Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening

Explore the Great Pyramid and SOLVE the Riddle of the Sphinx!

We are re-releasing the classic best-selling epic Egyptian adventure game, Riddle of the Sphinx™, in high-definition (HD) on mobile and desktop platforms, named: Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening™.

Violent sand storms have once again covered most of the Sphinx and Great Pyramids…

After years of digging, noted archaeologist Sir Gil Blythe Geoffreys uncovers a secret chamber overlooked for centuries. Geoffreys’ first and only trip reveals an ancient, brittle papyrus scroll. After rough translation, he realizes he’s found the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of the Sphinx. Sealed with a thick resin, the scroll bears an indiscernible hieroglyph. Unfortunately, after breaking the scroll’s seal and deciphering it’s mysterious contents, Geoffreys realizes he’s unleashed an ancient curse; shrouding those who fail to heed its warning in certain death. Realizing he is doomed, Geoffreys sends for you, his closest friend and colleague.

Now, with the help of Gil’s carefully hidden notes and translation of the scroll, it’s up to you to solve the Riddle. However… the scroll has mysteriously disappeared. Your first responsibility will be to locate the missing scroll. Then, using the tattered scroll with Gil’s translation, you’ll be on the way to solving the Riddle of the Sphinx!

Resurrecting Riddle of the Sphinx

Riddle of the Sphinx™ was originally released in 2000 and quickly became a best-selling adventure game. The original team is resurrecting this epic Egyptian adventure with:

• We are bringing back Riddle of the Sphinx™ with all newly rendered scenes, expanded game play, and a new game engine.
• And, we are releasing this new version for mobile, tablet, desktop, and AppleTV!
• With your help, we can bring this version to market and resurrect unrestricted access to the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid.
• The original team consisted of husband and wife team: Jeff and Karen Tobler
• This time they are joined with their son and daughter-in-law, Charlie and Marta Tobler.

We are already converting the older models and enhancing the environments, and this enhanced HD release of the point and click original will open the way to a subsequent real-time 3D version. So, in a sense, your contribution to this project supports the birth of two archaeological adventure games. Furthermore, after these two releases, we have a new adventure planned in the Riddle of the Sphinx™ franchise.

What We Need & What You Get

We have some awesome rewards for each contribution level, some which have never been offered before! Best of all, not only will you be able to enjoy Riddle of the Sphinx; Awakening, but you support will make it possible for many others to become archaeologists solving the most enigmatic Egyptian mystery ever: the Riddle of the Sphinx!

• We need funding to continue converting models, rerendering scenes and animations, and programming the new game engine. Because we aren’t a huge team, we don’t need a huge budget, but we are hoping to reach $30,000 with a few stretch goals.
• Some of the rewards include a limited edition brass Sphinx (from the game), your custom Graffiti in the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, official T-Shirt, a crated Collector’s Edition with leather journal and poster, and much more!
• If we don’t reach our goal, we will use the remaining contributions to finish the game only without some of the new levels. But the game will be released bigger and better than before!

More Than Just a Game

When we first created Riddle of the Sphinx, we had no idea the impact it would make on those who experienced it. We have testimonials of Father and Son bonding, young adventure gamers who kept a journal by their side, engaged couples playing remotely, home-bound gamers that were able to virtually walk, crawl, and climb through the Pyramid and discover a new world of intrigue and adventure! Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening is:

• ARCHAEOLOGICAL containing hyper-realistic renderings and environments of the existing ancient Egyptian monuments for intimate, unrestricted exploration.
• HISTORICAL introducing modern and ancient history into the plot and gameplay.
• MYSTERIOUS bringing to life the many true-to-life halted discoveries and theories of hidden chambers and secret passageways in the Great Pyramid and Giza Sphinx.
• FAMILY-FRIENDLY with sophisticated and engaging gameplay for any age – it’s really tough at times, but also attractive to younger audiences. It’s a perfect family game where the whole family can gather around and explore as a team!

Riddle of the Sphinx is Truly an Adventure of Megalithic Proportions

Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening is HUGE! It really just keeps opening up into more and more environments and an incredible amount of exploration.

• Explore around and IN the Great Sphinx
• Explore INSIDE the Great Pyramid, including the existing Grand Gallery, King’s Chamber, and Queen’s Chamber.
• These environments are exacting replicas of the real thing.
• Over 50 million sq.ft. of detailed 3D environments
• Over 100,000 sq.ft. of exploration

And the enhanced graphics of ROTS: The Awakening are much bigger, too. Look at the difference in size between the original 640×480 renderings vs the newly enhanced HD 1080p resolution.

Risks & Challenges

There are a number of challenges associated with re-creating a game that was originally released 18 years ago. One of the main challenges was taking the models from Strata Vision in Mac OS 9 (Yes, the original is really THAT old!) and converting it to Strata Design 3D CX 8. We are also reprogramming Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening from scratch to take advantage of Unity’s game engine. So… yeah, we have our work cut out for us. However, we feel the challenges we are facing today are very doable and nothing compared to what we faced when we developed the first game. Certain technological advances we take for granted now were once a pipe dream. If we could overcome the challenges then, as an indie game studio, we can surely overcome these obstacles now, with so much more experience under our collective belts 🙂 In fact, we have already surpassed one of the greatest hurdles: recovering and converting the original models. This process is not only valuable for bringing ROTS: The Awakening in HD to mobile, desktop, and AppleTV, but in ultimately bringing the models into Unity for the up coming real-time 3d version. Your support will help us overcome these obstacles and release a truly awe-inspiring adventure experience!

• We have the success of two commercially successful adventure games under our belt: Riddle of the Sphinx (original release) and The Omega Stone: ROTS II. So we are confident in our ability to successfully develop and release Riddle of the Sphinx: Awakening.
• However, if we come across issues, we have many others we can bring into the process to help us overcome any obstacle we might face.

SPECIAL THANKS to Rand Miller at Cyan, makers of Myst, and Kevin Condie at Strata.

We were seriously stuck in opening some of the original models. While we had figured out how to run an emulated OS 9, and Strata’s 3d Blitz, we were missing some critical plugins. One quick email to Rand and within minutes, he found and delivered the missing plugin. Rand, THANK YOU for your help and inspiration through MYST! Then, when we got the old models opened in Blitz, and started to import them into Strata’s newest 3d software, Strata Design 3D CX 8, we ran into a host of new issues. We called up Ken Bringhurst, CEO of Strata, and Kevin Condie, software engineer. They both quickly helped us solve critical issues, and Kevin took a bunch of time to personally walk us through the solutions. Kevin and Ken, THANK YOU so much for making Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening a reality! Because of their help, the new renderings are using Strata Design CX’s Radiosity renderer, which features more compelling lighting, shadows!

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t contribute, but you want to support the making of Riddle of the Sphinx: Awakening, consider the following non-financial ways you can contribute to its success:

• Like and follow our Facebook page and posts: https://facebook.com/riddleofthesphinxgame and https://oldworldstudios
• Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oldworldstudios
• Post about the campaign on your social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Use something like this:

RESURRECT the Ancient Secrets of the Great Pyramid & Giza Sphinx in “Riddle of the Sphinx: Awakening” at https://riddleofthesphinx.com/fund

• Tell your friends and family about the project! Direct them to RiddleoftheSphinx.com