''Darkened Skye'' is a third-person
action-adventure
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...
video game developed by Boston Animation. It was released for
Microsoft Windows and
GameCube in North America in 2002 and the PAL regions in 2003. The game was also packaged with ''
Outlaw Golf
''Outlaw Golf'' is a series of golf video games developed by Hypnotix, that are intended for adults and mature teens. ''Outlaw Golf'' was released for the Xbox (console), Xbox on June 10, 2002; for GameCube on October 29, 2002; and for Microsoft ...
''. Its title character is a young woman named Skye who lives in a fantasy realm searching for her mother. She can perform magic using
Skittles
Skittles may refer to:
* Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
*'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical''
* Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated
* Skittles (ch ...
candies as well as use her staff as a melee weapon; her staff becomes an energy weapon when used in conjunction with the Skittles.
Gameplay
The game begins on a path in the forest of Lynlora near a village and moves to many settings, such as the gloomy Ogmire Archipelago and the drowned city and dungeon of the same name; Tikniki Swamp, which has a maze and a scene of riding shotgun on a giant turtle which you cannot steer; a fleet of balloons called the Sky Pirates' Camp; the Chinese-style land of Zen'Jai with lava rivers, three dragon lairs, of various elemental affinities, and the Warlord's Palace, which is like a maze; Stone Heath, with three combination-lock puzzles located in ancient stone circles; a multi-story dungeon called the Goblins' Lair; the Bone Lands, which surround a lava lake; a vampires' necropolis called the Gargoyle Cemetery, which leads to a Cathedral taken over by the enemy and a giant collapsed staircase in the Bell Tower; and a sky full of floating stones leading to Necroth's Realm and his Lair. There is a short puzzle in a miniature village along a stream, called Twell Country.
Skye suffers from a fear of drowning, so the game involves much jumping over water hazards, especially prevalent in Ogmire. There are also many puzzles of avoiding falling from great heights. It has an arcade sequence of riding a fantasy beast through underground chambers without falling into lava pits or crashing into rock formations.
The general tone of the game is juvenile-friendly and lightly comedic; defeated creatures melt away and the game is not particularly gory. One of the aids that the game provides the player is that past dialogue is accessible. Also, it contains a notebook which keeps track of what the player is searching for at any given point in the plot.
Licensing
The magic system is based on the use of Skittles candy. Skye performs different magic spells by using various combinations of colored Skittles. She can perform non-combat spells like seeing invisible items, firewalking, floating, temporarily nullifying petrification spells, shrinking, reviving dead creatures, creating a protective field, increasing the firepower of the attacks spells, and turning ordinary people into mages (though she will only get to perform that spell on her mother). Attack spells range from light beams, fireballs, iceballs, lightning, confusion, and a spell that specifically destroys undead creatures (the only means to permanently kill a vampire). Skittles have limited, though slowly regenerating, quantities of Mana. When their mana is depleted, no spells can be performed with them and they have a dulled color. They regenerate mana over time, but mana can be replenished quickly by picking up blue power-ups. Available spells depend on the quantity of Skittles Skye collects throughout the game.
Plot
Setting
The game takes place in The Five Worlds: Lynlora, Ogmire, Zen'Jai, Stoneheath, and The Gorgoyle Realms.
Characters
The protagonist of ''Darkened Skye'' is Skye, a shepherd who wants to get more enjoyment out of life, and is voiced by
Linda Larkin
Linda Larkin (born March 20, 1970) is an American actress, best known for her role as the speaking voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin''.
Career
Larkin began her career in 1990, with the film ''Zapped Agai ...
. Her companion is a sarcastic gargoyle named Draak, who decided to rage against the game's villain, the evil wizard Necroth, and is voiced by Robb Pruitt.
Story
Development
![Skittles-Louisiana-2003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Skittles-Louisiana-2003.jpg)
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
Interactive wanted to develop games based on
M&M's
M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...
given how recognized the candy characters were. While negotiating with
Mars, Inc., Simon & Schuster also talked about using Skittles, which would be a back-up plan in case M&M's ended up unavailable. Eventually Mars gave the license to both brands, with the Skittles one being inspired by the assumption that a computer game based on Skittles could make the brand more popular as the confectionary's consumption declined with people older than 20.
After the
M&M's video games sold well, producer
Elizabeth Braswell was asked to develop the Skittles game. While she first refused the job, Braswell eventually decided to work on it by focusing on gameplay and humor. A 300-page script, by lead writer and designer Andy Wolfendon, was written and submitted to Mars, which only asked to change a joke, utterances of "damn" and "remove all the snakes from the game." When Braswell asked for clarification, they said that there could be snake-like creatures, but no actual snakes.
Executive Producer Dale DeSharone stated the game's concepts were inspired by the Skittles television commercials of the "Taste the Rainbow" campaign. DeSharone led a team of over 50 people in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
across two years, working on ''Darkened Skye'' simultaneously with ''
M&M's The Lost Formulas''. By the time ''Darkened Skye'' was finished, Simon & Schuster considered removing the Skittles association, but the developers already incorporated the candy into the gameplay and in-game text, so it ended up with only no references to Skittles on the box cover.
[ Boston Animation largely outsourced the development and programming to a team based in Ukraine.
The PC version was shipped in January 2002, while the GameCube version was released in November the same year.
]
Reception
''Darkened Skye'' received "mixed" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
The gameplay was compared to games like ''Tomb Raider'' and ''Star Fox Adventures
''Star Fox Adventures'' is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. The game had a long development cycle starting in 1997. Originally developed as ''Dinosaur Planet'' with Rare-created characters as the prota ...
''. Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
's Matthew Kato stated that he liked the magic system while calling the combat "painfully average".
The reaction to the game's product placement was mixed. ''GameRevolution
''GameRevolution'' (formerly ''Game-Revolution'') is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshot ...
''s Johnny Lui said its use was clever and more creative than other games use of advertisement. Writing for '' Computer Gaming World'', Erik Wolpaw
Erik Wolpaw is an American video game writer. He and Chet Faliszek wrote the pioneering video game website Old Man Murray. He subsequently worked for game developers Double Fine Productions and Valve, and is known for his work on video games incl ...
called the game great in terms of being a Skittles game. CNNMoney, however, called the use of Skittles in the game "the most blatant product placement since Chap Stick in those commercials for ''The Mothman Prophecies
''The Mothman Prophecies'' is a 1975 book by John Keel.
Synopsis
The book relates Keel's accounts of his investigation into confirmed sightings of a large, winged creature called Mothman in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during ...
''."
'' GameTrailers'' placed ''Darkened Skye'' as number two in their "Top 10 Shameless Licensed Games", behind ''Chase the Chuck Wagon
''Chase the Chuck Wagon'' is a 1983 promotional video game written by Mike Schwartz for the Atari 2600 and distributed by Purina. It was available only via mail order by sending in proofs of purchase to Purina. In the 1970s and 1980s, popular te ...
'' for the Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...
. '' GamesRadar'' had the game in their "Worst Mash-Ups" list, while the appearance of Skittles was part of their list of worst product cameos in gaming.
References
External links
*
''Darkened Skye'' at Boston Animation
* {{moby game, id=/darkened-skye, name=''Darkened Skye''
2002 video games
Action-adventure games
Advergames
Fantasy video games
GameCube games
Third-person shooters
Video games about food and drink
Video games developed in Ukraine
Video games featuring female protagonists
Windows games
Works based on advertisements
TDK Mediactive games
Simon & Schuster Interactive games
Single-player video games