Mystery thriller Calm Waters set to make waves in 2014
Although quietly revealed by its indie developers on Facebook over a year ago, only now is Calm Waters ready to garner more widespread attention with a slew of screenshots and an introductory teaser.
Calm Waters is the debut work of Tayanna Studios, a small indie team based in the UK. The game is a mystery thriller featuring Peter Taylor, distressed and lonely after the recent loss of his wife. For a change in pace, Peter organised a trip to a quiet Greek island, claiming “I needed this holiday. I needed it bad. I'd hired a little private plane and a pilot to take me to the island of Thereus. It was a small port with very few tourists and little distractions.” It seemed to be just what Peter needed, but soon he came to realize just how wrong his first impression truly was.
Local tales and legends, whispered warnings, strange noises, and an ominous nearby island: All these things make Peter feel uncomfortable – something is not quite right. Then people start disappearing one by one. The remaining inhabitants do not seem to be alarmed, or at least they aren't talking about their fears. Is it simple misadventure? Or is there something more sinister at work? Partnering up with fellow tourist Michelle Manning, Peter sets out to discover the hidden secrets of the island for himself.
Entirely self-funded and in development for three years now, Calm Waters is a 2.5D game created in Adventure Game Studio. Although the environments are rendered in 3D, they are viewed from a fixed perspective. Assets have been created at fairly high resolution, then rendered in-game at 640x480, 32-bit colour, for that "old-school feel.” Similarly, the game controls and plays like a classic point-and-click adventure. Although the lead characters for the game are professionally voice-acted, Tayanna Studios are currently accepting submissions for extras to round out the cast.
Calm Waters is still deep in production, currently planned for release on PC, Android, and iOS devices in summer 2014. You can follow its ongoing development on the studio's Facebook page. A demo for the game is imminent, awaiting a requisite number of likes (12 to go as of writing).
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