PREVIEW
In Other Waters
RELEASE
Spring 2020DEVELOPER
Jump Over the AgePUBLISHER
Fellow TravellerLINK
http://www.jumpovertheage.comNEED TO KNOWAllyouseeofEllery’sadventuresis a map- Ellery herself is a little dot, as is
everything she encounters. As you scan
the environment for anything from
environmental clues about the ecosystem
to plants and creatures for Ellery to study,
descriptive text from the interface itself as
well as Ellery’s observations tell you what’s
going on down in the depths. For
developer Gareth Damian-Martin, giving
players a simple interface is a way of
allowing their imagination to flourish.
“I don’t think a game’s strength lies
in its fidelity. There are many games
that function entirely on the strength
of their descriptions coupled with some
good sound effects.”
One such game, which Damian-Martin
cites as an inspiration for In Other Waters,
is Adam Saltsman’s Capsule, which takes
place entirely on a radar. He also tells me
of a holiday by the sea during which he
started to think about designing his own
creatures that you could then study. “In
another life I would’ve been a marine
biologist,” he says, “So I always thought a
lot about how to represent diving and
elements of biological study in a game.”
THE BIG BLUE
In Other Waters tickles the same urge to
explore games like No Man’s Sky and
Subnautica, but rather than make
exploration the tool by which you escape
death, in the demo I mostly get lost in the
wonder of discovery. Ellery’s studies will in
time reveal what her partner Minae
Nomura might have studied before her
disappearance. For now, In Other Waters
lets me play at being a scientist just by
repeat encounters with different plants.
Each new scan gives Ellery an opportunity
to note something new, until she can
eventually take a sample. You can then
have her use that sample either to power
her suit, interact with the environment to
solve puzzles or keep it for later, nursing
and studying it at your base.
“Since all you see are dots, I want my
creatures to move and interact with each
other in interesting ways. They should be
interesting enough for you to want to
examine them further.” Damian-Martin
doesn’t only design the creatures, but
entire small-scale ecosystems. “On some
level I’m trying to be accurate to biological
science and evolutionary theory. All of the
areas in the game have specific
ecosystems. They’re based on
[evolutionary theorist and biologist] Lynn
Margulis’ idea that symbiosis is the driving
factor for evolution. Everything I build
follows that principle.”
Since players interact with
everything through the user interface,
it has to be easy to understand but
not too sterile. Simple commands for
acknowledging Ellery via yes or no
answers, a storage and some pleasantly
responsive knobs to fiddle with when
extracting samples or guiding your diver
are all it takes to get results. The overall
colour scheme represents the
environment Ellery is in, but like the map,
the interface stays deliberately simple.
“I don’t follow strict graphic design
rules for the interface because I want it to
be expressive, kind of like the interfaces
you see in anime from the ’80s,”
Damian-Martin explains. “They aren’t
function first, but they feel more organic.”
In Other Waters has taught me about
the ways of scientific study, and knowing
how much went into it, I look forward to
discovering Gliese 667Cc even more.
Malindy HetfeldI
n Other Waters shrinks the entirety
of an alien ocean into one interface.
You’re the AI that accompanies
xenobiologist Ellery Vas on her dives
into the oceans of Gliese 667Cc in search of life
that may help sustain mankind, while trying to
find out what happened to her partner, who
disappeared during a prior mission.Under the sea new life forms
are waiting for meIN OTHER WATERS
“I’M TRYING TO BE ACCURATE
TO BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY”PLAYED
ITOften science apparently comes
down to making educated guesses.