heywood on 23/2/2018 at 12:28
It was originally sold as a "System Shock Remaster". The best example of a remaster is Black Mesa. A System Shock remaster would never be as authentic as that, because the interface and controls and movement and shooting mechanics are so far out of date. I assumed they would rework the interface and mechanics. But I expected them to stick to the same basic gameplay, not turn it into an RPG or gore fest. Similarly, I expect a remaster to have the same setting, same plot, same levels, same weapons and puzzles, etc. The original level design hasn't aged well, so I wouldn't have minded if they updated it a bit, as long at they "feel" similar to the originals and you progress through the game the same way.
Starker on 23/2/2018 at 12:42
Well, if they said it was going to be a remaster, they simply didn't understand what a (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaster) remaster is.
And it's clearly something much more on the Kickstarter:
Quote:
A modern take on System Shock, a faithful reboot; it's not Citadel Station as it was, but as you remember it. Many improvements, overhauls and changes are being implemented to capture the spirit of what the original game was trying to convey, and bring it to contemporary gamers.
→ Re-imagined enemies, weapons, and locations by original concept artist Robb Waters.
→ Terri Brosius reprises her role as SHODAN, and new VO will be recorded.
→ Brand new musical score composed by Jonathan Peros.
→ The user interface, game mechanics, enemies, and puzzles will be updated to reflect modern aesthetics and sensibilities, while maintaining the feel of the original.
Scope Features
→ $900k Goal: Modern Inventory Management, Modern Controls, New Puzzles, Updated Faithful Levels, Game Difficulty Modes.
→ $1.7m Goal : Enemy limb dismemberment, More puzzles, Ammo types/weapon settings, Vending machines, Weapon upgrading, Hardcore mode (No respawning), Ironman mode (Only 1 savegame. If you die, the save is deleted)
Myagi on 23/2/2018 at 13:39
Quote:
This demo represents the look and feel that we want to achieve with the final version we'll deliver to you, our backers.
There's nothing to interpret or misunderstand there. They took money for that, then abandoned it to make something else. That's a dick move, and not quite comparable to other KS:s making a new game from scratch (which can be a lot more.. uh.. fluid between intent and final outcome).
icemann on 23/2/2018 at 15:30
Most Kickstarters tend to provide a wealth of information not just with the initial campaign, but also in the later updates provided. This one did not.
Right up until the hiatus imposed we knew next to nothing of what was happening other than concept art, which in itself did not reveal that much besides the look they were going for. Game mechanics wise, nothing at all was revealed or even lightly touched on.
Compare that to nearly every other KS I've backed which provided in-depth info on intended game mechanics, story / background story, discussion of what areas of the game were being worked on, who was working on what with some details given on those people etc etc. We knew so little for so long. Night Dive has MUCH to learn from this. The only detailed update that I can recall was from the person doing the music. That gave some good info, and he provided samples of what he'd done, his inspirations etc etc.
Vae on 23/2/2018 at 15:38
Quote Posted by Myagi
There's nothing to interpret or misunderstand there. They took money for that, then abandoned it to make something else. That's a dick move, and not quite comparable to other KS:s making a new game from scratch (which can be a lot more.. uh.. fluid between intent and final outcome).
Yep.
From Stephen Kick's own admission...
Quote:
In March of 2016, Nightdive Studios released our video of our vision of System Shock Remastered. Done in Unity it was an immediate hit with almost a half million views on YouTube. In June of 2016 we launched a Kickstarter campaign to make the vision into a reality. It was tremendously successful with over 21,000 backers contributing over $1.3 million to the campaign. We put together a development team and began working on the game. But along the way something happened.
Maybe we were too successful. Maybe we lost our focus. The vision began to change. We moved from a Remaster to a completely new game.
Renault on 23/2/2018 at 16:36
Quote Posted by Starker
Well, if they said it was going to be a remaster, they simply didn't understand what a (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaster) remaster is.
And it's clearly something much more on the Kickstarter:
The text you quoted is the revised version though, the original campaign specifically mentioned a remake, not a reboot.
Starker on 23/2/2018 at 17:12
Nevertheless, they were clear from the start that they are going to change some things. They never said that it's going to be exactly the same game. And the demo is proof of that. The look of the level, the mutants, the Sparq Beam gun... they were substantially different from the original. This is clearly not a remaster, and if it still has the original levels, the original characters and the original story, even with some changes, it's not really a complete reboot either.
Shadowcat on 24/2/2018 at 02:09
That's disappointing. I would have backed this if it had actually sounded like a System Shock remake, but all the talk of SS2-style elements told me that a faithful remake wasn't ever on the cards, so I elected to just wait and see what transpired. Still, I'd suspected that I'd ultimately want to buy it, so it's a shame to see things going so wayward. Here's hoping they can afford to get it back on track.
Starker on 24/2/2018 at 07:49
I don't have a problem with them changing things, as long as it a) stays faithful to the original and b) stands on its own. I realise that these are conflicting goals, but the work has to form a cohesive whole. I don't even really mind things like dismembering and freezing the mutants. It's just that there are many more things that are more important to get right first. This is not Dead Space and things like these are not going to be part of the core gameplay.
Other than that, the current look is a bit too clean for me -- IMO cyberpunk has to be somewhat offensive and in your face, with glaring neon lights and dirty metal surfaces. I think the Unity demo was pretty spot on for the most part. If they manage to get the aesthetics to be more similar to that, I'd be completely satisfied.
Hopefully, they'll get their things together and get out of this endless pre-production phase they seem to be in. I mean, this thing was already in development at least 6 months before the Kickstarter and they still don't have a clear vision on how to proceed.
icemann on 24/2/2018 at 08:54
Yeah... From the updates it was looking like they'd taken the cyberpunk side completely out of it, and were more going for SS2's style.
