''Prominence'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

point and click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermed ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

developed by Digital Media Workshop, an

independent video game developer An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...

located in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Gameplay involves puzzle-solving, character arcs, and a story of hope and humanity in the traditions of

stories. In August 2013 a demo version was released for review. On January 21, 2014, the game was

Greenlit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the project ...

on the

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

distribution platform. On July 22, 2015, it was announced that the developers had begun to publish a prologue on the Internet. Each week, a new episodic chapter was published online providing more information about the background of the characters, the game world and the colonizing mission. The full game was released on November 6, 2015.

Story

After living for generations as persecuted

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

, the Letarri people set their sights on a far-off planet as a promising new home. But when the interstellar mission to colonize the new world goes terribly awry, the fate of their people falls into the hands of a lone adventurer. It's up to the player to unravel the mystery of what happened. The game's title refers to the natural

phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

of a

solar prominence In solar physics, a prominence, sometimes referred to as a filament, is a large Plasma (physics), plasma and magnetic field structure extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface ...

Gameplay

The game is a first-person

similar to the ''

Myst ''Myst'' is a 1993 adventure video game developed by Cyan and published by Broderbund for Mac OS. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the ...

'' and ''

Riven ''Riven: The Sequel to Myst'' is a 1997 adventure game developed by Cyan Productions and published by Red Orb Entertainment. The second installment of the ''Myst'' series, ''Riven'' was released for Mac and Windows personal computers on Oc ...

'' series with a

interface in neo futuristic and industrial game settings. The player may also pan around a location by clicking and dragging the mouse. Clicking the mouse to go in a certain direction results in a transition video showing the player's movement. Some puzzles come in the form of a

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...

text-based In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...

computer interface or 2D GUI puzzles.

Development

The first story treatment was written in January 2006. Originally they used a modified

Nucleosys Nucleosys was a video game developer based in Argentina specializing in the adventure genre. History The company was founded in 2003 by Agustin Cordes and Alejandro Graziani. The studio' s first release was Scratches in 2006. After this rel ...

SCream engine; formerly used for the

horror

, ''Scratches''. In 2009 they developed an in-house

proprietary {{Short pages monitor