Havencall

Description

Short Description:

Aura is a strange girl who has recurring dreams of a world completely beyond her own - of the place where she truly belongs. Setting out to find the haven of her dreams takes Aura on an adventure across many worlds full of wonders and terrors. Overcome challenges, awaken new powers and fight perilous enemies as Aura embarks on an emotional journey to discover the truth of her universe.

Full Description:

Havencall is a non-traditional, philosophical and artistic point-and-click adventure for Mac, PC and Linux and potentially mobile devices. The game is set in a fantasy universe where many worlds are separated from one another by space-time barriers. You play as Aura, a strange girl who has recurring dreams of a world beyond her own and of a glowing figure who beckons her there. On her adventure to find the place in her dreams, Aura travels through three different worlds, each a type of "utopia" with a distinctive atmosphere and social structure. In each world you must solve unique puzzles to awaken Aura's powers and/or unlock new areas. Each world has a final "boss," or active puzzle which represent the structure of the world that must be overcome. The game will be a rich, immersive audio-visual experience, with a story that will encourage players to think about some complex questions such as what it means to be human, the value of life, and the structure of societies.

What do we mean, "non-traditional"?

To us, a traditional point-and-click adventure involves collecting items and combining them in ingenious (or perhaps ridiculous) ways in order to progress in the game. In Havencall, you do not have an inventory and do not collect or combine items. Instead, Aura interacts with the world around her directly (often with the help of magic) to solve puzzles and make progress. Havencall also has a simple battle system and "boss fights" or "active puzzles" as we call them, whereas most point-and-clicks are usually slow-paced without a battle system or time-sensitive puzzles. We were strongly inspired to deviate from the traditional by Superbrother's "Sword and Sworcery." We love traditional point-and-click adventures, but we also feel that not using items and adding action heightens the immersion and impact of the game.

What do we mean, "philosophical"?

As mentioned in "History," (below), Havencall was originally inspired by philosophical questions about human nature, moral relativity, societal structure, and the value of human life. Are humans intrinsically good, or intrinsically evil, or neither? If a moral system is accepted by a whole society, does that make it ok? Can acts be justified by being "for the greater good"? Havencall's story presents an imaginative exploration of many deep questions like these. We do not presume to be able to answer any of the questions we pose. On the contrary, we hope players of Havencall will be inspired to think them over and come to their own conclusions. Additionally, Havencall can certainly be enjoyed at face value for its immediate story as well as for its deeper queries - the philosophy is subtle, but it's there if you are interested in seeing it.

What are these "unique puzzles" like?

Each of the puzzles in Havencall has Aura interact with and affect the world around her, usually in a very direct and visceral way. For example, Aura must make vines grow into the shape of a magical symbol to activate a doorway, and redirect lava flow out of caves so she can enter a volcano, to name a couple of the puzzle mechanics. The puzzles are designed to be intuitive, impactful, and to make sense within the world of the game. Each one is unique - some are inspired by mathematics (packing problems, sequences), and others are more symbolic and magical (such as the door mentioned above). But all of them compliment and enhance the environment and story of the game rather than distract from them.

History

The original idea for Havencall was called "Shattered Worlds" and dates back to 2009. The inspiration for the game was philosophical, springing from questions such as "would it be better if humans lived in small isolated societies and didn't have a chance for large-scale wars and the like?" Questions like this led us to imagine a world where people really were split into small isolated communities that they could not leave - a shattered world. A magical back story with theological undertones seemed to fit with the idea very naturally, and the setting and history of the world was soon fully written. But what we had was just an environment in which to place a game. We didn't have a "front story" or an actual game yet. Some ideas involving magic were tossed around, but nothing seemed to strike the right chord or fit with the world properly. It wasn't until recently (around September of 2012) that everything came together: the appropriate "front story," the technology (VIDE, our in-house animation toolkit), and the game-play design, for what is in many ways our dream game - both to play and create!

Features

• Explore - Travel to vastly different realms, each with their own struggles, secrets and strengths, in search of the place you belong.
• Experience - Move through stunning hand-painted environments and experience haunting original music in this immersive audio-visual journey.
• Solve - Riddle your way through unique puzzles to unlock new areas and awaken secret parts of yourself, including powerful abilities you never knew you had.
• Overcome - Battle "active puzzles" requiring timing and skill to defeat magical devices and break free of the restrictions inherent in each world.
• Discover - Delve into the mysteries of Aura's universe, her strange abilities, and her ultimate destiny in this novel point & click adventure.