The Meaning of Beyond Equilibrium

Hello readers! Last week we talked a lot about the game itself, but only briefly touched on the enemies, characters, and setting. Today, we fix that.

So why “Beyond Equilibrium”? Well, besides being an awesome title, it’s also the name of the intergalactic cruise ship the game is on. The name itself, while normally is in relation to kinematics or thermodynamics, in this case refers to the balance of the ship, always being in turmoil through the game. The Beyond Equilibrium is one of the first ships and the largest to ever take passengers to Earth’s first colony, Eden. The game takes places several decades after the initial voyages began, and since, riots, revolts, and danger, all thought to be contained to Earth has since manifested itself throughout the colonies.

So, if the game takes place on board some space ship, why have we seen pictures of zombies and robots? Well, first of all, they’re not – technically – zombies. They’re called gassers. Gassers are the unfortunate byproduct of the limitations of technology and sending parts of intergalactic ships to be mass produced by the lowest bidder.

The ship is meant to hold thousands of people, but thousands of people need a lot of oxygen to sustain them for the trip to another planet. Initially the ship was meant to have thousands of plants on board, but posed a slight problem, and actually could have caused over-oxygenation of the passengers and crew. The builders figured no one would like to take a cruise in a greenhouse, so they modeled the ship to have what we call “oxygen scrubbers”. The scrubbers are used to take the air that’s passed through the human respiratory system, and recycle it to be used again, giving an endless supply of earth-like air. The result is a nasty chemical that directly affects the nervous system, slowing down immune response, slowing heart rate, breathing, all while the patient is suffering memory loss. The patient eventually reverts to an animalistic state, just consuming until they die, often due to total organ failure, about twenty four hours after initial exposure. Brain scans show that even though the “soul” of the patient is dead by the time the body dies, the patient’s brain continues to recycle through memories, forcing them to relive their lives over and over again until they die.

It is truly a gruesome way to die, and that’s why you’ll see that the Spera – the main character – actually has a gas mask. It plays an integral part in gameplay, as you’ll see in the prototype we’re releasing on the fifteenth. Spera will be affected by the gas in the game, but we’re not going to talk too much more about her right now. All you need to know is that happened to be one of the (un)lucky ones to leave a dying Earth, and has to rely on herself, the captain of the ship, and someone that saved her life.

That doesn’t explain the droids though. The main idea behind them was to have a single AI program to help run the ship. The AI program will help keep the engine running, security cameras and forces working, and keeping the server and room service droids in line. While there are a few types of droids, they won’t be featured in the prototype.

We really hope that you enjoy the prototype and can’t wait to show what we’ve been working on for months now. Until next time!

Signing off,

Noah Stavish – Creative Director