The Snowfield
The Snowfield | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab |
Publisher(s) | Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab |
Producer(s) | Andre Ng Yu Choon |
Programmer(s) | Chong Zi Yi, Naomi Hinchen |
Artist(s) | Nor Azman Rohman, Young Jin Chung, Frendy Wijaya |
Engine | Unity |
Platform(s) | Windows, Mac |
Release | 2011 |
Genre(s) | Action, Experimental narrative |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Snowfield is a 2011 action and experimental narrative video game, developed as a student project by the Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab, and set in World War I. The game is set on the aftermath of a great battle, with the player controlling a weakened soldier in the middle of a storm.
According to the developers,[1] the game's development was an attempt to make a simulation-based narrative game without the need for massive, complex AI and massive content generation. Instead, the developers created several segments of gameplay - characters, objects etc. - and fine-tuned them based on how initial testers interacted with them. As such, The Snowfield is:
An experiment in seeing how inverting the traditional relationship between Design and QA can streamline a development process for creating highly improvisational, simulation-based narrative worlds on a tight schedule
— The Snowfield's Research Statement
Reception
Adam Smith, writing for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, praised the game's narrative and design uniqueness, as well as its well-worked aesthetics.[2] On Play This Thing, Greg Costikyan called it "a beautiful and horrifying game", praising its "stark, emotionally impactful setting".[3] The game was a finalist at the 17th Annual Independent Games Festival,[4] hosted in 2012, in the Student category.
References
- ^ "GAMBIT: The Snowfield". gambit.mit.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
- ^ Smith, Adam (2012-01-26). "Cold, Comfort, Harm: The Snowfield". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
- ^ "Play This Thing - The Snowfield". Play This Thing. 2012-09-23. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
A game of small mercies
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External links
- Web page
- Snowfield's Postmortem, by product owner Matthew Weise