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[Feardemic_Michal]

Devlog #1, Researching Terror

What research did we do in preparation for making Terror? Find out inside!

Ahoy, seadogs! Come aboard, there’s enough room for everyone. Sit down comfortably, pour your royally-mandated ration of rum, and let us tell you a story about a little game called Terror: Endless Night!

RESEARCHING TERROR

Making a historical game is quite a task, and it definitely has its challenges. We really wanted to get it right so we made sure to do our research and read everything we could get our hands on to prepare for this task. Our starting point was, of course, the Dan Simmons novel “Terror”, and we know what you’re thinking - that’s a very fictionalized version of the events but, here’s the thing, it’s still grounded in facts, and that’s the part we focused on. The very sizable afterword by dr Grzegorz Rachlewicz from UAM detailing all the known facts about the journey was a huge help in separating reality from fiction. We have also reached for “Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition” by Owen Beattie and John Geiger which describes the origins and the course of the expedition as well as the fate of each crew member with incredible precision and attention to detail.

BEYOND THE SCROLLS

But books are not the only sources we’ve used. The vast array of resources made available by the Parks Canada Agency concerned with protecting Canadian cultural heritage (which has, among other things, organized underwater research of Terror and Erebus shipwrecks) were an invaluable asset on our journey of making the game as true to reality as possible. Equally so was Peter Carney’s “Erebus & Terror Files” blog which has been maintained for about a decade now and contains a lot of interesting tidbits about the expedition and puts the mission in the context of its 19th-century setting. Kudos to both for providing this amazing base of knowledge for free!

CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING

Speaking of setting, to understand Franklin’s expedition, we need to understand the historical context surrounding it. What did life look like back then, what was the political situation? With these and more questions in mind, we headed to do more reading. “Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World” by Niall Ferguson answered our broad, historical questions and provided the international context Britain found itself in at the time, whereas “U Szczytu Potęgi. Wielka Brytania w latach 1815-1914” by Krzysztof Marchlewicz gave us a picture of what English society, their quality of life, industry, economy, etc. looked like back then.

Finally, a selection of articles on 18th and 19th century England from Histmag.org and ciekawostkihistoryczne.pl sites topped us off and we were finally ready to write the plot of Terror. Well, we might’ve also taken a peek at some Wikipedia articles but maybe that’s not worth bragging about…

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Writing the plot was not without its challenges, and we don’t mean having to take copious amounts of notes (although that was quite a task in itself). The problem lies in the fact, that we finished writing the story (which reached a few hundred typewritten pages!) very early in the development process when we had only an outline of the mechanics we had in mind for the game but not the actual implementation of them. Because of that, when we started work on the game we quickly realized that it was going to be necessary to restructure and rewrite the ENTIRETY of our plot for it to properly mesh with the now-finalized gameplay layer of Terror. It was a gargantuan undertaking, perhaps bigger than writing the story in the first place, but we’ve managed to do it and today we stand incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. We hope, come release, that you will like it too.

That’s it for this devlog. All that’s left to say now is that we really want to connect with our fans, so make sure to leave a comment and say hi! If you have any questions, you can also drop them in the comment section, and of course, we encourage you to tap the Wishlist button, because it lets us know that even if you’re a lurker, you’re here and you’re interested in what we have to show. Also, we want to post these regularly so stay on the lookout for more devlogs, seadogs!

Fair winds,
Unseen Silence

You can add the game to your wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1878730/Terror_Endless_Night/

[oldblood]

Welcome to TIG. This looks right up my alley, with resource management, decisions, and a good narrative--so I've added it to my Wishlist. The art is reminiscent of Frostpunk, or pretty much any game by 11bit. Which is a good thing.

[Alain]

I just watched Against the Ice on Netflix about one of Ejnar Mikkelsens Greenland expeditions, so you find me primed for some scary adventures into the unknown. I adore your visuals so far, looking forward to find out more!

[Feardemic_Michal]

Welcome to TIG. This looks right up my alley, with resource management, decisions, and a good narrative--so I've added it to my Wishlist. The art is reminiscent of Frostpunk, or pretty much any game by 11bit. Which is a good thing.

Thank you!

[Feardemic_Michal]

I just watched Against the Ice on Netflix about one of Ejnar Mikkelsens Greenland expeditions, so you find me primed for some scary adventures into the unknown. I adore your visuals so far, looking forward to find out more!

Thanks a lot!
Also, if you're up for some more series about the struggle against the cold, the adaptation of "The Terror" by Amazon is pretty good as well!

[Alain]

I just watched Against the Ice on Netflix about one of Ejnar Mikkelsens Greenland expeditions, so you find me primed for some scary adventures into the unknown. I adore your visuals so far, looking forward to find out more!

Thanks a lot!
Also, if you're up for some more series about the struggle against the cold, the adaptation of "The Terror" by Amazon is pretty good as well!

Cool, thanks for the hint, I will check that out!

[Feardemic_Michal]

Ahoy, seadogs!

We're back at the port with another devlog, and this one, quite frankly, is a little mad... Well, that's not entirely true, but it does concern the insanity mechanic, which is one of the main challenges you'll face as the captain in Terror: Endless Night. Let's dive right into it, but first, let us thank you for all your comments and wishlists since the last devlog, we read every message so keep it up!

"(...) it is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."
- Philip K. Dick, Valis

A good captain takes good care of their crew. In Terror: Endless Night that means managing your rapidly dwindling resources to ensure everyone's survival while rationing out the bare minimum and keeping your mariners loyal to prevent a bloody mutiny, but if those two seem hard to balance, wait till you hear about the third part to this equation - sanity. After all, the last thing you want while stranded in ice for weeks is one of your friends going berserk, which considering the circumstances, is not that unlikely.

A Method to Madness

So, how does it work? The level of insanity is impacted by the duties of the crewman, random events, and your decisions. Insanity may affect the entire crew, the specific section of the crew, or a specific individual. You will be aware of how each choice will affect the insanity levels and managing them will have to be part of your strategic decision making. You will find each crew member's current level of insanity out of 4 on their respective card, displayed as a word and as a number. Take note of it, you don’t want things to get out of hand, do you?

The Worst of Times

Going insane has strictly negative consequences for the crewman and can interact with their perks and impact some of the plot events. The mechanics were inspired by the true story of the crew of the Terror and Erebus and the desire to provide a typical horror vibe, where it’s not external factors, but people - the transformation they undergo, the impact of difficult conditions that awakes the worst demons in them. Mechanically, we aimed to give the player a differential approach to the game: choose to actively try to prevent the crew's mental deteriorating or forego that to focus on other factors and let your crew go mad. We wanted different approaches to change the gameplay and result in a different player experience. What will you choose, captain?

That’s it for this devlog. All that’s left to say now is that we really want to connect with our fans, so make sure to leave a comment and say hi! If you have any questions, you can also drop them in the comment section, and of course, we encourage you to tap the wishlist button, because it lets us know that even if you’re a lurker, you’re here and you’re interested in what we have to show. Also, we want to post these regularly so stay on the lookout for more devlogs, seadogs!

You can see game's page on Steam and add it to your wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1878730/Terror_Endless_Night/


Fair winds,
Unseen Silence

[oldblood]

This continues to look and sound right up my alley!

[Feardemic_Michal]

Thank you, we continue to be very happy about it! 

[mobilelast]

Beautiful and moody graphics.
 
I was only distantly familiar with the Franklin expedition but, thanks to this devlog, ended up reading several articles about it. The events indeed have a great combination of history, mystique and horror; expedition to the unexpected. For the contemporaries, at least.
 
This may not be a fitting idea (depending how realistic you aim to be), but I wonder if insanity could have more than a strictly negative effect. Insane characters could, for instance, have more or less truthful visions to guide the player. This might add to the mood and require some delicate balancing from the player.
 
There’s a severe shortage of horror strategy games, and this one looks very promising. I certainly wouldn’t trust that Francis Trevor guy to be my doctor, though.