The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle – An Interview with Seb Burnett

In a quirky take on a Victorian London inhabited by strange characters, with even stranger noses, self proclaimed leading explorator, Bertram Fiddle, finds himself in a bit of pickle. While taking his wife’s dog, Foofy, to the Groomery a sinister, shadowy figure bumps into him and their bags become bemuddled up! Little does Bertram know he has just become entangled in the adventure of his lifetime. The man is no other than London’s most elusive serial killer, Geoff The Murderer! Bertram will have to battle man-eating plants, face untold horrors, and share a cup of tea with Sherlock Holmes, if he is to stand any chance of retrieving his wife’s precious Foofy. To help him in his endeavors he is aided by his Peruvian manservant, Gavin the Cyclops, whose raw strength and jungle wisdom often comes in handy.

The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle is a traditional 2D point and click adventure game that mixes the classic formula up with riveting action elements all weaved together lovingly by Rumpus Animation. We spoke to Rumpus Director Seb Burnett about the game, which is out now for iOS and due for a wider release over the coming months…

Where did the Idea for Bertram stem from?

Bertram is a character that I made up almost 10 years ago. I made a film about a clueless explorer who got lost on his way to Great Yarmouth and discovered a lost World. That story was more about growing up in Lincolnshire, but I liked the idea of an explorer who didn’t like trying new things and developed Bertram’s character.
Originally Rumpus had plans to make an animated series about his exploits.

Why turn Bertram into a game?

We were finding it quite hard to get anyone to back Bertram as an animated series. It seemed he fell into a niche where he was considered too old for kids and not rude or wacky enough for an older market.
We decided that we would self-publish and making a game seemed like the best way to do that. It was a new way of bringing Bertram’s world to life.
It was also an experiment for Rumpus to see if we could take our animation style and make it interactive.

How have you found the process of making a game compared to making animation?

It’s been a challenge! The main difference has been in the story-telling process. I would write a scene and think I had it all figured out and then we would play test it and realise a player wouldn’t do what I had expected them to do. We had to be very careful in making the narrative be open enough to give the player choices, but also for it to hold together and make sense.
When you write for animation you don’t have to worry about that because the audience is just watching. There are a lot more “what ifs” in making a game. And it increases the content you have to create too.

Can you tell us a bit about the process of making the game?

We won some funding through the Creative England Gameslab fund with the idea of a point and click adventure featuring Bertram. That enabled us to hire a programmer/game designer who could help turn my piles of ideas into something that actually worked as a game.
We kept it fairly flexible. I had the overall story planned out, but we made it in sections so that scenes could be added or taken away depending on how well production was going. It’s our first game so we really didn’t know how long anything was going to take.
We worked in stages, with very rough paper-prototyping to see if the ideas were working, rough blocking out of the game mechanics (similar to an animatic, I guess, but interactive) and then adding the final assets and artwork. All the time we had to keep playtesting to make sure things were working and changing them accordingly.

What was your favourite part of the game making process?

There were a few bits. I definitely enjoyed coming up with new characters and writing the scripts. Recording the Voice Overs was a lot of fun as well. I also enjoyed taking the game to games expos and watching people play it. I learnt so much from that about how to make the game work better.

What was the most challenging part of the game making process?

Coming from an animation background I did find it very frustrating how unstable making a game can be. When you animate something it is animated. That’s that. When you program a game so many things can go wrong it’s unbelievable…

What is your favourite part of the game?

Pokey Mary is my favourite character. She was a last minute inclusion to the game as well. The night before our final voice record I woke up in the middle of the night and scribbled down all these lines for her (I admit I may have been a bit mad at this point in production). The next day Louis from Sun and Moon studios, who does amazing voice overs (he’s the voice of Bertram, Guy Hardwood, Watson and more) had to read from the scribbled scraps of paper. He really went for it though – it was the funniest thing I’ve seen.

You have been receiving great press for the game and been included in Apples Charts, how have you found the games reception?

It’s been really good. We got featured on the UK and US appstore front pages and had a review in the Guardian Guide. For our first game I’m really proud. There are definitely things I want to do better next time, but we’ve made a 2 and a half hor long interactive animated feature film. That’s pretty cool.

How does Bertam feel about his introduction onto new-fangled technology?

I haven’t told him yet

Will we be seeing an Episode 2 of Bertrams adventures?

Definitely. I’ve already written the next ten chapters. I just need Lord Arthwipe to reward us handsomely so we can afford to make them!