PSISHOCK
2011
Psishock was a primary project that I have developed very far. I have paintsakingly attempted to craft the illusion of being isolated in a claustrophobic research station on venus. While it was certainly a horror game with shooting elements it was first and foremost an adventure game. You’d have to solve puzzles, gather items and unveil the story unfolding around you. I am still quite proud with what I have achieved look and gameplay wise and deeply saddened that the engine and my limited knowledge at the time ruined the project in the long run.
PSISHOCK was the spiritual successor of Symbiotic and before that Lunar Crisis. It was intended to be a commercial project and achieved first coverage by the german gaming press.
SETTING
This game is about the ultimately futile attempt to study an alien energie-form on a distant planet. The planet, Venus, has an extremely dense atmosphere, which consists mainly of carbon dioxide and a small amount of nitrogen. The dense athmosphere made it impossible for former reconaissance missions to gather exact information about its surface. 2048, the “VENERA REVIVAL” Mission discovers massive traces of diamonds in one of the larger Valleys on venus surface. Diamonds where extremely rare after the third world war and an important raw material for spacecraft hulls and energy weapons. However, it took earth’s scientists another century to build a functioning and sustainable mining and research station on venus connected to a high end spaceport with almost daily rocketlaunches with cargo full of refined diamonds towards Earth and Mars. (Civil populations being established on Earth, Mars and Titan (not included correction facilitys on Hyperion).
After 20 years in operation, the venus station (Named “Cytheria 2” (1 being the failed first attempt in the 21th century)) became the most lucrative outer space installation of mankind, however, suicide rates where alarmingly high and 1 out of 5 employees suffered from sudden bursts of irrational fear and sickness. 1 out of 20 admitted being a victim of a series of nightmares containing suspiciously graphic violence towards fellow crewmembers.
Most outer space research, resource or development facilitys had these problems… Working on a dead planet far away from home for an extended period of time had its side effects widely known as “Dead Planet Sickness” however, the sheer amount of incidents on venus was alarming.
Violence increased in the mining sectors and after a couple of violenct incidents security got tightened making Cytheria 2 the first outer space mining and research facility that has a security force armed with a wide range of autmatic weapons.
As you can imagine, the amount of disturbance on the station had its source.
Scientists discovered signs of a vast but strange intelligence, which can create physical phenomena in a way that science has difficulty explaining.
The game begins with the awakening of the protagonist, Victor Salenko, from cryostasis. Suffering from severe amnesia, a side effect of longtime hypersleep, Salenko wanders the abandoned corridors of the station searching for answers to his identity and the fate of his coworkers.
Secret-research has been ongoing for years, but scientists have been unable to do more than observe the highly complex phenomena that seems to have been present for millennia but grows stronger and feeds on human lifeforce. All the while classifying events and sightings into an elaborate nomenclature without understanding what they actually mean. The discovery of an alien artifact on a new mining site gave new strength to the alien conciousness allowing it to manifest itself and taking over the station. Salenko finds himself weak and helpless on a deserted outer space station, has to face an unknown hostile force and uncovering his very own painful past.
STATUS
While the game is currently discontinued and I feel like my ability to craft this kind of game is outdated (with horror adventures like SOMA or visual feasts like DOOM4 on the market) it is not unlikely that an abstraction or a remake of it will see the light of day either in GG or UE4. I also took a lot of plot elements of this to write the outline of a novel I might publish within the next 3 to 5 years. 🙂
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
This game was the first project of mine to really peak the use of shader heavy visual effects, detailed leveldesign and interactive environments. As such, it also peaked in instability and consuming the engines memorycap which ultimately lead to its demise and cancellation.
EXTERNAL LINKS
SCREENSHOTS AND ARTWORK
Thank you for your visit!
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