Revolution Software (1990)
Charles Cecil's York Chronicle, Watchmen's Dave Gibbons, and Broken Sword
Established in the historic cathedral city of York in March 1990 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes, and Noirin Carmody, Revolution Software is the intellectual and cinematic bastion of European point-and-click graphic adventures. Pioneering dynamic non-player character autonomy with their proprietary Virtual Theatre engine, Revolution partnered with Watchmen illustrator Dave Gibbons for cyberpunk landmark Beneath a Steel Sky (1994) before captivating millions with the Templar conspiracy saga Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (1996).
Virtual Theatre and the Dystopian Wonder of Steel Sky
Striving to advance narrative gamecraft beyond static Sierra and LucasArts staging, Charles Cecil mandated that non-player characters inhabit a persistent temporal reality. Programmers Tony Warriner and David Sykes engineered the 'Virtual Theatre' engine, enabling characters to roam independently across background viewports executing personal agendas. Collaborating with Watchmen graphic artist Dave Gibbons, Revolution unleashed Beneath a Steel Sky in 1994, pairing dystopian class oppression in Union City with sarcastic companion droid banter.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars and Classical Animation
In 1996, Revolution debuted Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, opening with a terrorist accordion explosion at a Parisian cafe. Pre-dating Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code by nearly a decade, Cecil meticulously researched medieval Knights Templar esoterica, casting vacationing American tourist George Stobbart and Parisian journalist Nico Collard in a continent-spanning conspiracy. Featuring lavish hand-painted layouts by veteran Don Bluth animators and a rich orchestral score by Barrington Pheloung, Broken Sword defined European narrative adventure royalty.