Which games, books, movies or documentaries inspired our team when creating Aquanox Deep Descent
Various people get inspired by different things. A lot of shows, games, books and movies inspired members of the Digital Arrow team when creating various aspects of Aquanox Deep Descent. Since there are so many, we will try to focus on those few key ones that probably made the biggest impact.
To kick it off, we’ve all played the original games in the series. This includes Archimedean Dynasty (AD) / Schleichfahrt, Aquanox 1 and Aquanox 2 Revelation of course. There has always been much debate among the fans of the series about which of the games is the best, and this is no different within Digital Arrow. Some of us prefer AD, some Aquanox 1, and other like certain aspects of Aquanox 2 Revelation.
The old games in the series were the starting point when creating the core design of the reboot. We’ve spent many hours with these games back in the day, and we have revisited the world of Aqua multiple times before going into brainstorming for the new game.
When I first played the original games, be that Schleichfahrt or AquaNox 1 or 2, I was amazed with the atmosphere, the suspense of being helpless, the combat and so many other things about them. I remember the game just pulled me in, and I was lost for hours in the world of Aqua. (Norbert)
Another interesting game that inspired us, when working on various things for the game world and its more open-world approach, is perhaps Freelancer, since we plan to have a larger world that the player can explore. That game was one of our favorites back in the day as well, and some of us still play it from time to time even today.
Freelancer worldmap [source]
Beyond the games, we have also had great inspiration from various movies, TV shows and Documentaries. Notable ones are James Cameron’s films for the Deep Sea Challenge, or the documentary “Creatures of the Deep Ocean” . Movies include the amazing “The Abyss” for its powerful depiction of the “unknown below”, or the movie “Das Boot“, for creating an atmosphere with insane amounts of tension. Both movies show off life underwater, and they played a role in inspiring us for designing various things, such as the bases, and some of the actual gameplay experience as well.
The Abyss [source]
Beyond all these however, our project lead Norbert has been a huge diving and underwater world enthusiast. He has spent many years reading up and studying the underwater world, and big part of his interest involves ocean exploration. We experimented a lot with various underwater things, including packing a bunch of weight on us to feel how turning feels underwater, doing various wreck dives and more. It has been an interesting experience, and certainly something that will improve upon the design of the game.
Has any of You perhaps experienced Diving? Or perhaps had the chance to sit inside a submersible vehicle? Share your experience with us, we are eager to hear about it!
And meet other underwater enthusiast on our Kickstarter-page!
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