Survive The Forest

More hype!

Article by PC Gamer: "The Forest early look: scavenging and survival in a land of clever cannibals"

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/the...g-and-survival-in-a-land-of-clever-cannibals/

The Forest doesn’t look like a game made by just four people. Its production values are remarkable, which is thanks to its developers, Endnight Games, and their background in film production design and special effects, as well as a whole lot of talent. It’s a survival game where you wake up after a plane crash in a hostile forest that’s populated by cannibalistic natives. The game mixes horror and survival, but stands out from the crowd with its lavish visuals and realistic firstperson character movement.

“We’re a tiny team,” says Ben Falcone, creative director. “Our 3D animator and main 3D artist come from a VFX background, where they worked on films including Harry Potter and Snow White and the Huntsman. My background is mostly in film, where I worked on projects such as 300 and Tron: Legacy. In 2012 I released my first game, a solo effort for iPad called End Night. During development I became really excited about what was possible with Unity and a modern PC.”

The Forest’s subtle lighting is particularly striking, and isn’t just for show. “The game is lit using a full volumetric light system, with fog in-scattering and a full day/night cycle. We try to think of ways that lighting can not only be used to pull players into the world, but also to alter the gameplay experience. Get hit while holding your lighter and you’ll be temporarily in complete darkness as the flame will be put out by the force. Deep underground light becomes one of your most important assets, and keeping track of how much charge your torch has left or how many flares you still have is a big deal.”

I ask Falcone whether The Forest is a narrative game or an open sandbox. “You’ve been thrown into this world: you’re not alone, what do you do, how do you survive? Unlike a lot of the survival games, however, we do have an ending. We want to avoid the issue players run into a few days/weeks into the game when they’re able to survive and think, ‘Now what?’ We try to keep upping the level of threat, especially with our enemies. As players progress further underground, they will be able to learn more about this enemy and possibly uncover something even more terrifying.”

Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend, he says, has been a massive influence. “It’s that realistic smart enemy threat that we’re trying to capture. The enemies in The Forest are creatures with emotions and attachments to one another, and many will act differently depending on the situation. Some of the best moments in the game come when you’re beating a mutant to death, and another jumps in the way to protect him. It really makes the player question what they’re doing.”

Endnight have resisted the urge to build the game around permadeath; it can be enabled, but it hasn’t been solely designed for it. “I love the idea of permanent death, but in practice I always find it frustrating. It’s tricky to balance. Our world, although not randomly generated, has lots of random elements, the biggest being the actual plane crash – it’s completely random each time you start a new game – giving permadeath players a fresh experience each time.”

He continues: “Hunger is a big part of the experience, and players will need to source berries, trap rabbits or try spearing fish to find enough food to keep their energy up. Not eating for a long time will have a negative effect on your overall energy/stamina levels and make everyday tasks much harder. Being surrounded at night by a bunch of hungry cannibals when you’ve not eaten yourself means you’re not in peak condition and are unlikely to survive long.

“Cold and sickness also play a part, again feeding into our energy system. Stay cold for a long time and you’ll burn energy, which needs to be replenished with food or sleep, but building somewhere safe to sleep, or finding food also takes energy, so it can be challenging just to stay alive in the world – even without the cannibal threat.”

The Forest will have native Oculus Rift support when it’s released, which should make those flesh-eating forest-dwellers, and the dark, dense forest setting, even more intimidating. “It feels like you’re entering a different world,” says Falcone. “You look down and see a body, you see your feet in the dirt. It feels like being there. Walking through the forest during the day and seeing the light rays coming down through the trees can be a really calming, serene experience. Then deep in a cave, moving through a tight space, you see something pale and strange moving in the distance. That’s really scary.”

But if you can’t stomach the horror, Endnight say there’ll be an optional peaceful mode where the cannibals and other horror elements can “effectively be disabled”. No release date has been set, but an alpha version is out in May. I hope the game itself can live up to those stunning visuals. It’s an exciting time to be a PC gamer when a team of just four people can create something this impressive.
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7 minute video explaining everything in the game that has either been shown in the trailers or developers have talked about in interviews etc




There's also another interview, this is from 24th May (apparently):

http://www.game-debate.com/articles/index.php?a_id=2497&game=The Forest

We've had our beady eyes on open-world survival horror The Forest since we first got wind of it last May, and we know many more of you on Game Debate have been really excited to see what indie studio Endnight Games could do with the title. Since those first impressions, we've seen a host of gorgeous screenshots and trailers that have only piqued out interest further.
With The Forest entering Early Access this coming week, we spoke with Endnight Games' creative director Ben Falcone try and get a little more insight into the game, its influences, and what sets it apart as a title...

"Early Access" can be rather an ambiguous term when it comes to discerning the content of a game, so we began by asking what we can expect from this first release, and what the developers hope to add to the title as it progresses.



GD - The Forest is entering Early Access in a few days. What features can we expect at this stage, and what do you hope to add as the game develops?

BF - We want the first early access release to be a great base we can build on top of. Adding and opening up new areas and new caves over time, as well as increasing the variety of wildlife in the world.

There are quite a few surprises planned for the enemies over the course of the alpha, and players can expect new types to appear as development continues.

On the building side, many more structures will become available and more crafting options will open up over time.

We are also really excited to experiment more with a multiplayer/co-op experience over the course of the alpha and feel its something that could really add a lot to the world.



GD - You’ve compared The Forest to Minecraft in earlier interviews, how deep does this comparison go? Will crafting be an open-*ended experience or do you intend to help funnel players down a specific avenue of progression e.g. crafting trees?

BF - We have a very unique crafting system. It’s based on a fully 3d interface and we plan on expanding the amount of items you can craft throughout the Alpha.



GD - With no clear end game or goal, what in the game world gives the player the impetus to move on?

BF - We actually do have an end game although not all players will be interested in reaching it. We imagine most people will be more interested to see how long they can survive. The cannibal threat in the world will be very vicious and it will take a lot of skill to overcome.



GD - Where do you think the balance lies between totally free-form progression and focused goals in a survival game?

BF - We are really excited about the idea that players can invent their own goals. Some players will decide to build a raft to explore an island nearby. This will require finding cloth and rope which will be more abundant deep down in the caves. Finding those items becomes its own mission, you will have to prepare to go down in the caves making sure you have enough light sources and weapons to survive. Mini missions like these, invented completely by the player will make up the bulk of the game.

There's a lot of survival games floating around right now, so we wanted to address how Endnight is working to set The Forest apart, how players will be able to interact with the mutant dwellers that share the island, and how The Forest will instil fear into gamers.



GD - The survival genre is having something of a golden age at the moment. How do you feel The Forest will stand out and what do you feel you are bringing to the genre?

BF - We’ve really focused on building an interesting world that we can just throw players into. Heavily focused on atmosphere and immersion. We try and keep everything in the game world at all times, including our 3d inventory and crafting systems.

Our enemies are a real threat and will place players under constant stress, forcing them to build smartly and gather resources to both survive in the world and against the enemies.



GD - You’ve previously cited Cannibal Holocaust as an influence, to what extent can you interact with your fellow forest dwellers? Will opportunities arrive to infiltrate their communities?

BF - The cannibals live mostly underground, and like ‘I Am Legend’ It’s possible to head down there to kill them off whilst they sleep.

As we revealed in our third trailer, there are several varieties of mutant, from regular close to surface mutants who appear mostly human, to deep down below where the mutants can get really distorted and creepy looking.



GD - Horror game legend Shinji Mikami said not too long ago that gamers have become harder to scare. Do you think this is true, and how do you feel you can maintain the tension for the horror elements of The Forest?

BF - We don’t try and scare players, instead we have tried to build an interesting realistic world with an enemy threat that just happens to want to eat you.

We don’t have any jump scares or what games might traditionally use to try and scare players. Building an atmosphere that is in part horrific, such as deep down in a cave, matched with this very serene above ground forest with birds singing and pretty lakes and ponds create a really unique experience.

Once players are drawn into the experience we find they get scared at almost anything. In a recent playtest one player jumped back on seeing a stalagmite in a cave that from a distance appeared to have a faint human form.



GD - It’s great to see a survival game that is focused on a Single Player experience rather than the many, many survival multi*players out there right now. What drew you to focus on single player as the primary experience of the game?

BF - We’ve focused on single player because a lot of our team is really interested and influenced by single player games. System Shock 2, Bioshock and open world games such as GTA have been big influences on us.

The Alpha system requirements for The Forest dropped earlier this week, and we wanted to know how the devs at Endnight were working to make such a visually attractive title as ubiquitous as possible when it came to running on PC.



GD - From what we’ve seen of The Forest so far, it looks like a graphically beautiful title. How tough is the title going to be on our PCs? Will the game run on lower*-end rigs?

BF - We have put a massive amount of time into optimizing. We have an amazing graphics programmer on board who has been working hard to optimize all our settings as we move closer to launch. We expect over the course of the Alpha for performance to improve even further.

Older machines should perform pretty well with some settings turned down such as our screen based reflections,ambient occlusion and motion blur.



GD - What about The Forest most excites you personally as developers?

BF - We’re excited most about the amount of freedom we give players. Just letting people loose in a sandbox environment where you can build stuff, chop down every plant and tree, or go caving.

Walking down to the beach and picking up a rock and throwing it at a seagull, seeing it plop down into the sand dead. Or dismembering an enemy body and using his head to mash open a suitcase, are the unique types of moments players can expect.



GD - Thanks for your time and best of luck with Early Access!

The Forest is entering Early Access Alpha this week, and will be available to play from 30th May.
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