Dan Pinchbeck, Robert Briscoe, Jessica Curry, Jacky Morgan, Nigel Carrington, Ben Andrews & Samuel Justice
Dear Esther
file festival

source: thechineseroomcouk

“A deserted island… a lost man… memories of a fatal crash… a book written by a dying explorer.”

Dear Esther is a ghost story, told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional game-play the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making every each journey a unique experience. Dear Esther features a stunning, specially commissioned soundtrack from Jessica Curry.

Forget the normal rules of play; if nothing seems real here, it’s because it may just be all a delusion. What is the significance of the aerial – What happened on the motorway – is the island real or imagined – who is Esther and why has she chosen to summon you here? The answers are out there, on the lost beach and the tunnels under the island. Or then again, they may just not be, after all…

History
Built in the Source engine and originally released in 2008 as a mod for Half Life 2, Dear Esther quickly established itself as an award-winning, critically acclaimed experimental first-person game. It abandons all traditional game play, leaving only a rich world soaked in atmosphere, and an abstract, poetic story to explore.

In 2009, it was picked up by a professional game artist, Robert Briscoe, for a complete overhaul of the visuals and level design, in the hopes that it would be able to overcome it’s early shortcomings as a mod and be able to fulfil its true potential.

In late 2010 it became clear the overhaul had become something much more, and with Valve and the community’s support the project was granted a license to make Dear Esther a completely independent release, and allowing everyone the opportunity to get a chance to experience the game for themselves!

The Chinese Room
Dear Esther was created by Dan Pinchbeck, a researcher based at the University of Portsmouth (UK) in 2007, as part of a project funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council to explore experimental game play and storytelling.
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source: fileorgbr

Abstract:
“Dear Esther” is a ghost story, told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional game-play the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making each journey a unique experience.
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source: fileorgbr

Abstract:
“Dear Esther” é uma história de fantasmas contada na primeira pessoa com tecnologias de game. Diferente dos games tradicionais, aqui o enfoque é na exploração para descobrir o mistério da ilha, de quem você é e por que está aqui. Fragmentos de história são fortuitamente descobertos quando se explora diferentes locais na ilha, fazendo com que cada etapa seja uma experiência singular.
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source: thechineseroomcouk

THE CHINESE ROOM IS AN AWARD-WINNING GAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO BASED IN BRIGHTON, WITH SOME OF OUR TEAM WORKING REMOTELY ACROSS THE UNITED KINGDOM.

We released our first game, Dear Esther, in February 2012 to critical and popular acclaim. Dear Esther went on to win ten major awards in 2012 and was nominated for many more, including 5 BAFTAs.

In 2013, we shipped Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, a sequel to the horror classic developed by Frictional Games. We acted as a third party developer in collaboration with Frictional to create this game. Amnesia has become a cult title, and also gathered international acclaim and a string of award nominations.

We are currently working on Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, an openworld, post-apocalyptic adventure to be released on Playstation 4. We’re making this with Sony Santa Monica, and recently showed at E3, where the game was nominated for Best in Show by IGN and Gamespot.

The Chinese Room is a small studio with core values of passion and innovation. For us, it’s about the sense of being in the world that is unique to games. There’s nothing like that sense of discovery, immersion, wonder. We want to use this amazing medium to tell great stories and explore incredible new worlds. Basically, we love games and this drives every project we undertake.