Studio Trophis Production Company

The Studio Trophis Production Company, or "Studio Trophis" for short, is an independent video games development company, based in Sheffield, UK. [cite web | url = http://studiotrophis.com/site/aboutus | title = Studio Trophis About Us | work = Studio Trophis Homepage | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008] Their first game, the white chamber, a point-and-click sci-fi horror adventure, was released for the PC for free download via their website in 2005. They are currently at work on their second game, entitled For The Game.

Infobox_Company
company_name = Studio Trophis
company_
company_type = Private
company_slogan = Unknown
foundation = Sheffield, 2002
location = HQ in Sheffield, United Kingdom
key_people = Richard Perrin, Paul Johnson, Zakir Rahman, Sam Brown
num_employees = 4
industry = Video games
products = The White Chamber, For The Game, Better Than Pizza (short animation)
revenue = Unknown
homepage = [http://www.studiotrophis.com/ StudioTrophis.com]

History

Studio Trophis was initially formed by two Sheffield university students - Computer Science student "Richard Perrin" and Japanese Studies student "Paul Johnson"- in 2002, to complete a game-creation project set by Richard's university. The project grew beyond the original assignment and pair decided to release it on the internet. "Zakir Rahman" (another Japanese Studies student, studying with Paul Johnson) joined them to provide music and sound effects. This game eventually became "the white chamber", and took almost three years to complete including a one year hiatus, as each member of the team was busy with their studies and other commitments. However, in March 2005, the game was finally finished and released for free download from the Studio Trophis website. [cite web | url = http://studiotrophis.com/site/aboutus | title = Studio Trophis About Us | work = Studio Trophis Homepage | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008]

As of May 2006 the game has been downloaded over 100,000 times and has featured on many magazines across the world (including the UK's best-selling "SFX magazine" and The New York Times [cite web | url = http://studiotrophis.com/site/press | title = Studio Trophis Press | work = Studio Trophis Homepage | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008] ) often appearing on cover discs.

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Studio Trophis development team: [cite web | url = http://studiotrophis.com/site/aboutus | title = Studio Trophis About Us | work = Studio Trophis Homepage | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008]

Games

the white chamber

the white chamber is Studio Trophis' first game. A point-and-click adventure game with a science-fiction horror setting.

The player controls a girl who awakens in a coffin in a darkened room. She has no memory of how she got there, and opens the windows to reveal that she is in fact in space. The player must solve the puzzles and move from room to room, piecing together what happened to the crew of the station.

The first release of the game was released for free download in 2005, and featured four endings depending on the player's choices during the game. It had no voice acting, but several animated sections, including an opening and ending. The inclusion of anime sequences meant the game was over 300mb to download. The size was one of the contributing factors to the fact that it was originally available exclusively through bittorrent. In an article for PCZone Richard Perrin stated that using bittorrent allowed them to reduce their bandwidth costs greatly. Though the game is now available for direct download from the Studio Trophis site.

The game has been updated multiple times and is now at version 1.7. It features the text in nine languages, English, Czech, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Russian and voice acting in either English or German. [cite web | url = http://studiotrophis.com/site/projects/thewhitechamber | title = the white chamber | work = Studio Trophis Homepage | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008]

English voice acting was provided by Kagome and Phillip Sacramento. [cite web | url = http://studiotrophis.com/site/projects/thewhitechamber | title = the white chamber | work = Studio Trophis Homepage | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008]

The game was built using the Wintermute Engine, a middleware adventure game engine. [cite web | url = http://dead-code.org/home/index.php/games/ | title = Wintermute Engine Games | work = Dead Code | accessmonthday = September 24 | accessyear = 2008]

The Nipsy Restoration

In 2005 applied for the UK's annual Dare to be Digital game creation competition. Their entry consisted of a rough design document and an early game prototype. The team entry did not get into the final competition so full details of this project are still currently unavailable.

For The Game

For The Game is currently in production, and is marketed as a collection of games, spanning multiple genres. The games will be drawn together via an overriding storyline that is still unknown, according to the Studio Trophis website, and is set during a galactic games tournament.

The game was originally publicised as for a March 2006 as a series of 6 episodes, each released two weeks apart. The project is now described on the website as a single game and currently has no fixed release date.

Creative Commons

All of the output from Studio Trophis available from their website is available for free download and is licensed under Creative Commons. The specific license used by Studio Trophis means anyone is free to copy or distribute their work as long as Studio Trohis is credited, that it is not for commercial gain and is not used to create a derivative work.

Reception

Acclaim

"The sound is especially good. Creepy, high-quality sounds and very appropriate music; some sections are several notches above even commercial adventures in the sound department." - Francesco Poli, Videogames are only for those who deserve them, 20th April 2005.

"Grisly and intriguing, with logical puzzles and surprising plot twists, Chamber is a first-rate garage game." - "Charles Herold, New York Times, 6th May 2005."

"It's not a long game, but it makes up for that by having some nice puzzles and great cut scenes, as well as some funkly little Easter Eggs and four different endings... A great start for the Trophis team - we look forward to their next project!" - "Leah Holmes, SFX Magazine, June 2005" (#131).

"A genuinely suspenseful horror game in a marvelously drawn anime style. All in all this game is a marvelous first outing by Studio Trophis." - "Justin Peeples, The Inventory, April 2005" (#24).

Criticism

"Don't expect a masterpiece, sadly. The anime graphics fit very poorly in the atmosphere, the game is blink-it's-gone short, the plot just barely makes sense, and many animations are just high-end amatorial - with a very low point in the main character. Main character who, by the way, should be at least twice the age she is. ...this game is still not worthy of being released commercially."- "Francesco Poli, Videogames are only for those who deserve them, April 20, 2005"

Influences and in-game references

Studio Trophis productions feature many in-jokes, pop culture and gaming references. This can be seen most heavily in the mock magazine article seen in their first game the white chamber. Here is a list of some of those documented so far:

* The magazine article in the white chamber contains anime styled versions of character from the popular webcomic Penny Arcade.
* the white chamber's Commander Artemis Trend and the team's Dare To Be Digital entry The Nipsy Restoration, are both references to a character, Nipsy Trend, from a Skid Row live video.
* A Nintendo NES and Commodore 64 tape deck can be seen in the storeroom of The White Chamber, next to the mock magazine article. If the player attempts to use the NES (called an MES in the game), the character becomes trapped in a lo-res, 8-bit version of the game.
* The musical band advertied in the white chamber, The Helmeted Impostors (seen in the mock magazine article), are a reference to the character Jagi from the Japanese anime Fist of the North Star. The Helmeted Impostors look almost identical to Jagi, and their song "Say my name!" is Jagi's catchphrase ("Ore no na wo itte miro" in Japanese).
* The horror in the white chamber is heavily influenced by the game series, Silent Hill by Konami and the movie Event Horizon. A direct quote from Event Horizon can be seen when the players open a sealed metal box in the game.
* A red traffic light in the TV series Twin Peaks is shown just before particularly sinister moments in the show. It appears in the white chamber during the corridor sequence as a Twin Peaks reference.
* Dr Salt, a soft drink seen in the white chamber, is a reference to Dr Pepper.
* In the short animation, Better than Pizza, the pizza box contains the label Busey's Pizza. This is reference to the Hollywood actor Gary Busey.
* An e-mail described as a spam message promoting a concert of Nicole Ash with songs written by her fiancé, Lance Bishop, is a reference to the Avalon movie.

References

External links

* [http://www.studiotrophis.com/ Studio Trophis Website]