Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg, France

Four computers display the simulator with submarine control panels. Different game sessions can be played simultaneously on two screens. After a quick lesson on training pods explaining how to pilot a submarine, players put what they've learned into practice using the simulation game. The goal of the game is to move through the environment and reach a given location several kilometres away. Changes in water temperature and saline levels require players to make constant adjustments to successfully accomplish their mission. A typical game lasts approximately 12 minutes.


Challenge: Optimize Work with a Small Production Team

A very reduced 3-person team had to produce the project from start to finish, so they needed a powerful tool to optimize teamwork and ensure efficiency. Xavier Boissarie, a game designer working in the PC gaming industry for 12 years, was in charge of creating the project with Virtools’ technology.

Through passionate exploration of the mechanisms governing life and human interactions, Xavier Boissarie interprets and implements such systems to design his personal projects. His project "Le Bal" recently received the prestigious Award for Interactive Creations from the SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques).Xavier Boissarie and his production team don't program in C++ and were not willing to start for this project. They needed a toolset that would free them from concentrating on code and let them focus on content.

For the project, they chose to take a step away from hyper-realistic graphics to make the experience of piloting the submarine the priority: "dumping," discover and suspense. Groups of underwater creatures greet players, evoking the visual illusions found by submariners. The sound environment was designed to bring to mind an ever-changing aquatic ambiance that changes with the water depth and animals present in the vicinity.


Solution: Fast, Seamless Production Cycle With Virtools Dev 2.1's User-Friendly Behavioral Scripting Language

Development time was significantly reduced thanks to the Virtools Dev 2.1 library of more than 450 reusable behavior building blocks. The submarine simulation physics as well as the behaviors of the aquatic animals all came from the standard library, requiring no additional programming.


Key Benefits

· Rich, complex interactivity
· Optimized creative process
· Accessibility to non-programmers
· Reusable development components


Find Out More