Paranautical Activity

Paranautical Activity
Developer(s) Code Avarice
Digerati (Atonement Edition)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • WW October 20, 2014

Deluxe Atonement Ed.
  • WW February 12, 2015
Genre(s) First-person shooter, roguelike
Mode(s) Single player

Paranautical Activity is an independently-developed first-person shooter, roguelike video game developed by Code Avarice, and later by Digerati. The title for Microsoft Windows was released in a beta form in February 2013, and after completing Early Access program on Steam, was fully released on October 20, 2014.

The game is noted for struggles it has had with Valve Corporation's Steam service, including initially being refused to be allowed on its Greenlight system due to its attempt to gain a publisher via Adult Swim Games, and later was pulled from Steam after the lead developer, Mike Maulbeck, made an intentional threat towards Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell on social media. The game's development was transferred to a new studio, Digerati, and re-released on Steam under a "Deluxe Atonement" version that included new content.

Gameplay

Paranautical Activity is a first-person shooter that uses procedural dungeon generation and permadeath, features common of roguelikes. The various levels in the game are based around a room structure similar to the dungeons of The Binding of Isaac, which include random enemy generation, shops and treasure rooms where players can by health, armor and better weapons. Killed monsters will drop health and in-game money to be used in shops. Each level features a boss battle that must be fought before the player can move on to the next level.[1]

Development

Paranautical Activity was released in a publicly available beta form in February 2013.[2]

Paranautical Activity has run into issues with the Steam software service twice. In August 2012, Code Avarice had submitted the game to Steam's Greenlight service - a means to allow Steam users to vote on games they would like to see on the platform. While the game was in the Greenlight phase, Code Avarice and Adult Swim Games opened discusses to have the Adult Swim publish the game on Steam. When Adult Swim began working to set up the game's publication on Steam, Valve saw a conflict with the pre-existing Greenlight page; Valve's Doug Lombardi stated that they did not want to send a message that developers could bypass the Greenlight process by finding a publisher for their game which whom they would split revenue from.[3][4] Code Avarice's Mike Maulbeck was not aware that the Greenlight page would be a conflict, having the impression that everyone had to go through Greenlight, and once Valve rendered its decision, the developers decided they could not easily work with Adult Swim to complete the title, outside of the publishers' offers to fund trips to trade shows and conventions.[5] Code Avarice would later run a successful Kickstarter campaign during August 2013 to complete the game, obtaining $12,000 of the $10,000 requested, and fund its publication on their own through Steam.[2] Shortly following the Kickstarter, the game became available on Steam via it's Early Access program.[1]

The second issue with Steam occurred after the game was completed, moving it out of the Early Access program to a full-fledged release in October 2014. Though the developers had set the game to be in full release, Steam's store page still indicated the game was in Early Access. Maulbeck, frustrated with this mislabeling, let out a series of complaints on social media against Steam and Valve, including a perceived death threat towards Gabe Newell. Though Maulbeck later admitted the message was not meant to be serious, Valve pulled the game from the Steam store, citing that they had ceased discussions with Code Avarice following the threat.[6] Though Maulbeck attempted to make amends with Valve, he opted to sell his part of Code Avarice to his co-developer Travis Pfenning as to separate himself and in hopes Valve would allow the game to be published.[7] Maulbeck later reconsidered this decision and rejoined Code Avarice.[8]

Code Avarice sold the rights, including the intellectual property and game code to a new developer, Digerati, completely separating the original developers from the game. Digerati worked with Valve and Code Avarice to restore the game to Steam on February 12, 2015, under a new "Deluxe Atonement Edition", adding some new content alongside the re-release.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Savage, Phil (September 5, 2013). "Paranautical Activity starts haunting Steam Early Access". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matulef, Jeffrey (September 5, 2013). "FPS roguelike Paranautical Activity sets its sails for Kickstarter". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  3. ↑ Cowan, Danny (May 31, 2013). "Paranautical Activity allegedly blocked from Steam release due to Greenlight conflict". Joystiq. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  4. ↑ Rose, Mike (May 31, 2013). "Developer claims it was rejected from Steam - for having a Greenlight page". Gamasutra. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  5. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (June 6, 2013). "First-person roguelike Paranautical Activity not allowed past Greenlight, even with a publisher". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  6. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (October 20, 2014). "Steam pulls game after its developer tweets Gabe Newell death threat". Polygon. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ Chalk, Andy (August 22, 2014). "Paranautical Activity dev resigns over Gabe Newell death threat". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  8. ↑ Chapple, Craig (November 17, 2014). "Mike Maulbeck rejoins Code Avarice after Newell threats". Develop. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  9. ↑ Savage, Phil (February 13, 2015). "Paranautical Activity returns to Steam with "Deluxe Atonement Edition"". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 13, 2015.