Incline Das Geisterschiff - turn-based cyberpunk dungeon crawler

[lightbane]

Would have preferred an official explanation for the WTF ending of the first game, and what has the optional dungeon of the alternate ending do with it, but I guess that would be asking too much.

 

[Tweed]

XZL's real name is Brian. ZZ told me so. I have insider knowledge.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Would have preferred an official explanation for the WTF ending of the first game, and what has the optional dungeon of the alternate ending do with it, but I guess that would be asking too much.

I see someone hasn't finished Der Geisterturm yet.

As for the alternative route, if you're so willing to spoil yourself...

Spoiler

The initial plan for the alternative route was much bigger, with a facility -> city map -> underground tunnels structure. It would be a lengthy fight through Eberbach territory that would result in a similar ending (nervous breakdown, comatose state), but with an additional chapter-sized hub to explore. It was scaled down and turned into a less complex 'bad' ending due to burnout -- after crunching for a year and a half on the final version that you see now and spending another year and a half prior to that on false starts and scrapped versions, it was the right time to move on and use the acquired experience to make sure my next game is much better. Which worked out in many ways -- DGT is a much better game, but suffered from its own share of problems.

The alternative route was supposed to hint at the initial plan for DG2 that was scrapped for financial reasons. In the initial story for DG2 you'd play as an Eberbach operative (accompanied by a small recon team) sent to investigate the sudden disappearance of one of the Special Units in a recently-evacuated facility. Special Unit was supposed to go in, deal with a security breach, then get the fuck out, but lost contact shortly after going in. Once you try to cross the bridge to the facility, it blows up, presumably killing your team and leaving you all alone. To add insult to the injury, your communications are jammed, so no contact with HQ is possible at this point.

Eventually, you'd find the missing team, but they'd berate you for screwing up and tell you to fuck off back to the HQ and report that everything is fine. They tell you to use a secondary bridge, but it also blows up when you try to cross it. Eventually you'd turn off the jamming device in the facility and find out that similar shit happened all over the Eberbach territory as an attept to force the higher-ups to stop peace negotiations with Bright Corp: if the negotiations won't stop, all supporters of this cause will break into Bright Corp territory and start running amok, and if BC decides to strike back, Eberbach will be too weakened to maintain its positions. You'd get the green light to eliminate the Special Unit and receive access codes to special storage areas to grab extra supplies and turn yourself into a near-unkillable machine.

After taking them out and dragging your ass back to HQ, you learn that an operation like this can't leave any witnesses, as it'll damage the reputation of the corp. You're lobotomized and forced to live the rest of your days as a vegetable on a miniscule pension as a big fat 'thank you' from the higher-ups.

There was supposed to be an additional campaign where one of your team members manages to survive after the fall, only to find himself in the middle of a 'Bright Corp vs gangs' showdown. You'd have to fight your way back to HQ while trying your best not to piss off the Bright Corp forces -- the ceasefire agreement stops them from wrecking you on the spot, but only if you don't attack them first. When you get back to the HQ and ask about the captain (protag of the full game), the only answer you're getting is 'Who?'

 

[lightbane]

So, in short...

Spoiler

It was all a dream, or a coma due having gone crazy from listening to dishwasher machines hate-fucking 24/7 and seeing everything in red colors.
Is the soundtrack supposed to be the beeping of a life support monitor soundind distorted in the MC's mind then?

Also, obligatory question: Will the final game of the series be rendered in green, or in full color?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

So, in short...

Spoiler

Not really a dream -- more like memories of a comatose soldier.

'Dreams' in this case are visions of character's demise -- think precognition, except much more horrifying. These visions are a rare talent in DG universe and only a few people actually have it -- most of them work for Eberbach as Commanders, and they are recruited at young age and spend their life in pods. They get drugged all the time to stay sane and to avoid falling asleep, as real their real dreams are horrifying enough to kill them. Their primary function is to foresee the outcome of important events and try to solve them in their heads, but this part of the universe wasn't really explored at this point.

Also, obligatory question: Will the final game of the series be rendered in green, or in full color?

Doubt it. I'm planning to put the series on a backburner after DGJ, maybe, maybe I'll consider a small scenario right after it just to give the most hardcore fans a short but very brutal game to have some extra fun with.

I've been with this series for more than 5 years, and it's time to move on to something different, and I'm dying to work on a different game, even within the same genre.

 

[Tweed]

Spoiler

Not really a dream -- more like memories of a comatose soldier.

'Dreams' in this case are visions of character's demise -- think precognition, except much more horrifying. These visions are a rare talent in DG universe and only a few people actually have it -- most of them work for Eberbach as Commanders, and they are recruited at young age and spend their life in pods. They get drugged all the time to stay sane and to avoid falling asleep, as real their real dreams are horrifying enough to kill them. Their primary function is to foresee the outcome of important events and try to solve them in their heads, but this part of the universe wasn't really explored at this point.

Doubt it. I'm planning to put the series on a backburner after DGJ, maybe, maybe I'll consider a small scenario right after it just to give the most hardcore fans a short but very brutal game to have some extra fun with.

I've been with this series for more than 5 years, and it's time to move on to something different, and I'm dying to work on a different game, even within the same genre.

Looking forward to Arwah Jelephanasy some time in 2023!

 

[lightbane]

Spoiler

Whoa, I didn't see that one coming. Child super-soldiers are a staple of sci-fi and RL corps (in a few years, decades at best), but nothing in the first game implied this was an intentionally induced bad trip, at best a weird nightmare.

Soo, drawing game next then, after the saga of monochrome bots is over?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Spoiler

Whoa, I didn't see that one coming. Child super-soldiers are a staple of sci-fi and RL corps (in a few years, decades at best), but nothing in the first game implied this was an intentionally induced bad trip, at best a weird nightmare.

Soo, drawing game next then, after the saga of monochrome bots is over?

Spoiler

They're no longer children by the time they become Commanders, but yes, the games don't imply that, and the protag of the first game had no idea about it either since he has the talent, but it was neither detected nor fostered into something stronger.

This layer of the universe (along with paranormal stuff) wasn't really explored much in the games -- it's something that exists, but out of sight and out of reach for mere grunts you play as.

I'm slowly laying down the groundwork for future projects, and there's plenty of ideas.

Right now the plan is to finish DGJ, then start working on a Wizardry-style crawler and work on smaller projects alongside it, like the commercial version of the 6DoF crawler I made for a game jam earlier this year.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

DGS is 60% off on Steam, both soundtrack DLCs are 50% off.

 

[Kalarion]

I played this finally. I didn't finish this go 'round. I got rekt by Kircher in the Cargo Area after running into mines and engaging multiple Carriers in hth like a fucking retard on the space ship. I'll come back to it (soon, I hope), but right now the thought of starting the chapter over is a little too much. I also failed to go back and (I assume) clean out the Dog House for additional upgrades. I didn't realize that dropping down the RCS hole at the bottom of the Fortress would send me straight to the next chapter. I didn't fully explore the surface access tunnels either; I heeded the warning about turning back and then missed going further after the Chapter finish. Probably could have used whatever I got there for later missions.

I really liked it. It's like Wizardry had its resource management core pulled out and polished to a mirror shine. I don't have a lot of experience with crawlers of this kind, where your resources are your life and not paying exacting attention to them is death... even if it means death 2 hours from now :D. I really liked that fights give you nothing. I felt it was a great way for the game to bitch-slap you and say "don't waste your shit", through organic gameplay. I also grew to appreciate the use of sound and music. Once I figured out how Jammers worked I had a lot of fun playing hot/cold in areas where they were blocking visual. The weapon system was pretty cool too. I liked having to pick the right tool for each fight, and never getting an ammo reload was excellent. By the time I hit the bottom of the Fortress I was sweating bullets because I was out of Laser and Bazooka ammo, and only had 2 mags of SMG and like 15 rounds (no mags) of AR. The effect of whipping out the bazooka was hilarious; first time for me was on Jurgen. I loved the little blurb he gave where he was super pissed and shitting his pants at the same time. And it led me naturally to trying it out on other piloted RCSs. Lo and behold, they did the same thing! Too bad it didn't work fighting Kircher. Speaking of blowing things up, I thought it was cool you can blow mines and doors. It's a genuine CnC moment when you hit a door you can't open, or (as in the first Chapter) you're going through all those one-way doors. The tension between figuring out the puzzle and just blasting every door away (wasting precious ammo in the process) was nice.

One thing I would have appreciated is either (a) an ingame automap that shows everything you've explored so far or (b) support for Grid Cartographer (if the game does either, I missed it somehow). One of the reasons I was discouraged enough not to redo the Ship was that I had probably doubled my playtime non-exhaustively mapping everything to that point, and I didn't want to have to go over each and every square trying to find Armor Plates/upgrades/Access Cards etc again (because of course I didn't mark those spots on my maps). I also would have liked some kind of cushion on walking into doors; say, a confirmation message asking do I really want to do this or something. There were several instances of me accidentally sidestepping or backing into a closed door and ramming it, losing DC. The aggravation was compounded by the need to shoot it afterwards (since they're inoperable after being damaged). I didn't like thoughtlessly walking over mines either, but I can accept that as a failure to pay attention to something inherently dangerous, rather then something unintuitive (at least to me... I didn't ram any other inanimate objects when I walked into them, so doors kept fucking with my mind).

I really enjoyed playing and I'm looking forward to paying you more money for Geisterturm zwanzig_zwoelf!

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Thanks for giving it a go.

One thing I would have appreciated is either (a) an ingame automap that shows everything you've explored so far or (b) support for Grid Cartographer (if the game does either, I missed it somehow). One of the reasons I was discouraged enough not to redo the Ship was that I had probably doubled my playtime non-exhaustively mapping everything to that point, and I didn't want to have to go over each and every square trying to find Armor Plates/upgrades/Access Cards etc again (because of course I didn't mark those spots on my maps).

Automap was intentionally not added because I think freely-available automap breaks certain traps and spatial puzzles + makes the player focus on the map window rather than the game itself.

My goal is to design levels in a way where the main view provides enough information through signposting and subtle details, while the minimap is only really needed to track enemy movement around you.

In DGT I've added navigation markers to allow you to mark areas you've visited before / areas you want to revisit, which felt more natural while dealing with spinner puzzles and whatnot. In DGJ this system is expanded a bit + you can check a partial map by sacrificing some energy.

 

[lightbane]

It's a genuine CnC moment when you hit a door you can't open, or (as in the first Chapter) you're going through all those one-way doors. The tension between figuring out the puzzle and just blasting every door away (wasting precious ammo in the process) was nice.

The laser weapon IMO was mostly made for blowing up doors, mines, and other hazards, more than fighting shit, and it has 50 shots per clip, so it's no issue.

 

[Kalarion]

The laser weapon IMO was mostly made for blowing up doors, mines, and other hazards, more than fighting shit, and it has 50 shots per clip, so it's no issue.

Quite. And the fact I had no shots left at the end of the Fortress mission should tell you how many mines I blew up (didn't feel comfortable with my disarm chance at that point), and how many doors I had to blast open (because I kept bumbling into them) :D

Although I also wasted a lot of shots experimenting against different enemy types... I had this idea that the laser was the best way to take care of small, evasive enemies at long distance (the Schess, for instance). Took me a couple dozen shots to wake up to the wonders of the SMG/AR.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Took me a couple dozen shots to wake up to the wonders of the SMG/AR.

SMG and Assault Rifle are good against enemies with high evasion. More shots >> more chances to hit. Also...

Spoiler

There's a small detail that you should know -- if you fail your hit roll, but the target succeeds his evasion roll, there's a small chance that the target and the bullet will end up in the same spot, dealing damage with higher spread (50-200% vs normal 80-120%).

EDIT: The main inspiration for this mechanic was this: