HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''BioForge'' is a 1995
action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...
developed by
Origin Systems Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres of video games ...
and published by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
for
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...
. ''BioForge'' was developed as an
interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but ...
which made use of
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
,
voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-sc ...
, and multiple camera angles. Set in the future, the player controls an
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...
c
cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...
, and ultimately cancelled. BioForge was re-released on GOG.com in 2012.


Story


Setting

Writer Jack Herman created a
fictional universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scie ...
as the setting for ''BioForge''. The backstory is revealed in-game by reading the
diaries Diaries may refer to: * the plural of diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally bee ...
of various
non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...
s. In the distant future, a group of
scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
s called the Mondites are attempting to overthrow the intergalactic government known as the Reticulum. The Mondites are conducting experiments in
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
and
cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...
in the hopes of blending man and machine into
assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. The origin of the term is the medieval Order of Assassins, a sect of Shia Islam 1090–1275 CE. Assassin, or variants, may also refer to: Fictional characters * Assassin, in the Japanese adult ...
for their plans. Years before the game takes place, the Mondites intercept a distress call from a Reticulum
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...
that self-destructed after encountering and reviving an alien lifeform which went on a hostile rampage. Through studying the
black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
and the remains, they discover the aliens' home world, a
moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
in a remote sector of the galaxy which they name Daedalus. The Mondites establish a base on Daedalus while investigating the ruins the aliens left behind; a sentient race known as the Phyxx who were long thought to be
extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
. The Mondites abduct people and imprison them on Daedalus for their experiments. A
mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...
called Dr. Mastaba is the base
commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
and head of the "ABA Project" (Assassin Biologically Augmented). Dr. Mastaba mutilates the bodies of his victims in an attempt to turn them into the ultimate killing machine. Until now, the subjects of Dr. Mastaba's experiments have ended up either dead or insane. Using technology borrowed from the Phyxx, the Mondites have finally succeeded in their experiments. However, when one of the aliens is accidentally revived from
suspended animation Suspended animation is the slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. States of suspended animation are common in micro-organisms and some plant tissue, such as seeds. Many animals, including l ...
in its tomb, it goes on a rampage through the complex, damaging the reactor and killing half of the base personnel in the process.


Plot

The
player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...
takes on the role of a cyborg (''Experimental Unit AP-127'') who awakens in a cell on Daedalus with no prior memories. After escaping the cell, the protagonist discovers that he is one of the few survivors of an incident which devastated the station. The player must unravel the truth about himself, the research station, the Mondites that control it, and the mysterious alien race which once inhabited the moon. The game ends after the player escapes Daedalus in an experimental Mondite spacecraft in the wake of the moon's destruction, along with several Phyxx ships.


Gameplay

''BioForge'' centers mainly on exploration and
puzzle solving A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different ...
using items, and also on fighting and interaction with
non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...
s (NPCs). The objective is not obvious at the beginning, since the player is unaware of his identity, which depends on his actions during the game. The player has full control over the main character's actions. This was a deliberate idea of Ken Demarest and Jack Herman.
Richard Garriott Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born 4 July 1961) is a British-born American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Garriott, who is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, was originally a game designer ...
helped kick off the
interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but ...
theme. In a 1994 magazine article, he said "Interactive Movies have become a
buzzword A buzzword is a word or phrase, new or already existing, that becomes popular for a period of time. Buzzwords often derive from technical terms yet often have much of the original technical meaning removed through fashionable use, being simply ...
, so it's being applied to games which really aren't. Just because a game has FMV that doesn't automatically make it an interactive movie, because you have very little control over the actor. Neither is a game in which you click on an icon, then sit back and watch a scene take place." ''BioForge'' has
tank controls Tank controls are a control system used in video games whereby players control movement relative to the position of the player character, rather than the perspective of the game camera. They have become less common over time and free-roaming cam ...
as in the player character can rotate left and right, walk and run forwards and backwards, and sidestep. The player can also enter a combat stance that makes several punch and
kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...
movements and hand-to-hand weapons (if carried) available to use. The combat system has been described as being similar to ''
Alone in the Dark ''Alone in the Dark'' is a survival horror video game series originally developed by Infogrames. In most of the games, the player controls private investigator Edward Carnby, who goes to investigate a haunted house or town that is full of undea ...
''. The body of the player character has an exchangeable (and depletable) battery that powers various body functions put there by the experimenters. Functions include a regeneration system that heals all damage when activated, as well as a powerful projectile weapon (known as the ''PFD Prototype''). Upgrading and swapping the battery is key to the player's progress at certain points in the game. The player can also don a protective armoured suit that enables him to survive the harsh atmosphere outside the facility and explore the archaeological dig. Various objects, such as datalogs or healing packs, can be picked up and stored in the player's
inventory Inventory (British English) or stock (American English) is a quantity of the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying ...
. Selected objects are shown carried in the left hand of the player character. Several hand-to-hand and ranged weapons, as well as batteries and other large or one-use objects, can also be picked up during the game, but only one can be carried, using the right hand, and they cannot be stored in the inventory. Much of the game's plot is revealed by finding and reading logs on PDAs and notes left behind by characters, including accounts of experimental subjects losing their memories and lapsing into insanity. As the plot progresses, the main character automatically updates his own diary/log and summarizes what he has discovered since the beginning and what has happened for the player to review, an event marked by a sound cue. A large portion of the puzzle element relies on accessing control and
computer terminal A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...
s in order to remotely control robots, open doors and bypass security systems. The puzzles are integrated with the plot which means several have a time limit.


Development

Director Ken Demarest had the core idea for ''BioForge'' whilst working as a programmer on '' Ultima VII: The Black Gate''. Demarest felt ''Ultima VII'' had too much freedom, and that making an interactive movie with synthetic actors would create a more immersive game. ''BioForge'' was developed at
Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...
by a core team of ten people under Demarest, during a period of two years from February
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
to March
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
. The game was developed using C++ and 80x86 assembly and used the
Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Achieving great success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the ear ...
DOS extender A DOS extender is a computer software program running under DOS that enables software to run in a protected mode environment even though the host operating system is only capable of operating in real mode. DOS extenders were initially developed ...
. Internally, the game used a custom
script language In computing, a script is a relatively short and simple set of instructions that typically automate an otherwise manual process. The act of writing a script is called scripting. A scripting language or script language is a programming language th ...
for world management and animation. It also employed an
HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...
-styled language to code the in-game interface. The working title for the game was ''Interactive Movie 1''. The 3D models of ''BioForge'' were created from reference sketches in '' 3D Studio'' and then
texture-mapped Texture mapping is a term used in computer graphics to describe how 2D images are projected onto 3D models. The most common variant is the UV unwrap, which can be described as an inverse paper cutout, where the surfaces of a 3D model are cut ap ...
in a proprietary Electronic Arts tool named ''EOR''. The animations were created using the
rotoscope Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pr ...
technique on live-actor movements captured with the ''Flock of Birds'' on-body
motion detector A motion detector is an electrical device that utilizes a sensor to detect nearby motion (motion detection). Such a device is often integrated as a Electronic component, component of a system that automatically performs a task or Security alarm, ...
system, using an in-house pose editor named ''System for Animating Lifelike Synthetic Actors'' (''S.A.L.S.A.'') that was capable of displaying captured movement as fully rendered models in real time. Origin reportedly paid between $30,000 and $32,000 for the ''Flock of Birds'' hardware in order to save time on creating animations. SFX and music was created and composed by John Tipton.


Technical details

''BioForge'' uses a software-only 3D engine to draw polygonal objects and characters against pre-rendered backdrops with a fixed resolution of 320x200
pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s in 256 colors. Other technical details also worthy of note are: * As a character gets more and more injured in combat, wounds and
blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...
appear on the model, which will also limp or move awkwardly, indicating its overall health (effects that diminish when the player regains health). *
Laser blaster A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have various names: ray gun, dea ...
beams deflect intelligently off
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
surfaces in scenes, often bouncing multiple times before dissipating. * ''BioForge'' pioneered quaternion-based
skeletal animation Skeletal animation or rigging is a technique in computer animation in which a character (or other articulated object) is represented in two parts: a polygonal or parametric mesh representation of the surface of the object, and a hierarchical set ...
, with pose interpolation and interchangeable skeletons. This would later become a common technique in 3D computer and video games. ''BioForge'' can be run reliably in the
DOSBox DOSBox is a free and open-source MS-DOS emulator. It supports running programs primarily video games that are otherwise inaccessible since hardware for running a compatible disk operating system (DOS) is obsolete and generally unavailab ...
PC emulator as of version 0.65.


Cancelled expansion pack

A sequel (''BioForge II'') was designed and the team were working on the art when the project was halted and changed to an
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...
of the original game, ''BioForge Plus''. ''BioForge Plus'' was projected by
Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...
as an extension to the original game, which would directly continue the plot, but it was cancelled after a rushed
beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...
was completed in 10 weeks. A former Origin employee said the company was going through a "hard year" in 1995 and that job and production team cuts resulted in the cancellation of ''BioForge Plus''. A
Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' ...
blog reported that EA Mythic received a crate full of old Origin Systems archive materials, possibly containing ''BioForge Plus'' source code.


Reception


Reviews

Reviews for ''BioForge'' at its release were mixed. More positive reviews summarized it as "a game that combines outstanding atmospherics with decent gameplay", and "incredibly well-rounded". Other reviewers noted problems, but considered the game worthwhile, saying "While it isn't perfect ..it would be a mistake to ignore ''BioForge''" and "flaws aren't enough to keep ''BioForge'' from being one of the most unusual and intriguing adventures of the year". ''Edge'' described it as "an enjoyable, but ultimately uninvolving experience". Elements such as the graphics, attention to detail, and interactivity received praise while the system requirements, combat, and controls drew criticism. The game's graphics were described as "first-class", "superb", and "pretty close to top of the line". ''Next Generation'' noted that the characters "move and fight in a smooth, utterly convincing manner". System requirements were mentioned by several reviewers. ''Electronic Games'' noted that the game "devours more than 30-Meg of hard drive space to deliver a frequently clumsy combination of an RPG and one of the interactive movies which are so ''en vogue'' these days." ''Next Generation'' said "The game has some steep hardware requirements ..but the payoff is impressive".


Awards

''PC Gamer US'' nominated ''BioForge'' as its 1995 "Best Adventure Game", but it lost to '' Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity''. It was the second-place finalist for ''
Computer Game Review ''Computer Game Review'' was a print monthly magazine covering both computer gaming and video gaming. The magazine was started in 1991. Also known as ''Computer Game Review and 16-Bit Entertainment'', and then later as ''Computer Game Review and ...
''s 1995 "Role Playing Game of the Year" award, which went to '' Anvil of Dawn''. The editors wrote, " a year that held few RPGs for a starved audience, it had the guts to try role-playing in a sci-fi universe instead of one plagued with magic and dragons."


Legacy

Tim Schafer Timothy John Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games '' ...
cited ''BioForge'' as an influence on the critically acclaimed 1998 game ''
Grim Fandango ''Grim Fandango'' is a 1998 adventure game directed by Tim Schafer and developed and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered static backgro ...
'' in its approach to 3D graphics and use of tank controls. ''PC Gamer UK'' ranked ''BioForge'' at 88 in its Top 100 PC games in 2001, noting that it "pushed boundaries at the time". ''BioForge'' was included as one of the titles in the 2010 book ''
1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die ''1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die'' is a video game reference book first published in October 2010. It consists of a list of video games released between 1970 and 2013, arranged chronologically by release date. Each entry in the list ...
''. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' included ''BioForge'' in a 2014 list of the "greatest video games that time forgot" calling it a "fascinating example" among the "nightmarishly unplayable dross" of the mid-90s interactive movie genre. In 2013, director Ken Demarest reflected "BioForge was conceived from a technical perspective, and I think that if I’d given as much focus to the gameplay as the underlying technology, it might have enjoyed greater acclaim."


References


External links

* {{Origin Systems 1995 video games Action-adventure games Cyberpunk video games DOS games Games commercially released with DOSBox Origin Systems games Science fiction video games Single-player video games Video games about amnesia Video games developed in the United States Video games set in the future Video games set on fictional planets Windows games