Obsidian (1997 video game)

Obsidian is a 1997 graphic adventure game developed by Rocket Science Games and published by SegaSoft. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Based on a game design outline by VP of Development/Creative Director, Bill Davis, and written by Howard Cushnir and Adam Wolff, Obsidian is a first person 3 D graphical adventure game, with a large puzzle element. The puzzles were designed by Scott Kim, Howard Cushnir and Adam Wolff. The soundtrack was composed by Thomas Dolby along with other composers at his company Beatnik, at the time known as Headspace. The game spanned five CDs, and features pre rendered environments, audio, and full motion video (both live action and CGI). The strategy guide includes numerous small essays, providing background on such subjects as nanotechnology, Jungian psychology, and the nature of artificial intelligence. Included is a minigame which uses a "twenty questions" algorithm (similar to what would eventually be used in 20Q). The game comes preprogrammed with a set of guesses, but after losing it asks the player for criteria that would have led it to a correct guess, and then records that information into a text file. Because of this, the game is able to (theoretically) "learn" how to become so good as to beat the player every time.

The year is 2066. The player controls scientist Lilah Kerlins. Lilah and her partner, Max, have just launched the Ceres satellite into orbit around the Earth. The satellite is designed to release nanobots into Earth's atmosphere in order to counteract depletion of the ozone layer and air pollution. Because the satellite has been endowed with a powerful artificial intelligence, it is thought that all further control may safely be ceded to the satellite itself. Thus, Lilah and Max go on vacation in the woods of a mountain (one of the first areas to be positively affected by Ceres). While checking Lilah's e mail on her PDA at the campsite, the player hears Max scream in the distance. Running to check on him, she discovers a large black outcropping on the side of the mountain, the Obsidian for which the game is named. The glassy structure opens, and Lilah falls inside, leading to the beginning of the game itself. Ceres' artificial intelligence has become sentient. In an attempt to figure out who she (the A. I. refers to itself as female) is, Ceres has used her nanobots to create a world. She seems to be discovering all the faults and downsides of humanity, and asking herself whether or not the Earth wouldn't be better off without people on it. Unlike other Artificially Intelligent supercomputers, Ceres was not made conscious by learning about humans directly through a central device, but instead through the growing complexity of her nanobots, creating a distributed intelligence, akin to that of a beehive or anthill. In order to communicate with Lilah and her partner, the nanobots constructed a female android known as "The Conductor", with a white porcelain, human head with silver eyes and a bizarre electrical halo cap on top. Every time this android speaks, her (or its) mouth does not move, but instead the sides of her face flash light blue with every syllable. During the complexity, Ceres, for unknown reasons, thought of her two creators as mother and father, begging for approval, yet able to change the world completely on her own. Max, suspicious of this, was imprisoned within his own invention: The Programmable Molecular Assembler, despite the fact that the PMA was the very thing that created her. Why the guide addresses Ceres as "The Conductor" is unknown, though the meaning could be understood in one of the game's endings. The game is linear until the end, although two realms involve areas that can be accessed in a number of different combinations. At that point, the player has the option of either talking Ceres out of destroying humanity, or ceding that she is correct. Depending on the choice made, the game plays one of two endings. One ending shows Ceres destroyed and Lilah returning to the original world with Max. The other ending shows Lilah return to a world which has been "rebooted" by Ceres, who in its misguided urge to cleanse the planet has erased the source of the pollution, mankind, leaving Earth in a bleak, primordial state, which Ceres considers decontaminated. The final shot of the second ending, in which Lilah stands on a cliff overlooking a wasteland, is identical to a painting seen earlier in the game.

The environments in the game are all pre rendered computer generated backdrops and movies, similar to those found in Myst or Starship Titanic. The visuals are abstract and illustrative, resembling the work of the surrealist painters. Each of the four environments reflects the main characters' subconsciousnesses, as well as shedding light on the overall story through the use of symbolism. The first area, exploring the character of Lilah's subconscious, deals with the themes of bureaucracy involved in getting the Ceres project funded and realized. At first, Lilah cannot be helped due to the bureaucratic protocols of the realm, as well as the main inhabitants, sentient CRT Monitors known only as "VidBots". However, as she progresses, she eventually figures out how to use the cramped and confining protocols to her own advantage. The second area explores Max's subconscious, and directly references the creator's role in its creations in this case, it deals with the paranoia and reality of the creation, Ceres, attaining a life of its own to a point where Max, the builder, is no longer needed. Many symbolic references are made here about its various components—electricity, oil, air (for pneumatic components), and metal. At this point, The Conductor gives a monologue to the player, then transports the player into the next realm. The third area explores Ceres's own subconscious and its need for a purpose in its newfound life. Here, Lilah helps Ceres understand the concepts of inspiration, life, and creativity, much like the theme of breaking bureaucratic bonds in the Bureau realm and power of machines over humans in the Spider realm. However, Lilah discovers that Ceres, in its own childlike creativity and thinking, has deduced from its base programming that humans are a threat to Earth's environment, and to save it, everything must be reset anew by destroying everything and everyone on Earth. The Ceres Realm is the final area of the game, where Ceres puts its plan into motion, explaining that the cleansing is its gift to Max and Lilah, not realizing its full power. While the Conductor is busy, Lilah finds Max trapped in an electronic prison the PMA, and frees him, enabling him to sabotage Ceres' control chip. However, The Conductor finishes its work before this happens. There are two ending choices: Lilah can either allow Ceres to complete its work, causing Earth to become a primordial wasteland, or cause Ceres' systems to crash, thereby saving Earth.

Max and Lilah are the only two human characters shown in the game. The world inside Obsidian is populated almost entirely with "vidbots"—robots with televisions for heads. The two major exceptions to this are Bismuth, a cobbled together, elf like robot with a lamp for a head which is capable of shining its light beam great distances, and the Conductor. At the beginning of the game, before reaching the obsidian, the player can watch a couple of videos of other scientists that Max and Lilah work with, including their boss. The CERES satellite itself is never seen, but a picture of it on a cake can be viewed briefly in one of the videos.

Rocket Science Games showed Obsidian alongside The Space Bar at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Obsidians final budget was $4 million. The "Egg Shattering Man" TV advertisement directed by Rocky Morton won three Gold Clio awards. The game was released on January 10, 1997, with a suggested retail price of $59.99.

The title was re released by Call Your Vegetables and Jordan Freeman Group on August 28, 2023, alongside fellow SegaSoft game, Rocket Jockey. Both products are available on Steam (service) and ZOOM Platform. com.