Hello there! I was brought here by the Rock, Paper, Shotgun article about Nowhere and I felt an overwhelming urge to contact you. I will try and contain my excitement.
I've been playing videogames for more than two decades now and while most of the games I've played are pretty much what everyone else likes to play, there have been a few games which seem strange and many people would maybe not even call them games. I love those games.
Let me be more specific. When I was a teenager, the Creatures series came out (if I'm not mistaken this is mentioned as one of the influences for Nowhere) and I was bewitched. The whole biology/chemistry/genetics/AI sandbox mix craziness did something to me that no game had ever done before (or since, but we'll get to that). I never managed to convince anyone else about the genius that I clearly saw in this game, most saw it as a cute trinket/fishtank thing. But to me it was special. I realise I am talking about a videogame but bear with me.
Collectively, I have spent hundreds of hours on that series (with my favourite being Creatures 2), more than any other game, and probably more than whole genres combined. I won't bore you with all the details but I bred my own breed of Norns which fills me with an uncomfortable pride, but enough of that.
My point here is that while realising that this kind of game is a "niche market", I think that it has great impact. For example, I went on to study Neuroscience, AI and Robotics and ended up with a PhD in Computational Neuroscience. More importantly though, I think it added to the growing respect I had for real-life living creatures. To sum up, I freakin' loved that game and worshiped its creator, Steve Grand (I even read his book right before I started studying which, I just now realised, must have shaped in its own little way my decisions in what I want to do with my life).
The one complaint I ever had with those games (and it was never enough to put me off) was that I couldn't have more of the digital creatures in my world and hence higher levels of organisation. Really, there could be nothing resembling a society, I had a tribe at best. I even hacked the game so I could force more creatures in there, straining my poor little pentium (remember, those were the olden days). The other issue I have with the games is that it has now become extremely difficult to play them in any kind of modern OS. Windows XP was the last one in which I managed to give them a spin and that is dying in April I think (omg, I am so old).
I'm sorry for the rambling, I'll get to my point right now. What you are doing is amazing. It covers both of the issues above. A new game for a new generation of people, a game that has enough of the old stuff to stir the same feelings in people but also enough new stuff to add meaningfully to the experience.
Finally, a cautionary tale. The next time I felt close to what I felt about Creatures was right before and leading up to the release of Spore. I felt it was going to do what was missing and then we would all ascend to a higher plane of existence :P. But no, we all know now what a huge letdown that was and I think that was due to the hugeness of the process/mechanism behind its development and release (yes that is a jab at big game companies/studios). I think and hope that you will be safe from that since you are such a small and tight team.
I really am very hopeful for this project. I think you are going to make something really beautiful and important that plenty of people will appreciate. It may not be a huge financial success due to its quirky nature but it will be a huge "social" success. I am very excited about this and I'm looking forward to the full thing. I hope you can make it to the end and realise your vision. Oh for a time-machine.
Hey everyone!
I also discovered this game through yesterdays RPS article and Im super excited as well. Being born in the mid 90s, I havent played any of the older games that are mentioned here, but I still believe that this concept is something that me and a lot of other people have been waiting for. Apart from the general concept of the game, Im also a big fan of the visuals and the fact that its procedurally generated. Cant wait for my payment to go through so I can try out somey of the alphas myself!
Its also nice to see that since I first looked at the website yesterday afternoon, a bit of money has flowed in - I hope that the game will make it to Steam soon, that would certainly help as well.
Looking forward to seeing this Game continue to evolve!
@Bobmeier, thanks a lot for your comment and support! NOWHERE will come to Steam in April! Working on the new alpha version. Should be ready to ship end of this week.
Hey @jay4 ! Indeed . I added you as a founder to this forum. Thanks a lot for your support!
Hi nowherians.
i am in love with this game. It looks like a microscopic spaceship touring a brain. Sometimes it looks like a spaceship travelling another universe. And the music... No comment.
Wonderful. I will buy it to evade with the oculus.
Congratulations.
First time loading the game. WOW. Been waiting for this for a long time. Keep up the incredible work, let us know if there is anything we could do to help!
Its been a while since ive read an update about the game, so I just wanted to make sure - is everything going well for you guys? Can't wait for some new infos about the game
@chema Hi! Thanks for your kind words. Very nice summary of Nowhere. It works well with the Oculus Rift. Enjoy .
@Chris23235 Thanks a lot! Very good. Happy to hear you found us via the golem.de article.
@Bobmeier: Everything is going well. Some details need more work than expected (sorry!).
We are planning to release the new alpha on May 15th. If all goes well, we will also be able to launch on Steam Early Access on the same day. Everybody will get their steam keys very soon .
Aww, all didn't go well. I keep checking Steam and didn't know that your were shooting for May 15th and had to miss it. It's better that you put it up when you're ready anyways. Can't wait!
Hello. I just joined the forums although being a Foundation Member since september last year. Before I get back to lurking I want to give you a little encouragement for the developement.
@Wahngrok Welcome! (I just added/verified you as a founder to the forum.)
Thanks a lot for your support . Working night and day on the next alpha. It will be good.
Comments
Hello!
Oh hai!
Why hello there
Greetings, fellow nowherians.
Bonjour !
what is this, i dont even...
This is a safe island.
I feel.Hello World! \o/
I will definitely buy one of the alpha keys soon.
The art style of this game looks amazing. I cant wait to see what the Ritters make next!
Hello everyone! Glad to be here in Nowhere!
Hi everyone ! One more person in this great journey to Nowhere !
Hello there! I was brought here by the Rock, Paper, Shotgun article about Nowhere and I felt an overwhelming urge to contact you. I will try and contain my excitement.
I've been playing videogames for more than two decades now and while most of the games I've played are pretty much what everyone else likes to play, there have been a few games which seem strange and many people would maybe not even call them games. I love those games.
Let me be more specific. When I was a teenager, the Creatures series came out (if I'm not mistaken this is mentioned as one of the influences for Nowhere) and I was bewitched. The whole biology/chemistry/genetics/AI sandbox mix craziness did something to me that no game had ever done before (or since, but we'll get to that). I never managed to convince anyone else about the genius that I clearly saw in this game, most saw it as a cute trinket/fishtank thing. But to me it was special. I realise I am talking about a videogame but bear with me.
Collectively, I have spent hundreds of hours on that series (with my favourite being Creatures 2), more than any other game, and probably more than whole genres combined. I won't bore you with all the details but I bred my own breed of Norns which fills me with an uncomfortable pride, but enough of that.
My point here is that while realising that this kind of game is a "niche market", I think that it has great impact. For example, I went on to study Neuroscience, AI and Robotics and ended up with a PhD in Computational Neuroscience. More importantly though, I think it added to the growing respect I had for real-life living creatures. To sum up, I freakin' loved that game and worshiped its creator, Steve Grand (I even read his book right before I started studying which, I just now realised, must have shaped in its own little way my decisions in what I want to do with my life).
The one complaint I ever had with those games (and it was never enough to put me off) was that I couldn't have more of the digital creatures in my world and hence higher levels of organisation. Really, there could be nothing resembling a society, I had a tribe at best. I even hacked the game so I could force more creatures in there, straining my poor little pentium (remember, those were the olden days). The other issue I have with the games is that it has now become extremely difficult to play them in any kind of modern OS. Windows XP was the last one in which I managed to give them a spin and that is dying in April I think (omg, I am so old).
I'm sorry for the rambling, I'll get to my point right now. What you are doing is amazing. It covers both of the issues above. A new game for a new generation of people, a game that has enough of the old stuff to stir the same feelings in people but also enough new stuff to add meaningfully to the experience.
Finally, a cautionary tale. The next time I felt close to what I felt about Creatures was right before and leading up to the release of Spore. I felt it was going to do what was missing and then we would all ascend to a higher plane of existence :P. But no, we all know now what a huge letdown that was and I think that was due to the hugeness of the process/mechanism behind its development and release (yes that is a jab at big game companies/studios). I think and hope that you will be safe from that since you are such a small and tight team.
I really am very hopeful for this project. I think you are going to make something really beautiful and important that plenty of people will appreciate. It may not be a huge financial success due to its quirky nature but it will be a huge "social" success. I am very excited about this and I'm looking forward to the full thing. I hope you can make it to the end and realise your vision. Oh for a time-machine.
PS. OMG you guys are super-cute!
Hello to everyone so far, glad to have you all on board.
Hey everyone!
I also discovered this game through yesterdays RPS article and Im super excited as well. Being born in the mid 90s, I havent played any of the older games that are mentioned here, but I still believe that this concept is something that me and a lot of other people have been waiting for. Apart from the general concept of the game, Im also a big fan of the visuals and the fact that its procedurally generated. Cant wait for my payment to go through so I can try out somey of the alphas myself!
Its also nice to see that since I first looked at the website yesterday afternoon, a bit of money has flowed in - I hope that the game will make it to Steam soon, that would certainly help as well.
Looking forward to seeing this Game continue to evolve!
Hello, backed this game in June 2012, damn time flies so fast.
@Bobmeier, thanks a lot for your comment and support! NOWHERE will come to Steam in April! Working on the new alpha version. Should be ready to ship end of this week.
Hey @jay4 ! Indeed . I added you as a founder to this forum. Thanks a lot for your support!
Hello! From what I've seen of your game so far I love it, it is beautifully designed.
Hi nowherians.
i am in love with this game. It looks like a microscopic spaceship touring a brain. Sometimes it looks like a spaceship travelling another universe. And the music... No comment.
Wonderful. I will buy it to evade with the oculus.
Congratulations.
First time loading the game. WOW. Been waiting for this for a long time. Keep up the incredible work, let us know if there is anything we could do to help!
Hello, read the article about precedural content in games on golem.de, fallen in love with what I saw fom Nowhere. Loved your work on .kkrieger
Its been a while since ive read an update about the game, so I just wanted to make sure - is everything going well for you guys? Can't wait for some new infos about the game
@Cozndawz Welcome . Thanks a lot. More very soon!
@chema Hi! Thanks for your kind words. Very nice summary of Nowhere. It works well with the Oculus Rift. Enjoy .
@Chris23235 Thanks a lot! Very good. Happy to hear you found us via the golem.de article.
@Bobmeier: Everything is going well. Some details need more work than expected (sorry!).
We are planning to release the new alpha on May 15th. If all goes well, we will also be able to launch on Steam Early Access on the same day. Everybody will get their steam keys very soon .
Aww, all didn't go well. I keep checking Steam and didn't know that your were shooting for May 15th and had to miss it. It's better that you put it up when you're ready anyways. Can't wait!
@RagerX thanks . new alpha release hopefully this weekend. steam early access launch will follow very soon.
Awesome, thanks for the update!
That's so exciting!
Leonard answered on reddit why the next alpha is delayed: http://www.reddit.com/r/nowheregame/comments/27fp6w/status_of_the_new_update/
Hello. I just joined the forums although being a Foundation Member since september last year. Before I get back to lurking I want to give you a little encouragement for the developement.
Ich drücke Euch die Daumen.
@Wahngrok Welcome! (I just added/verified you as a founder to the forum.)
Thanks a lot for your support . Working night and day on the next alpha. It will be good.
Hey. I've been watching you guys since I stumbled on your steam greenlight campaign and I absolutely love the concept.
I am an artist, gamer and novice modder.
My questions for you are: will you be putting out something like a progress roadmap?
How much community input are you looking for?
Would you be willing to put out a few blogs discussing your plans for world interactions, like what do nowherian's use for food and resources?
How will things like politics, city building, and general interactions work?
What about the past lives mechanic? Will your past self follow the exact path you did or will it be simplified to just major events?