First Paradise

First Paradise
Stable game
Developer	Gnovahex
Theme	Science-Fiction
Influences	Zoo Base, A Mind Forever Voyaging
Released	April 20, 2014 (3.9)
Updated	May 29, 2014 (4.1)
Licensing	Proprietary
P. Language	C
Platforms	Linux, Windows
Interface	Full color ASCII/Unicode
Game Length	approximately 2 hours
Official site of First Paradise

Whilst coasting along the silver skirt of a star system aboard the survey ship - Luz y Lluvia - you and your crew discover something extraordinary. This discovery serves as a catalyst for the brimming emotional turmoil to follow shortly thereafter. The ship's crew succumbs to bouts of depression and home-sickness, eventually they begin to deconstruct the value of artificial intelligence and their relationship with machines. Trapped in-between their goal and the many worlds that represent home; this is the story of a post-human's spiral towards catatonia in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.

Gameplay

Roguelike (RL): Roguelike sections present a top-down view of the player’s avatar. Here, the player can freely move around and interact with things aboard the ship.

Interactive Fiction (IF): Some sections comprise of a block of text and a series of options which the player can select to unlock the next bit of text. When interacting in this way, the player has stumbled upon some story driven element of the game.

Notes From The Voyage

January 3, 2302 (What Else is New)

Kudo was not typically the type of mutt to go running blindly into closed quarters without scouting the place first, for food at least. She's a lap-dog and all I've got to keep me sane. Finding my quarters was fairly easy since everyone is expected to bunk in the medbay. So they say this is a routine colony check-in, despite the colorful detachment of personnel assigned to the survey ship. Hell, the only excuse they could come up with for having me sign an NDA was something along the lines of preventing "the relinquishing of new and potentially disruptive information to undesirable third-party profiteers."

The ship was re-fit for combat, top of the line ordnance which I assume nobody has any experience with. That's why they hired me; to man the guns. Kudo's brown coat and pink nose appeared in my peripherals, if my external audio implants were less than half way she might have had the drop on me. Still, that didn't stop her from taking me down anyway.

- eSigned, Lt.Dhanesh Kiev

March 1, 2301 (No One World)

I was not aware that the company would send us this far out of reach. The current star system carries no relevant signatures from any of the colonies that were supposed to be here. Landing would be extremely risky as well, especially considering there are certain specs to deliver intact and we don't know what - if anything - is on the planet's surface. The Industrial Station is still months off, we will remain in orbit around Trikone II until the radiation storm around our next jump begins to dissipate.

I have ordered Trikone's I and III scouted as well, the drones should return in a week with the report. In the event that there are survivors or some makeshift shanty town built of support modules then I will see to it that an orbital relay is setup to notify the nearest refuge cylinder of their whereabouts.

- eSigned, Cpt. John Eschero

March 19, 2302 (Artificial Understandings)

My receptors seem to have degraded themselves much less lately, today especially, now that the syncronization is complete. Whether or not this has something to do with the ship's AI tampering with some obscure embedded system is beyond my comprehension; for now at least. My cranium was not built to compensate for a brain. You see, I do not quite work the way a human or cyborg does. The model TRX14 E-Series was built for combat-support purposes. That which - to say the least - does not justify my multitude of other practical applications.

Just days ago this ship (which I frequently refer to as The Storm) had an encounter with another kind that was not at all similar and certainly not of human ingenuity. Their liaison was quite fascinating yet hostile toward anything non-organic as far as we know. This makes me wonder sometimes - which is perhaps my reason for writing this - why? I plan on asking the Major about these types of self-reflection in hopes of reaching some kind of understanding, as this is all quite new to me still. I wonder, is the Major susceptible to human emotion as well? And if not, why am I?

- eSigned, TRX14 E-Series

Misc

Gnovahex on twitter

Development page blog

videos

Behind First Paradise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBxweqBIWY0