One look at Theory Interactive’s Reset wouldn’t be enough to convince you that it’s crowd-funded. Even if you stretch your disbelief enough, it’ll be even harder to believe that such a game has been created by a two man team. Reset takes place in a sci-fi world which sees you working cooperatively to solve puzzles. The twist is, you’ll be solving puzzles with yourself as you use the magic (or dangerous paradoxical chaotics, depending on your view) of time travel to go back to the past. Once there, you and yourself will be able to solve said puzzles. Suffice to say, there’s much more than meets the eye to Reset.
GamingBolt recently spoke writer, artist and designer Alpo Oksaharju about the game, including its mechanics, the storyline, possible next gen development and much more. What is going on in Reset? It’s still a surprise, but you may find a few clues below.
"We want the player to bring himself/herself to the character. But it’s different from your normal roleplaying game. It’s not about building an alter ego. The character is basically a clean slate, and what the player brings to it is what he is."
Pramath Parijat: First off, how in the world did the two of you manage to bring such an incredible vision to life?
Alpo Oksaharju: This particular soup has three main ingredients. A clear vision, necessary skillsets and pigheadedness.
Pramath Parijat: The story is said to be an integral part of the game. Whom is the player playing as and what is the motivation to take the story ahead?
Alpo Oksaharju: Yes that’s true. We want the player to bring himself/herself to the character. But it’s different from your normal roleplaying game. It’s not about building an alter ego. The character is basically a clean slate, and what the player brings to it is what he is. That’s the starting point for the character. And the motivation to drive the story forward is actually tied to that. It’s about finding out what happened.
Pramath Parijat: Considering the increasing budgets of blockbusters these days, what does it say about crowd-funding that you can bring something like Reset to life with a two-man team?
Alpo Oksaharju: Crowd funding is a beautiful thing in many aspects. It cuts out the unnecessary middle men. It democratizes the playing field. But most of all cool projects, big and small get realized by the people and they are not dependent on the resources of big companies.
Pramath Parijat: In Reset, players must travel back in time to assist themselves in various puzzles. Of course, with all these timelines co-existing at once, time travel logic dictates that events change drastically going forward. Will this factor into Reset’s direction or is there something sinister afoot?
Alpo Oksaharju: Yes this aspect of time travel has a role in Reset.
Pramath Parijat: Reset is currently planned to arrive on Linux, OS X, PC and SteamOS, with particular focus on the PC version. There’s also been talk of Xbox One and PS4 versions and while that isn’t on the cards now, how long do you think it will take before those become a priority?
Alpo Oksaharju: Well actually the first platform will be a Windows PC. Every other platform is still speculative. Releasing on next gen consoles would be nice, but currently the PC version is the only one we’re working on.
Pramath Parijat: If you ever decide to bring the game on the PS4 and Xbox One, what hardware do you think will be able to replicate the technicalities of Reset better?
Alpo Oksaharju: Hard to say at this point. We’ll see when/if we get there.
" Reset is a pure PC game from the ground up. There will be a limit to we’re willing to downscale to fit a platform. Since we are just a small team, we have no huge need to try to fit the game to every possible platform."
Pramath Parijat: What can you tell us about the puzzles in the game? How will they test the player?
Alpo Oksaharju: The puzzles require the player to think about time laterally and use imagination. It’s about planning out the sequence of events but also acting out accordingly.
Pramath Parijat: Reset describes itself as an open world mystery game. How big of a world it is and what kind of mysteries will it have?
Alpo Oksaharju: The game world is an island about 16 square kilometers. And the mystery is something you will find out once you get to play the game.
Pramath Parijat: In terms of visual performance, Reset will look to take full advantage of PC hardware but will it be easily scalable for lesser systems to run?
Alpo Oksaharju: Not easily. Reset is a pure PC game from the ground up. There will be a limit to we’re willing to downscale to fit a platform. Since we are just a small team, we have no huge need to try to fit the game to every possible platform. We’ve chosen our main platform, and we’re committed to embracing it to the fullest. Like every good PC game does, there will be enough settings to tweak.
Pramath Parijat: Considering SteamOS and Oculus Rift haven’t been released in the market – their market potential thus being untested – what motivated you to optimize Reset for both? Especially concerning Oculus Rift, how do you believe it will change the way we can play the game?
Alpo Oksaharju: Steam OS is still speculative, like every other platform, other than Windows PC. Oculus Rift is a very exciting and cool technology, and Reset is a perfect game to use it. Immersion is one of our focus points and the Rift takes it to a new level.
Pramath Parijat: What can you tell us about your proprietary tech called Praxis? How did you go about developing the technology, especially considering your resources, and how did you manage to successfully incorporate the latest API support and visual features such as True HDR Rendering, volumetric lighting, etc.?
Alpo Oksaharju: Mikko has over 10 years of experience in research and development of high tech engine stuff. Using that experience is wise. Having our own tech allows us to focus only on aspects that are relevant to the game. So everything we don’t need is left out. Knowing and affecting what’s happening under the hood gives us a nice degree of freedom.