Proteus (video game)

Proteus
Developer(s)	Curve Studios (PlayStation)
Designer(s)	Ed Key
Composer(s)	David Kanaga
Platform(s)	Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)	Windows & Mac January 30, 2013[1] Linux April 8, 2013[2] PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita October 29, 2013[3]
Mode(s)	Singleplayer

Proteus is a 2013 open world exploration video game developed by Ed Key and David Kanaga for Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. The game was released on January 30, 2013 for Windows and Mac and April 8, 2013 for Linux. PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions were later released on October 29, 2013. The game is based around exploring and discovering an island, with no specific goals set. Players explore a musical environment, where every creature and plant has its own unique musical signature to accompany it, resulting in changes according to where players explore. The game world is procedurally generated, giving a unique world layout each game.

Ed Key began development of the game in 2008, with David Kanaga joining in 2010, aiming to make a nontraditional and non-violent game. They considered different game mechanics such as quests and creative tools before settling on the final game. Curve Studios developed the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions, adding extra features to the Vita version at the request of Sony.

Proteus was a winner of the Best Audio category in the 2011 Indiecade awards, and in 2012 was a finalist for the Independent Games Festival in the Nuovo Award category. Critics received both the original and PlayStation releases well, specifically praising the game's use of audio, though the length and replayability were not received so well. The game's status as a video game was debated by many players, with the description of anti-game often debated following its release.

Gameplay

Players explore (from a first-person perspective) a pixel art style island containing hills, trees, structures, and animals such as frogs and rabbits, the layout of which is different every time the game is played.^[4][5][6] The focus of the game is to explore rather than interact; interactions with the world are limited to, for example, when players come close to an animal which may run away from them.^[7][8] The soundtrack changes depending on players' movements; it plays different sounds when players are close to objects or in certain locations.^[9][10]

Areas such as this memorial cause different sounds to play when players are walking near or through them.

When the game begins players are situated over the ocean away from the island and must move across the water to it.^[10] When they arrive at the island, players are free to explore all of it during the initial season of spring. At night time each day players can enter a cluster of lights to advance time to the next season, eventually coming to the end of winter after which the game ends. Each season changes the landscape via objects like trees losing their leaves and falling to the ground during autumn.^[6][11]

The PlayStation Vita version contained extra features including allowing players to directly affect the environment by using the console's rear touch panel and to generate islands based on the current date and their real-world location.^[12][13]

Development

Ed Key began work on Proteus in 2008 during evenings and weekends with the game only nearing its current form when David Kanaga joined development in 2010.^[14][15] Key originally envisioned the game as a procedural RPG in the same vein as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion where players would go to towns and fulfill quests. Realizing the extent of the work that would be needed for such a game, they decided to make something "nontraditional and non-violent."^[16]

The game is developed using an in-house engine, primarily written in C#, and Key has expressed interest in allowing player created mods of the game.^[15][17] The game's models and landscape started as less smooth 16 bit graphics, before being improved to the current graphical level.^[18] After David Kanaga joined as audio composer the audio mechanics were refined through many different ideas such as allowing players to make music within the game. This idea was not developed further because the developers felt it would take away from the exploration of the game's world and make it too much like a creative tool and so Key and Kanage settled on final audio mechanic early in development.^[19]

The island's visuals change with the seasons, such as orange/brown leaves during Autumn.

When Proteus pre-orders were open in 2012, a $40 USD Artifact Edition was available which included a boxed version of the game with artwork, soundtrack, and extra development notes.^[20] In December 2013 Ed Key apologised that this edition had still not shipped, saying that it was still in development and offered refunds for customers requesting them.^[21]

Around the time of the game's PC release, Ed Key was approached by Curve Studios which went on to work with the developers to adapt the game for release on PlayStation 3 and Vita.^[22][23] These versions of the game use Curve Studio's in-house engine.^[24] Sony requested that new features be added to the game, though Key said that they never attempted to steer the direction of the development of these features. Key added location and date-based world generation and a way to interact with the game using the Vita's rear touchpad; Key has stated that the location and date specific world generation is a feature which could come to the PC version in the future.^[25]

Reception

PC reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 78.08%[26] Metacritic 80/100[27] Review scores Publication Score Edge 8/10[28] Eurogamer 8/10[6] GameSpot 8/10[8] GameTrailers 7.4/10[29] IGN 8.5/10[10] PC Gamer US 76/100[30] Destructoid 8.5/10[31] The Guardian [32] GameFront 75/100[33]
Awards Publication Award Indiecade 2011 Best Audio[34] A MAZE Indie Connect Festival Most Amazing Indie Game[35]

Pre-release

Proteus' beta version was featured in indie game festivals and received coverage by journalists. In 2011 it won the Best Audio category of the Indiecade awards,^[34] and in 2012 was shortlisted for the GameCity prize. It was a finalist for the Independent Games Festival in the Nuovo Award category, aimed at abstract and unconventional game development, whilst also receiving honorable mentions in the Excellence in Audio and Seumas McNally Grand Prize categories.^[14][36][37] The game also won Most Amazing Indie Game in the 2012 A MAZE Indie Connect Festival.^[35]

In an article which discussed 2011's exploration games, Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described the game as "one of the most charming experiences" he had had in an indie game.^[38] In 2012 Rick Lane of IGN stated that he found the game "delightfully intoxicating", unique, and intriguing,^[39] and Tom Francis of PC Gamer also responded positively in his game preview; he drew particular note to the changing soundtrack.^[40]

Post-release

Proteus received generally positive reviews following release; it holds aggregate scores of 80% and 78.08% on Metacritic and GameRankings respectively for the PC version.^[26][27] Reviewers particularly praised the game's changing audio; Eurogamer's Oli Welsh, PC Gamer's Tom Senior, and IGN writer Nathan Grayson all gave it praise, commenting on how it guided them through the game.^[6][10][30] Edge, though generally positive about the soundtrack, said that the music "never truly gets going" particularly because of the lack of drums in most seasons.^[28] Shacknews named Proteus as their #7 best game of 2013, calling it "delightfully devoid of explanation."^[41]

The game's length and replayability received mixed reactions; GameSpot's John Robertson thought that the game had little replayability and Senior said that the game felt "deeply familiar" in subsequent playthroughs. GameTrailers' Daniel Bloodworth however thought that the randomly generated islands provided an opportunity to see things players may have missed the first time and Grayson said that he found himself replaying the game many times.^[8][10][29]

The PlayStation 3 and Vita versions were also received well.^[42][43] Pocket Gamer gave it a mostly positive review, praising the extra features present in the Vita version, though commenting that they encountered some performance issues.^[44] In Metro's review Roger Hargreaves said the game was an experience that would stay with him and PlayStation Official Magazine's Joel Gregory called it "simple but wonderfully effective."^[45][46]

Many players debated Proteus' status as a video game; they cited aspects such as the lack of real goals or objectives while some called it an anti-game.^{[47][48][49][50]} This description was debated by many; in IGN's review, Grayson argues that there was an action (walking) and a goal in proceeding through the seasons.^[10] Edge's reviewer commented that there were systems in the game such as a day/night cycle, changeable weather, and a change of seasons which can be triggered by the player.^[28] Ed Key responded by arguing that the game does have systems but that it was optional whether the player interacted with them and that these interactions did not usually provide feedback. He went on to say that he thinks "encouraging a strict definition of 'game' does nothing but foster conservatism and defensiveness in a culture already notorious for both."^[51]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Proteus (video game).

• Official website