Talking To E5 Games About ALONE

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Saying that horror games are popular nowadays is a massive understatement. Today we’ve got an interview in store for you with a small indie developer trying to make a push in this cutthroat genre – E5 Games. Read down to see what they’ve got in store for us with Alone, their upcoming first-person atmospheric horror title.

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Let us begin by discussing the underlying theme of Alone; what do you believe is going to make your game different from the many first-person horror games that have already taken the scene by storm?

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When we thought of all the horror games to this date we realized there was a critical problem. It was that each horror game was tinkered to one play style. Some forced you to hide constantly, others forced you to participate in chases. Having an individual stick to one play style felt very close ended, and usually lost its touch eventually. With Alone we want to give you more than just one option as we realize that every gamer is different. We want to take the best of all of these play styles and mesh them together to make an experience most people will enjoy. The mechanics in Alone will be interesting as well, and we’ll start to showcase them in the coming months and give you sense as to why that is. The AI will be able to do more than just see, and it’ll be up to you to stay one step ahead. You will have most likely seen our weather cycle, and you’ll be surprised to see how the weather cycle has an effect on the game dynamic as a whole.

How come that you’ve decided to create a sandbox-ish horror title? That sounds like a really difficult task to accomplish.

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It was a difficult call to make, as practically all-notable horror titles have been linear in design. In fact, it seems many “open world” horrors try to give you an illusion that they are truly open world, but in reality these open world horrors we’ve been exposed to thus far really just give us a map made up of a series of pathways. We felt that due to the overwhelming amount of linear games in the horror industry, we wanted to make a horror that was truly open world and maybe refresh the genre as a whole. It may seem like a difficult task, but we’re sure that making an open world horror game will be very similar to the process of making any other open world game.

To what extent are we going to see the sandbox elements employed? I’ve seen you mentioning how you intend to expand the game’s map post-release. What’s the thinking behind this?

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You’ll see sandbox elements employed very often in Alone. You have your main story campaign, which has its locations marked on your map, and you have side stories, which you can start up by interacting with things spread throughout the map. You’ll just have to explore the open world of Meadow Brook Falls to start up these side missions. You aren’t forced to do all the main missions, so you could theoretically explore the map and get a fair share of scares that way. As for expanding the map post release we thought this was a good idea as it allows you to get more out of what you paid for. We hope every once in a while that we can add on to the map with new side missions for everyone to play. However, depending on the demand for these map expansions and how successful the project is we may or may not go through with this. Keep in mind the team will be working on new projects once Alone is released and the additions to the map won’t be gigantic.

Considering the task you’ve taken on, I imagine you’re doing your best so as to keep the horror thick – wouldn’t your freeform approach kind of ruin that notion? Since you won’t be able to use scripted events all that much I mean.

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Not at all. We feel that anything can be frightening if it’s given the right atmosphere and ambience to it. Enemy AI are in the woods surrounding Meadow Brook Falls, and you never know when you’ll have a run-in with one. There’ll also be areas that you’ll encounter aside from mission objectives that may have scripted events upon discovery, so Alone’s open world feature is horror thick. Replay value is a big goal for us to achieve with Alone, as we want to make every experience in the world unique. The player will, however, have other objectives and activities in Alone to balance out the horror, so they won’t feel overwhelmed, although there won’t be a moment in the game that’s fully free of suspense and terror.

How come you’ve opted to use CryEngine, of all things?

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For making open world maps and creating eerie atmospheres we felt that CryEngine was the best choice. We find that with enough care it’s easier to create well optimized games in CryEngine than in other engines, which is especially important for games like Alone which are open world. In addition to those points, we find that CryEngine is really good for creating maps that are heavy on nature. Given Meadow Brook Falls is surrounded by woods we felt that this engine was perfect. By utilizing gameplay features to the max, CryEngine is capable of rendering a very much believable and visually striking world.

What are the most important elements of gameplay in Alone? How is it all going to mesh together?

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The gameplay elements of Alone are planned to blend very seamlessly with each other. You as the player would need to take advantage of the environment around you in order to survive your foes. As we stated earlier, we’re focusing on removing linearity as much as possible to make the game a more enjoyable experience. We want the player to think after an action ‘Is there a way I could’ve done that differently?’ You as the player will be encouraged to bend the rules, to come up with your own unique solutions to survive. Will you run, hide, or fend off the foe attacking you assuming your foe is a weak enough target? Each of these have their own consequences. While the story itself is mainly linear, it’s the gameplay we’re making open ended. The player isn’t completely helpless, as they’ll be able to defend themselves from certain Enemy AI, however there’ll be encounters where the only course of action is to run, hide, and escape, or face death. Stealth is also a big part of Alone, as this would usually be the safest way to explore hostile environments. We have a few more gameplay elements, but that’ll remain as a surprise for later.

Can you give us a hint on what is the protagonist going to be facing in this game?

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We don’t want to spoil too much of what the protagonist will be facing in the game, but we’ll tell you this; the enemies consist of paranormal entities, humans, and wildlife. You’d be amazed at what we’ve got in store for you.

When are we going to see the game on Steam’s virtual shelves?

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We don’t want to rush the game so we’re willing to push the release date back if we ever feel it isn’t ready. As for now we’re thinking it’ll be released around Q3 2016, but it all depends on when/if the game is greenlit. Another thing to factor in is that we’ll be testing the game to the point where we feel it is worth whatever we charge for it.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to add?

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Be sure to leave suggestions on our forum page on Steam, as we take everyone’s ideas into account. We’re still fairly early in development so your suggestion could definitely be integrated into the game.

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I would like to thank E5 Games, the developers of Alone for taking time out of their busy schedule for this fascinating interview. If you want to check out Alone in its earliest stage of development, the Steam Greenlight page would be a good start.

Stay tuned for more information on Alone right here at Mouse N Joypad!

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