The Tomorrow Children for PS4 is an all-new downloadable videogame in development by Q Games (hopefully for PS Vita too), the same developers who created the highly popular PixelJunk series for PlayStation Network (PS3, PSP).
Check out the debut trailer for The Tomorrow Children from Gamescom 2014.
Featuring a stunning “toy miniatures” artstyle that has to be seen to be believed, The Tomorrow Children has been quietly under development for the past several years in Q Games home of Kyoto Japan, it seeks to offer gamers a unique vision of a “rather odd, vibrant and peculiarly Soviet world.”
Here’s The Tomorrow Children image gallery.
Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size screenshots:
“The Tomorrow Children is the story of a future re-imagined from the after-effects of an experiment in 1960s Russia that attempted to ‘sublime’ the human race, or meld all human minds into one global consciousness.
Unfortunately it went wrong and decimated the planet, and it took the next 90 years for the few humans left to rebuild to the point where they have created you, the player, as a ‘projection clone’. You’re tasked with venturing out into ‘The Void’ to reclaim the human race and restore it to its former glory!”
In The Tomorrow Children, the survivors mentioned above have rebuilt the world based on a Marxist Society circa 1960s… However those ideals have become distorted by the flow of time and technology has advanced in new and unexpected directions…
At the start, players are just a normal citizen in this Soviet world, tasked with doing their job and doing it good. That earns you “Recognition Points” for your state-sanctioned labor. These can be cashed in at the Labor Office to earn coupons. The coupon rations can then be spent on upgrading your character with improved moves and abilities.
For example, if you pick up the “Sharp Elbows” perk, you can cut in line! WOWZA! Now THAT is a handy ability! 😀
Because you live in a Soviet-style country, the most important thing to the state is natural resources (naturally).
As such, you work as a miner and must mine for materials. These materials are used to build defenses against the invading monsters known as the Izverg. While mining for minerals you can also discover treasure, and you will encounter all manner of “strange things”.
What makes The Tomorrow Children unique (outside of it’s amazing artstyle and aesthetics), is that everything you do in the game will effect the world that other players inhabit.
The goal is for the “tomorrow children” to combine their strengths to overcome their weaknesses and allow their little human race to survive in this harsh world. Thus, things you do will briefly become visible and be projected into “other player’s realities”. Intriguing!
Some examples of this gameplay mechanic were given. If you discover a worker cornered away in a dark space, you can shine your light and they will see that light projected in their game! So The Tomorrow Children is not multiplayer, but features online play in this way.
Shining your flashlight in the dark mines so others can see is important because the darkness is all imposing, and if you lose yourself in the darkness while slaving away in the mines, you’ll lose consciousness and wake up back in town (dropping your hard-earned Recognition Points in the process!). In this way, players can help each other succeed by cooperating.
As you earn more and more Recognition Points, you can build cooler and cooler objects to help bring life and success to your world.
These include everything from buildings to vehicles to items, from Gun Turrets to Cars, from Light Fixtures to Tanks! Objects you purchase will grow your town and make it more prosperous, and certain weapons will help to defend your little homely against the giant monster Izverg.
You can also recruit helpers by discovering “Matryoshka Dolls” hidden about the world.
“The main goal is to restore the population of the world. You will discover strange Matryoshka Dolls which contain the raw DNA essence of the devastated populace. Taking these to the Restoration Points in the town will bring them back to life and the dolls will start working on the town, carrying things around and repairing it for you (that is, when they feel like it!).”
There’s also a unique “voting” mechanic in The Tomorrow Children.
“Every couple of days an election is held and everyone votes on the mayor they wish to be elected. Choosing the right mayor is crucial. One mayor might lower the resource cost of all buildings by 20%, while another might increase weapon efficiency, allowing the turrets to reload more quickly – handy when there is a swarm of spiders attacking!”
Very, very cool!
If you haven’t played the PixelJunk series, you owe it to yourself to check those games out. They are excellent and will give you an idea of the pedigree of Q Games and their projects.
The series includes: PixelJunk Racers (2007) & PixelJunk Racers: 2nd Lap, PixelJunk Monsters (2007) & PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (PSP), PixelJunk Eden (2008), PixelJunk Shooter (2009), PixelJunk Shooter 2 (2011), PixelJunk SideScroller (2011), PixelJunk 4am (2012) and the upcoming Nom Nom Galaxy & PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate, both 2014 releases.
Q Games is also responsible for making everything from Star Fox Command (DS) and Star Fox 64 3D (3DS) for Nintendo, to the original Blasto for PS1 for Sony (via Argonaut). The developer’s founder, Dylan Cuthbert, previously worked at Argonaut Software, the guy’s who made the original SNES Starfox for Nintendo (as well as the cancelled Star Fox 2). Here’s an interview with Dylan Cuthbert where he discusses Star Fox SNES, Star Fox 2 and X-Commander.
I am very, VERY impressed by The Tomorrow Children and this sounds like another huge feather in Sony’s downloadable “Indie Games” cap that is definitely worth checking out.
I absolutely love the premise, adore the art style, and respect this unique world that they’ve built. And the gameplay sounds very interesting as well. There aren’t a lot of games that take place around “work”, this is one of the few. Can’t wait to play this!
Are you excited for The Tomorrow Children?