May 4, 2012

The Making Of Sorcery: The Magical Technology of Move

This is the first post in a four-part series from the development team about the making of Sorcery. In this video we talk about how artists, engineers, and designers at The Workshop designed the game to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Move controller in order to create a completely original spell-casting experience.

While some motion-controlled games feel like you’re playing “Simon Says”, the gestures in Sorcery are fluid and organic. Aiming spells and chaining them together into powerful combos requires both creative thinking and quick reflexes. Here’s a look…

Sorcery will be available in stores in North America on Tuesday, May 22nd.

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40 Comments

4 Author Replies

drew713
May 4, 2012 at 7:10 am PDT

Can’t wait to try to this game out. Been looking forward to it for a long time.
DZORMAGEN
May 4, 2012 at 7:14 am PDT

Still don’t have a Move controller, but this game might be the turning point. Will wait and see. By the looks of it, the graphics are nice, the controls do look 1 to 1. I am going to wait for some reviews of gamers and some well know sites.
GGCAN
May 4, 2012 at 7:17 am PDT

Thanks Brian.

Game looks amazing.

I’ve had the Move since it came out, but really looking forward to using it much more with this game.

Keep up the great work !
Xcaligamer1
May 4, 2012 at 7:18 am PDT

do want
jorge197
May 4, 2012 at 7:40 am PDT

So happy this game is coming out, have 3 PS Moves in my houde and need some games like this to get the dust off of them, thanks guys for the video, keep it up, oh yeah bebe cant wait
RenderMonk
May 4, 2012 at 8:09 am PDT

Will be supporting you guys with a day one purchase. This is THE experience that I’ve been waiting for in Motion controlled gaming. I really hope this game does well, and shows other developers that there really is an interest in this type of gaming….if it’s done right, and built from the ground up. Thanks for the years of hard work, and I hope you make more excellent Move games after this one.
Tremulan777
May 4, 2012 at 8:12 am PDT

I’m so gonna get the sorcery along with starhack. any pre-order bonuses? it’d be sweet.
nYcFrEeWiLL82
May 4, 2012 at 8:41 am PDT

im having a blast with my SONY Move, Sharp Shooter and 3D TV display… playing House of the DEAD and TIME CRISIS and soon NO MORE HEROES..and of course SORCERY. Thanks Sony..and Keep the MOVE GAMES COMING hope to see more and i shall do my best to support them.
Heavenly_king
May 4, 2012 at 9:05 am PDT

Dear Sony can you have all 1st and 3rd party games on PSN on day 1? Please :D
Tchanku
May 4, 2012 at 9:06 am PDT

I’ve said it before, this game is the reason I bought my Move controllers, can’t wait!
XenoNative
May 4, 2012 at 9:52 am PDT

this was the main reason i bought a move controller. finally.
CrusaderForever
May 4, 2012 at 10:09 am PDT

Glad I bought a move! This looks like a lot of fun. This is a tough month though. Mortal Kombat Vita, StarHawk, Sorcery and Resistance Burning Skies! Uhhggg, don’t know how I am going to make it all work. Sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do………..buy all 4! :)
KazeEternal
May 4, 2012 at 10:28 am PDT

Can’t wait to get my hands on a Copy of this game. This is what I have been waiting for on Move!
WiIIPower18
May 4, 2012 at 10:29 am PDT

This looks so good. I find myself hoping for a sequel already.
remanutd5
May 4, 2012 at 10:36 am PDT

i love inFAMOUS 2, Killzone 3, Resistance 3, inFAMOUS Festival of Blood move support , i play all those games with Move only but this is THE game that made me go buy a move controller in the first place. cant wait !!!!
remanutd5
May 4, 2012 at 10:37 am PDT

oh by the way i would love to see Folklore, Heavenly Sword and God of War3 move support someday
luvtoseek
May 4, 2012 at 10:43 am PDT

May 22nd release date! Nice! Remember to strap the Move to your wrist, people!:D
MakoSOLIDER
May 4, 2012 at 1:17 pm PDT

Will be this one the PS Store as well? Will be on there on launch day or later?
Blkant
May 4, 2012 at 1:43 pm PDT

It still seems like this game needs to support the DS3 as well to broaden it audience. It just seems like there is a lot of potential and it would be a shame to see the move limit its audience.
lisatsunami
May 4, 2012 at 2:01 pm PDT

@Brian, @Santa Monica Studio: I am really looking forward to this game & have it pre-ordered. Know that before I write the following comment after watching the video:

What’s with the racist voice acting? The traveling merchant on another planet has a Middle Eastern accent? Racial/ racist stereotypes are offensive. One of the many reasons I hated Phantom Menace was its persistent use of racist voice acting: the Middle Eastern rug merchant character who owned young Anakin & his mother; the 2 sneaky big headed council members planning to kill Queen Amadela speaking with Japanese accents, & the one who got the most hoopla, Jar Jar. I know you pride yourselves on creativity. Try extending that to voice acting instead of relying on old, tired, offensive racists stereotyping.

Thank you for reading this, provided I don’t get moderated out of the comments.
FORMIK
May 4, 2012 at 2:16 pm PDT

@19, I think reducing the controls to button presses would limit the experience the developers are going for, at least according to what I gathered from this video.

This game looks like great, by the way. Using English when casting a spell? That’s some fun attention to detail in terms of motion control.
- Brian Upton
  May 4, 2012 at 4:46 pm PDT
  
  Yeah, we designed it from the ground up with the Move in mind. Once we discovered the gesture-based technique for switching spells, there really was no going back. There’s no way to map it onto a standard controller without completely changing the pace of gameplay. It would be like trying to play God of War with a mouse.
lisatsunami
May 4, 2012 at 2:16 pm PDT

OK, my comment # 20 was moderated out, as I feared so I’m going to re-enter, using a misspelling to pass the auto filters:

“@ Brian, @ Santa Monica Studios: I am really looking forward to Sorcery and have it pre-ordered. Know that before my comment following:

What is up with the “ray-cist” voice acting? Why would a traveling merchant on another planet have a Middle-eastern accent? “Ray-cist/ray-cial” stereotypes are offensive. One of the many reasons I hated Phantom Menace was its persistent use of “ray-cist” voice acting: the Middle Eastern rug merchant who owned young Anakin & his mother; the sneaky big headed Council members planning to kill Queen Amadela speak with Jpn-nese accents; and the one who got the most hoopla, Jar Jar, with his Carrib patois.

I know you pride yourselves on creativity. Try extending that to the voice acting instead of relying on old, tired and offensive “ray-cist” stereotyping.
- Brian Upton
  May 4, 2012 at 4:43 pm PDT
  
  Hmmm … it’s interesting that you heard it as middle-eastern. The voice actor was using a Russian accent. We wanted the merchant to sound like he had traveled a long way — that he was a wanderer in the world. That’s kind of hard to do if someone just speaks average American English.
GreyLynx
May 4, 2012 at 3:04 pm PDT

So with this game gold what’s the workshop up to next?
- Brian Upton
  May 4, 2012 at 4:55 pm PDT
  
  LOL … even if I knew for sure, I couldn’t tell you … .
Motherboop
May 4, 2012 at 3:20 pm PDT

It’s going to be a fun Memorial Day weekend! Will be down at the beach with family, and im bringing Sorcery along for the ride! Finally I get to use my navigational controller :)
GreyLynx
May 4, 2012 at 3:25 pm PDT

lisatsunami,
As someone who’s friends with a lot of Persians, some do speak in a heavy accent just because they have an accent doesn’t mean it’s got anything to do with Race. The race part comes in when you put the stereotype to it such as when you said Anakin belonged to a rug merchant, When Watto was a junk dealer also just because a few people of a certian creed(the sneaky guys you talked about) doesn’t mean EVERYONE OF THEM IS LIKE THAT, that’s stupid and no child would think that.

Middle Eastern people being merchants is common especially as it’s based on histrionically elements of THEIR culture(look up the silk road) that they don’t see as a stereotype. Also this isn’t another planet it’s another dimension where monsters and magic exist, to say that there isn’t a Persian/Middle east equal on that world/plane of existence without knowing much about that world (which we honestly don’t ) is foolish especially as it seems to be based on Celtic folk lore of trolls and goblins so middle eastern folk lore maybe true there as well.
Hooligantuan
May 4, 2012 at 3:27 pm PDT

I’m pretty sure that the Move is based on Technology, not Magic.

Or did Sony get bought up by Disney all of a sudden and now everything is dumb?
GreyLynx
May 4, 2012 at 3:36 pm PDT

#21
A.Just because someone has an accent =/=stereo types as people do sometime, I have plenty of persian friends who speak with HEAVY accent
B. Watto(the guy who owned Anakin) was a JUNK DEALER, he dealt in mechanical junk for Robots and vehicles. You’re the one who called him a Rug Merchant which is veryyyyyyy “ray-ist” to the point I’m offended.
C. Middle Eastern people are historically known to be heavy in the trade market, as desert lands aren’t good for farming or raising most live stock so trade would be A HUGE part of life.
D.We don’t know what is on the full planet this game takes place on so to say he’s out of place is just wrong.
- Brian Upton
  May 4, 2012 at 4:54 pm PDT
  
  The world of Sorcery is like Earth, but it’s not Earth. We started from a base of Celtic mythology, but we diverged pretty widely from it as the game world began to take on a life of its own. The merchant is from someplace Far Away — where, we never say — so he speaks with an accent. He’s a magical creature like the faeries and the elves and the sylphs and the bogeys, and he makes his living wandering back and forth between the various magical realms and trading with whoever he meets.
GreyLynx
May 4, 2012 at 3:41 pm PDT

Hooligantuan,
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic- Authur C. Clark

It’s called PR buzz terms this series is simply to show how much you can do with move given enough time.
Hooligantuan
May 4, 2012 at 6:21 pm PDT

The Move is not sufficiently advanced to be indistinguishable from magic.

;D
Jeigh
May 4, 2012 at 6:30 pm PDT

First off, I am LOVING what you guys are doing with Sorcery. For a while there, I wasn’t sure on it. The change in art style was a bit jarring, but seeing the gameplay all fleshed out, it really looks like a quality experience. I’m going to do my part, because I definitely want to encourage more games like this. Thank you for the taking a chance on Move.

@ lisatsunami

While it is certainly true that entertainment media takes advantage of certain attributes associated with certain accents to help define characters (whether simplicity, honesty, intelligence or whatever else), it’s an incredibly pervasive practice and not always a harmful one either. Whatever the case, to use this game as a target is, quite honestly, kind of ironic since the Russian accent used here said to me that the merchant was a nice, friendly guy.

You want a place to vent? Pop in Disney’s Aladdin and REALLY listen to the characters.
Elvick_
May 4, 2012 at 6:58 pm PDT

Want~
luvtoseek
May 4, 2012 at 7:17 pm PDT

@27, well said! It all depends in the context & there’s no overwhelming evidence that SCEA had any intention of having racial overtones in the Sorcery storyline. Take the GTA series for example- the racial tension is always in the player’s rearview mirror. It def. isn’t like that for Sorcery.
oorat
May 4, 2012 at 11:02 pm PDT

I find it funny that there is even an issue over a characters accent. First of all, what is the alternative? Never having characters that talk in an accent? Does that also mean we can’t cast actors who have accents in real life? The argument, and even pretending that it is in any derogatory in for the game Sorcery to have a guy with a thick accent in it is just plain silly.

Brian, the game looks great. I just preordered it on Amazon, I’ve been looking forward to this game since it was announced and shown 2 years ago. I really hope this is the first of many to come move only games. The move has so much potential. And as far as future projects go, I really wish you guys would take what you have here with Sorcery, and show it off to Lucasfilm, and then wow them into letting you make a star wars game. The move was MADE to be used as a lightsaber. Just thinking about the potential I see in the Sorcery trailer on a Star Wars game, using force powers like you use the spells. Real 1:1 lightsaber control.
VinsanityV21
May 4, 2012 at 11:17 pm PDT

I was worrying that the combat would be pretty mindless in this game. But seeing the different spells you can do through different motions, and the shield stuff….it’s not exactly Skyward Sword, but it’s A LOT better than I thought it was going to be.

Personally, I would’ve liked to see more environmental puzzles/interaction. Picking up falling pillars, manipulating runes, etc. Sort of like moving things with the Force in the Force Unleashed games. I feel like more deliberately paced actions suit motion controllers better, so I’m baffled why no one (except the developers of Datura and Zack & Wiki) have bothered to make a game like….I dunno, Amnesia/Penumbra. Go through a world and play around with stuff in it. Not only does it look like the world of Sorcery lacks that stuff, but it looks really static. When you created that fire tornado in the above video, and it DIDN’T light the trees on fire in the forest, I was pretty bummed out. Dynamic worlds are way more fun than “Diorama worlds”.

Still, Sorcery is a HUGE step up for Move games and I love storybook fantasy games. Just hoping for a Move Bundle with this game so I can pick it up and have the hardware needed to play it.
VinsanityV21
May 4, 2012 at 11:21 pm PDT

Man, are you effin’ kidding me? Right AFTER where I decided to pause the video, you guys talk about environmental interaction and show off all that “immersive world” stuff I was talking about! That’s awesome. I’d still prefer more – all gamers are greedy, aren’t they? – but the fact that it’s in here? You guys get it. And I want it. Can’t wait for this game!
HermoTavares
May 5, 2012 at 4:22 pm PDT

Just one thing ….. I will buy this game …. :-)
ajwilson55
May 6, 2012 at 11:26 am PDT

This will be the game that gets me to finally buy Move. Looking forward to it a lot.
Garrison
May 7, 2012 at 6:35 am PDT

I’m having a lot of fun with the move, I got it with killzone 3 and resistance 3 in a special ed. Since then I’ve found some really great gems like that tumbler game and I play house of the dead 4 with the wife. This game is also on my list of must buy.
jimfear
May 13, 2012 at 2:19 pm PDT

Lol @22.. There is nothing racist here… Its not because you take the accent from another country that you are racist. Saying that is like saying “im not gonna play gta4 cause they talk like russian and the actor who did the voice was american” Your accusation is dumb and actually what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent point of view were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having reading to it.
T40Rs731N
May 13, 2012 at 5:32 pm PDT

@22/ lisatsunami Are you joking? Russian. The guy has a Russian accent. Not a stereotypical Russian accent, just Russian.

And since you are seemingly so naive, humans are a race. There is currently only one race of humans on the planet earth. Being racist would mean that you hate Dolphins, like Chum in Finding Nemo:

Chum: “Dolphins. They think they’re so cute. Oh, look at me, I’m a flippy little dolphin, let me flip for you.”

That would be racists since the Sharks are a different Race than Dolphins.

Race: “An interbreeding, usually geographically isolated population of organisms differing from other populations of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits. A race that has been given formal taxonomic recognition is known as a subspecies.”

Claiming that there are other “races” of humans is actually far more racist than this “alleged” middle eastern (which is really Russian) accent.