Upcoming Indie Game "Never Alone" draws on the art, stories and culture of Alaskan Inuit - Polidicks

[Media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLmli2pvdGk[/Media] [Quote=Smithsonian]The Cook Inlet Tribal Council of Alaska is taking a new approach to preserving history and culture: they're making a video game. Known as Never Alone, “players will control young female protagonist Nuna and her arctic fox as they try to rescue her homeland from an endless blizzard,” says Kotaku. “The upcoming video game will... hold [the Alaskan community's] culture, artwork and folktales in a vessel designed to carry a sense of the Inuit spirit far away from their southcentral Alaskan homeland.” Read more: [url]http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-video-game-lets-you-explore-native-alaskan-stories-young-inupiaq-girl-180952252/#35Xmxtb4yhYYXChi.99[/url][/Quote] [Quote=Kotaku] The first trailer for Never Alone appeared overnight and the puzzle-platformer from the Upper One Games looks beautiful and charming. Players will control young female protagonist Nuna and her arctic fox as they try to rescue her homeland from an endless blizzard. Upper One calls itself the first indigenous-owned video game developer and publisher in the U.S. and Never Alone's inspiration comes from the centuries-old stories and folklore of the Iñupiat people native to the region. Priced at $15, it comes out this fall for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.[/Quote] [editline]9th August 2014[/editline] I remember Prey did a similar thing when it came out, so hopefully this is good news for First Nations people. As an anthropology student it's interesting to see the ways that indigenous peoples are trying to preserve memory of their culture, as well as educate others.

Generally when games like this are made they're a bit crap, but this looks great

~artistic puzzle platformer with a deep story~ Like seriously, can this get any more stereotypically "indie" it even has those ambient soundtracks

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;45638490]~artistic puzzle platformer with a deep story~ Like seriously, can this get any more stereotypically "indie" it even has those ambient soundtracks[/QUOTE] It could have been pixel-art.

Oh boy it's another one of these boring sidescrolling platformers that are all the fucking same.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;45638949]Oh boy it's another one of these boring sidescrolling platformers that are all the fucking same.[/QUOTE] It reminds me a lot about LIMBO, which I actually enjoyed. It can't be all that bad.

[sp] The fox is going to die at the end [/sp]

This actually looks pretty cool. "Arte"-sy indie games are infamous for almost always being rubbish but this has some really awesome ideas behind it. [QUOTE=Kljunas;45638688]It could have been pixel-art.[/QUOTE] Or the polar bear could've turned out to be a lesbian at the end :v:

[QUOTE=Kljunas;45638688]It could have been pixel-art.[/QUOTE] They should've made a zombie DLC for a AAA game instead, would've gotten FP members a lot more interested

[QUOTE=Swiket;45639165]They should've made a zombie DLC for a AAA game instead, would've gotten FP members a lot more interested[/QUOTE] Because the only sort of games that exist are super artsy-fartsy indie games and modern military shooters.

[QUOTE=zan;45639124][sp] The fox is going to die at the end [/sp][/QUOTE] Y'know. Considering the name of the game, I expect it to be that [sp]The Fox won't die unless it brings the girl to a family member of hers in the end.[/sp]

Looks very LIMBOesque. I like it.

[QUOTE=psychojake;45639005]It reminds me a lot about LIMBO, which I actually enjoyed. It can't be all that bad.[/QUOTE] Yeah but after Braid and Limbo everyone and their mother started making side scrollers. Deadlight, The Swapper, The Fall, Starseed Pilgrim, Capsized, Fez, Dust: An Elysian Tail, just to name a few. Some of them are good or even really good, sure, but the point is there's been a fucking lot of them. Side scroller and pixel art are the indie equivalent of Modern Shooter AAA games. Not all of them are bad, but it's flooding the market to the point of saturation.

How cute.. Indie devs, I mean.

cool sidekick 0/10 on all other fronts though, this has been done too much before it's like somebody saw braid and decided to provide it with a huge bastard family of watered-down half-baked indie platformers

fuck all u guys it looks like a cool fun game using source material that is rarely explored in media

[QUOTE=DowntownTiger;45639502]fuck all u guys it looks like a cool fun game using source material that is rarely explored in media[/QUOTE] Has that cute "Journey" vibe too.

I'm pretty sure the actually important aspect is the use of Alaskan folk tradition as the source material: it's their first game as a studio as well, so I'm sure that this is to be expected. It's a project commissioned by a tribal council to try a different way of promoting their culture, so they probably also don't have nearly as much funding as other studios. I feel like people are missing the point (0/10 not innovative enough) but that's just me.

It's not trying to be anything too big. Yeah, a bit tried and tired in terms of gameplay, but what it seems to be going for is story and atmosphere. Instead of a model like Dear Esther or Gone Home, they're shooting for an experience that actually immerses you into it, rather than tell a story at you. I'd give it a shot.

I love cinematic platformers, this game looks fantastic

I will definitely play this for the walrus part, which considering it is the Alaskan Inuit as the subject I guarantee you there will be.

looks like it would be a surprisingly nice game to play but nothing huge nothing to expect anything "Rochard" or "Bastion" tier good, but it could be as good as Brothers: A tale of two sons in terms of story telling. However, it could be more in line with Limbo, simple and good, and deserving of a good rating but definitely a $5 game, but well worth your 5$.

I'm going to wait for more before I act all lofty and superior to a development groups first game.

Honestly, I am excited to see how this game goes. Native American traditions are far to under represented in videogames, and honestly, it is such a treasure trove of ideas and concepts. For example: The [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandan]Mandan[/url] had a religious ceremony known as Okipa... Details below: [quote] [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Catlin_Okipa.jpg[/t] The Mandan's religion and cosmology was highly complex and centered around the figure known as Lone Man. Lone Man was involved in many of the creation myths as well as one of the deluge myths. In their creation myth, the world was created by two rival deities, the First Creator and the Lone Man. The Missouri River divided the two worlds that the beings created. First Creator created the lands to the south of the river with hills, valleys, trees, buffalo, pronghorn antelope and snakes. To the north of the river, Lone Man created the Great Plains, domesticated animals, birds, fish and humans. The first humans lived underground near a large lake. Some of the more adventurous humans climbed a grapevine to the surface and discovered the two worlds. After returning underground, they shared their findings and decided to return with many others. As they were climbing the grapevine, it broke and half the Mandan were left underground. According to pre-Christian Mandan beliefs, each person possessed four different, immortal souls. The first soul was white and often seen as a shooting star or meteor. The second soul was colored a light brown and was seen in the form of the meadowlark. The third soul, called the lodge spirit, remained at the site of the lodge after death and would remain there forever. The final soul was black and after death would travel away from the village. These final souls existed as did living people; residing in their own villages, farming and hunting. The Okipa ceremony was a major part of Mandan religious life. This complex ceremony about the creation of the earth was first recorded by George Catlin. The ceremony opened with a Bison Dance, followed by a variety of torturous ordeals through which warriors proved their physical courage and gained the approval of the spirits. The Okipa began with the young men not eating, drinking, or sleeping for four days. Then they were led to a hut, where they had to sit with smiling faces while the skin of their chest and shoulders was slit and wooden skewers were thrust behind the muscles. Using the skewers to support the weight of their bodies, the warriors would be suspended from the roof of the lodge and would hang there until they fainted. To add agony, heavy weights were added to the initiates' legs. After fainting, the warriors would be pulled down and the men (women were not allowed to attend this ceremony) would watch them until they awoke, proving the spirits' approval. Upon awakening, the warriors would offer the left little finger to the Great Spirit, whereupon a masked tribesman would sever it with a hatchet blow. Finally, participants would endure a grueling race around the village called "the last race" with weights and skewers still in place, to determine who among them was the strongest. Those finishing the ceremony were seen as being honored by the spirits; those completing the ceremony twice would gain everlasting fame among the tribe. Chief Four Bears, or Ma-to-toh-pe, completed this ceremony twice. The last Okipa ceremony was performed in 1889, but the ceremony was resurrected in a somewhat different form in 1983. The version of the Okipa as practiced by the Lakota may be seen in the 1970 film A Man Called Horse starring Richard Harris.[/quote] That alone could be made into a really interesting story/game.