Nautilus Adventure Pack
by BONZO, HSM Editor
The Neptune apartment, the Rapture apartment, the Dolphy Room and the rewarded Go Fish underwater apartment touch on a fantasy many of us have had – the notion of living underwater.
There are few frontiers left on this world that remain unexplored. But the final Earth-bound frontier which remains the most mysterious to us is the deep sea.
When I was a kid, there were few subjects which perked up my interest, and anything I encountered about these subjects I absorbed like a sponge. The main one was astronomy. The idea of exploring space was a vision of the future, and I often imagined what marvel would be discovered. The second was paleontology; our world’s past literally in stone, it represented a past we can only surmise from the little evidence left behind. It seemed unreal, and not even like the same world when you learn of these giant animals dominating the planet. The third subject was that other alien world: the deep sea.
Our planet is essentially split between two worlds — the habitable earth, and the deep oceans. It really seems that the deep sea is a world onto itself. It has its own ecosystems, its own evolutionary paths and it’s own environment. The movies and TV shows which were about the exploration of the deep sea were often similar to the ones which explored space.
Being human, you need your own sustained habitat because we can not survive underwater without an artificial environment, or pressure suit. Movies like the Abyss, and 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, and games like Bioshock reversed the role in a way. On land we keep sea creatures in aquariums, underwater we have to keep ourselves in a terrarium. It was a fantasy to live underwater, to breathe underwater, and to explore that world without any of the biological limitations we are hindered by.
While I loved the Neptune apartment, and liked what I saw of VeeMee’s underwater space, my first thought in these spaces was, “I wish I could swim out there.” In Bioshock, the game gave you an underwater city to explore, and you have a chance to take some of that into Home with the Rapture space. The Dolphy space is an open environment underwater, but it didn’t translate well because you don’t swim.
Now this adventure pack from Juggernaut Games touches on that fantasy. Juggernaut gave us the ability to fly in the sky with Palace of the Seven Winds, and now the ability to create an underwater fantasy anywhere.
The video is a little misleading, it hints at a personal space that doesn’t exist. What Juggernaut is offering is a bundle of furniture, wardrobe, and portable items to help you get in that mindset. Now, you can create your own underwater world in a personal space you may own already.
The furniture draws on the steampunk line already released by Juggernaut Games, and adds a little H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. The Nautilus Adventure Pack is not just about themed furniture, it’s about creating an atmosphere and reinventing a personal space. And in the process, perhaps breathing new life into spaces which may have seen some neglect over time.
Juggernaut Games reinvented the active item by animating your avatar in the process. The Essence of the Winds allowed for your avatar to fly, and evolving from that concept, the Essence of the Tides creates an underwater atmosphere and lets you swim. It’s a distinctly different animation from flying, with flailing limbs, and a graceful flip. It also essentially adds a filter to add the washed out blue lighting of an underwater atmosphere.
Furniture is a difficult concept to work with at this point; there is so much of it, so how do you stand out?
Animated and active furniture gives you more options for making your furniture unique, particularly if the furniture itself responds to your avatar’s interaction. This pack includes some furniture which is very impressive. The wall hanging round windows add to the underwater atmosphere. With animated fish swimming by, it provides a view of an exterior which doesn’t really exist. The swivel chair adds a unique animation which hasn’t been explored in Home. Most chairs you flash from a standing position to a sitting position. Once seated on this chair your avatar can swivel as you normally would in real life on similar office chairs. The aquarium table is impressive in design, and the animated fish are beautifully rendered. The Nautilus lamps are unique, as they are tethered by chains and glow with custom colors. A couple of the furniture items, including a coral sofa, have animated fish free floating in open air to give you that sense that you yourself are underwater.
Companions abound: everything from a tornado to a revolving planet has been explored. But not everything has been done yet. There is still a lot of ground to explore when it comes to companions, and let us remember Juggernaut Games started with some unique robotic companions. The Steam Punk spider companion was distinct and very well done, and the diving bell robot companion that comes with this pack, Juggernaut returns to its roots with that quirky twist they provided before, but adhered to the style of this new line of products. Also with this pack, you find a submarine companion, and hopefully a hint at a future Submarine personal space.
Juggernaut Games has sold us more than just personal spaces, wardrobe items, virtual furniture, and companions. They have sold us an experience, and an ambiance. From the spoon-fed atmospheres of the Cutteridge Estate and the Essence of the Seven winds, to the Steampunk pack and the new Nautilus Adventure Pack, which allow us to create for ourselves an atmosphere in any personal space. They may not be providing a personal space just yet, but are offering everything else to make it yourself in any space you want.
November 20th, 2012 by BONZO | 2 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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This stuff looks cool, just a shame my underwater place in EU rather than US for now. I’m a bit confused about what you mean when you say the essence of the tides lets you swim, are you saying it fills any personal space with water, or just changes the lighting? I’ve always been very fussy when it comes to underwater bits in games -- it’s so hard to get right y’know. The Neptune Suite ( IMO) does a pretty bad job of making it feel like you’re underwater, compared to ( oddly) the FREE space you get on completion of the Go Fish! Game, which really makes you feel that darkness and depth of being deep under the ocean.
I would love another underwater apartment, as long as the detail is there and ( maybe I’m just being greedy but…) it came with some kinda outside exploration, just swimming is fine but maybe even like a mini-sub for exploring would be cool. Oh and while I’m on the subject of submarines and such, as a locomotion, it’d be seriously cool to have a reverse bubble to move around in! Y’know, like a mobile goldfish bowl for your avatar lol.
well what it does is like flying, but instead of the flying animation it is a swim animation. The atmosphere looks like it is a tonal change in the color to make it that bluish underwater color, and then there are some particle effects with bubbles and some fish to make it feel like you are underwater.