What is Deep?

I’m Alex Knowles (or Tid), and Deep is the video game that I’ve been working on by myself since December 2012.

When people ask what my game is about, my explanations tend to start the same way; “Well basically you’re a cute little robot dude. I like robots.” (the cute little robot dude is pictured several times above). But that’s a pretty useless description. The trouble is that Deep doesn’t really fit neatly into any genre of game. It’s pretty Deep™ and complex that way. Let me get you interested by hyping up the key points of what makes the game unique.

• The Robot!

The cute little robot dude is actually a big feature of the game. At the outset of your adventure, it’s equipped with nothing but a bumper bar attachment that can be used for basic self defense. However, as the game progresses, you’ll start to collect Microchips. There are well over 100 different Microchips, and they all give the robot some kind of upgrade that will help out in combat, exploration, or both! They also change how your robot looks, adding new bits and pieces to his exterior. You’ll find different Microchips on each playthrough of the game, so if you have a friend who is also playing Deep (make sure you and all your friends are playing Deep), you’ll both end up with totally different robots! There’s a limit to how many you can have installed at once though, so you’ll have to pick and choose which set of Microchips you think best suit your style of play.

Oh, and also, the robot has what’s called a Personality Core, and can be quite talkative! He’ll have dialogue that is partially randomly chosen, and partially dependent on what is actually going on in the game. Some of his comments are quite funny, and others are quite helpful. I think you’ll grow quite fond of the ‘cute little robot dude’ by the time you finish with Deep.

• Gigantic Randomly Generated World

The world of Deep is absolutely gigantic (and funnily enough, goes pretty far underground)! When you play the game you’re going to have a lot of exploring to do. What really makes it special though is that the world you explore will be different to the world explored by every single other person playing the game! When you create your save file in Deep, lots of really complicated programs and algorithms that I wrote work together to create a huge world that is completely unique and full of cool exciting stuff. Like mushrooms. One time it made a world with lots of mushrooms.

Mushrooms aside, even the names of the levels are randomly created by the game! I’ve seen it come up with names that are simple, like “Frost Cave”, names that are badass, like “Devil’s Lake”, and names that are absolutely over the top awesome ridiculous, like “The Volcanic Pits of Courage”. It just gives the world you get to explore that much more personality. Even after spending hundreds of hours testing and working on the game, I honestly still often find myself exploring to see what kinds of cool environments the game has come up with. All of this also means that even after you finish Deep, you’ll just be able to start again with a new save file and have a whole new experience with the game, and enjoy it just as much.

• Fun, Frantic, Strategic Combat

Deep doesn’t take place on Earth, and this is made very obvious by the cast of alien creatures you’ll encounter! Each species has its own unique behavioral patterns and self-defense mechanisms, and you’ll have to get to know them all if you want to stand a chance. Deep’s combat is unique and somewhat hard to describe. There are a lot of different ways to handle any given situation, and your options only expand as you start to find more Microchips that let the robot use all kinds of cool weapons and tools. Some weapons use physical resources, which you’ll want to collect and preserve. Others are battery powered, requiring you to charge up your attacks. Other tools still don’t even directly attack creatures, and instead provide you with a whole new set of tactics! This is all without even mentioning the bosses!

Anyway…

…I really could sit here and write out the reasons that I’m excited to make this game, and not be finished for a very long time, but I don’t want to spoil everything before the game is even out! Hopefully these these features have you excited for the game’s eventual release. If you’re looking for more info, check out the F.A.Q. page. If your question isn’t answered there, feel free to contact me using any of the links up the top of the page.

If you’re excited to follow along with Deep’s development, and find out where I’m at with the game, just keep checking back to the home page! I’m currently running a series called Deepvelopment Monthly. The basic idea is that once a month I write up a nice lengthy blog post that details some of the progress I’ve made on the game’s development. I keep it almost entirely spoiler free so it won’t ruin the game for you, and you might even learn something about game development along the way!

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