The four ‘interactive episodes’ will be available to download from the show’s official website from June 2010 and will see players assume control of the Doctor and Amy as they embark on new adventures which complement the TV series.
New series stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have been digitally recreated in-game, and have provided full voice-overs to offer players an authentic depiction of The Doctor and companion Amy. Music has been provided by series composer Murray Gold and the BBC say an additional cast “will portray original characters and classic enemies.”
“Children don’t just watch Doctor Who – they join in. They make up games, invent their monsters, create their own stories,” says Head Writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat. “Now, there’s something else – now they can be the Doctor in brand new episodes. Doctor Who: The Adventure Games will offer fans of the Doctor a unique opportunity to enter his world, face his challenges and grapple with his deadliest foes.
“By developing these games alongside the new TV series, we’ve been able to weave exciting narrative strands with the very finest game design to create a new kind of Doctor Who, which can be enjoyed by the whole family.”
The new production team are giving the games the status of ‘official stories’ with Executive Producer and Head of Drama, BBC Wales Piers Wenger commenting: “There aren’t 13 episodes of Doctor Who this year, there are 17 – four of which are interactive. Everything you see and experience within the game is part of the Doctor Who universe: we’ll be taking you to places you’ve only ever dreamed about seeing – including locations impossible to create on television.”
The games have been commissioned by BBC Online by the Vision Multiplatform team, headed up by Simon Nelson. Moffat, Wenger and series co-Executive Producer Beth Willis are overseeing the project alongside Anwen Aspden alongside BBC Wales Interactive.
Gaming veteran Charles Cecil, responsible for such games as Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars and The Da Vinci Code, is also working on the project alongside developers Sumo Digital.
Stories and scripts are from Phil Ford (co-writer Doctor Who ‘Waters of Mars’) and James Moran (Severance, Torchwood Children of Earth).
“A few years ago we couldn’t have dreamt of commissioning such an innovative form of drama,” comments Nelson, “by integrating the creation of these ‘interactive episodes’ with the development of the TV series, we’ve been able to create amazing two-hour dramas in which you control the action. We’ve all imagined what it would be like to come face-to-face with some of the universe’s most terrifying monsters – now viewers can find out for themselves.”
The titles of the four episodes are being kept under wraps for now but show bosses promise the four stories will take players on a journey throughout time and space, including one location from the Doctor Who series which has never been seen before on screen. Players will encounter new and original monsters, in stories which form part of the overall Doctor Who canon.