kathief

Hi Jim! I totally understand - my apologies for not staying current out here. We originally thought we would be able to direct more discussion traffic to AVSIM, but I think the non-flight-sim people might be intimidated by AVSIM, so they gravitate to Facebook or direct email. Thank you for hosting us! We will make sure that our announcements are made here as well as our other social media and try to encourage more people to come here. It's an awesome community! kathie

Hello! Our crazy indie studio adventure has taken us all over the place in the past year, both literally and figuratively - my apologies for not staying up-to-date out on AVSIM. Here's a quick summary of what we've been up to lately... We have continued to develop our scuba simulator, both for conventional Win/Mac machines. We call our development style "crock-pot" - sloooooow pace, but tasty results. Our scuba simulation game is available on our website (https://www.infinitescuba.com), on Steam Early Access (http://store.steampowered.com/app/305700/Infinite_Scuba/), and on the Windows Store (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/infinite-scuba/9wzdncrfj269). We were co-authors of two academic papers last year: Concepts and practice in the emerging use of games for marine education and conservation (Sep 2016, Aquatic Conservation / Wiley) MPAs, aquatic conservation and connecting people to nature (Sep 2016, Aquatic Conservation / Wiley) We were lead authors of an academic paper this year: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and the Marine Conservation Movement, (Sep 2017, Aquatic Conservation / Wiley) We are in the midst of a graphics overhaul of the conventional game as we prepare to release an update this fall. The next update will include Spanish, along with updates to our French, German, and Hungarian translations. Our new Salish Sea dive site is in progress. Our first VR dive (with Dr. Sylvia Earle) will be released this fall on the Oculus store. Originally, we weren't planning to publicly release this still early work, but the demand for it amongst our colleagues in the environmental and educational realms has caused us to reconsider. In addition to our work on Infinite Scuba, we do custom simulation and VR work for other parties. If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them here. Happy Fall! Kathie Flood, Cascade Game Foundry SPC, Managing Director & CEO The SPC in our name stands for 'social purpose corporation', the Washington state version of a 'B' corporation. Our social goals are environmental education and the promotion of STEM skills. We donate $1 of each game sold to ocean awareness non-profits like Mission Blue (Dr. Sylvia Earle's group), and we provide Infinite Scuba free to teachers and schools.

Hi again! We made a resolution to actually figure out how to do community management this year... still trying to get that to bubble up to the top of the to-do list. :/ For now, here's our 2015 wrap-up... Happy 2016! We had an incredible 2015 at Cascade Game Foundry, adding to our diving simulation game, Infinite Scuba, learning how to be better marketers, and doing contract gigs, so we wanted to get you up-to-date on our adventures. In February, we were featured in a Seattle Times story by Nicole Brodeur, which sparked a year of exciting opportunities for us. We were honored that our US Representative, Suzan DelBene, visited our office in April – we appreciate her support of small businesses in Washington state and caught up on our shared roots at Microsoft. (Fun fact - both of her parents both worked on Flight Sim back in the 1990's and 2000's.) Our work travels took us to San Francisco (Game Developer’s Conference, March), Los Angeles (E3 and MIX shows, June), Cologne, Germany (gamescom, August), Orlando (DEMA dive industry show, November), and Monaco (BLUE Ocean Film Festival, November). In late July, we rode our bicycles across Iowa on RAGBRAI. We wore Infinite Scuba jerseys, visited libraries in the towns on the route, and gave away gift cards with codes for free copies of the game to the people we met. Hottest. Marketing. Trip. Ever. But, it was very fun to meet so many wonderful people on the ride and talk to them about the ocean! In October, we went on tour with Neil Young! His concerts include a “Village of Action” - a dozen or so environmental and political groups whose work he supports. We were proud representatives of Dr. Sylvia Earle’s ocean awareness non-profit, Mission Blue. We talked to people about Dr. Earle and showed her diver avatar in our game at concerts in Montana, Washington, and British Columbia. We also created custom art for Neil’s Go Earth! website. During the school year, we visited many schools in Washington and Iowa to talk to students ranging from elementary to high school about game development, STEM skills, and ocean/environment issues. (We are registered as a SPC, Social Purpose Corporation, aka B-Corp, in the state of Washington.) We also did contract work for several other companies, much of which we can’t discuss publicly due to non-disclosure agreements. Let’s just say creating and running a small business is one of the most strange, interesting, and gratifying challenges we’ve had the opportunity to tackle. Call us if you want the gory details. As we start 2016, we are excited to be working on our first cold-water dive site, new dive gear, new activities, and several new releases of the game, in addition to more contract work. We are so happy to be here and grateful to be doing this rewarding work! Many thanks for your interest in our game and all the kind emails! Best wishes for a healthy, peaceful, and productive 2016!! kathie and the crew at Cascade Game Foundry

Hi again! We can't believe we're halfway through 2015 - time really does fly when you're having fun! Here's our quick mid-year recap... We got some great coverage of the game in the Des Moines Register and the Seattle Times, had a visit from our U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene, and showed the game at GDC, iFest, Power of Play, E3, MIX, and numerous schools in Washington state and Iowa. We are now prepping for PAX and hard at work on our next dive site (Pacific Northwest) and our Steam build, as well as evaluating several strategic partnerships. (Exciting!!) Starting on World Ocean's Day (8 June), we've also had fun posting short videos that feature our partners on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CGFVIDEOSTREAM You can now follow us at these locations: Our website: www.infinitescuba.com Twitter: @infinitescuba and @cascadegf Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CascadeGameFoundry YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CGFVIDEOSTREAM Please help us get the word out by telling your friends about us - many thanks! Whew. Add all that to the unseasonably warm weather in Seattle... we're hot! kathie

Howdy! Basically, we've been going non-stop since last year's GDC and Game Connection, where we were one of the Selected Projects. So many cool opportunities have come our way since then! It's certainly been a roller coaster ride as some projects come to fruition while others fade away. Someday, I will have to write a book. In the meantime, here's a quick rundown. Between the Game Connection Selected Projects invitation and introductions by Dr. Sylvia Earle and her ocean-awareness non-profit Mission Blue, we spent last summer and fall showing the game at iFest (Seattle), SxSW Eco (Austin), Mobile Games Forum (Seattle), HP Sprout Launch (NYC), BLUE Ocean Film Festival (St. Petersburg FL), World Parks Congress (Sydney), and DEMA (dive industry show in Las Vegas), as well as all the aquariums, museums, schools, clubs, etc. we could fit in. It's a good thing we love to travel! We also released our free trial (available on our website) and Windows 8 Metro version last summer, our Belize dive site and Dr. Earle diver avatar in December, and three new divers this week. We are now working on our Steam build and a Pacific Northwest dive site. More exciting news soon! kathie & the infinite scuba team at cascade game foundry ps: The photo of with Dr. Earle and part of our team was taken at DEMA. We are really lucky to work with such an inspiring hero for the planet!

Hi! Three new divers join Dr. Sylvia Earle (and our original Infinite Scuba diver) in our beautiful and relaxing scuba game. Our latest update automatically includes the three new divers, as well as assorted performance improvements and minor bug fixes. Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R11EPXkMtoQ Steam build is next! kathie

Here's a promo video of Dr. Sylvia Earle diving in Infinite Scuba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vazIGupFf_s We also make the game available free to teachers who use it in their classrooms. (We are a B Corporation.)

We have made significant improvements while finishing the new dive site for release (Belize, Dec 2014), so overall perf should be much better across the board. Also, you can now play the demo version (30 minutes in the water) free on our website (Windows 7 and Mac versions) and on the Windows 8 store (Windows 8.1/Metro version). We have made a New Year's resolution to visit AvSim regularly, too - so sorry for the super-slow-mo reply!

Wow, another post that we missed - I am so sorry for the glacially slow reply! You can't yet snorkel or free dive in Infinite Scuba, though we would like to add those activities. No male diver yet, but one is in progress. We recently added Dr. Sylvia Earle as a diver option, and are in talks with other famous divers, so please stay tuned. We also recently released a new dive site (Glover's Reef in Belize, selected by Dr. Earle) and we are now working on a Steam build, as well as a new dive site in the Pacific Northwest. Please check out www.infinitescuba.com or www.cascadegamefoundry.com for more news of our adventures! We will do a better job of monitoring this site this year, too!

Yikes, it's been far too long since we've been out here - my apologies! We will do a better job of coming out here this year! We just launched a new dive site in December: Glover's Reef in Belize, which was selected by Dr. Sylvia Earle and includes whale sharks, among dozens of other critters found in the Mesoamerican Reef. Your game came with 500 clams, which can be used to buy new gear and dive sites. (Click on 'Chuuk Lagoon' in the game's main menu to buy and/or change to the new dive site.) 2014 was crazy busy in a fantastic way! We were a finalist in the Game Connection Selected Projects competition, starting working w/HP on their new Sprout machine, and showed the game at SxSW Eco, the World Parks Congress, and DEMA shows, among many others. Please visit www.infinitescuba.com or www.cascadegamefoundry.com for more details of our adventures.

Cascade Game Foundry (CGF) is thrilled to announce two additions to their Infinite Scuba game: a new Dr. Sylvia Earle avatar and a new Belize dive site. Dr. Earle, called "Her Deepness" by the New Yorker and the New York Times, is a legendary oceanographer, environmentalist, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, and the founder of Mission Blue (http://missionblue.org), a global initiative dedicated to raising public awareness about critical marine issues. "Mission Blue is delighted to partner with Cascade Game Foundry on Infinite Scuba," says Dr. Earle. "Experiencing the beauty, mystery, and fragility of the ocean in such a hands-on way will inspire the people who play the game to protect our planet's blue heart." "It is a true honor to include Dr. Earle as part of our diving game experience," says Kathie Flood, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Cascade Game Foundry. "Her endeavors as an ocean explorer and conservationist inspired the creation of Infinite Scuba and will allow our players to experience the ocean's beauty and the cause of preservation on a whole new level." In support of Dr. Earle's efforts, CGF will donate one dollar (USD) for every copy of Infinite Scuba sold. Dr. Earle specifically chose the new dive site, Glover's Reef, located in Belize and part of the Mesoamerican Reef, the second largest reef in the world and home to the world's largest fish, the whale shark. For more information, go to http://infinitescuba.com

Hi! We have a few reports of a bug in which the diver controls (e.g. moving forward, moving backward, show camera) fail to function. We have verified the problem and are working on a fix. In the meantime, if you experience this problem, you can reset the game (and the controls) by following these steps: For Windows: Exit the game. Go to this folder, depending on your build: Windows Desktop: C:\Users\<YourLoginNameOnYourMachine>\AppData\LocalLow\Cascade Game Foundry\InfiniteScuba Windows Metro: C:\Users\<YourLoginNameOnYourMachine>\AppData\Local\Packages\CascadeGameFoundry.InfiniteScuba_fn7n90zx2bqzj\LocalState Delete the PlayerState.xml file. Restart the game. For Mac: Exit the game. Open a Terminal window (Launch Pad -> Other ->) Type this at the command prompt to get to the right directory: cd /users/<YourLoginNameOnYourMachine>/library/caches/com.cascadegamefoundry.infinitescuba Type this at the command prompt to remove/delete the PlayerState.xml file: rm PlayerState.xml Restart the game. Please let us know if you have any problems or questions about this, either here or by sending mail to info@cascadegamefoundry.com Thank you! The Cascade Game Foundry Team

Hi! We've finally come up for air after a crazy few months of game- and dive-industry shows and game updates. Here are some highlights of what we've been up to... Our Windows Metro build is now available on the Windows 8 Store and includes a Free Trial that enables you to dive for 30 minutes, to get a taste of our relaxing underwater experience. Search for "Infinite Scuba" in the Windows 8 store or go here: http://tinyurl.com/mnm7kum We're in the "New & Rising" section, too. Our new dive site (in Belize, selected by our wonderful partner Dr. Sylvia Earle) is nearly ready for beta. Please send mail to info@cascadegamefoundry.com if you would like to be a beta tester. New trailer video, used at Game Connection 2014: http://tinyurl.com/ohg9z7n We were a finalist in the Game Connection Selected Projects 2014 in San Francisco in March - this was a fantastic experience and great exposure for us. We were invited to join the PC Gaming Alliance - the first indie team ever invited! Game is available in French, German, and Hungarian, as well as the default English. You can change languages via the in-game Options menu. We tweet! Please follow us @InfiniteScuba and @CascadeGF and tell your friends. We changed the company's corporate designation to B-Corp, noting that we are focused on science, history, and environmental education, so we are officially a company with a 'social purpose'. We worked with the University of Washington Human Centered Design & Engineering School to make our tutorial more friendly. For more info, please check out our website (http://www.infinitescuba.com), ask questions here, or send me a message. Thanks for all your help and patience as we continue building the game! Kathie Flood and the rest of the team at Cascade Game Foundry

Hi Stoppro! Unfortunately, you must hold down W to move forward. We are experimenting with alternate controls for our tablet version, but those won't be ready to roll until later this year. W + Shift makes you kick faster, but you will also burn air much more quickly. kathie

Hi Emile! Unfortunately, Paypal hasn't made it to the top of the to-do list yet. We have received many more requests for new dive sites and activities, so that's where our focus is right now. My apologies for the delay! kathie

Happy Almost Thanksgiving! Here's the quick story: We have released a game update that includes Facebook integration, microtransactions, and a fast-kick (the most-requested feature from users), along with big improvements in performance and memory footprint. More details: You can post the photos you take on your dives (and the postcards you create) on Facebook. You can purchase new dive gear to customize your diver avatar. Our first featured partner is SCUBAPRO® – check out the new wetsuit, fins, mask, etc. from them in the Gear Chooser. If you purchased the game, you automatically have 500 clams to spend on the new gear. We will introduce new gear from other manufacturers every few weeks, and our first new dive site in February 2014. If you run out of clams, you can always buy more on our website. To use fast-kick, just hold the shift key down when you hold the W key down and you'll kick much faster. You will also use your air much faster, so keep an eye on your gauges. How to get the new build: If you are a new user, you will get the new version as soon as you purchase the game. If you already own the game, the next time you try to play, you will be directed to www.infinitescuba.com. Please log into the website and go to My Account to download the new version. (Yes, the update is free.) As always, if you have any questions, problems, or dive sites you would like to recommend to us, please send mail to customerservice@infinitescuba.com or post here. Happy Diving! kathie & the Infinite Scuba team at Cascade Game Foundry

Hi! We completely agree that more dive sites and other content are needed! We are currently working on our second dive site, which we will demo at the DEMA (Dive Equipment Marketing Association) show in Orlando 6-9 November. This is a dive site that Dr. Sylvia Earle personally selected for us, so we are very excited to build it for her and for our players. It's a geographical contrast to the Gosei Maru's Micronesian setting, and it features new wildlife and new activities. The new dive site will be available for public download after the first of the year, likely February. We are also working on a general game update that will be available in November. Many thanks for trying the game and sending your feedback! We are getting a fantastic reception for the game in our target audiences of divers, environmentalists, and educators (teachers/parents/students). Two schools are already using the game in the classroom (one high school, one K-12 STEM school), many others have reached out to us, and we have had a great time regularly demo'ing the game to students ranging from 2nd grade through high school. The Sea Monsters Revealed exhibit (which features a demo version of Infinite Scuba) wrapped up a successful 6-month run at the Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa FL in early September. The show was adapted to fit its new venue at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta GA, and reopened as Sea Monsters Revealed: Aquatic Bodies several weeks ago. More cool news about the game and our partners is coming during the DEMA show. We apologize for the sometimes slow pace - that's one of the challenges of being a small, independent team. We are hard at work improving the game and trying to get the word out about it every day. We are learning constantly and we appreciate any feedback we receive, so many thanks again for taking the time to share your comments with us! kathie

Hi Rook! My apologies for the long delayed reply! The game will run on XP (and Vista), but usually only if the machine meets (ideally exceeds) the memory and video-card requirements. If you can get the game to load, click on Options from the home screen and set the Visual Quality to "Fastest" to get a baseline on performance, then move up from there. Please LMK if you have any other questions - thank you for trying the game! kathie Oh, I forgot to add that the opening disclaimer was a requirement from our legal advisors, to make sure that everyone understands that we are not at all a replacement for actual dive training. We want to expose players to the concepts that real divers must learn, but leave the hardcore teaching to professional dive agencies. We are revisiting the time that the warning must be visible, but unfortunately, there are a lot of lawyers out there with not enough to do, so we have to err on the side of caution. kathie

Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to post your comments on the game! We are indeed working on updates, the first of which will be available in early October. This is a small update with a few new features, such as the ability to post photos taken/postcards created in the game to Facebook, the new turbo feature (which makes the diver consume more air if she is kicking faster), and smaller memory footprint. Shortly after that, we will start our promotions with the individual dive equipment makers, which will make more equipment available in the game. We are also working on new gameplay modes and dive sites, the first of which was selected by Dr. Sylvia Earle. (Yeah, wow!) A male diver is in progress, too. It's been an exciting few months since we launched in the spring! We just signed a deal to localize the game into six other languages (more news on that soon!) and as of yesterday, we have our first school officially using the game as part of their Marine Biology curriculum. We are madly prepping for SxSW Eco in October and the DEMA show in November, among visits to schools, dive clubs, and other civic groups. Last, but far from least, our happy little startup was accepted into the Washington Interactive Network's Reactor (a startup accelerator in Seattle), so we're getting world-class mentorship to help us move from "startup" to something closer to "grownup" status. Thank you again for trying the game and please stay tuned for more! kathie

No, unfortunately, we don't support PayPal yet, but it's on our schedule for later this summer.

Hi! I'm so sorry you're having a problem with the game! We haven't seen issues like you describe on machines that meet the system requirements, so let's sort this out together. Please send us mail at customerservice@infinitescuba.com and include your system information: Operating system Processor Video card Amount of Memory Here's a link to the system requirements from our website: https://www.infinitescuba.com/pages/requirements Thank you! kathie Also, my apologies for the late reply out here! We monitor the customerservice@infinitescuba.com email address daily.

Hi! My apologies for the delayed replies - we've been swamped doing local events in the Seattle area to get the word out and hands on our game. So far, so good!! Re: an SDK... yes, tools are definitely in our long-term plans, so that others can create new divesites and adventures to share with the community. We are working on new dive sites, too, but there's no way we can create them all. It's funny that you ask about a submersible, since we participated in an event last week at the Seattle Aquarium with Mission Blue and Greenpeace to launch their campaign to protect the Bering Sea Canyons. In addition to demo'ing the game, we created mock-ups of a sub with Sylvia Earle in it to show what that add-on will look like in the game. Re: the educational aspect of the game, yes, that is a key area of focus for us. As players dive in the game, we expose them to high-level dive science, such as the concepts of air consumption at different depths and compass navigation. Players can also earn certifications that are inspired by the PADI specialties, such as underwater photography and wildlife identification. As players find fish, corals, and other critters, each one unlocks a page of a Field Guide that can be read after the dive that shows what that creature looks like in the real world, along with some other cool real-world info on it. Finding wreck artifacts unlocks pages of real history that describe the ship, the battle in which it was sunk, the surrounding area, and some of the environmental challenges that have arisen as the ship and it's other sunken neighbors have deteriorated since World War 2. As a company, our goal is to help people explore the world from home - the real world, with all its quirks and charms and fun stuff to learn about. It's a non-standard approach in the rest of the game world, but familiar to simulation fans.

Thanks, Chuck - duly noted! Re: our video, we recorded in 720p, as per YouTube's recommendation for good results on the widest variety of devices, but we clearly lost some of the subtle details. In the real game, there are particle effects, water surface effects, dynamic lighting, etc. and the conditions/visibility change from dive to dive, as they do in the real world. It's certainly not perfect, but it's a solid start. We definitely understand the need for fabulous graphics and kicka** gameplay, but new games, especially new independent games, have to start somewhere. Please remember that FSX took many, many iterations before it became the game it is now. We are just getting started.

Wow, welcome back, eh? Here's a link to our first promo video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvNvJPwBt6g Starting a new company and launching our first game - completely independently BTW - has been an incredible learning experience and we continue to work on the game and learn every day. Keep in mind that in earlier releases, we had a huge team and the full force of the formidable Microsoft machine behind us. It was an amazing wave to ride while it lasted! This time, it's just a handful of us and things sometimes take a bit longer. We wish the pace was quicker, too, and behind-the-scenes, sometimes it is. In other times, patience is one of the virtues we have had the opportunity to get to know better during this adventure. One other observation... the game industry itself is evolving. The "standard procedures," for building, releasing, and promoting games, and for making a living as a game developer are evolving, too. The business models and financing options that seemed set in stone for the entire life of Flight Sim before 2009 have crumbled, and the industry is far from consensus re: their replacements. For a startup, that means we have to be nimble, open, and able to experiment and learn what works - and what doesn't. Now that our base release is out, we will try lots of different types of additions, for different audiences and gameplay styles. We will also be experimenting with guerrilla marketing techniques with our partners. This will not be a totally smooth ride or a straight glide path from A to B, but it has been and will continue to be fun. Our passion for and dedication to simulation gameplay are things that haven't changed. I hope at least a few of you are up for the ride, as long trips are way more fun with friends. Thanks for listening!

I just realized that we hadn't updated this thread after fixing the code-signing issue on our Mac build. The Mac build is now available!