KickStarter Scorn - another Giger influenced horror game released after long developement

[Kutulu]

I never got what's so creepy about gigeresque stuff, weird yes a tad bit disgusting maybe.
Like if i was transported into such a world i'd accept my inevitable death real quick and die of malnutrition after i fucked all that wallpussy.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

So is this gonna be good? I'm getting the feeling that it's kind of mediocre. What do we know about the game?

 

[Baron Dupek]

new trailer
this time for XboX X
still no release date

 

[markec]

Seeing all this Giger inspired visuals made me wish Dark Seed is available on GoG.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

New gameplay with the latest kickstarter update.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Where's the gameplay?

 

[Lyric Suite]

Getting strong vibes of that other horror FPS whatever its name was.

Those games are all the same. Not sure where this trend started, is there a popular antecedent? Why are those kind of games popping up so often all of a sudden?

 

[RNGsus]

Getting strong vibes of that other horror FPS whatever its name was.

Alien Isolation

 

[Multidirectional]

Cool visuals, gameplay looks boring as hell.

Alien Isolation

That's actually a good game, this doesn't look like it at all.

 

[Wunderbar]

Getting strong vibes of that other horror FPS whatever its name was.

Alien Isolation

probably Agony.

 

[agentorange]

Ripping off Giger works well sparingly but in that 13 minute video, which I skipped most of because how boring it was, the visuals were already becoming monotonous. Can't imagine it going on for an entire games length, especially when the gameplay itself looks like shit.

 

[JDR13]

Doesn't look very impressive considering how long this game has been in development.

 

[Beowulf]

Getting strong vibes of that other horror FPS whatever its name was.

Alien Isolation

probably Agony.

I'd hazard a guess that he might be thinking of Inner Chains.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Getting strong vibes of that other horror FPS whatever its name was.

Alien Isolation

probably Agony.

Right, that one.

There was another one too that failed as well.

 

[Venser]

Looks awesome. If only it had VR support.

 

[Darkozric]

Sure the art direction looks ok but gameplay-wise it feels pretty boring and when I'm saying gameplay I don't mean the "pew pew" part only, I mean where are the fucking puzzles? If this is a mix of a hellish Myst and Alien Isolation then it can be acceptable, if not it will be another Giger-inspired artsy fartsy boring walking sim.

 

[Riskbreaker]

Getting strong vibes of that other horror FPS whatever its name was.

Alien Isolation

probably Agony.

Right, that one.

There was another one too that failed as well.

Maybe Inner Chains, the one mentioned in the first page of this thread?
That one sounded quite similar, eerily so I guess given how it turned out by all accounts. Exploration-heavy horror FPS with environmental storytelling, set in a surreal biomechanical environment. The art was great but someone forgot about the whole 'game' bit.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Some gaming drama. Apparently yesterdays kickstarter update wasn't appreciated by some:

Spoiler

Hello everyone,


In this update, we will highlight the most common issues people have regarding this project and the reasoning behind some of our decisions. We have addressed some of these issues before but we will repeat them once more. Because, if you want to create something ambitious and consciously (or not so much) bite on something that you can barely chew (scope and production-wise), especially the first time around, you have to set up priorities and keep less important things to a minimum.



What were we doing since the latest trailer was released in October last year?


There is no big revelation here. We were just developing a game and that is nothing more to it than that. A year is not such a big period when it comes to game development. Some people really, really dislike us staying silent for such long periods. It's that way by design for a few reasons. The only thing that will get the game out of the door faster is concentrating all the effort on development. That is our main priority.


There is a reason why big companies show CG trailers done by some other studio. They don't want to interrupt the development team in the middle of production. CD Projekt RED had great PR for Cyberpunk 2077 but that didn't help when the final game. Cyberpunk 2077 should've been delayed for a year, but the hype and the pressure from shareholders were more important. Maybe if they didn't push their developers to create marketing content they could've put more time into fixing the game.


No amount of updates are going to make the game better, or make it come out sooner, quite the opposite. It's just more tasks on the already enormous list of tasks to finish. It's time-consuming to make your game look presentable to the public. That is done at the very end of the development process.



The problem of "Hype"


"Hype" can be a big problem if you need it at the beginning, but still need to work on a project for a considerable amount of time afterward. We didn't do the marketing for the market, but for the potential investors. We are going to do proper marketing close to release. Presenting the game constantly just creates a vicious cycle. Every update creates anticipation, that turns into disappointment for some because the game is not out yet. We realize the frustration, but at the end of the day, we think it's better to lay low and have most people put the game out of their minds than constantly bait them.


The reason we needed the hype, in the beginning, is rather simple. Let's imagine that we live in some magical world where out of nowhere you just receive all the resources for the game you want to make as a completely unproven, new studio. In this magical scenario, the public wouldn't know about our game because we wouldn't announce it until 6 months before the release (whenever that may be) and then just have a steady stream of marketing (hype) up until release.


But in the reality we inhabit, nobody will even acknowledge you if they don't see the "hype" upfront. This is why we showed the game (not some vain idea of showing off the work) and now we are stuck with the expectation to constantly feed the beast for years. We decided not to go that route, as we want to finish the game in the shortest time possible.


Yes, handling the time leading up to release is really bad on our end, but as much as our financial situation has improved we still have to dedicate resources to specific things, and we think that creating a good game should receive the overwhelming majority of our attention, rather than trying to constantly keep the marketing flames going. How we spent the time leading up to release should not be of consequence on the release date. Only the quality of the game will.


It's a strange thing, if some didn't know the game existed they would enjoy the 6 months of marketing and then the game, but now the very knowledge of its existence feels unbearable to them. Even if it turns out to be a great game they simply won't be able to enjoy it because my god they knew about it for so long. Some people just burn out on the hype. If we released it on time and it sucked they would forget about it in a day.



Development hell


Development hell is a term that is thrown around quite often. It should be used on projects that changed their core idea or scope mid-dev and can't adjust to. That doesn't apply to our products for the most part. In our case, a lot of mistakes were made and will make more in the future, but it's a normal process for a new, inexperienced team. Everything that was done up until the middle of 2018 has been reworked, 90% of it completely scrapped. It's about making it what we want it to be, not releasing it just because we gave some arbitrary release date. If it's not ready, it's not ready. Why would people want to play something that the developers think it's still not up to par?



Microsoft, Kowloon, Kepler deals


People are wary of big companies and for a good reason most of the time, but in our case, it was nothing but support from everyone involved. We are even surprised by how smooth everything has been. Some think that influx of resources would create more problems and that we should finish the game with as little resources.


Creating an interesting and engaging game requires time and resources. Period. Money is what allows us to create something of quality. Enthusiasm alone can only take you so far. We are obliged to periodically give them updates on the progress, but the builds that we are sending them are the builds we are making anyways. These builds don't have to be polished as industry people understand unfinished builds (games in development). For the general public things need to be polished. That is a major difference. Some people just want to see the progress and don't care that it's work in progress, but others will judge it as a finished product.


We hope to create a great game and our backers will receive that great game, that is the bottom line and our main goal. We will get there sooner with as few distractions as possible. If people want to stay with us till the end, great, if they don't want to, we still offer a way out.



Release plans


For the record, yes, the game has slipped into 2022 and we will have an official confirmation of the delay on the 10th of December. It was supposed to be announced in October, but circumstances out of our control postponed it. If it turns out not to be on the 10th by our or someone else's will, don't hold it too much against us.


And for the end, a bit of friendly advice: If lack of communication is so bothersome just ask for a refund and be done with it. It's just a game. You can play it when it's out if you are still interested.

Hello everyone,

My name is Ljubomir Peklar and I'm the CEO of Ebb Software and also the creative director of the game. I take full responsibility for the last update that you received from our KS yesterday. I quickly and haphazardly read through the draft of the update and in all my wisdom approved it. Reading through again it was clear that the hostile tone it was written in should not be how we should express ideas or plans to people that help us out. We may be tired, confused and frustrated at our own ineptitude, but there is no reason to lash out at you. For that I personally apologise. I will do my best for this kind of outburst not to happen again.

We will do a proper update regarding all the raised concerns on Monday,

Thank you.

 

[mkultra]

wouldn't mind something like this but inspired by SS2 or UUW when it comes to gameplay..

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Yet another update in regards to the first update that got babies upset:

Project update 10.1: Communication

Hello again,

I want to personally address the Kickstarter update that happened on Friday one more time, as well as some of the questions and comments that arose from that post.

I would like to start by reiterating what I said on Saturday. Our update was poorly judged and the tone was not fair for a community that has backed us from the earliest point and supported the project. I sincerely hope you can accept my apology.

As you will have seen from the news or in Friday’s update, Scorn will be moving its release date out into 2022. In truth, the longer development timelines come down to a few things. Large scope, high production values, and some overly ambitious estimates with our initial timelines. As we start to move towards the final stretch of development, I’d like to share a brief update on where we are as a studio and what steps we will be taking to be better at keeping our community informed of development progress in the future.


Studio Update

Over the course of this journey, Ebb Software has grown from 20 people back when the Kickstarter went live to 56 people today. All of which are working on realizing our vision for an immersive and emotional experience. While slower than we had hoped, our progress is promising. The game build, the world, and the experience are coming together well. We really can’t wait for players to get their hands on it.


Communication

I know that we have failed in keeping our Kickstarter community updated over this past year. The truth is, as a project we needed that time to truly focus on the game and we are hugely grateful to everyone who has been patiently waiting for news and updates. However, our Kickstarter community has been with us from the beginning and I understand and recognize that this is an area we must do better in. As part of our commitment to improving communication, we will be doing the following things:

1. Bringing a dedicated community support role into the team.

The purpose of this is to help build better two-way communication and share more of the news and updates coming from the studio.

2. A monthly developer deep-dive:

• Monthly news post, shared directly with our Kickstarter community.
• The post will contain content such as development progress updates, sneak peeks of in-game assets, Q&As and spotlights on different features or roles within the studio.
• The first update will go live in December.
• In addition to communication with our core community, we will also soon be in a position to share more trailers, news, and content with the world as we move towards our release date.

I’d like to take a moment to thank you all again for your ongoing support. You believed in the vision for Scorn at the very beginning and through our Kickstarter community and our partners we’ve been able to keep that same vision for the game while drastically expanding the quality and ambition we can deliver. We know that words and promises can only take us so far and it is our aim that by sharing better communication and more visibility into the development progress, we can build trust and excitement ahead of the release next year.


Thank you all,

Ljubomir Peklar

Ebb Software

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Release date

October 2022.

Kickstarter update.

December has been a pretty huge month for us at Ebb Software. Not only have we been able to share our new release date but we’ve also reached a significant milestone in our development - 75% content completion! I’d just like to give my deepest thanks to our community for your patience and our team here at Ebb who have been working incredibly hard to pull everything together.

As we look ahead at the coming months, we will be focusing on completing the final 25% of the content, followed by bug fixing and getting the game ready for the launch. We’re very excited to get our game in players’ hands and allow them to experience Scorn for themselves.

 

[d1r]

I do hope that it's more than just a walking sim.

 

[gerey]

I do hope that it's more than just a walking sim.

From the gamepaly they've shown it looks to be a really, really shitty FPS - slow-paced and incredibly simplistic.

The whole video consisted of the character walking around extremely slowly, fighting one or two enemies at a time and pressing switches. Besides the art style I don't think the game really has anything going for it.

 

[Riskbreaker]

This was initially titled Scorn: Dasein. That, combined with them talking about "being thrown into the world", "lived-in world", "embodiment" etc made me expect something wherein you are embodied in this flesh of the world of tightly intertwined systems, everything connected to everything to everything, with no exposition but with learning simply by encountering what is in this world, interacting with it. I would've expected bits of Ice Pick Lodge, From, LGS. Ideally.
No way in hell it'll be like that obviously. But hopefully it'll be neither just a walking sim with at best some inoffensive combat nor a combo of great art and godawful everything else like Inner Chains.

 

[Norfleet]

So what's supposed to be horror about this? That the enemies and environments are really ugly (as in, aesthetically displeasing, rather than poorly rendered)?