I am Robert Briscoe, the artist behind indie game Dear Esther AMA

I can't think of a good question, soI just wanted to say that Dear Esther was an amazing experience. Thanks for putting it out there.

Thanks your compliments mean a lot, and thanks especially for supporting it!

OK, I have a question now. How much did the game change throughout development? Was it clear form the start what type of game it would be, or is the finished game very different from where you started?

Well I was quite luck in that, when I picked up Dear Esther for the remake, the game itself was already pretty much there in the form of Dan's original mod. It was pretty rough around the edges both visually and design wise, but the core idea was there and I felt like all it needed was some polish and a coat of paint.

Beyond the huge visual overhaul, I did toy with the idea of adding in more interactivity to the environment, even going so far as to experiment with adding simple puzzle type elements, but ultimately, all it felt like I was doing was diluting the original concept Dan had created with the mod, this idea that you can use a first person gaming space for something more than shooting, puzzling or other traditionally accepted ideas of gameplay.

Overall I think when you compare the new version to the original mod they are worlds apart, but overall the core ideas are still the same

As an author, I've often wondered what a more purely narrative game would look like, stripped of the endless violence that besets nearly every protagonist in this medium.

Your game was an encouraging step in that direction. I'm quite interested in how this storytelling medium will continue to evolve. Do you have any thoughts or ideas about this progression? Is there a large enough audience for games such as Dear Esther to permit such a progression to take place?

I imagine a game with a story like Bioshock, but with a protagonist that doesn't slaughter every nameless character he comes across.

[edited for clarity]

I think that Dear Esther, if anything, is proof that there is significant audience out there for these types of narrative driven games.

I think Dear Esther, is an extreme example of pushing the limits of narrative driven game-play and game-play in general, and I have to admit, I was extremely nervous before we released. There was no real benchmark to go by in terms of sales, especially in the retail market. I was at best expecting Dear Esther to be an extremely niche title, maybe 10k sales after the first couple of months, but here we are, three months later with over 110,000 sales (10,000 just today alone) and still going strong. I think it shows that gamers are ready for new ideas and experiences, and it opens up the doors as to what else can be done with videogames as a medium

Could you possibly give your interpretation of the ending?

It was all about the dog with the shifty eyes.

Seriously though, I dont want to put my interpretation out there with the risk of it being misconstrued as the 'correct' interpretation. What was your interpretation?

How did you make the caves look so incredible?

The short version? Lots of swearing, lack of sleep and more swearing

I don't have a question, but I have the same last name, which isn't all that common. Rock on, possible-distant-relative.

Ah cool, a fellow Briscoe! Where are you from?

Hey Rob! I've noticed on Steam that you still spend a lot of time in Dear Esther, presumably fixing bugs or glitches? I'm interested if you continue to play the game after release, how many times you've played it total, etc.

Haha yes! (204 hours!) that's mostly just from developing the game over the past year on the Portal two engine, the real record is from the amount of hours spent in the SDK :P

Doing a rough guessitmate I've probably put well over 7000 hours into it in total :s

[deleted]

he is indeed a brave man!

Do you enjoy long walks on the beach?

Yes! Just not always filthy polluted depressing ones like in Dear Esther :P

You think that beach was polluted? Man never ever ever go to Atlantic city. I went to look at the beach in Atlantic city, there were 40oz bottles, plastics, and dead seagulls as far as the eye can see.

Equally, Blackpool in the UK

Generic as hell question but what advice would you give to someone trying to get into the industry as an environment artist? Been playing around with level design and what not for several years but discovered I like making things look nice rather than scripting etc.

Dear Esther looks outstanding btw

I started out the same way, making maps for HL2 deathmatch (see dm_depot and de_forest),and I eventually started paying less attention to the designs and more to the visuals which, to me, was the most rewarding part. I'd say I good start would be not just make some individual prop but to pick a scene from a movie, a piece of concept art or something that inspires you, and recreate it in a game engine like Unreal or CryEngine. It makes you learn a lot about the art pipeline and scene composition, lighting etc. Also make an account on Polycount and post your WIP screen shots there - you'll get a lot of constructive feedback from people much more talented than I! :)

Well, again thanks for the experience. It was really.. Something else than the usual.

I do have a couple of question:

You say that the game started as a overhaul of the graphics.

• What made the change into, the last journey of a guy that is in a crashed car, until he finally dies, from the original "graphic overhaul"-gig?

• What did you, think of the story after the game was made?

• Is there something you would have liked to change, that you might not have been completely satisfied with?

On another matter:

• It sounds like you freelance a lot. How does that work? Are you putting your name and a little CV up on different closed/open webs for developers to see? Or do you "simply" call in/ write to different companies to hear if they need someone for a small job?

• What are you planing on doing now that the game is out?

Once again, thanks for the amazing game. :)

• What did you, think of the story after the game was made?

I love that it doesn't spoon feed you anything, that it only gives you just enough info to allow your imagination can fill in the gaps, that every play-through gives a slightly different twist on the story allowing everyone to have their own unique interpretation of the the events, history and even the reality of the story itself.

• Is there something you would have liked to change, that you might not have been completely satisfied with?

Early on i probably would have said the source engine due to it's restrictive nature, but now I really think it's those restrictions that have really helped define the art style of the game and force me to work efficiently and creatively than ever before. Now i really feel like this game was made for Source, both on and artistic level and in the fact that Source represents a great platform in which to push ideas of traditional FPS gameplay

• It sounds like you freelance a lot. How does that work? Are you putting your name and a little CV up on different closed/open webs for developers to see? Or do you "simply" call in/ write to different companies to hear if they need someone for a small job?

Not really, at least not in the past three years, DE has consumed most of my time up until this point

• What are you planing on doing now that the game is out? SLEEP! and hopefully a nice long vacation somewhere hot! Even though DE came out 3 months ago im still pretty burned out!

How involved was Dan Pinchbeck in building the retail release?

Very! I first contacted him in 2008 when I first stumbled across the original mod and asked him if he'd be ok with me doing a remake of it, and I sent him early builds and got a lot of really good feedback from him during development. He's been instrumental in us getting funding from the Indie Fund so we could get a commercial Source engine license, as well as writing new material, organising new VO's, music etc. It's really as much as his baby as it is mine. He's allowed me a lot of freedom though, which was nice; I've bought a lot of my own ideas to the table through the visuals, design and environments to allow the environment to be something more than just a backdrop to the game, to be like an immersion tank to bring depth to the story plays an integral part in communicating the strange and ambiguous story of Dear Esther

Why did you decide to not have a run button?

Could you run with kidney stones and a broken, infected leg? :P

Hi Robert!

What was your inspiration for for working so hard on this project for so long? I've been following littlelostpoly for years now. Your determination to finish this project has been inspiring, to say the least.

What do you see yourself working on next?

Would you like to stay in the indie scene? Or go work at a studio again for a while and relax?

Can you see yourself working on another project with the same scope as Dear Esther again anytime soon?

Hi!

I think my motivation came from wanting to create something that I had ownership over, something that I could look at and say "I did that" as a whole, without having to point at any particular part if it. I loved my time working on Mirror's Edge, it was a fantastic learning experience and I was surrounded by many talented people, but I couldn't help but feel at times that I was just a small cog in a big machine. I think, for me it was really about my personal creative boundaries, at times I felt restricted and Dear Esther felt like the perfect project for me to break away from some of those boundaries and really explore my ideas on environment art without having a set of standards thrust upon me.

It really was just something I wanted to get out of my system, if it failed then i could say "at least i tried!"

I would love to stay in the indie scene, but it's kind of a solitary existence sometimes (especially working remotely), and I do miss some of the buzz that comes with working for a AAA studio. Right now my aim is just to relax for a while, soak it all in and think about it. I have some ideas i'd love to explore in the future - I particularly like the idea of making a game based on the Novel Roadside Picnic (from which the original stalker games are based) but we'll see!

Just purchased this morning and loving it, I'm curious if you're a fan of the Myst series? Playing this is bringing me back to those long hours spent wandering the ages in the early 90s haha.

Yes! Loved it, well apart from the occasionally infuriating puzzles, but the world was so beautifully imagine for it's time that it completely drew me in. Some of my best memories are from just wondering around the world and finding new areas :)

I've also worked on Source mods, and I'm amazed what you managed to pull out of Hammer. DE is one of the most beautiful interactive environments I've ever seen, excellent job! Now, I'm curious what your thoughts are switching to a project that's basically lacking any game mechanics as compared to traditional video games. "Level design" in this context seems to mean to me, that you're worried more about directing the player's attention to the interesting (narrative) bits. Did you find yourself tweaking things to enhance this player guidance at all?

Thank you! Yes, but in a very subtle manner. One of the biggest problems the original mod had was that player often got lost and confused, which really broke the immersion of the game.

I spent a lot of time rebuilding the terrain from the ground-up to allow the player to more naturally 'flow' through the levels and also added many landmarks to further aid that navigation (the dunes, the shipwrecks, etc.) Take the aerial that is in the distance in the first two levels, it serves to subconsciously draw the players eye, and it's dominance over the landscape immediately signifies it as something important, an overall goal that you must reach and wherever you are in the level, you know that as long as you're heading towards that aerial, you're heading in the right direction. Lighting also played a big part in helping the player navigate in the caves, whereas before all you had was a single light source from your flashlight.

I know when working on an environment I tend to fall into the trap of detailing to death a specific area I fall in love with. This can be dangerous because there's usually a bunch of other things that need work as well. How do you know when a section's "done"? Is it just something you know?

I usually work in passes, so like:

• Pass 1: basic blocking out geometry - getting the layout and composition of the scene right
• Pass 2: refining geometry - sculpting terrain and basic refinement of building placement, scale etc.
• Pass 3: Polish Terrain and building geo
• Pass 4: basic detailing - large objects
• Pass 5: high detailing - plants, rocks, etc
• Pass 6: Particles and lighting

...and so forth. It allows me to see the the whole environment come together and allows me to see early on if something is not working properly.

If you could describe the game in one sentence, what would it be?

One sentence? That's hard! Hmm I'd say: Dear Esther is a deep, poetic ghost story told using game technologies - You explore a deserted island, uncovering a tale of love, loss, grief and redemption, delivered through a stunning voice-over and soundtrack set against beautiful environments.

Sound good? :)

Hey, the Shard was a beautiful looking level. Just a general question about level design with Source compared to Unreal. Which one do you have more fun working with overall and was it much of a jump switching from Source to Unreal for ME (then back to Source)? (Thinking of that awkward builder brush in Unreal :P)

Thanks and good work on ME and Dear Esther :)

Before starting at Dice, I spent some years as level designer making maps in my spare time for HL2 deathmatch, and from there worked on a mod called Nuclear Dawn, also recently turned indie and even whilst working at Dice I somehow found the time to squeeze in some Source mapping, so when I left Dice I found it quite easy to slip back into the Source Engine.

Compared to using Unreal though, I have to say it's worlds apart. When it comes to tools, especially as an artist, Unreal wins hands down - there's simply no restrictions on what you can do with the visuals the tools are built from the ground up with artists and designers in mind. But in other ways I loved Source for it's restrictions as it forces me to think creatively in order to overcome any technical difficulties - which I think is essential to growing as an artist. It can be frustrating though at times, as someone once said to me, making believable terrain in Source is like doing brain surgery with a rusty chainsaw! lol I do like that analogy!

May we see some of these HL2DM maps?

You can find them on my website: http://littlelostpoly.co.uk/

Ha, I just considered buying the game, and now you do an AMA - that's a sign, right? :)

AND it's 50% off at the moment on steam! OOoohooo /spooky :P

How were you paid for Dear Esther too, by the way? Was it a share of the profit, or a flat rate?

We fought it out, Gladiator style! :P

Really it was quite simple, there only being the two of us (Dan and I) and it's spit accordingly :)

Do you think games are a form of art? If yes, how is artistic expression in games different from other media?

I think everything can be a form of Art!

Art shouldn't be something that's restricted to a medium. I think if you can look at something someone has created that inspires you, or is beautiful to you, or resonates with you on a personal or emotional level, then it's art.

I really believe this for games also - there are no rules, no singular idea for what a game should be, instead it's all about you and what you want or expect out of it as an experience.

I may not understand some modern art, or MMORPGS, but I accept that one mans junk is another man's treasure!

When will the mac version be out? Can't wait to play!

It's out right now!

I saw the steam sale, and I was tempted, but didn't bite. Why should I buy Dear Esther?

Because you might not have experienced anything like it before - it’s a fresh look at what games as a medium can do and perhaps something that might challenge your expectations of what they could be in the future. If you want a deep, emotional and meaningful experience from your games rather than guns and explosions then give Dear Esther a try. (and even if you don’t!)

I'd just like to say as an amateur level designer at DigiPen, you were my biggest inspiration and idol and one of the reasons why I wanted to get into game development. Thanks.

Wow, thank you, im honoured :)

Did you to the coding part, or still level design?

Our coder Jack Morgan, did all of the coding on the PC version. I have to admit coding the one area where i'm completely hopeless. I did pretty much everything in-between though, from art and level design, to scripting, interface design, environment sound, etc.

As a pro level designer and game artist I thought your work on ME was amazing, but the DE stuff is a tour de force. Do you think there is any other level designer out there that comes close to you at this point? Besides the ones you have worked on, what games do you think have the best natural environments?

Oh yeah, I still feel like I have so much to learn, working on ME was a huge learning curve for me and I learned a lot just by being around the many other talented artists and designers on the team. There are loads of level designers and artist out there who are leagues ahead of me, I practically worship the original Stalker & Metro 2033 art team's work and have a respect for anyone who can do level design. As an artist level design is one of the things I struggle most with, to me it's the boring part that needs to be done as quick as possible so I can make pretty environments, but that's something I have slowly overcome during the course of remaking Dear Esther.

Although it's a bit of a clunky engine, I really admire the vastness of the ARMA 2 engine's natural environments. I've been watching videos of the Day Z mod over the past few days and I think, similarly to DE, it's one of those games (like Stalker and Metro) where the environment makes all the difference!

the environment makes all the difference!

I have barely skimmed the surface of Dear Esther (am going to try and finish this week), but I must say I am blown away by the environment.

When I first started I sat on that tiny pier for at least 2 minutes waiting for something to happen before I realize, "Oh, hey, I'm playing now." (I was that much absorbed simply by a sunset).

And ever since I first entered that house by the pier, I have wondered why I cannot

• Run
• Jump
• Use my flashlight whenever I want

Are there any specific reasons the controls are so minimal?

Yes, early on in the development I left in things like jumping, ducking and picking up objects etc. but in early play tests I found people just bunny hopping around, breaking VO cue timings, getting to places they shouldn't, picking up paint cans and trying to flush them down the lighthouse toilet etc. and was adding nothing but to distract from the experience. Besides, they had no real function within the context of the game - there were no puzzles no platforming, just exploration and story for which you only need your feet and your eyes. Taking these things away helped to focus players on soaking up the world, the story and the overall experience. Im not saying that interactivity is a bad thing at all though - i love interactivity, puzzles etc! - but that wasn't the goal with dear esther, the puzzle is in the story, the history, the island, and the interactivity comes from exploration and engaging in the world.

What kinds of things would you like to see more often in video games, indie or otherwise?

Less pushing/funnelling the player around, making them feel like a spectator rather than a participant (I'm looking at you CoD).

Of course, i'd also love to see more narrative driven games, but at my heart i'd really have like to see more survival horror games in the same vein as Stalker, Metro 2033 and my new obsession: DayZ

I don't suppose you'll consider remaking Korsakovia next, will you? I'm madly in love with the script and the concept, but they're held back by the clunky implementation. I would love it if it got the same treatment as Dear Esther.

I think for my next project i'd like to do something completely new, something that is my own original IP.

I was really impressed with the game, and having played through it twice (once by myself, and then again with friends - I wanted to show them how good the game was) my only questions are:-

• For Robert: How long did it take you, to finish it?

• For Dan (and Robert, I guess): What inspired you for the story?

Thanks! For the Retail release, I'd say from start-to-finish, around 3 years

I have a few questions, if you have the time:

• Do you play a lot of games in your free time?

• What were some of the inspirations (both video games and other mediums) for Dear Esther?

• What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Favorite pizza topping?

• You seem to work on a lot of games that fall outside of traditional genres, like Dear Esther and Mirror's Edge. If you could have total freedom to create a game that is from a traditional genre, what would it be and why?

• What's it like working with Steam to release a game? Do you think having the game on Steam helped in terms of exposure? Would you work with them again?

• If Dan does get a chance to answer one: Where did the original idea for the game come from?

• Do you play a lot of games in your free time?

Not much over the past year or so, simply due to Dear Esther consuming all of my free time, but I now have a huge backlog of games just waiting to be played on Steam, and im currently chipping through Call of Pripyat and Skyrim (which i had to ban myself on due to it being a serious productivity killer!)

• What were some of the inspirations (both video games and other mediums) for Dear Esther?

Hmm, visually i'd say: games: Stalker, Metro 2033, HL2, Fallout 3 other mediums: Movies: Stalker (again), children of men, and unusually Grave of the Fireflies - the reason behind these is mostly in their attention to visual detail to help build an atmosphere and to help tell a story without saying a word.

• What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Favorite pizza topping?

Pepperoni - both :P

• You seem to work on a lot of games that fall outside of traditional genres, like Dear Esther and Mirror's Edge. If you could have total freedom to create a game that is from a traditional genre, what would it be and why?

It would have to be a Half Life game, simply because I just love to lore, the story and the locales surrounding them, as especially because I respect Valve's approach to videogame development. Saying that I'd also like to work on a open world Stalker-Type game

• What's it like working with Steam to release a game? Do you think having the game on Steam helped in terms of exposure? Would you work with them again?

Absolutely! The guys at steam have been so helpful in getting Dear Esther onto the service, and after seeing the figures coming in at launch, and again when we launch our current 50% off sale, it's obvious that Steam allows us to reach a huge market which we would have never been able to tap into on our own. Yes i definitely would work with them again in the future!

Although I haven't played Dear Esther, I've been following your blog since I first saw screen shots of DE in 2010. DE Looks incredible.

• Why use the Source engine? I mean, the end result is a beautiful game that can compete with games not based on a 2007 engine, but using something like Unreal seems much easier (the boat scene used as your blog banner was made in Unreal, wasn't it?).

• I remember a post about trying to reward the player for exploring (having a gap be cross able if you pick up a plank and place it over the gap). I haven't played, but often people's gripe with DE is that it isn't game-y. Were things like that dropped in-order to make the experience more directed?

• Did Mirror's Edge come out as you'd hoped when making it, or is true ,as some suspect, that the flow of the game was broken in order to give the play a shoot-out because higher-ups at EA wanted it that way?

• Why use the Source engine? I mean, the end result is a beautiful game that can compete with games not based on a 2007 engine, but using something like Unreal seems much easier (the boat scene used as your blog banner was made in Unreal, wasn't it?).

Originally, when I took on the remake of Dear Esther, there wasn’t really a lot of choice in the matter. Back then there was no UDK or Cryengine and Unity wasn’t really viable for someone with no code experience, so at the time it was simply a case of picking an engine which had access to the biggest audience, which was (and still is) Source! I did toy with the idea of switching a couple of times, especially when the UDK came out, but ultimately I felt I had a certain loyalty to the Source engine, I started my career making DM maps for Half Life 2, and part of me still revels in the challenge of crafting something beautiful with it. We’d built our community around the original Source mod so it just seemed proper in that respect also.

• I remember a post about trying to reward the player for exploring (having a gap be cross able if you pick up a plank and place it over the gap). I haven't played, but often people's gripe with DE is that it isn't game-y. Were things like that dropped in-order to make the experience more directed?

Yeah, early on in the remake I did toy with adding in more interactivity to the environment, even experimenting with adding simple puzzle type elements, but ultimately, all it felt like I was doing was diluting the original concept Dan had created with the mod, this idea that you can use a first person gaming space for something more than shooting, puzzling or other traditionally accepted ideas of gameplay.

• Did Mirror's Edge come out as you'd hoped when making it, or is true, as some suspect, that the flow of the game was broken in order to give the play a shoot-out because higher-ups at EA wanted it that way?

I think where ME suffered more than anything else was a lack of time. There were so many great ideas, polish, features etc. that didn't quite make it into the final release due to deadlines; at the end it was a case of do we spend another year polishing it up, costing EA million more on a then, untested franchise, or do we make the best of what we have and get it out of the door and see what people think, learn from the mistakes and improve? We were also breaking new ground within the studio (as well as the industry) not only game play-wise but also on the technical side of things (Switching to Unreal instead of Frostbyte). The whole project was a learning curve for everyone involved, and although there may have been a few questionable decisions made, it was ultimately all about compromise. If there ever was or will be a Mirror's Edge 2, I can tell you it will be vastly superior and much closer to the original vision. I just hope they make it some day!

What was it about Dear Esther that made you choose it? I love Dear Esther! Thanks for all the hard work you put into it, you really made it look so amazingly beautiful! The first time I played it I was so amazed by the island that I spent alot of time just looking at everything. You sir, are truly brilliant!

I think what drew me to it was this idea of using a first person game space for something other than the 'traditional' first person game play experience. As an environment artist, I've always believed for years that the environments in a game can be used for more than just a passive thing, backdrop to the game, a set-piece, etc. but instead as a tool to help draw the playing into the world, the story. Dear Esther is all about that, exploring and telling a story through the environment and I saw the possibility to really explore these ideas within the context of the game.

Any word on upcoming attractions (that you can say)? Or are you just building breathtaking scenery out of cash now ;)?

Also, what is your process like? How much do you pull from references/environment sketches? I know Nihad from raindrop team just did everything without concept art...

If you could spend forever making any kind of level, what would you draw inspiration from?

I drew a lot of inspiration from photos references for the environments and various impressionist paintings for the art style.

Early on I didn't really have the luxury of a concept artist until I stumbled upon the talented Ben Andrews who helped create some beautiful concepts for areas I had been facing a creative block on. I found the use of a concept artist to be especially useful when dealing with some of the more surreal areas of the game, such as the caves level and the last level. Often his pieces were not direct guides, so to speak, but simply 'mood' pieces which would inspire me and get my imagination going.

Overall I wanted the environments in the game to be grounded in reality, and more importantly, to have a sense of locale, which I really believe can only come from studying photo references of the hebrides and getting to know the environment I was sculpting.

My god this game depressed the hell out of me. It was a visual marvel, but good god it depressed me.

Haha, I did feel guilty about releasing it on valentines day!

I try to look at it positively: no matter how shitty things get, at least you're not stranded on a cold, desolate polluted island, with a broken leg, an infection, kidney stones, a drug addiction whilst slowly going insane from the tortured memories of your dead partner whom you may or may not have killed in a car crash! :P

Will you also be doing work on Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs?

At the moment i'm still overseeing development of Dear Esther for the Mac, and other platforms in the future. Right now my plan is to just take some time out and unwind from DE, and see what opportunities present themselves

My absolute favorite aspect of Dear Esther is the amazing atmosphere that it conveys: the sound effects, music, and visuals come together wonderfully. How much time did you spend just walking around the island and tweaking things until it felt just right?

A lot! I think the overall environments were finished in early 2011 and the remainder of that time was mostly spend on just polish (in-between negotiations with Valve and porting over the content to the Portal 2 engine).

Overall I think that time spent tweaking made a phenomenal difference to the quality of the game and the experience; It's all in the details - stuff most people wouldn't normally notice, but not be the same without it, like grass swaying in the wind, mist rising from the damp grass, leave blowing in the wind etc. They all come together to really help build a believable world in which the player can immerse themselves in.

What kind of modding did you do for hl2? How did this transition into landing a job at Dice? As a hl2 hobbyist myself I've always been curious about such workings.

I’d already been a 3d artist for 2 years, starting in 2002 making models for military recognition software, and only began dabbling in game art back in 2004 when Valve released their SDK for Half-Life 2. I made a couple of DM maps and was eventually recruited into a mod (also recently turned indie) called Nuclear Dawn along with what was some of the most talented people on the Source Modding scene back then. Working with such a talented group really pushed me to improve the quality of my work and I learned a hell of a lot during my time on ND. It was also during this time that I found myself working more hours on my mod stuff than I was with my real Job - but enjoying it a hell of a lot more too! I think that was when I realised that I wanted to do game art for a living, and as soon as my work was finished on the mod, I began looking for a job in the industry. Fortunately, by then, many of the team had already been recruited by various game studios, and since I finally had some decent, relevant work in my portfolio, I used some of my new found connections to eventually land myself a job at Dice, but i realise that luck also played a part in it.

I think modding is a good way to go as it helps you to work in a group, share ideas and learn from others.

So I am hesitant to buy this game because it is so different and I'm afraid I wont like it, what is one thing that you could say to try and sway me into trying it? Anything.

Expect something different, it's a fresh look at what the games medium can do outside the boundaries of traditional gameplay. There’s no shooting, puzzling or platforming, but instead the focus here is on exploration and story, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are and why you are there. If want a break from the noise of modern FPS games and want something that you can just relax and absorb yourself in for a couple of hours, give it a try!

My main impression of the art in Dear Esther, aside from its beauty, was how well you gradually increased the fantastic nature of the setting. It begins in the most mundane place possible--an abandoned dock on a god forsaken island. And then you subtlety make the setting weirder and weirder--first with Neolithic monuments and a ship graveyard, then the magical caverns, and finally culminating in the otherworldly cliffs at the end (I understand these broad settings are all in the mod, but it was the little details that made it work so well). I thought it mirrored the psychological state of the narrator and is maybe the best integration of art and story-line I have ever seen.

Was there any specific inspiration you had for this? Do you think that other games can integrate setting and story line as well, and if so, how? Or am I reading way too much into it?

Thank you for your incredible work.

EDIT: I never played the original mod.

Thanks for the kind compliments!

You're absolutely spot on with that, a lot of effort went into communicating the of surreal nature of the island in the second act of the game. There is a lot of subtle subliminal imagery in the second half of the game, for example the caves are very symbolic of a journey through his own body, his mind and soul, and culminates in the underwater scene at the end of the level which is a turning point on his journey (I don't want to give too much away here).

There isn't a specific influence when it comes to the design of the surreal aspects of the game, but I was heavily influenced by impressionist paintings and the philosophy behind the impressionist movement.