Boston-based indie team, Reactive Studios, is developing an iOS interactive radio drama called Codename Cygnus where players become secret agents in a "fictional world inspired by old time serial radio dramas."
More than 25 voice actors are confirmed for the project, including Sarah Elmaleh (Skulls of the Shogun, Gone Home, Resonance). Logan Cunningham, Bastion's narrator Rucks, will be the project's first spy nemesis.
Codename Cygnus will be released as an episodic model with each episode taking an approximate 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The first episode, Mission 1, is expected to see a release in early August and will include a prologue and three full episodes as one story arc. Two more sidequest episodes of Mission 1 will be developed and released in September if the project is funded. The team will then begin work on Mission 2.
According to the game's Kickstarter page, the gameplay mainly consists of sound and story, comprising of writing, voiceovers sound effects and music.
"With either a spoken word or a simple tap on the screen you can listen to the drama unfold in a progression similar to the multiple choice dialogue moments that you find in adventure or RPG games," the description states. "You get to make decisions about what to do and what kind of agent to be in a world of espionage. Your iPhone/iPad recognizes your speech (or accepts the tap of a button) to trigger and play the next sound file so that the characters react to you as the events and story continue."
Reactive Studios launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund Codename Cygnus. The campaign has a funding goal of $11,000, with backing options from $1 for access to project updates to $1,000 for an associate producer credit and a conference call with the developers.
