Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
| Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | thechineseroom |
| Publisher(s) | Frictional Games[1] |
| Producer(s) | Frictional Games |
| Designer(s) | Peter Howell Dan Pinchbeck[2] |
| Artist(s) | Wesley Tack (lead artist) Brady Jones |
| Writer(s) | Dan Pinchbeck[1] |
| Composer(s) | Jessica Curry[2] |
| Engine | HPL Engine 2[1] |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux[1] |
| Release | Q4 2012 |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (codenamed gameB) is an upcoming survival horror video game developed by thechineseroom and produced by Frictional Games. The game is an indirect sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which was developed and produced by Frictional Games. While set in the same universe as the previous game, it will feature an entirely new cast of characters and time setting.[1] While no release date has been set for the game, it is expected to ship before Halloween 2012.[1]
Plot
The focus of the story will be Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist. Set in 1899 (60 years after the time setting of The Dark Descent), Mandus returns from a "disastrous" expedition to Mexico, wherein a tragedy struck. Hit by fever, Mandus has frequent dreams about a dark machine until he regains consciousness. Little does he know that months have passed, and upon awakening, he hears the roar of an engine and a mysterious machine starts up.[1]
Gameplay
Like The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs will be a first-person survival horror game. It has been confirmed that some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed, while other, new elements have been added. One of the reasons for this is to provide a fresh gameplay experience to even veteran players of The Dark Descent.[1]
Development
In 2010, after the release of The Dark Descent, Frictional Games wanted to further the Amnesia franchise, but had no time for it. Later, they met Dan Pinchbeck of thechineseroom at GDC Europe 2010, where the plan for the game would begin to form.[1]
Development for the game began in December 2011 at thechineseroom, while Frictional Games is producing the title. The game is being developed in partnership with the University of Portsmouth.
Marketing
The announcement of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs was preceded by a viral marketing and ARG campaign that began when Frictional Games updated their website Next Frictional Game, which has prior been used to announce the first installment, in early 2012. The website featured a heavily blurred image, the Amnesia logo and a caption reading "Something is emerging...".
The blurred image was hyperlinked to Google Maps with the search field set as "China". The website was later updated with a slightly less blurred image, and hyperlinked to Google Maps with the search field set as "Boreray". It was updated for a second time, with a non-blurred image (a piece of concept art), redirecting to Google Maps with the search field set as 502 2nd Avenue in Seattle. The three hyperlinks were hints towards thechineseroom's involvement in the game (a previous game by thechineseroom, Dear Esther, was set on an Hebridean island like Boreray, and the address in Seattle pointed towards a restaurant named 'The Chinese Room').
Examination of the site's source code led fans to a webpage that resembled a computer console with usable commands and a countdown. After the expiration of the countdown, a message on the page read "A machine for pigs coming fall two thousand twelve." The game was formally announced via video game blog Joystiq.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Building A Machine for Pigs and expanding the universe of Amnesia". Joystiq. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
- ^ a b "thechineseroom game teams". thechineseroom. Retrieved 2012-03-31. Cite error: The named reference "thechineseroomgameteams" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ http://samueljustice.net/#amnesia-a-machine-for-pigs