Draft:Voices of the Void

= Voices of the Void =

Voices of the Void (Shortened to VotV) is an upcoming sandbox, horror, indie game created by solo developer EternityDev (Also known as MrDrNose). It is currently in pre-alpha, published for Windows on Itch.io, and currently is pre-alpha version 0.7.0. Players control Dr. Kel, a scientist who works for the mysterious Alpen Signal Observatorium and is sent to work at a satellite array in the middle of a forest in Switzerland, and must search for signals from space and send them off to their supervisors, while maintaining the facility they work at, whilst avoiding and surviving encounters with visiting aliens.

Voices of the Void is created in the Unreal Engine, and mimics many features and mechanics from Valve's Source Engine. EternityDev was heavily inspired by another game, Signal Simulator, which shares a similar premise.

As of 0.7.0, Voices of the Void has been positively reviewed by it's players, praising it's premise, atmosphere and similarity to the Source Engine.

Gameplay
Like it's inspiration, Voice's of the Void is a first-person sandbox horror game in which players control a scientist named Dr. Kel maintaining a satellite array, using it to search for signals from outer space. Players must eat and sleep to prevent starvation and sleep deprivation.

Every in-game day, the player is sent an email from their supervisor telling them how many drives containing signals at a certain level the player needs to send via a drone, as well as a report of hash-codes needed from 3 of the various satellites in the array. The player is, however, allowed to do this in any order, at any time,, but the report and drives are due at the end of each day at midnight. If the player fails the report, they may be penalized. .

The amount of drives and satellites hash-codes are needed from randomized each day, and the player receives a free drive and a free MRE at the start of each day. The player has an ATV that can be used to travel the map, but requires maintenance and fuel, and radar that can be used to track entities on the facilities grounds.

Signals are obtained via the main station's computer. The player must first ping a signal from space, and if successful, the satellites will rotate towards the source of the signal, but if the ping fails the player must try again. Then to download the signal, the frequency and polarity must be at a certain, randomized amount. When the download is finished, the signal can then be processed, which upgrades their level, starting at 0 to 3. Each level denoises the signal, making it clearer. The higher the level, the more points it is worth. There are approximately 150+ signals in the game.

Sending drives rewards the player points, the in-game currency, with each right hash-code gives additional points. Points can be spent on the in-game computer for supplies, decorations and utilities. The player can also use points to upgrade the station and satellites, making them more efficient and faster, or making servers/transformers less likely to fail.

Occasionally, a satellite or main station's servers will crash, requiring the player to go reset the server manually. To fix the server, the player must solve simple math, either adding or subtracting two numbers, then with the result, give the absolute value and modulo by 10. If the player gives an incorrect answer to any of the questions, they must restart the process. The player can use an disc to either bypass the process, or a disc which prevents the server from breaking for a certain amount of time. The player can obtain a Kerfuś robot that automatically fixes the server for the player, which can be upgraded to fix the facilities transformers, which are required to for the facility to run and will shut down after a time if not reset.

In the story mode, at set days and time, an event will occur. These can also happen randomly, and from obtaining certain signals. During an event, the player cannot sleep, and depending on the event, cannot pause or save the game. Certain events are meant to spook the player, while others are for comedic value. There are roughly 40 days of Story mode events. Certain Events can cause the player to get a game over.

The player may encounter an alien attracted by the signals, or cryptid (Such as Wisps and Furfur) that lives in the surrounding forest,  either by random chance or during an event. The player can be attacked by these entities, but they are usually not hurt and instead are pushed/thrown, although certain entities can actually kill the player, forcing the player to load a previous save.

Development
On April 29th, 2018, a game called Signal Simulator was released and published to Steam, to Very Positive reviews (As of 4/12/2024). Signal Simulator has a very similar premise to Voices of the Void, in which the player searches for signals at a government satellite array. Signal Simulator was inspired by SETI and the Very Large Array, New Mexico.

In Signal Simulator, the player is frequently visited by Grey Aliens and UFOs, causing the player fear and paranoia over their presence. (I'm not sure if the player can be killed by the aliens in Signal Simulator, they may just to incite fear and paranoia in the player. Can someone add whether or not they can die to aliens? Probably also add something about the "Fear of the Unknown")

On October 5th, 2019, popular Sweden Twitch streamer Vargskelethor Joel (Joel) played Signal Simulator, to which it became popular, with the compilation video amassing 981k views on YouTube. (As of 4/12/2024) During the streams, Joel expressed his dissatisfaction and fear of aliens, due to a sighting of a UFO during his childhood. he became extremely terrified over the course of the streams, and after a certain point, screaming and jumping at basically nothing. One noteworthy event throughout the streams was chat telling Joel to check the facilities bathroom, as Greys can enter the facility via its window, and on the final part, a Grey appeared in the window, terrifying Joel and causing him to scream loudly.

EternityDev, a watcher of Joel's streams and game-developer, noted Joel's visceral reactions to the events during the game, and was inspired to create a similar game based on his streams and Signal Simulator, as Signal Simulator has apparently been abandoned by its developers.

Voices of the Void first released on August 5th, 2022 as a demo on itch.io, and is currently still in active development.