Azrael’s Tear Box Art
In 1996, my old company Intelligent Games released a game called Azrael’s Tear. There was much to love about the game: the story, the visuals, the richly-imagined world, wonderful music and voice characterisation. Although the game died in the market, people are still playing and enjoying the game.
Fan mail
Well, I wrote about it on my personal website as part of a games history article I wrote. As a result, I still get occasional emails from people who played and enjoyed the game. Like this one.
Hello, Matthew, I don’t know if you remember my emailing you earlier in the year, but I was gushing about Azrael’s Tear and you told me to email you when I completed it. Things got hectic over the summer, but I finally got a chance to sit down and play it once again and I have just beat the game. After reading the utopian ending I had to sit back and take in everything I have been through in this game. It is a shame that this game disappeared under the sands of time because this is without a doubt, one of the greatest games I have ever played.
Gameplay video
Reviews and downloads
There are some nice reviews on the internet and some decent walkthroughs as well as some untested, not-endorsed sources for downloading the game itself and some tips about playing the game with DOSBox.
Game design documents
Anyhow, I discovered the original game design proposal in my archives (otherwise known as the heap of papers under the bed) and I have scanned them to share with any fans and the people who worked on the game. All hail Ken Heywood and Richard Guy!
Download Azrael’s Tear Original Game Proposal (2MB PDF file). This was the short pitch document that we sent to publishers to try to persuade them to commission the game, which was called Raptor during development. (You’ll need to rotate the page in PDF viewer or print it out as it’s in landscape format.)
Download Azrael’s Tear Original Games Design Part 1, Part 2, Design3 (4-8MB PDF files). This is the original detailed design. At this point in the game’s development we were planning a mix of Myst-like pre-rendered 2D graphics and live video rendered on top of it for character interaction. The game ended up being a fully-3D project instead. We also created a board game version and the rules and map are on page 90+.
Hi.
Here is a way to set up Azrael’s Tear so it runs faster on dosbox with the help of DOS32A (replacement extender), and without needing the cd:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/trying-azrael-tear-and-bad-mojo-for-the-first-time.46511/#post-1231929
Thanks. That’s helpful. I haven’t tried running it in DOSBox yet. Most of the other games I have run have worked fine and the DOSBox docs say it should work okay in the latest version.
When’s the Kickstarter to ‘finish’ the game Matthew? I can’t wait to throw my money at it!
Seriously though, I just recently helped get my other obscure 90′s love Tex Murphy back, and we had barely 7000 people raising half a million, so I don’t know, Azrael’s Tear should get at least that many people helping out. Of course you couldn’t ask for a million to start off with but using some older IDTech or other venerable old engine like Source or an old adventure/RPG engine(us adventure gamers aren’t graphic whores, setting, writing, puzzles are far more important), you could still make a good looking game that would be a worthy continuation.
It’s a beguiling thought but not really practical. I have been in the games biz for 12 years and I’m very happy about that. Also, An Azrael’s Tear remake is a bit of a hard sell – give us half a mil and we’ll remake a game that was difficult to play and totally tanked the last time we tried it!
Then there are the rights which have been chopped up and distributed across the digital world through multiple contracts. It would give the lawyers a heart attack. I did like Tex Murphy though – nice game.
Hey Matthew, thanks a lot for releasing the documents. I double the plea to consider kickstarting a sequel eventually, please keep that possibility in mind
. I would gladly throw money at my computer screen for that. It is also worthy to note that although no credit is given, there are a few companies developing games based on the ideas pioneered by AT. Frictional games, for instance. There IS a good market for games like these nowadays, atmospheric horror/sci-fi adventures with a well written story and great gameplay, that is.
Also, I did a full LP of the game on the rpgcodexforums(there are quite a few fans of the game there as well). If you haven’t played the game in a long time you might be interested in checking it out, for nostalgia’s sake:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/lets-play-azraels-tear-redux.72888/
It is really a great game and the ideas in it deserve to be picked up again.
Thanks for the kind words about AT. I’ll think about the kick starter thing but really I’m not that eager to get back in the games business. But never say never! Matthew
Have you considered working with Good Old Games for a rerelease with Modern OS Support?
I don’t think that it’s feasible for lots of different reasons. Matthew
Hey Matthew, GOG actually mostly sells games with built-in dosbox emulation. AT runs perfectly with proper configuration so it is a candidate.
Maybe you should try contacting the GOG folks about it. Many of the games they sell were once considered abandonware or dropped over copyright limbo.
Hi Matthew
Great site, one of the best places to find credible copy writing advice on the web. Have a quick question, in regards to game design. I write in the field of business education and I was recently tasked with writing a game proposal. Long story short, the company didn’t take the proposal any further, but I was given the copyright for the game I designed and had a free hand to develop it – but I have no tech experience. I want to sell it as a license to a developer or publisher, but I obviously can’t produce a complete proposal document because I don’t have the tech expertise. Any advice?
All the best, TG
Hi Tim,
To be honest, these days, a game design on paper without funding, code, demos, artwork or a team is very unlikely to progress but, hey, what do I know? I haven’t been in the business for 12 years. When I left, I wrote this article for people in your situation and it contains all the advice on this subject I have to give! http://www.stibbe.net/presenting-a-game-design/
Good luck,
Matthew
Thanks Matthew – honesty appreciated, and thanks for taking the time to reply (a rare thing in the blogosphere sadly).
cheers, Tim
No problem. It’s nice to talk to readers! Matthew
If Azrael’s Tear 2 is not on kickstarter by the end of next year, I will eat my own arse!!
Words cannot do justice….I love Azrael’s Tear, no other game will ever take its place in my heart. The most fun experience I’ve ever had in my life, seriously. I must have played it two or three dozen times since it first came as bundled software for our computer. I intend to play it many more times in the years ahead too. I’ve gone through 3 copies of it since my first playing. I also have the music loaded onto my Ipod and listen to it all the time.
I am so disgusted at how poorly the gaming world recieved Azrael’s Tear. The complaints about the interface, well I don’t care about the interface! The game content makes up for it so incredibly, it doesn’t even matter! The complaints about the first few puzzles and such being boring is also pure garbage. The art, design, atmosphere, characters, storyline, puzzles….all are SUPERB. It may look dated by today’s standards, but I’ll always love this game. Azrael’s Tear should have taken the gaming world by storm. Oh and I know you don’t like the name “Azrael’s Tear” Michael, but I think its a perfect name.
I know a sequel is probably not feasible, but I would wait as long as it takes if it ever did become a possibility. There were so many loose ends at the end of the orirginal, especially the knight Malik, its just screaming for a sequel. Perhaps a more feasible request to whoever owns it now, would be an updating so that new operating systems like Window7 or XP could play it properly. I can only get it work halfway right on XP. But that’s a small complaint, even if I never got a chance to play it again, I’ll go to my deathbed shouting “Azrael’s Tear…best game ever!”
I’m sure the team will be as pleased as I was to read your comments about Azrael’s Tear.
Sorry, I tend to be a bit over-exuberant when it comes to Azrael’s Tear. I just have nothing but good things to say about it!
Please consider making a sequel. I will donate $100 instantly to such a project. I am sure many more fans would do the same or even better (sorry that’s the best I can do for now – maybe I will win the lottery in the near feature and then can up this figure significantly).
Me to. And Malik, the best villain that never made an appearance.
AR-K finished with over $100,000 with just 879 backers. It’s completely possible to raise over half a million on kickstarter with a few thousand backers. Please make AZ 2 a reality. It can be done via crowd funding.
Up to a point. Chris Crawford failed to raise $150,000 on Kickstarter for a new game and he’s a god of game design. And I’d have to want to get back into game development when really I’d rather gauge my eyes out with blunt teaspoons!