CURRENT

CURRENT was a massively multiplayer online (MMO) exploration game released for the Dreamcast, developed and published by ArcFire Interactive. The game was released worldwide on July 10th, 2000.

Players assumed the role of a customizable avatar dropped into an aquatic world split into 4 distinct layers based on the pelagic zone of the ocean: Sunlight (Epipelagic), Twilight (Mesopelagic), Abyssal (Abyssopelagic), and Hadal (Hadopelagic).[1]

Unlike most MMOs of the time, the game did not feature clear objectives, instead aiming to be a "virtual playground". The only goal was for players to explore, socialize, and create experiences with others inside their own virtual world.[2]

CURRENT was also notable for its early use of cel-shaded graphics in video games,[5] a trait shared by another game released for the Dreamcast, Jet Set Radio.

Gameplay

The game featured online connectivity, with players being able to see other players who were currently in the same location as them. Interactions with players were limited to a specific set of words which would appear as a speech bubble near the player's avatar. In order to reach deeper layers of the ocean, players had to work together to complete specific puzzles or fulfill specific requirements, creating an ecosystem which encouraged experienced players to help newer ones.[3] Each time a player reached a new layer of the ocean, they were rewarded with new words to aid in their communication with others.[2]

The game began with an avatar creator, allowing players to customize their avatar's hair type, horn shape, accent color and eye color. Following the finalization of their avatar, the player would then be dropped into the ocean to explore the game's first area, the Shallows.[4]

The players and environments utilized cel-shading, with a sketchbook-like style chosen to illicit feelings of child-like imagination and creativity.[2] Other players, as well as certain creatures and interactive objects within the areas, appeared as rougher sketches compared to the main character.[5]

Limited-time events were a key part of the experience of CURRENT, and were distributed through use of streaming, rather than traditional content updates.[7] Soon before the game's closure, CURRENT's lifespan was celebrated with a final song which played throughout all in-game environments.[8]

Critical Reception

Critical reception at the time was mostly positive, with critics praising the game's atmosphere, graphical style, and online connectivity, but dissatisfied with the amount of content within the game as well as the limited interaction between players.[6]

Legacy

CURRENT's online functionality was available from July 10th, 2000 to July 21st, 2001.

The game's closure was attributed to the commercial failure of the Dreamcast, as well as the game's experimental game-play not appealing to wider audiences. Despite this, CURRENT would amass a cult following over time, with some fans attempting to revive it through emulation and unofficial servers.[7][8]

In the years following the game's closure, CURRENT has been cited as a progenitor of exploration-based adventure games such as Yume Nikki, and the game's use of limited online interactivity between other players has been compared to Journey.[7]

Wash Away and Other Lost Songs

Due to the game's use of streaming audio during events rather than storing event songs on the game disc, many songs from CURRENT were never preserved. One of these songs, given the fan-made name "Wash Away", was reported to have briefly played during the time before the game's servers were taken offline. The song featured musical leitmotifs of every main track in the game.[9] The song was considered lost media and garnered a large following of people who were dedicated to finding it.[8]

After multiple years of searching for a recording of the track, the song was rediscovered via an old recording and was subsequently uploaded online on July 20th, 2024, one day prior to the 23rd year anniversary of the game's closure.[9]

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Credits

Thank you for checking out CURRENT, a little concept of a forgotten game we've created over the past week as part of OST Composing Jam #7.

All music composed collaboratively by @zapathie and @cheyennix.

We worked together equally for each song. Initial song composers are indicated by the leading name in the composer column within the track information.

Character design created by @zapathie and @cheyennix.

Box-art design & logo created by @cheyennix. Box-art game renders created by @nyrusin.

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Track Information

You can listen to the soundtrack on both YouTube and SoundCloud.

#	Track Title	Length	Composers
01	Precambrian (Avatar Creator)	1:46	zapathie, cheyennix
02	Shallows (Epipelagic)	4:29	cheyennix, zapathie
03	Ectosymbiosis (Mesopelagic)	4:52	cheyennix, zapathie
04	Biolumenesca (Abyssopelagic)	3:36	zapathie, cheyennix
05	Deepest Known (Hadopelagic)	6:26	zapathie, cheyennix
06	Wash Away (Closure) (Rediscovered)	4:06	cheyennix, zapathie

01 - Precambrian (Avatar Creator)

Upon starting the game, the player would be greeted by the title screen, a bubbly ocean landscape accompanied by the sound of bubbles. This menu would transition to the avatar creator if the player did not have one already. The avatar creator's music was adaptive, gaining layers as the player chose their avatar's hair type, horn shape, colors, and finally, eyes. After this, the player and their creation would be thrust into the vast world of CURRENT.

02 - Shallows (Epipelagic)

This region was bright and jovial, featuring tropical fish and colorful reefs as far as the eye can see. Being the first region of the game, new players only had access to the following Social Phrases: "Hi!", "Bye!" and "Thanks!". Players could also communicate by saying a nearby player's username, including their own. This allowed new players to quickly connect at a surface level, and made expert players with more specific phrases stick out amongst the crowds.

03 - Ectosymbiosis (Mesopelagic)

Upon reaching the Mesopelagic zone, players unlocked the following Question Phrases: "Where?", "How?" and "When?". These were very useful for this zone, as it was the vastest in the entire game, with puzzles taking place over notable distances. While navigating the dim waters, kelp forests, trenches and underwater caves, players could encounter different types of fish, crustaceans, whales, sharks, and more.

04 - Biolumenesca (Abyssopelagic)

The Abyss was the strangest ecosystem in the game, featuring abnormal fauna living in deep darkness. Lights in this zone were rare, the most common being from glowing lavender crystals. These provided players with a sense of relief and familiarity, though some distant lights seemed to... move sometimes?

The Abyssopelagic zone granted players access to a wide array of Suggestion Words: "Follow me.", "Here.", "Later.", "Soon.", "Gather.", "Repeat." and finally, "You're welcome.". This let players more efficiently share knowledge and work together, which was necessary for braving the Abyss' cryptic puzzles. Players at the time could also return to earlier zones and use these words to guide newcomers.

05 - Deepest Known (Hadopelagic)

The Hadal zone was nearly empty, its only life being cuttlefish and miniature ecosystems surrounding thermal vents. This emptiness was by design however, as players that reached this zone unlocked the most powerful form of communication: the ability to place direct messages on the ocean floor.

These messages were vibrant and illuminated their surroundings with the color of the outfit of the avatar that placed them. Players used these messages to guide others towards hard to find locations and events in prior layers. Most of the community had a culture regarding "schooling, not spoiling", ensuring that messages were helpful without spoiling their reward.

Players would also use Hadal Messages to communicate directly to nearby people, share their thoughts and opinions, and in some cases, band together to create artwork on the ocean floor.

Many players at the time searched the Hadal Zone for the Kraken, a creature said to be locked behind a series of puzzles so specific that only a select few had seen it. Its influence was spread by gaming publications of the time, and whether its existence in the game was ever real or merely a rumor has yet to be confirmed.

06 - Wash Away (Closure) (Rediscovered)

This track only played a handful of times in the days leading up to the closure of CURRENT's online servers. It remained lost media for many years, until recently when a recording was discovered. It's not the best quality, but at least it's preserved. The song features leitmotifs from all of the normal tracks in the game. It's rumored that the game underwent some brief visual changes during the times in which this song played, but no pictures of such a thing exists.

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