Event [0] Available Now
Type like your life depends on it as Event [0], the story-driven spacefaring adventure in which players must build a relationship with a lonely spaceship computer to get home, launches today on Windows PC and Mac via Steam, the Humble Store by Humble Bundle, GOG.com, Itch.io, and Games Republic.
A brand new launch trailer provides insight on what players can look forward to in developer Ocelot Society’s sci-fi narrative exploration game, and can be viewed here:
Set in a retrofuture inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris and Brave New World, Event[0] is a game about building a personal relationship with a machine using natural language. As a player, your only companion is an insecure and unstable AI entity named Kaizen, with whom you interact by typing messages using antiquated computer terminals throughout a desolated spacecraft. The game’s multi-layered story emerges organically as players communicate with Kaizen, freely explore 3D environments, gather information and solve hacking puzzles. Each player will enjoy a unique gameplay experience based on the way they choose to communicate with Kaizen, who procedurally generates over two million lines of dialog and demonstrates a variety of different personalities, and communication responses, influenced by human input.
As in any relationship, there can be gratitude, disappointment or jealousy, and Kaizen reacts differently depending on its mood and the situation at hand. The ship, Nautilus, is essentially the AI computer’s body, and reacts to Kaizen’s mood by making different sounds, which gives the player subtle yet valuable clues. By working through the fears and anxieties of a virtual companion players can ultimately find the way back to Earth—while unraveling the cryptic history of the ship and the 1980s society from which it emerged.
The game is created using Unity 5 and utilizes physics-based rendering and advanced lighting techniques to create richly detailed environments inside and outside the ship (players can leave the ship for breathtakingly scary spacewalks). Eschewing a traditional game score, most of the sound, including incidental music, comes from items in the environment.
Event[0] began as a six-month student project before evolving into a full title under the auspices of Ocelot Society, which was founded by key members of the team. The indie game first drew attention as a concept demo that won multiple indie gaming awards, including Innovation at BIG 2015 and Student Award winner at EIGD 2014. Event[0] is now backed by France’s CNC public arts organization and by the Indie Fund, an esteemed funding source for independent developers launched as an alternative to traditional publisher models.
Event[0] is available now on Steam, Humble Bundle, GOG.com, Itch.io, and Games Republic for $19.99.
Source: Press Release