The first video game 100% realistic from a historic and archaeological point of view and the first union of Serious and Survival games.
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The first video game 100% realistic from a historic and archaeological point of view and the first union of Serious and Survival games.
About this project
Thank you all for the support and backing our project, and to let you know, if you want, you can keep helping us via our webpage.
From now on, we'll work on the project and look for other ways to get funding.
Thank you very much!
- Game-based learning
- True realism
- 100% historical accuracy
- Fotogametric real famous caves!
- Crafting more than 500 objects
- Play and learn enjoying!
- Work for your community and family
- If you die, You lose your character. It would be a good idea to have children
- Paleolithic period
What would happen if a historian designs a video game? And if we add the fact that he has been playing video games since he was a child?
The result is the union of two different kinds of games. On one hand, it is a Serious Game of Edutainment style (Educational Entertainment) with amazing realistic mechanics based on accurate archaeological and historical information. On the other hand, it can be classified under the Survival-Action genre, in third-person, with its mechanics focused on entertaining.
This project will be located in the Prehistory, specifically in the Paleolithic period. Furthermore, the story will take place in a 3D virtual world, which will have ecosystems composed of every tiny detail from the Upper Paleolithic. Also, one of its main aims is learning through entertainment, thanks to the great well-made realism.
- PREHISTORY is the most realistic third-person historic and survival that anyone has ever made.
- Genre: First union between Survival and Serious Games (Edutainment). Game-based learning.
- Development Phase: Pre-Alpha.
- Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS.
- El Confidencial (Teknautas). "These young people are going to do History". Link
- Levante-EMV. "Trip to the Stone Age on a click". Link
- Zehngames. "A serious and crucial bet for the union of two genres, video games and History".Link
- Fase Extra Magazine. Link
- Professional Archaeology Digital Magazine "La Linde". "We think it's a quite interesting idea to bring closer historical knowledge using the concept of video games". Link
- GTM. "It's a breath of fresh air among the serious games genre, offering a funny and educative video game". Link
- VadeJuegos. "One of the most interesting Spanish initiative in Serious gaming". Link
- AreaJugones. "The game is being developed for educational purposes". Link
Radio
- “Ciencia al Cubo” Radio 5 programme of RNE (Spanish National Radio). October 2nd, 2014. Link
- "Ágora Historia" programme (Capital radio). January 31st, 2015. Link
- "Esto me suena" RNE programme (Ciudadano García). April 17th, 2015. Link
Television
- ATB News programme (3rd edition). Bolivia national private channel. April 14th, 2015. Link
- Youtube channel Puro Games. Link
- Levante TV (News). June 2nd, 2015. Link
- Total Realism: Ecosystems, flora, fauna, survival abilities, etc.
- Meticulous Crafting (more than 500 objects you can interact with).
- Learning through entertainment (Edutainment)
- To become a testing field for future researches related to “virtual experimental Archaeology".
A few weeks ago, we launched the first demo in Spain. But since it couldn't be well tested, we had found too many bugs. During this campaign, we will fix those bugs and so we hope to be able to launch it in English.
The link to download the demo will be available here.
- You would have access to exclusive content of the video game, which cannot be accessible in any other way (3D figure, paleolithic kinfe, Digital Art book, Original Soundtrack, The" Making of" video).
- You would play a Neanderthal from the very beginning while the rest of players would play a Homo Sapiens.
- Guided visit to Atapuerca and Burgos (Spain), accompanied by members of our team.
- You could take part in the development of the video game by:
- Designing a Boss
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Customizing a character, with your face and a name you choose.
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Designing a new weapon (without forgetting the historic accuracy).
- Choosing a Paleolithic culture you want us to create as an expansion.
TOTAL REALISM:
- Scenes (6 different ecosystems from the Paleolithic).
- Fauna (45 animal species from those ecosystems).
- Flora (60 different species).
- Crafting and Resources (more than 500 objects).
- Sociability (possibility to make contact with members of other clans).
- Death (your character can die, but maybe your "lineage" not).
As the player progresses through the game, by making objects or interacting with the environment in a relevant way, different notifications will appear in his interface (educative field).
These notifications will show there is complementary information related to the player's last action and they can be important to continue with the game, as well as to learn more things about Paleolithic.
Besides, these notifications will be scalable:
- A first information, after pressing over the notification, will contribute to the progress of the player's character.
- In that same window, there will be an icon where you could have access to complementary information in more detail.
- There will be also an external link to a webpage where the player could go deeper in any information given (These links can be saved so the player do not have to stop playing).
There will be three different kinds of windows:
- Texts with 2D pictures.
- Interactive 3D objects.
- Informative videos. (A 3D hand axe or biface video)
- Depending on the pledge, the backers will have the honorable title of a kind of hominid besides the related reward. It will be a "distinguishing sign" during the game as we want to make a virtual sign to be differentiated from other players that wouldn't have contributed to the campaign.
- One year after we get the funding, we want to release the Alpha version of the video game. It will be release via Steam Early Access so people can play from the very beginning.
The backers that get physical and virtual objects at the same time, will have the physical ones in about 3 months, and the virtual ones in a month - except for the Alpha version that will be in a year. The rewards section, in the right column, shows the latest time of delivery, which will be different depending on what we have mentioned before.
In future updates we will be adding more "backers" boards.
Little by little, we will show the greatest rewards of the campaign. Now we will explain in detail some of them. We can assure you some of them are rewards you have never seen before in a crowdfunding campaign. They are unique!
In future updates we will reveal more rewards.
The "Tour to Atapuerca" will take place when each person taking part in it can coincide in time and space. That's why we ask to the interested parties (members of the team included) as much flexibility as possible. This tour will include a round trip from the city of Burgos to the archaeological site of Atapuerca and to the Human Evolution museum. And also a special surprise we will keep in secret.
- Survival and Crafting (making objects). Players will have to provide to their community with everything they need to the clan’s survival. So they will need to learn different production abilities: how to make tools using stone, wood and bone; how to tan leather and make clothes; to gather wild fruits and plants, which will be useful to cook food as well as to heal illnesses. Player could also hunt animals by following a trail. In turn, animals will have very unpredictable and sophisticated IA.
- Innovate educative mechanics. As the player performs an action or makes objects that are important to the progress of the game, or related to the educative field, notifications will appear in his interface. They will be to show them there is an “Educative Window” related to his last action and it can provide him valuable information to go on playing as well as to learn more about Paleolithic.
You are just a hunter-gatherer . In front of you, a huge territory. You must explore it to "gather" any product Mother Nature gives you. Hunt any animal that helps to the survival of your community, being very careful and avoiding the dangerous predators that live in these wild lands.
So, it is of paramount importance you use the knowledge gained during the game. You will be able to “create any kinds of objects” using a variety of raw material and you must spend most of your time “providing to your community” with all that is necessary to survive. You could also make symbolic “artwork” (magical ones) as well as physical ones though. However, as you are “a social person”, you need to be in contact with people; it is one of the secrets of your magnificent evolution as a human being.
Classes
As a player, you will have a character that can change his role depending on the situation; you will have to adapt to each situation’s needs, which gives a great flexibility to the development of the game. Even so, there will be four different classes: Hunter-gatherer, Shaman, Healer, Artisan.
- Hunter-Gatherer. It is the main class of the game because you have to confront a lot of animals and vermin. But it is complementary with the other roles to get a group of players in a balanced clan. This is also the strongest class in Prehistory. Strength: hunting and hand to hand combat.
- Shaman.This class is based on magic, developed through the communication with the spirits. A shaman make powerful concoctions and spell. Although they are not skillful at weapons, they can use one if it is necessary.
- Healer.like the shaman, this class is based on magic, but through the knowledge of nature and Mother Earth. They also make powerful concoctions and heal other players.
- Artisan. They are skilled in making objects using the production abilities of Prehistory. They have a special gift to win the favor of kind spirits during this production (positive energy) to provide them with resistance, usefulness and power.
Species
You could choose characters from the following species:
- Homo sapiens
- Homo neanderthalensis
- Homo erectus presapiens
- Homo floresiensis
The game will start in the Upper Paleolithic, in the technological-cultural period called Solutrean, in the year 19.000 BP (before the present). The weather marked by the so called “Laugerie” interstadial, being rainy and mild; it is a different climate break inside the long cold period called “Late Glacial”. It is characteristic because of the progress and colonization of the “Homo Sapiens” gender through the major part of the northern areas; all of that after the North Pole’s ice mass warmed due to the rising temperatures.
The world is starting to be controlled by men, who now have a “ well-advanced lithic technology”. This has allowed them to get a better hunting activity, more productive and effective. And the result, more free time to get in contact with other human beings and to make “art”. So the “social relationships” increase and so its importance to the detriment of survival activities.
It will be a dangerous world, full of wild beasts and astronomical, atmospheric and geological phenomena that exceed the character's understanding, showing his extreme vulnerability. This world is a huge territory to hunt, where you need to hunt and avoid to be hunted by predators. That is why players have to pay attention when exploring different areas of the world, trying to avoid the beasts stronger than them or exploring in group.
A long-term aim is to improve the virtual world created, so it could be used by the “experimental virtual Archaeology” researches as a testing field. That is, to recreate mechanisms and processes made by men in the past; as well as the verification of hypothesis related to the hunters-gatherers lives (social relationships, the study of available resources, climate changes, etc.) It could be possible to recreate the situations needed to the research at minimum cost and without going to any physical place, saving money and time.
- Coordinator (Design): Juan García.
- 2D Art: Jesús Romero, Javier García.
- 3D Art: Rayco González, Fran Retamero, J.R. Casals, Raul and Miguel Ángel.
- Programming: Roberto Lozano and Juan García.
- Sound effects and Music: Manuel Pérez.
- Translation: Gloria R. García.
If you want to know more about our team, please visit this link.
COLLABORATING ENTITIES
- Website: www.prehistorygame.com
- Twitter: @PrehistoryGame (Spanish version: @Prehistory_ )
- Facebook: Prehistory
- Youtube Channel “PrehistoryGame”
- Instagram: PrehistoryGame
- Twitch Channel Prehistory
- Google+: [Videojuego sobre la Prehistoria]
Expected calendar
As it was mentioned before, a year after we get funding, we want to release the “Alpha version” via “Steam Early Access”; we will also offer it free to educative institutions. The reason why we use “Steam” is to get a secondary way of funding to go on with the development of the game until the “Beta phase”.
Additional Information
We have presented our project in the following academic institutions and conferences:
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (University of Cambridge, UK). May 2014. Link
- 4º International Conference of Experimental Archaeology (Burgos, Spain). May, 2014. Link
- 5º Market of Animation and 3D WIRE video games (Segovia, Spain). October, 2013. Link
- Zinc Shower 2015 (Madrid, Spain). May, 2015. As one of the 80 best enterprising projects in an international level. With the start-up Games 2 Learn. Link
There are several podcasts about video games that want to interview us and we are waiting to fix a date (Gameffect, VaDeJuego, Como se hace un videojuego, etc.). We also have pending a social gathering, via streaming, in the scientific website Naukas (scientific dissemination); together with the expert journalist in science Luis Quevedo.
Clarifications
We remind you that if we don’t get the amount of money we ask for, the pledges won't be charged. And, of course, the project won't be cancelled.
Risks and challenges
To part of our team, this is their first experience creating a professional video game, so we have faced problems we didn’t foresee. That's why we will have to hire two expert developers to face those possible difficulties with certain guarantee.
The Alpha, as its name indicates,will not be the final version and so it can have some errors; it is also possible the way of playing is not what you would expect or the appearance because of some limitations.
Afterwards, we will release the Beta version where lots of these problems will be solved, but not all of them. When we think we have solved all the errors, we will release the final version of the video game; never, before one year and a half after the end of the crowdfunding campaign.
Meanwhile, if we get complementary funding, we could be able to speed the deadlines up.
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
Rewards
Funding period
- (34 days)