Seaman (Sega Dreamcast)

In early 2000, I worked as a programmer at Sega, Inc. on a project called "Seaman" for the now-obsolete Sega Dreamcast console.

The premise of the game was basically the user taking care of a pet fish, except as the fish matures, he develops the ability to speak, and begins asking questions of the person playing the game in order to learn more about them. Utilizing voice-recognition technology, players spoke to Seaman, who eventually would start getting pretty philosophical.

The game itself was programmed using Delphi, and while Japanese developers were producing the graphics for the game, the US team I worked on was in charge of encoding the audio samples to correspond with the script. Our team started with 5 programmers and we were on a tight timetable as the game was scheduled to ship in 6 months. Unfortunately, we lost 3 programmers along the way for various reasons, so that for the last 2 months it was just myself and one other programmer responsible for coding all the audio and managing the testing teams. (Note: I did NOT work on the voice recognition software, that was developed by a different team. )

It was a really interesting premise for a game and was quite popular in Japan, but unfortunately was not as successful in the US market. It did, however, get pretty positive reviews from the gaming community, and was selected as one of the Top 10 weirdest games of all time by Game Informer Magazine. It was also lauded for it's originality and use of voice commands.

Evidently the game is still popular enough that it's creator Yoot Saito is considering launching a
new version of the game on Nintendo’s 3DS system.

Some excerpts from reviews:

Seaman is an interactive virtual pet (with an attitude) for your Dreamcast. Perhaps the best thing about the game is the voice interaction. Included with the game, you can use the microphone to communicate with your Seaman, in conversation or in instructions.

You start the game by setting up your habitat and adding some eggs. In a few days, the eggs will hatch. Once that happens, you have a baby fish(s) (with a human head). The fish grows up and eventually grows legs. Now this frog/man will eventually . well, I don't want to give it away. Let's just say you should never cross mate with seafood (as if I have to tell you that).

To have a successful Seaman (i.e. one who stays alive), you must feed him, talk to him, play with him, and regulate the oxygen, heat, and moisture.

The cool thing about Seaman is that he interacts with you. Be careful what you tell him, it may come back to haunt you. If you mistreat your Seaman, he will let you know. By asking questions, Seaman gets to know you. It remembers everything you say, and builds its own personality around that. If you get too bossy with your fish, he'll tell you just what he thinks about it. It really is a neat little game.

-Game Vortex
http://www.gamevortex.com/gamevortex/soft_rev.php/1895/seaman-dreamcast....

The game starts innocently enough: Pop in the microphone, load the disc, and listen to Leonard Nimoy's deadpan introduction. From there, you're presented with three things: an aquarium, a shell, and an egg. You use the D-pad to improve the temperature and air quality, and then you wait. Eventually, eight tiny monocular creatures will spew forth from the egg, only to be devoured by the squidlike creature that lives in the shell. Soon, however, the squid is ripped to shreds from the inside and, in a life-giving act of revenge, your gill-men are born. Sound twisted? It gets better.

For the next few hours, the humanoid-faced gill-men will continue to grow, exhibiting speech patterns akin to human "baby talk." Once they start uttering familiar syllables, you're supposed to use the A button to activate the microphone and talk to them, which gets you into the meat of the game: conversation. Nothing much will come of it initially, usually just requests for food or environmental needs, but later on, as the gill-men weed out their numbers and gain intelligence, they'll take an interest in you. First, they'll ask about your birthday, then how your family is doing, and - as the weeks progress - the state of politics in a two-party, republic-style system of government. Between each visit, Spock, er... Mr. Nimoy will summarize the prior visit's highlights and even give you hints on how to better care for your Seamen. While the speech recognition is far from perfect, it's constantly impressive to witness just how much "Poddy" (as I came to know the last remaining Seaman) could understand. If I greeted him with "'Sup?" he'd respond with "Word." Amusingly, "PlayStation" yields "Mmm, that name sounds familiar."

-Gamespot
http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/sim/seaman/review.html

Essentially, Seaman is a tamagotchi, a virtual pet living in a virtual fish tank. As his primary caretaker, you have to make sure his water is warm enough, he's well-fed, and his tank is oxygenated. This is a daily chore, and skipping a session could have dire consequences, like death, or worse, annoyance.

Eventually, Seaman will want a name. I named mine "Thargor." I don't know why - it just sounded like a good Viking name and I was in a Viking mood. He asked me when I was born, and commented about the specific day. He inquired about my job and my sex life. I answered truthfully. A few days later, he made references to these conversations. It was REALLY freaky...and REALLY cool.

-Game Revolution
http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/dreamcast/seaman

Much of the game relies on you actually talking to Seaman via the microphone, which plugs into the second VMU slot on the DC controller. Seaman’s voice recognition is very good, although it has its definite ups and downs. When Seaman asks you a question the voice recognition works wonderfully. It’s amazing how he can tell the difference between "the thirteenth" and "the thirtieth" for example. However, when Seaman is just hanging out his voice recognition is pretty spotty. I would estimate that he really understands about 40-50% of what you say to him, and keep in mind that these are words he should know. For example, oftentimes if you spontaneously say "Yes" to him he confuses it with "Kiss" and comes back with something like, "Put this tongue in that mouth? Not in a million years." "Friend" is often confused, and he may answer, "Seaman is a SuperFreak." While most of the screw-ups are very humorous, they can occasionally be a little bothersome, and your conversations sometimes end up sounding like a round of Mad Libs.

Still, what Seaman can do is fascinating. He asked what my job was, and I told him I am a writer. What amazed me is that he knows what a writer is. He said, "Oh, so I could read your stuff in books, magazines, maybe on bathroom walls?" As I said before, it’s amazing what he knows, and his quips are hilarious, especially coming out of a fish-man-thing that sounds a lot like George Takai. Much of the humor I attribute to Jellyvision, the folks who did the cultural localization for the US version, and makers of the incredibly amusing You Don’t Know Jack games.

-Games First
http://www.gamesfirst.com/reviews/shawn/seaman/seaman.html

more reviews:
http://www.thunderboltgames.com/reviews/article/seaman-review-for-dc.html

http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=dreamcast&game=s...

http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=2548

Video Clip: It took a while for me to find a clip that doesn't include profanity. I guess there's something about talking to an artificial intelligent fish-creature that brings out the foul-mouthed sailor in people. Anyway, there are plenty of hilarious clips like this on YouTube if you're so inclinded...