Depth

Factsheet

Developer:
Digital Confectioners
Based in Canada, USA, New Zealand, Wales

Project start date:
2009

Website:
depthgame.com

Press / Business Contact:
depth@digitalconfectioners.com

Social:
Discord
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube

Releases:
November 2014

Description

Depth is a multiplayer game which blends heart pounding tension and visceral action in a dark aquatic world. The periods of tension separate combat - which is visceral, chaotic, bloody, and fast-paced. Divers must explore the depths of the ocean for valuable treasure while fending off attacks from ravenous sharks. Shark players stalk and bide their time for opportune windows of attack, lunging in and ripping apart unwary divers.

History

Depth began its life way back in 2009, as a student project built as a mod for Unreal Tournament 3. In the early days of Depth, the premise of the game was very different. There was a large focus on stealth gameplay, and avoidance of sharks. The earliest concept of the game was a single player action/RPG where players would go on dives to bring back valuable artifacts to sell for cash. AI controlled sharks would try to eat them, and a largely defenceless player would be forced to use stealth in order to stay alive.

Between 2010 and 2012, Depth made the transition to Epic's UDK, and became a full-fledged game rather than a mod. The focus of the gameplay remained on stealth, but the single player concept was dropped in favor of a player versus player multiplayer game type. At this time the gameplay revolved around divers finding ways to out-smart shark players so that they could grab loot and escape with it. (Divers won if they got a certain amount of treasure back to their spawn point). The game was a lot of fun to play as a Diver, as it offered a heart pounding stealth experience that was quite unlike any other stealth game. But as fun as it was to play as a diver, it was confusing, and sometimes outright boring to play as a shark. The most common questions were "Where are the divers?", or "Where should I go now"? Nobody really knew how to make the shark experience feel fun.

This wasn't an easy thing to fix, either. It went straight to the roots of the Depth gameplay and affected every part of the game. Consequently, after more than three years of development, the hard decision was made to put the project on indefinite hiatus. There was a sense that the potential of the concept was not being fully realized, and that everyone needed to take a step back from the game and get a fresh perspective on what it was we were trying to accomplish.

Fortunately that hiatus didn't last long, as Digital Confectioners, a team of experienced Unreal Engine developers out of New Zealand took an interest in the game in early 2013. A partnership with the original team was struck up, with the goal of getting the game finished and released.

The gameplay focus shifted towards fast-paced aggressive action, and asymmetrical multiplayer.

Team & Repeating Collaborators

Depth Team

Alex Quick
Creative Director

Justyn Dagg
Level Designer

Ron Prestenback
Gameplay Developer

Michael Shepherd
2D Illustrator

Myles Lambert
Environment Art

Alejandro Gorgal
Character Art

Ralf Straube
Character Art / Animator

Ben Wood
Environment Art

Jaret Illingworth
Level Designer

Nicholas Singer
Composer

Digital Confectioners

Bryce Haywood
Gameplay Developer

David Hill
3D Artist

Fiona Yang
UI Developer

Hari Kilgour
3D Artist

James Tan
Technical Director / Engine Developer

Keegan Gibson
Engine Developer

Kenneth Churcher
User Interface Developer

Leigh Beattie
Dev Ops / Server Infrastructure

Moni Masina
Animator

Neil Reynolds
Gameplay Designer / Gameplay Developer

Romy Gellen
Technical Assistant

Sam Evans
Project Manager / User Interface Developer

Sam Lockton
Quality Assurance

Will Scott
Quality Assurance / Community Manager

Engine Audio

Tom Todia
Sound Design and Implementation

Chris Latham
Sound Design and Implementation

Supergenius

Naomi Fish
Animator

Alex Yao
Animation Director

Robert Fink
3D Modeler

Greg Savoia
Vice President of Development

Daryn Olson
Character Technical Director

Brice Anderson
Animator

Cody Sauer
3D Modeler

Traci Cook
2D Illustrator / User Interface Artist

Adam Danger Cook
2D Art Director / 2D Illustrator

Paul Culp
CEO

Bryan Provencher
Vice President of Development

Damon Redmond
Senior Producer

Alexandria Condon
Character Modeler

Han Hunter
3D Modeler

Erick Cazares
3D Modeler

Mario Colindres
3D Modeler

Native Prime

Native Prime
Translation

Translators (Turkish)

Çınar Tuncer
Translation

Ömür Gencer
Translation

Oskay Demir
Translation

Unified Sounds

Steve Cox
Trailer Music

Danny McIntyre
Trailer Music

Also

David Pursley
User Interface Artist

Calvin Trinh
User Interface Artist

Nicola Holmes
Web Designer

Shannon Holmes
Web Developer

Ryan McKee
3D Modeler

David Pursley
User Interface Artist

Anders Fray
Level Designer

Jack Nesbit
Concept Art

Joe Tolliday
3D Modeler

Paul Fox
Additional Sound Design

Contact

Inquiries
depth@digitalconfectioners.com

Customer Support
support@digitalconfectioners.com

Discord
discord.gg/swfKHAMrgB

Twitter
twitter.com/DepthGame

Facebook
facebook.com/DepthGame

Web
depthgame.com