Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting

[Dan Peach]

Hello again,

Yesterday we announced our new game "Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting". You can read all about it at the game's official site:

www.coldwinterwaiting.com

...but I will post the press release text here for convenience. You should definitely check out the site though. I would if I were you.

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About "Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting"
Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting is a dark, shocking, uncompromising, and fear charged horror adventure game, that casts the player in the role of Sheriff Alex Truman as he attempts to break the monotony of life by piecing together the history and origins of a disturbed and unidentified car crash victim.

Set entirely underneath an idyllic country farmhouse, in the deserted and claustrophobic confines of a mysterious and secret underground complex, players will explore a place nobody knew existed, and uncover a twisted past that gets more and more terrifying with every corner turned, every door opened, and every note read.

What happened beneath Cold Winter Farm? What does it have to do with the stranger, who survived a terrible crash, only to sit and mutter the farm's name? And if the place is supposed to be deserted, what do you keep seeing out of the corner of your eye?

Backed by atmospheric pre-rendered 3D scenes, and a chilling yet beautiful score, Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting weaves a tangled and brutal tale of love, revenge, jealousy, and bitter rivalry to create a horror experience that will bring new meaning to the concepts of hope and trust, and leave you questioning whether what you know, is really what you know!

Key Features:
- A vast and detailed storyline
- Engaging and realistic characters
- Puzzles integrated logically into the story
- A large and exciting location with many secrets
- 1st person style interface and control system
- 1024 x 768 screen resolution
- Detailed and atmospheric pre-rendered 3D backgrounds
- An original and emotive score

Production on Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting has been underway for more than six months, and the projected release date is August 2008.

For more information visit the official site at: www.coldwinterwaiting.com


The Storyline
Deacon Oaks is a small and quiet town, where nothing bad ever happens. Sheriff Alex Truman has a peaceful life dealing with lost dogs, trivial disputes, and a few drunks here and there. He should be the happiest lawman in the world. But there's just one small part of him that longs for some excitement, for something that would break the monotony he doesn't even realise is eating him alive.

One cold November night it seems his unspoken wishes may have been granted when he's involved in a car accident with a man who appears suddenly in the middle of the road. Alex is fine, but the man ends up in hospital with a broken leg, and several cracked ribs. Nobody knows who this guy is or where he has come from, and to make matters worse, he won't speak. Finally the town has its first real mystery, and Alex is overjoyed. But that joy is to be short lived.

With no way of finding out the man's identity, he's moved to the local state mental health facility, and life in Deacon Oaks goes back to normal, until two months later when Alex gets a call informing him that the "road guy" has at last spoken. Three words were all he would say - "Cold Winter Farm, Cold Winter Farm, Cold Winter Farm", over and over again.

Alex has no idea what it means, but he does know that Cold Winter Farm is on the edge of town, and that's good enough. The mystery is back, and Alex wants to get to the bottom of it right away. Problem is, the biggest storm in fifty years is heading towards town - he'll never make it out to the farm and back before the storm hits. But Alex doesn't care - something deep inside is driving him - he has to know who the "road guy" is, and he has to know now. Abandoning all rational thought and ignoring the warnings of his deputy, he grabs the keys to the 4x4 and heads out.

Ten minutes after he arrives at the farm, the storm is so out of control, that it uproots a tree, which falls onto the house, crushing the roof, and trapping him in the basement. That's not all though. The fallen tree has opened up a hidden doorway, which leads to a secret corridor. At the end of the corridor is an elevator, and the only place it can go is down. With no chance of being rescued until the next day, and with the overpowering need to find answers drowning out the fear he feels, Alex decides to take the elevator down.

But what will be waiting for him at the bottom? Will it explain the origins and identity of the "road guy"? Will it explain why the "road guy" was walking in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the freezing winter? Will it explain why he wouldn't speak for two months? And if it does, will the answers be simple, or will they be ultimately more disturbing and terrifying than anyone could imagine?
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[Noone]

Hi Dan.
Can you tell a bit more about the game? Will the story of Corrosion be told mainly through reading dairies, papers etc?

[Dan Peach]

Hey,

Alex Truman is a cop, so basically he's conducting an investigation into the identity of this mysterious stranger who arrived in town. The stranger was involved in a car crash, and he only began to speak two months after the crash, and all he would say was "Cold Winter Farm" over and over again.

So, the stranger has some connection to Cold Winter Farm, but Alex doesn't know what that connection is. But he's determined to find out. He's bored of having nothing to do in the peaceful and quiet town of Deacon Oaks. This stranger has provided him with a real mystery at last.

The story is told through diaries, notes, letters, AND by talking to people outside the underground complex on your cell phone. Since Alex is conducting an investigation, he uses his phone to call people on the outside to get information, he calls his deputy to do some extra investigation that he can't do being trapped beneath the farm by the snowstorm, and when he finds phone numbers, he can call them to see how the people on the other end are connected to the mystery.

[Noone]

Will we be playing only as sheriff Truman through the whole game or will we have a chance to play for his deputy, for example, who'll be interviewing other persons or searching for some clues in the city?

(off-topic: yep, I've read it on your forum, that it is your own character, but every time I write sheriff Truman, I can't keep remebering sheriff Gary Truman from Twin Peaks)

[Dan Peach]

Yes you'll play only as the Sheriff. He will be doing some interviews of his own though over the phone. And his deputy won't always be available because he has to go out and help people suring the storm.

Haha - I'm a little ashamed to admit I have never seen ANY episodes of Twin Peaks, so I wasn't even aware of that Sheriff Truman.

[Noone]

Don't worry, in theory, it is not so hard to find this TV Series on DVD. If you like David Lynch's films you may search for it in your DVD store.

Lets return to the game. Will there be many mechanical puzzles in this game (i.e. different multi-pin locks operated by several buttons, sliders etc)?

[Dan Peach]

No there aren't any puzzles exactly like that. Most of the puzzles are inventory based i.e. make use of whatever you have around you to achieve your objective.

There's a torn note puzzle though. ;D I have to admit, I ALWAYS like the "putting the torn note back together" puzzle - I never get bored of it.

[Noone]

Is this game just one more game about cthulhu and such kind of things? :-) Will it be about paranormal things or is it realistic one?

[Dan Peach]

No, it's definitely NOT about cthulhu. ;D

It's about all kinds of things - scary things - who knows exactly what was going on under the farm? That's what YOU (and the Sheriff) have to find out.

[Noone]

How long the game would be? A one-evening thing or much longer?

[Dan Peach]

Well it's a full game, and as I said the demo has about an hour's worth of gameplay in it, and that's only a small section of the full game, so I estimate at least 15 hours total for a normal adventure player.

[Noone]

How are you planning to distribute your game? Self publishing? Online distribution through gaming portals? Through game stores?

[Dan Peach]

Hopefully it will be published, so then it will be in stores and probably downloadable too. If not then we'll self publish it. The game will definitely be released one way or the other.

[Noone]

Nice to hear it. How many people are working on the game?

[Dan Peach]

There are about 5 people in total in all the various departments. And I rule them all. One ring to rule them all. Errr, ooops, that's from something else. ;D

[Noone]

Just browsed through the text once again. So 95-100% of the playable time we will be underground, under the farm, right? No flash backs, no outside locations? The story with that non-speaking man only in cutscene intro?

[Dan Peach]

The entire playable game is underground. You have to find out who the stranger is, how he relates to the farm, and what happened to him - that's the mystery, that's the game. So he is not only in the intro, because the whole game is about finding our who he is, and in doing that, you uncover a whole story to do wioth him, other people, and a whole load of other things.

[Noone]

Will we see the persons whom sheriff calls by phone or they will be only as voices over the phone?

[Dan Peach]

They will just be voices. The Sheriff has not yet got a video phone.

[Noone]

He's lucky his phone works at all underground. :-)