Seaman (video game)
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- This page is about a video game. For other uses of the word, see Seaman (disambiguation).
| Seaman | |
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| Developer(s) | Vivarium, Jellyvision |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Distributor(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Yoot Saito |
| Platform(s) | Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 2 |
| Release date |  July 29, 1999  August 8, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Media | GD-ROM, CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Microphone |
| Input methods | Microphone, Gamepad |
Seaman is a virtual pet video game for the Sega Dreamcast. It is one of the few Dreamcast games to take advantage of the microphone attachment, which in this game used a (relatively) sophisticated form of voice recognition technology. The substantial narration is voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the English-language version.
While the game received an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1999 Japan Media Arts Festival, Game Informer has named the game one of the top ten weirdest of all time.[1]
A sequel called Seaman 2 has been released in Japan for the PlayStation 2.
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[edit] Premise
The "Seaman"' is a form of freshwater fish (the color and shape of the fins suggest that it is a Carp) with a very lifelike human face. It possesses human mannerisms and behavior which with which the player interacts.
Seaman is considered a unique video game in that it presents limited action. The player's role is to feed and care for Seaman, while providing him with the company that he needs. A portion of Seaman's knowledge is random trivia. When he asks what the player's birthday is (and the player responds via the microphone input), Seaman will then share significant events which happened on that date.
The Seaman becomes fairly domesticated, but this does not prevent it from insulting the player or constructing less-than-friendly remarks.
[edit] Story
Official explanation lifted from the manual and various sites:
Once long ago in Egypt's third dynasty, there was a man, who fell in love with a priest’s daughter. This man was the son of the Pharaoh, who disapproved of his son's relationship with the priest's daughter. The Priest sought help from Tahuti (Thoth), who was the god of wisdom.
Thoth was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis bird, and carried a pen and scrolls upon which he recorded all things. He was shown as attendant in almost all major scenes involving the gods, but especially at the judgment of the deceased.
Thoth had turned the man and his lover into a fish creature and a bird. The man became the fish, and his lover became a bird. Both had vanished. The priest who at the time was in charge of the construction of the pyramids, asked Thoth if they were to ever return. The Pharaoh asked if the priest could build a landmark that could act as a beacon, so that one day the couple could return.
Thousands of years later Professor William Southerland, the director of the Anthro-Bio Archaeological Research Institute in France had announced to the international media that there was a strong possibility that the creature "Seaman" was very much related to the origin of Ancient Egyptian civilizations.
Later, a man named Jean-Paul Gasse was the first scientist to research the Seaman creature, and is in a sense the creature's discoverer. Gasse found himself in an expedition around the area of the Nile River, investigating the biological ecosystem of the river. Gasse found mutated bone fragments by the river. All of bone fragments shared common characteristics, they all seemed to have mutated suddenly in order to adapt to the changing Nile Valley.
The fragments correlated with Hieroglyphics found on the ruins of pyramid walls dating back to the ancient third dynasty. While trying to reproduce Seaman's region and environment, Gasse continued to make experimental mistakes in the lab-based aquarium. Gasse realized that Seaman was no ordinary creature. This creature's face is just like that of a human being. He then gave them a name "Sea-man", or man of the sea.
[edit] Gameplay
The player is provided with an unhatched Seaman egg at the beginning of the game and through various terms of development and conditions develops and interacts with it. By using various buttons on the Dreamcast controller, the player controls all of the machinery and physical contact with the mysterious creature. The player is also provided with multiple Seamen for breeding and interaction purposes. Over the course of the game, it is required of the player to evolve their Seaman to different stages in its life cycle, eventually transforming into a frog-like creature outlined on the Disc's cover.
[edit] Mushroomer
In the Seaman's first days of life, it begins as a Mushroomer, lacking a face or any verbal means of communication. In this form it is essentially a parasite, which infests a host Nautilus and consumes it from the inside out for nourishment. In this stage, the player's interaction is somewhat minimal and plays similar to a tutorial, allowing the player to learn to control the heat in the fish tank, direct the Mushroomers, and clean out any filthy water that has accumulated over time.
[edit] Gillman
After emerging from the deceased body of the Nautilus, the organism enters a stage called the Gillman, which features a humanoid face and small, fish-like body. During this stage, the Seaman becomes capable of speech, copying and reiterating comments through microphone input. At this stage, the player will begin the communication process, and continue facilitating the aquarium as the Gillman grows larger, developing scales and a larger vocabulary. Although they begin small, the Gillmen soon kill one another until only two remain, a male and a female.
[edit] Podfish
In this stage, the Seaman is still fish-like in appearance and is similar to that of the Gillman but more developed. After mating, the male Podfish dies.
The aquarium is also transformed into a terrarium, being drained of most of the water and introducing land and oxygen to breathe, the female then lays eggs on the shore. Shortly after the deposit of the eggs, the female also dies, leaving the player with the hatching of a new evolutionary stage.
[edit] Tadman
Instead of the introduction of new Mushroomers like the player began the game with, the player is provided with a new form called Tadmen, that look similar to matured tadpoles entering the frog stage. The Tadmen's diet consists of feeding upon their fellow siblings, until the number is reduced to two for breeding purposes. The two remaining specimens then re-enter the water and mature until the next stage of the evolution.
[edit] Frogman
This is the Seaman's final stage of its maturity process. It has now become an amphibious creature, with its humanoid face and a frog's body. Now able to co-exist between the habitats of water and dry land, the Frogman is now capable of powerful leaps and the consumption of insectoid organisms; however, like the real-world frog, the creature still requires the moisture of water to stay alive and the player is now provided with a sprinkler system to achieve this.
[edit] References
- ^ “the top 10 weirdest games of all time,” Game Informer 180 (April 2008): 28.
