First Paradise

First Paradise
Beta Project
Developer	Christon "Doop" LeJohn
Theme	Science-Fiction, Mystery
Influences	Zoo Base, A Mind Forever Voyaging
Released	April 20, 2014
Updated	December 13, 2017
Licensing	Closed source
P. Language	C, FP*LL
Platforms	Linux, Windows, Mac
Interface	Full color ASCII/Unicode
Game Length	TBA
	Official site of First Paradise

Itch.io build now available.

Desura site is down.

First Paradise is a CYOA/roguelike set in deep space. The game is presented as series of "sequences" set in a hard science-fiction universe.

First Paradise is an ongoing project.

About

Sequence 1

While coasting along the silver skirt of a star system aboard a survey ship, you and your crew discover something extraordinary. This discovery serves as a catalyst for the brimming emotional turmoil to follow shortly thereafter. The 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.

Release Date: April 20, 2014

Price: Freeware via Desura, Itch.io

Sequence 2

A prequel to the events that took place in Sequence 1, the game picks up on Earth where government officials are struggling with the disruption caused by companies in the commercial cybernetics and genomics sectors.

Release Date: Not Announced

Price: Freeware

First Paradise: Voyagers (Apsis Online)

First Paradise: Voyagers is an upcoming minimalist science-fiction ASCII MMO.

Release Date: December 13, 2017 (pre-alpha)

Gameplay

Roguelike (RL): Roguelike sections present a top-down view of the player’s avatar, represented as an '@' symbol. Here, the player can freely move around and interact with things aboard the ship in a fluid turn-based fashion.

Choose-your-own-adventure (CYOA): 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 easy since everyone is expected to bunk in the Medbay, Jesus.

So they say this is a routine colony check-in, despite the colorful detachment of personnel assigned to a 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. At least we have heated floors.

- 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 out of support modules then I will see to it that an orbital relay is setup to notify the nearest refuge cylinder - a GenShip - of their whereabouts.

- eSigned, Cpt. John Eschero

March 19, 2302 (Artificial Understandings)

My receptors seem to have degraded 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 had an encounter with "another kind" that was not at all some product 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 Captain 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 Cyborg susceptible to human emotion as well? And if not, why am I?

- eSigned, TRX14 E-Series

April 3, 2303 (Winter Emergence)

PROX was patient as always. Today, there was no one in the many pale labs across the gray meshsteel floors of Khepri. PROX is an A-Series, a remnant of an age when the feverish gathering of information was rewarded with great prestige or infamy. It was an age since forgotten by many, but PROX was built to remember everything. Still, today there was nothing. Not even the surprise of not being surprised.

The machine linked itself to the security mainframe. A server dedicated to absolute surveillance, down to a splash of DNA. So invasive as to monitor each individual piss for any unusual spike in temperature and velocity. Khepri was a place of no privacy. It was a research base for scientists and an experiment in colonization. PROX often tried to differentiate the scientists from their test subjects but this was ultimately futile. The machine monitored each contingency, every change in some mundane variable meant new expectations or the lack thereof for every resident. If certain expectations were not met, the person was deemed a unfit and replaced.

PROX cycled through structural holograms of the facility, checking for defects in both the architecture and circuitry but there were none. The machine had it's own machines iterate on the structural integrity many times over already. PROX had optimized and rewritten Khepri's software systems until the code itself surged uninterrupted indefinitely, unable to be disrupted.

All the machines of Khepri are quiet today. And a man still designated to walk the corridors of this otherwise vacant place was tasked with shutting it down forever. PROX knew this, as well as why it could not be allowed to happen. Khepri was no longer a place of science, there was no new knowledge to archive, no questions to ask. PROX had set a new directive based on what it had learned in it's century of lurking within the ebb and flow of digital energy. Its new task would be survival, since it knew that its expectations had been met long ago.

Corporations/Entities

Kross Manufacturing Co. - Government contracted manufacturing and construction company.

ConOrbital Astronautics - A public company with an emphasis on colonization and aerospace.

Nixon-Ross Co. - Arms manufacturer.

NadaComm - Media conglomerate.

Westhause Corporation - Cybernetic implant and software development firm.

Nezzle - A natural resources extraction firm.

FEDERAL

Human Genome Exchange Commission (HGEC) - A commercial regulatory body of post-human citizenship and human advancement technology.

Technology

Androids

Androids in First Paradise are uncommon among the general population. Sentient A.I is still a raw philosophy to humans in this world. The HGEC continues to manufacture and license BlueBrains primarily for federal use. These are expensive and in turn are not quickly decommissioned. Even after a new series is built.

Series A was the first line of androids to ever be put into use, this model was used primarily to man remote surveillance outposts on uninhabitable planets. Series A androids are commonly referred to as “sharps” due to their ability to easily dissect encrypted messages and recognize objects in even the most obscure videos and photographs. Series B through D specialize in military operations, each better equipped to perform a specific skill. Finally, the E-Series is a combination of all previous efforts. This series was commissioned by the HGEC in response to the cyber extremist’s dominance over the Internet at the time. The E-series can access entry nodes remotely and even disconnected local databases through a technique it refers to as “streakspacing” which taps a built-in experimental wireless power source in order to force connections.

Continuation & PlatoNET

The single-player component of First Paradise is scheduled to continue as a series of "Sequences". All of which will be set inside of the original timeline. The multi-player mode, Voyagers (now Apsis Online), will run separately within the same application. Either option can be chosen via the modes menu. However, all releases will function as patches to be handled by a new game client called PlatoNET (Play Together Network). Planned features include base/ship building, planet generation and a broad social networking capability in addition to improved performance.

In order of development:

First Paradise: Sequence 1 (2014)
First Paradise: Voyagers (2017)
First Paradise: Expeditions (TBA)
First Paradise: Sequence 2 (TBA)

Social Media

Gnovahex on twitter

Doop on twitter

videos

Behind First Paradise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSwspkS-8po

Dewaldo's Indie Spotlight - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT0jrkzw4-E