Ubisoft has released a new developer diary for upcoming PSN and Xbox Live title I Am Alive.
The new developer diary features several members of the game’s development team explaining the game’s features, world, and more. They begin by explaining that I Am Alive is a realistic, post-apocalyptic survival adventure. They wanted to bring a new twist to the survival genre and describe the game as “brutal” and “dark.” They move on to discussing the game’s world and say that the main environment of the game is the city and that over 90% of the human race has been lost. There are no longer any computers and no electricity. The game’s protagonist has been separated from his family and can’t get back to them — he’s going to go into the city and just hope that he will be able to find them alive.
The team knew that the game was something different and that forced them to rethink the traditional mechanics that would ordinarily be included in survival games. The protagonist has the same limitations as a normal human being. The team included old-school mechanics to reflect this, including health that doesn’t regenerate and giving him limited climbing stamina. Instead of putting gamers in a world where everything would kill them, they wanted to emphasize more uncertainty.
Several categories of people exist in the game: the innocent, people who defend the few things that they still have, and others who are much more aggressive. The team wanted to provide a more strategic challenge in the game in terms of dealing with enemies — for instance, being trapped in a room with five enemies and only having one or two bullets. Players can intimidate or bluff to not use any bullets, but also make sure that if they don’t have any bullets, that the enemy doesn’t figure that out. A single pistol is very precious in the in-game world. Players can also fight with their machete or a bow and arrow, which has arrows that can be recovered from fallen enemies.
Performing actions such as climbing or swinging will cost the player some stamina — everything has a cost. When at the end of the protagonist’s stamina, players will have to button mash to reflect him making the extra effort to continue. If players explore, they may find resources that could save their lives. For instance, players can find an item that will allow them to take a rest while climbing. Along the way, players will encounter victims in the world who are far worse off than the protagonist. They have witnessed the progressive deterioration of the city and have information to offer the player.
As far as going digital, the team had to make smart decisions about production values and game length without betraying the promise for I Am Alive. One member of the team says he doesn’t believe that they could have made the game the way that they had wanted to if it was a boxed retail product. Going digital has given them opportunities to experiment and one team member believes that they have found something truly unique emotionally and visually. The team ignores the fact that they’re making a downloadable game. They’re making a game which is interesting, fun, and emotional. The trailer by closes by saying that it’s a big game and a game that you won’t find anywhere else, before revealing that the game has a release date of March 7th on Xbox Live. No PSN release date was mentioned.
To view the “I Am Alive – Making Of” Trailer, click on the video below:
Will you be picking up I Am Alive when it’s released? Let us know in the comments below.
