On November 6, 2015, we pressed the button to launch Prominence here on Steam. Ten years later, we’re in awe of the thousands of players who explored, pieced together clues, and solved puzzles to help the Letarri mission.
In the years since launch, we released a cargo crate of free extras. In case you missed any, here's the complete list, plus a brand-new one that we’re released today:
• Prominence Prologue e-book with eleven micro-stories that set the stage for the game. Get the backstory on A.N.N.I.E.'s creation. Find out how and why Taeron tech and Letarri tech come together in the game world. Discover the meaning behind the 'ren' honorific in some of the character names. There's even an 'explain like I'm five' scene where one of the vanguard crew explains the mission to his young son.
Many of them were released as weekly episodes leading up to launch, but we also wanted new players to have easy access to them. So we made an e-book anthology (available as EPUB, MOBI, and PDF) with a proper table of contents, character portraits, and a bonus chapter about one particular member of the crew. . .
• The official soundtrack album is available on most streaming services and includes 14 songs from the game. If you own Prominence, two bonus MP3s are also included: The first is "Stranded In Space" which is an early concept that didn't make it into the game, but helped us find the 'how much is too much?' line for the exploration songs. The other is "All Aboard" which went all the way through production and mixing, but was ultimately swapped out during beta.
• A guided PDF walkthrough for the entire game. It makes a fine adventure companion on a tablet or second monitor.
Except for a few necessary diagrams on page 29, the design should be lightweight enough that old-school adventurers can print it out without having to buy new ink or toner for the printer. Feel free to fill the margins with notes!
• More Dev Chats! Early developer chats about the game's design and story were well-received (and are still available on our YouTube channel). Once the game launched, we recorded and published two more.
First was an audio developer chat about the sound effects, the perils of sound libraries, recording foley, finding the main themes and textures, inspirations for the Old Letarri language, voice casting through a thousand demos, working with the actors, and releasing the soundtrack.
Next, we made one about the art and design, beginning with how a real-life Mars project preceded Prominence, finding balance between realism and science fiction, establishing the design languages of Taeron and Letarri technologies, and more.
• Voice-over outtakes reel compiled from the recording sessions with the cast. Short, silly, and fun. It does contain some potential spoilers though, so we recommend listening after you've completed the game.
• Profile avatars featuring most of the in-game characters. Each is available in two versions: PNG with a transparent background and a JPG with a fiery solar background. One day I'm going to log into Steam, Discord, or another service and see one of these in the wild and lose my mind.
These were painted by the amazing Ture Ekroos.
• Steam Trading Cards of course. We jumped at the chance to make cards and badges with the characters and items from the game.
• Behind-the-Scenes Trivia. A brand-new, never-before-released collection of secrets about the game. One part easter eggs, one part “Where are they now?”, and at least one part madness.
If you’ve been here since day one, thank you for being part of this decade of adventure and puzzle-solving!
If Prominence is on your Wishlist, this is a great time to pick up the game at its lowest price ever.
Happy adventuring!
