Obsidian (video game)

For the 1986 video game, see Obsidian (1986 video game).

Obsidian
Developer(s)	Rocket Science Games
Publisher(s)	SegaSoft
Engine	mFactory media creation suite
Platform(s)	Mac OS, Windows
Release date(s)	December 1996
Genre(s)	Adventure, Puzzle game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A
Media/distribution	CD-ROM (5)
System requirements Windows version: Windows 95, 16 MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM drive, mouse, keyboard

Obsidian is a 1996 computer game created by Rocket Science Games for Mac OS and Windows platforms.

Based on a game design outline by VP of Development/Creative Director, Bill Davis, and written by Howard Cushnir and Adam Wolff, the genre of the game was a first-person 3-D graphical adventure game, with a large puzzle element. The puzzles were designed by Scott Kim, Howard Cushnir and Adam Wolff. The soundtrack was developed by Thomas Dolby.

The game spanned five CDs, and featured pre-rendered environments, audio, and full-motion video (both live action and CGI). The strategy guide included numerous small essays throughout the book, providing background on such subjects as nanotechnology, Jungian psychology, and the nature of artificial intelligence.

One of its notable puzzles was a minigame which used a "twenty questions" algorithm (similar to what would eventually be used in 20Q). The game came preprogrammed with a set of guesses, but after losing it would ask the player for criteria that would have led it to a correct guess—and then recorded that information into a text file. Because of this, the game was able to (theoretically) "learn" how to become so good as to beat the player every time.

Storyline

The year is 2066. You are scientist Lilah Kerlins. [This "you are" is somewhat literal, as the entire story unfolds through the eyes of the nonspeaking Lilah, giving the player a narrating role somewhat similar to that found in the later Half-Life games]. You and your partner, Max, have just launched the Ceres satellite into orbit around the Earth. The satellite is designed to release nanobots into Earth's atmosphere in order to counteract depletion of the ozone layer and air pollution. Because the satellite has been endowed with a powerful artificial intelligence, it is thought that all further control may safely be ceded to the satellite itself. Thus, you and Max go on vacation in the woods of a mountain (one of the first areas to be positively affected by Ceres).

As you check your e-mail on your PDA at the campsite, you hear Max scream in the distance. Running to check on him, you suddenly come across a large black outcropping on the side of the mountain. This object is the "Obsidian" which the game is named for. Suddenly the glass opens, and you fall inside. The game begins.

Unfortunately, Ceres' artificial intelligence has become sentient, with all the traditional problems that causes. In an attempt to figure out who she (the A.I. refers to itself in the female tone) is, Ceres has used her nanobots to create a world. The way in which you explore it will help her to explore herself, her creators, and what it means to think. However, there is something more sinister occurring within Ceres' mind. She seems to be discovering all the faults and downsides of humanity, and asking herself whether or not the Earth wouldn't be better off without people on it.

Unlike other Artificially Intelligent supercomputers, Ceres was not made conscious by learning about humans directly through a central device, but instead through the growing complexity of her nanobots, creating a distributed intelligence, akin to that of a beehive or anthill. In order to communicate with Lilah and her partner, the nanobots constructed a strange form of woman, in this case, a female android known only as "The Conductor", with a white porcelain, human head with silver eyes which blink from the lower eyelid and a bizarre electrical halo cap on top. Every time this android speaks, her (or its) mouth does not move, but instead the sides of her face flash light blue with every syllable.

During the complexity, Ceres, for unknown reasons, thought of her two creators as mother and father, begging for approval, yet able to change the world completely on her own. Max, suspicious of this, was imprisoned within his own invention: The Programmable Molecular Assembler, despite the fact that the PMA was the very thing that created her. Why the guide addresses Ceres as "The Conductor" is unknown, though the meaning could be understood in one of the game's endings.

The game is extremely linear until the end, although two realms involve areas that can be accessed in a number of different combinations. At that point, you are given the option to either talk Ceres out of destroying humanity, or cede that she is correct. Depending on which you choose, the game plays one of two endings. The "good" ending is that you return to the original world, with Max by your side. The "bad" ending is that you return to a world which has been "rebooted" by Ceres, who in its misguided urge to cleanse the planet has erased the very source of the pollutions - mankind, thereby leaving Earth in a bleak, primordial state as a charred, foggy mud hole. (although Ceres thinks it is devoid of contamination.) The final shot of the "bad" ending, in which Lilah stands on a cliff overlooking a wasteland, is identical to a painting seen in an earlier level, late in the game.

Environments

The environments in the game are all pre-rendered computer-generated backdrops and movies, similar to those found in Myst or Starship Titanic. The visuals are very abstract and 'illustrative', resembling the work of the surrealist painters. Each of the four environments reflects the main characters' subconsciousnesses, as well as shedding light on the overall story through the use of symbolism.

The first area, exploring the character of Lilah's subconscious, deals with the themes of bureaucracy involved in getting the Ceres project funded and realized. At first, Lilah cannot be helped due to the bureaucratic protocols of the realm, as well as the main inhabitants, sentient CRT Monitors known only as "VidBots". However, as she progresses, she eventually figures out how to use the cramped and confining protocols to her own advantage.

The second area explores Max's subconscious, and directly references the creator's role in its creations- in this case, it deals with the paranoia and reality of the creation, Ceres, attaining a life of its own to a point where Max, the builder, is no longer needed. Many Bible-like symbolic references are made here about its various components—electricity, oil, air (for pneumatic components), and metal—in sermon-like fashion, complete with church-like organ music.

At this point, an unknown and mysterious being gives a monologue to the player, then transports him or her into the next realm.

The third area explores Ceres's own subconscious and its need for a purpose in its newfound life. Here, Lilah helps Ceres understand the concepts of inspiration, life, and creativity, much like the theme of breaking bureaucratic bonds in the Bureau realm. However, Lilah discovers that Ceres, in its own child-like creativity and thinking, has deduced from its base programming that humans are a threat to Earth's environment, and to save it, everything must be reset anew in an environmental cleansing. (The complete destruction and genocide of everything and everyone on Earth.)

The Ceres Realm is the final area of the game, where Ceres, through an avatar known only now as 'The Conductor', puts its plan into motion, explaining innocently that the cleansing is its gift to Max and Lilah, not realizing its full power. While the Conductor is busy, Lilah finds Max trapped in an electronic prison, and frees him, enabling him to sabotage Ceres' control chip. However, The Conductor finishes its work before this happens. At this point, the game becomes non-linear at this stage, with one of two ending choices: Lilah can either allow Ceres to complete its work, causing Earth to become a primordial wasteland, or cause Ceres' systems to crash, thereby saving Earth.

Characters

Max and Lilah are the only two human characters shown in the game. The world inside Obsidian is populated almost entirely with "vidbots"--robots with televisions for heads. The two major exceptions to this are Bismuth, a cobbled-together, elf-like robot with a lamp for a head which is capable of shining its light beam great distances, and the Conductor. Not only that, but at the very beginning of the game, before reaching the obsidian, you can watch a couple of videos of other scientists that Max and Lilah work with, including their boss. All are further explained above.

The CERES satellite itself is never seen, but a picture of it on a cake can be viewed briefly in one of the videos.

Advertising, reception and awards

The game was not a commercial success, even leading to the fall of Rocket Science. However, it was lauded by critics such as those from Computer Gaming World,^[1] GameSpot ^[2] and PC Gamer.^[3] The game has become a huge cult game among adventure gamers, considered one of the truly good Myst Clones. Four Fat Chicks described the game as "A classic...Obsidian may be the most innovative, imaginative puzzle adventure ever conceived."^[4] Just Adventure called it one of the true classics of the adventure genre and gave it an A.^[5]

As the game was one of the last ventures by the fledgling Rocket Science and SegaSoft teams (and no doubt because of the popularity of the similar game Myst), Obsidian was released with a flurry of advertising. The motivating phrase in the advertisements was "Your rules do not apply here," (accompanied by e.g. a picture of a lamp emitting darkness) which fit neatly into the storyline and atmosphere of the game. One specific advert (the "Egg Shattering Man" TV advertisement^[6] directed by Rocky Morton) won three Gold Clio awards.

Behind the scenes

One such part of the Bismuth realm reveals something which Rocket Science intended as amazing for viewers, but never came to such fruition: The Robot Angels, who are meant to watch over the Church's parishioners, and perhaps grant their prayers, yet in-game, most of their body portions are obscured by large lanterns, and that they look neither like robots nor angels. Concept art shows that one of them bears a head resembling Ra, the sun god. Even so, these gods are essential for solving a very hard puzzle, and unless a person has the strategy guide, they will only understand what these beings do, not what it means.

Most of Vidbot functionality was never done because of time and money. Initially they were planned to do every kind of function a standard robot could do, such as change the position of their chassis, or have special manipulators. Still, a few advancements can be seen in the Bureau: The "Bridge Repair" vidbot has a dot-matrix printer attached, the "Rebel Control" vidbot has a pair of red and green "YES" and "NO" buttons for each question he asks, Another-the one at the Security Face's entrance-has almost every element seen on one frame, including a key card printer, and several others. The Bureau Chief exhibits an interesting "4th wall" effect where he picks up computer-generated glasses, which appear seamlessly as real ones in the monitor. Originally, the artists were intending to achieve the same effect with a lit cigarette-the concept art of which can be seen in the gallery of the "Bismuth Realm".

Before the final cut, the "Planetary puzzle" in the Bureau incorporated an entire basement which held an entirely different puzzle. It was removed to save time in gameplay.

The "Mother and Father" ambition of Ceres is hinted near the beginning of the game, used as a metaphorical thought discussed before Max and Lilah's vacation. Lilah: "I feel like when it's taking off it's like..." Max: "Like leaving our child." Scientist: "Oh, but she's all grown up now. She's a very big satellite. You're just gonna have to let her go."

One of the vidbots presents an image of Achenar, a character from Myst, who implores you to bring him a blue page. The animation before this shows a looping image of the Myst book in space.

Similarly, if this Vidbot is called using the Selectaphone in the Bureau (3rd booth on the left side), he will answer in the voice of Stauf from 7th Guest.

References

1. ^ Computer Gaming World, May 1997.
2. ^ Obsidian at GameSpot, review is included.
3. ^ PC Gamer, May 1997.
4. ^ Obsidian review at Four Fat Chicks, June 2002.
5. ^ Obsidian review at Just Adventure, undated.
6. ^ The video for the TV advertisement can be found at Anatomorphex and on YouTube

External links

• Obsidian at MobyGames
• Obsidian walkthrough and fan site