DEVELOPMENT

Development[edit]

Work began on the game while Penumbra: Requiem was still being developed, with the company working on both projects at the same time.^[12] The game was first known under two working titles: Unknown and Lux Tenebras. It was not until November 13, 2009 that it was announced as its current title, Amnesia, with the release of the game's website and a game trailer.^[13]^[14] Initial designs of the game varied considerably from the final game, with the developers interested in reintroducing more combat elements similar to those utilized in their first commercial title Penumbra: Overture. The developers soon discovered that they encountered many of the same problems and difficulties that plagued the combat in that game however, and the design was further changed to be more similar to the style set out by Overture's sequel Penumbra: Black Plague.^[15]

On February 5, 2010 it was announced that the game had reached the alpha stage of development on all platforms.^[16]^[17]^[18] Two weeks later the developers released a new teaser trailer that showed actual game-play footage, and the developers began accepting pre-orders for the game through their website. Also revealed was that the game was at that point being tested on all three intended platforms. It was also announced that the game would be released simultaneously for all of them in August 2010.^[19]^[20] This was later rescheduled, and the game was then expected to have a September 8, 2010 release.^[21] It was then later announced on August 27, 2010 that the game had officially gone Goldand would soon be ready to sold.^[22] On September 3, the games demo was released containing selected parts of the gameplay and story. It was then successfully released on September 8, 2010.^[23]

If the game reached 2000 pre-orders by May 31, 2010, Frictional promised it would release extra content for the game. The goal was finally met in early May, after the pre-orders were offered at a discount made available until May 31. This was done due to the success of Penumbra: Overture as a part of the first Humble Indie Bundle.^[24] The extra content was revealed to be commentary,^[25] and they explained in the comments section of the same page that its intended function was similar to that of Valve Software's commentary system that began in the Half-Life 2 series.^[26] The authors cite "Soul Made Flesh" by Carl Zimmer and older horror movies such as The Haunting as being inspirations for the mood and style of the game.^[27]

Thomas Grip, one of the games main developers, would later write up a post-mortem of the game titled "The Terrifying Tale of Amnesia" for The Escapist, where he outlined in detail the process of the game's development, mostly focusing on its ever changing design and the financial problems that plagued the developers for most of the game's development.^[28]