This was the first game named Aporia, which started the series and which outlined the theme and game concept. This first game was created in a team of three in connection with our Bachelor thesis in Medialogy.
Aporia (ἀπορία) is ancient greek, and it can be used to describe a philosophical puzzle, a state of puzzlement and an expression of doubt. This description has been used to direct the game concept, and set the overall theme. Aporia is a collection of explorative games, implemented in CryEngine 3 and played in 1st person perspective with no immediate enemies or dangers, featuring a cryptic underlying story that reveals the truth about the game.
Aporia – Uncover the Mystery, was created to explore the possibilities of CryEngine 3 as a design tool and to explore of the effects of a non-verbal and non-textual narrative. Inspiration was drawn from games such as Myst, Amnesia, Journey and Dear Esther, and the academic subjects environmental storytelling and immersion. It became to goal to create a narrative without the use of words or text in a non-linear interactive narrative based game. The story is therefore told by pictorial cave paintings, the landscape, music and the general setting.
It was tested whether or not players could understand the hidden narrative, if they had any emotional response towards the game, and whether they had a desire to continue playing. It was concluded that the game was as a non-linear emotional experience with a collection of narrative potential elements, which enabled the players to generate their own emergent narratives, which meant that the players did not understand the embedded and evoked narrative within the game.
After our exam we published the game for free download on moddb.com.
In connection with this project we also published two papers at the ICIDS 2012 (International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling):
Aporia – Exploring Continuation Desire in a Game Focused on Environmental Storytelling
Other team members:
Sebastian Hurup Bevensee
Kasper Alexander Dahlsgaard Boisen
Video promotion
Video credit: Kasper Alexander Dahlsgaard Boisen
The Story
You wake up in the water off the coast of what appears to be an island. Where are you? Who are you? How did you get here? It’s cold, it’s windy – you start swimming the last meters towards the coast. In the distance you see a lighthouse perched upon a high cliff at the waterfront, the island must be inhabited!
As you come ashore and enter the nearby forest, you see small wooden house. Inside it you find what appears to be abandoned, but extensive research into things – strange things – on this island. Everything is a mess, and it appears that it has been quite some time since there was anyone in this house. Not a single word can be found, but there are many drawings and indications to different places and crudely drawn things of what looks to be this very island. Drawings of strange and almost impossible looking things have been quickly sketched onto pieces of paper and aligned with a large map. Someone has been frantically researching this place, and the lighthouse seems to be center of it all. But why? And how? What did the person want with the lighthouse? Where is he? What are all these strange drawings? You feel compelled to investigate some of the things drawn and placed on the sketchy map of the island. It feels important!
In-game photos
