We actually know more about the surface of the moon and Mars than we do our very own oceans. Even in 2020, our knowledge of this strange environment where life originated remains paltry. It’s difficult getting people interested in the ocean, especially since most humans never actually get to experience it. Thankfully, we have video games that can give us a greater appreciation for such an incredible place. In this case, E-Line Media’s Beyond Blue.
For those who may not know, E-Line is an indie game developer. The studio got on many people’s radar thanks to its 2014 title, Never Alone. The atmospheric platformer centered on an Alaskan native and featured many aspects of that culture. It even went so far as to have mini-documentaries that spotlighted what life is like for Alaskan native communities. Never Alone reached over four million gamers worldwide thanks in large part to its reverence for the source material.
It is because of Never Alone that the BBC reached out to E-Line, as CEO and co-founder, Michael Angst, explains.
“We got a call from the BBC who had played Never Alone while they were in the process of making one of their high-end nature series called Blue Planet 2,” says Angst. “They invited us to do a fictional game about the ocean. We met the scientists that helped the BBC make Blue Planet 2 and we also got access to all of the footage shot over the multi-year production for the series. We used that both as reference for the game as well as for creating mini-documentaries, that you unlock while playing the game. That was really the genesis of Beyond Blue.”
Beyond Blue is a narrative adventure game. While the main draw is exploring the deep ocean, players will get pulled in by the emotional journey of its protagonist: Mirai.
“It’s part story, part open exploration,” said Angst. “It’s not exactly an open world but you can swim around and find creatures and collect information on them. You play the game through the eyes of a young female scientist, Mirai, who is supported by two other scientists. It tells the story of what the ocean might be like and what might be important to both scientists and our planet in 10 to 15 years, which is where the game is set.
“The goal is trying to balance exploration and collection with a narrative. We put a lot of work into the art quality. A lot of work into the feel and the movement of the creatures. We also spent a lot of time with scientists trying to have a simple story but one that could get at both the human element as well as some of the science of the ocean.”
One of the scientists is oceanographer Dr. Samantha Joye. Dr. Joye was involved with the “Deep” episode of Blue Planet 2 and led one of the filming expeditions to the Gulf of Mexico. It was through her involvement with the BBC that she met the E-Line folks. Though she had never played a video game before, she was more than eager to work on Beyond Blue.
“I was not familiar with Never Alone so the first thing I did when they contacted me was to play it,” says Dr. Joye. “That was enough to convince me that this style of game had the potential for making a big impact. Not just getting people to play a game but teaching them about the ocean and hopefully inspiring some to become either ocean explorers or ocean advocates. Hopefully, everyone who plays will become an ocean advocate. It’s an opportunity to reach an audience in a very unique way and have a big impact. This game has a lot of potential to change the way people think about and see the deep ocean. It’s been fantastic to be a part of that.”
E-Line, along with Dr. Joye, made sure Beyond Blue was a true representation of the ocean. This includes not only the environment but the animals that inhabit it.
“All the creatures are based on real-world creatures,” says Angst. “We made a significant attempt to get their models and their movement to be very representative of the creatures. The behaviors and the kind of things you study about the creatures are of real interest to scientists. What we’re going for is something that, if a scientist looked at it, would say was very representative. Not just of why a particular creature is important, but why that creature moves and is interesting to people.
“We put a lot of effort into what the creatures represent, why we chose particular creatures and tried to have a diversity of intelligence. We tried to show some relatedness between the creatures. And we tried to show their social and cultural aspects; not just how fast they swim or watching a shark rip things apart all the time.
“I would say it’s a quieter story. A gentler story. It’s a little more about the connectivity between creatures and humans than it is necessarily getting down to the food tree or food web.”
“A lot of my role was making sure the stories were grounded in science and keeping it true to our knowledge base so that everything is foundational and factual and actually correct and we’re not talking out of our rear ends,” says Dr. Joye. “We made sure everything is balanced and reasonable. I think that makes compelling storytelling and gameplay but it also means that what you’re learning are actual environmental lessons that are relevant for today’s world and our future world.”
Beyond Blue takes place 10 to 15 years in the future. Though it is a video game, E-Line resisted the urge to inject fantastical technology into it. However, it did include one piece of tech that is still experimental at best.
“All the technology represented in the game is technology that we have right now,” says Angst. “In most cases, we’re looking at its miniaturization or its utilization in a much less friction-full way. For instance, we have scanning and being able to get lots of different visual elements of a creature. This includes audio elements, chemical signatures, and biological signatures. We have a drone shaped like a manta ray go around the creature and scan in. Every dimension of that sensing technology currently exists in some devices. We just put them all on one drone and have it as a gameplay mechanic.
“I would say the one place we took the biggest leap, from a technological perspective, is where Mirai can take her sub and where she can take her suit. We came up with a suit that has advanced breathing techniques that allow her to go deep down. We hint at some materials that would allow her not to get crushed at extreme depths. It’s based on relatively loose science. This was something we discussed with the scientists; whether to go to these deep places as the diver or go in a sub with a drone camera. They pushed us hard to put the person in the game even though that might be a leap from a technical perspective. Seeing the scale of a human against these creatures, feeling like you’re there physically and witnessing it directly, feeling vulnerable, brought an element to the game that we thought was special.”
“They stayed very true to what we know,” says Dr. Joye. “One thing we didn’t want to do was get into a position where we were speculating or being hyperbolic or over-playing some point. We wanted to make sure everything was actual and real and very firmly grounded and rooted in science. That’s very important because it gives the game a level of credibility and realism that we wanted to capture and provide to the players. For me, that was really important because I want what people learn and take from this to be factually accurate.
“The only thing that was a bit of a stretch was liquid breathing. There were actually trials for that in the ’70s but it didn’t go anywhere. There are problems with it. It’s unlikely but it’s not impossible, I suppose. In the game, it was important for Mirai to be in the system as a scuba diver. We didn’t want to have her in a mini-sub. That’s not really a concession. That was to make it something really different. If I could dive into the deep ocean in some kind of a single bodysuit, I would do it because I think you would get a feel for the system that you couldn’t any other way. So that’s why it was done that way.”
At the time of this writing, humans are damaging the ocean because of our industrious society. This is something that won’t end soon; especially during the time Beyond Blue takes place. Dr. Joye explains how they extrapolated what the oceans will be like in the near future.
“A lot of the thinking around that evolved from what I’ve witnessed myself in the past 15 years. For example, 20 plus years ago when I was doing my Master’s thesis, I worked in the Bahamas on San Salvador island. Back then, the corals were very different than they are now. You’ve had so many bleaching incidents and storm damage–it’s just not the same. It’s not the same system. So you extrapolate that into the future.
“When I started working in the deep ocean 20 years ago you would occasionally come upon some human refuse. Once I came upon a refrigerator. I’ve come upon many lawn chairs or a can or a bottle. Now what you see is plastic.
“A lot of the change over time is based on what we’ve actually witnessed. We’ve seen this transition from A to B. What’s the transition from B to C going to be in the next 15 years? It was based on observations of change in the system that we’ve already seen and assuming it’s not going to get worse but stays on that trajectory. That may not be a safe assumption. It may get worse instead of staying on the same trajectory.”
It’s clear Beyond Blue is going for something different and meaningful. While it is still an enjoyable video game experience, Angst and Boyes hope it touches people on a deeper level and gets them to think more about our oceans.
“The ocean is a wonderful, beautiful, mysterious place that also serves a critical function to our planet,” says Angst. “We want you to feel moved by the personal story and the wonder of it and come away feeling enough emotion that you care a little more about the health of our planet and the ocean.”
“There are butterfly effects that we might not be able to predict right now that are going to come into play down the road,” says Dr. Joye. “I think it makes the player aware of human impacts on this part of the world that we don’t see or think about most of the time. It makes us realize there are problems that need to be recognized, identified, managed, and dealt with. We can make a difference by taking action and doing our part.
“The ocean sustains us. We are all integrally connected to the ocean whether we realize it or not. I think this game makes that connection for the player. I hope it empowers them to get involved and learn more about how they can make a difference for the future sustainability of the oceans. I think it will because it touches a nerve. It is impactful in a way that few types of entertainment are. E-line will live up to their motto ‘games for change’ with this one because I think it will inspire a lot of people to get involved and make a difference and probably create more than a few young explorers in training.”
Beyond Blue will release on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One sometime this year.
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