Poor tragic Queen Anne – beautiful but unhappy.

When I had to go about creating artwork for The Three Musketeers: The Game, I was concerned about keeping ‘things’ within a historical contest. Clothing, weapons, furniture, buildings, pottery – so many different aspects of early 17th century life were researched in hopes of making a historical game true to the time period. It was overwhelming initially trying to keep everything accurate. So while I did my best, a lot of things in the game are not “100% true” to the real early 17th century.

Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers is a swashbuckling romantic historical fiction epic; it’s not a period-perfect true-to-real-life non-fiction account of the 17th century. Events that actually occurred are in the book – but at incorrect times. Real people within the book are by no means historically accurate portrayals. There are even items that didn’t exist in the early 17th century that found their way into the book – like a stove-pipe that is crucial to the story. Even the iconic and beloved tabard of the Musketeers is not accurate – the real Musketeers weren’t given uniforms until later on, and there is uncertainty about the ‘tabard’ (or cassock) colours.

While I did take artistic liberties when doing illustrations and animation, I had such a marvelous time conducting research, even if the final products weren’t “100% true.’ All the main characters were based on real portraits from the early 17th century. We traveled to England and France to get a more personal feel for the countries portrayed in the book. And I had such a fun time documenting different weapons and articles of clothing.

So when you’re reading or playing The Three Musketeers, know that both Dumas and Dingo Games had the best of intentions. You can’t watch Pirates of the Caribbean or Gladiator (or any film version of The Three Musketeers!) as a historical documentary – you watch it for fun. And fun is what The Three Musketeers: The Game is all about.

(If you are interesting in a watching a great ‘real history lesson,’ watch ‘Tales From The Green Valley.’ The show takes places in the UK instead of France, but I absolutely loved it – and yes, for those concerned, the DVD works fine on North American players!)