Symbiocom
Encyclopedia
Symbiocom is a first person
3D
game developed by Istvan Pely in 1998 and is the predecessor to Zero Critical
(1999).
.
As a maintenance engineer, the player was assigned to fix
gravity arrays, when Rident was experiencing a problem with its artificial gravity
generators.
As a safety measure the captain disabled the ship's worm-drive while the gravity generator is being worked on. Disabling the worm-drive reduced the speed and altitude of the vessel.
Rident is then attacked by two war ships, the Rident shakes violently knocking the passengers off balance and alarms start going off. The captain orders an SOS
distress signal to be sent and hollers to prepare the lifeboats. Player falls unconscious while busy fixing ship’s gravitomagnetism.
The game starts when the player wakes up to the sound of his symplant hollering at him. I.S.T. Rident is left adrift in the depths of space and the player finds himself aboard a deserted spacecraft
.
The player’s objective is not only to rescue himself from the crippled transport but also to find out who destroyed the ship and what happened to the ~163 passengers aboard.
The puzzles are inventory and logic types. Each location is displayed with 3D pre-rendered graphics, with a 360 degree view and "move along a rail" videos from location to location. There are five chapters in Symbiocom, each taking place in a different location. The locales are generally unpopulated. There are no character interactions in the game, it's just the player and his symplant. However player does encounters some drones
and an entertainment robot
throughout the game.
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
game developed by Istvan Pely in 1998 and is the predecessor to Zero Critical
Zero Critical
Zero Critical is a 1999 science-fiction computer game for Windows 95/98/XP. It is a traditional third-person and fully 3D graphic adventure with a heavy emphasis on story and characters. Zero Critical is notable for its scientific realism....
(1999).
Plot and Gameplay
The player is a crew member aboard I.S.T. Rident, a class B space-faring passenger liner in the delta quadrant. Implanted into his/her brain is a "sym" (synthetic symbiont), a symbiotic artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
.
As a maintenance engineer, the player was assigned to fix
gravity arrays, when Rident was experiencing a problem with its artificial gravityArtificial gravity
Artificial gravity is the varying of apparent gravity via artificial means, particularly in space, but also on the Earth...
generators.
As a safety measure the captain disabled the ship's worm-drive while the gravity generator is being worked on. Disabling the worm-drive reduced the speed and altitude of the vessel.
Rident is then attacked by two war ships, the Rident shakes violently knocking the passengers off balance and alarms start going off. The captain orders an SOS
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...
distress signal to be sent and hollers to prepare the lifeboats. Player falls unconscious while busy fixing ship’s gravitomagnetism.
The game starts when the player wakes up to the sound of his symplant hollering at him. I.S.T. Rident is left adrift in the depths of space and the player finds himself aboard a deserted spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
.
The player’s objective is not only to rescue himself from the crippled transport but also to find out who destroyed the ship and what happened to the ~163 passengers aboard.
The puzzles are inventory and logic types. Each location is displayed with 3D pre-rendered graphics, with a 360 degree view and "move along a rail" videos from location to location. There are five chapters in Symbiocom, each taking place in a different location. The locales are generally unpopulated. There are no character interactions in the game, it's just the player and his symplant. However player does encounters some drones
Telerobotics
Telerobotics is the area of robotics concerned with the control of robots from a distance, chiefly using wireless connections , "tethered" connections, or the Internet...
and an entertainment robot
Entertainment robot
An entertainment robot is, as the name indicates, a robot that is not made for utilitarian use, as in production or domestic services, but for the sole subjective pleasure of the human it serves, usually the owner or his housemates, guests or clients...
throughout the game.
External links
- Symbiocom at Sentex
- Symbiocom at Youtube
- Symbiocom review at Gameboomers
- Symbiocom at Gameboomers