Wireframe – Issue 20, 2019

Early Access

Attract Mode

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FAMILIAR

VOICES

There’s a lot of high-profile

talent behind The Bradwell

Conspiracy. Joining TV’s

Jonathan Ross is Abubakar

Salim, who voiced Bayek in

Assassin’s Creed Origins, and

Broadway actress Rebecca

LaChance. Performance

director Kate Saxon, whose

credits include Alien:

Isolation, The Witcher 3, and

the 2016 reboot of Hitman,

brings these characters to

life. Austin Wintory, composer

for Journey and Assassin’s

Creed Syndicate, creates

music for the game.

Puzzle segments also form a large component
of the game, with many involving the use of a
3D printing mechanic to create objects that
help you progress through an area. The setup
of these puzzles as self-contained rooms is
reminiscent of Portal’s test chambers, areas
that acted almost like playgrounds for testing
the game’s limits while also providing narrative
clues that added to the overall plot. Bradwell’s
environments act similarly but have a much
bigger focus on telling stories.
According to art director and narrative
designer Holly Pickering, the team’s main
intention is to use these environments to create
profound stories. “When we first started work,
we looked up games like Portal and Firewatch.
We’re also big fans of the
immersive sim genre, and
we love how deep those
stories can go. We’re a
small team so we can’t
do a big, physics-based
game, but we can build up smaller things to help
you get a further understanding of the world.
“You draw lines and build the story up in
the background as you see how this relates to
your adventure with Amber. We want to reward
players who take the time to reach into this
information, and they’ll come away with a deeper
understanding by the end.” Pickering had
previously worked on Ether One while at White
Paper Games, which took a similar approach of
prioritising narrative over puzzles.
The Bradwell Conspiracy is A Brave Plan’s first
game, created as a collaborative effort between

“award-winning BAFTA luminaries and triple-A

veterans” with a team consisting of developers

from games such as Fable, Assassin’s Creed, and

Tomb Raider. “It was all

about picking the right

people for the right

project,” Backer says.

“Whoever we needed, we

knocked on their doors

and asked them kindly. Most of them said yes,

which was great.”

While keeping further details under wraps,

A Brave Plan has since shown the game at public

events. “Everyone’s been really positive; it’s

great to see people are taking the time to let the

worldbuilding sink in,” Pickering says. “Normally

when we get developers to playtest, they’re so

concerned with the mechanics and technical

side, but the narrative and art is really hitting

home with the public. At the end of the day,

we’re building a game for people to immerse

themselves in when they play at home.”

Early Access

Attract Mode

“We’re a small team

so we can’t do a big,

physics-based game”

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 Puzzles may not be the focus,

but solving them is still an

integral part of the story.

 The player character is

never referred to by name,

gender, or appearance, so

it can resemble anyone.