238 years ago, Miss Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire. Over two centuries later, the world is still very much in love with her portrayals of Regency society, gender roles, family, love, marriage, and a whole bunch of other themes I’ll leave for Google and Wikipedia to fill in. Austen has made such an impact not only in literature, but also in shaping our understanding of Regency culture—in fact, for many people, the term “Regency” automatically conjures images of Mr Darcy rather than the Prince Regent (later King George IV) after which the era was named.
2.5 years ago, three girls gathered in an apartment in Sydney (which was coincidentally named “Regency”) and, inspired by Jane Austen, decided to make a Regency role-playing game that also functions as an interactive novel. At the time, we were (re-)playing Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and thought, “Hey, why not replace the darkspawns with chickens and Alistair/Zevran/Fenris/Anders with versions of Mr Darcy/Mr Knightley/Colonel Brandon/Captain Wentworth?”
The “minutes” of our first few meetings, way back in April 2011.
And so we did. (Minus the chickens—but we’ve replaced them with a certain Lord Fat Cat, instead.) Granted, it took our team more than 2.5 years, with one lady going to design school and focusing on getting super awesome marks, another lady making the transition from tutoring computing science at university to full-time programming and then to enrolling for art school, and the last lady leaving Australia (as early as September 2011) to do an MA and then a PhD. Thank goodness for Skype, Dropbox, and WhatsApp.
And now, you can finally experience Regency Love yourself on the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad:
If you’re not entirely sure if this is your cup of tea, here are three independent reviews that may help you decide: The Bennet Sisters, Confessions of a gamer girl, and Outside Windows (Contains minor spoilers.)
We hope you’ll enjoy our Regency creation, and would absolutely love to know what you think. We have so many ideas on how to expand the game and its stories, and, with your support, we hope to carry them out someday.
But today, let’s celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday, and spread the Regency Love!
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr—use the hashtag #RegencyLove to join the conversation!
P.S. Congratulations to the winners of our giveaway: Tristan, Kelcy, and Costy. Thank you all for participating, and stay tuned for more giveaways in the future!
Oooh! I’m not interested in games at all but I’m intrigued by this. Android release?
Thanks for your comment, Amanda! Unfortunately, we don’t yet know if we’ll have enough funds and resources to release an Android version—we would very much like to do so, but won’t know for a few months whether or not this is viable. We’ll be sure to keep you updated via our blog and other social media hangouts, though!
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