About
Interview with Dana Cowley from Unreal Engine
Interview (in Spanish) with Real o Virtual
- Update #1: NZD to USD currency clarification and Rewards Update notify
The Hum is a horror game that puts the player in the aftermath of a sudden alien invasion. The player will have to find not only a way to survive by providing his own basic needs, but also will have to unravel and increasingly involve himself in the mystery behind this nightmare. His own perception of reality will have to evolve while he experiences an important transformation.
Dev Video Blog Update 2 with Gameplay Scenes
Tailer #2: Story Introduction
Tailer #1: First Approach of Gameplay
GAMEPLAY
The Hum is being developed completely by an indie team and we hope it continues this way since it allows us full creative freedom. We won’t hesitate to explore every possible variant and taboo to achieve an idea that really blows your mind.
We want The Hum to be different from those cloned shooters, jump scary games and "walking" simulators.
Many things that have explored or we want The Hum has as a game:
- Survival Mechanics: inventory / items / crafting, stats and needs (hunger, madness, warm..).
- World Interaction: The goal is that the player feels really inmmersed, so interaction with everything is very important.
- Puzzles?: The Hum is not (at least by the moment) based on puzzles. But the aliens will put you in some specific situations where you will need to solve them. Maybe they are testing you. But not only your intellect.. but your psychology too.
- Gameplay Changes and skills changing over the time: The aliens are playing with you. Maybe experimenting, maybe toying. The player will suffer changes in the perception of the time (acceleration for example), on his senses (improve vision or hear) or be victim of illusions.
- Illusions: When player's character is close to madness, many situations can happens in small gameplays along nightmares.
- Can character fight? It's the idea that he/she be allowed to fight against the aliens. We are trying to balance the fact that they are really superior to humans with your real possibilities of defense.
- Will be there NPCs in the game? Yes. In The Hum, human race was decimated but not exterminated. They still need a few humans for their purposes.
- Procedural Generation: I don't want The Hum to be a linear experience. But I don't like when random generation breaks ambience. That's why we were exploring some intermediate solutions based on servers or updates.
The Hum: Strong Points
Virtual reality:
Unlike other games which support Oculus Rift, The Hum places a lot of importance on the virtual reality experience.
While everybody will be able to enjoy the game without it, those who have access to a virtual reality device such as Oculus Rift will experience what we are really want them to feel. We will try to provide support for a diverse variety of VR devices as to allow the most people to enjoy The Hum.
Unreal Engine 4:
The Hum is being developed on Unreal Engine 4, which we find to be an incredible game engine. This gives us enormous possibilities when trying to offer graphic and technical quality, while we focus on getting the idea and gameplay down.
We are making our dreams come true and we don’t want a mediocre game:
Personally, I work day and night on The Hum, only taking time off to attend my needs and my family’s.
This project is to me my lifelong dream and I’m not going te be pleased with a mediocre result. I’m going to rely on you, backers (who will have access to exclusive assets) and on your feedback as we develop, to improve the game to the point in which every detail is polished, just ready to be published.
What are The Hums?
According to Wikipedia: "The Hum is a phenomenon, or collection of phenomena, involving widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people."
Now, thanks to The Hum Game, you know what is actually happening..
Hum Sounds Samples from our sfx designer Christian Perucchi:
Press LInks and Interviews where you can read more about how he is thinking The Hum:
- PC Gamer (article)
- Rock Paper Shotgun (article)
- Destructoid (article)
- Kotaku UK (article)
- OnlySP (interview)
- CounterFrag (interview)
- VRFocus (interview)
In the first place, we're raising funds so we can dedicate ourselves 100% to the project. We have been developing the game with our personal savings and resources, working part-time in other projects in order to be able to afford the development process.
This situation, then, is not sustainable over a long period and won’t allow us to improve the game as we want and reach our goals.
Also, we want to incorporate new artists for 3D, animators, a new programmer, great freelance voice actors, add new licensed tools, cover costs from servers and office logistic and much, much more!
(Added on August 7th)
Money Breakdown / Explanation
- A good programmer in some countries costs 3k per month. In others, 6k per month (or even more). We have one programmer right now and one collaborator. Would be great to add another one.
- A good 3D generalist costs around 1k per month in our country. We have 2 right now, but we want to join at least one more. The Hum relies a lot on its visuals.
- 3D Freelancers for stunning models for ships and aliens. One 3D alien model (with no animations, only model) costed to us around 1.5k usd with a great artist. Some very professional artists asked to me around 4k usd for one ship. In The Hum we have many ships, many aliens.
- Animators: Of course we need to bring to life all the art. They don't worth as statues.
- SFX ,OST and Voice Actors: Sound and OST are very important for The Hum. Some actors usually cost 100-200 usd per minute (or even more). We are planning to have NPCs and main character voices. Same happens with SFX, which are very important in this game.
- Taxes. We are professionals, and all we have taxes per month to cover.
- Licensed tools. We are using licensed tools like Unreal Engine 4, DDO quixel, Substance Designer, Game Textures and many others that are helping us a lot. They are great. But they are not free.
- Typical contingencies and expenses: We are a team. A small team but a team. We are persons and we have situations that we cover doing work for hire for clients (check www.thotwise.com). For example: UE4 is a great (awesome) engine, but it requires a powerful pc. If someone's graphic card dies (not that uncommon thing), we need to replace it in order to keep working. We have many other expenses: office stuff, travels, servers, services taxes and so on.
We prefered to ask a number which what we know we can make The Hum instead of ask for less and then cancel the project or announce to you that your money in our succeful (but lower budget) campaign is not enought for the game.
What happens if we exceed the goal?
Every penny will be 100% on this project. If we exceed the basic goal, there are A LOT of features and assets we have in mind. And, mainly, we will use everything in search of quaility.
Did you see all the illustrations we are making for The Hum? You should live the game like that!! We really are taking serious that The Hum is The Ultimate Alien Invasion Simulator.
Below in description, you will find a Stretch Goals table, but be sure that we will do our bests to do more and more!
Below, you can check all the correlative including rewards for each Tier. Of course, don't hesitate to ask!
Follow The Hum!
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OFFICIAL BLOG
Risks and challenges
The Hum tries to achieve many things that are very ambitious.
We are looking to offer new mechanics and unseen schemes. But as it can happen to any project that breaks the mold, it's always possible that good ideas end up poorly executed.
However, since this is a project that we really love and it's very special to us, we won't allow ourselves to release it if is not in line with our wishes.
We will not be working by ourselves but we will hire a devoted group of people for testing while we're developing, until we find the sweet spot that we are looking for.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterQuestions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (60 days)