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Interview: post-apocalyptic robot adventure The Uncertain rises on NVIDIA SHIELD

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Interview: post-apocalyptic robot adventure The Uncertain rises on NVIDIA SHIELD

Developed by ComonGames, The Uncertain is a new episodic post-apocalyptic adventure that casts players as an engineering robot in a world where humanity is now extinct. It’s an eerie yet fascinating premise that unfolds through the perspective of an AI protagonist players learn about in the debut episode, The Last Quiet Day.

The Uncertain: Episode 1 - The Last Quiet Day is now available to download on NVIDIA SHIELD for a special 20% off launch price of $11.99. In the following interview, ComonGames sheds light on the game’s sci-fi storyline, what players can expect in Episode 1 and how the developer took advantage of NVIDIA SHIELD hardware to bring their game to life.

The Uncertain drops players into a post-apocalyptic world where their decisions and actions impact how events actually unfold.
How does the player directly influence the storytelling and events in the game?

ComonGames: "Just like all other PC games, our game cannot truly be called non-linear. But we tried to design a game in which a player can influence what happens through dialogue and choice of actions. Since each situation is the result of the player’s choice in a previous scene, the path will seldom be the same. Thus, the game will be unique for each player. In addition, we plan to design the next episodes of the game to change a bit depending on the player choices in previous episodes. A game that can be called non-linear in the full sense of the word is our ultimate dream, and we will continue to strive towards this goal."

As The Uncertain's AI protagonist, RT-217NP, players are faced with the question of where the line is between humanity and AI. How is this theme explored in the game and what other ideas have been woven into The Uncertain's story? CG: We decided to show the development of RT as a character very slowly and gradually. The player will not see any huge changes in his character in the first episode of the game, but will learn the reason for those changes in the future. From the start RT will begin asking the right questions and look for the answers. We cannot give out more information for the fear of spoilers. What can you tell us about the world featured in The Uncertain and how do its robotic inhabitants live in this world once occupied by the now-extinct human race? CG: All the events of the first episode are happening within a fictional city. As it is usually the case in large cities, there are many high-rise buildings and, on the outskirts, suburban homes. There are also rural areas, scenic forests and mountains outside the city. The number of robots in the city is significantly fewer than the humans who lived there before, so the city is no longer lit up, traffic noise is almost inaudible, there are no signs of life. Besides, not all the robots are able to maintain their functions as our main character, RT. Thus they are forced to stay indoors most of the time. All of them try to coexist for mutual benefit and modernize the abandoned buildings to fit their needs. USS Corporation, which created the robots tries to stabilize the situation, but there is still lots of work to be done. And things could have gone on like this forever, if it were not for one incident that occurred to RT. What has the experience been like working with NVIDIA's SHIELD hardware and developing the game for the platform? CG: We had previous experience of working with Android, but this was our first encounter with SHIELD. As far as we recall, this is the first device that did not require some sort of monstrous optimizations. Although there are fairly complex locations in our game, for example, forests with grass and trees, SHIELD Android TV coped with them remarkably well, and we did not need to make any significant changes when porting our game from the PC. We believe that SHIELD Android TV is quite comparable to some desktop computers, so it is suited perfectly to be a home gaming center. We hope that our game will promote SHIELD Android TV as a home gaming console. How did the development team utilize the Unity engine and other advanced technologies to bring The Uncertain's vibrant sci-fi visuals to life? CG: While Unity has great tools for creating beautiful graphics, beautiful scenes cannot be created by themselves. To design a truly beautiful and atmospheric game requires extensive experience and a great team. This was a joint effort and we did everything in our power to create a great game, now the players will judge the results. Considering that this is our first full-fledged game project, we were satisfied overall with the outcome.
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With the anticipated launch of Episode 1 finally here, what are you most excited about getting into the hands of players? CG: We hope that the game as a whole will appeal to the players. To tell you the truth we really hope that the players will get Goosebumps when they get to the last scene of the first episode and that will make them long for the second episode of the game. In our opinion, the last scene has turned out to be really intriguing, but since the authors cannot be the fair judges of their own work we will wait to see the reaction of the players.