted to hear more optimism in my voice.  He said that on a scale of 1-100, I was at a 6, and he needed me at a 7.  That’s how subtle it can be.  And of course, with stage acting, you are always limited by what you look like – with voice there is much more scope for possibility.  However, much like with film and tv vs. theatre, voice work lacks the adrenaline linked with live performace – something I just love about live theatre.  In that way they are very different crafts – one is much more about responding in the moment whilst the other is more about perfecting your creation.

5.       Any general thoughts on being the voice of DELA for Tiger Eye?

I’m thrilled to voice someone so well developed, who is both sexy, smart, sassy and vulnerable – it’s a gift to an actor to play someone so three dimensional.  I will also never forget recording all the love scenes with the producer, Melissa.  That was hilarious.

6.       It seems like a ton of people think they can voice act, but once they give it a try, it’s much, much harder than they thought.  What is some of the training you’ve had to go through to get where you are today?  What are some of the challenges voice actors face?

I’ve been extremely lucky when it comes to voice acting.  I was literally in the right place at the right time when my career really took off.  I did take a few classes, but most of my voice acting training was “on the job”.  I have also found that my background in singing has helped immensely – I’m very in tune (no pun intended) with how to work my vocal tone and where to place things in order to create different sounds.  Voice acting becomes a lot like finding the right notes to speak.  I think the main challenge voice artists face at the moment is an oversaturation in the market.  It’s a fantastic industry – talent is treated really well – and everyone wants a piece of that.  I don’t blame them. The hardest part is making yourself stand out in the crowd.

7.       Do you have any tips for people who’d like to get into voice acting for games?

I started my career in London, and over there it is a lot more complicated to get started as you have to really market yourself with a gimmick – something that sets you apart.  It involved a lot of cold calling which wasn’t fun at all.  But here in the USA it seems fairly more clear cut.  Cut a good voice demo – something that really shows off all you can do – and get yourself an agent.  It’s also worth calling smaller game companies to let them know you are out there and send over your demo.  You never know.  From there it is really just about whether you are right for the job or not.  That is one of the greatest parts of this aspect of the industry – it is so rarely personal.  With voice work your sound is either right or it’s not – there is rarely an in between.

Check out some of the sites/people who have written articles, blogged about, or mentioned Tiger Eye!

• IGN.com
• Yahoo! Games
• Barnes & Noble – “Unabashedly Bookish Blog”
• Dorchester’s home page
• Publisher’s Weekly – Barbara’s Vey’s “Beyond Her Book”
• “Just Adventure” game review site
• Michelle Buonfiglio’s “Romance B(u)y the Book” Blog
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
• Gamezebo
• AOL’s “Sphere”
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (video clip)

And, of course… Marjorie Liu’s own blog ;)

And let me close with this lovely quote from Jimmy Fallon:

Jimmy Fallon, moments after saying "I was so excited when I played [the game

Ms. Liu herself has been working closely with the team to bring this game to life – not only does she review everything that goes into the game to ensure it aligns with her original vision, but she’s our designated script-writer.  We’re all extremely excited to be creating one of the FIRST “romance-casual” games to hit the US market!  And we’d love to show you a screenshot of one of our scenes from the game, which is based in China:

We’re also excited to launch PRE-ORDERS of the game, starting today.  Curious about what pre-orderers will get?  Well, they’ll get the game, obviously, when it’s released this spring.  But we’d also really like to throw in some instant gratification, so they’ll get to download some exclusive goodies right away.  Here are some sneak peeks at our Premium package contents:

1. The opening cinematic of the game.  Here’s a tiny preview, showing a couple dramatic moments (we can’t give too much away!):
   
2. Wallpaper art (2 of them) – one of the images depicts the two main characters in the story, Dela and Hari, in a romantic setting.  The other shows Hari (a pretty darn hot warrior) battling the power of the riddle box.  Here’s a teensy glimpse at parts of each of the wallpapers:
   
3. Mp3 of the Tiger Eye Suite.  A 7-minute 3-part suite that starts with the mysterious theme of the magical Riddle Box, segues into a gorgeous interpretation of the love story between Dela and Hari, and then into the haunting theme of the evil Magi, but ends with a ray of hope.  We’re totally in love with this piece at the office (a couple of us have had it playing on repeat into our headphones for hours at a time!).
4. Concept art of Hari.  Hari is the one character from the book we really wanted to get right – he’s a 7 foot tall, insanely handsome warrior who has been trapped in a magical riddle box for 2000 years.  We went through many iterations of his character model, working closely with the author until we got his look just right!

Let us know what you think!
And – want to pre-order?  Click here.

[Download the official press release]

Why are these playtesters so essential to a game’s development?  Simply because it’s extremely hard to accurately “judge” a game when you’ve designed and built it yourselves.  Things that seem super obvious to you (“of course you should try and pull that red lever we plopped in the middle of the screen!”) might not make any sense to a player (“red levers are NOT meant to be pulled – that was a straight path to suspension back in the day, lady!”).  Playtesters can often have a more critical eye than you – for the same reason parents always think their own kids are the cutest, we can sometimes hold a blind eye to certain, ahem, “problems” with our game.  (Luckily our playtesters are quick to point those out – thank you!)  And sometimes, a playtester will have a moment of brilliance and suggest a superb idea that we had never thought of!

So what happens, exactly, during a playtest session?  First, we ask the player general questions about her gaming background/preferences to see where she’s coming from.  (If she’s a relatively new gamer, we won’t be too worried if she hits a few hurdles in our game.  If she’s a seasoned veteran and can’t beat our first level, then we definitely have a problem.)  Then we pretty much unleash the game on the player, watching her play and answering any questions she may have along the way – but trying to interfere as little as possible, to more closely replicate the experience the player would have at home.  (Yes, some players get a little nervous with a bunch of us in the same room, watching their every move in the game… so we do have to take that into consideration.)  The session ends with a slew of questions for the playtester, asking about everything she liked or disliked in the game, any frustrations she had, and any opinions she had on the art, music, or any other aspect of the game.  Sometimes we’ll also show some screenshots of features we’d like to include in the future, just to get a general feel for how it’s received.  The whole process is usually a pretty enjoyable experience for the tester, assuming we don’t scare them too much (hey, giving your opinion to listening ears should be fun!).  And we always learn a ton.

Anyway, we’re already gearing up for our next milestone… and soon we’ll be able to (finally) officially announce the title of our game… check back in mid-December!

We just finished up three days of voice auditions for the four main characters that will be in the game. It was a grueling process! Okay, it was probably more grueling for the actual voice actors, but still – reading, directing, and listening to the same lines over 46 sessions eventually starts driving you a little (more) crazy.

What qualities were we looking for in our actors? In order of importance:
1. Delivery – how believable did their lines sound? Were they able to insert emotion into their reads and really captivate their audience?
2. Directability – how flexible were they when we asked them to take a different approach with a line?
3. Quality of voice – did their voice sound like the right age range for the character they were auditioning for? Was their voice pleasant to listen to?

We’ll be choosing our cast this week! We had some amazingly talented people and it’s definitely going to be tough to pick the best matches.