Sapience - Progress Update news

It has been a long time since we've spoken to you last about the progress of Sapience and we'd like to apologize. The team has been expanding rapidly, now numbering a bit over 15 heads, and in the last months we've seen a considerable shift of duties and work allocation all around to accommodate the expansion of Triptych as well as the evolution of Sapience. But that has come to an end and we're focusing heavily on Sapience once more, and intend to bring you all up to the latest news available.

First and foremost a new trailer has been released that showcases the game's action set pieces, environmental set pieces, and focus on attention to detail and immersion. Yet I have to stress, this is all pre-alpha stuff. The final build of Sapience is going to be optimized and polished a hundred times over more than this. So take it with a grain of salt, and do not be judgmental to a product so early in its life cycle:

We still cannot say when Sapience will be done, but we can promise it WILL be done. We have no intentions of abandoning this save short of total disaster in the teams member base, which is entirely unlikely. In unaffiliated news, we have brought on three voice actors for the leading roles, described below--with a demonstration for their VA capabilities.

This is the first, but not last, of introductions to the game's cast to you and likely one of many updates on the story including storyboards, trailers, and teasers released across the rest of the year.

Character Sheet

Name: Lucas Spektor (Player Character)
Voice Actor: Travis Crane
VA Demonstration: Youtube.com
Age: 27
Physical Traits: The player is infected with the Progenitor virus, the strange neurological disease that broke out at the end of the Earth War, and infected tens of thousands in the Sapience project. This means that for the initial levels the player is sickly, slow, and stoic. But rapidly he has to become a leading for is in the militia, and acquires a militarized health suit (nanosuit). This increases his reflexes and physical capabilities to essentially, normal, or a little above. He is about 6 feet tall, has a stocky build, short brown hair, and gray eyes. He is not seen in game except through his avatar during radio broadcasts.
Personality: Spektor is a reserved, stoic man who possesses a high intellect and understanding of most things as he was a psychologist and english teacher on earth before the "war". He was a soldier for years before he retired, so he has a buried sense of leadership and courage within
himself. He is quiet, observant, and honest, bordering on the optimistic side of life. He is capable of making selfless choices, which is essential for the ending in which he sacrifices himself. When interacting with other people, he is very short spoken and to-the-point, often foregoing niceties in favor of the raw essentials. Where people would agree, but then state there opinion, point of view, and argument--Spektor would just say, "Yes."

Name: Emily Vice
Age: 25
Voice Actress: Seaglass
VA Demonstration:
Youtube.com
Physical Traits: Not much is known about Emily Vice physically, as she is on an
intercom entirely. Her facial portrait shows a slender, brunette woman
with green eyes and a defined, thin face. She is seen in the midhalf of the game, but I won't spoil it.
Personality: Emily is a bright and resourceful research scientist who aids Spektor first in the
past tense, with data she supplied to her deceased husband, and later in real time through intercom conversations. She speaks with a fast Australian accent, often buzzing through possibilities and
data in run-on sentence style. She is sincere, though, and very serious when it comes to the mission at hand, as her intercom is the only tool she has to finish what her husband tried to start.
Story Basis: She is the player's aid throughout, and is also crucial to the backstory of the colony. She is, essentially, the Otacon of the story.

Name: Colonel Nikoli Markov
Age: 40
Voice Actor: Edwyn Tiong
VA Demonstration:
Youtube.com
Physical Traits: Markov is a scarred, balding and grizzly looking man who has seen war for far too long. He is short, stocky, wears variants of army clothes or suits throughout the story and is almost always fighting something. He is the player's aid and ally directly in a "squad" partner fashion for much of Sapience's first half, with tons of personal dialog between the levels to build a friendship with him. And yes, Spektor talks back--no Gordon Freeman syndrome.
Personality: Unlike most Colonel's Markov is not entirely patriotic, charismatic, or challenging. He is as quiet and studious as Lucas is, which allows them to get along well and complete the mission with zero emotional baggage. He is guilty about his actions in the human-Outer Things conflict which he mentions only briefly. (But is covered in much detail in game)
Story Basis: In-game squadmate and comrade for most of Sapience.