KickStarter System Shock 1 Remake by Nightdive Studios

[Trithne]

For comparison, this is the same area in the original game:

 

[ciox]

Is it me or game's so dark my eyes hurt when I try to look closely at anything. I don't think it's brightness fault, just not that great design. Halo remasters had this problem too, enemies were harder to look at compared to original.

It's not just you; I noticed something weird about the lighting too.

The whole area is super dark ... one can't even see the corner of the room dead ahead. Yet at the same time there are garish, super bright lights everywhere. This really does seem like a recipe for eye strain.

Congrats, you've just been acquainted with glow(TM)... it doesn't emit light, it doesn't have reasonable intensity, it doesn't have a reason to be there... it just is. Sometimes simultaneously in the foreground on your hands, ahead on the clothes of the monster you're fighting, and in the background art all at once.

 

[Latelistener]

“It got to the point where I was playing the build and it just didn't feel like System Shock. It didn't look like System Shock. It didn't seem like anybody knew exactly what we were doing and I'm sorry to say that it even got to that point before I decided to just shut things down.”

He keep saying it like "it didn't feel like System Shock" has something to do with why he "shut things down".

The only reason why they went back is because they flushed all the money they got from Kickstarter on the pre-production of this new vision, but investors wanted to finance the original remake instead.

 

[Invictus]

The new gameplay video seems damn promising; sure the animations and music need a little work but the core System Shock vibe is there
I truly hope this comes through

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/2458665

GDC Update Part 2
Posted by Nightdive Studios (Creator)


Hello backers! It’s Stephen from Nightdive with part 2 of this months update!

Wow, what a week - as you know the Nightdive team traveled to San Francisco for the annual Game Developers Conference to show off the latest build of System Shock, BLOOD, and our first Switch title, Turok, which launched on the first day of the show.

It was a non-stop ride of interviews, meetings, and of course parties!

If you haven’t checked it out, we released a 20 minute gameplay video showcasing the entire first level of System Shock. You can view that here: https://youtu.be/JdiaIRkjpI0

Keep in mind we’re still in Alpha and not every mechanic, item, enemy, or weapon has been implemented. There’s missing elements but I think you’d agree that it’s coming along nicely! Share your thoughts with us in the Feedback & Questions section on Discord!

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Our first interview/demo was with PCGamer who were delighted with our progress. We received some great feedback which you can check out here:

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-system-shock-remake-is-looking-damn-good/

Next, we did a video interview with Danny O’Dwyer from the Noclip documentary series. It’s not list quite yet, but keep an eye out on their youtube page:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0fDG3byEcMtbOqPMymDNbw

We met with Rock Paper Shotgun and let them demo the build. You can read their thoughts here:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...remake-looks-authentically-neon-in-new-video/

Here’s a few of the screenshots we sent to the press:

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Robb was busy while we were at GDC and has some new concepts to share!

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We had an amazing time and to top everything off we got to meet Daniel for the first time! Yes, the same Daniel who has been part of the Nightdive family for over 5 years - we finally got to meet face to face.

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We’d also like to thank everyone who has subscribed to us on YouTube! We hit 10,000 subscribers today and that’s a wonderful milestone to have achieved.

https://www.youtube.com/user/nightdivestudios

See you next month!

Nightdive Twitter

System Shock Twitter

Nightdive Facebook

Nightdive Discord

Nightdive Instagram

 

[MasterLobar]

The new gameplay video seems damn promising

After having had a closer look at what Nightdive published so far, I believe we may be in for some disappointment when the final product is out.

The prototype and the latest video that looks so stunning is from the medical level, and was produced when ND aimed at a much more ambitious remake of the game. After their trial with Unreal failed, they scaled that down to a much less ambitious remake.

That can clearly be seen in the videos on Youtube where they show later stages of the game, e.g. the research level. These levels don't look nearly as detailed and modern as the medical level.

Instead, it looks like this is only a polishing of the 20 year-old graphics. It clearly uses the same graphical blocks all the time, like the old game did, as can be seen here:



To me, that doesn't look like a modern remake. It rather looks like an optically polished SS1 enhanced edition. That's why they can make it with such a low budget.

It might still be worthwhile to play. It will have modern controls, AI and enemies, so it will be an entirely different experience. Not saying it's going to be bad.

But later levels aren't going to look and feel so great as the (showcase) medical level.

 

[Invictus]

It all looks good to me really, I rather have them just do a straight up update than a reimagining

 

[Nano]

Everything's looking fab. Definitely looking forward to this.

 

[ciox]

From the streams I recall them planning to drop a fair amount of enemies, weapons and hardware, so everyone hoping for an "update" or "tune-up" of the original game will get their wish, just maybe not in the intended way.
The game will definitely not be a carbon copy of the original with updated graphics, even after the big realignment of priorities, it just won't have some massive unnecessary new features shoved in like crafting.

 

[MasterLobar]

Yes, that's probably correct. As I said, it might be a good end product, but at this point, I am not sure if it is going to be worth $30 for me. 100% same graphics (polished), levels, logs, story, enemies...otherwise just a generic FPS.

If they sell in the $30 range, it probably wouldn't be enough for me to buy and play it all over again.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

The new gameplay video seems damn promising

After having had a closer look at what Nightdive published so far, I believe we may be in for some disappointment when the final product is out.

The prototype and the latest video that looks so stunning is from the medical level, and was produced when ND aimed at a much more ambitious remake of the game. After their trial with Unreal failed, they scaled that down to a much less ambitious remake.

That can clearly be seen in the videos on Youtube where they show later stages of the game, e.g. the research level. These levels don't look nearly as detailed and modern as the medical level.

Instead, it looks like this is only a polishing of the 20 year-old graphics. It clearly uses the same graphical blocks all the time, like the old game did, as can be seen here:



To me, that doesn't look like a modern remake. It rather looks like an optically polished SS1 enhanced edition. That's why they can make it with such a low budget.

It might still be worthwhile to play. It will have modern controls, AI and enemies, so it will be an entirely different experience. Not saying it's going to be bad.

But later levels aren't going to look and feel so great as the (showcase) medical level.

It's quite obvious that these levels are in the grayboxing stage.

 

[MasterLobar]

Just watched a SS1 let's play and it reminded me of a question I always wanted to ask the SS1 pros: On level 6 (executive level), right when you step out of the elevator (coming from level 3), on the right-hand side in the middle of the room, there are some papers on the ground. But these papers are always destroyed, because a cyborg immediately throws a grenade at you and that destroys the papers.

Is there any way how these papers can be saved? And what's on them?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[ciox]

Just watched a SS1 let's play and it reminded me of a question I always wanted to ask the SS1 pros: On level 6 (executive level), right when you step out of the elevator (coming from level 3), on the right-hand side in the middle of the room, there are some papers on the ground. But these papers are always destroyed, because a cyborg immediately throws a grenade at you and that destroys the papers.

Is there any way how these papers can be saved? And what's on them?

Thanks, everyone!

I don't remember that part at all but a reflex patch would probably help.

 

[MasterLobar]

It's right after 1:05 in this video.



The papers in the middle of the room get destroyed by the grenade thrown by the cyborg. I never managed to kill the cyborg before that happens.

A reflex patch is a good idea and could do the trick. I also think there is a second elevator that connects the executive level with the flight deck, so one might use that elevator and approach the cyborg from the other side. Sadly, I don't own the game anymore

 

[Infinitron]

Sadly, I don't own the game anymore

It's on sale all the time: https://isthereanydeal.com/game/sys...hop[]=gog&shop[]=steam&generate=Select+Stores

 

[LESS T_T]

Just watched a SS1 let's play and it reminded me of a question I always wanted to ask the SS1 pros: On level 6 (executive level), right when you step out of the elevator (coming from level 3), on the right-hand side in the middle of the room, there are some papers on the ground. But these papers are always destroyed, because a cyborg immediately throws a grenade at you and that destroys the papers.

Is there any way how these papers can be saved? And what's on them?

Thanks, everyone!

I "cheated" and looked it up on the level editor, it's this: https://shodan.fandom.com/wiki/Groves_Advertisement

 

[MasterLobar]

Ah, so it's not that important. That means it's likely a design error that the cyborg destroys it. I thought it might be some sort of puzzle and the papers might tell you something important (a code, maybe) and you have to figure out a way how to kill the cyborg before they destroy it.

Thanks everyone

 

[Lemming42]

I know it's still pre-alpha, but the gameplay video doesn't inspire much excitement (although there's also enough good stuff to keep an eye on the project). Never been sure why everyone considers SS1 to be a moody atmospheric horror thing, as exemplified by the weird "cinematic" music everyone else has already pointed out.

You're on a space station filled with literally hundreds of things trying to kill you, you've only got 6 hours to get out of there before Earth gets destroyed and/or the station explodes, there's a crazy AI chasing your every step, and you're running around with a plasma rocket launcher for most of the game. The tone for me was always straight-up cyberpunk action. Adrenaline-fuelled Die Hard in space, not a game where you mope around dark corridors with scare chords playing while getting spooked by skeletons, and the original frantic soundtrack reflects that. I really hope they don't take it in an atmospheric horror direction.

The weapons don't look like they feel fun to use at this point either. I guess it's been a rule for well over a decade now that guns in FPS games must feel like water pistols and melee must feel like hitting things with a cardboard tube, but the enemies could at least flinch or stagger a bit more.

 

[Infinitron]

ORIGINAL NIGHTDIVE REMIX BY JON PEROS, DO NOT STEAL!!!!

lul

 

[DeepOcean]

I know it's still pre-alpha, but the gameplay video doesn't inspire much excitement (although there's also enough good stuff to keep an eye on the project). Never been sure why everyone considers SS1 to be a moody atmospheric horror thing, as exemplified by the weird "cinematic" music everyone else has already pointed out.

You're on a space station filled with literally hundreds of things trying to kill you, you've only got 6 hours to get out of there before Earth gets destroyed and/or the station explodes, there's a crazy AI chasing your every step, and you're running around with a plasma rocket launcher for most of the game. The tone for me was always straight-up cyberpunk action. Adrenaline-fuelled Die Hard in space, not a game where you mope around dark corridors with scare chords playing while getting spooked by skeletons, and the original frantic soundtrack reflects that. I really hope they don't take it in an atmospheric horror direction.

The weapons don't look like they feel fun to use at this point either. I guess it's been a rule for well over a decade now that guns in FPS games must feel like water pistols and melee must feel like hitting things with a cardboard tube, but the enemies could at least flinch or stagger a bit more.

Because people think System Shock 2 was the original intention of System Shock 1 when they are very different games.

 

[Trithne]

That's pretty much the long and short of it. Even during the kickstarter there was a lot of noise about making it like SS2, and a lot of the backers didn't seem to have actually played the original, just 2.

 

[CyberModuled]

At this point all I can say is that I'm glad Night Dive have already fully patched the original Enhanced Edition with mouse look, widescreen, and quicksave so I don't have to care about this remake in the slightest because it just looks like SS1+100x Bloom.

 

[Tweed]

When this game comes out and it's total garbage I'm going to laugh at everyone who even began to think it would be good.

 

[ciox]

I know it's still pre-alpha, but the gameplay video doesn't inspire much excitement (although there's also enough good stuff to keep an eye on the project). Never been sure why everyone considers SS1 to be a moody atmospheric horror thing, as exemplified by the weird "cinematic" music everyone else has already pointed out.

You're on a space station filled with literally hundreds of things trying to kill you, you've only got 6 hours to get out of there before Earth gets destroyed and/or the station explodes, there's a crazy AI chasing your every step, and you're running around with a plasma rocket launcher for most of the game. The tone for me was always straight-up cyberpunk action. Adrenaline-fuelled Die Hard in space, not a game where you mope around dark corridors with scare chords playing while getting spooked by skeletons, and the original frantic soundtrack reflects that. I really hope they don't take it in an atmospheric horror direction.

The weapons don't look like they feel fun to use at this point either. I guess it's been a rule for well over a decade now that guns in FPS games must feel like water pistols and melee must feel like hitting things with a cardboard tube, but the enemies could at least flinch or stagger a bit more.

Because people think System Shock 2 was the original intention of System Shock 1 when they are very different games.

Worse, in this case it's more like a mix between System Shock 2 and Bioshock.

When this game comes out and it's total garbage I'm going to laugh at everyone who even began to think it would be good.

That's SS3 if anything. With this the main source of (justified) butthurt will be when they start "streamlining" loads of gadgets and stuff out of existence just to get it out the door in time.

 

[LESS T_T]

Guns: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/2485348

April Update

Hello backers! It’s Stephen from Nightdive with this month’s update.

This month has just flown by and after GDC was over we got right back to work! Our goal is to bring Medical to a level of final polish we can use as a benchmark for the remaining levels. This includes implementing the weapons, enemies and mechanics that are missing and adjusting the lighting/fx.

Let’s take a look at weapons!

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The hi-poly models for the mini-pistol and the magnum are just about complete. With the help of the community we’ve condensed the original weapons list down to a smaller, more manageable amount and combined some of the omitted weapons’ firing modes and functions into the weapons we’ve decided to keep.

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We also made sure that weapons will share parts like grips and receivers. This will help ground the design with the game world. Tri-Optimum would be manufacturing these weapons and would have the goal to not only save money and production time, but to ensure the parts could be easily swapped in the event of malfunction.

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We’ve stayed true to the original game by incorporating the initials of the developers into the weapon names. The SK-27 Shotgun has quickly become my favorite weapon

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Robb has been instrumental in documenting the behavior of the weapons - how they will be reloaded, fired, and what those functions will look like when animated.

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You can see in this example the Magpulse will share the grip of the pistols but the functionality will be completely different, requiring the user to load a clip, then pump the front hand grip to chamber the charge.

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Anyone know someone at NERF? We need to get these guns produced into non-lethal, kid friendly versions

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Here we can see 3 of the grenade types. We are going to implement a secondary priming mechanism so they don’t blow up in your pockets

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Justin is working on a redesign of the conversion chambers that will fit within our modular tile system.

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Jonathan is working on finishing up some additional props and he’s started the tile set for the Research level which we’ll be looking at next month!

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Finally, let’s take a look at what the Groves are going to look like. Robb is envisioning some wide open areas with brutalist concrete planters full of overgrown vegetation and large clear domes offering unobstructed views of the depths of space.


Next month we’ll be looking at more character art and combat!

See you next time!

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