NEO Scavenger

Last updated
NEO Scavenger
NEO Scavenger screenshot 02.png
Developer(s) Blue Bottle Games
Publisher(s) Blue Bottle Games
Designer(s) Daniel Fedor
Composer(s) Josh Culler
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS
Release
  • WW: 15 December 2014
Genre(s) Role-playing, roguelike
Mode(s) Single-player

NEO Scavenger is a survival role-playing video game developed by Blue Bottle Games. The studio is led by Daniel Fedor, a former BioWare employee. In the game, the player controls a character that awakes in a cryonics laboratory in a ruined, post-apocalyptic world. The immediate objective of the game is to keep the character alive by finding food, clothing, and shelter, and caring for any illnesses that may befall him. Ruined towns can be scavenged for supplies, but doing so may draw the attention of nearby looters and raiders. Fighting for survival includes fending off attackers, and other beasts that may be hiding in the wastes. The developer had initially released a free browser-based demo, and tiered purchase options were available to access the beta and pre-order the final game. As of the final release in 15 December 2014, the demo and beta versions can no longer be accessed.

Contents

Plot

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world. [1] In the game, Philip Kindred awakes from a cryosleep pod in a cryogenics lab, wearing nothing but a surgical smock, and with a hungry creature hiding nearby. [1] [2] [3]

Gameplay

The main world for the game. Players can scavenge towns and kill enemy bandits to fight for survival in the wasteland. NEO Scavenger screenshot 02.png
The main world for the game. Players can scavenge towns and kill enemy bandits to fight for survival in the wasteland.

NEO Scavenger is a post-apocalyptic outdoor survival simulation. [1] The player controls a character through a series of turns (each turn equals an in-game hour) played on an isometric map divided into hexagonal tiles. [1] During each turn, the character has a certain number of "moves". Each move makes the character hungrier, thirstier and more tired. [1] The objective of the game is to ensure the character's survival. [1] This requires that the player scavenge supplies from ruined settlements in the area. [1] Scavenging can be risky as it may alert nearby looters and raiders to the player's activities, [1] but it is necessary if the player wishes to survive in the wasteland; [1] clothes, weapons, food, and tools quickly become a necessity for the wandering player. [1] Recipes are available which require the player to gather certain items and combine them together to create other items. [4]

The player can suffer from a variety of illnesses including hypothermia, diarrhea, dehydration, and malnutrition. [1] Left untreated, the character could die. [1] Illnesses can be treated or avoided by using certain items in the game. [1] For example, to ward against hypothermia, the player should quickly obtain a pair of pants. [1]

PC Gamer's Tom Sykes said of the game, "Compared to other post-apocalyptic RPGs, NEO Scavenger feels like the real deal, with a central character who lives the harsh life of a wastelander rather than simply borrowing the aesthetic." [1]

Development

After leaving his job of seven years at BioWare, Daniel Fedor founded Blue Bottle Games and began working on his first independent project, NEO Scavenger. [1] The game is inspired by other games he played as a child, particularly tabletop role-playing games including Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Rifts, and Shadowrun: "I loved the creative problem solving, character creation, exploration, and later, character development and interaction." [1]

PC Gamer's Tom Sykes compared the game to DayZ but without zombies and with a solitary player. [1] The game uses elements from roguelikes, adventure games, and role-playing games. [1] The developer tried to reduce the dependence on guns which typify the post-apocalyptic genre. [1] Although players need to fend off attacking monsters, situations in the game such as hypothermia or dehydration also require the player's immediate attention. [1]

Early versions of the game used a simple combat system that consisted of repeatedly clicking basic options such as "Use axe on looter" until either the looter or the player's character ran out of hit points. [5] This system was replaced with a significantly more complex system that allows for actions such as grabbing an attacker's legs to pull them to the ground if you are already down. [5] The winner of the fight is no longer based on hit points but on blood loss, shock, and other realistic causes. [5] The AI also received updates prior to a preview in July 2012: mutant creatures still act aggressively, but humans are less likely to risk themselves in a fight if the player character has nothing of value to take. [5]

Along with a free browser demo of the game, [4] the developer sold pre-orders that include beta access to raise funds to finish development. [1] The game was created using a number of different free programming libraries and tools: Flixel, FlashDevelop, TortoiseSVN, MySQL, Audacity, and Chevy Ray's AssetBatcher. [6] The game was entered in the 2013 Independent Games Festival competition. [7] The game was part of a Humble Bundle Weekly sale featuring games developed using Open Source tools. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Age of Decadence</i> 2015 video game

The Age of Decadence is a role-playing video game for Microsoft Windows developed by Iron Tower Studio, led by the pseudonymous "Vince D. Weller". Set in a low-magic, post-apocalyptic world inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire, the game aims to return to the 'golden era' of role-playing games by emphasizing choices and consequences and providing multiple solutions to quests.

<i>Alien Earth</i> 1998 video game

Alien Earth is an isometric pseudo-3D action-adventure game with role-playing elements. It was released for Windows. It was developed by Krome Studios Melbourne, and released in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survival game</span> Video game genre

Survival games are a subgenre of action games which are often set in hostile, intense, open-world environments. Players generally start with minimal equipment and are required to survive as long as possible by finding the resources necessary to manage hunger, thirst, disease and/or mental state. Many survival games are based on randomly or procedurally generated persistent environments; more recently, survival games are often playable online, allowing players to interact in a single world. Survival games are generally open-ended with no set goals and often closely related to the survival horror genre, where the player must survive within a supernatural setting, such as a zombie apocalypse.

Project V13 is a role-playing video game under development by the resurrected Black Isle Studios. The game is the successor to the cancelled Interplay Entertainment Fallout Online project. The game is reliant on the Black Isle Mayan Apocalypse Replacement Program, an InvestedIn powered system similar to the crowd funding website Kickstarter.

<i>Dead Frontier</i> 2008 video game

Dead Frontier is a free-to-play, browser-based survival horror game which takes place in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested setting. It is operated by Creaky Corpse Ltd. Dead Frontier was released for open beta on April 21, 2008, and has over ten million registered accounts.

<i>Dead State</i> 2014 video game

Dead State is a turn-based survival horror role-playing video game developed by DoubleBear Productions and Iron Tower Studio set in a zombie apocalypse scenario. Players are tasked with leading a group of survivors living in a shelter in the fictional town of Splendid, Texas. Dead State was released in December 2014 after having been in Early Access since spring of that year. DoubleBear Productions continued to work on the title and in May 2015 released an "enhanced edition" which changed the name to Dead State: Reanimated.

<i>World of the Living Dead</i> 2014 video game

World of the Living Dead(WoTLD) : Resurrection was a real-time zombie survival strategy browser game developed using OpenStreetMap to provide the underlying game world, with in-depth gameplay features to make a browser-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game accessible on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

<i>Project Zomboid</i> Open world survival horror game

Project Zomboid is an open-world, isometric video game developed by British and Canadian independent developer The Indie Stone. The game is set in the post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested exclusion zone of the fictional Knox Country, Kentucky, United States, where the player is challenged to survive for as long as possible before inevitably dying. It was one of the first five games released on the alpha funding section of the gaming portal Desura.

<i>Realm of the Mad God</i> Massively multiplayer online video game

Realm of the Mad God is a massively multiplayer online shoot 'em up video game created by Wild Shadow Studios and currently owned and developed by DECA Games. It was in public beta from January 2010 and the browser version launched on June 20, 2011. On February 20, 2012 the game was made available on the digital distribution platform Steam for Microsoft Windows and OS X.

<i>Family Guy Online</i> 2012 video game

Family Guy Online was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the animated television series Family Guy. Developed in partnership between Canadian studios Roadhouse Interactive, A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games and 20th Century Fox, Family Guy Online was a free-to-play game that used the Unity game engine. The game originally launched into public beta on April 17, 2012. On December 21, 2012 the developers announced that the game would not be developed beyond beta status and service was permanently terminated on January 18, 2013.

<i>Fortnite: Save the World</i> Co-op sandbox survival game developed by Epic Games

Fortnite: Save the World is a cooperative hybrid-third-person looter shooter tower defense sandbox survival video game developed and published by Epic Games, part of the game Fortnite. The game was released as a paid-for early access title for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on July 25, 2017, with plans for a full free-to-play release announced in late 2018. Epic eventually opted to move the game to pay-to-play in June 2020. The retail versions of the game were published by Gearbox Software, while online distribution of the PC versions is handled by Epic's launcher.

<i>Starbound</i> 2016 video game

Starbound is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Chucklefish. Starbound takes place in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated universe which the player is able to explore in order to obtain new weapons, armor, and items, and to visit towns and villages inhabited by various intelligent lifeforms. Starbound was released out of early access in July 2016 for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and for Windows via Xbox Game Pass in December 2020.

Infestation: Survivor Stories was an open world zombie video game developed by Hammerpoint Interactive and published by OP Productions. Infestation: Survivor Stories features both first-person and third-person shooting perspectives. The game offers players the option of killing zombies or playing against other users (PvP).

<i>Drakensang Online</i> 2011 video game

Drakensang Online is a freemium online role-playing video game developed and published by Bigpoint for Microsoft Windows and macOS. The title was in an open beta phase from August 2011 to July 2012. A retail version was released in November 2011.

Rust is a multiplayer survival video game developed by Facepunch Studios. It was first released in early access in December 2013 and received its full release in February 2018. Rust is available on Windows and macOS. Console versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One developed in conjunction with Double Eleven were released in May 2021. Rust was initially created as a clone of DayZ, a popular mod for ARMA 2, with crafting elements akin to those in Minecraft.

<i>The Forest</i> (video game) 2018 first-person survival horror video game

The Forest is a survival horror video game developed and published by Endnight Games. The game takes place on a remote heavily forested peninsula, where the player character Eric LeBlanc must fight off cannibalistic monsters, while searching for his son Timmy after a plane crash. The game features nonlinear gameplay in an open world environment played from a first-person perspective, with no set missions or quests, empowering the player to make their own decisions for survival. Following a four-year long early access beta phase releasing in 2014, the finished game was released for Windows in April 2018, and for the PlayStation 4 in November 2018. The game was a commercial success, selling over five million copies by the end of 2018. A sequel game, Sons of the Forest, was released in Early Access for Windows on February 23, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Saltsman</span> American video game designer

Adam Saltsman, also known as Adam Atomic, is an American indie video game designer best known for creating the endless runner Canabalt. He is a founder of Semi Secret Software and Finji video game studios.

<i>The Flame in the Flood</i> 2016 video game

The Flame in the Flood is a roguelike survival adventure video game developed by The Molasses Flood. The game was developed for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Xbox One. A PlayStation 4 version was released on January 17, 2017. A Nintendo Switch version was released on October 12, 2017.

<i>Escape from Tarkov</i> 2017 multiplayer first-person shooter game

Escape from Tarkov is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game in development by Battlestate Games for Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the fictional Norvinsk region in northwestern Russia, where a war is taking place between two private military companies. Players join matches called "raids" in which they fight other players and bots for loot and aim to survive and escape.

<i>Scrap Mechanic</i> 2016 video game

Scrap Mechanic is a sandbox video game developed for Windows by Swedish game studio and publisher Axolot Games, in which players can build machines, vehicles, and buildings, and share their creations online. The initial version of the game, released on January 20, 2016, was a creative mode with unlimited access to all available parts for building. On the day of its release, it was the top-selling game on Steam and is estimated to have 1–2 million sales. The survival mode update for the game, with new game mechanics including wildlife, scavenging, farming, and cooking, as well as an underwater biome, was released on May 7, 2020. It was the third-best-selling game on Steam the week after the update.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Sykes, Tom (Jan 2013). "NEO Scavenger". PC Gamer UK . No. 248. Future Publishing. p. 28.
  2. ↑ Blue Bottle Games. NEO Scavenger (0.954b ed.). Scene: Items Screen. hospital wrist strap labeled "Philip Kindred"
  3. ↑ Hollingworth, David (Mar 16, 2012). "NEO Scavenger - browser games get old-school". PC & Tech Authority. Retrieved Dec 31, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Smith, Adam (Mar 13, 2012). "Scavenging Angels: NEO Scavenger". Rock, Paper, Shotgun . Retrieved Dec 31, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Tarason, Dominic (July 28, 2012). "School Of Hard Knocks – 'Neo Scavenger' Takes Survival Seriously". Indie Game Mag. Archived from the original on May 28, 2013. Retrieved Dec 31, 2012.
  6. ↑ Blue Bottle Games. NEO Scavenger (0.954b ed.). Scene: Credits. Free Tools that made N.E.O. Scavenger possible: Flixel, FlashDevelop, TortoiseSVN, MySQL, Audacity, ChevyRay's AssetBatcher
  7. ↑ "NEO Scavenger entrant". Independent Games Festival . Retrieved Dec 31, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Humble Weekly Bundle" . Retrieved March 31, 2014.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.