A winding road
We’ve come a long, long way together. At first, Genotype was “Cold Signal”— a dude in a weird boxy snow car traversing an ice world. Surviving. Then, the car died, and a research base was erected in Antarctica. It was a secret base from the beginning! After that, the entire secret under-ice research base went to Greenland. Later, it returned to Antarctica. Then it became a bit less secret with a showroom for all the alien tech being developed and such. It was named Snowdrop Initiative.
Early concept art: Imagined entrance to Snowdrop Facility
Our main protagonist (you) was a male industrial spy, then a female cop. She had a few more job transitions before settling on being an intern at a weather station. Not a strong career choice, if you ask her mother, but Evely loves it. A polar bear was around. However, that was a leftover from Greenland, so the polar bear shapeshifted into a penguin.
Early concept art: Plant lineup and Greenland cop woman
The research base was working with DNA found in a meteor, but then IRL scientist explorer Sir Robert Falcon Scott appeared. He’d been beaten in 1912 to be first on the South Pole by adventurer Roald Amundsen. He and his entire crew then died, trying to return to camp, but not before taking samples of frozen flora with him. That stuff became the new research subject of the Snowdrop Initiative. Turns out it was alien DNA!
Early concept art: A flooded room.
Evely first found the base via a distress call. The distress radio was cast away, and she found the base instead in a snowstorm, having been disoriented and veered off course. Finally, she accidentally crashes through the ice. Plop. Welcome to the Snowdrop Initiative.
The neat little glove with a printer, creating creatures that shoot bees and bombs, was at one point an enormous box thing you carried on your back. As it often is with printers - it didn’t work.
Early concept art: GRAID printer concept idea
Nearly all of the game’s features, locations, and designs have undergone similar transitions over the past two years. Our writer has been busy. The journey’s been well worth it, as you shall see for yourself if you play the game.
Early concept art: Creature concepts.
