Winter is a Silent Hill-esque survival horror by n-Space (Call of Duty DS, Geist) for the Wii.
IGN: What is the premise behind Winter?
Ted: The basic premise revolves around an unnatural snowstorm that has settled over a small town in the Midwest, effectively closing it off from the outside world. The main character, Mia, begins the game inside a wrecked ambulance with no recollection of how she got there. As she treks off towards the small town, she starts to see signs of something monstrous that is traveling with the storm.
At first the player is tasked with simply keeping Mia alive, and this involves sheltering her from the ever decreasing temperature and the rising level of snow. We wanted to challenge the player to think, "What would I do in this situation? Where would I go to get warm? How would I start a fire or create heat with limited resources?" Soon we learn that Mia has some connection to the storm itself and the creatures that begin to appear. Meanwhile the entire town is being transformed by snow and ice - doors that were previously accessible are now blocked, forcing her to climb through second story windows or walk on rooftops. The snowstorm is as big an enemy as anything in the game and ultimately we find out what IT is and why it is here.
Ted: The basic premise revolves around an unnatural snowstorm that has settled over a small town in the Midwest, effectively closing it off from the outside world. The main character, Mia, begins the game inside a wrecked ambulance with no recollection of how she got there. As she treks off towards the small town, she starts to see signs of something monstrous that is traveling with the storm.
At first the player is tasked with simply keeping Mia alive, and this involves sheltering her from the ever decreasing temperature and the rising level of snow. We wanted to challenge the player to think, "What would I do in this situation? Where would I go to get warm? How would I start a fire or create heat with limited resources?" Soon we learn that Mia has some connection to the storm itself and the creatures that begin to appear. Meanwhile the entire town is being transformed by snow and ice - doors that were previously accessible are now blocked, forcing her to climb through second story windows or walk on rooftops. The snowstorm is as big an enemy as anything in the game and ultimately we find out what IT is and why it is here.
They can't get a publisher.
IGN: Tell us what happened. Why didn't this game find a publisher? What was the general reaction?
Dan: We pitched Winter tirelessly for months. The response was universally positive. Every single PD department was very excited about it and confident about moving forward. The look, the story, the overall tone and genre, the gameplay mechanics -- it all came together to create something very compelling for the Wii, something that got gamers excited.
With each presentation would come a wave of enthusiastic follow-ups from the publisher. There was so much clamor for the title it was, frankly, kind of overwhelming. We left GDC that year feeling very confident about placing the title quickly and on our terms.
Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. In almost every case we got hung up with the sales and marketing groups. They simply could not get behind a survival horror title on the Wii. In spite of great sales for Resident Evil 4 and the Umbrella Chronicles, these groups were unable to support the projections required to create a viable P&L for the title. The idea of an "adult" game on what they perceived to be a "kids" console was simply too big a leap for them, regardless of the enthusiastic support of the PD department and the Wii's total domination in the marketplace.
Dan: We pitched Winter tirelessly for months. The response was universally positive. Every single PD department was very excited about it and confident about moving forward. The look, the story, the overall tone and genre, the gameplay mechanics -- it all came together to create something very compelling for the Wii, something that got gamers excited.
With each presentation would come a wave of enthusiastic follow-ups from the publisher. There was so much clamor for the title it was, frankly, kind of overwhelming. We left GDC that year feeling very confident about placing the title quickly and on our terms.
Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. In almost every case we got hung up with the sales and marketing groups. They simply could not get behind a survival horror title on the Wii. In spite of great sales for Resident Evil 4 and the Umbrella Chronicles, these groups were unable to support the projections required to create a viable P&L for the title. The idea of an "adult" game on what they perceived to be a "kids" console was simply too big a leap for them, regardless of the enthusiastic support of the PD department and the Wii's total domination in the marketplace.
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