Venture Arctic
Encyclopedia
Venture Arctic is the second ecosystem simulation game to come from Pocketwatch Games. Following its predecessor Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa
, this Arctic
sequel combines educational value and entertainment. The game allows players to build and manage ecosystems of Arctic animals by interacting with the environment using "tools of nature", such as the sun, snow, wind, and sickness.
There are five different environments in the game, from an oil-rig off the coast of Svalbard
, Norway
, to a new pipeline disturbing the Caribou herds in the Alaskan level. While the game maintains impartiality on environmental issues, players are left to discover for themselves the impact of global warming and deforestation throughout the seasons in their sim-ecosystems and the 22 animal species which comprise them.
The visual art was inspired by traditional Inuit
sculpture. The music is a reinterpretation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons Concerto using Inuit-inspired instruments and instruments brought to the region by explorers. Venture Arctic was designed, produced, and programmed by Andy Schatz, founder of Pocketwatch Games and host of the 2007 and 2008 Independent Games Festival Awards ceremonies.
- Arctic cod are found in massive schools throughout the arctic every year. Many animals dine on these small fish, so they survive based upon their large numbers.
Arctic Fox
- The Arctic Fox hunts for small rodents and birds in the summer. In the winter months when food is scarce the Arctic Fox becomes a scavenger, often following Polar Bears or Wolves to feast on the remains of their prey.
Arctic Hare
- The Arctic Hare is particularly suited to escaping predation on the icy tundra. They are very fast, traveling at speeds up to forty miles per hour. Their blue-grey pelt turns pure white in the winter to help camouflage them from predators.
Arctic Wolf
- Arctic Wolves reside in territory further north than any permanent human settlement and thus they are unafraid of human scent. This lack of fear has provided scientists with opportunities to study Arctic Wolf packs up close and in great detail.
Bowhead Whale
- Bowhead Whales travel the Arctic seas in pods grazing on plankton. Extremely large and powerful animals that can weigh over ten tons, Bowhead Whales will create breathing holes by breaking through up to four feet of ice.
Caribou - Caribou eat grass and shrubs in the summer. In the winter, they use their shovel shaped hooves to dig through the snow searching for lichen. Both male and female Caribou have antlers, allowing for the females to compete with males for food and dominance.
Greenland Shark
- Greenland Sharks prey on fish and marine mammals and are particularly attracted to the smell of rotten meat. Their flesh is poisonous to humans and dogs when raw but is traditionally used as food for sled dogs when dried.
Harp Seal
- Harp Seals spend most of their life in the water and can hold their breath for fifteen minutes. Newborn pups weigh twenty pounds at birth but gain over fifty pounds in the first week of their life from their mother’s nutrient-rich milk.
Muskox - Muskoxen have large horns and thick, hard skulls. When threatened by bears or wolves a herd of Muskoxen will gather in a circle with their young in the middle. They will then take turns charging their attacker.
Narwhal
- The Narwhal has only two teeth. One stays small while one (usually the left tooth) grows up to nine feet long through the Narwhal’s upper lip. In most cases, only male Narwhals grow the giant tusk.
Orca
- Orcas travel in groups composed of ten to fifty individuals. These pods are often made up of two to three generations of the same family. Adolescent Orcas help care for the young in the pod by training them to hunt fish and seals.
Polar Bear
- Under their thick white coats, Polar Bears have black skin which they use to absorb the sun’s rays. Their paws are large and webbed, giving them traction on the ice and making them excellent swimmers.
Puffin
- One of the only three birds in the game, it only eats cod, cod, and more cod! (We got ourselves a flying fat bird here!)
Snowy Owl
One of the only three birds in the game, it eats hares, lemmings, and might scavenge a carcass.
Wolverine
- Wolverines look like bears but are actually related to weasels. They are solitary creatures who may roam up to fifteen miles in one day looking for food. Although they will eat vegetation, Wolverines prefer meat and are determined hunters.
Common Raven
- One of the only three birds in the game, a Common Raven also leads you through the tutorial.
Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa
Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa is an simulation video game set in Africa. Players create and control African animals such as lions, elephants, zebras in this strategy game. To succeed, the player must discover the unique behaviors of each species and build food and water sources to suit them...
, this Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
sequel combines educational value and entertainment. The game allows players to build and manage ecosystems of Arctic animals by interacting with the environment using "tools of nature", such as the sun, snow, wind, and sickness.
There are five different environments in the game, from an oil-rig off the coast of Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, to a new pipeline disturbing the Caribou herds in the Alaskan level. While the game maintains impartiality on environmental issues, players are left to discover for themselves the impact of global warming and deforestation throughout the seasons in their sim-ecosystems and the 22 animal species which comprise them.
The visual art was inspired by traditional Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
sculpture. The music is a reinterpretation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons Concerto using Inuit-inspired instruments and instruments brought to the region by explorers. Venture Arctic was designed, produced, and programmed by Andy Schatz, founder of Pocketwatch Games and host of the 2007 and 2008 Independent Games Festival Awards ceremonies.
Venture Arctic Animals
Arctic CodArctic cod
The Arctic cod is an Arctic deepwater fish related to the true cod .-Names:The fish has several common names, including polar cod and Greenland cod...
- Arctic cod are found in massive schools throughout the arctic every year. Many animals dine on these small fish, so they survive based upon their large numbers.
Arctic Fox
Arctic fox
The arctic fox , also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version...
- The Arctic Fox hunts for small rodents and birds in the summer. In the winter months when food is scarce the Arctic Fox becomes a scavenger, often following Polar Bears or Wolves to feast on the remains of their prey.
Arctic Hare
Arctic Hare
The arctic hare , or polar rabbit is a species of hare which is adapted largely to polar and mountainous habitats. The arctic hare survives with a thick coat of fur and usually digs holes under the ground or snow to keep warm and sleep...
- The Arctic Hare is particularly suited to escaping predation on the icy tundra. They are very fast, traveling at speeds up to forty miles per hour. Their blue-grey pelt turns pure white in the winter to help camouflage them from predators.
Arctic Wolf
Arctic Wolf
The Arctic Wolf , also called Polar Wolf or White Wolf, is a subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a mammal of the family Canidae. Arctic Wolves inhabit the Canadian Arctic, Alaska and the northern parts of Greenland....
- Arctic Wolves reside in territory further north than any permanent human settlement and thus they are unafraid of human scent. This lack of fear has provided scientists with opportunities to study Arctic Wolf packs up close and in great detail.
Bowhead Whale
Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae in suborder Mysticeti. A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh to , second only to the blue whale, although the bowhead's maximum length is less than...
- Bowhead Whales travel the Arctic seas in pods grazing on plankton. Extremely large and powerful animals that can weigh over ten tons, Bowhead Whales will create breathing holes by breaking through up to four feet of ice.
Caribou - Caribou eat grass and shrubs in the summer. In the winter, they use their shovel shaped hooves to dig through the snow searching for lichen. Both male and female Caribou have antlers, allowing for the females to compete with males for food and dominance.
Greenland Shark
Greenland shark
The Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus, also known as the sleeper shark, gurry shark, ground shark, grey shark, or by the Inuit languages name Eqalussuaq, is a large shark native to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean around Greenland and Iceland. These sharks live farther north than any...
- Greenland Sharks prey on fish and marine mammals and are particularly attracted to the smell of rotten meat. Their flesh is poisonous to humans and dogs when raw but is traditionally used as food for sled dogs when dried.
Harp Seal
Harp Seal
The harp seal or saddleback seal is a species of earless seal native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean. It now belongs to the monotypic genus Pagophilus. Its scientific name, Pagophilus groenlandicus, means "ice-lover from Greenland", and its synonym, Phoca...
- Harp Seals spend most of their life in the water and can hold their breath for fifteen minutes. Newborn pups weigh twenty pounds at birth but gain over fifty pounds in the first week of their life from their mother’s nutrient-rich milk.
Muskox - Muskoxen have large horns and thick, hard skulls. When threatened by bears or wolves a herd of Muskoxen will gather in a circle with their young in the middle. They will then take turns charging their attacker.
Narwhal
Narwhal
The narwhal, Monodon monoceros, is a medium-sized toothed whale that lives year-round in the Arctic. One of two living species of whale in the Monodontidae family, along with the beluga whale, the narwhal males are distinguished by a characteristic long, straight, helical tusk extending from their...
- The Narwhal has only two teeth. One stays small while one (usually the left tooth) grows up to nine feet long through the Narwhal’s upper lip. In most cases, only male Narwhals grow the giant tusk.
Orca
Orca
The killer whale , commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas...
- Orcas travel in groups composed of ten to fifty individuals. These pods are often made up of two to three generations of the same family. Adolescent Orcas help care for the young in the pod by training them to hunt fish and seals.
Polar Bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
- Under their thick white coats, Polar Bears have black skin which they use to absorb the sun’s rays. Their paws are large and webbed, giving them traction on the ice and making them excellent swimmers.
Puffin
Puffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
- One of the only three birds in the game, it only eats cod, cod, and more cod! (We got ourselves a flying fat bird here!)
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl
The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...
One of the only three birds in the game, it eats hares, lemmings, and might scavenge a carcass.
Wolverine
Wolverine
The wolverine, pronounced , Gulo gulo , also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...
- Wolverines look like bears but are actually related to weasels. They are solitary creatures who may roam up to fifteen miles in one day looking for food. Although they will eat vegetation, Wolverines prefer meat and are determined hunters.
Common Raven
Common Raven
The Common Raven , also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids...
- One of the only three birds in the game, a Common Raven also leads you through the tutorial.
Awards and Reviews
- Sim Game of the Yearhttp://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=655
- 28th Best Indie Game of All Time http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=620
- GamersInfo.net Review of Venture Arctic http://www.gamersinfo.net/articles/1875-venture-arctic
External links
- Road to the Independent Games FestivalIndependent Games FestivalThe Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11948 - CEO on Fox6 San Diego discussing Venture Arctic & Environmentalism in the home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Qs7fIhB4M
- Pocketwatch Games Website http://www.pocketwatchgames.com